Hou-Chin stream, Love river, and Chien-Chen river, the three main rivers in Kaohsiung city, flow through the populous residential and industrial areas. A large portion of sewage from domestic and industrial sources are discharged into these rivers, then the Love river and Chien-Chen river pour into the harbor area. In order to understand the pollution of alkylphenol polyethoxylates in these areas, water and sediment samples in Hou-Chin stream, Love river, Chien-Chen river and harbor area in Kaohsiung city were collected and the contents of alkylphenol and corresponding polyethoxylates were analyzed in this study. LC/MS/MS was used as the analytical instrument which is relatively time-saving in comparison with other instruments. It is also more convenient due to the facts that no derivation or colorization are needed in sample pretreatment. The detection limit can reach to 0.03 ng/ml and recovery can be around 83.6~91.6%. It can analyze alkylphenols combinded with long ethoxylate chain with improved sensitivity and selectivity. In the four sampling areas, the concentration of NPs in water were between 7.4~241.8ng/ml, and OPs were between 0.66~64.2ng/ml. The most contaminated water samples were found at Chih-Ping Bridge on the mainstream of Love river and Pau-Chu-Kou Dam Station and Min-Tsu Bridge on the tributary of Love river where the concentrations of NPs were greater than 200ng/ml, OPs were greater than 30ng/ml. We found that the main pollution sources were from Lung-Hsin Bridge, Tzu-Yu Bridge, Lung -Hua Bridge, and Pau-Chu-Kou Dam Station. The pollution sources of the Chien-Chen river were mainly from Chung-An Bridge and Chen-Chuan Bridge. Concentration of NPs in upper sediments were between 633.1~2113.8ng/g, OPs were between 50.3~287.9ng/g. The highest concentration of NPs was at Ho-Ti Bridge on the mainstream of Love river, and the lowest concentration of NPs was at Chung-An Bridge on Chien-Chen river. The highest concentration of OPs was at Chen-Chuan Bridge in Chien-Chen river, and the lowest concentration of OPs was Min-Tsu Bridge on the tributary of Love river. The concentration of NPs in deeper sediments were between 523.9~1919.5ng/g, OPs were between 39.9~322.0ng/g. The highest concentration of NPs was at Chung-Hua Bridge on the tributary of Lover river, and the lowest concentration of NPs was at Chung-An Bridge on Chien-Chen river. The highest concentration of OPs was at Chi-Chin Fishing Port, and the lowest concentration of OPs was at Min-Tsu Bridge on the tributary of Love river. The salinity of water samples and the total organic carbon in sediment sample will influence the distribution coefficient of alkylphenol polyethoxylates with different length of ethoxylate chains, their distribution coefficients were between 0.48~2.67. In comparison with foreign studies, the concentrations of alkylphenol polyethoxylates of water and sediments amples in this study were between the highest and lowest values reported. However, the observed concentrations of alkylphenols in these study areas were higher then other rivers in Taiwan. These values were higher than the Probable No Effect Concentrations ( PNEC) of NP risk assessed by European Union. It can be concluded that the pollution of alkylphenol polyethoxylates of water and sediment is getting more serious in Hou-Chin stream, Love river, Chien-Chen river and harbor area in Kaohsiung city.

There are two purposes in this research, one is to develop the new method which can be used for detection and quantification of chloramphenicol in fish, and the method is according to Commission Decision 2002/657/EC. The other is to study about the depletion of chloramphenicol in Tilapia which is the main aquacultural product in Taiwan. Homogenized fish tissues were extracted with EtOAc and defatted with Hexane. HPLC separation was conducted on RP18 column in 0.5mM ammonium acetate ¡V MeOH. Chloramphenicol was determinated by LC-ESI-MS-MS in negative mode. The recoveries of chloramphenicol from fish gill, gut, liver and muscle were 68.8, 73.3, 82.7 and 85.5%. The limit of detection was 0.05, 0.14, 0.07 and 0.03 ng/g. Decision limit(CC£\) of fish muscle was 0.05 ng/g and detection capability(CC£]) was 0.07 ng/g. Chloramphenicol was administered by oral and by bathing respectively in Tilapia. Chloramphenicol was given by bathing at 45.8 mg/kg for one hour. No chloramphenicol was demonstrated in gill, gut and fish muscle on 193th hour, 673th hour, and 385th hour respectively after the beginning of this study. There was 0.08 ng/g chloramphenicol in liver after 385th hour. Chloramphenicol was given orally to Tilapia at 354.5 mg/kg daily for 3 days. No chloramphenicol demonstrated in fish muscle on 480th hour. There were 0.09 ng/g and 0.16 ng/g in liver and gut respectively. No matter oral experiment or bathing experiment, th concertration of chloramphenicol in liver is higher than in the other, the depletion rate in high concentration was faster than in low concentration.

The plant peroxidases (EC1.11.17) exit as a large family of isozymes. These isozymes have more than 50% amino acid sequence differences. The function of Wasaba japonica peroxides plays the role as IAA oxidases. The kinetics result shows Wasabia japonica peroxidases displayed affinity (Km = 17.1 £gM) for IAA. The kinetics results in Wasabia japonica peroxidases display affinity (Km = 80.6 £gM) for syringaldazine. LC/MS/MS technique described the data that has proven to be a method for identification and characterization of proteins. The soluble proteins extracted form Wasabia japonica was purified by gel filtration chromatography and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). LC-MS/MS analyses of 2-DE gel spots and identify proteins structure based on the protein fragmentation characteristics. The Mascot Search Results showed that Wasabia japonica peroxidase has a significant similarity (10%) with Arabidopsis thaliana peroxidase.

Nitrofurans have been widely used either in waterbath or feed additives for the prevention and treatment of aquatic products. The European Union was able to assign a maximum residue limit and prohibited nitrofurans used to animals in 1995, because of the potential carcinogenic effects of their residues on human health. This study is focusing on the analytical method of four kinds of commonly used nitrofurans and corresponding residual metabolites by LC-MS/MS. The detection limits of furazolidone, furaltadone, nitrofurazone and nitrofurntoin were 6.11, 3.63, 4.52 and 6.20 £gg kg-1,respectively. The detection limits of AOZ, AMOZ, SC and AH were 0.23, 0.30, 0.36, 0.53 £gg kg-1, respectively. The lightness is the main factor to cause the decomposition of nitrofurans. It is not significant for temperature to depredate nitrofurans. The adsorbtion of metabolites by the plastic tube was in the extraction procedure. Equipments in glass are suggested to be used for the sample pretreatment and plastic meterials are averted to be exercised. About the comparation of determination of AOZ by ELISA and LC-MS/MS. The result demonstrated that the ELISA method might overestimate the residual AOZ content at low concentrations. The detection limit and recovery of the known addition were 0.05 £gg kg-1 and 108% for the LC-MS/MS method and 0.31 £gg kg-1 and 305% for the ELISA method, respectively. The amounts of residual nitrofurans and metabolites in muscle, liver, gill and skin tissue of tilapia which were treated in different conditions were compared. The depletion data of bathing treatment group obtained showed similar be haviors of furazolidone, furaltadone, nitrofurazone, nitrofurantoin in tilapia which the residual time was less than 24 hr. The amounts of residual nitrofurans appeared the highest concentration in gill and the lowest concentration in muscle. Bonded residues of metabolites can be detected for at least 4 weeks after administration in muscle, skin, liver and gill. The concentrations of residual bonded metabolites were higher than non-bonded metabolites in gill and muscle besides liver during depletion periods. After bathing medication, there were more residual nitrofurans and corresponding metabolites in sea water tilapia than fresh water group, because sea water fish survives in high osmotic condition to reduce their urination. Nitrofurans and metabolites were deconstructed by enzyme in gills, livers, intestines and muscles. Then tissues of fish accumulated nitrofurans and metabolites soon after medication. The maturity of fish is one of facters to effect different residual concentration during depletion periods. Liver is the main tissue to deconstruct nitrofurans and metabolites for the bathing medication and intestine is the major tissue to decompose antibiotics for the feeding medicaton. In this research, we built a completed way to determine nitrofurans and corresponding metatbolites. Comparation of fish in different conditions and different medicative ways were in this investigation. These results could be helpful for aquacultures and government institutions.

The difficulties in understanding science particularly laboratory learning at undergraduate level were reported by many researchers and authorities. The literature on Science Education contains many examples of teachers' attempts to change laboratory practice to overcome the problem that "much of the student behaviour in laboratories is that of recipe following: they gain hand skills but it is all too possible to follow mindlessly the instructions in a manual". The student will have to cope with many types of learning stimuli that may lead to a state of working memory overload. So it is not surprising that the attempts made to measure the learning outcomes from practical work have produced disappointing results. There are only few systematic, theory-driven measurements reported particularly in the field of physics education. The psychological background guiding our thinking throughout has been derived from information processing theory. This theory attempts to identify what happens during the acquisition, storage and retrieval stages of learning. A model was presented at the Centre For Science Education Glasgow University, which represents the thinking process in a predictive way. Using the model, it was decided to concentrate on the principal and inter-linked strategies to improve the laboratory teaching (1) Use pre-labs to involve students in a more 'expert' role, (2) Revise the manual to reduce noise and so reduce overload. Special consideration was given to student perception, the ever-present possibility of working memory overload and the necessity for students to construct for themselves sound and branched mental structures to help them to approach practical bench problems by lateral thinking. The changes to the physics-II laboratory programme were made and evaluated over two years. This study is an evaluation of the effectiveness of changes made to the undergraduate Physics-II laboratory course at Glasgow University.

Implementation of educational inclusion policy has been shown to be influenced by a range of factors, such as leadership, training opportunities, collaborative teamwork and, the focus of this thesis, parents’ and teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. This study explores perspectives and practices on inclusion in Saudi Arabia in the context of inclusive primary schools for girls, with specific consideration given to the inclusion of children assessed as having learning difficulties, specifically being dyslexic, seeking to understand how the country culture informs understandings of inclusion. Reflections on theoretical perspectives on special educational needs and inclusion consider concepts of equality, difference, diversity and inclusion within Islam. In this interpretativeconstructivist study, data collected from five schools in contrasting socio-economic environments are presented under the thematic headings of: inclusion, teaching strategies and the curriculum, school ethos and collaboration, and leadership, training and resources. Participants were general and special needs education supervisors and teachers, headteachers, parents of children with and without SEN and children. Data was collected through interviews, observations and exercises with children. The use of observations recognized that expressed attitudes do not necessarily translate into manifest actions and that barriers to inclusion may lie in practicalities as well as attitudes. The findings show that understandings and implementation of inclusion in Saudi Arabia are informed mainly by Islamic precepts, especially those concerning equity and difference, but that cultural traditions also play a role. Attitudes towards inclusion were generally positive, although less so regarding children with cognitive impairment. However, further progress in implementing inclusion requires certain key issues to be addressed, in particular how inclusion is understood and collaboration, between general and special needs teachers, school and home and schools and the Ministry of Education. The thesis concludes by proposing that the implementation of inclusion would be enhanced by the adoption of a capability approach.

With the growing importance of English in the global world, an increasing number of Taiwanese students, about 8,000-10,000, have come to study in the UK over the last decade. This study investigates Taiwanese learners' perceptions and strategies in relation to the IELTS test. A Taiwanese online forum has been established by successful learners who have gained a good result in the IELTS test and studied in the UK since 2002. In attempting to be successful in the IELTS test, most Taiwanese learners use the forum as one of their IELTS-preparation strategies by seeking successful peer assistance concerning materials and strategies for IELTS preparation on the forum. The members and posts of this virtual community are the focus of this project. Given that most of the empirical research about strategies in relation to a test and an online learning community focuses on teacher-initiated educational environments, very little attention has been paid to peer-initiated social learning contexts such as the one that is focused upon in this study. This study begins with an introduction to globalisation in the contemporary world, its influence on English education and learners in Taiwan, and my motivation for undertaking this study. In chapter Two to four, I explore the literature concerning the IELTS test, online self-help groups and strategies in relation to the test. Then in chapter Five, I describe the mixed-method approach and the four research instruments (the forum analysis, the focus group interview, the questionnaire, and the individual interviews) used in this study. After the research design, the data analysis is demonstrated with examples in chapter Six. In chapter Seven, the findings are presented by combining the data sources from four research instruments corresponding to the research questions. Further issues emerging from the findings are discussed in chapter Eight. Finally, chapter Nine concludes by recapping on the focus, findings, key issues, limitations and implications of this study.

The motivation for this research was to better understand how social class impacts on the reproduction of cultural taste on the basis that access to 'legitimate' culture is predetermined by class position. This was driven by my history as a woman with a working class cultural heritage operating as an artist in a school setting, a predominantly middle class position. The research asks, therefore, the question: what enables transgression from one class/culture to another? [...]

Using TIMSS data set on MENA countries, this study examines the determinants of educational outcome and gender inequality of learning in eight selected countries. The complicated structure of the data has been considered carefully during all the stages of the analysis employing plausible values and jackknife standard error technique to accommodate the measurement error of the dependant variable and the clustering of students in classes and schools. The education production functions provide broad evidence from mean and quantile analysis of very low returns to schooling; few school variables are significant and none have effects across countries and quantiles. In general, student characteristics were far more important than school factors in explaining test scores, but there was considerable variability across countries in which specific factors were significant. Strikingly, computer usage was found to influence students’ performance negatively in six MENA countries. Only Turkey and Iran had a significant positive effect of computer usage on maths achievements. Gender inequality of academic achievement has been investigated thoroughly using mean and quantile decomposition analysis. There is mixed picture of gender inequality across the eight countries with three pro-boys, three pro-girls and two gender-neutral. This exercise gives no general pattern of gender inequality across MENA. A detailed analysis of Egyptian students’ achievements explains the differential gap between school types, notably being single or mixed sex and Arabic or language schools. Single-sex schools perform better than mixed schools especially for girls. The single-sex language schools are more effective than the Arabic single sex school. This confirms the dominance of the language schools and is also related to the style and social-economic status of enrolled students.

Stress conditions such as heat shock, UV, alkylating agents, and H2O2 have been shown to result in the modification of a variety of protein targets via the production of reactive electrophiles. These modifications can directly impact protein function or can alter posttranslational modifications, thus leading to a disruption of cellular regulatory processes. Recent studies have shown that stress-induced protein modifications can modulate posttranslational modification by the small ubiquitin related modifier (SUMO) family of proteins. Unlike ubiquitination, which primarily targets proteins for proteasomal degradation, sumoylation exerts a variety of effects including protein stabilization, subcellular localization, and the alteration of protein-protein interactions and transcriptional activity. To investigate the effects of alkylation and oxidative stress on sumoylation, HEK293 cells were treated with iodoacetamide, hydroquinone, benzoquinone, Texas Red C5 bromoacetamide, hydrogen peroxide, and 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), a highly reactive product of lipid peroxidation associated with oxidative stress. Western blot analysis revealed that the agents tested resulted in concentration-dependent changes in the patterns of SUMO-1 and SUMO-2/3 protein conjugation. Localization studies using western blot analysis and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that SUMO-1 protein conjugates were located primarily in the nucleus, whereas SUMO-2/3 protein conjugates were more equally distributed between the nucleus and the cytoplasm. SUMO-associated proteins were harvested from vehicle- and HNE-treated non-transfected HEK293 cells using agarose conjugated anti-SUMO-1 antibodies or from HA-SUMO-1- and HA-SUMO-3-expressing HEK293 cells using immunoaffinity chromatography. Multidimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analyses resulted in the identification of 54 HA-SUMO-1-associated proteins and 37 HA-SUMO-3-associated proteins in vehicle-treated cells and 21 HA-SUMO-1- and HA-SUMO-3-associated proteins in HNE treated cells. Additionally, 27 SUMO-1-associated proteins were identified in the HNE-treated non-transfected cells. The functional classes of proteins targeted included RNA binding and processing proteins, metabolic enzymes, cytoskeletal regulators, and chaperone proteins. HNE treatment resulted in a near complete redistribution of both SUMO-1 and SUMO-3 to different targets. There was a 15% overlap in SUMO-1 and SUMO-3 associated proteins in vehicle-treated cells and a 10% overlap in HNE-treated cells indicating that SUMO proteins target distinct protein groups. These results indicate that protein modifying reactive electrophiles can regulate protein functions through the indirect alteration of endogenous posttranslational modifications.