One of the most challenging tasks remaining in the field of biochemistry is the one of understanding how the information within the amino acid sequence of proteins translates into a unique structure. Solving this problem would lead to endless possibilities for application in the medical and biotechnology industry. Many decades ago scientists realized that the process that facilitates the folding of a polypeptide chain could not be random and happen by chance; there needs to be direction in the folding free energy landscape. This landscape is defined by the thermodynamic factors entropy and enthalpy. The contribution made by enthalpy i.e. the contact energies from intra- and intermolecular interactions have been extensively investigated by various mutational studies. The influence of entropy on the other hand, is less well understood. My work focuses on the effect of altering the entropic components of forming the various parts of a known protein scaffold. This is done by genetic engineering in combination with biophysical characterisation and analysis. The results show effects on protein folding rates as well as on the pathway for nucleation and emphasis the ability of the folding landscape to readjust to entropic variations. Proteins are therefore not required to fold along a unique route to their final structure but can do so in several ways. The folding pathways we observe today have hence likely evolved as an adaptation to biological demands.

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Excited states in the transitional nucleus 160Yb have been studied using gamma-ray and conversion electron spectroscopy following the beta+/EC decay of 160Lu. Excited states in the nuclei 160Tm and 160Er have been studied following the beta+/EC decay of 160Yb and 160Tm, respectively. The data for the present study were obtained at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada at the ISAC-1 facility through radioactive sources moved into the combination of the 8pi gamma-ray spectrometer array and the Pentagonal Array for Conversion Electron Spectroscopy (PACES). Analysis of gamma-ray gated gamma-ray, gamma-ray gated conversion electron and conversion electron gated gamma-ray spectra resulted in the discovery of a new first excited state and the establishment of a level scheme for 160Tm which differs from the one adopted; as well as a test of the rotational characteristics of 160Er with intensity comparisons to both the spin-5 beta-decaying isomer study of by Singh et al. and the spin-parity 1- beta decay study of by Strusny et al. and Bykov et al.

Background: The objective of this study was to verify the effect that plot locational errors, termed plot co-registration errors, have on the strength of regression between LiDAR canopy metrics and the measured total standing volume (TSV) of plots in a Pinus radiata forest. Methods: A 737 hectare plantation of mature Pinus radiata located in Northern Hawkes Bay was selected for the study. This forest had been measured in a pre-harvest inventory and had aerial LiDAR assessment. The location of plots was verified using a survey-grade GPS. Least square linear regression models were developed to predict TSV from LiDAR canopy metrics for a sample of 204 plots. The regression strength, accuracy and bias was compared for models developed using either the actual (verified) or the incorrect (intended) locations for these plots. The change to the LiDAR canopy metrics after the plot co-registration errors was also established. Results: The plot co-registration error in the sample ranged from 0.7 m to 70.3 m, with an average linear spatial error of 10.6 m. The plot co-registration errors substantially reduced the strength of regression between LiDAR canopy metrics and TSV, as the model developed from the actual plot locations had an R2 of 44%, while the model developed from the incorrect plot locations had an R2 of 19%. The greatest reductions in model strength occurred when there was less than a 60% overlap between the plots defined by correct and incorrect locations. Higher plot co-registration errors also caused significant changes to the height and density LiDAR canopy metrics that were used in the regression models. The lower percentile elevation LiDAR metrics were more sensitive to plot co- registration errors, compared to higher percentile metrics. Conclusion: Plot co-registration errors have a significant effect on the strength of regressions formed between TSV and LiDAR canopy metrics. This indicates that accurate measurements of plot locations are necessary to fully utilise LiDAR for inventory purposes in forests of Pinus radiata.

Publication bias is one threat to validity that researchers conducting meta-analysis studies confront. Two primary goals of this research were to examine the degree to which publication bias impacts the results of a random effects meta-analysis and to investigate the performance of five statistical methods for detecting publication bias in random effects meta-analysis. Specifically, the difference between the population effect size and the estimated meta-analysis effect size, as well as the difference between the population effect size variance and the meta-analysis effect size variance, provided an indication of the impact of publication bias. In addition, the performance of five statistical methods for detecting publication bias (Begg Rank Correlation with sample size, Begg Rank Correlation with variance, Egger Regression, Funnel Plot Regression, and Trim and Fill) were estimated with Type I error rates and statistical power. The overall findings indicate that publication bias notably impacts the meta-analysis effect size and variance estimates. Poor FTSe I error control was exhibited in many conditions by most of the statistical methods. Even when Type I error rates were adequate the power was small, even with larger samples and greater numbers of studies in the meta-analysis.

This study explores the connections between childhood and children's literature. In this connection there is an inherent tension between writing and reading "real" childhood, as it is being lived by children now, and interacting with an adult-normative, adult-reconstructed childhood that may or may not have existed in the past. The purpose of this study was to address this tension by analyzing fifteen recently published award-winning children's novels, from the United States, The United Kingdom, and Australia, in order to ferret out how present-day childhood is constructed within this text set. Using a hybrid methodology called critical discourse analysis, buttressed by the frameworks of postmodern childhood studies and critical children's literature studies, the novels were analyzed in a hermeneutic, reader-response oriented approach in order to excavate themes that addressed childhood in the narratives. Findings are presented as a meta-plot, wherein the child protagonists leave a failed home, set out on a journey of knowledge and experience gaining a sense of agency, and, at the end of the novel, construct a new home replete with the child protagonists' personal meaning. This meta-plot includes instances of the child protagonist performing parrhesiatic acts (Foucault) as well as developing non-hierarchical relationships as conceptualized by an I/You relationship (Buber). Other findings include the construction of childhood as a time of "becoming" and a time of "is-ness," childhood as a time of resilience, and childhood as a time of difficult decisions. Conclusions of the analysis speak to the idea of the child serving as a Modern bringer of hope, who manages to create moral order from within an adult-created postmodern milieu. Implications relate to the fields of literacy education, replications of the study with an interpretative community of children, and continuing to define the burgeoning methodology of critical content analysis.

This paper uses Maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the common correlation coefficients for multivariate datasets. We discuss a graphical tool, Q-Q plot, to test equality of the common intraclass correlation coefficients. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Cramér-von Mises test are used to check if the intraclass correlation coefficients are the same among populations. Bootstrap and empirical likelihood methods are applied to construct the confidence interval of the common intraclass correlation coefficients.

Lietuvoje vykstant žemės reformai nuosavybės teisių į turėtą žemę atkūrimo procesas sąlygojo žemėvaldos formavimo principus. Išryškėjo suformuotų žemėvaldų trūkumai: žemės savininko žemėvalda suformuota keliuose sklypuose, mažas sklypų plotas, netaisyklinga ir nepatogi žemės sklypų konfigūracija, iki galo neišspręsti privažiavimo prie sklypų keliai. Magistro baigiamojo darbo tikslas – atlikti moksliškai pagrįstą ūkių žemėnaudų analizę ir nustatyti jas sudarančių žemės sklypų pertvarkymo poreikį. Lietuvos žemės ūkyje vyrauja smulkūs – iki 10-12 ha, nekonkurencingi, mažo investicinio pajėgumo ūkiai. Jų žemės naudojimas optimizuojamas rengiant žemės konsolidacijos projektus. Žemės konsolidacijos projektai rengiami kaimo vietovėse, kuriose yra įgyvendinti žemės reformos žemėtvarkos projektai. Šiems projektams rengti yra palankios sąlygos – piliečiams baigiamos atkurti nuosavybės teisės į turėtą žemę, yra priimti teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys žemės konsolidacijos procesą. Įvyko bandomieji ir dabartiniu metu vyksta keletas žemės konsolidacijos projektų. Žemės konsolidacijos projektų rengimo poreikis akivaizdus – reikalinga pertvarkyti žemės reformos metu neracionaliai suformuotus žemės sklypus. Žemės konsolidacijos poreikis kyla asmenims, naudojantiems savo žemės sklypus ir siekiantiems pagerinti jų išsidėstymą. Pagrindinis tikslas, kurio siekiama rengiant žemės konsolidacijos projektus – kiekvieno žemės ūkio ar miškų ūkio veikla užsiimančio žemės naudotojo sklypų išdėstymą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / With a land reform being implemented in Lithuania, the process of restitution of ownership rights to the formerly possessed land has conditioned land-ownership formation principles. The drawbacks of the developed land-ownerships have become distinct: the land-ownership of the one land owner is developed into separate land plots, a small area of formed land plots; irregular and inconvenient configuration of land plots; incompletely solved access roads to the land plots. The aim of the Master‘s research paper is to carry out a scientifically grounded analysis of land usage in farms and define the need of reorganisation of the constitutive land plots. In the agriculture of Lithuania small-scale, up to 10-12 ha, uncompetitive farms with small investment capacity prevail. Utilization of their land is being optimized by preparing land consolidation projects. The land consolidation projects are being prepared in the countryside, where the land reform projects are already developed. There are beneficial circumstances for the preparation of these projects – the finishing of the process of restitution of ownership rights, the enactment of legal acts which are regulating the process of the land consolidation. Some experimental projects of the land consolidation were performed in the past and some projects of the land consolidation are proceeding now. The need for the preparation of the projects of the land consolidation is obvious - it is necessary to reform the unreasonably formed... [to full text]