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This dissertation examines the lives of Japanese disabled war veterans and the activism of the Japanese Disabled Veterans Association (JDVA: Nippon Shôigunjin kai) in the early postwar period, beginning immediately following the Allied Occupation in the summer of 1945 and ending in 1963, when the National Diet passed the "Act on Special Aid to the Wounded and Sick Retired Soldiers" (Senshôbyôsha Tokubetsu Engo-hô). Established in 1952, the JDVA would play a leading role in securing welfare for Japanese disabled war veterans.

Results of an inter-laboratory round-robin study of the application of time-resolved emission spectroscopy (TRES) to the speciation of uranium(VI) in aqueous media are presented. The round-robin study involved 13 independent laboratories, using various instrumentation and data analysis methods. Samples were prepared based on appropriate speciation diagrams and, in general, were found to be chemically stable for at least six months. Four different types of aqueous uranyl solutions were studied: (1) acidic medium where UO22+aq is the single emitting species, (2) uranyl in the presence of fluoride ions, (3) uranyl in the presence of sulfate ions, and (4) uranyl in aqueous solutions at different pH, promoting the formation of hydrolyzed species. Results between the laboratories are compared in terms of the number of decay components, luminescence lifetimes, and spectral band positions. The successes and limitations of TRES in uranyl analysis and speciation in aqueous solutions are discussed.

Calamitic (rod-shaped) and discotic (disc-shaped) thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) compounds were spread at the air-water interface, and their ability to form monolayers was studied. The calamitic LCs investigated were found to form monolayers which behave analogously to conventional amphiphiles such as fatty acids. The spreading of the discotic LCs produced monolayers as well, but with a behaviour different from classical amphiphiles. The areas occupied per molecule are too small to allow the contact of all hydrophilic groups with the water surface and the packing of all hydrophobic chains. Various molecular arrangements of the discotics at the water surface to fit the spreading data are discussed.

The aqueous solubilization power of several series of micellar homopolymers and copolymers (polysoaps) is investigated. Using five insoluble or poorly water-soluble dyes, comparisons of the capacities are made with respect ot the influence of structural variables such as the polymer backbone, the polymer geometry, the comonomer content, and the charge of the hydrophilic group. Some guidelines for polysoap structures suited for efficient solubilization are established. Noteworthy is that the solubilization capacities of the polysoaps are neither linked to the ability to reduce the surface tension of water, nor to the polarity of the solubilization sites deduced from spectroscopic probes.

This thesis describes thirteen published works which constitute an evolving programme of research into service user and carer participation in old age psychiatry. They share the common objective of extending knowledge and understanding of methodologies, benefits and challenges of service user and carer participation in old age psychiatry services. The publications contribute to knowledge in three areas. The copying of letters to users and carers, and requests for their feedback on the practice, was described as part of routine practice in old age psychiatry: this research addresses the area of „users and carers as recipients of communication‟. „Users and carers as subjects of consultation‟ is addressed by several publications: an evaluation of users‟ experience of electro-convulsive therapy and later development of a method of integrating feedback from users into practice; a similar method was applied regionally in service improvement in order to access users‟ and carers‟ views and use them to identify areas for improvement work, and nationally by a professional organisation to inform and develop its work programme. The third area of contribution is that of „users and carers as agents in control‟ and this is addressed in an initiative in higher education where users and carers were agents of control in designing, delivering and evaluating an MSc module on user and carer experience. The contribution of the publications is related to four overall objectives: ways in which users and carers participate in old age psychiatry services; the benefits and drawbacks of user and carer participation in old age psychiatry services; ways of conceptualising user and carer participation in old age psychiatry; and finally, potential areas for future research in user and carer participation in old age psychiatry.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Robert J. Eger III, Ph.D.; Committee Member: Christopher M. Weible, Ph.D.; Committee Member: Gregory B. Lewis, Ph.D.; Committee Member: Monica M. Gaughan, Ph.D.; Committee Member: Valerie A. Hepburn, Ph.D.