The carotid artery wall moves longitudinally along the length of the vessel, although little is known about what causes this motion, or what health information it represents. The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the regulation of carotid artery longitudinal wall motion (CALM) in humans, as well as how CALM can be used to infer information about arterial health. Through observational and experimental designs, we tested evidence for a structural ventricular-vascular coupling effect, which postulates that systolic anterograde CALM is influenced by the forward blood shear rate while systolic retrograde CALM is influenced by left ventricular rotation, although the data suggests a moderate influence of left ventricular rotation, and minimal influence of shear rate. In cross-sectional analyses, we demonstrated that diastolic CALM variables are better related to age and health status compared to systolic CALM displacement and that this relationship was independent of traditional measures of arterial stiffness. These experimental and observational results directed the use of diastolic CALM as a potential indicator of arterial health in subsequent studies, due to the relative independence from systolic events. While there was no effect of 12-weeks of exercise training in healthy men on diastolic CALM variables, we observed increased systolic retrograde CALM and diastolic CALM acceleration in men with a history of resistance exercise training compared to sedentary men, suggesting an effect of habitual exercise training. Our novel findings suggest that CALM is regulated by a complex system, in part related to both arterial wall structure and ventricular-vascular coupling, and may have clinical value in complimenting measures of traditional arterial stiffness in humans. Future studies should examine whether local changes to arterial wall structure or indirect changes in regulatory control dictate differences in CALM with aging and with chronic exercise training, before integrating CALM into routine measurement of arterial health. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / We have known for a long time that arteries expand in order to absorb pressure; however, only recently have we identified that arteries also move longitudinally along the length of the arterial wall. The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to study what causes carotid artery longitudinal wall motion (CALM), and how we can use this information to understand arterial health. We demonstrated that CALM is partly controlled through the forward blood velocity wave and left ventricular rotation of the heart, and that diastolic CALM is uniquely related to aging and health status, but is not impacted by exercise training in healthy men. There are many aspects of CALM that need to be examined before wide-spread use, though our results indicate that CALM represents a new way of studying arterial health, which has the potential to complement traditional measures of cardiovascular disease risk in humans.

This dissertation is primarily concerned with studying the invariant subspaces of left-invertible, weighted shifts, with generalizations to left-invertible operators where applicable. The two main problems that are researched can be stated together as When does a weighted shift have the one-dimensional wandering subspace property for all of its closed, invariant subspaces? This can fail either by having a subspace that is not generated by its wandering subspace, or by having a subspace with an index greater than one. For the former we show that every left-invertible, weighted shift is similar to another weighted shift with a residual space, with respect to being generated by the wandering subspace, of dimension $n$, where $n$ is any finite number. For the latter we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for a pure, left-invertible operator with an index of one to have a closed, invariant subspace with an index greater than one. We use these conditions to show that if a closed, invariant subspace for an operator in a class of weighted shifts has a vector in $l^1$, then it must have an index equal to one, and to produce closed, invariant subspaces with an index of two for operators in another class of weighted shifts. / Ph. D.

Objectives: To further characterize the echocardiographic anatomy of the canine mitral valve in healthy dogs and those affected by myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD), and to compare the level of agreement between two methods of assessment of left atrial size in identification of left atrial enlargement in dogs with MMVD. Animals: Sixty dogs with MMVD and 22 normal dogs were prospectively studied with 2-dimensional echocardiography. Methods: The length (AMVL), width (AMVW) and area (AMVA) of the anterior mitral valve leaflet and the diameter of the mitral valve annulus in systole (MVAs) and diastole (MVAd) were measured. Left atrial size was evaluated with the left atrial to aortic root ratio (LA:Ao) and by measuring left atrial volume indexed to body weight (LA Vol/BW). All patients were staged using published ACVIM guidelines and separated into groups B1 and B2/C. Results: Measurements of AMVL, AMVW, AMVA, MVAs and MVAd were all significantly greater in the B2/C group than in the control group. AMVW was significantly greater in group B1 than control. Twelve dogs had left atrial enlargement identified with LA Vol/BW that were considered normal using LA:Ao. Diagnostic disagreement between these two measurements was significant (P = 0.00012). The majority of dogs with diagnostic disagreement had concurrent echocardiographic evidence of more advanced mitral regurgitation. Conclusions: Relative to normal dogs, AMVL, AMVW, AMVA, MVAs and MVAd are greater in patients with advanced MMVD. LA Vol/BW may be superior to LA:Ao for identification of mild left atrial enlargement. / Master of Science

"No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) has generated considerable attention within the education world. The purpose of this thesis is to question how local governments, i.e., local Boards of Education, have reacted to the current involvement and demands of the federal government. NCLB has only started to have an impact on local schools in the last few years as they have begun to fall into various categories of being "in need of improvement" based on failing to meet established goals. School boards are put in a position to rethink their programs and reevaluate their own efforts as they attempt to insure students are meeting the benchmarks established by the federal and state governments and that Highly Qualified Teachers are in every child's classroom. This thesis looks at the actions of six districts in southern New Jersey that are not meeting these mandates and the actions of the Boards of Education towards student achievement and hiring teachers. Demands and requirements of federal and state legislation and policies are narrowing the areas in which school boards can take action. Those actions that are being taken appear to be led by the district Superintendent. This lack of leadership by the elected officials may eventually lead to school boards that are more and more community advisory boards and less and less governing bodies. / Master of Arts

No description available.

This investigation was an attempt to replicate and expand previous research which suggested that laterality of electromyographic biofeedback input had a significant effect in lowering frontalis muscle activity. In 1984 Ginn and Harrell conducted a study in which they reported that subjects receiving left ear only audio biofeedback had significantly greater reductions in frontalis muscle activity than those receiving right ear only or both ear feedback. This study was limited to one biofeedback session and subjects were selected based on demonstration of right hand/ear dominance. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the left ear effect reported by Ginn and Harrell could be replicated. Furthermore, the current investigation sought to extend the previous finding to left handed subjects and explore the stability of the effect, if found, by adding a second biofeedback session. Subjects were 96 students recruited from undergraduate psychology classes. They were screened for handedness by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory which resulted in identification of 48 right handers and 48 left handers. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups consisting of left ear feedback, right ear feedback, both ears feedback, and controls. This resulted in eight conditions. Analysis of variance of microvolt changes from baseline found no statistically significant differences between groups. An examination of the rank order of the data reveal a left ear group performance in the same direction as those reported by Ginn and Harrell (1984).

BACKGROUND: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome is a congenital birth defect that is defined by underdevelopment of the left heart during pregnancy. This is especially dangerous as the left heart holds the systemic flow of blood- the oxygenated blood. Not enough oxygen throughout the whole body causes cyanosis, which symptoms include bluish discoloration of the skin or mucous membrane due to low oxygen saturation. Single Ventricle Palliation followed by Biventricular Conversion is the most common surgical procedural pathway to correct this defect. The goal is to convert from a single ventricle circulation during single ventricle palliation to biventricular circulation via biventricular conversion, which is the normal heart anatomy. Single Ventricle Pallation consists of three stages: Stage 1 Norwood Procedure, Bidirectional Glenn, and Fontan. Biventricular Conversion can be performed after any of the three stages. In addition, further compromise of the left ventricle includes other factors such as a thickening of fibroblast-like cells on the endocardial layer called endocardial fibroelastosis. Therefore, additional surgical procedures, also known as recruitment procedures, combat these problems. It is critical to find a correlation between a specific procedure and post surgery success in left ventricle growth and function for these patients. OBJECTIVES: Patients with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome at Boston Children’s Hospital have undergone single ventricle palliation with some patients proceeding to biventricular conversion. This study aimed to study the palliation stages individually and recruitment procedures (specifically endocardial fibroelastosis resection) on the effect of left ventricle growth. METHODS: Patients with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome were studied retrospectively (before 2014) and prospectively (after 2014 until December 1, 2018). Single Ventricle Palliation and Biventricular Conversion were analyzed via descriptional analysis with evidence of left ventricular growth measured by left ventricular end diastolic volume and respective z-scores. Z-scores were used to standardize end diastolic volume values across variability in age, weight, and height. RESULTS: A total of 55 patients underwent single ventricle palliation and 39 ended with biventricular circulation via biventricular conversion. Overall, there was a 9.29 ml increase in end diastolic volume between Bidirectional Glenn and Fontan and a 0.795 increase in end diastolic volume z-score between Fontan and Biventricular Conversion. Next, those who did not have recruitment procedures experienced a 135.6%, 48.8%, and 0% growth at Stage 1, Bidirectional Glenn, and Fontan, respectively, before directly proceeding to biventricular conversion. Those with recruitment experienced a 44.5%, 90.4%, and 83.0% growth at Stage 1, Bidirectional Glenn, and Fontan, respectively, before directly proceeding to biventricular conversion. Finally, there was a 50.2% and 62.3% in left ventricular growth at Bidirectional Glenn and Fontan, respectively, after endocardial fibroelastosis resection compared to only a 6.9% growth at Stage 1. CONCLUSION: Bidirectional Glenn was the most effective palliation stage for left ventricular growth. Recruitment in patients at this stage was associated with growth that exceeds those who did not have recruitment. This stage also best demonstrates the ability and success of growing a small ventricle to be adequate for biventricular conversion. Left ventricular growth at Fontan circulation holds promising results that are a point of interest for more studies. Endocardial Fibroelastosis resection is more effective on left ventricular growth at Bidirectional Glenn and Fontan compared to Stage 1.

A intenção deste trabalho é compreender a formação de uma rede de debates intelectuais entre dois grupos da esquerda anglófona articulados em torno do Left Book Club, de Londres e em torno da revista Partisan Review, de Nova York durante os anos da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Entendo que, especialmente na primeira metade da década de 1940, os contatos entre estes dois núcleos da esquerda anglo-saxã se estreitaram em dois caminhos: por um lado, por uma crítica comum ao stalinismo; e, por outro, por uma crítica à esquerda da cultura nativa (e tradições burguesas) em ambos os países. Defendemos ainda que essas propostas articuladas por dentro dos movimentos intelectuais de esquerda nos dois países, ora baseadas ideologicamente numa releitura nãoinstitucionalizada do marxismo, ora no trotskismo, ora no pacifismo, ora na reconstrução de um discurso liberal, se aglutinavam em torno da contestação dos rumos do movimento comunista internacional, liderado pelo stalinismo. A articulação dos debates entre esses dois grupos se reforçará no momento em que o célebre romancista anglo-indiano George Orwell, famoso por duas das distopias mais famosas do século XX, o Animal Farm (1945) e o 1984 (1949), contribui simultaneamente com ambos os grupos. Na Partisan Review, Orwell ficara encarregado da publicação da coluna London Letters to Partisan Review, entre os anos de 1941 e 1946. A possibilidade de um diálogo franco com ambos os círculos, especialmente pela rede costurada com membros de ambos os grupos, possibilitou a Orwell criar uma ponte de contatos entre os dois ambientes. Entendo ainda que essa articulação construída por Orwell foi decisiva nas futuras participações de outros intelectuais, que já haviam publicado no Left Book Club e que participavam ativamente dos debates britânicos, como contribuintes da Partisan Review. / The intention of this work is to understand the constitution of a network of intellectual debates articulated among two groups of the Anglophone left around the London\'s Left Book Club, and around the New York\'s Partisan Review, during the years of World War II. I understand that, especially in the first half of the 1940s, contacts between the two cores of the Anglo-Saxon left narrowed in two ways: firstly, by a common critique of Stalinism; and on the other, a left-wing critic of the native culture (and bourgeois traditions) in both countries. We argue that those proposals articulated inside the left-wing intellectual movements in the two countries, based ideologically on a non-institutionalized reinterpretation of Marxism, or in Trotskyism, or in pacifism, or in rebuilding a liberal discourse, coalesced around the challenge of the international communist movement course, led by Stalinism. The joint discussions among those two groups will be strengthened at the time that the famous Anglo-Indian novelist George Orwell, famous for two of the most famous dystopias of the twentieth century, Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949), contributes simultaneously with both groups. In Partisan Review, Orwell had been in charge of publishing the column \"London Letters to Partisan Review\", between the years 1941 and 1946. The possibility of an open dialogue with both circles, especially the stitched network with members of both groups, enabled Orwell to create a bridge between the two environments. I also believe that this articulation builted by Orwell was decisive in the future participation of other intellectuals, who had already published through the Left Book Club and participating actively in British debates, as contributors of Partisan Review.

This thesis explores how economic performance, measured as real GDP-growth per capita, affects the vote share of parties which relies on radical ideological platforms. Using a fixed effect model with panel data, based on real electoral outcomes of 18 western European democracies, the result reveals an ambiguous reality. The overall conclusion implies that low growth rates benefit the electoral success of radical-right parties and holds for robustness checks. No solid evidence of the relationship is found on the radical-left side.The result further reveals that the individuals decision to vote radical is relative more affected by the ongoing business cycle trend between the elections rather than sudden changes close to the election day. The relationship also appears to be stronger among nations of southern Europe.

This work develops an opportunity for transgressive resistance to discursively formed structures of material and theoretical power and closure, based on a methodology of amateurism. The concept of amateurism draws heavily on the writing of Edward Said. This work synthesises Said with a broader corpus of postcolonial theory, following a theoretically postcolonial trajectory which applies the lessons from that referent to an engagement with traditional theoretical and cultural closure. The central thesis of the engagement follows a critique of strong ontology and vertical epistemology, or of expertise. Through an examination of health policy around birth, and sociological approaches to health, that critique is deployed to invigorate a new critical direction for the Left with a focus on subjectivity, social policy, social democracy and substantive citizenship. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of History and Politics, 2008