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Thesis (M. of Military Art and Science)--U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 2007. / The original document contains color images. Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on May 27, 2008). Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-162).

Idag befinner sig produktionsföretag under konkurrenskraftiga och snabba förändringar i en global marknad. Det utmanar företag som jobbar med materialtillverkning och distributionsnät på en global nivå till att ständigt förbättra deras verksamhet. Aktörerna som verkar inom en och samma supply chain bör enas för att kunna bli konkurrenskraftiga och flexibla, som respons på globaliseringen. Genom att företag skapar gemensamma mål, delar information, risker och vinster kan alla aktörer inom kedjan gynnas. Denna fallstudie har genomförts på en av Oxelösunds Hamns verksamheter, nämligen SSAB:s Stålhamn, som de driver åt SSAB i Oxelösund kommun. Stålhamnen har en viktig roll i SSAB:s supply chain eftersom den agerar som SSAB:s skeppningshamn där material som kommer från SSAB i Borlänge och Oxelösund lagras tills de ska skeppas vidare till andra hamnar i världen. Idag upplever Oxelösunds Hamn ineffektiv information- och materialflöde inom Stålhamnens verksamhet. Syftet med studien är att undersöka materialhantering i form av vilka transport- och lagringsmetoder som sker inne i en av Stålhamnens verksamheter, Coilsterminalen. Därefter klargörs vilka slöserier som finns samt hitta förbättringar för att effektivisera information- och materialflödet vid hanteringar av plåtrullar i Coilsterminalen. Studien har primärt genomförts genom observationer, ostrukturerade och några strukturerade intervjuer samt strukturerade mejlkonversationer och insamling av data. Fokuset låg på att hitta de möjliga effektiviseringsområden i praktiken för att sedan hitta teori och litteratur som belyser de upphittade bristerna. Några teorier som kommer att betonas på grund av deras relevans är Lean, lager- och supply chain teori. Studiens resultat och analys visar att utmaningarna som hindrar effektivisering i Coilsterminalen är baserad på interna och externa faktorer. Interna faktorer består av onödig förflyttning av material, omarbetning i kontor och outnyttjat arbetsskift. Externa faktorer orsakas på grund av leverantörer i form av osäkerhet av informationsinput samt material input/output. Studien resulterar i att den optimala lösningen är att samarbetet mellan aktörerna i kedjan förbättras så att flöde av information blir bättre och förminska osäkerheten i leverans och utleverans. Vidare uppmuntrar studien Oxelösund Hamn att samla in data, i form av statistik, om dagliga händelser i Stålhamnen så att de belyser problem och kostnader som är dolda. Oxelösund Hamn uppmuntras också införa det outnyttjade arbetsskiftet under natten och förminskning av lagret. / Today, manufacturing companies are under competitive and rapid changes in the global market. It challenges companies working with material manufacturing and distribution networks at a global level to continually improve their business. The actors operating within a single supply chain should unite to increase their ability to compete and remain flexible, as a response to the effects of globalization. By creating business goals, sharing information, risks, and profits, all operators in the chain can benefit. This case study has been carried out in one of Oxelösund Harbor's operations, namely SSAB's Steel Port, which they operate for SSAB in Oxelösund municipality. The steel harbor has an important role in SSAB's supply chain because it acts as SSAB's port of shipment where materials coming from SSAB in Borlänge and Oxelösund are stored until they are shipped to other ports in the world. Today, Oxelösund Harbor is experiencing inefficient information and material flow within the Steel Harbor's operations. The purpose of the study is to investigate material handling in terms of which transport and storage methods are carried out in one of the steel ports operations, the coil terminal. Thereafter, the study will clarify what kind of waste there is and find improvements to streamline information and material flow when handling coils in the coil terminal. The study was primarily conducted through observations, unstructured and to a lesser extent structured interviews, structured email conversations and data collection. The focus was on finding the possible areas that could become more efficient in practice and then finding the theory and literature that highlight the shortcomings found. Some theories that will be emphasized, because of their relevance, are Lean, inventory and supply chain theory. The study's results and analysis show that the challenges that hinder the efficiency of the coil terminal are based on internal and external factors. Internal factors consist of unnecessary movement of materials, reworking in office and unused work shifts. External factors are caused by vendors in the form of information insufficiency and material input/output. The results of the study conclude that the optimal solution is that the cooperation between the operators in the chain is improved so that flow of information becomes better and reduce uncertainty in delivery and shipping. Furthermore, the study encourages Oxelösund Harbor to collect data, in the form of statistics, concerning daily events in Stålhamnen, highlighting problems and costs that are hidden and start utilizing the unused work shift during the night, as well as reducing the stock.

Les activités humaines font peser sur l’écosystème marin de multiples pressions délétères. Pollution chimique, changement climatique, risque d’acidification, débris de plastique et déchets radioactifs ont des impacts sans précèdent. Une pollution de plus en plus reconnu comme majeur est la pollution sonore. La prospection sismique, le battage de pieux et le trafic maritime génèrent des niveaux sonores qui peuvent être extrêmement forts, modifiant fondamentalement le paysage acoustique sous-marin. On sait que de nombreux mammifères marins et poissons entendent le bruit généré par ces activités et que cela altère leur physiologie et leur éthologie. Par contre, chez les invertébrés marins très peu d’études avaient évalué leur capacité à entendre et l’impact de cette pollution sur eux reste à déterminer. Nous avons abordé le problème par une étude de la capacité de perception du son chez l'huître creuse Magallana gigas en utilisant une approche comportementale et physiologique. Nous avons montré que M. gigas entend dans la gamme de fréquences entre 10 et 1000 Hz. Cette analyse nous a permis de caractériser les sources de sons qui contribuent à leur environnement auditif. Au laboratoire, dans un milieu contaminé (i) au cadmium, un métal que nous avons considéré à la fois comme une substance toxique et un marqueur indirect de l'activité ventilatoire, et (ii), par des bruits de cargo, nous montrons un effet répresseur du bruit caractérisé par une diminution de l'activité valvaire, de l'activité ventilatoire et du taux de croissance. Nous rapportons également une diminution de la bioaccumulation du Cd dans les branchies et une modulation de l'expression de certains gènes. Nous avons enfin étudié sur un enregistrement de 2 ans dans le port commercial de Santander, le comportement (incluant les pontes et la croissance) de 3 groupes d’huitres exposés à une forte pollution sonore et à une « qualité de l’eau » considérée dans la littérature comme bonne à très bonne pour une masse d’eau fortement modifiée. Nous avons retrouvé dans notre analyse différents effets que nous avions provoqués ou prédits à partir du travail de laboratoire où nous avions manipulé le bruit seul. Nous concluons que la pollution sonore au sein du port doit diminuer le fitness des huîtres en modifiant leur activité valvaire, la hiérarchie de leurs rythmes biologiques et la croissance. Nos résultats suggèrent que la pollution sonore peut avoir des conséquences importantes sur les invertébrés et présente un risque fort en termes de productivité de l'écosystème. / Human activities introduce multiple harmful pressures on the marine ecosystem. Chemical pollution, climate change, acidification risk, plastic debris and radioactive wastes have significant effects on marine wildlife. Noise pollution is now recognized as a major source of pollution at sea. Seismic exploration, pile driving and marine traffic, among other activities, generate noise at high sound pressure levels altering the underwater acoustic landscape. Many marine mammals and fish hear the noise generated by these activities which have the potential to alter their physiology and ethology. However, very few studies among marine invertebrates had assessed their ability to hear and the impact of noise pollution on them has yet to be determined. We approached the problem by studying sound perception ability in the pacific oyster Magallana gigas using behavioural and physiological techniques. We have shown that M. gigas is sensitive to sound in the frequency range from 10 to 1000 Hz. This characterization allowed us to define sound sources that contribute to their sound landscape. In the laboratory, in an environment contaminated with (i) cadmium, a metal that we considered to be both a toxic agent and an indirect marker of ventilatory activity, and (ii) cargo ship noise, we showed a depressant or repressant effect of noise characterized by a decrease in valve activity, ventilatory activity and growth rate. We also report a decrease in Cd bioaccumulation and some modulation of gene expression. Finally, we studied a 2-year behavioural record performed in the commercial port of Santander (including spawning events and growth) on 3 groups of oysters exposed to high noise pressure levels. In the port of Santander, the "water quality" is otherwise considered by the literature as good to very good for a heavily modified water body. We found in these records different changes that we previously induced and/or produced in the laboratory. We conclude that the noise pollution load occurring within a commercial port must reduce the fitness of oysters by modifying their valve activity, the hierarchy of their biological rhythms and their growth rate. Our results strongly suggest that noise pollution can have significant consequences on invertebrates and presents a high risk in terms of ecosystem productivity.

There are more than 7000 described rare genetic disorders; however, the molecular basis underlying approximately half of these disorders is unknown, and the majority are currently untreatable. Stature and growth abnormalities are a common clinical feature of many rare disorders including: Floating-Harbor syndrome (FHS), a short stature syndrome characterized by delayed osseous maturation, language deficits, and unique dysmorphic facial features; Weaver syndrome, an overgrowth syndrome characterized by advanced osseous maturation, developmental delay, and macrocephaly; and Sotos syndrome with cutis laxa, an overgrowth syndrome with marked tissue laxity in addition to the typical Sotos characteristics of developmental delay, macrocephaly, and a unique facial gestalt. The genetic basis underlying these three rare stature conditions were unknown at the outset of this study. We utilized high-throughput exome sequencing approaches to investigate the molecular etiology of these rare disorders and identified truncating mutations in the final exon of SRCAP as the genetic cause underlying FHS, missense mutations in EZH2 in Weaver syndrome, and novel mutations in the Sotos syndrome gene NSD1 in Sotos syndrome with cutis laxa. Next, we investigated the spectrum of SRCAP mutations in FHS and established the clustering of truncating SRCAP mutations in the final exon as being highly suggestive of a non-haploinsufficiency mutational mechanism in FHS. Finally, global methylation array analysis identified a unique methylation ‘epi-signature’ in FHS individuals, providing further insight into FHS disease mechanism and a diagnostic signature. These studies have delineated the molecular etiology of these three rare stature/growth disorders, furthered our understanding of the associated clinical spectrum, and provided biological insight into disease pathogenesis.

The coastal, indigenous communities around Alaska have subsisted on marine animals for generations, often focusing on large apex predators such as seals, sea lions, and whales. Three species of pinnipeds (harbor seal, Steller sea lion, northern fur seal) and the northern sea otter have all undergone significant population declines since the 1970s, some regions more than others. Archived vibrissae (whiskers) and body tissues from these four species were available from the Bering Sea and throughout the Gulf of Alaska from the 1990s and early 2000s. Tissues from these species are exceedingly difficult to obtain; thus, the archived tissues provided a finite and irreplaceable resource of data. Analysis of these archived tissues indicates which species, tissues, and gender bioaccumulate metals more readily. In this study twelve heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, vanadium, zinc) were analyzed in vibrissae from the four select species, and in body tissues from harbor seals and Steller sea lions. The samples were collected from three regions (southeastern, southcentral, and southwestern Alaska) during the 1990s through early 2000s. Significant differences of heavy metal concentrations in vibrissae were detected among elements (p2(110) = 454.81, p2(66) = 310.88, p

The archipelago at the Swedish Baltic coast belonging to the landscapes Södermanland och Östergötland consists of many thousands of islands today. However, about 10 000 years ago, the first islands broke the sea surface due to the land uplift. Despite of the very exteme maritime environment at that time there exist archaeological remains from the mesolitical period from the first visitors. Since that time the maritime landscape has been used for several reasons, such as providing food, establishing industry, defence and trade. In the viking and medieval age the activity was high in the archipelago. This could only be possible with a safe journey between the islands with help from local fishermen who were the experts of the archipelago and severed as pilots as they know the safe routes and the placenamnes. The intention of this essay is to test if the phenomena called "name user circle" is present along the Swedish Baltic Sea coast of Södermanland and Östergötland. This means that a limitid group of people, geographically located, used the same placenamn for, in this case the placenamne Hamnskär (harbour islet). The frequensy and locality of Hamnskär will be studied as well as the historical och archaeological materiel. Other questions will be answered, such as common factors for Hamnskär, who used them, what were they used for, where did the users come from and who gave the islands their placenamnes. The result of the test is that ten Hamnskär have been found relatively frequently along the tested coast, except outside Södertörns coast, a part of Södermanland. Five "Bodskär" ("hut-islet") were located here. To go fishing in the outer archipelago you need a boat, a harbour and a hut, the use of these islets is the same. Archaeological materiel exits on some islets. The islets were used for fishing and for self-sufficiency. As the fishing was very income-generating a lot of people came to fish, even the Crown and burghers. Some other placenames have been found along the tested coast, Björkskär 18 and Alskär 26. The conclusion is that Hamnskär is a part of a local name user circle.

The recovering harbor seal population along the Swedish west coast has coincided with declining cod stocks. Although the cod stocks were primarily depleted by intense fisheries, some stakeholders argue that reduced seal populations could have direct, positive effects on the cod stocks. The outbreaks of Phocine distemper virus (PDV) in 1988 and 2002 when up to 66% of the harbor seals along the Swedish west coast died, could be viewed as natural experiments allowing for assessment of any positive impacts of reduced mortality from seal predation on cod abundance. I quantified removal from seal predation and fishery landings and analyzed correlations to cod abundance of different length classes. Analyses were conducted for a longer time- series, 1979-2019, reaching back to when removal from fisheries was substantially larger than that from seal consumption. I also analyzed the data with a more recent perspective, 2003-2019, starting after the later PDV outbreak when seal predation relative landing sizes has increased. During this period, fishery discard data is available and included in the models. Methods include graphical presentation, multiple linear regression analyses, and to expand the existing data on seal diet, I collected diet samples of harbor seal feces from two haul-outs in Skagerrak. No statistically significant, negative correlations between seal predation and cod abundance were found in any data set, hence, I cannot support the idea of harbor seals having an impact on cod abundance. Also, the significant correlations between cod abundance and landings were all positive. I argue that culling of seals cannot be motivated as a strategy to help cod recover, as this would jeopardize the persistence of the seal population rather than assuring cod stability.

This thesis presents a method, Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF), applied to a highresolution, shallow water equations model (DG ADCIRC-2DDI) of the Lower St. Johns River with observation data at four gauging stations. EnKF, a sequential data assimilation method for non-linear problems, is developed for tidal flow simulation for estimation of state variables, i.e., water levels and depth-integrated currents for overland unstructured finite element meshes. The shallow water equations model is combined with observation data, which provides the basis of the EnKF applications. In this thesis, EnKF is incorporated into DG ADCIRC-2DDI code to estimate the state variables. Upon its development, DG ADCIRC-2DDI with EnKF is first validated by implementing to a low-resolution, shallow water equations model of a quarter annular harbor with synthetic observation data at six gauging stations. Second, DG ADCIRC-2DDI with EnKF is implemented to a high-resolution, shallow water equations model of the Lower St. Johns River with real observation data at four gauging stations. Third, four different experiments are performed by applying DG ADCIRC-2DDI with EnKF to the Lower St. Johns River.