8 research outputs found
Sims, Philander D. - An inaugural dissertation on typhoid fever
No full textHandwritten inaugural dissertation on typhoid fever by Philander D. Sims, of Tennessee.Inaugural dissertation; no. 183
Plu-ri-bus-tah. A song that's-by-no-author. A deed without a name.
No full textIllustrated by John McLenan.Comic history of the U.S., written in the style of Longfellow's Hiawatha.Mode of access: Internet.BANC; xPN6157.K6.T484p: Koundakjian collection
The influence of physical processes on extratropical singular vectors
No full textAn investigation is made of the impact of a full linearized physical (moist) parameterization package on extratropical singular vectors (SVs) using the ECMWF integrated forecasting system (IFS). Comparison is made for one particular period with a dry physical package including only vertical diffusion and surface drag. The crucial extra ingredient in the full package is found to be the large-scale latent heat release. Consistent with basic theory, its inclusion results in a shift to smaller horizontal scales and enhanced growth for the SVs. Whereas, for the dry SVs, T42 resolution is sufficient, the moist SVs require T63 to resolve their structure and growth. A 24-h optimization time appears to be appropriate for the moist SVs because of the larger growth of moist SVs compared with dry SVs. Like dry SVs, moist SVs tend to occur in regions of high baroclinicity, but their location is also influenced by the availability of moisture. The most rapidly growing SVs appear to enhance or reduce large-scale rain in regions ahead of major cold fronts. The enhancement occurs in and ahead of a cyclonic perturbation and the reduction in and ahead of an anticyclonic perturbation. Most of the moist SVs for this situation are slightly modified versions of the dry SVs. However, some occur in new locations and have particularly confined structures. The most rapidly growing SV is shown to exhibit quite linear behavior in the nonlinear model as it grows from 0.5 to 12 hPa in 1 day. For 5 times this amplitude the structure is similar but the growth is about half as the perturbation damps a potential vorticity (PV) trough or produces a cutoff, depending on its sign
Statistical separation of observed global and European climate data into natural and anthropogenic signals
No full textObserved global and European spatiotemporal related fields of surface air temperature, mean-sea-level pressure and precipitation are analyzed statistically with respect to their response to external forcing factors such as anthropogenic greenhouse gases, anthropogenic sulfate aerosol, solar variations and explosive volcanism, and known internal climate mechanisms such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). As a first step, a principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to the observed spatiotemporal related fields to obtain spatial patterns with linear independent temporal structure. In a second step, the time series of each of the spatial patterns is subject to a stepwise regression analysis in order to separate it into signals of the external forcing factors and internal climate mechanisms as listed above as well as the residuals. Finally a back-transformation leads to the spatiotemporally related patterns of all these signals being intercompared. Two kinds of significance tests are applied to the anthropogenic signals. First, it is tested whether the anthropogenic signal is significant compared with the complete residual variance including natural variability. This test answers the question whether a significant anthropogenic climate change is visible in the observed data. As a second test the anthropogenic signal is tested with respect to the climate noise component only. This test answers the question whether the anthropogenic signal is significant among others in the observed data. Using both tests, regions can be specified where the anthropogenic influence is visible (second test) and regions where the anthropogenic influence has already significantly changed climate (first test)
A 'blessed asylum' or a utopian vision : the viability of a Protestant nunnery in early nineteenth-century England
No full textIn 1694, Mary Astell proposed the establishment of Protestant nunneries in England; in 1809, Helena Whitford reiterated the theme; yet, it was Lady Isabella King in 1816 who sought to put this radical idea into effect. A single, Irish, evangelically influenced gentlewoman, a younger daughter of the Earl of Kingston, she established the Ladies’ Association, a ‘conventual’ home for eighteen distressed gentlewomen at Bailbrook House in Bath in 1816, securing support for it from such influential figures as Queen Charlotte, William Wilberforce and Robert Southey. When Bailbrook House was sold in 1821, she relocated the Ladies’ Association to Clifton in Bristol, where its eventual failure in 1835 shattered her vision of establishing a national scheme of conventual homes that would benefit future generations of women.
Limited attention has yet been paid by historians to the role elite women played in creating and managing philanthropic institutions in the early nineteenth century, particularly those aimed at assisting other women in an urban setting. Some historians of philanthropy, such as Frank Prochaska, have identified an ‘explosion’ of early nineteenth-century female activity; however, elite women’s charitable contributions have tended to be understood as rural, concentrating on family estates. Kim Reynolds, who has addressed Victorian elite women’s philanthropy in an urban setting, maintains it functioned simply as a strand of elite women’s work.
This dissertation draws upon a previously unstudied collection of papers compiled and annotated by Lady Isabella King, which span the existence of the Ladies’ Association, in order to explore the nature of Lady Isabella’s involvement in this philanthropic venture and her understanding of her role. Thus it not only seeks to recover Lady Isabella as an important historical figure in the development of early nineteenth-century philanthropic ventures, something for which she was recognised by her contemporaries, but also to
examine the structure of her unique experimental institution and cast some light on the sorts of women who became its residents. By doing so, it provides a case study in the development and practical application of a philanthropic ideal. It examines the ways that Lady Isabella, quite a conventional elite single woman, used her status, her location and her networks to create and maintain the institution for nearly twenty years. It provides a valuable opportunity to examine a number of the problems she faced in establishing and running the institution, given the social and gendered milieu in which she was operating, and the strategies she employed to achieve her ends.
I argue that Lady Isabella’s elite status provided her with the wealth and access to influential social circles to make a difference, that her single status added independence to devote time to her cause and while she was initially beset with self-doubts about her competence to author and manage the project, she gradually gained confidence as she developed ways to implement and manage the institution. At the same time the groundbreaking nature of the Ladies’ Association, the consequent public criticism and a growing discordant atmosphere among the residents of the institution lead to its closure in 1835
Glacio-limnological interactions at lake-calving glaciers
No full textIceberg calving is an efficient ablation process which introduces mechanical instability to
glacier systems and can cause non-linear climatic response. This thesis uses glaciological and
limnological data to examine the relative contributions of calving and melting to mass loss at
glacier termini, and the interplay between glaciological and limnological processes. Calving
dynamics are investigated at two lake-terminating glaciers; Glaciar Leon in Chile and
Fjallsjokull in Iceland. Glaciar Leon, a temperate, grounded outlet of the North Patagonian
Icefield, terminates at an active but stable calving margin in Lago Leones. The calving rate of
880 m a-1 in a mean water depth of 65 m is high for lake-calving glaciers. Detailed survey of
the physical limnology of Lago Leones, important for considering heat transfer to the
subaqueous ice face, revealed thermocline development towards the terminus between
spring and summer. Melting at the waterline along the glacier terminus facilitates calving by
undercutting the subaerial calving cliff, and accounts for around a quarter of mass loss at the
terminus. Waterline melting is also an important rate-controlling process for calving at
Fjallsjokull. Precise quantification of melt rates (subaerial, waterline and subaqueous) at the
termini of calving glaciers is difficult and hazardous, but this study has demonstrated the
value of two techniques: (1) detailed survey of melt notch growth, and (2) use of a radiocontrolled
boat to record water temperatures at the ice-water interface. Continuous
automated monitoring showed that lake-level fluctuations are integral to calving behaviour,
influencing calving event timing and size over diurnal and hourly timescales. Fjallsjokull is
sensitive to climatic forcing whereas Glaciar Leon, which exhibits larger seasonal than
annual fluctuations, is less sensitive. Additional controls on calving at both sites are (1)
buoyancy, (2) longitudinal stretching, and (3) the force balance at the ice-water interface.
Calving operates along a continuum defined by the relative importance of interacting calving
mechanisms, to which the climatic response of calving glaciers is sensitive
Plants and wound healing in Uganda: A mixed methods study
No full textIn Uganda, many people rely on traditional healers and medicinal plants for their health needs including managing wounds. To date no studies have been published regarding the local Ugandan practice of the use of medicinal plants for wound healing. This study was undertaken to document Ugandan local knowledge of wound healing, the preparation, administration and identification of local medicinal plants.
The mixed methods study comprised three phases:
1. A literature review of the existing literature on plants and wound healing employing systematic techniques.
2. Fieldwork where forty consenting traditional practitioners and local knowledge experts in South Western Uganda were interviewed about their knowledge of wound healing and participated in quantitative surveys regarding medicinal plant use.
3. The interviews and surveys yielded knowledge of wound healing and a list of plants used from which three were selected for relevant phytochemical assays in the laboratory work phase.
The literature review found nine studies that reported on the use of medicinal plants for wound healing in Uganda. The interviews provided data which demonstrated that respondents possessed knowledge of the definition, classification, and diagnosis of wounds. The ethnobotanical survey revealed 38 plants as being important for treatment of wounds. The most represented families were Asteraceae (26.3%) and Solanaceae (15.8%); Bidens pilosa L, Musa paradisiaca L., solenostemon latifolius, Ageratum conyzoides L., Hoslundia opposita Vahl. and Microglossa pyrifolia (Lam.) Kuntze were the most widely used. Preliminary phytochemical screening confirmed the extraction efficiency through presence of polyphenol and flavonoid compounds and demonstrated antioxidant activity of the plant extract.
Ultimately, this thesis uses the mixed methods approach to gain a fuller and more complete understanding of the research questions. It also demonstrates evidence for the use of selected medicinal plants for wound healing in South Western Uganda and gives a description of the category of professionals involved in traditional medicine using medicinal plants
