Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 93 pages / Thesis (M.S.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Coral-based climate studies commonly use elemental ratios and stable isotopes of coral skeletons to address seawater temperature and hydrologic balance issues in the tropical surface oceans. Replication, or cross-checking, a standard technique used to assess the fidelity of proxy records in paleoclimatology has not been widely applied in coral-based climate studies, primarily because of the time and cost associated with generating multiple records from a single reef site. Modern and paleoclimate reconstructions based on a single proxy-coral record from a site may contain errors if individual corals from the same reef record different geochemical signals. In this study we perform a replication test using elemental ratios and stable isotopes in three Porites corals from New Caledonia. / ABSTRACT: The reef complex offshore Amédée Island, New Caledonia is an ideal site to perform a coral replication test because instrumental sea surface temperatures (SST) and sea surface salinity measurements (SSS) have been made there for over 25 years. In this study, we compare sub-monthly resolved, geochemical variations (Sr/Ca, d18O and d13C) in three Porites lutea coral heads, located 500 m apart, with the instrumental SST and SSS records over the interval 1992-1967. The monthly coral Sr/Ca and d18O time series are well correlated to each other (r=0.86, p[.0001) and to the monthly instrumental SST record (r= -0.86, p[.0001, coral Sr/Ca to SST; r= -0.77, p[.0001, coral d18O to SST). The three, sub-monthly resolved, 30-year coral Sr/Ca-SST time series have mean SST values that agree within 0.2oC with the instrumental mean SST value. A similar comparison for the coral d18O-SST records indicate a maximum difference between predicted and observed mean SST of 0.5°C. / ABSTRACT: Analysis of the monthly climatological means also indicates that Sr/Ca-SST records closely match the instrumental SST record ±0.4°C; a similar comparison using the d18O-SST record yields an average offset of ±0.6°C between observed and predicted monthly SST. Stacking the three records to form composite Sr/Ca-SST and d18O-SST records does not appreciably improve the goodness of fit between the proxy and instrumental SST records; hence a coral-based proxy climate record from a single coral accurately reflects the observed record of climate variability at this locality. These results support the concept that high fidelity climate records can be generated using a single coral core. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

As ultrasound imaging gains popularity in speech research, an important question to address is the reliability of the measures taken from these images. This study examines the reliability of hand measures of ultrasound data collected by graduate student researchers in the University of South Florida's speech science lab. Speech production data from Ultrasound analysis of velar fronting (Wodzinski, 2004) and Ultrasound study of errors in speech production (Frisch, 2003) were used to obtain inter-rater reliability measures. This study compares the raters choice of video frame depicting alveolar or velar closure image, anterior and posterior points of closure, tongue blade and velar angle measurements, as well as a measurement of the tongue dorsum distance from the ultrasound probe.

Abstract Background There is a great need for improved dietary assessment methods that give valid intake data and are more user friendly than traditional methods. Objectives The aim of this thesis was to develop, implement, and evaluate dietary assessment methods using new approaches and technologies in young populations, and to investigate variables that are important for reporting accuracy. Another aim was to investigate day-of-the-week effects on assessed energy and sugar intakes among children and adolescents. Methods This thesis is based on data collected as part of four different studies on the implementation of the following dietary assessment methods: the short dietary questionnaire (SDQ), a food record (FR) with either a digital camera or smartphone, and a computer-based 24-hour recall. Young pregnant and non-pregnant women with different weight statuses completed the SDQ. Children with overweight and obesity used digital cameras to complete FRs, and adolescents used the smartphone application FR. Parents of 2‒9-year-old European children completed the computer-based 24-hour recall and the results of sugar intake of the children on weekdays and weekends were analysed. The SDQ was evaluated against doubly labelled water (DLW) and a more extensive food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The two FRs were evaluated against data from a SenseWear Armband (SWA), and the smartphone FR was further compared to a web-based FR. Results The new approaches and technologies used in the dietary assessment methods in this thesis captured between 70% and 79% of the energy intake (EI) of children, adolescents and young women, and the ranking according to EI was generally low with all methods. The negative effect on reporting accuracy with increasing BMI/weight status that has been observed previously was confirmed in our studies. In children and adolescents, a weekend day in the FR emerged as a factor that was positively associated with reporting accuracy. Assessed sugar intake in children and adolescents was high in general and highest on weekends, although EI did not differ between weekdays and weekends. Conclusions FRs using technology should focus on simplifying the recording of consumed foods and amounts to a greater extent, for example, by automatizing these steps as much as possible. The SDQ could be further adapted for testing among other groups than young women, and could be adapted for specific objectives. Factors influencing reporting accuracy need to be taken into consideration and further explored when assessing dietary intake. In order to make it possible to evaluate sugar intake in relation to nutritional recommendations, information about added sugar in foods needs to be incorporated into food composition databases. Further development and research is needed to obtain dietary assessment methods with improved accuracy and user friendliness. / Sammanfattning Bakgrund Traditionella kostundersökningsmetoder är krävande och har flera felkällor, vilket ofta leder till att energiintaget (EI) från insamlade kostdata är lägre än individens uppmätta totala energiförbrukning (TEE). Det finns ett stort behov av kostundersökningsmetoder som ger valida resultat och är användarvänliga. Syfte Syftet med avhandlingen var att vidareutveckla kostundersökningsmetoder och att im plementera och utvärdera dem bland barn, ungdomar och unga kvinnor. Syftet var också att undersöka faktorer med betydelse för en korrekt rapportering av kostintaget. Vidare var syftet att undersöka skillnader i EI och intag av socker under vardagar och helger bland barn och ungdomar. Metod Avhandlingen baseras på data från fyra olika studier där olika nyutvecklade kostundersökningsmetoder användes. I en studie användes en kort kostenkät (SDQ) på unga gravida och icke-gravida kvinnor med olika viktstatus. Rapporterat EI jämförde s med TEE uppmätt med dubbelmärkt vatten-metoden, och rapporterat intag av näringsämnen och livsmedel jämfördes med en mer omfattande kostenkät (FFQ). I en annan studie samlades kostdata in för 2 ‒ 9-åringar från åtta europeiska länder med hjälp av en datoriserad 24-timmars recall som besvarades av föräldrarna. Barnens socker- och energiintag jämfördes mellan måndag ‒ torsdag, fredag och helg. I en tredje studie genomförde 8 ‒ 12-åringar med övervikt eller fetma en kostregistrering med hjälp av digitalkamera vid upprepade tillfällen. I en fjärde studie utvecklades och anvä ndes en smartphoneapplikation för kostregistrering bland 15-åringar, som också använde en webb-baserad kostregistrering. Rapporterat EI med kostregistreringarna utvärderades i jämförelse med TEE mätt med SenseWear Armband, och EI och sockerintag under vardagar och helger undersöktes. Resultat SDQ underskattade EI med 30 % bland de icke-gravida kvinnorna och en signifikant högre underskattning skedde bland kvinnorna med övervikt eller fetma. SDQ underskattade EI med 21 % bland de gravida kvinnorna. SDQ kunde dock rangordna EI bland kvinnorna med övervikt eller fetma och gav ett högre estimerat intag av flera näringsämnen och de flesta livsmedel jämfört med FFQ bland de icke-gravida kvinnorna. De nyutvecklade kostregistreringsmetoderna underskattade EI bland barn med 24 % och bland ungdomar med 29 %. Digitalkamerametoden visade god reproducerbarhet för de olika mättillfällena bland barn. Smartphoneapplikationen kunde uppskatta ungdomars TEE och pojkars fysiska aktivitetsnivå med en fråga om den dagliga fysiska aktiviteten. Underskattning av EI ökade med BMI och var lägre när en helgdag fanns med i kostregistreringen för både barn och ungdomar. Bland barnen iv underskattades EI mer bland flickor än pojkar och underskattningen ökade med åldern. Det fanns ingen signifikant skillnad i intagsmängd av näringsämnen och livsmedel när de mättes med smartphoneapplikationen jämfört med den webb-baserade kostregistreringen, och flera näringsämnen och livsmedel var signifikant korrelerade mellan de båda metoderna. EI hos barn i Europa skilde sig inte åt mellan vardagar och helger, men det totala intaget av mono- och disackarider och/eller livsmedel med hög andel tillsatt socker eller sackaros var generellt högre på helgerna. Sockerintaget på fredagar var ett mellanting mellan intaget under vardagar och helger hos de europeiska barnen. Konklusion De nyutvecklade kostundersökningsmetoderna fångade i genomsnitt mellan 70 % och 79 % av EI bland barn, ungdomar och unga kvinnor, och förmågan att rangordna EI var generellt låg med metoderna. Liksom i tidigare studier underskattades EI i högre grad hos de med övervikt/fetma eller högre BMI i alla grupperna, och bland barn och ungdomar framkom att validiteten ökade med en helgdag i kostregistreringen som en ny påverkande faktor. Barns och ungdomars sockerintag var generellt högt och som högst under helgen. Det finns ett stort behov av fortsatt forskning för att förbättra kostundersökningsmetoders validitet och användarvänlighet. För kostregistreringsmetoder som använder sig av teknik bör fokus i vidareutvecklingen vara på att göra det enklare för användaren att registrera konsumerade livsmedel och portionsstorlekar, till exempel genom att automatisera dessa steg i så hög grad som möjligt. SDQ kan anpassas och utvärderas även i andra grupper och för olika syften. Faktorer med betydelse för en korrekt rapportering av kost intaget bör tas i beaktande även fortsättningsvis samt undersökas vidare. För att göra det möjligt att utvärdera intaget av socker i jämförelse med näringsrekommendationer bör information om mängden tillsatt socker i livsmedel inkluderas i livsmedelsdatabaser.

The effect of seeding on the properties of alumina supported MFI membranes was investigated in this study. Membranes were synthesized from clear solutions with a molar batch composition of TPAOH:9.80SiO2:0.025NaOH:0.019Al2O3: 602.27H2O:39.16C2H5OH on bare and seeded alumina supports at 130oC in autoclaves. The amount of seed on the support surface was changed between 0.6 mg/cm2 and 6.9 mg/cm2 by vacuum seeding method, which provided uniform and closely packed seed layers. Membranes were characterized by XRD and SEM, and by measuring single gas permeances of N2, SF6, n-C4H10 and i-C4H10. The quality of membranes was evaluated on the basis of N2/SF6 ideal selectivity. Membranes, which showed N2/SF6 ideal selectivity higher than 40, were considered to be good quality, comprising few defects. Good quality membranes were also used to separate butane isomers. Membranes synthesized on seeded supports had compact and uniform MFI layer if the seed amount is less than 1.0 mg/cm2 on the support surface. Membranes that were synthesized on the supports coated with higher amount of seed crystals showed an asymmetric structure with a dense and uniform MFI layer at the top, the support at the bottom and a seed layer between. Half of the membranes synthesized on seeded supports had N2/SF6 ideal selectivity higher than 40. These membranes exhibited n-C4H10/i-C4H10 separation selectivities between 5 and 27 and 8 and 21 at room temperature and at 200oC, respectively. High ideal and separation selectivities showed that membranes did not include non-zeolitic pores. Membranes synthesized on bare support had non-uniform MFI layer. Those membranes showed N2/SF6 ideal selectivities below Knudsen selectivity, indicating the existence of large non-zeolitic pores in the MFI layer.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2006. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (D.P.H.)--University of Michigan.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 66-71). Also available on the Internet.