Le concept d’une algoraffinerie primaire traitant les principaux composants de microalgues (lipides, protéines, glucides et pigments) a été étudié. Une séquence d'opérations unitaires a été mis en œuvre afin d'obtenir des fractions enrichies de ces biomolécules tout en conservant leur integrité dans le procédé en aval. L'étude a été principalement centrée sur Chlorella vulgaris, une espèce connue pour sa paroi cellulaire rigide. La majorité de la fraction lipophile (lipides et pigments) a été récupérée en utilisant du dioxyde de carbone supercritique avec de l'éthanol en tant que co-solvant, sans opération unitaire de cassage cellulaire préalable. La fraction hydrophile (protéines et polysaccharides) a été récupérée dans la phase aqueuse après broyage à billes comme méthode de cassage cellulaire. Par la suite, la phase aqueuse a été séparée en trois fractions par un procédé d'ultrafiltration en deux étapes. Ainsi, les amidons, les pigments, les protéines et les sucres ont été séparés les uns des autres avec succès. Une analyse du cycle de vie sera nécessaire pour estimer le coût et la durabilité du procédé de fractionnement. / A primary algorefinery, concept that deals with the main components of microalgae (lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and pigments), has been studied. A sequence of unit operations has been implemented in order to obtain separated enriched fractions of these biomolecules by conserving their integrity in the downstream process. The study was mainly centred on Chlorella vulgaris, a species known for its rigid cell wall. Most of the lipophilic fraction (lipids and pigments) was recovered using supercritical carbon dioxide with ethanol as a co-solvent, without a preliminary unit operation of cell disruption. The hydrophilic fraction (proteins and polysaccharides) was recovered in the aqueous phase after bed milling as cell disruption method. Subsequently, the aqueous phase was fractionated into three fractions by means of a process of two-stage ultrafiltration. Thus, starches, pigments, proteins and sugars were successfully separated from each other. A life cycle assessment will be necessary to estimate the cost and the sustainability of the fractionation process

No description available.

La santé sexuelle, promue par l’Organisation mondiale de la santé, revêt une importance fondamentale pour la santé physique et émotionnelle et le bien-être des personnes. Chez les femmes, la survenue d’une lésion médullaire (LME) peut, comme chez les hommes, altérer la fonction et l’activité sexuelles, et l’amélioration de leur sexualité peut avoir une influence positive sur leur qualité de vie. Très peu de données sont actuellement disponibles concernant la sexualité des femmes lésées médullaires (LM) en France et les modalités de prise en charge des troubles associés. L’objectif de cette thèse est de décrire l’expérience de ces femmes en matière de sexualité et la diversité des modalités de prise en charge potentielles des troubles associés.Ce travail, qui repose sur une approche de santé publique interdisciplinaire, biomédicale, psychosociale et épidémiologique, qualitative et quantitative, comprend trois parties.Une revue systématique et qualitative de la littérature a permis d'identifier les recommandations, les conseils d'experts, ou les données d'études destinées à l'éducation sexuelle des femmes LM.La bonne gestion des complications de la lésion, un abord prudent, multidisciplinaire, l’implication des pairs, l’accompagnement dans la durée apparaissent au premier plan des enseignements de cette littérature.Une étude réalisée à partir des données recueillies au sein d’une nouvelle consultation de gynécologie, dédiée à la prise en charge de femmes en situation de handicap, a montré que des femmes LM insérées dans un réseau de soins multidisciplinaire et spécialisé n’avaient que rarement bénéficié des soins gynécologiques et des mesures de préventions nécessaires, y compris en lien avec une activité sexuelle majoritairement préservée. Ce type de consultation pourrait constituer une opportunité pour aborder leur vie sexuelle et identifier leurs besoins éventuels dans ce domaine.Une enquête qualitative menée auprès de 20 participantes a montré que la survenue d’une LME constituait une rupture biographique importante au delà de la lésion elle-même. Ces femmes peuvent avoir des réactions très différentes en fonction de leur histoire et de leur situations personnelles et ont ainsi une expérience bouleversée de leur sexualité.Ces travaux éclairent ainsi les besoins en termes de prise en charge de la sexualité chez les femmes blessées médullaires, et proposent des orientations pour les modalités de prises en charge futures. / Sexual health, as advocated by the World Health Organization, is key to physical, emotional health and well-being.As well as in men, the occurrence of a spinal cord lesion (SCL) in women may negatively impact their sexual function and sexual activity. Improving their sexual function and sexual activity would improve their quality of life. However, very little data is currently available on the sexuality of spinal cord injured women in France. The aim of this thesis was to describe these women’s experiences with sexuality and the diversity of potential management modalities for associated disorders.Based on an interdisciplinary public health approach this work associated biomedical, psychosocial and epidemiological, qualitative and quantitative perspectives. It included three steps.A systematic and qualitative review of the literature identified recommendations, expert advices, or research data for sex educating women with SCL; in order to identify practical strategies for setting up such support. Well-managed complications of the lesion, a careful, multidisciplinary approach, peer support and long-term follow-up are at the top of this literature's teaching priorities.Data collected from a newly equipped outpatient gynecological clinic specifically for women with disabilities were analyzed. They showed that despite a frequently preserved sexual activity, women with SCL had hardly received any gynecological and specific preventive care despite a persistent sexual activity. Moreover, this was also true in those who were in a multidisciplinary and specialized care network. However, this type of consultation could be an opportunity to address their sexuality and identify their potential needs in this area.A qualitative study conducted with 20 participants showed that the occurrence of a SCL represented a significant biographical disruption beyond the lesion itself. These women may have very different reactions depending on their history and personal circumstances and thus have a life-changing experience of their sexuality.This work sheds some light on the needs in terms of sexual care for women with SCL, and suggests guidelines for future care modalities.

Digital innovation is a key to solve problems of future healthcare. Medical Technology (MedTech) firms will have to employ successful digital business strategies (DBSs) to become innovative and increase the efficiency to solve the problems in healthcare. This thesis aims to outline important aspects when employing a DBS in a MedTech firm. The results are based on empirical data from consultants working with digital strategies as well as professionals working in the MedTech industry. I conduct semi-structured interviews with 11 professionals of different backgrounds to gain their perspectives and insights on how to successfully implement a DBS in an organisation. I discuss and conclude their opinions concerning the business model and change management aspects of a DBS. The focal point of this thesis was partially led by my commissioner, Human Care. From the literature review and interviews, I introduce several interesting findings which can be helpful for both management of MedTech firms as well as consultants working with DBSs. Some of the findings contributing to successful DBSs includes improving the organisation’s innovative ability and creating opportunities for new innovations. This can be done by working more agile, introducing new competences and co-innovating with customers of the firm. Furthermore, the DBS can change firms’ business models. Interviewees find that the impact can be minor or extensive depending on the DBS employed and can ultimately lead to entire new business models being created. The DBS can have disruptive impact on incumbent firms’ current business and create completely new products or services. Management must correctly evaluate their current position and future desired state to develop a strategy fit for their specific firm. Finally, I find that there is a clear correlation between the changes in the business model and the change management work when implementing a DBS. I present some areas that management of MedTech firms must attend in order to increase the chances of success in their DBS. / Digital innovation är nyckeln till att lösa problem inom sjukvården. Medicinteknikbolag måste använda sig av digitala affärsstrategier för att öka effektiviteten och lösa problem som sjukvården väntas möta i framtiden. Denna rapport syftar till att delge viktiga aspekter när man använder sig av och utformar digitala affärsstrategier inom medicinteknikbolag. Resultaten är baserade på empiriska data från konsulter som jobbar med digitala strategier samt personer yrkesverksamma inom medicinteknik. Jag har genomfört 11 intervjuer med personer med olika bakgrund för att få deras perspektiv och insikter om hur man framgångsrikt använder sig av digitala affärsstrategier i en organisation. Jag diskuterar och sammanfattar deras åsikter rörande affärsmodeller och förändringsledningsarbete relaterat till digitala affärsstrategier. Denna rapports utformning är delvis ledd av min uppdragsgivare, Human Care. Resultaten från litteraturgenomgången och intervjuerna visar att företags innovationsförmåga och att skapa förutsättningar för innovation är viktiga aspekter för framgång. Detta sker genom att ändra organisationens sätt att arbeta på, genom agila arbetsmetoder, nya kompetenser och kan leda till att helt nya affärsmodeller skapas. Strategin kan vara disruptiv för företags nuvarande affär och skapa helt nya produkter och/eller tjänster. Ledningen måste utvärdera sin nuvarande situation och framtida målbild för att utforma väl anpassade strategier för bolaget. Jag finner att det finns en tydlig koppling mellan ändringar i affärsmodellen och förändringsarbetet när man implementerar en digital affärsstrategi. Jag introducerar några områden som ledningen måste se över för att öka chansen till framgång i strategin.

Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Caterina M. Scoglio / Disruption Tolerant Networks or opportunistic networks represent a class of networks where there is no contemporaneous path from source to destination. In other words, these are networks with intermittent connections. These networks are generally sparse or highly mobile wireless networks. Each node has a limited radio range and the connections between nodes may be disrupted due to node movement, hostile environments or power sleep schedules, etc. A common example of such networks is a sensor network monitoring nature or military field or a herd of animals under study. Epidemic routing is a widely proposed routing mechanism for data propagation in these type of networks. According to this mechanism, the source copies its packets to all the nodes it meets in its radio range. These nodes in turn copy the received packets to the other nodes they meet and so on. The data to be transmitted travels in a way analogous to the spread of an infection in a biological network. The destination finally receives the packet and measures are taken to eradicate the packet from the network. The task of routing in epidemic networks faces certain difficulties involving minimizing the delivery delay with a reduced consumption of resources. Every node has severe power constraints and the network is also susceptible to temporary but random failure of nodes. In the previous work, the parameter of mobility has been considered a constant for a certain setting. In our setting, we consider a varying parameter of mobility. In this framework, we determine the optimal mobility pattern and a forwarding policy that a network should follow in order to meet the trade-off between delivery delay and power consumption. In addition, the mobility pattern should be such that it can be practically incorporated. In our work, we formulate an optimization problem which is solved by using the principles of dynamic programming. We have tested the optimal algorithm through extensive simulations and they show that this optimization problem has a global solution.

According to the REACH regulation chemicals produced or imported to the European Union need to be assessed to manage the risk of potential hazard to human health and the environment. An increasing number of chemicals in commerce prompts the need for utilizing faster and cheaper alternative methods for this assessment, such as quantitative structure-activity or property relationships (QSARs or QSPRs). QSARs and QSPRs are models that seek correlation between data on chemicals molecular structure and a specific activity or property, such as environmental fate characteristics and (eco)toxicological effects. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate and develop models for the hazard assessment of industrial chemicals and the exposure assessment of pharmaceuticals. In focus were the identification of chemicals potentially demonstrating carcinogenic (C), mutagenic (M), or reprotoxic (R) effects, and endocrine disruption, the importance of metabolism in hazard identification, and the understanding of adsorption of ionisable chemicals to sludge with implications to the fate of pharmaceuticals in waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). Also, issues related to QSARs including consensus modelling, applicability domain, and ionisation of input structures were addressed. The main findings presented herein are as follows: QSARs were successful in identifying almost all carcinogens and most mutagens but worse in predicting chemicals toxic to reproduction. Metabolic activation is a key event in the identification of potentially hazardous chemicals, particularly for chemicals demonstrating estrogen (E) and transthyretin (T) related alterations of the endocrine system, but also for mutagens. The accuracy of currently available metabolism simulators is rather low for industrial chemicals. However, when combined with QSARs, the tool was found useful in identifying chemicals that demonstrated E- and T- related effects in vivo. We recommend using a consensus approach in final judgement about a compound’s toxicity that is to combine QSAR derived data to reach a consensus prediction. That is particularly useful for models based on data of slightly different molecular events or species. QSAR models need to have well-defined applicability domains (AD) to ensure their reliability, which can be reached by e.g. the conformal prediction (CP) method. By providing confidence metrics CP allows a better control over predictive boundaries of QSAR models than other distance-based AD methods. Pharmaceuticals can interact with sewage sludge by different intermolecular forces for which also the ionisation state has an impact. Developed models showed that sorption of neutral and positively-charged pharmaceuticals was mainly hydrophobicity-driven but also impacted by Pi-Pi and dipole-dipole forces. In contrast, negatively-charged molecules predominantly interacted via covalent bonding and ion-ion, ion-dipole, and dipole-dipole forces. Using ionised structures in multivariate modelling of sorption to sludge did not improve the model performance for positively- and negatively charged species but we noted an improvement for neutral chemicals that may be due to a more correct description of zwitterions.   Overall, the results provided insights on the current weaknesses and strengths of QSAR approaches in hazard and exposure assessment of chemicals. QSARs have a great potential to serve as commonly used tools in hazard identification to predict various responses demanded in chemical safety assessment. In combination with other tools they can provide fundaments for integrated testing strategies that gather and generate information about compound’s toxicity and provide insights of its potential hazard. The obtained results also show that QSARs can be utilized for pattern recognition that facilitates a better understanding of phenomena related to fate of chemicals in WWTP. / Enligt kemikalielagstiftningen REACH måste kemikalier som produceras i eller importeras till Europeiska unionen riskbedömas avseende hälso- och miljöfara. Den ökande mängden kemikalier som används i samhället kräver snabbare och billigare alternativa riskbedömningsmetoder, såsom kvantitativa struktur-aktivitets- eller egenskapssamband (QSARs eller QSPRs). QSARs och QSPRs är datamodeller där samband söks korrelationer mellan data för kemikaliers struktur-relaterade egenskaper och t.ex. kemikaliers persistens eller (eko)toxiska effekter. Målet med den här avhandlingen var att utvärdera och utveckla modeller för riskbedömning av industri kemikalier och läkemedel för att studera hur QSARs/QSPRs kan förbättra riskbedömningsprocessen. Fokus i avhandlingen var utveckling av metoder för identifiering av potentiellt cancerframkallande (C), mutagena (M), eller reproduktionstoxiska (R) kemikalier, och endokrint aktiva kemikalier, att studera betydelsen av metabolism vid riskbedömning och att öka vår förståelse för joniserbara kemikaliers adsorption till avloppsslam. Avhandlingen behandlar även konsensusmodellering, beskrivning av modellers giltighet och betydelsen av jonisering för kemiska deskriptorer. De huvudsakliga resultaten som presenteras i avhandlingen är: QSAR-modeller identifierade nästan alla cancerframkallande ämnen och de flesta mutagener men var sämre på att identifiera reproduktionstoxiska kemikalier. Metabolisk aktivering är av stor betydelse vid identifikationen av potentiellt toxiska kemikalier, speciellt för kemikalier som påvisar östrogen- (E) och sköldkörtel-relaterade (T) förändringar av det endokrina systemet men även för mutagener. Träffsäkerheten för de tillgängliga metabolismsimulatorerna är ganska låg för industriella kemikalier men i kombination med QSARs så var verktyget användbart för identifikation av kemikalier som påvisade E- och T-relaterade effekter in vivo. Vi rekommenderar att använda konsensusmodellering vid in silico baserad bedömning av kemikaliers toxicitet, d.v.s. att skapa en sammanvägd förutsägelse baserat på flera QSAR-modeller. Det är speciellt användbart för modeller som baseras på data från delvis olika mekanismer eller arter. QSAR-modeller måste ha ett väldefinierat giltighetsområde (AD) för att garantera dess pålitlighet vilket kan uppnås med t.ex. conformal prediction (CP)-metoden. CP-metoden ger en bättre kontroll över prediktiva gränser hos QSAR-modeller än andra distansbaserade AD-metoder. Läkemedel kan interagera med avloppsslam genom olika intermolekylära krafter som även påverkas av joniseringstillståndet. Modellerna visade att adsorptionen av neutrala och positivt laddade läkemedel var huvudsakligen hydrofobicitetsdrivna men också påverkade av Pi-Pi- och dipol-dipol-krafter. Negativt laddade molekyler interagerade huvudsakligen med slam via kovalent bindning och jon-jon-, jon-dipol-, och dipol-dipol-krafter. Kemiska deskriptorer baserade på joniserade molekyler förbättrade inte prestandan för adsorptionsmodeller för positiva och negativa joner men vi noterade en förbättring av modeller för neutrala substanser som kan bero på en mer korrekt beskrivning av zwitterjoner. Sammanfattningsvis visade resultaten på QSAR-modellers styrkor och svagheter för användning som verkyg vid risk- och exponeringsbedömning av kemikalier. QSARs har stor potential för bred användning vid riskidentifiering och för att förutsäga en mängd olika responser som krävs vid riskbedömning av kemikalier. I kombination med andra verktyg kan QSARs förse oss med data för användning vid integrerade bedömningar där data sammanvägs från olika metoder. De erhållna resultaten visar också att QSARs kan användas för att bedöma och ge en bättre förståelse för kemikaliers öde i vattenreningsverk.

Delay and disruption (DD) to contractors’ progress, often resulting in time and cost overruns, are a major source of claims and disputes in the construction industry. At the heart of the matter in dispute is often the question of the extent of each contracting party’s responsibility for the delayed project completion and extra cost incurred. Various methodologies have been developed over the years as aids to answering this question. Whilst much has been written about DD, there is limited information on the extent of use of these methodologies in practice. The research reported in this thesis was initiated to investigate these issues in the UK, towards developing a framework for improving DD analysis. The methodology adopted in undertaking this research was the mixed method approach involving first, a detailed review of the relevant literature, followed by an industry-wide survey on the use of these methodologies and associated problems. Following this, interviews were conducted to investigate the identified problems in more depth. The data collected were analysed, with the aid of SPSS and Excel, using a variety of statistical methods including descriptive statistics analysis, relative index analysis, Kendall’s concordance and factor analysis. The key finding was that DD analysis methodologies reported in the literature as having major weaknesses are the most widely used in practice mainly due to deficiencies in programming and record keeping practice. To facilitate the use of more reliable methodologies, which ensure more successful claims resolution with fewer chances of disputes, a framework has been developed comprising of: (i) best practice recommendations for promoting better record-keeping and programming practice and; (ii) a model for assisting analysts in their selection of appropriate delay analysis methodology for any claims situation. This model was validated by means of experts’ review via a survey and the findings obtained suggest that the model is valuable and suitable for use in practice. Finally, areas for further research were identified.

<p>Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of brominated flame retardant chemicals that are added to plastics, electronic components, furniture foam, and textiles to reduce their combustibility. Of the three commercial mixtures historically marketed, only DecaBDE, which is constituted almost entirely (~97%) of the fully brominated congener decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209), continues to be used in the U.S. today. While decaBDE is scheduled for phase-out in the U.S. at the end of 2013, exposures to BDE-209 and other PBDEs will continue into the foreseeable future as products that contain them continue to be used, recycled, and discarded. In addition, decaBDE use continues to be largely unrestricted across Asia, although restricted from use in electronic equipment in Europe. </p><p>Despite limits placed on PBDE uses, they are ubiquitous contaminants detected worldwide in humans and wildlife. Major health effect concerns for PBDEs come largely from evidence in laboratory rodents demonstrating neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental impairments, and thyroid disruption. The potential for PBDEs, particularly BDE-209, to disrupt thyroid regulation and elicit other toxic outcomes in fish is less clear. Thus, the overall objective of this thesis research was to answer questions concerning how fish, as important indicators of overall environmental health, are metabolizing PBDEs and whether and how PBDEs are disrupting thyroid hormone regulation. The central hypothesis was that PBDE metabolism in fish is mediated by iodothyronine deiodinase (dio) enzymes, which are responsible for activating and inactivating thyroid hormones, and that PBDE exposures are causing thyroid system dysfunction across fish life stages. </p><p>Under the first research aim, in vitro experiments conducted in liver tissues isolated from common carp (Cyprinus carpio) suggested a role for dio enzymes in catalyzing the reductive debromination of PBDEs. Carp liver microsomes efficiently debrominated BDE-99 to BDE-47, and enzymes catalyzing this reaction were associated predominantly with the endoplasmic reticulum (i.e., microsomal fraction) where dio enzymes are located. Competitive substrate experiments in carp liver microsomes also demonstrated that rates of BDE-99 debromination to BDE-47 were significantly inhibited upon challenges with 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine (rT3) and thyroxine (T4). This finding supported the hypothesis that enzymes involved in the metabolism of PBDEs may have high affinities for thyroid hormones. Indeed, experiments to determine apparent enzymatic kinetics (apparent Vmax and Km values) of BDE-99 hepatic metabolism suggested that enzymes responsible for the catalytic activity appeared to have a higher affinity for native thyroid hormone than BDE-99. </p><p>The second and third research aims were focused on evaluating BDE-209 accumulation, metabolism, and thyroid toxicity in juvenile and adult life stages of fish using the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) as a model. BDE-209 bioaccumulated and was debrominated to several reductive metabolites ranging from penta- to octaBDEs in both juvenile and adult fish exposed to BDE-209. In addition, thyroid hormone regulation in juvenile and adult male fathead minnows was severely disrupted by BDE-209 at low, environmentally relevant exposures. In juvenile minnows, the activity of dio enzymes (T4-outer ring deiodination; T4-ORD and T4-inner ring deiodination; T4-IRD) declined by ~74% upon oral doses of 9.8 ± 0.2 µg/g wet weight (ww) food at 3% body weight (bw)/day for 28 days, compared to controls. Declines in dio activity were accompanied by thyroid follicle hypertrophy indicative of over-stimulation and injury. In addition to thyroid disruption, a distinctive liver phenotype characterized by vacuolated hepatocyte nuclei was measured in ~48% of hepatocytes from treated fish that was not observed in controls. </p><p>Under the third research aim, adult male fathead minnows received dietary treatments of BDE-209 at a low dose (95.3 ± 0.41 ng/g-food at 3% bw/day) and a high dose (10.1 ± 0.10 µg/g-food at 3% bw/day) for 28 days followed by a 14-day depuration period to evaluate recovery. Compared to negative controls, adult male fish exposed orally to BDE-209 at the low dose tested for 28 days experienced a 53% and 46% decline in circulating total T4 and T3, respectively, while fish at the high BDE-209 dose tested had total T4 and T3 deficits of 59% and 62%, respectively. Depressed levels of plasma thyroid hormones were accompanied by a 45-50% decline in the rate of T4-ORD in brains of all treatments by day 14 of the exposure. The decreased T4-ORD continued in the brain at day 28 with a ~65% decline measured at both BDE-209 doses. BDE-209 exposures also caused transient, tissue-specific upregulations of relative mRNA transcripts encoding dio enzymes (dio1, dio2), thyroid hormone receptors (TR&alpha, TR&beta), and thyroid hormone transporters (MCT8, OATP1c1) in the brain and liver in patterns that varied with time and dose, possibly as a compensatory response to hypothyroidism. In addition, thyroid perturbations at the low dose tested generally were equal to those measured at the high dose tested, suggesting non-linear relationships between PBDE exposures and thyroid dysfunction in adult fish. Thus, mechanisms for BDE-209 induced disruption of thyroid regulation can be proposed in adult male minnows that involve altered patterns of thyroid hormone signaling at several important steps in their transport and activation. </p><p>A growing body of evidence describing PBDE toxicity in biota, including data generated here, along with studies showing continued and rising PBDE body burdens, raises concern for human and wildlife health. Long delays in removing PBDEs from the market, their ongoing presence in many products still in use, and their active use outside the U.S. and European Union will leave a lasting legacy of rising contamination unless more concerted regulatory and policy actions are taken to reduce future exposures and harm.</p> / Dissertation

The purpose of this study is to conduct an investigation of the lived experiences of asthma and sporting embodiment in non-elite sportspeople of different ages and levels of ability, involved in a range of sports. Asthma is characterised as a breathing disorder and the aim of this research is to add to embodied literature by providing ‘fleshy’ realities of the moving, sweating, sensuous sporting body, which holds meanings, purposes and interests for people who experience sport with asthma. Breathing is not only a physiological process, but it is also cultural and people may deal with their asthma symptoms in ways that reflect cultural attitudes embedded in sport. This qualitative study addresses five exploratory questions: 1) How do sportspeople experience asthma? 2) How do sportspeople negotiate their asthma and sporting identities? 3) How do emotional dimensions play a role in sportspeople’s asthma and sporting experiences? 4) How do perceptions of environment and illness shape one another by examining the relationship between the body, the self and environment? 5) What is the role of trauma in sportspeople with asthma? 6) How do key senses (sound) play a role in sportspeople’s asthma and embodied sporting experiences? Through a symbolic-interactionsist and phenomenological-inspired approach, this research places emphasis on the mind-body-self nexus in relation to sensory experiences with a focus upon the centrality of the ‘visceral’ body in the relationship between self-consciousness and the self. A bodily disruption (e.g., asthmatic attack) is likely to heighten awareness of the body-self and contingency and may amplify how sportspeople listen to their own embodied selves when engaged in sporting action. Therefore, sportspeople may become even more acutely aware of, and attuned to, their breathing in ways that link the physiological, the psychological, the social and the environment. This may lead to a permanent re-ordering/negotiation of identities (e.g., athletic identity - asthma identity) through ‘emotion work’ and ‘somatic (auditory) work’ in which a concern with the body is central. The findings are represented as a typology consisting of Conformers, Contesters and Creators, which may be used as a framework to assist health care and sporting professionals in developing more appropriate and effective rehabilitation regimes for sportspeople, in order to improve the quality of treatment and outcomes.

Seed dispersal by caching rodents is a context-dependent mutualism in many systems. Plants benefit when seed remaining in shallow caches germinates before being eaten, often gaining protection from beetles and a favorable microsite in the process. Caching in highly unfavorable microsites, conversely, could undermine the dispersal benefit for the plant. Plant invasions could disrupt dispersal benefits of seed caching by attracting rodents to the protection of a dense invasive canopy which inhibits the establishment of native seedlings beneath it. To determine whether rodents disproportionately cache seed under the dense canopy of an invasive grass in southeastern Arizona, we used nontoxic fluorescent powder and ultraviolet light to locate caches of seed offered to rodents in the field. We fitted a general habitat-use model, which showed that disproportionate use of plant cover by caching rodents (principally Chaetodipus spp.) increased with moonlight. Across all moon phases, when rodents cached under plants, they cached under the invasive grass disproportionately to its relative cover. A greenhouse experiment showed that proximity to the invasive grass reduced the growth and survival of seedlings of a common native tree (Parkinsonia microphylla) whose seeds are dispersed by caching rodents. Biased dispersal of native seed to the base of an invasive grass could magnify the competitive effect of this grass on native plants, further reducing their recruitment and magnifying the effect of the invasion.