This thesis investigates conditions for formal negotiation onset. The cases that are investigated are found in the overarching conflict between the Government of Colombia and the guerilla group, Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). The thesis argues that ideology and ecological rationality set the framework for disputant negotiation strategies and that disputants decide whether to progress negotiations to an elevated stage based on their perceived relative strategic position. It is hypostasized, firstly, that the disputants go to formal negotiations when the guerilla perceives itself in a favorable entrapment position, and the government perceives that the guerilla is not in a favorable entrapment position. Secondly, it is hypothesized that disputants go to formal negotiations when there are no perceptions of opponent devious objectives. The findings show weak support for the hypotheses.

No description available.

Omniphobic surfaces, which repel polar and non-polar liquids alike, have proven of value in a myriad of applications ranging from piping networks, textiles, food and electronics packaging, and underwater drag reduction. A limitation of currently employed omniphobic surfaces is their reliance on perfluorinated coatings/chemicals, increasing cost and environmental impact and preventing applications in harsh environments. Thus, there is a keen interest in rendering conventional materials, such as hydrocarbon-based plastics, omniphobic by micro/ nanotexturing rather than via chemical makeup, with notable success having been achieved for silica surfaces with doubly reentrant pillars (DRPs). We discovered a critical limitation of DRPs – they catastrophically lose superomniphobicity in the presence of localized physical damages/defects or on immersion in wetting liquids. In response, we pioneered bio-inspired gas-entrapping microtextured surfaces (GEMS) architecture composed of doubly reentrant cavities (DRCs). DRCs are capable of robustly entrapping air when brought into contact with liquid droplets or on immersion, which prevents catastrophic wetting transitions even in the presence of localized structural damage/defects. This dissertation presents our multifaceted research on DRCs via custom-built pressure cells, confocal laser scanning microscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy, contact angle goniometry, high-speed imaging, and upright optical microscopy. Specific accomplishments detailed in this thesis include: (i) the microfabrication protocols for silica GEMS developed at KAUST; (ii) the characterization of GEMS’ omniphobicity via apparent contact angles and immersion; (iii) the demonstration of ~ 1000,000,000% delays in wetting transitions in DRCs compared to those in simple cavities (SCs) under hexadecane; (iv) a proposal for immersion of surfaces as a criterion for assessing their omniphobicity in addition to apparent contact angles; (v) effects of surface chemistry, hydrostatic pressure, and cavity dimensions on Cassie-to-Wenzel transitions in DRCs and SCs; (vi) the demonstration of “breathing” (liquid-vapor) interfaces in GEMS under fluctuating hydrostatic pressures; and (vii) the demonstration of directional wetting transitions in DRCs (or cavities in general) arranged in one- and two-dimensional lattices. The last chapter in the thesis presents future research directions such as breathing surfaces capable of preempting vapor condensation and gas replenishment.

Feminist scholars have focused on the Gothic as a medium for expressing the horrors of female experience in a patriarchal society. This study examines Gothic awareness in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic.The first part of the study focuses on Gothic awareness in relation to female sexuality and the threat of sexual violence from a feminist and psychoanalytic point of view.The second part of the analysis focuses on Gothic awareness in relation to domestic entrapment from a feminist point of view. In the third and final part of the study, Gothic awareness is analysed in relation to class and ethnicity from a Marxist and a postcolonial perspective. It is concluded that in Northanger Abbey, Catherine's lack of Gothic awareness stops her from becoming a victim, but also stops her from recognising the Gothic dangers surrounding her, whereas in Mexican Gothic, Noemí’s growing Gothic awareness enables her to take action against the Gothic dangers she faces. In both works, Gothic genre conventions are appropriated in order to convey the dangers faced by women in the worlds of the novels, but also subverted in order to show that women are more than passive victims.

No description available.

<p>This thesis describes solutions to many of the challenges in the development of paper-based biosensors. Coupling techniques in analytical biochemistry with knowledge of paper science and technology, advances are described in the areas of: the influence of paper surface chemistry on bioactivity; optimizing bioactive ink formulation; the printing of paper supported microfluidic channels; and, the characterization of complex sensors based on printed sol-gel material layers.</p> <p>The stability of paper-immobilized antibodies under various conditions was first studied using both untreated filter paper and PAE-treated paper. Antibody stability decreased with increasing temperature and relative humidity. Paper treated with PAE had no significant influence on antibody stability under the experimental conditions. The experimental result was also encapsulated in an empirical equation to predict the impact of printing and coating operations on antibody activity.</p> <p>The influence of paper sizing agent (AKD) on the adsorption and inactivation of antibody was also investigated. The preliminary study showed that the small amount of AKD improved the antibody adsorption on paper and also did not interfere antibody activity. Therefore, packaging papers containing sizing agents can be used as a substrate for antibody immobilization.</p> <p>Two strategies to fabricate hydrophobic barriers were developed, based on sol-gel derived MSQ material. The first method is based on ink-jet printing a highly basic solution onto MSQ-impregnated filter paper to re-exposing the cellulose and producing a hydrophilic patterned region. The second method is direct ink-jet printing of MSQ onto paper to outline the hydrophobic walls bordering the hydrophilic channels. The resistance of the barriers to surfactants and organic solvents was tested. The functionality of MSQ-based devices was further demonstrated by using a colorimetric assay for <em>E. coli </em>detection.</p> <p>Multiple-stage inkjet printing of sol-gel based bioink onto porous filter paper for enzyme immobilization was characterized by various methods. Confocal microscope and SEM/TEM images confirmed the formation of sol-gel and enzyme composite material on the paper fibers without cracking. The protease assay proved that the entrapment of enzyme molecules improved with the increasing amount of the sol-gel derived material printed on paper. The top layer of sol-gel ink was found to play a major role in protection against enzyme proteolysis, while the bottom layer of sol-gel ink was found to be necessary to prevent the potential inhibition of enzyme by the cationic polymer.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The presence of gas in engine liquid cooling systems can have severe consequences for engine efficiency and life. The presence of stagnant, trapped gases will result in cooling system hotspots, causing gallery wall degradation through thermal stresses, fatigue and eventual cracking. The presence of entrained, transient gases in the coolant flow will act to reduce its bulk thermal properties and the performance of the system s coolant pump; critically the liquid flow rate, which will severely affect heat transfer throughout the engine and its ancillaries. The hold-up of gas in the pump s impeller may cause the dynamic seal to run dry, without lubrication or cooling. This poses both an immediate failure threat should the seal overheat and rubber components melt and a long term failure threat from intermittent quench cooling, which causes deposit formation on sealing faces acting to abrade and reduce seal quality. Bubbles in the coolant flow will also act as nucleation sites for cavitation growth. This will reduce the Net Positive Suction Head available (NPSHA) in the coolant flow, exacerbating cavitation and its damaging effects in locations such as the cylinder cooling liners and the pump s impeller. This thesis has analysed the occurrence of trapped gas (air) during the coolant filling process, its behaviour and break-up at engine start, the two-phase character of the coolant flow these processes generate and the effects it has on coolant pump performance. Optical and parametric data has been acquired in each of these studies, providing an understanding of the physical processes occurring, key variables and a means of validating numerical (CFD) code of integral processes. From the fundamental understanding each study has provided design rules, guidelines and validated tools have been developed, helping cooling system designers minimise the occurrence of trapped air during coolant filling, promote its breakup at engine start and to minimise its negative effects in the centrifugal coolant pump. It was concluded that whilst ideally the prevention of cooling system gases should be achieved at source, they are often unavoidable. This is due to the cost implications of finding a cylinder head gasket capable of completely sealing in-cylinder combustion pressures, the regular use of nucleate boiling regimes for engine cooling and the need to design cooling channel geometries to cool engine components and not necessarily to avoid fill entrapped air. Using the provided rules and models, it may be ensured stagnant air is minimised at source and avoided whilst an engine is running. However, to abate the effects of entrained gases in the coolant pump through redesign is undesirable due to the negative effects such changes have on a pump s efficiency and cavitation characteristics. It was concluded that the best solution to entrained gases, unavoidable at source, is to remove them from the coolant flow entirely using phase separation device(s).

 ABSTRACT  Background: Since its first mention by Kirk et al. in 1967 and its recognition as a full- fledged rheumatologic disorder, the hypermobility syndrome (HMS) has been increasingly investigated and reported in the scientific literature. Expeditiously renamed benign joint hypermobility syndrome in the patent absence of life-threatening complications, its relatively innocuous character has been progressively reconsidered. In fact, the HMS tends to date to be considered analogous to the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome-hypermobility type, a heritable disease of connective tissue, and therefore emerges as a chiefly rheumatologic disorder with possible widespread reverberations in practically all organs and systems. The condition thence goes beyond the sole involvement of the musculoskeletal system and is recurrently associated with seemingly-unrelated and more or less severe conditions (cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastro- intestinal…). However, neurologic implications of the hypermobility syndrome remain poorly documented, particularly those regarding the peripheral nervous system. Ranking amongst the afflictions of the latter, nerve entrapment syndromes (NES) comprehend a multitude of categories, notably the thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). And if their pathological mechanisms are generally apprehended...

This doctoral thesis is concerned with an in-depth analysis of organized crime under criminological and criminal-law aspects, taking an approach that recognizes organized crime as a multi-faceted, dynamically changing category. The importance of this issue derives, firstly, from the grave threat to society which it represents and, secondly, from the on-going international and domestic discussions of the need for better tools to eradicate it. The first part of this work conveys the nature of organized crime, and based upon an understanding of the modern forms of organized crime raises and reappraises the important substantive-law questions of its criminalization and punishment. Organized crime is inseparably associated with the most controversial institutions of procedural criminal law, namely, the institutions of the cooperating accused person, informers, agents provocateurs, and the protected witness, which in the fight against organized crime represent a serious challenge for the fundamental principles of procedural criminal law. A theoretical analysis of these issues follows, which, together with a look on the consequences of the imperfect current Czech legislation being applied in practice, highlights the need for reappraisal and reform of the current laws. The thesis takes a critical,...

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Spanish-speaking men in the United States with limited English proficiency following their release from prison. The study specifically examined the experiences of these men in their efforts to access health care treatment, housing, education, and employment in Central Pennsylvania. An empirical, phenomenological research design was employed that used self-stigma, critical race, and self-determination theories for in-depth interviews with 8 men who spent 5 to 24 years in prison. A tiered coding method was used to generate 6 interconnected themes that tell the story of these men's lives: (1) a genuine desire to change (2) a lack of effective communication, (3) a sense of dependency on others, (4) a persistent lack of social support, (5) a perception of resentencing by society, and (6) a perception of entrapment with little possibility to get out. This study promotes positive social change by demonstrating a need for more effective transitional programs for this demographic and additional need for counselor training programs to actively recruit and train more Spanish-speaking counselors for work with this population. The results can be used by counselors and mental health providers to develop programs that would support families such as job training and second language instruction within correctional facilities. Implementing these recommendations is expected to reduce crime and facilitate the healthy integration of this population into the mainstream society post incarceration.