This thesis introduces a " new " international relations theorist who is also, in fact, one of the oldest of international relations theorists. Mencius (Meng Zi 371-289 BCE) is well known to students of Chinese culture as a key figure in the history of Confucianism and in the history of China: the second sage no less. Yet modern scholars usually study him, if he is studied at all, for an idea of how " Chinese" think rather than as a thinker worth studying for his own sake. I decided to study Mencius as an international relations theorist in response to the common criticism that international relations, the academic discipline, is too &quote; eurocentric". This criticism has been made many times. My goal however was not to repeat the criticism but to find a major thinker outside the euro-centric world. Such a thinker could be presented as an international relations theorist and thus demonstrate that we should indeed heed the critics of euro-centrism and make studies outside the euro-centric framework rather than simply announce that international relations is euro-centric and proceed to make another euro-centric study. This study of Mencius, qua international relations theorist, illustrates that point. Mencius lived in a world of warring states and tried to bring peace and order to that world. In the course of doing so he developed a sophisticated international relations theory which can be used to analyse events in the contemporary world. In this thesis I offer a comparison of Mencius and Kenneth N Waltz, a famous contemporary international relations theorist, to show the strength of Mencius’ theory. Mencius argues that an anarchical system of states can become an ordered one if the order is legitimised by what he calls " benevolence" , an ethic based on universal values. Waltz argues that values can never underpin an order that runs contrary to states’ interests. Once an anarchical international system has commenced balance of power formations will rise to stop it moving towards order. The disagreement between Mencius and Waltz is profound; it is not simply about the patterns of international relations ii systems but whether a policy of reform based on values can succeed in the international arena. Waltz, and the vast majority of international relations theorists, answer that question in the negative. This " ruling out" of progress distinguishes the study of international politics from the study of domestic politics. Mencius does not rule it out; he offers hope for progress and reform in the international arena. Thus the attempt to address one problem, euro-centrism, led me to approach the greatest problem, the denial of a role for values in the international world. The thesis sets out to show that Mencius’ international relations theory has greater explanatory power than the theory of Waltz, the arch positivist. The thesis also seeks to demonstrate that it is a mistake to rule values out of international politics.

Biofertilisers are rhizosphere microorganisms inoculated to reduce the need for N or P fertiliser application and maximise plant growth and nutrition, resulting in greater grain yield and N or P content. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of diazotrophic bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of wheat in Victoria, Australia. This thesis shows that N2-fixing Burkholderia species have great potential as biofertilisers on wheat productivity. In Chapter 2, strains of bacteria were isolated from wheat-growing soils in main Victoria wheat belt at Horsham and Birchip in North West Victoria. Strains were identified as Burkholderia spp. by their closest matches in the 16S DNA and by morphology and physiology. In Chapter 3, one selected strain from each of Birchip and Horsham were used to inoculate wheat in a pot trial in a glasshouse during winter-spring. Soil was collected on site from wheat fields. Pots were inoculated with these strains to evaluate the effects of Burkholderia inoculum as biofertiliser on the plant growth and yield. Different nitrogen sources (urea 46% N and ammonium sulphate 21% N) were used as fertiliser at one of four levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg N/ ha). There was a greater effect in Birchip than in Horsham soil and with ammonium sulphate than with urea due to waterlogying in Horsham soil. In Chapter 4, field-grown wheat was inoculated with the same strains of Burkholderia. Three experiments were carried out in plots at two sites, dryland and irrigated fields at Horsham and a dryland field at Birchip, during the winter wheat season of 2006, to evaluate the effect of Burkholderia species inoculum and different types of nitrogen source at one of four levels of added N (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg N/ha) on wheat growth and yield. The effects of both bacterial inoculation and N fertiliser on growth promotion and grain yield. Since 2006 was a year of drought, dry land crops were unsuccessful. Grain %N as well as total N content in grain per area in the Horsham irrigated field increased with increasing N fertiliser levels up to 100 kg N/ha. In Chapter 5, acetylene reduction (ARA) activity was measured in the pots for both inoculated and uninoculated plants at various growth stages and populations of nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with the wheat roots and bulk soil were measured in addition to biomass and N content of plants and grain. Molecular tracing using specific primers showed that the inoculum was present only in inoculated treatments. Up to 60% of the increased N content of the grain in inoculated plants was potentially derived from nitrogen fixed by the inoculum in the rhizosphere. It was concluded that the most significant result due to inoculation was the consistent maximal increase of N content in grain in inoculated treatments with ammonium sulphate fertiliser at 100 kg N/ha. Inoculation with Burkholderia consistently increased %N in wheat grain, with the potential benefit of decreasing the production cost and reducing use of chemical fertilisers.

No description available.

Hoy en d��a la tecnolog��a educativa avanza a pasos agigantados: primarias, secundarias, preparatorias y universidades utilizan m��todos diversos en cuestiones de ense��anza, unos m��s efectivos que otros. / En cuesti��n de herramientas tecnol��gicas que sirven como m��todos de ense��anza, tales como los LMS, surge la pregunta ��Por qu�� la experiencia de los docentes y alumnos nos dicta que los LMS de hoy en d��a son aborrecidos por la mayor parte de los integrantes de comunidades estudiantilesα La respuesta es simple: los LMS han sido creados como m��quinas casi perfectas en cuestiones de programaci��n y funcionalidad (realizaci��n de encuestas, cuestionarios, paquetes SCORM, banco de preguntas, entre otros) pero el problema central reside en las decenas de aplicaciones existentes dentro de las mismas plataformas (Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai, entre otros) que son inutilizables. Es tanto el contenido que se muestra al inicio en los Gestores de Aprendizaje existentes que las personas optan por desechar o simplemente ni siquiera considerar la idea de adoptar una plataforma como su medio principal de ense��anza y/o aprendizaje. / (cont.) Adicionalmente, se debe mencionar la nula utilizaci��n de tecnolog��as aplicadas en redes sociales y aplicaci��n de tecnolog��as colaborativas dentro de la misma plataforma. / En el cap��tulo 1 se presenta el planteamiento de la problem��tica (t��cnica y no t��cnica) que tendr�� la plataforma Aula social para apoyar al aprendizaje mediante tecnolog��as colaborativas, los objetivos generales y espec��ficos as�� como los alcances y limitaciones de dicha plataforma. / En el cap��tulo 2 se har�� la descripci��n detallada de las plataformas ya existentes y que son utilizadas actualmente en instituciones alrededor de todo el mundo para gestionar el aprendizaje efectivo, as�� como tambi��n la estrecha relaci��n que existe entre sistemas de gesti��n de contenidos y sistemas de apoyo al aprendizaje. / En el cap��tulo 3 se explicar��n a fondo las funcionalidades b��sicas que tendr�� la plataforma Aula Social, las cuales se dividir��n en tres ��reas esenciales las cuales son educativas, colaborativas y sociales. / En el cap��tulo 4 se presentar�� la forma detallada de c��mo se llev�� acabo la implementaci��n de la plataforma Aula Social. / En el cap��tulo 5 se presentar��an las pruebas, resultados y conclusiones de usabilidad realizadas por el equipo de la clase de Interacci��n Humano Computadora del Dr. / (cont.) Alfredo S��nchez Huitr��n. / El cap��tulo 6 tendr�� las conclusiones obtenidas en el desarrollo de este trabajo y las posibles extensiones que se puedan desarrollar a futuro para Aula social. / En los ap��ndices se muestran aspectos complementarios de lo que es el dise��o y desarrollo de Aula Social, algunas capturas de pantalla de dicha plataforma, ejemplos de uso de las tecnolog��as colaborativas integradas y parte del c��digo fuente de los m��dulos de creaci��n propia, as�� como algunos diagramas de componentes de dicha plataforma.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This work considers the organization and performance of computations on parallel computers of tree algorithms for the N-body problem where the number of particles is on the order of a million. The N-body problem is formulated as a set of recursive equations based on a few elementary functions, which leads to a computational structure in the form of a pyramid-like graph, where each vertex is a process, and each arc a communication link. The pyramid is mapped to three different processor configurations: (1) A pyramid of processors corresponding to the processes pyramid graph; (2) A hypercube of processors, e.g., a connection-machine like architecture; (3) A rather small array, e.g., $2 \\times 2 \\ times 2$, of processors faster than the ones considered in (1) and (2) above. Simulations of this size can be performed on any of the three architectures in reasonable time.

When a semi-infinite body of homogeneous fluid initially at rest behind a vertical retaining wall is suddenly released by the removal of the barrier the resulting flow over a horizontal or sloping bed is referred to as a dam-break flow. When resistance to the flow is neglected the exact solution, in the case of a stable horizontal bed with or without `tail water', may be obtained on the basis of shallow-water theory via the method of characteristics and the results are well known. Discrepancies between these shallow-water based solutions and experiments have been partially accounted for by the introduction of flow resistance in the form of basal friction. This added friction significantly modifies the wave speed and flow profile near the head of the wave so that the simple exact solutions no longer apply and various asymptotic or numerical approaches must be implemented to solve these frictionally modified depth-averaged shallow-water equations. When the bed is no longer stable so that solid particles may be exchanged between the bed and the water column the dynamics of the flow becomes highly complex as the buoyancy forces vary in space and time according to the competing rates of erosion and deposition. Furthermore, when the Froude number of the flow is close to unity perturbations in the height and velocity profiles grow into N-waves and the bed below develops ripples which act to sustain the N-waves in the fluid above. It is our intention here to study dam-break flows over erodible sloping beds as agents of sediment transport taking into account basal friction as well as the effects of particle concentrations on flow dynamics including both erosion and deposition. We shall consider shallow flows over initially dry beds and investigate the effects of changes in the depositional and erosional models employed as well as in the nature of the drag acting on the flow and the slope of the bed. These models include effects hitherto neglected in such studies and offer insights into the transport of sediment in the worst case scenario of the complete and instantaneous collapse of a dam. / Mathematics