New Releases by Jason Peter

"During the 1980s discourse concerning child sexual abuse became central to the US/UK media, and in the 1990s popular culture frequently took child sexual abuse as a subject for representation ... Pervasive Perversions analyses a range of media and popular culture texts concerned with child sexual abuse." -- p. 4 of cover.

Lost Passports is a collection of poetry.

The current paradigm in the lens distortion characterization industry is to use simple radial distortion models with only one or two radial terms. Tangential terms and the optimal distortion centre are also seldom determined. Inherent in the models currently used is the assumption that lens distortion is radially symmetrical. The reason for the use of these models is partly due to the perceived instability of more complex lens distortion models. This dissertation shows, in the first of its three hypotheses, that higher order models are indeed beneficial, when their parameters are determined using modern numerical optimization techniques. They are both stable and provide superior characterization. Although it is true that the first two radial terms dominate the distortion characterization, this work proves superior characterization is possible for those applications that may require it. The third hypothesis challenges the assumption of the radial symmetry of lens distortion. Building on the foundation provided by the first hypothesis, a sample of lens distortion models of similar and greater complexity to those found in literature are modified to have a radial gain, allowing the distortion corrections to vary both with polar angle and distance from the distortion centre. Four angular gains are evaluated, and two provide better characterization. The elliptical gain was the only method to both consistently improve the characterization and not ''skew the corrected images. This gain was shown to improve characterization by as much as 50% for simple (single radial term) models and by 7% for even the most complex models. To create an undistorted image from a distorted image captured through a lens which has had its distortion characterized, one needs to find the corresponding distorted pixel for each undistorted pixel in the corrected image. This is either done iteratively or using a simplified model typically based on the Taylor expansion of a simple (one or two radial coefficients) distortion model. The first method is accurate yet slow and the second, the opposite. The second hypothesis of this research successfully combines the advantages of both methods without any of their disadvantages. It was shown that, using the superior characterization of high order radial models (when fitted with modern numerical optimization methods) together with the ''side-effect undistorted image points created in the lens distortion characterization, it is possible to fit a reverse model from the undistorted to distorted domains. This reverse characterization is of similar complexity to the simplified models yet provides characterization equivalent to the iterative techniques. Compared to using simplified models the reverse mapping yields an improvement of more than tenfold - from the many tenths of pixels to a few hundredths.

In this thesis we investigate coupled microsphere cavities in search of optical transport between spherical resonators. The structures were obtained using techniques of self-assembly and micromanipulation of microspheres. Spectroscopic techniques with high spatial resolution were employed to detect the optical transport in bispheres and multiple sphere chains of microspheres. The studies of systems of bispheres showed that the characteristic distances of optical coupling are ̃0.7(mu)m, consistent with lengths of optical tunneling of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) loosely confined in individual microspheres. The studies of multiple sphere chains with size disorders (̃1% diameter) revealed optical propagation effects on significantly longer scales (2(mu)̃20(mu)m). The results indicate the existence of non-resonant coupling between detuned spherical resonators.

The HPr proteins were characterized as folding by a two-state folding mechanism. Here, we present a comparison of the equilibrium and kinetic folding for the HPr protein from Bacillus subtilis, E coli and a key variant from these proteins. For the wild-type protein we find that GHX is greater than GUDC, suggesting that the HPr does not fold by a simple two-state mechanism. This discrepancy is revealed by testing the two-state nature of the folding reaction of HPr with mutation. We show that removing a single charge side chain (Asp 69) converts the HPr protein back to a simple two-state mechanism. Ribonuclease Sa and two charge-reversal variants can be converted into amyloidin vitro by the addition of 2,2,2-triflouroethanol (TFE). We report here amyloid fibril formation for these proteins as a function of pH. The pH at maximal fibril formation correlates with the pH dependence of protein solubility, but not with stability, for these variants. Additionally, we show that the pH at maximal fibril formation for a number of ivwell-characterized proteins is near the pI, where the protein is expected to be the least soluble. This suggests that protein solubility is an important determinant of fibril formation.

The primary objective of the present study was to examine the effects of three resistance training programs that varied in either inter-set rest interval length or volume of training on the development of strength and muscle fiber size. Male subjects with a minimum of 1- year of regular resistance training experience were randomly assigned to one of three, 8- week training groups. The first set of all three programs was similar in that 10 repetitions to failure were performed. In program A (n=5) the load (78% 1-RM) remained constant for all subsequent sets. Program B (n=7) also used a constant load (80% 1-RM), however the rest interval was reduced from 3 minutes (as in Program A) to 1 minute. Subjects in this group performed additional sets to equate training volume with Program A. The training load for Program C (n=7) was progressively reduced (80% to 70% 1-RM) before each subsequent set to ensure the completion of 10 repetitions. Therefore, the volume performed was greater than that of Programs A and B. Single arm elbow flexion 1-RM increased by 12.3 +/- 3.5% in Program A, 16.5 +/-3.5% in Program B, and 14.1 +/- 4.7% in Program C. Gains in 10-RM equaled 16.3 +/-4.1%, 18.0 +/- 5.0% and 13.9 +/- 3.1% for Programs A, B and C, respectively. Although these increases in strength were significant (p

This dissertation describes the modified role of oxygen content and order in stressed YBa2Cu3O7-delta superconducting systems. Materials or multilayer structures not comprised of optimally oxygenated, single crystal YBa2Cu3O7-delta are considered as stressed YBa2Cu3O7-delta systems. Cation doped thin films and thin film microstructures comprised of YSr2Cu2.75Mo0.25Oz and YBa 2(Cu1-xCOx)3Oz are the first category of stressed YBa2Cu3O7-delta systems examined. Three types of Josephson tunnel junctions were investigated; superconducting-normal layer-superconducting ramp edge junctions with cation doped YBa2Cu3O7-delta normal layers, grain boundary junctions, and interface engineered Josephson junctions where the interface layer between two superconducting electrodes is modified to yield a tunnel barrier. In all cases enhanced oxidation techniques including electromigration and ozone annealing were employed to produce previously unattained levels of oxygenation in each system. For cation doped materials this enhancement is demonstrated by an increase in the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, from 21 to 75 K for YBa2(Cu0.9Co 0.1)3Oz. Other electrical transport measurements, microRaman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis also demonstrate the optimal level of oxygenation achieved by these two techniques. The enhancement of Tc for bulk film cation doped materials following ozone anneals at 500°C, or room temperature electromigration, translates into an elevation in operating temperature for ramp edge junctions utilizing doped materials as a normal metal layer. This is demonstrated by similar resistively shunted junction behavior observed at 35 K before ozone annealing, and at 80 K afterwards. In contrast, the changes induced in grain boundary and interface engineered Josephson junctions by enhanced oxidation are consistent with a simple increase in the effective area of the junction. This is attributed to the crystal stress in the vicinity of the grain boundary or engineered interface. Oxygen loss induced by this stress is overcome by the enhanced partial pressure of atomic oxygen provided by ozone and electromigration, thus increasing the volume of well oxygenated YBa2Cu3O 7-delta. In conclusion, we find that the optimal oxygenation of stressed YBa2Cu3O7-delta systems requires enhanced oxidation techniques beyond the standard 500°C O 2 anneals successfully employed for the parent material.

Investigates the basic biology of the toothy flathead, Neoplatycephalus aurimaculatus. Parameters such as age and growth, reproduction and diet were studied. In eastern Bass Strait, toothy flathead feed mainly on eels and school whiting, breed in late spring and early summer, and are moderately long lived.