This dissertation presents a comprehensive qualitative study of the decision-making aspects of emergency department (ED) triage at a large urban Trauma I hospital in the Southeast. Specifically, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) What do triage nurses perceive as the primary role of the triage process? (2) How do triage nurses interpret patient performances? These questions are explored through illuminating the intricacies of triage decision-making by the use of semi-structured interviews and observations. The findings of this study indicate: (1) a better understanding of the triage decision- making process yielding more practical insights related to the informal, emergent, and often improvisational ways patients are received, categorized, and treated was needed, and (2) providing a clearer understanding of the processes involved in sorting patients may provide much-needed insight regarding clinical concerns and/or issues regarding patient categorization, adverse clinical events, and excessive patient wait times. These findings are of particular importance due to the widespread overuse of EDs for nonemergent care. Essentially, EDs are designed for patients to visit due to an alteration in their physical and/or mental state. Once a patient enters the ED, a medical professional is tasked with the responsibility of interpreting the physical and/or mental state of the patient, which is generally achieved by interpreting the patient story - the precipitating event that brought them into the ED. What this study contributes to the literature is a deeper understanding of the communicative processes that ED triage nurses leverage to make sense of patient stories.

This study proposes an approach to a solution for the problem of the perceived ‚separatedness‛ of language from reality which employs the rhetorical concept of ethos, the doctrinal concept of the Chalcedonian definition of the nature of the incarnated Christ, and Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of ‚answerability.‛ As an alternative to theories of reading and interpretation based on the arbitrariness of linguistic meaning, radical skepticism, and the death of the author, the approach defined in this study emphasizes affirmation of the centrality of the human person and the necessity of close, loving attention as the grounds of both aesthetic vision and ethical action. Developing three exemplary readings of novelized epics including Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, David Jones’s In Parenthesis, and Chenjerai Hove’s Bones, the study demonstrates how loving, careful attention to ethos—the definition of which is expanded to include relationships between language and character in literary works, genres, characters, authors, and teachers—is the prerequisite for answerability in literary relationships. Whether one is primarily interested in authors, characters, genres, canon, readers, or critical reception, attention to ethos illuminates the ways in which responses to literary works are conditioned by and analogous to responses to persons. The complex and irreducible relationships between the ‚word‛ and the ‚person‛ require an individual answerability for which there is no alibi. Ultimately, the ‚word‛ and the ‚world‛ are united in the answerable person, whether that person is an author, a character, a reader, a critic or a teacher.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to examine a series of six revolver barrels manufactured by the Colt Patent Arms Manufacturing Company between 1853 and 1863. SEM micrographs revealed a vast range of surface morphologies among the corroded samples. XRD diffraction patterns showed varying levels of magnetite on the blackened samples, but hematite could not be identified. EDS was used to map elemental distribution and quantify elemental abundances on the gun surfaces; further investigation using this technique may reveal more definitive information on whether some elements present were deposited during patination.

Virginia Woolf once remarked that, “[t]here is no reason to think that the form of the epic ... suit[s] a woman any more than the [masculine] sentence” (Woolf 84). This thesis represents an attempt to explore what the epic genre, as imagined and written by women, might look like in regards to the verse of fellow women poets Felicia Hemans and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Despite the persistent critical misconception that women’s poetry of the Romantic and Victorian periods is comprised mainly of light, lyric verse and tends to lack that “great effort” – for example, the epic poem – which often appears in the work of their male contemporaries, this thesis will argue conversely that Hemans and Barrett Browning do assume certain aspects of traditional epic poetry – a genre “almost coterminous” with masculinity (Schweizer 1) – in their work, while also managing to transform the genre in order that their work might successfully embody a more feminine perspective. The first chapter of the thesis examines the ways in which these two women poets are able to bridge the private and public spheres by transforming the quintessential role of the female poet as record-keeper into that of the poet as prophet and visionary in their political poetry. The two following chapters will highlight the ways in which both Hemans and Barrett Browning remodel the epic form in order to draw attention to the female voice (chapter two) and to examine new and unconventional prototypes of female heroinism, for example the pioneering female artist and the militant mother (chapter three). With strong ties to a masculine tradition of epic, yet incorporating aspects of femininity hitherto foreign – perhaps even inimical – to the traditional conception of the genre, female epic, while admittedly something of a hybrid, arguably represents a distinctive genre in its own right and one which certainly merits more critical attention in the future.

Virginia Woolf once remarked that, “[t]here is no reason to think that the form of the epic ... suit[s] a woman any more than the [masculine] sentence” (Woolf 84). This thesis represents an attempt to explore what the epic genre, as imagined and written by women, might look like in regards to the verse of fellow women poets Felicia Hemans and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Despite the persistent critical misconception that women’s poetry of the Romantic and Victorian periods is comprised mainly of light, lyric verse and tends to lack that “great effort” – for example, the epic poem – which often appears in the work of their male contemporaries, this thesis will argue conversely that Hemans and Barrett Browning do assume certain aspects of traditional epic poetry – a genre “almost coterminous” with masculinity (Schweizer 1) – in their work, while also managing to transform the genre in order that their work might successfully embody a more feminine perspective. The first chapter of the thesis examines the ways in which these two women poets are able to bridge the private and public spheres by transforming the quintessential role of the female poet as record-keeper into that of the poet as prophet and visionary in their political poetry. The two following chapters will highlight the ways in which both Hemans and Barrett Browning remodel the epic form in order to draw attention to the female voice (chapter two) and to examine new and unconventional prototypes of female heroinism, for example the pioneering female artist and the militant mother (chapter three). With strong ties to a masculine tradition of epic, yet incorporating aspects of femininity hitherto foreign – perhaps even inimical – to the traditional conception of the genre, female epic, while admittedly something of a hybrid, arguably represents a distinctive genre in its own right and one which certainly merits more critical attention in the future.

This study proposes an approach to a solution for the problem of the perceived ‚separatedness‛ of language from reality which employs the rhetorical concept of ethos, the doctrinal concept of the Chalcedonian definition of the nature of the incarnated Christ, and Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of ‚answerability.‛ As an alternative to theories of reading and interpretation based on the arbitrariness of linguistic meaning, radical skepticism, and the death of the author, the approach defined in this study emphasizes affirmation of the centrality of the human person and the necessity of close, loving attention as the grounds of both aesthetic vision and ethical action. Developing three exemplary readings of novelized epics including Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, David Jones’s In Parenthesis, and Chenjerai Hove’s Bones, the study demonstrates how loving, careful attention to ethos—the definition of which is expanded to include relationships between language and character in literary works, genres, characters, authors, and teachers—is the prerequisite for answerability in literary relationships. Whether one is primarily interested in authors, characters, genres, canon, readers, or critical reception, attention to ethos illuminates the ways in which responses to literary works are conditioned by and analogous to responses to persons. The complex and irreducible relationships between the ‚word‛ and the ‚person‛ require an individual answerability for which there is no alibi. Ultimately, the ‚word‛ and the ‚world‛ are united in the answerable person, whether that person is an author, a character, a reader, a critic or a teacher.

No description available.

No description available.

PhD / The waratah, Telopea speciosissma and its hybrids with other Telopea species, is an Australian native species grown for domestic and export cut flower markets. The showy floral bracts surrounding the inflorescence often suffer from bract browning, reducing the market value and export potential of the blooms. Prior to this project, the physiological cause of the disorder was not known, although bract browning had been attributed to water stress, heat stress, high light (particularly after frost), wind and mechanical damage. Bract browning was reportedly minimised when waratahs were grown in shaded conditions, although the reduction in browning by shade had not been quantified. The aim of this project was to examine the physiological cause of the bract browning disorder and investigate methods for control. The appearance, timing, and severity of the bract browning disorder was initially characterised by dissecting waratah buds from commercial growers throughout NSW. Bract browning became evident in the six to eight weeks prior to harvest, coinciding with rapid bract and flower expansion. A survey of commercial waratah growers, initiated by NSW Agriculture and the Waratah Industry Network and analysed by the author, corroborated these results. The survey showed that bract browning was observed in all years between 1999 and 2003, with relatively high severity (scores from three to five out of a possible five) in three of those years. Scores or counts of brown bracts were used to assess the severity of the disorder, the latter including the number of senesced floral bracts following browning as a measure of browning severity. The position and timing of browning suggest light damage or localised calcium deficiency could play a role in the development of browning. The bract browning disorder was studied in further experiments on potted red waratahs of cultivars ‘Fire and Brimstone’, ‘Olympic Flame’ and ‘Sunflare’ at the Mount Annan Botanic Garden; on commercially grown ‘Wirrimbirra White’ waratahs at Jervis Bay; and on natural populations in the Royal National Park. The effect of calcium nutrition on bract browning was studied at Mount Annan in 2001 and 2002, testing the hypothesis that browning may be caused by a localised calcium deficiency similar to lettuce tipburn or poinsettia bract necrosis. Waratah bracts had significantly less calcium in all fractions than leaves, with the procedure of Ferguson et al. (1980) used to separate physiologically active, oxalate associated and residual calcium. Calcium chloride sprays applied to developing bracts increased total bract calcium by about 25% in ‘Sunflare’ and ‘Olympic Flame’ cultivars, but not in ‘Fire and Brimstone’. However, application of calcium as a spray to the developing bracts, or as gypsum to the potting medium did not significantly reduce bract browning scores. These results and the development of bract browning in exposed, rather than enclosed tissue, suggest that factors other than calcium are involved in the development of bract browning. The light environment (full sun or 50% shade cloth) had a greater effect than irrigation frequency on bract browning of ‘Sunflare’ and ‘Olympic Flame’ waratahs in 2001. Waratahs grown under 50% shade cloth showed less bract browning at flower maturity than waratahs grown in full sun. This result was corroborated by subsequent experiments in 2002 and 2003. For example, in 2002, shade cloth reduced browning and bract loss by 30-60% at flower maturity, compared to waratahs grown in full sun. Shading waratahs from bud initiation in late summer (December-January) or bud opening in late winter (July-August) was equally effective in reducing browning. Shade cloth (50%) significantly reduced the light intensity experienced by waratah plants throughout the day, as well as reducing the daily maximum temperature and minimum relative humidity. Natural shade conditions at the Royal National Park effectively prevented browning of floral bracts, although the smaller basal bracts still turned brown and senesced. The development of bract browning as waratahs matured was linked to the development of chronic photoinhibition, measured as a decrease in predawn photosynthetic efficiency using chlorophyll fluorescence techniques. Waratah bracts were unable to maintain efficient photosynthesis in full sun conditions and reached saturation of non-photochemical quenching at lower light intensities than leaves. This suggests that bract tissue is adapted to a lower light environment than leaf tissue. Outer bracts had a significantly lower photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) than leaves early in flower development, as they were exposed to the environment for a prolonged period. Outer bracts also began to senesce towards flower maturity, particularly in full sun, increasing their susceptibility to damage. Inner waratah bracts were able to maintain a high photosynthetic efficiency prior to exposure, but photosynthetic efficiency decreased significantly at the intermediate stage of floral development, as inner bracts were no longer protected by outer bracts. Waratah leaves were more resilient than bracts, and did not suffer from chronic photoinhibition or browning during flower development. The increased susceptibility of bracts to photoinhibition and browning parallels results in other species, such as Dendrobium, where floral tissue experiences photoinhibition, bleaching and necrosis at lower light intensities than leaf tissue. Bracts on shaded waratahs maintained higher chlorophyll, carotenoid and anthocyanin concentrations than sun-exposed bracts, giving more intense flower colour and higher quality blooms. The significant decrease in bract pigmentation in the sun is likely to be a result of pigment destruction following photoinhibition, and has been noted in susceptible tissues of other species, such as Illicium (star anise) leaves. The presence of anthocyanins did not reduce bract browning in waratahs, with the concentration of UV-absorbing compounds showing a stronger positive correlation with protection from photoinhibition than the concentration of anthocyanins. However, anthocyanin concentrations were significantly lower in sun-exposed bracts, and brown compounds appeared to replace anthocyanins in the epidermal cells of brown bracts. Thus, it seems likely that browning in waratah bracts is the visible manifestation of oxidative damage to cell components, following chronic photoinhibition. Light-induced oxidative damage can lead to yellowing and pigment bleaching, lipid peroxidation, the development of necrotic lesions and senescence. However, lipid peroxidation as measured by the malionaldehyde assay gave no indication of oxidative damage to waratah bract tissue. This was probably due to the presence of anthocyanins and other flavonoids and sugars other than sucrose in bract tissue interfering with the colourimetric measurement of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. The extensive planting of waratahs in NSW in the last five years suggests that the total value of lost production due to bract browning is likely to increase in the future. The browning disorder may also prevent the establishment of waratahs in other markets, as international cut-flower markets demand high quality blooms free from blemishes. The results of this study show that bract browning, photoinhibition and pigment loss are minimised by protecting waratahs from high light intensities from bud opening until harvest. However, the consequences of shading waratahs throughout the year require further investigation, as does the use of different percentages of shade cloth or other methods to reduce incident light.

PhD / The waratah, Telopea speciosissma and its hybrids with other Telopea species, is an Australian native species grown for domestic and export cut flower markets. The showy floral bracts surrounding the inflorescence often suffer from bract browning, reducing the market value and export potential of the blooms. Prior to this project, the physiological cause of the disorder was not known, although bract browning had been attributed to water stress, heat stress, high light (particularly after frost), wind and mechanical damage. Bract browning was reportedly minimised when waratahs were grown in shaded conditions, although the reduction in browning by shade had not been quantified. The aim of this project was to examine the physiological cause of the bract browning disorder and investigate methods for control. The appearance, timing, and severity of the bract browning disorder was initially characterised by dissecting waratah buds from commercial growers throughout NSW. Bract browning became evident in the six to eight weeks prior to harvest, coinciding with rapid bract and flower expansion. A survey of commercial waratah growers, initiated by NSW Agriculture and the Waratah Industry Network and analysed by the author, corroborated these results. The survey showed that bract browning was observed in all years between 1999 and 2003, with relatively high severity (scores from three to five out of a possible five) in three of those years. Scores or counts of brown bracts were used to assess the severity of the disorder, the latter including the number of senesced floral bracts following browning as a measure of browning severity. The position and timing of browning suggest light damage or localised calcium deficiency could play a role in the development of browning. The bract browning disorder was studied in further experiments on potted red waratahs of cultivars ‘Fire and Brimstone’, ‘Olympic Flame’ and ‘Sunflare’ at the Mount Annan Botanic Garden; on commercially grown ‘Wirrimbirra White’ waratahs at Jervis Bay; and on natural populations in the Royal National Park. The effect of calcium nutrition on bract browning was studied at Mount Annan in 2001 and 2002, testing the hypothesis that browning may be caused by a localised calcium deficiency similar to lettuce tipburn or poinsettia bract necrosis. Waratah bracts had significantly less calcium in all fractions than leaves, with the procedure of Ferguson et al. (1980) used to separate physiologically active, oxalate associated and residual calcium. Calcium chloride sprays applied to developing bracts increased total bract calcium by about 25% in ‘Sunflare’ and ‘Olympic Flame’ cultivars, but not in ‘Fire and Brimstone’. However, application of calcium as a spray to the developing bracts, or as gypsum to the potting medium did not significantly reduce bract browning scores. These results and the development of bract browning in exposed, rather than enclosed tissue, suggest that factors other than calcium are involved in the development of bract browning. The light environment (full sun or 50% shade cloth) had a greater effect than irrigation frequency on bract browning of ‘Sunflare’ and ‘Olympic Flame’ waratahs in 2001. Waratahs grown under 50% shade cloth showed less bract browning at flower maturity than waratahs grown in full sun. This result was corroborated by subsequent experiments in 2002 and 2003. For example, in 2002, shade cloth reduced browning and bract loss by 30-60% at flower maturity, compared to waratahs grown in full sun. Shading waratahs from bud initiation in late summer (December-January) or bud opening in late winter (July-August) was equally effective in reducing browning. Shade cloth (50%) significantly reduced the light intensity experienced by waratah plants throughout the day, as well as reducing the daily maximum temperature and minimum relative humidity. Natural shade conditions at the Royal National Park effectively prevented browning of floral bracts, although the smaller basal bracts still turned brown and senesced. The development of bract browning as waratahs matured was linked to the development of chronic photoinhibition, measured as a decrease in predawn photosynthetic efficiency using chlorophyll fluorescence techniques. Waratah bracts were unable to maintain efficient photosynthesis in full sun conditions and reached saturation of non-photochemical quenching at lower light intensities than leaves. This suggests that bract tissue is adapted to a lower light environment than leaf tissue. Outer bracts had a significantly lower photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) than leaves early in flower development, as they were exposed to the environment for a prolonged period. Outer bracts also began to senesce towards flower maturity, particularly in full sun, increasing their susceptibility to damage. Inner waratah bracts were able to maintain a high photosynthetic efficiency prior to exposure, but photosynthetic efficiency decreased significantly at the intermediate stage of floral development, as inner bracts were no longer protected by outer bracts. Waratah leaves were more resilient than bracts, and did not suffer from chronic photoinhibition or browning during flower development. The increased susceptibility of bracts to photoinhibition and browning parallels results in other species, such as Dendrobium, where floral tissue experiences photoinhibition, bleaching and necrosis at lower light intensities than leaf tissue. Bracts on shaded waratahs maintained higher chlorophyll, carotenoid and anthocyanin concentrations than sun-exposed bracts, giving more intense flower colour and higher quality blooms. The significant decrease in bract pigmentation in the sun is likely to be a result of pigment destruction following photoinhibition, and has been noted in susceptible tissues of other species, such as Illicium (star anise) leaves. The presence of anthocyanins did not reduce bract browning in waratahs, with the concentration of UV-absorbing compounds showing a stronger positive correlation with protection from photoinhibition than the concentration of anthocyanins. However, anthocyanin concentrations were significantly lower in sun-exposed bracts, and brown compounds appeared to replace anthocyanins in the epidermal cells of brown bracts. Thus, it seems likely that browning in waratah bracts is the visible manifestation of oxidative damage to cell components, following chronic photoinhibition. Light-induced oxidative damage can lead to yellowing and pigment bleaching, lipid peroxidation, the development of necrotic lesions and senescence. However, lipid peroxidation as measured by the malionaldehyde assay gave no indication of oxidative damage to waratah bract tissue. This was probably due to the presence of anthocyanins and other flavonoids and sugars other than sucrose in bract tissue interfering with the colourimetric measurement of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances. The extensive planting of waratahs in NSW in the last five years suggests that the total value of lost production due to bract browning is likely to increase in the future. The browning disorder may also prevent the establishment of waratahs in other markets, as international cut-flower markets demand high quality blooms free from blemishes. The results of this study show that bract browning, photoinhibition and pigment loss are minimised by protecting waratahs from high light intensities from bud opening until harvest. However, the consequences of shading waratahs throughout the year require further investigation, as does the use of different percentages of shade cloth or other methods to reduce incident light.