35 research outputs found
A Spinster’s Tour in France, the States of Genoa, etc., during the Year 1827
No full textThe romantic novelist Elizabeth Strutt (1783–c.1863) was ideally suited to the task she set herself when, in 1827, she wrote A Spinster's Tour in France (1828). Although she herself was married, her experiences convinced her of the urgent need for a guidebook designed for the unaccompanied 'lady traveller'. Taking readers through every stage of a long and eventful journey from Southampton to Recco (near Genoa), Strutt combines poetic descriptions of picturesque landscapes with practical advice on lodgings, transport and social interaction. Of particular concern, claims Strutt, is the vulnerability of unchaperoned young women at the hands of 'zealous Roman Catholics' who might seek to convert a 'timid child' to their faith. Strutt's book provides an unusual perspective both on European customs and society, and on the mindset of the British travellers who witnessed them. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=struel</jats:p
Manuscript notes on gold digging and gold licence issued 1858
No full textManuscript notes on gold digging, written around [c.1858] author unknown, may have been George Elliot. Includes on the front page a coloured drawing of 'The Diggings, designed and drawn by William Strutt, and published by D. Urquhart, Collins Street, Melbourne.
William Strutt (1825-1915) was born in Devon, England and studied art in Paris. He arrived in Melbourne on the HMS Culloden, in July 1850. Strutt published engravings in the first issue of the Illustrated Australian Magazine and designed, engraved or lithographed postage stamps, posters, maps, transparencies and seals and began to learn all he could about the history of the colony. His friend and patron John Pasco Fawkner encouraged him to record important colonial events. His works are represented in galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat, Adelaide and Hobart. Among European collections, le Musée de Lucerne and the Peace Palace at The Hague hold important paintings. The Dixson and Mitchell libraries, Sydney, the National Library of Australia, State Library and the Parliamentary Library, Victoria, and the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, all hold extensive collections of his sketches, paintings or manuscript material.
Also Gold Licence issued to George Elliot on October 1858 by P.C.. Crespigny, Commissioner. To meet the expense of securing order and to restrain unauthorised mining on Crown land, a local Act of January 1852 imposed on all diggers a licence fee of 30 shillings per month, the penalty for mining without a licence being £6 for the first offence and afterwards imprisonment for terms up to six months
: Presented to The Royal Society of Tasmania by George Elliot.
RS 70/ 1&
Developing ODP student placements
No full textIn a similar way to nursing and other health professions, elements of the education of operating department practitioners (ODPs) can only be contextualised by clinical practice involvement (Stockhausen and Strutt, 2005; Higginson, 2006; Morgan, 2006). The importance of high-quality placement experiences for all UK health professions is widely acknowledged (Quality Assurance Agency, 2001). Prior to 2009, students on the Diploma in Higher Education ODP programme undertook four clinical placements in the same Trust or organisation. At the time of the project there was a shortfall in the number of placements available and, although the university explored placing students in different clinical areas, such as private healthcare providers and new areas in the NHS, none could provide the full learning experience for students to achieve the required competencies. The course team developed a system that uses placements in a variety of settings and ensures students can gain the required outcomes. The new approach involves auditing for individual placements, instead of for the full course duration. Students are now informed throughout recruitment and selection events that they should be undertaking placements in a minimum of three different organisations. Students now move to a different organisation with every experience, to gain a variety of clinical knowledge. This has resulted in the greater use of clinical placements and the development of new areas for students to gain experience. The benefits of students’ experiences have increased, as they can develop skills and understanding of the ODP role from different perspectives
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Nucleic acid-guided genome defense systems from bacteria and archaea
No full textBacterial and archaeal genomes are under constant threat by genetic invaders. The need to maintain genomic and cellular integrity has driven the evolution of numerous and diverse genome defense systems. A common theme in prokaryotic defense strategies is interference of foreign DNA and RNA on the sequence level. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems confer adaptive immunity to previously encountered genetic invaders. Guided by short RNAs, the main effectors of CRISPR-Cas systems are sequence specific nucleases that catalyze degradation of exogenous nucleic acids. At the center of a similar method of genome defense to CRISPR-Cas systems, but operating through non-homologous proteins and pathways, prokaryotic Argonaute proteins (pAgos) have been proposed as sequence specific defense systems. However, our mechanistic knowledge of both CRISPR-Cas and pAgo systems stems from a small subset of the total genetic diversity of these systems. Here, we address this limited understanding through analysis of new CRISPR-Cas and pAgo systems, as well as describe novel activity for previously identified members.CRISPR-Cas9 has rapidly been adopted as a programmable platform for sequence-specific DNA targeting with endless applications in gene editing, genome-wide screening, and transcriptional control. Current applications draw upon the biochemical activities of a few common Cas9 enzymes. The study of diverse homologs has potential to yield novel Cas9 proteins with desired traits such as increased efficiency or specificity. Surveying a vast metagenomic database, we report the first Cas9 from archaea, expanding the occurrence of CRISPR-Cas9 systems to a new domain of life. DNA targeting is a hallmark of CRISPR-Cas9 systems. Engineering SpyCas9 to bind and target RNA has been difficult and suffers from reduced efficiency. We sought to identify Cas9 homologs with a natural ability to target RNA molecules. Using in vitro purification and biochemical assays, we discovered Cas9 enzymes that efficiently cleave RNA. Furthermore, we show that this activity can be harnessed to reduce phage infection and mediate gene repression in vivo, expanding the toolkit of CRISPR-Cas nucleases.Analogous to CRISPR-Cas systems, Argonaute proteins are well known, RNA-guided nucleases that operate in eukaryotic RNA-interference. Motivated by initial observations that Argonaute homologs in prokaryotes constitute a nucleic acid-guided genome defense system, we studied the physiological role and biochemical activities of a novel clade of pAgos. We offer the first experimental evidence of complex formation between natural, two-piece Argonaute proteins. Preliminary in vivo observations implicate this split-pAgo in maintaining motility under conditions induced by introduction of an exogenous plasmid. Together with our studies on CRISPR-Cas systems, our work highlights unexpected functional diversity across divergent nucleic acid-guided genome defense systems
Export participation, employee benefits, and firm performance: The evidence from Vietnam’s manufacturing SMEs
No full textVietnam has seen a significant rise in the number of SMEs since introducing the Enterprise Law in 2000. Non-state SMEs are playing a key role in economic growth, creating jobs, and reducing poverty. However, these non-state SMEs participate only modestly in export activity despite the high export performance of the economy. What are the factors impeding export participation? And how does the role of export performance affect employee benefits (e.g. higher wages) and firm performance? This thesis is the first study to provide empirical evidence for answering these research questions.
Chapter 3 investigates the causal relationship between export participation and productivity by examining two popular hypotheses, self-selection and learning by exporting. Using a balanced panel dataset from 2005-2009 for Vietnamese private manufacturing SMEs, the results show strong statistical evidence for the self-selection of more productive firms into the export market. The alternative hypothesis, learning by exporting, is shown to be invalid by employing a fixed-effect panel data estimation and a fixed-effect instrumental variable regression. This study also reveals that export participation has no impact on technical efficiency, technical progress, and scale change.
Chapter 4 explores the role of export participation in increasing employee benefits in terms of wages and employment quality. First, based on a unique, matched firm-worker panel dataset between 2007 and 2009, the study shows that export participation has a positive impact on wages when taking into account only firm characteristics. However, the exporter wage premium falls and dissipates when both firm and worker characteristics are controlled for. In addition, the effect decreases further and becomes less significant when controlling for time-invariant, unobservable factors by a spell fixed-effect estimation. Second, using a firm level balanced panel dataset in the same period, the results show that there is a positive linkage between export participation and the share of casual workers. However, the effect of export participation on wages and employment quality varies greatly across sectors.
Chapter 5 investigates linkages between export participation, firm survival and profitability in Vietnam. Using an unbalanced panel dataset from 2005 to 2009, the study shows no difference in survival probability between exporters and non-exporters. However, the probability of a firm’s survival is greater for those who engage continuously in export but is lower for firms which have ceased export activity, as indicated by their export status at different stages. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) to consider the relationship between firm profitability and export activity, the results indicate that export status is not related to firm profit growth. However, a quantile regression approach shows that export participation is positively related to profitability for firms with high profit growth but negatively related for those firms with low profit growth. This might suggest that the productivity advantages of exporters with low profit growth are absorbed by costs relating to trading activities in overseas markets.
This thesis may have several potential policy implications. First, export promotion policies may not be effective if they are not accompanied by strategies to help SMEs become more productive. In addition, policies encouraging and supporting exports should focus not only on the number of employment created but also on the quality of employment, especially for low-technology industries. Finally, export-promoting policies (e.g. improvement in firms’ innovative activities) coupled with policies maintaining firms’ positions in export markets could be helpful since these measures in turn may help firms improve their survival probability and profit growth. However, the policy issues are very complicated and these suggestions should therefore be considered an initial foundation for further study
Measuring the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Economic Development in Zambia
No full textZambia is one of the sub-Saharan African countries with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world. One in seven adults is HIV positive and the epidemic disproportionately affects better educated and wealthy Zambians who have a prevalence rate almost twice that of uneducated and poor Zambians. As HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality is concentrated among people of prime working-age, its impact on the quantity and quality of the workforce is expected to have considerable adverse effects on economic activity and the welfare of households. There is no agreement on whether HIV/AIDS retards economic growth because it affects both the supply and demand of goods and services, despite it being acknowledged as a humanitarian catastrophe. This thesis undertakes simulations with a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of Zambia to estimate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Zambian economy and well-being of Zambian households. Survey data are used to estimate whether HIV/AIDS adversely affects the willingness of public sector workers to live and work in rural areas where they are a vital ingredient into the economic development process of rural areas. Simulation results show significant reductions in gross domestic product (GDP) and investment at high prevalence levels like Zambia's. Sectoral output is found to decrease in all sectors especially in the labour-intensive sectors. Household incomes and consumption, for both urban and rural households, decrease leading to reduced household welfare. Results also show that a high prevalence rate leads to a reduction in the country's trade deficit. This result is driven by the larger reduction in imports relative to exports as household incomes decrease. Probit regression estimates of the willingness of public sector workers to live in rural areas found no evidence to support the view that HIV/AIDS would retard rural economic development by reducing the willingness of public sector workers to live and work in rural areas. To the contrary, HIV/AIDS variables tended to raise the probability of willingness. This thesis contributes to the body of evidence suggesting that HIV/AIDS has considerable adverse effects on economic development. By using an analysis method that takes into account the inter-relationships among the different sectors and institutions in an economy, the results are likely to be more robust and reliable than those from partial equilibrium analyses. As a means of reversing the adverse impacts of HIV/AIDS, this thesis recommends a shift in public policy from a focus on provision of free antiretroviral therapies to a focus on prevention of new infections
An aerostable drag-sail device for the deorbit and disposal of sub-tonne, low earth orbit spacecraft
No full textThere is an increasing amount of debris in low Earth orbit arising from the
disintegration and collision of old spacecraft which have not been removed from
orbit. A ‘bolt-on’ deorbit device to be attached to new spacecraft is therefore
proposed, which would deploy an aerostable drag sail at end-of-life. This drag sail
would interact with the rarefied atmospheric gases and plasma present at altitudes of
up to 1,000 km and thus denude energy from the orbit, causing it to become lower
and lower until final re-entry of the host becomes inevitable. At this point the drag
sail would collapse and both the host and the deorbit device would be destroyed by
aerothermodynamic forces.
This work develops the deorbit device concept by demonstrating that aerostable drag
enhancement is an effective and competitive deorbit mechanism. This is done by:
• Calculating the aerodynamic, solar radiation pressure and gravitational
influences on the deployed drag sail and using them to model the
performance of the device.
• Using the results of that modelling to identify the optimum shape, size and
deployment conditions of the drag sail.
• Further calculating the structural strength required to resist the aerodynamic
loads until the desired collapse altitude.
• And finally by using that information to assemble a conceptual design which
demonstrates the practicability of the system
'Yes, I was a house slave: I slept under the stairway in the closet.' : slave housing and landscapes of Tennessee 1780-1860 : an architectural synthesis /
No full textAdviser: C. Van West.This dissertation synthesizes the architectural, documentary, and archeological information known about the living conditions of African-American slaves in Tennessee. The author conducted an architectural survey from 1999-2002 and recorded 62 sites with 75 buildings, 27 rooms within mansions, and 7 wings with 18 rooms, totaling 171 rooms for slave living and work. Many are small single-pen log houses, some are brick, a few frame, and one stone building can be found in appendix 1 of the dissertation. The fact that most Tennessee slave owners held 10 or fewer bondsmen made Tennessee's living conditions different from the cotton plantation districts of the Deep South. To be sure, Tennessee had its plantations, the most well-known Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, serves as an example of how a large group of enslaved people lived in the state. But many slaves actually lived within their white masters' homes, or in wings attached to the mansion. The survey recorded a total of 45 rooms in mansions or wings, which is more than half the number of separate standing structures recorded.Tennessee's landscapes also suggest closeness with 37 of 75 houses sitting within 100' of the "big house." The architectural evidence begs the question of what constituted a "community" among the enslaved. Archeological evidence demonstrates black and white lived together during the frontier period. And later because so many people did not reside on large plantations with family and friends living in the same quarter, the few people living on house lots or small farms had to broaden their area of familiarity to create a network and community support system. An example is the Joseph Brown house in Greeneville where 7 apparently unrelated, mostly teenagers, lived in one house in 1860. This sobering example should give historians pause to think about how we define community among enslaved groups. This information from Tennessee can be extended to other parts of the upland South where slave holdings were small. Scholars investigating the lives of enslaved people in that context should consider the wider connotations of what it meant to create "community" away from the property a person knew as "home.".Ph.D
