Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Processing and use of rapeseed'

Cold pressed rapeseed oil is produced when the seeds from the Brassica napus crop are crushed at a low temperature. This research sought to investigate the extent seed pre-processing and cultivar could be used to alter the composition of cold pressed rapeseed oil in relation to bioactive compounds. It also aimed to characterise UK and Irish cold pressed rapeseed oils and compare them with other popular types of edible oils. Finally, a range of spectroscopic techniques and chemometric models were tested for their ability to detect the substitutional adulteration of cold pressed rapeseed oil with lesser value oils. With regards to cold pressed rapeseed oil pre-processing, microwaving and thermal roasting significantly increased the abundance of phenolic acids and the antioxidant activity of cold pressed rapeseed oil. The volatile composition was also significantly altered by these pre-processing techniques. Cultivar had little impact on chemical composition. Characterisation of a range of UK, Irish and French cold pressed rapeseed oils found that all oils adhered to quality parameters. French oils had significantly higher levels of antioxidant activity than UK or Irish. Cold pressed rapeseed oil had higher levels of phenolic acids than refined rapeseed oil and was also more stable under heat stress. Spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, Raman, 400MHz NMR, 60 MHz NMR) were tested with chemometric models to see to what extent cold pressed rapeseed oil adulteration could be classified and quantified. Refined rapeseed oil adulteration in cold pressed rapeseed oil was best classified by the 400 MHz NMR, then Raman, FT-IR and 60 MHz NMR. Refined sunflower oil was best classified by the 400 MHz NMR, followed by FT-IR, then Raman and 60 MHz NMR. Levels of adulteration detection showed refined sunflower could be detected at lower levels than refined rapeseed oil.

The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the climate impact from different arable land use options and protein feeds aimed for cattle. This has been made by executing two life cycle assessments (LCAs). The first LCA aimed to compare the following three arable land use options: Cultivation of wheat used for production of bioethanol, carbon dioxide and DDGS Cultivation of rapeseed used for production of RME, rapeseed meal and glycerine Fallow in the form of long-term grassland The second LCA aimed to compare the three protein feeds DDGS, rapeseed meal and soybean meal. In the LCA of arable land, the functional unit 1 ha arable land during one year was used and the LCA had a cradle-to-grave perspective. The LCA of protein feeds had the functional unit 100 kg digestible crude protein and had a cradle-to-gate perspective, hence the use and disposal phases of the feeds were excluded. Bioethanol, DDGS and carbon dioxide produced at Lantmännen Agroetanol, Norrköping, were investigated in this study. The production of RME, rapeseed meal and glycerine were considered to occur at a large-scale plant in Östergötland, but no site-specific data was used. Instead, general data of Swedish production was used in the assessment. The wheat and rapeseed cultivations were considered to take place at the same Swedish field as the fallow takes place. The protein feed DDGS was produced at Lantmännen Agroetanol and the rapeseed meal was assumed to be produced at a general large-scale plant in Sweden. In the soybean meal scenario, a general case for the Brazilian state Mato Grosso was assumed and no specific production site was investigated. Data required for the LCAs was retrieved from literature, the LCI database Ecoinvent and from Lantmännen Agroetanol. In the LCA of arable land use options, system expansion was used on all products produced to be able to compare the wheat and rapeseed scenarios with the fallow scenario. In the LCA of protein feeds, system expansion was used on co-products. The products in the arable land use options and the co-products in the protein feed scenarios are considered to replace the production and use of products on the market with the same function. The result shows that the best arable land use option from a climate change perspective is to cultivate wheat and produce bioethanol, carbon dioxide and DDGS. This is since wheat cultivation has a higher yield per hectare compared to rapeseed and therefore a bigger amount of fossil products and feed ingredients can be substituted. To have the arable land in fallow is the worst option from a climate change perspective, since no products are produced that can substitute alternative products. Furthermore, the result shows that DDGS and rapeseed meal are to prefer before soybean meal from a climate change perspective, since soybean meal has a higher climate impact than DDGS and rapeseed meal. This can be explained by the smaller share of co-products produced in the soybean meal scenario compared to the DDGS and rapeseed meal scenarios. Since the production and use of co-products leads to avoided greenhouse gas emissions (since they substitute alternatives), the amount of co-products being produced is an important factor. A sensitivity analysis was also executed testing different system boundaries and variables critical for the result in both LCAs. The conclusion of this study is that arable land should be used to cultivate wheat in order to reduce the total climate impact from arable land. Furthermore, it is favorable for the climate if DDGS or rapeseed meal are used as protein feeds instead of imported soybean meal.

Introduction: Cognitive models of psychosis highlight the role of underlying differences in cognitive function and information processing in the development and maintenance of psychotic symptoms. As a result there is now an interest in developing a greater understanding of these cognitive changes, in order to guide the development of evidence-based therapeutic interventions. An influential cognitive model of psychosis suggests that the core underlying cognitive difference in psychosis may be one of altered contextual processing. Recent work has suggested that this may be reflected in differential perception of visual illusions. However, it is not clear if such differences are present early in the development of psychosis. Such differences have also been reported to be associated with cannabis use. Further, it has been suggested that, in addition to being risk factors for the development of psychosis, psychoactive substances such as cannabis may provide a useful model for understanding psychosis. The current thesis thus investigated, in two separate studies: (1) the consequences of cannabis use on contextual visual processing and (2), whether reported contextual processing differences in psychosis are present at illness onset. Study One: Two main hypotheses were tested. A. That THC, a key cannabis compound would reduce contextual visual suppression as measured using the Chubb illusion, and that this effect would be reduced via pre-treatment with another cannabis compound, cannabidiol (CBD). B. That THC would transiently induce symptoms of psychosis and that this increase would be reduced via CBD pre-treatment. No evidence was found to support the primary hypothesis. However, the secondary hypothesis was supported by the data. Study Two: The primary hypothesis was that contextual visual suppression, again measured with the Chubb illusion, would be reduced in patients with first episode psychosis relative to a control group. Although not significant, the data supported this hypothesis. Discussion: The results of Study One indicate that THC does not reduce visual contextual suppression as measured by the Chubb illusion. This is in contrast to evidence from other illusions, and may reflect different neural mechanisms underlying contextual visual processing. However, the study provided clear evidence that THC can induce psychotic symptoms and that this effect can be reduced by CBD pre-treatment. Study Two replicates previous findings of reduced contextual processing in psychosis and provides evidence that this may be present from the onset of illness. These findings are discussed and interpreted with regards to study limitations, clinical implications and future work.

Heterometallic Cr7Ni-containing wheels have been identified as potential qubits for use in quantum information processing. The work described in this thesis details attempts to form a variety of multi-qubit systems for the purposes of better understanding the interactions occurring between the wheels and also forming potential 2-qubit quantum gates using redox/photo-active links. Mono-substituted wheels of type [Pr2NH2][Cr7MF8(O2CCMe3)15(L)], where L is acarboxylate with a pendant coordinating group, have been synthesised for use as bulky ligands in coordination chemistry with metal complexes. Various carboxylates have been substituted into the wheels and the products reacted with first row transition metal complexes in order to extend the series of linked-wheel systems. Many of these novel complexes have been characterised by X-ray crystallography, and in certain cases EPR studies have been undertaken to probe the strength of interactions occurring via different bridging units. The first well-established substituted wheel, [Pr2NH2][Cr7NiF8(O2CCMe3)15(O2CPy)] (Py= pyridine), has also been used in reactions with second and third row transition metal centres to show its ability to act as a ligand under more harsh conditions. In addition, the disubstituted product [Pr2NH2][Cr7NiF8(O2CCMe3)14(O2CPy)2] has been reacted with a copper complex in order to form a polymeric structure. Purple wheels of type [Cr7NiF3(O2CCMe3)15(EtGu)(H2O)] have been linked through a variety of extended organic molecules containing a minimum of two pendent pyridyl groups. Use of a ligand containing four pyridyl groups, 2,2´:4,4´´:4´,4´´´-quaterpyridyl(qpy) produced a three-wheel-containing system, creating an interesting modification of the wheel backbone not seen before. A series of transition metal complexes, containing qpy and its extended derivative bbpe, has been synthesised in order to form linked-wheel systems. While none of these systems has to date yielded a crystal structure, a significant amount of evidence has been collected to confirm successful formation of the desired products. UV-vis spectroscopic and electrochemical measurements show that these compounds are photo and/or redox-active,and preliminary luminescence studies indicate that the presence of the wheels quenches the emission from metal-to-ligand charge-transfer excited states. A series of mixed-wheel systems has been synthesised by reacting four different monosubstituted green wheels with four purple wheels (Cr7M, where M = Ni, Co, Mn or Zn). A total of fourteen novel systems has been formed, with two of the attempted reactions failing to occur. EPR studies on Cr7Ni-Cr7Ni linked systems show that the strongest interaction occurs when using isonicotinate as a link, with 4-pyridazinecarboxylate giving the weakest coupling. Studies have also been undertaken on Cr7Ni-Cr7Mn and Cr7Ni-Cr7Zn systems, with the former showing interactions and the latter showing none. Initial work to link wheels together indirectly via their templates was ultimately unsuccessful, but a variety of potential linker molecules were synthesised and are described.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1988 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
The amount of information necessary for a computer to setup and process data through a telemetry system is increasing rapidly, The complexity and number of telemetry formats often requires a variety of front-end setups to be kept in the computer. Also, as hardware preprocessors become more common, there is a need to maintain in the computer all information used to direct real-time processing of individual parameters. The need for storage of those setups and parameter definitions, and rapid retrieval of this information, has led to the use of databases in well-designed telemetry systems.

The aim of the project is to investigate how a more viscous, gel like formulation can be made of BioGaia´s Prodentis Drops, which is a probiotic product for oral use. The two different strains of Lactobacillus reuteri that are used in the product, together called L. reuteri Prodentis, have been clinically proven to be effective in treatment of gingivitis and caries formation. The existing product is a highly liquid oil suspension that has been described as too runny and difficult to get into tooth pockets and between teeth. Therefore a gel formulation would be preferred. Pre-trials were excecuted to see what combinations and quantities of ingredients could work. Three different formulations using 3 %, 5 % and 7 % beeswax as thickening agent proceeded to another round of trials, as well as one formulation where the original oil was exchanged for hydrogenated rapeseed oil. In the beeswax formulations fumed silicon dioxide was being used as well. Three different analyses were executed, considering bacterial survival, viscosity and phase separation of gels. The bacterial survival proved to be acceptable in all samples even after 14 days of incubation in 37oC. The formulation with 7 % beeswax was the most viscous one, followed by 5 % beeswax, 3 % beeswax and the formulation with hydrogenated oil, respectively. Phase separation could be seen in the hydrogenated oil formulation already after seven days and even more so after 14 days. There were also signs of separation in the formulation with 3 % beeswax after 14 days. It was concluded that in further development of the Prodentis Drops it is recommendable to proceed with the 5 % beeswax formulation.

The world’s population growth together with the change in lifestyle and fashion culture has led to an increased demand for textile fibres. Fuelling this growth is the increasing number of short fashion seasons in the clothing retail markets, which has led to the overall decreased lifespans of clothing in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, which in turn has resulted in a significant increase in waste textile. The current disposal routes for the generated waste textile is through reuse or recycling, with up to 30% of the waste being landfilled or incinerated. Both landfill and incineration of waste textile are associated with environmental pollution, while reuse of waste garment as second-hand clothing is associated with the decline of the textile industries in developing countries due to the lower cost of the imported second-hand garments undercutting the local products. Moreover the common mechanical recycling of the waste textile back to the component fibre is also compromised by the presence of colour and mixed fibre blends which in turn results in low value non-woven products. This study investigated the potential methods to chemically recycle waste cotton garments and reuse the recycled materials as feedstock for producing regenerated cellulosic fibres through the Lyocell process. Methods to chemically ‘strip’ colorants and finishing agents from waste cotton garments were first established and their efficiency evaluated. Acid and alkali hydrolysis, dithionite reduction and oxidative bleaching were evaluated as potential methods for delivering cheap, efficient and environmental-friendly colour removal from cotton substrates. It was established that, the sequential acid/dithionite/peroxide treatment could strip a wide range of colorants from cotton fabrics, while the sequential acid/alkali/peroxide treatment could only strip relatively few colorants from the cotton substrates. The recycled waste cotton garments were successfully used to generate Lyocell fibres from both 100% recycled cotton pulp and a blend of recycled cotton pulp (20%) and wood pulp (80%). Both the fibre’s mechanical and structural properties were assessed using tensile parameters, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and were compared to the conventional Lyocell fibres from wood pulp. The overall findings of this study demonstrated the potential of reusing waste cotton garments through the Lyocell process and producing fibres with properties similar to conventional Lyocell fibres.

The recent emphasis on Information Technology has increased the need for methods of data communications with a greater interest in the areas of Satellite communications. Data communications over a satellite can be easily achieved by the use of excessive power and bandwidth but efficient management of the satellite resource requires more elegant means of transmission. The optimum modulator and demodulator can be described by mathematical expressions to represent the physical processes that are required to transmit and receive a signal. Digital Signal Processing circuits can be use to implement these mathematical functions and once correctly designed are not susceptible to variations in accuracy and hence can maintain an accurate representation of the mathematical model. This thesis documents an investigation into the algorithms and techniques that can be used in the digital implementation of a Satellite Data Modem. The technique used for carrier phase recovery and data decoding is a major variation on a method proposed by Viterbi and Viterbi and relies on Phase Estimation instead of the more common carrier regeneration techniques. A computer simulation of this algorithm and its performance is described and the overall performance of the simulation is compared to theoretical analysis and experimental performance of a Multi-Data Rate Satellite Modem covering data rates in the range 16 Ksymbol/sec to 256 Ksymbol/sec in both the BPSK and QPSK data formats.

This research project focused on moderately thermophilic acidophilic microorganisms and their role in the oxidation of pyrite. A major objective of the work was to assess the relative efficiencies of defined combinations of moderate thermophiles in oxidising pyrite under defined conditions. In addition, various aspects of the physiology and phylogeny of moderately thermophilic acidophiles were investigated. Moderately thermophilic acidophiles, including novel acidophiles (a thermotolerant Leptospirillum and a Ferroplasma sp. ), were isolated from a commercial stirred-tank pilot plant. Pyrite oxidation by mixed cultures of different combinations of moderate thermophiles, including the novel isolates, was assessed in preliminary shake flask experiments. Data from these experiments were used to select microbial consortia in later experiments in temperature- and pH-controlled bioreactors. These involved monitoring rates of mineral oxidation, and relative numbers of the different microorganisms included in the original inoculum, using a plating technique in conjunction with a molecular approach (FISH). The results from the pyrite oxidation studies indicated that mixed populations of acidophiles may accentuate or diminish the rates and extent of pyrite oxidation, relative to pure cultures. The thermotolerant Leptospirillum isolate was found to be unable to oxidise a pyrite concentrate when grown in pure culture, though this inhibition was overcome when the iron-oxidiser was grown in mixed cultures with various Grampositive acidophiles. Investigation of the effects of fifteen individual and mixtures of flotation chemicals on moderately thermophilic acidophiles revealed different degrees of toxicities of the different reagents and sensitivities of the microorganisms, with the Leptospirillum isolate generally being the most sensitive of those tested. The phenomenon of pH-related ferric iron toxicity to moderately thermophilic and mesophilic Gram-positive bacteria was also investigated. ARDREA (Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Enzyme Analysis) using the 16S rRNA gene sequences of known acidophilic bacteria, was refined and developed, and applied successfully to identify moderate thermophiles isolated from environmental samples.

The physical, chemical, and antioxidant properties of extrudates prepared from specialty tannin sorghum (CSC3xR28) and Tx430 black sorghums were evaluated. White food type sorghums (ATx631xRTx436) and commercial corn meal were also extruded. Sorghums were extruded as whole kernels or cracked (broken) kernels through a Maddox MX-3001 high-friction extruder. Cracked sorghum fortified with bran (0 -50%) derived from decortication or roller-milling were also extruded. Tannin sorghums extruded similarly to white food-type sorghums, with very little difference in extrudate quality. Cracking the sorghums produced lower feed rates, higher specific mechanical energy (SME) and extrudates that were less dense, more expanded, and softer than whole kernel extrudates. Whole and cracked sorghum materials had feed rates similar to corn meal, but lower SME. Corn meal extrudates were less dense, more expanded, and softer than sorghum extrudates. Cracked and whole black sorghum extrudates were less expanded than hi-tannin and white sorghum extrudates, due to the black sorghum's soft endosperm and thick, fibrous pericarp. With increased fiber, all extrudates had decreased SME and expansion, with increased bulk density and breaking force with the addition of bran. These effects, were more pronounced in extrudates containing decorticated bran vs. roller-milled bran. The decorticated bran had smaller particle size, higher density, lower endosperm content, and greater dietary fiber content than roller-milled bran. Also, increases in dietary fiber content in the extrudates were strongly correlated to increases in bran fortification in the raw feed stock. Tannin and black bran extrudates showed increased phenol, tannin (high-tannin), and antioxidants where bran was added. Phenols, tannins, and antioxidants in tannin extrudates ranged between 10.3-30.9 mg GAE/g, 7.1-55.2 CE mg/g, and 68.3-212.2 umol TE/g, respectively. Phenols and antioxidant activity in black sorghum extrudates ranged from 4.2 -7.8 mg GAE/g and 39.7 - 73.3 umol TE/g, respectively. Specialty tannin and black sorghums can be used to produce extruded snacks high in fiber and antioxidant activity. Optimum product characteristics, along with nutraceutical benefits, will need further determination.

There are many factors which make speaking and understanding a second language (L2) a highly complex challenge. Skills and competencies in in both linguistic and metalinguistic areas emerge as parts of a multi-faceted, flexible concept underlying bilingual/multilingual communication. On the linguistic level, a combination of an extended knowledge of idiomatic expressions, a broad lexical familiarity, a large vocabulary size, and the ability to deal with phonetic distinctions and fine phonetic detail has been argued necessary for effective nonnative comprehension of spoken language. The scientific interest in these factors has also led to more interest in the L2’s information structure, the way in which information is organised and packaged into informational units, both within and between clauses. On a practical level, the information structure of a language can offer the means to assign focus to a certain element considered important. Speakers can draw from a rich pool of linguistic means to express this focus, and listeners can in turn interpret these to guide them to the highlighted information which in turn facilitates comprehension, resulting in an appropriate understanding of what has been said. If a speaker doesn’t follow the principles of information structure, and the main accent in a sentence is placed on an unimportant word, then there may be inappropriate information transfer within the discourse, and misunderstandings. The concept of focus as part of the information structure of a language, the linguistic means used to express it, and the differential use of focus in native and nonnative language processing are central to this dissertation. Languages exhibit a wide range of ways of directing focus, including by prosodic means, by syntactic constructions, and by lexical means. The general principles underlying information structure seem to contrast structurally across different languages, and they can also differ in the way they express focus. In the context of L2 acquisition, characteristics of the L1 linguistic system are argued to influence the acquisition of the L2. Similarly, the conceptual patterns of information structure of the L1 may influence the organization of information in the L2. However, strategies and patterns used to exploit information structure for succesful language comprehension in the native L1, may not apply at all, or work in different ways or todifferent degrees in the L2. This means that L2 learners ideally have to understand the way that information structure is expressed in the L2 to fully use the information structural benefit in the L2. The knowledge of information structural requirements in the L2 could also imply that the learner would have to make adjustments regarding the use of information structural devices in the L2. The general question is whether the various means to mark focus in the learners’ native language are also accessible in the nonnative language, and whether a L1-L2 transfer of their usage should be considered desirable. The current work explores how information structure helps the listener to discover and structure the forms and meanings of the L2. The central hypothesis is that the ability to access information structure has an impact on the level of the learners’ appropriateness and linguistic competence in the L2. Ultimately, the ability to make use of information structure in the L2 is believed to underpin the L2 learners’ ability to effectively communicate in the L2. The present study investigated how use of focus markers affects processing speed and word recall recall in a native-nonnative language comparison. The predominant research question was whether the type of focus marking leads to more efficient and accurate word processing in marked structures than in unmarked structures, and whether differences in processing patterns can be observed between the two language conditions. Three perception studies were conducted, each concentrating on one of the following linguistic parameters: 1. Prosodic prominence: Does prosodic focus conveyed by sentence accent and by word position facilitate word recognition? 2. Syntactical means: Do cleft constructions result in faster and more accurate word processing? 3. Lexical means: Does focus conveyed by the particles even/only (German: sogar/nur) facilitate word processing and word recall? Experiments 2 and 3 additionally investigated the contribution of context in the form of preceding questions. Furthermore, they considered accent and its facilitative effect on the processing of words which are in the scope of syntactic or lexical focus marking. All three experiments tested German learners of English in a native German language condition and in English as their L2. Native English speakers were included as a control for the English language condition. Test materials consisted of single sentences, all dealing with bird life. Experiment 1 tested word recognition in three focus conditions (broad focus, narrow focus on the target, and narrow focus on a constituent than the target) in one condition using natural unmanipulated sentences, and in the other two conditions using spliced sentences. Experiment 2 (effect of syntactic focus marking) and Experiment 3 (effect of lexical focus marking) used phoneme monitoring as a measure for the speed of word processing. Additionally, a word recall test (4AFC) was conducted to assess the effective entry of target-bearing words in the listeners’ memory. Experiment 1: Focus marking by prosodic means Prosodic focus marking by pitch accent was found to highlight important information (Bolinger, 1972), making the accented word perceptually more prominent (Klatt, 1976; van Santen & Olive, 1990; Eefting, 1991; Koopmans-van Beinum & van Bergem, 1989). However, accent structure seems to be processed faster in native than in nonnative listening (Akker& Cutler, 2003, Expt. 3). Therefore, it is expected that prosodically marked words are better recognised than unmarked words, and that listeners can exploit accent structure better for accurate word recognition in their L1 than they do in the L2 (L1 > L2). Altogether, a difference in word recognition performance in L1 listening is expected between different focus conditions (narrow focus > broad focus). Results of Experiments 1 show that words were better recognized in native listening than in nonnative listening. Focal accent, however, doesn’t seem to help the German subjects recognize accented words more accurately, in both the L1 and the L2. This could be due to the focus conditions not being acoustically distinctive enough. Results of experiments with spliced materials suggest that the surrounding prosodic sentence contour made listeners remember a target word and not the local, prosodic realization of the word. Prosody seems to indeed direct listeners’ attention to the focus of the sentence (see Cutler, 1976). Regarding the salience of word position, VanPatten (2002; 2004) postulated a sentence location principle for L2 processing, stating a ranking of initial > final > medial word position. Other evidence mentions a processing adantage of items occurring late in the sentence (Akker & Cutler, 2003), and Rast (2003) observed in an English L2 production study a trend of an advantage of items occurring at the outer ends of the sentence. The current Experiment 1 aimed to keep the length of the sentences to an acceptable length, mainly to keep the task in the nonnative lnaguage condition feasable. Word length showed an effect only in combination with word position (Rast, 2003; Rast & Dommergues, 2003). Therefore, word length was included in the current experiment as a secondary factor and without hypotheses. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that the length of a word doesn’t seem to be important for its accurate recognition. Word position, specifically the final position, clearly seems to facilitate accurate word recognition in German. A similar trend emerges in condition English L2, confirming Klein (1984) and Slobin (1985). Results don’t support the sentence location principle of VanPatten (2002; 2004). The salience of the final position is interpreted as recency effect (Murdock, 1962). In addition, the advantage of the final position may benefit from the discourse convention that relevant background information is referred to first, and then what is novel later (Haviland & Clark, 1974). This structure is assumed to cue the listener as to what the speaker considers to be important information, and listeners might have reacted according to this convention. Experiment 2: Focus marking by syntactic means Atypical syntactic structures often draw listeners’ attention to certain information in an utterance, and the cleft structure as a focus marking device appears to be a common surface feature in many languages (Lambrecht, 2001). Surface structure influences sentence processing (Foss & Lynch, 1969; Langford & Holmes, 1979), which leads to competing hypotheses in Experiment 2: on the one hand, the focusing effect of the cleft construction might reduce processing times. On the other, cleft constructions in German were found to be used less to mark fo than in English (Ahlemeyer & Kohlhof, 1999; Doherty, 1999; E. Klein, 1988). The complexity of the constructions, and the experience from the native language might work against an advantage of the focus effect in the L2. Results of Experiment 2 show that the cleft structure is an effective device to mark focus in German L1. The processing advantage is explained by the low degree of structural markedness of cleft structures: listeners use the focus function of sentence types headed by the dummy subject es (English: it) due to reliance on 'safe' subject-prominent SVO-structures. The benefit of cleft is enhanced when the sentences are presented with context, suggesting a substantial benefit when focus effects of syntactic surface structure and coherence relation between sentences are integrated. Clefts facilitate word processing for English native speakers. Contrary to German L1, the marked cleft construction doesn’t reduce processing times in English L2. The L1-L2 difference was interpreted as a learner problem of applying specific linguistic structures according to the principles of information structure in the target language. Focus marking by cleft did not help German learners in native or in nonnative word recall. This could be attributed to the phonological similarity of the multiple choice options (Conrad & Hull, 1964), and to a long time span between listening and recall (Birch & Garnsey, 1995; McKoon et al., 1993). Experiment 3: Focus marking by lexical means Focus particles are elements of structure that can indicate focus (König, 1991), and their function is to emphasize a certain part of the sentence (Paterson et al., 1999). I argue that the focus particles even/only (German: sogar/nur) evoke contrast sets of alternatives resp. complements to the element in focus (Ni et al., 1996), which causes interpretations of context. Therefore, lexical focus marking isn’t expected to lead to faster word processing. However, since different mechanisms of encoding seem to underlie word memory, a benefit of the focusing function of particles is expected to show in the recall task: due to focus particles being a preferred and well-used feature for native speakers of German, a transfer of this habitualness is expected, resulting in a better recall of focused words. Results indicated that focus particles seem to be the weakest option to mark focus: Focus marking by lexical particle don’t seem to reduce word processing times in either German L1, English L2, or in English L1. The presence of focus particles is likely to instantiate a complex discourse model which lets the listener await further modifying information (Liversedge et al., 2002). This semantic complexity might slow down processing. There are no indications that focus particles facilitate native language word recall in German L1 and English L1. This could be because focus particles open sets of conditions and contexts that enlarge the set of representations in listeners rather than narrowing it down to the element in the scope of the focus particle. In word recall, the facilitative effect of focus particles emerges only in the nonnative language condition. It is suggested that L2 learners, when faced with more demanding tasks in an L2, use a broad variety of means that identify focus for a better representation of novel words in the memory. In Experiments 2 and 3, evidence suggests that accent is an important factor for efficient word processing and accurate recall in German L1 and English L1, but less so in English L2. This underlines the function of accent as core speech parameter and consistent cue to the perception of prominence native language use (see Cutler & Fodor, 1979; Pitt & Samuel, 1990a; Eriksson et al., 2002; Akker & Cutler, 2003); the L1-L2 difference is attributed to patterns of expectation that are employed in the L1 but not (yet?) in the L2. There seems to exist a fine-tuned sensitivity to how accents are distributed in the native language, listeners expect an appropriate distribution and interpret it accordingly (Eefting, 1991). This pleads for accent placement as extremely important to L2 proficiency; the current results also suggest that accent and its relationship with other speech parameters has to be newly established in the L2 to fully reveal its benefits for efficient processing of speech. There is evidence that additional context facilitates processing of complex syntactic structures but that a surplus of information has no effect if the sentence construction is less challenging for the listener. The increased amount of information to be processed seems to impede better word recall, particularly in the L2. Altogether, it seems that focus marking devices and context can combine to form an advantageous alliance: a substantial benefit in processing efficiency is found when parameters of focus marking and sentence coherence are integrated. L2 research advocates the beneficial aspects of providing context for efficient L2 word learning (Lawson & Hogben, 1996). The current thesis promotes the view that a context which offers more semantic, prosodic, or lexical connections might compensate for the additional processing load that context constitutes for the listeners. A methodological consideration concerns the order in which language conditions are presented to listeners, i.e., L1-L2 or L2-L1. Findings suggest that presentation order could enforce a learning bias, with the performance in the second experiment being influenced by knowledge acquired in the first (see Akker & Cutler, 2003). To conclude this work: The results of the present study suggest that information structure is more accessible in the native language than it is in the nonnative language. There is, however, some evidence that L2 learners have an understanding of the significance of some information-structural parameters of focus marking. This has a beneficial effect on processing efficiency and recall accuracy; on the cognitive side it illustrates the benefits and also the need of a dynamic exchange of information-structural organization between L1 and L2. The findings of the current thesis encourage the view that an understanding of information structure can help the learner to discover and categorise forms and meanings of the L2. Information structure thus emerges as a valuable resource to advance proficiency in a second language.
Das Sprechen und Verstehen einer Fremdsprache (L2) stellt eine komplexe Leistung für einen Nicht-Muttersprachler dar. Kenntnisse und Fertigkeiten auf verschiedenen sprachlichen und außersprachlichen Ebenen wirken dabei zusammen, wie z.B. eine andere Grammatik, neue Lautbildungen in der Aussprache, der Aufbau von Wortschatz, und auch die Sensibilisierung für mögliche kulturell unterschiedliche Kommunikationsformen oder das Training kommunikativer Kompetenz. Eine wichtige Hilfe bei der muttersprachlichen wie der fremdsprachlichen Sprachverarbeitung bieten Mittel, mit denen sprachliche Information gegliedert wird, um sie verständlich zu machen. Die Informationsstruktur ermöglicht es, zum Beispiel den Fokus einer Äußerung zu markieren und damit Intentionen sprachlich zu vermitteln. In gesprochener Sprache sind es vor allem prosodische Mittel wie Satzakzent, die es dem Hörer ermöglichen, die wichtigen Informationen in der Äußerung herauszufinden. Aber auch durch die Verwendung unterschiedlicher grammatischer Strukturen oder durch besondere Wortwahl können Sprecher Satzteile markieren, die sie für besonders wichtig halten, und sie damit hervorheben. Wird die Informationsstruktur eines Satzes verletzt, indem zum Beispiel der Satzakzent auf ein eher unwichtiges Wort gelegt wird, kann der Gesprächspartner/die Gesprächspartnerin einen anderen Teil des Satzes als im Fokus stehend interpretieren als den vom Sprecher eigentlich intendierten Teil. Dies kann - in Kombination mit anderen Faktoren wie ungeschickter Wortwahl - zu Missverständnissen führen. Nun kann eine Sprache prosodische, syntaktische oder lexikalische Möglichkeiten der Markierung besitzen, die entweder in einer anderen Sprache nicht vorkommen, oder die andere Funktionen in Bezug auf die Interpretation von Äußerungen erfüllen, die in dieser Form in der jeweils anderen Sprache nicht existieren. Dies betrifft zum Beispiel Unterschiede zwischen Intonations- und Tonsprachen oder zwischen silbenzählenden und akzentzählenden Sprachen. Ruft der Fremdsprachenlerner die Strukturen sprachlicher Information in der Muttersprache (L1) ab und überträgt sie auf die Fremdsprache, kann dies bei gleicher informationsstruktureller Organisation der Sprache zu einer erfolgreichen Strategie des fremdsprachlichen Verstehens führen. Wird aber Informationsstruktur in der Fremdsprache mit anderen Mitteln als in der Muttersprache ausgedrückt, entsteht ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Verarbeitungsstrategien der Muttersprache und denen der Fremdsprache. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Rolle informationsstruktureller Parameter in der muttersprachlichen und fremdsprachlichen Sprachverarbeitung. Es wird untersucht, wie Fremdsprachenlerner Fokusmarkierung in der Muttersprache (hier: Deutsch) und in der Fremdsprache (hier: Englisch) zu effizienter Sprachverarbeitung nutzen. Das Ziel ist eine tiefere Einsicht, wie sich Informationsstruktur in der Fremdsprache erschließt; die grundlegende Annahme ist dabei, dass ein Verständnis und eine Sensibilisierung für Informationsstruktur dem Fremdsprachenlerner hilft, Form und Bedeutung von Sprache zu erkennen. Eine solche Einsicht in Informationsstruktur unterstützt die Erweiterung und Festigung fremdsprachlicher Kompetenz. Die Frage nach dem Gebrauch von Informationsstruktur in einer Fremdsprache wird in drei experimentellen Studien untersucht, die sich auf jeweils eines der folgenden sprachlichen Mittel zur Fokusmarkierung konzentrieren: 1. Prosodische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung: Unterstützen Satzakzent und Wortposition im Satz eine bessere Worterkennung? 2. Syntaktische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung: Ermöglicht die Konstruktion eines Spaltsatzes (Englisch: cleft) eine schnellere Verarbeitung des fokussierten Elements im Satz als eine kanonische Wortstellung, und kann sich der Hörer auch zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt noch besser an ein syntaktisch markiertes als an ein unmarkiertes Element erinnern? 3. Lexikalische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung: Bewirken Fokuspartikel (hier: nur/sogar) eine schnellere Verarbeitung des fokussierten Elements, und kann sich der Hörer auch zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt noch besser an das fokussierte als an das nicht-fokussierte Element erinnern? Zusätzlich wird in Experiment 2 und in Experiment 3 untersucht, welchen Einfluss einleitende Fragen haben, die zur Fokusmarkierung eines Elements im Folgesatz dienen. Außerdem wird nachgegangen, welche Rolle es spielt, wenn ein syntaktisch oder lexikalisch fokussiertes Element einen Tonhöheakzent bekommt oder wenn dieser auf dem vorangegangenen Adjektiv realisiert wird. Die Probanden sind deutsche Muttersprachler, die Englisch als Fremdsprache gelernt haben. In den Experimenten werden den Testpersonen jeweils Sprachaufnahmen von deutschen Sätzen und Aufnahmen von parallel dazu konstruierten englischen Sätzen dargeboten. Als Kontrollgruppe für den englischen Teil der Experimente werden englische Muttersprachler getestet, um Referenzdaten für die Ergebnisse der Fremdsprachenlerner zu erhalten. Die Experimente sind als Perzeptionsexperimente konzipiert. Experiment 1 (prosodische Fokusmarkierung) untersucht Worterkennung in drei Bedingungen mitunterschiedlichem Fokus (weiter und enger Fokus, enger Fokus auf anderem Satzelement als dem Zielwort), und zwei Bedingungen mit künstlich durch splicing verändertem Sprachmaterial. In Experiment 2 (syntaktische Fokusmarkierung) und Experiment 3 (lexikalische Fokusmarkierung) wird im Hörexperiment als Methode phoneme monitoring angewandt, wobei die Reaktionszeiten zum Erkennen des fokussierten Worts (welches ein vorher spezifiziertes Phonem enthält) gemessen werden. Im Anschluss an den Hörteil wird in diesen zwei Experimenten außerdem ein Erinnerungstest durchgeführt, bei dem die fokussierten Elemente mit einem Multiple-Choice-Verfahren (4AFC) noch einmal abgefragt werden und die Anzahl der richtigen Antworten gewertet wird. Zu 1.: Prosodische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung Akzentuierung ist ein Mittel, um im Satz wichtige Information hervorzuheben (Bolinger, 1972), was zu einer besseren Wahrnehmung solch akzentuierter Information führt (siehe z.B. van Santen & Olive, 1990; Eefting, 1991). Akzentstruktur scheint jedoch schneller in der L1 als in der L2 verarbeitet zu werden (Akker & Cutler, 2003). Es wird daher angenommen, dass in der L1 eine Fokusmarkierung durch Tonhöheakzent zu besserer Worterkennung eines solchermaßen markierten Wortes führt. Akzentstruktur sollte sich auch in der L2 erschließen, wenn auch in geringerem Maß (L1 > L2). Insgesamt wird ein unterschiedlich starker Fokuseffekt je nach Fokusbedingung erwartet (enger Fokus > weiter Fokus). Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 1 bestätigen, dass Worte in der Muttersprache besser erkannt werden als in der Fremdsprache. Ein unterschiedlicher, als Satzakzent realisierter Fokus hilft allerdings den Probanden weder in der Muttersprache noch in der Fremdssprache, fokussierte Worte schneller zu erkennen. Dies könnte auf ungenügende akustische Unterschiede in der Realisierung der unterschiedlichen Fokuskonditionen in den Sprachaufnahmen zurückzuführen sein. Die Experimente mit synthetisch, durch splicing manipuliertem Sprachmaterial ergeben, dass die umgebende Satzprosodie eher zur Worterkennung beiträgt als die einzelne Akzentmarkierung des Wortes (Cutler, 1976). Für die Salienz der Wortposition im Satz postulierte VanPatten (2004) für fremdsprachliche Wahrnehmung die Reihenfolge von initialer > finaler > medialer Position. Akker und Cutler (2003) erwähnen für L1 und L2 einen Verarbeitungsvorteil von später im Satz auftretenden Worten gegenüber früher Auftretenden. Des weiteren fand Rast (2003) in einer L2-Produktionsstudie einen Vorteil der äußeren Satzpositionen gegenüber der medialen Position. Im vorliegenden Experiment werden die Sätze vor allem wegen der fremdsprachlichen Testbedingung in akzeptabler Länge gehalten, was Aussagen über die Position an den äußeren Satzenden ermöglicht, aber weniger deutliche Effekte für die medial Position erwarten lässt. Wortlänge wurde als Nebenfaktor mit in das Experiment aufgenommen ohne eigenständige Hypothesen dafür zu formulieren. In einer früheren L2 Studie zeigte Wortlänge nur in Abhängigkeit zur Position des Wortes im Satz einen Effekt (Rast, 2003; Rast & Dommergues, 2003). Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 1 zeigen, dass die Länge der Zielworte keine entscheidende Rolle für deren korrekte Erkennung spielt. Die Wortposition im Satz, und hier besonders die finale Position, trägt jedoch entscheidend zur korrekten Worterkennung im Deutschen bei. Ein ähnlicher Trend zeigt sich für die Worterkennung in der Fremdsprache Englisch (siehe Klein, 1984; Slobin, 1985). Das Lokalitätsprinzip von VanPatten (2004) mit dem Verarbeitungsvorteil von initial > final > medial kann nicht bestätigt werden, und die besondere Salienz der finalen Position wird mit Murdock (1962) als recency effect erklärt. Außerdem könnte die finale Position von der Konvention für die Integration neuer Information profitieren: bekannte Information wird vor neuer Information genannt (Haviland & Clark, 1974). Hörer handeln nach dieser üblichen Diskursstruktur und richten ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf Information, die in finaler Position genannt wird. Zu 2.: Syntaktische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung Die Abweichung von kanonischer Satzstruktur lenkt die Aufmerksamkeit auf bestimmte Elemente im Satz, und der Spaltsatz ist in vielen Sprachen eine bekannte Art der Fokussierung (Lambrecht, 2001). Die Oberflächenstruktur eines Satzes beeinflusst seine Verarbeitung (Foss & Lynch, 1969; Langford & Holmes, 1979) und in Experiment 2 stehen zwei Hypothesen gegenüber: Der fokussierende Effekt von Spaltsätzen könnte einen Verarbeitungsvorteil bewirken. Andererseits sind Spaltsätze im Deutschen seltener und weniger gebräuchlich als im Englischen (Ahlemeyer & Kohlhof, 1999; Doherty, 1999; E. Klein, 1988); die syntaktische Komplexität von Spaltsätzen und die Erfahrung der Muttersprache könnten einem Verarbeitungsvorteil in Deutsch L1 und Englisch L2 entgegenwirken. Die Ergebnisse von Experiment 2 zeigen, dass der Spaltsatz ein effektives Mittel der Fokusmarkierung im Deutschen ist. Dies wird auf die geringe strukturelle Markiertheit des Ersatz-Subjekts ‚es’ zurückgeführt, da es an kanonischer, initialer Stelle steht. Die Prominenz dieses Subjekts setzt das nachfolgende Subjekt-Element in Fokus und verleiht ihm Subjekt-Prominenz. Der verarbeitungsfördernde Effekt von Spaltsätzen wird noch erhöht, wenn Oberflächenstruktur (Spaltsatz) und Satzzusammenhang (Kontext) integriert werden. Der Spaltsatz wird jedoch nicht in der Fremdsprache als ein effektives Mittel der Fokusmarkierung genutzt. Englische Muttersprachler nutzen den Fokuseffekt des Spaltsatzes zur schnellen Worterkennung, aber dieses informationsstrukturelle Mittel der L2 wird nicht von Fremdsprachenlernern erkannt und verwertet. Dies wird als Lernerproblem interpretiert: linguistische Strukturen der Muttersprache werden nicht adäquat nach informationsstrukturellen Prinzipien in der Fremdsprache angewandt. Der Spaltsatz trägt weder im Deutschen noch im Englischen zu einer besseren Erinnerungsleistung bei. Das kann zum einen an der starken phonologischen Ähnlichkeit der im Test angebotenen Antwortoptionen liegen (Conrad & Hull, 1964); zum anderen kann es mit der Zeitspanne zusammenhängen, die zwischen Hörexperiment und Erinnerungstest liegen und die die Erinnerung an ein bestimmtes Wort zu sehr erschwert (Birch & Garnsey, 1995; McCoon et.al., 1993). Zu 3.: Lexikalische Mittel der Fokusmarkierung Fokuspartikel sind Exponenten von Fokusstruktur und sie markieren Satzelemente (König, 1991; Paterson et al., 1999). Die untersuchten Fokuspartikel evozieren Kontrast und Alternativmengen zu dem fokussierten Element, was Interpretationen von Kontext bewirkt (Ni et al., 1996; Liversedge et al., 2002). Von daher wird keine schnellere Verarbeitung von fokussierten Worten erwartet. Ihre förderliche Eigenschaft zeigt sich jedoch in der Erinnerungsleistung, da sich dieser Prozess auf andere Erschließungsmechanismen zu stützen scheint: es wird erwartet, dass der bevorzugte Gebrauch von lexikalischen Mitteln zur Fokusmarkierung im Deutschen (König, 1991; Ahlemeyer & Kohlhof, 1999) sich positiv auf die Erinnerung von fokussierten Worten auswirkt. Die Fokuspartikel nur und sogar in Experiment 3 erweisen sich in der Experimentreihe als schwächste Exponenten von Fokusmarkierung: Weder im Deutschen noch in Englischen als Fremdsprache noch in der englischen Kontrollgruppe bewirken diese Fokuspartikel eine schnellere Verarbeitung des fokussierten Elements. Dies erklärt sich durch die Eigenschaft von Fokuspartikeln, eine Menge an Alternativen zu evozieren und dadurch beim Hörer komplexe Diskursmodelle anzuregen, die sowohl das Element in Fokus als auch Alternativen dazu beinhalten (siehe Ni et al., 1996; Liversedge et al., 2002). Verarbeitung und Interpretation der Fokusstruktur benötigen dann einen erhöhten Zeitaufwand. Im Erinnerungstest kommt der Fokuseffekt nur in der fremdsprachlichen Testbedingung zum Tragen: Werden Lerner hinsichtlich mit hinsichtlich ihrer L2-Fertigkeit anspruchsvollen Situationen konfrontiert, wird Fokusstruktur zu einer besseren Repräsentation in der Erinnerung genutzt. Übergreifend zeigt sich aus Experiment 2 und Experiment 3, dass ein zusätzlicher Satzakzent in Sätzen mit syntaktischer oder lexikalischer Fokusmarkierung in muttersprachlichem Deutsch und Englisch genutzt wird, aber in der Fremdsprache nicht gleichermaßen effektiv verarbeitet wird. Ein bedeutender Parameter wie Tonhöheakzent wird in der Fremdsprache scheinbar weniger genutzt, wenn gleichzeitig andere Mittel der Markierung auftreten. Vor allem deutet dieser Effekt jedoch auf eine weitaus differenziertere Wahrnehmung und Interpretation von Tonhöheakzent in der Muttersprache hin. Des weiteren scheint die Reihenfolge, in der die Testsprachen den Probanden angeboten werden (L1-L2,oder L2-L1) von Bedeutung zu sein, da ein Lerneffekt aus der ersten Testsprache die Leistung in der zweiten Testsprache beeinflussen kann. Dies erschwert die Erhebung vergleichbarer Daten für zwei Sprachen von derselben Probandengruppe (siehe Akker & Cutler, 2003). Im Hinblick auf die Auswirkungen von Kontext auf die Wortverarbeitung weisen die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass vorangestellte Fragen dem Fremdsprachenlerner nur bedingt Hilfe bei der zügigen Verarbeitung von z.B. schwierigeren Satzkonstruktionen bieten. Zusätzlicher Kontext scheint außerdem die Erinnerungsleistung zu erschweren, vor allem in der Fremdsprache. Sowohl in der Fremdsprachenforschung als auch in der Fremdsprachendidaktik hat die Einbettung in einen Kontext bei dem Erlernen von Worten eine große Bedeutung (Lawson & Hogben, 1996). Es wird dahingehend argumentiert, dass eine Form von Kontext, die mehr semantische, prosodische oder lexikalische Verbindungen schafft, den zusätzlichen Verarbeitungsaufwand kompensieren müsste. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit weisen darauf hin, dass sich Informationsstruktur eher in der Muttersprache als in der Fremdsprache erschließt. Einzelne informationsstrukturelle Parameter werden jedoch sehr wohl von den Fremdsprachenlernern erfolgreich ausgewertet, was sich in einer schnelleren und nachhaltigeren sprachlichen Verarbeitung äußert. Auf der kognitiven Ebene zeigt die vorliegende Arbeit die vorteilhafte Wirkung auf, wenn Informationsstruktur von Mutter- und Fremdsprache in dynamischem Austausch stehen. Die Ergebnisse bestärken die Annahme, dass ein Verständnis von Informationsstruktur dem Fremdsprachenlerner helfen kann, Form und Bedeutung der Fremdsprache zu erkennen. Informationsstruktur erweist sich als potentiell wertvolle Ressource in der Entwicklung und Stärkung fremdsprachlicher Kompetenz.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is the prevalent technique for monitoring brain function. It employs a set of electrodes on the scalp to measure the electrical activity of the brain. EEG is mainly used by researchers to study the brain’s responses to a specific stimulus - the event-related potentials (ERPs). Different types of unwanted signals, which are known as artefacts, usually mix with the EEG at any point during the recording process. As the amplitudes of the EEG and ERPs are very small (in the order of microvolts), they can be buried in the artefacts which have very high amplitudes in the order of millivolts. Therefore, contamination of EEG activity by the artefacts can degrade the quality of the EEG recording and may cause error in EEG/ERP signal interpretation. Several EEG artefact removal methods already exist in the literature and these previous studies have concentrated on manual or automatic detection of either one or, of a few types of EEG artefacts. Among the proposed methods, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) based techniques are commonly applied to successfully detect the artefacts. Different types of ICA algorithms have been developed, which aim to estimate the individual sources of a linearly mixed signal. However, the estimation criterion differs across various ICA algorithms, which may deliver different results.

The objective of this study was to analyse how young Finnish information technology (IT) companies utilize the public sector’s open spatial data. The aim was to find out to what extent companies use public sector’s open spatial data in products and how companies are using it. In addition, defects related to data and its use and companies’ awareness of public sector open data were canvassed. Defects and unawareness might prevent or retard the utilization of public sector’s data. Public sector is collecting vast amount of data from various areas when performing public tasks. The major part of the data is spatial, meaning the data has a location aspect. Public sector is opening the data for everybody to use freely and companies could use this open spatial data for commercial purposes. High expectations have been set for the data opening: along with it, innovations and business — new companies and digital products — will be created. The European Union has promoted greatly the public sector data opening with its legislative actions. First with the PSI directive (directive on re-use of public sector data) and later with the INSPIRE directive (directive on establishing and Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community). The both directives are aiming to facilitate the re-use and dissemination of public sector data, whereas the INSPIRE directive has focused on the use of interoperable spatial data by creating the spatial data infrastructure. Even if the developments are still on going, these undertakings have already created possibilities for companies to use public sector data. This applies especially to the spatial data. This study was quantitative by nature and the empirical data for the study was collected through online survey, which was targeted to randomly selected Finnish IT companies established during the years 2009–2012. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics. The results can be generalized to the whole target population in Finland. The results of this study shows that the number of companies utilizing public sector’s open spatial data is small and the public sector’s open spatial data has not yet enabled establishing of new companies. However, companies have developed few new products with the contribution of public sector’s open spatial data and the value of the data for the products is not minor. The thesis concludes that there is a need for greater investment in promoting the public sector’s open data amongst companies: the awareness of public sector’s open spatial data could be increased. In addition, coverage of datasets and interface services could be improved. Perhaps by eliminating these defects, the number of utilizers of public sector’s open spatial data would increase. Now there is a quiet sign of awakening of the business to utilize public sector’s data.

Pyrite (FeS2) is commonly present in complex sulphide ores in significant amounts. After the enrichment of such ores by flotation, pyrite is either produced as a separate concentrate and sold to acid manufactures or removed and disposed off as tailing. Due to lack of demand from manufacturers, most of pyrites is usually disposed off as tailing. Therefore, pyrite is usually a waste from complex sulphide ores. Yet, it may be a remediation additive for calcareous soils and calcareous- alkali soils deficient in Fe and other micronutrients such as Cu, Zn and Mn. Waste pyrite may be also an alternative amendment to gypsum because of the production of sulphuric acid which is effectively used in the reclamation of calcareous alkali soils. The effectiveness of adding waste pyrite and sulphuric acid produced from waste pyrite to calcareous-alkali soil (Saraykö
y-Ankara) and calcareous soil (Gaziantep) was studied under laboratory conditions. Pure gypsum was also used as an amendment for the comparison of the effectiveness of waste pyrite in the reclamation of alkali soils. Gypsum, powder waste pyrite and sulphuric acid were applied to the soil with reference to the gypsum requirement (GR) of the soils. Greenhouse pot tests were carried out with wheat as test plant to determine the effect of waste pyrite treatment on the plant yield (wheat) and on the amount of micronutrient (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn) essential for plant growth. Hazard potential of pyritic tailings in terms of heavy metal contamination was also taken into account. The results showed that the soil pH and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), indicators of alkalization, decreased upon pyrite addition to calcareous- alkali soils of Saraykö
y-Ankara. It was also found that pyritic tailings were effective in the increasing level of essential micronutrients (Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn) for plant growth in both soils. This was ascertained by the dry matter yield of the plants in the green house pot tests. Heavy metal toxicity caused by pyrite which is a rightful concern remained well below the legal limits in the soils. Thus, it was concluded that the application of pyritic tailings promoted rapid amelioration of calcareous-alkali soil (Saraykö
y-Ankara) and calcareous soil (Gaziantep) with no deleterious heavy metal contamination.

Biocompatible composites, generated from renewable biomass feedstock, are regarded as promising materials that could replace synthetic polymers and reduce global dependence on fossil fuel sources. Wood cellulose, the most abundant biopolymer on earth, holds great potential as a renewable biomass feedstock. To unlock the entire scope of potential benefits of this feedstock, the wood components - namely cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin - need to be separated and processed individually. Current methods to separate wood components, such as Kraft pulping for example, suffer considerable drawbacks and cannot be considered environmentally benign. This thesis aims to increase our understanding of the interaction between ionic liquids (ILs) and biomass, in order to develop superior biomass processing techniques necessary to ensure a rapid transformation of our society towards full sustainability. The first part of this work deals with the particular interaction of ILs with cellulose, and aims to investigate the structural requirements of ILs in order to qualify as a cellulose solvent. The cellulose-dissolving behaviour of selected alkanolammonium ILs was studied, and, combined with the results of an extensive literature review, a novel concept for the interaction of cellulose-dissolving ILs with cellulose was developed. It was postulated that efficient cellulose solvents need to position themselves in a distinct manner - with respect to the cellulose chain - in order to offer H-bond interaction sites with enhanced stability. As a result, alternative ions for cellulose-dissolving ILs were proposed, including oxazolium, 1,3-oxaphospholium, dimethylcarbamate, phosphate, nitrate, and nitrite. The second part of the work investigated the use of food-additive based ILs for the separation of wood lignin, and studied the influence of selected process parameters, such as extraction time, extraction temperature, IL moisture content, wood particle size, wood species, IL cation species, solvent composition, and IL recyclability on the lignin extraction efficiency. The lignin extract and the wood residues were characterised via infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and gel permeation chromatography. An extraction efficiency of e = 0.43 of wood lignin was achieved in one gentle extraction step ( T = 373 K, t = 2 h), and it was found that the presence of a co-solvent increased the extraction efficiency to e = 0.60. Gentle conditions during IL treatment did not decrease the crystallinity of the wood sample, and the extracted lignin had both a larger molecular mass and a more uniform molecular mass distribution, compared to commercially available Kraft lignin. The outcomes of both studies were critically evaluated, addressing existing drawbacks and restrictions that need to be considered, and possibilities for future work were suggested.

One of the major objectives in story understanding is to discover the causal reasoning behind characters' actions and to link these into an overall picture of the characters' motivations and actions. Thus the main aim when processing a sentence is to discover a character's goal in which this sentence can be considered as a step towards its achievement. The above process uses abductive reasoning in drawing its inferences and as a consequence of this any facts that are derived from a sentence might be invalid, causing a number of facts to be generated that are inconsistent with the knowledge base. A further complication to story understanding is that much of the information that is necessary for understanding to occur can only be obtained using default reasoning. Any such default fact remain valid unless a further statement proves that this is not the case. As a consequence of the above any new statements must be check against the rest of the knowledge base to make sure there are no inconsistencies and a list of supporting statements must be held so that any inconsistency found can be resolved and erased. An alternative to erasing these inconsistent statements within the knowledge base is to maintain a number of consistent environments using an assumption based truth maintenance system to enforce consistency. This has the advantage that more than one environment may be worked on at once and environments can be compared. The thesis discusses the maintenance of more than one environment and proposes a blackboard system, along with an assumption based truth maintenance system, as an ideal architecture to support the requirements of a story understanding program. The thesis also describes the knowledge sources, such as syntax and semantics, that are necessary for story understanding and how their operation should be controlled using a dynamic scheduling system.

Mycobacter avium complex serovars 4 and 20 were cultured in the presence of [3H] fucose, [3H]-methionine, and [3H]-mannose to specifically radiolabel the oligosaccharide of the glycopeptidolipid (GPL) antigens. Distribution of radioactivity in lipid was determined by thin-layer chromatographic methods. Examination of acid hydrolysates from radiolabeled antigens revealed that [3H]-methionine incorporated into methylated sugars in polar and apolar GPL components, whereas [3H]-mannose incorporated exclusively into the oligosaccharide of polar GPL antigens. Least incorporation of radiolabel into antigens was observed with [3H]-fucose. Use of radiolabeled serovar 4 antigens in macrophage uptake studies revealed maximum uptake to be slightly above 250 gg/ 3.2 x 105 cells. Timed experiments demonstrated that GPL antigens were relatively inert to degradation by resident peritoneal macrophages.

The use of 3D graphics on the web has been limited by several factors, such as the inadequate quality of the 3D web graphics and the inability of the different web browsers to support the different 3D technologies. The development of modern web browsers, 3D technologies and standards that do not demand the use of plug-ins, such as HTML5 and WebGL, have facilitated the use and development of 3D web applications. Although 3D web applications have been used in several fields, such as gaming, education and commerce, these applications and virtual realities are not common. The aim of this study was to analyze how widespread the use of 3D interface elements and applications is currently on websites, both in general and on certain subsections, and to determine factors that may influence the popularity of these elements. Random samples of 100 websites from five different categories (general, Finnish, commercial, scientific, and entertainment) were selected for this study based on the previous prevalence of 3D applications in these fields, and they were analyzed with content analysis by concentrating on the purpose of these elements and certain features related to the acceptance and functionality of 3D elements, such as the plug-ins or software required by the technology on the end user’s computer, and the compatibility of these elements with different selected web browsers. As the results of this study demonstrated, the use of 3D elements is still limited and in most of the studied categories they were used on less than 7% of the websites, as only the games and entertainment related websites had a higher percentage of 3D usage (17%). Most of the 3D elements present on the websites were separate single-user 3D applications that could be divided into games, design programs, and educational and scientific applications. Individual 3D models were also included for educational or commercial purposes, but integrated 3D interface elements were not commonly used on the studied websites. The popularity of the 3D elements could be affected by the lack of standardization and still increasing number of different technologies used to create the 3D elements and the varying plug-in support these technologies have on different browsers, since the majority of the technologies demand the use of plug-ins. Although 3D use was quite limited, there were some factors that could affect positively the decision to use 3D elements among the service providers. Some of the 3D applications had a simple, ready-made platform for the desired purpose and the effort of building a new interface may be avoided by using these. In some cases, such as with games, the use of 3D was well-established and it may be expected instead of the 2D imagery. There may also be a greater motivation to include 3D applications on the website, if there is a pre-existing 3D based service to move online.

This dissertation examines the suitability of Display-Processor (DP) image computers for image enhancement and restoration tasks. Because the major architectural feature of the DP devices is their ability to rapidly evaluate finite impulse response (FIR) convolutions, much of the study focusses on the use of spatial-domain FIR convolutions to approximate Fourier-domain filtering. When the enhancement task requires the evaluation of only a single convolution, it is important that the FIR kernel used to implement the convolution is designed so that the resulting output is a good approximation of the desired output. A Minimum-Mean-Squared-Error design criterion is introduced for the purpose of FIR kernel design and its usefulness is demonstrated by showing some results of its use. If the restoration or enhancement task requires multiple convolutions in an iterative algorithm, it is important to understand how the truncation of the kernel to a finite region of support will affect the convergence properties of an algorithm and the output of the iterative sequence. These questions are examined for a limited class of nonlinear restoration algorithms. Because FIR convolutions are most efficiently performed on computing machines that have limited precision and are usually limited to performing fixed-point arithmetic, the dissertation also examines the effects of roundoff error on output images that have been computed using fixed point math. The number of bits that are needed to represent the data during a computation is algorithm dependent, but for a limited class of algorithms, it is shown that 12 bits are sufficient. Finally, those architectural features in a DP that are necessary for useful enhancement and restoration operations are identified.