Michael Ellis – författare

When a professional states,"Your child has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)", it is enough to make your whole world fall apart. What does it mean to be on the autism spectrum? How will this affect your child's life, your life, the life of your family, and others you interact with? What sorts of medications, therapies, and alternative methods are used to help manage the disorder? What are the financial and legal ramifications? How will this affect schooling, your spiritual growth, and everyday life? These are just a few of the questions that will rapidly cross your mind.Caring for Autism: Practical Advice from a Parent and Physician delves into all these questions and more. As the father of a daughter with ASD and as a trained psychiatrist who specializes in ASD, Dr. Michael A. Ellis provides a holistic view of what comes after diagnosis. In user-friendly tones, he answers the most commonly asked questions about what it's actually like to live with ASD, what medications and therapies are available, and the global impact it has on the child's environment. With the help of his wife to provide a mother's perspective, Dr. Ellis shares personal stories of their 10-year journey in order to provide insight and support for anyone - patient, parent, caregiver - traversing the difficulties of autism.

Wastewater treatment is an energy intensive process that removes contaminants and protects the environment. While some wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) recover a small portion of their energy demand through sludge handling processes, most of the useful energy available from wastewater remains unrecovered. Efforts are underway to harness energy from wastewater by developing microbial fuel cells (MiFCs) that generate electricity. Key challenges to the development of microbial fuel cells include inefficiencies inherent in recovering energy from microbial metabolism (particularly carbon metabolism) and ineffective electron transfer processes between the bacteria and the anode. We explored the prospects for constructing microaerobic nitrifying MiFCs which could exhibit key advantages over carbon-based metabolism in particular applications (e.g., potential use in ammonia-rich recycle streams). In addition, we evaluated nanostructure-enhanced anodes which have the potential to facilitate more efficient electron transfer for MiFCs because carbon nanostructures, such as nanofibers, possess outstanding conducting properties and increase the available surface area for cellular attachment. In the initial phase of this project, we investigated the performance of a novel nitrifying MiFC that contains a nanostructure-enhanced anode and that demonstrated power generation during preliminary batch testing. Subsequent batch runs were performed with pure cultures of Nitrosomonas europaea which demonstrated very low power generation. After validating our fuel cell hardware using abiotic experiments, we proceeded to test the MiFC using a mixed culture from a local wastewater treatment plant, which was enriched for nitrifying bacteria.  Again, the power generation was very low though noticeably higher on the nanostructured anodes.  After establishing and monitoring the growth of another enriched nitrifying culture, we repeated the experiment a third time, again observing very low power generation. In the absence of appreciable and repeatable power production from pure and mixed nitrifying cultures, we focused on the second major objective of the work which was the fabrication and characterization of carbon nanostructured anodes. The second research objective evaluated whether or not addition of carbon nanostructures to stainless steel anodes in anaerobic microbial fuel cells enhanced electricity generation.  The results from the studies focused on this element were very promising and demonstrated that CNS-coated anodes produced up to two orders of magnitude more power in anaerobic microbial fuel cells than in MiFCs with uncoated stainless steel anodes. The largest power density achieved in this study was 506 mW m-2, and the average maximum power density of the CNS-enhanced MiFCs using anaerobic sludge was 300 mW m-2.  In comparison, the average maximum power density of the MiFCs with uncoated anodes in the same experiments was only 13.7 mW m-2, an almost 22-fold reduction. Electron microscopy showed that microorganisms were affiliated with the CNS-coated anodes to a much greater degree than the noncoated anodes. Sodium azide inhibition studies showed that active microorganisms were required to achieve enhanced power generation.  The current was reduced significantly in MiFCs receiving the inhibitor compared to MiFCs that did not receive the inhibitor. The nature of the microbial-nanostructure relationship that caused enhanced current was not determined during this study but deserves further evaluation. These results are promising and suggest that CNS-enhanced anodes, when coupled with more efficient MiFC designs than were used in this research, may enhance the possibility that MiFC technologies can move to commercial application.

This is a history of navies in the Baltic Sea and its approaches, from the Skaggerak to the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland. Throughout history, navies have inherently supported civil society and the prosperity that international trade brings.Two navies in particular have played a significant role in the Baltic and this book portrays the relationship between the Swedish and British Navies over the centuries. In the 1700s Britain was a global naval power and developed doctrine, ships and culture which were copied by others, but the relationship with Sweden became special. While Britain and its navy depended upon Baltic Sea trade for timber, tar, iron and grain, the foundation was laid for the Swedish Navy, its self-image, tactics, materials and traditions.Many of these interactions have centred around thrilling, colourful, strong individuals, and many are the stories of how their good sense and good judgement created friendship and trust, rather than discord and conflict. These collected accounts demonstrate how British naval officers have had an influence on the development, not only of the Swedish Navy, but also of Sweden itself. Only once during the centuries have the two countries been officially at war with each other, but not a shot was fired.