Obscenities offstage is conceived and designed as a study in performance. It is alert to the dangers inherent in positing erotic fields, especially so-called 'gay saunas', as objects of study, dangers that have dogged the scientific research, both qualitative and quantitative, undertaken in this field since the 1960s. The dangers arise precisely because the positing of the sauna as a coherent unitary object to be studied by the researcher as a coherent unitary subject naturalises a discrete relation that is in effect utterly bogus. The project reconfigures the epistemic stage of sauna research. It recognises that the scene of the gay sauna resists anything more than incomplete, inconclusive or reductive representation, not through some teleological or mystificatory agency, but simply because it is technically, that is, materially and socially, designed to do so. With its focus on producing effects of ambiguity, anonymity, darkness, disorientation, excitation, hermeticism, muteness, obscurity, seclusion and synaesthesia, on producing these effects as the commodities on which its commercial viability effectively depends, the gay sauna can be recognised as a zone in which the knowledge sought by the physical and human sciences is necessarily and always located just out of reach, offstage. Performance as an episteme [sic] offers methodological opportunities here that have hitherto been unexplored. Performance produces effects of knowledge not in spite of but through the production, articulation, shimmer and play of contingent reality effects, and importantly for this project through an ontological intervention that deconstructs the 'naturalised' opposition of absence and presence. It is with the commonplace performative force known as 'offstage'—in Latin, obscaenus—that the current project strives to know the gay sauna, and yet let it remain 'obscene'.


UNLABELLED
Dioxin Toxic Equivalency Factor Evaluation Overview- Polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) have the ability to bind to and activate the ligand-activated transcription factor, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Structurally related compounds that bind to the AhR and exhibit biological actions similar to TCDD are commonly referred to as "dioxin-like compounds"(DLCs). Ambient human exposure to DLCs occurs through the ingestion of foods containing residues of DLCs that bioconcentrate through the food chain. Due to their lipophilicity and persistence, once internalized they accumulate in adipose tissue resulting in chronic lifetime human exposure. Since human exposure to DLCs always occurs as a complex mixture, the toxic equivalency factor (TEF) methodology has been developed as a mathematical tool to assess the health risk posed by complex mixtures of these compounds. The TEF methodology is a relative potency scheme that ranks the dioxin-like activity of a compound relative to TCDD, which is the most potent congener. This allows for the estimation of the potential dioxin-like activity of a mixture of chemicals, based on a common mechanism of action involving an initial binding of DLCs to the AhR. The toxic equivalency of DLCs was nominated for evaluation because of the widespread human exposure to DLCs and the lack of data on the adequacy of the TEF methodology for predicting relative potency for cancer risk. To address this, the National Toxicology Program conducted a series of 2-year bioassays in female Harlan Sprague-Dawley rats to evaluate the chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity of DLCs and structurally related polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mixtures of these compounds. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and their mixtures including 2,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 118) were produced commercially before 1977 for the electric industry as dielectric insulating fluids for transformers and capacitors. Manufacture and use of these chemicals were stopped because of increased PCB residues in the environment, but they continue to be released into the environment through the use and disposal of products containing PCBs, as by-products during the manufacture of certain organic chemicals, during combustion of some waste materials, and during atmospheric recycling. This PCB 118 study was conducted as part of the dioxin TEF evaluation that included multiple 2-year rat bioassays to evaluate the relative chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity of DLCs, structurally related PCBs, and mixtures of these compounds. Female Harlan Sprague-Dawley rats were administered PCB 118 (at least 99% pure) in corn oil:acetone (99:1) by gavage for 14, 31, or 53 weeks or 2 years. 2-YEAR STUDY: Groups of 80 female rats were administered 100, 220, 460, 1,000, or 4,600 g PCB 118/kg body weight in corn oil:acetone (99:1) by gavage, 5 days per week, for up to 105 weeks; a group of 80 vehicle control female rats received the corn oil/acetone vehicle alone. Groups of 30 female rats received 10 or 30 g/kg for up to 53 weeks only. Up to 10 rats per group were evaluated at 14, 31, or 53 weeks. A stop-exposure group of 50 female rats was administered 4,600 g/kg PCB 118 in corn oil:acetone (99:1) by gavage for 30 weeks then the vehicle for the remainder of the study. Survival of all dosed groups of rats was similar to that of the vehicle control group. Mean body weights of 1,000 g/kg rats were 7% less than those of the vehicle controls after week 36, and those of the 4,600 g/kg core study and stop-exposure groups were 7% less than those of the vehicle controls after week 7. Following cessation of treatment, the body weight gain in the stop-exposure group was similar to that of the vehicle control group. In general, exposure to PCB 118 lead to dose-dependent decreases in the concentrations of serum total thyroxine (T4) and free T4 in all dosed groups. There were no effects on triiodothyronine or thyroid stimulating hormone levels in any dosed groups evaluated at the 14-, 31-, and 53-week interim evaluations. There were increases in hepatic cell proliferation in the 4,600 g/kg group at 14, 31, and 53 weeks. Administration of PCB 118 led to dose-dependent increases in CYP1A1-associated 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase, CYP1A2-associated acetanilide4-hydroxylase, and CYP2B-associated pentoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activities at the 14-, 31-, and 53-week interim evaluations. Analysis of PCB 118 concentrations in dosed groups showed dose- and duration of dosing-dependent increases in fat, liver, lung, and blood. The highest concentrations were seen in fat at 2 years with lower concentrations observed in the liver, lung, and blood. At the 53-week interim evaluation, three 4,600 g/kg rats had liver cholangiocarcinoma and one had hepatocellular adenoma. At 2 years, there were significant treatment-related increases in the incidences of cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular adenoma. Four incidences of hepatocholangioma occurred in the 4,600 g/kg core study group. At 2 years, a significant dose-related increase in hepatic toxicity was observed and was characterized by increased incidences of numerous lesions including hepatocyte hypertrophy, inflammation, oval cell hyperplasia, pigmentation, multinucleated hepatocyte, eosinophilic and mixed cell foci, diffuse fatty change, toxic hepatopathy, nodular hyperplasia, necrosis, bile duct hyperplasia and cyst, and cholangiofibrosis. The incidences of these lesions were often decreased in the 4,600 g/kg stop-exposure group compared to the 4,600 g/kg core study group. In the lung at 2 years, a significantly increased incidence of cystic keratinizing epithelioma occurred in the 4,600 g/kg core study group compared to the vehicle control group incidence. Incidences of bronchiolar metaplasia of the alveolar epithelium were significantly increased in the groups administered 460 g/kg or greater, and the incidence of squamous metaplasia was significantly increased in the 4,600 g/kg core study group. The incidence of carcinoma of the uterus in the 4,600 g/kg stop-exposure group was significantly greater than those in the vehicle control and 4,600 g/kg core study groups at 2 years. A marginal increase in squamous cell carcinoma occurred in the 220 g/kg group. At 2 years, there were marginally increased incidences of exocrine pancreatic adenoma or carcinoma in the 460, 1,000, and 4,600 g/kg core study groups. Numerous nonneoplastic effects were seen in other organs including: adrenal cortical atrophy and cytoplasmic vacuolization, pancreatic acinar cell cytoplasmic vacuolization and arterial chronic active inflammation, follicular cell hypertrophy of the thyroid gland, inflammation and respiratory epithelial hyperplasia of the nose, and kidney pigmentation.

CONCLUSIONS
Under the conditions of this 2-year gavage study, there was clear evidence of carcinogenic activity of PCB 118 in female Harlan Sprague-Dawley rats based on increased incidences of neoplasms of the liver (cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocholangioma, and hepatocellular adenoma) and cystic keratinizing epithelioma of the lung. Occurrences of carcinoma in the uterus were considered to be related to the administration of PCB 118. Occurrences of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterus and acinar neoplasms of the pancreas may have been related to administration of PCB 118. Administration of PCB 118 caused increased incidences of nonneoplastic lesions in the liver, lung, adrenal cortex, pancreas, thyroid gland, nose, and kidney. Synonyms: 1,1'-Biphenyl, 2,3',4,4',5-pentachloro-(9CI); 1,1'-biphenyl, 2,3',4,4',5-pentachloro-; 2,3',4,4',5-pentachloro-1,1'-biphenyl; 2,4,5,3',4'-pentachlorobiphenyl; 3,4,2',4',5'-pentachlorobiphenyl; biphenyl, 2,3',4,4',5-pentachloro-; CB 118.


Recent studies have demonstrated that 6-month-olds perceive manual actions as object-directed (Woodward, 1999) — and that 8-, but not 6-month-olds, apply this interpretation even to unfamiliar actions if these produce salient object-directed effects (Kiraly, Jovanovic, Prinz, Aschersleben, & Gergely, 2003). The present study had two objectives. First, we tested the alternative interpretation that action effects result in a general increase of attention by testing infants with an analogous paradigm, including however a non-human agent. Second, we investigated in how far the negative findings for the 6-month-olds reported in the study by Kiraly et al. (2003) might be due to the familiarity of the action or the discriminability of the objects involved. The results indicate that adding effects to both a familiar and an unfamiliar action leads even 6-month-olds to interpret the respective action as object-directed, given that the objects are well discriminable. However, infants do not apply such an interpretation to actions of a non-human agent.


The antifungal activity from cotton fabric textile was studied by using TiO2-SiO2/Chitosan, with CTABr (Cetyl Trimetyl Ammonium Bromide) template as nano particle suspension disperser in the surface of cotton fabric textile. The difference of dip-spin coating time was correlated by the perfection of TiO2-SiO2/Chitosan coating and indicated by the gain of textile mass, stable to the washing and the ability of textile to inhibit the Aspergilus niger growth. Result showed that in the 24 h and 90 min of dip-spin coating, there was 14 mm of A. niger inhibition zone, compared with cotton fabric textile without treatment and was larger inhibition zone than cotton fabric textile treated by ketokonazol as a positive control. The chemical change occurred in the textile fiber after TiO2- SiO2/Chitosan coating was analyzed by FT-IR and SEM-EDX.


Within the theme 'Self-healing materials for prolonged lifetime' (NMP.2012.2.1-3) of the Seventh Framework Programme, self-healing concrete is an important topic. The project HEALCON, which deals with self-healing concrete to create durable and sustainable concrete structures, is funded by EU-FP7 and started in January 2013. The coordinator of the project is Prof. Nele De Belie (UGent) and the consortium partners are UGent, Avecom, TU Delft, Acciona, TUM, TTI, VTT, COWI, DTI, CEINNMAT, Devan and Fescon. Adequate perpetuation of the road, tunnel and bridge network, is crucial to preserving European cohesion and business operations; and around 70% of this infrastructure is made of concrete. In order to garantuee liquid tightness of concrete structures, and enhance durability of elements prone to bending cracks, smart concrete with selfhealing properties will be designed. Thanks to the existing expertise of the consortium in the field of self-healing concrete at a lab-scale, a thoughtful selection of promising techniques is possible. - For early age cracks, a non-elastic repair material can be proposed, such as calcium carbonate precipitated by bacteria, or new cement hydrates of which the formation is stimulated by the presence of hydrogels. - For moving cracks under dynamic load, an elastic polymeric healing agent is suggested. Different healing agents and encapsulation techniques are tested and scaled up. Self-healing efficiency is evaluated in lab-scale tests using purposefully adapted monitoring techniques, and optimized with the help of suitable computer models. Finally the efficiency is validated in a large scale lab test and implemented in an actual concrete structure. Life-cycle cost analysis will show the impact of the selfhealing technologies on economy, society and environment compared to traditional construction methods.


Initiations and omissions of dividend payments are important changes in corporate financial policy. This paper investigates the market reaction to such changes in terms of prices, volume, and changes in clientele. Consistent with the prior literature we find that short run price reactions to omissions are greater than for initiations (-7.0% vs. +3.4% three day return). However, we show that, when we control for the change in the magnitude of dividend yield (which is larger for omissions), the asymmetry shrinks or disappears, depending on the specification. In the 12 months after the announcement (excluding the event calendar month), there is a significant positive market-adjusted return for firms initiating dividends of +7.5% and a significant negative market-adjusted return for firms omitting dividends of -11.0%. However, the post dividend omission drift is distinct from and more pronounced than that following earnings surprises. A trading rule employing both samples (long in initiation stocks and short in omission stocks) earns positive returns in 22 out of 25 years. Although these changes in dividend policy might be expected to produce shifts in clientele, we find little evidence for such a shift. Volume increases, but only slightly and briefly, and there are no important changes in institutional ownership.


Description: Iminosugars form undoubtedly the most attractive class of carbohydrate mimics reported so far. In these structures, the substitution of the endocyclic oxygen of sugars by a basic nitrogen atom leads to remarkable biological properties and raises many challenges in organic synthesis. Since the discovery of their biological activity as glycosidase inhibitors in the 1970 s, these polyvalent molecules have progressively made their way from the laboratory to the clinic. The impressive series of discoveries in the field over the past ten years indicates clearly that it is a boom time for iminosugar chemistry and biology. The scope of their profile as inhibitors has been extended to a number of enzymes such as phosphorylases, glycosyltransferases or metalloproteinases, and iminosugars now constitute lead compounds for the development of new therapeutic agents for a wide range of diseases including diabetes, viral infections, lysosomal storage disorders and tumor metastasis. Latest developments, from iminosugar synthesis to their use in clinical studies, are presented in this book, which contains contributions from over fifteen of the major chemists, biochemists and drug developers in this rapidly expanding field. An extensive table correlating the structures of more than 600 iminosugars of therapeutic interest with their biological activities is also included in the book and should prove particularly useful to aid with the design and the discovery of novel bioactive substances. Iminosugars: From Synthesis to Therapeutic Application provides a unique resource for academic and industrial researchers working in the field of iminosugars and glycomimetics of biological and/or therapeutic interest: organic chemists, medicinal chemists, carbohydrate chemists and medical scientists.


Abstract: From 1988 to 2011, Burmese citizens lived under de facto martial law. Now Burma is in the midst of a political transition whose contours suggest that the country's political future is "up for grabs" to a greater degree than has been so for at least the last half-century. The post-junta constitutional government has created a realm for potentially contentious politics outside the old "national security" limitations, but the durability of political liberalization will depend upon how military leaders of both the government's army and its armed challengers manage the detritus of decades of failed military truces and unimaginative—on all sides—peace building.


Women have played significant roles in ministry and leadership throughout the history of the church and the pages of the Bible. Today, women make up more than half the church, and do much of the mission, ministry, and discipleship in the life of the church. But women have often been held back from ministry roles. Graham Joseph Hill outlines the biblical vision for women in ministry and leadership. He offers a biblical and passionate call for women to be released to teach, to lead, to preach, to serve, to pastor, and to minister in every area of the church. The Bible paints a radical vision of women, empowered and emboldened for full ministry participation in Christ's church. The biblical vision for women and for their role as teachers, witnesses, disciplers, and leaders transforms not only personal lives, but also the church and the world. This book offers a biblical case for women teaching and leading in the church. Hill then explores practical ways that we can empower and release more female leaders in the church, and ways that we can amplify the voices and honor the gifts of women in the way Jesus intended. Together women and men can revitalize the church and renew the world.


Purpose

Drawing upon an error management perspective, this study aims to examine how in the wake of an information security breach, a hotel's error management culture influences customer engagement behaviors and trust. The potential moderating effects of the perceived error controllability are also assessed.

Design/methodology/approach

This study develops four experimental conditions concerning a privacy breach in Hotel A, where different levels of error controllability and error management culture are manipulated for testing hypotheses. Data collection is administered with the help of Amazon Mechanical Turk.

Findings

The findings from 235 former hotel guests show significant influences of error management culture on customer engagement behaviors, which are mediated by consumer trust. No moderating effect of the perceived error controllability is found.

Practical implications

This study stresses the significance of cultivating a high error management culture and communicating it to attract consumers. It also provides guidance to hoteliers for adopting effective error analysis and management approaches, improving customer engagement and, ultimately, enhancing the firm's performance.

Originality/value

The results of this study expand the error management literature by studying the impacts of error management within the organization to its impacts on consumer-related outcomes. Further, this study contributes to the customer engagement literature by focusing on a series of customer engagement behaviors after a service failure scenario. Third, this study extends previous service failure and recovery literature to credence-related service encounters.


Steroid hormone receptors interact with various coactivators and corepressors to control gene expression. One of the coactivators has been reported to be an RNA called steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA). Lanz et al. used secondary structure prediction software to identify structures adopted by SRA and then created silent mutations--ones that would not alter any putative protein product--that would disrupt the predicted RNA structures. In transfected cells, these mutated SRAs had less coactivator activity toward progesterone receptor-mediated gene expression. Deletion analysis suggested that there was not a short definable sequence responsible for SRA coactivator activity, which is consistent with a complex secondary structure that requires that sequences distributed throughout the RNA are necessary for activity. Of the 11 predicted structures, mutations that disrupted 5 of the structures decreased coactivation of gene expression. These experiments firmly support the concept that it is the RNA and not an encoded protein that is responsible for SRA activity. Thus, in addition to protein partners, steroid receptor activity is modulated by RNA regulatory molecules as well. R. B. Lanz, B. Razani. A. D. Goldberg, B. W. O'Malley, Distinct RNA motifs are important for coactivation of steroid hormone receptors by steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 16081-16086 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


ABSTRACT This article offers a bottom-up understanding of the media strategy employed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as it relates to the production and dissemination of its hostage execution videos. Through an empirical analysis of sixty-two videos of executions produced by ISIL in the year following its establishment as the "Islamic State" in 2014, this study examines the videos as a major component of ISIL's media strategy. Through these media products, ISIL seeks to spread a political message aimed at both local and global, ingroup and outgroup consumption through audience segmentation, while striving to influence both local and global audiences through the use and production of graphic violence. This article also discusses the strategy governing the production and release of ISIL's execution videos; how it relies on the global media to transmit its intertwined political and religious agenda in the digital media age.


Resources for human kinetics students on a variety of popular sports, plus coaching, training, and athletes resources. Also find resources for research on demographics and economic impacts of sports and sporting events.


Information technology matters to business success because it directly affects the mechanisms through which they create and capture value to earn a profit: IT is thus integral to a firm's business-level strategy. Much of the extant research on the IT/strategy relationship, however, inaccurately frames IT as only a functionallevel strategy. This widespread under-appreciation of the business-level role of IT indicates a need for substantial retheorizing of its role in strategy and its complex and interdependent relationship with the mechanisms through which firms generate profit. Using a comprehensive framework of potential profit mechanisms, we argue that while IT activities remain integral to the functional-level strategies of the firm, they also play several significant roles in business strategy, with substantial performance implications. IT affects industry structure and the set of business-level strategic alternatives and value-creation opportunities that a firm may pursue. Along with complementary organizational changes, IT both enhances the firm's current (ordinary) capabilities and enables new (dynamic) capabilities, including the flexibility to focus on rapidly changing opportunities or to abandon losing initiatives while salvaging substantial asset value. Such digitally attributable capabilities also determine how much of this value, once created, can be captured by the firm—and how much will be dissipated through competition or through the power of value chain partners, the governance of which itself depends on IT. We explore these business-level strategic roles of IT and discuss several provocative implications and future research directions in the converging information systems and strategy domains.


Since 1968, Garry Trudeau (b. 1948) has brought his brand of political satire to bear on public figures, movie stars, heads of state, and even on himself. Trudeau has also advocated for artists' rights and challenged industry norms while keeping a decidedly low profile. In Garry Trudeau: Doonesbury and the Aesthetics of Satire, Kerry D. Soper traces the contribution of this groundbreaking artist. Trudeau is arguably the premier American political and social satirist of the last forty years. Amazingly, he achieved this on the comics page, rather than the editorial page. By defying convention, Trudeau has established a hybrid form of popular satire that capitalizes on the narrative continuity and broad reach of the comic strip form, while operating according to the rules of combative political commentary. Garry Trudeau is divided into chapters that offer a history of Doonesbury; an analysis of Trudeau's effective satiric methods; a discussion of the methods whereby he challenged the business practices of the comic strip industry; an examination of the aesthetics of Doonesbury; and a consideration of Trudeau's significance as a social chronicler through an analysis of his character construction, narrative practices, and documentation of the American zeitgeist. Garry Trudeau is a thorough assessment of one of America's most popular and controversial cartoonists. Kerry D. Soper is director of the American studies program and associate professor of humanities, classics, and comparative literature at Brigham Young University. His work has appeared in the Journal of American Studies, International Journal of Comic Art, INKS: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and other periodicals.


Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) has emerged as an important food-borne pathogen
of considerable public health concern. The majority of food-borne illnesses caused by EHEC,
particularly serotype O157:H7, appear to be associated with undercooked meat and meat
products. Although several intervention strategies are already in use to control carcass
contamination, no single intervention is 100% effective in eliminating E. coli from carcasses.
This indicates the need for developing an effective intervention. The Australian meat industry
has a particular interest in evaluating the potential effect of combined cold and osmotic stresses
on E. coli, as occurs during carcass chilling. To this end, the present thesis aims to provide a
comprehensive understanding of the growth kinetics and cellular responses of E. coli O157:H7
strain Sakai subjected to conditions relevant to low temperature and water activity conditions
experienced during meat carcass chilling in Australia where cold air chilling, rather than spray
chilling, is routinely employed and leads to a temporary reduction in temperature as well as
reduction in water activity during chilling. Despite that those temperature and water activity
conditions are not lethal to E. coli, other studies have reported a decline in E. coli viability during
cold air carcass chilling that could be exploited to deliberately reduce the prevalence of E. coli
on meat.
An initial study employed an integrated transcriptomic and 'shotgun' proteomic approach (using
cDNA microarray and 2D-LC/MS/MS analysis, respectively), to characterize the genome and
proteome profiles of E. coli under steady-state conditions of cold temperature and water activity
stress. Expression profiles of E. coli during exponential growth at 25°C aw 0.985, 14°C aw 0.985,
viii
25°C aw 0.967, and 14°C aw 0.967 was compared to that of a reference culture (35°C aw 0.993).
Gene expression and protein abundance profiles of E. coli were more strongly affected by low
water activity (aw 0.967) than by low temperature (14°C). Predefined group enrichment analysis
revealed that the universal response of E. coli to all low temperature and/or low water activity
conditions included activation of the master stress response regulator RpoS and the Rcs
phosphorelay system involved in the biosynthesis of the exopolysacharide colanic acid, as well
as down-regulation of elements involved in chemotaxis and motility. Characterizing the
physiology of E. coli under chilling and water activity stresses provided a baseline of knowledge
to better interpret, and potentially exploit, this pathogen's responses to dynamic environmental
conditions that occur during carcass chilling.
To gain deeper insight into the potential mechanisms controlling population responses of E. coli
under dynamic low temperature and water activity conditions, a series of studies were
undertaken to investigate the growth kinetics and time-dependent changes in its global
expression upon a sudden downshift in temperature or water activity. Growth response of E. coli
to a temperature downshift below 25°C was assessed. All downshifts induced a lag phase of
growth before cells resumed growth at a rate typical for the temperature experienced. By
contrast, shifting E. coli to low water activity (below aw 0.985) caused an apparent loss, then
recovery, of culturability. Exponential growth then resumed at a rate under characteristic for the
water activity imposed. In transcriptomic and proteomic studies, E. coli responded to cold shock
(from 35°C to 14°C) and hyperosmotic shock (from aw 0.993 to aw 0.967) by changing
expression of genes and proteins involved in several functional groups and metabolic pathways.
A number of these changes were found to be common for both cold and osmotic stresses,
ix
although stress-specific responses were also observed. The adaptive strategies adopted by cells
generally included accumulation of compatible solutes and modification of the cell envelope
composition. Growth at cold temperature and low water activity, however, appeared to upregulate
additional elements, which are involved in the biosynthesis of specific amino acids. The
present findings also highlighted the robust ability of E. coli to activate multiple stress responses
by transiently inducing the activity of RpoE regulon to repair protein misfolding and aid the
proper folding of newly synthesized proteins in cell envelope, while simultaneously activating
the master stress regulator RpoS to mediate long-term adaptation under the stress conditions of
low temperature and water activity.
A further study was carried out to examine the growth kinetics and molecular response of E. coli
subjected to simultaneous abrupt downshifts in temperature and water activity (i.e. from 35°C aw
0.993 to 14°C aw 0.967). Exposure of E. coli to combined cold and osmotic shifts resulted in a
complex pattern of population changes. Based on enumeration, this repeatable growth behaviour
could be divided into three successive phases: (i) an initial decline in bacterial numbers followed
by a period in which numbers increased rapidly; (ii) a second decrease in culturable cells and
subsequent 'exponential-like' growth; and (iii) a constant population level, similar to the starting
density before imposition of the combined shocks (i.e. analogous to a 'lag' phase), until 'true
exponential' growth was (re)-established. From the proteomic analysis, it was found that the
response of E. coli to downshifts in temperature and water activity involved a highly complex
regulatory network, including changes in abundance of different groups of proteins. This
regulatory network was mediated through a transient induction of the RpoE-controlled envelope
stress response and activation of the master stress regulator RpoS and the Rcs system-controlled
x
colanic acid biosynthesis. Increase in abundance of several proteins with diverse functions was
also observed, including those involved in the DNA repair system, the degradation of proteins
and peptides, the amino acid biosynthetic pathways and the major processes of carbohydrate
catabolism and energy generation.
Overall, the results presented in this thesis, and the interpretations based on them, provide a
detailed understanding of the physiological responses of E. coli to dynamic changes experienced
during carcass chilling under Australian conditions. Such knowledge will aid the development of
more targeted, and less invasive approaches, for the meat industry to eliminate or control this
pathogen


MapReduce is a very popular parallel programming model for cloud computing platforms, and has become an effective method for processing massive data by using a cluster of computers. X-to-MapReduce (X is a program language) translator is a possible solution to help traditional programmers easily deploy an application to cloud systems through translating sequential codes to MapReduce codes. Recently, some SQL-to-MapReduce translators emerge to translate SQL-like queries to MapReduce codes and have good performance in cloud systems. However, SQL-to-MapReduce translators mainly focus on SQL-like queries, but not on numerical computation. Matlab is a high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming, which is very popular in engineering. We propose and develop a simple Matlab-to-MapReduce translator for cloud computing, called M2M, for basic numerical computations. M2M can translate a Matlab code with up to 100 commands to MapReduce code in few seconds, which may cost a proficient Hadoop MapReduce programmer some days on coding so many commands. In addition, M2M can also recognize the dependency between complex commands, which is always confusing during hand coding. We implemented M2M with evaluation for Matlab commands on a cluster. Several common commands are used in our experiments. The results show that M2M is comparable in performance with hand-coded programs.


Long-term thermal modeling of volcanoes using satellite imagery provides an effective tool for monitoring remote yet dangerous volcanoes in the North Pacific. This region includes volcanoes in Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Kamchatkan Peninsula. Thermal infrared data collected multiple times per day from weather satellites show distinct signatures for three different types of volcanic activity at different volcanic centers. Near real-time automated techniques are being developed to monitor relative changes in radiant temperature at volcanoes in this region. Radiant temperature values as a function of time are extracted and compared to background values for a series of active volcanoes. By establishing a long-term thermal record for these volcanoes, significant deviations indicative of an impending eruption can be detected. This tool is used to search for precursors to explosive eruptions in order to increase warning times and hazard mitigation for these potentially catastrophic events. A six year archive of satellite imagery has been compiled for this active region, and is available for study.


Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) is an emerging and developing philosophy which, established by Winnick and Wexler, and continued by the work of Perlin (inter alia), has been predominately used to explain the operation and efficacy of drug courts and the criminal justice system generally. It recognises that law has the potential to have both therapeutic and anti-therapeutic effects, and thus it is in the use of its rules, whilst not transgressing normative values, that therapeutic outcomes should be realised. More recently, however, TJ has been used to explore other legal jurisdictions beyond its drug and mental health origins – even to musical TJ. In respect of the law surrounding motor vehicle insurance and the compensation applicable to third-party victims, a TJ approach has been used to discuss the standard of care in torts law (in an American context and that of the law in India) recognising the common agenda present in both the deterrence of potential injurers and the restoration of the injured. In the UK, motor vehicle insurance is governed through statutory (for example the Road Traffic Act 1988) and extra-statutory measures (for example the Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017), underpinned by the United Kingdom (UK)'s obligations to the European Union (EU). The extra-statutory element of this regulatory scheme is the focus of this paper. It is unique in the exploration of the procedural rules relating, primarily, to the Untraced Drivers' Agreement concluded between the Motor Insurers' Bureau and the Secretary of State for Transport. This Agreement has been defective in correctly transposing EU law into national law and, we argue, the UK's fulfilment of its withdrawal from the EU could prove the opportunity for a new Agreement, based on conscious contracting, to remove the anti-therapeutic features present and to expunge the worst elements of an agreement that often fails to ensure the restoration of vulnerable third-party victims.


Despite a large amount of research on the metabolism of ethanol in the past decade, the picture has not changed radically with respect to the routes of this metabolism and the factors which control it. Catalase can certainly oxidize ethanol in vitro, and potential H22-generating systems exist within the cell, but no clear evidence has so far been presented to support the idea that ethanol is metabolized by a catalase system in vivo. Similarly, hepatic microsomal enzymes can oxidize ethanol in vitro by a reaction involving NADPH and oxygen (MEOS), but a substantial body of evidence suggests that this reaction plays no significant role in vivo, after either single or repeated administration of ethanol. Increase in MEOS activity after chronic ethanol intake is a reflection of increased smooth endoplasmic reticulum in the liver cell, but this may be related to the effect of ethanol on lipid metabolism rather than to the metabolism of ethanol itself.

Miscellaneous pathways involving esterification or condensation of ethanol with glucuronate, fatty acids or other substances, play a quantitatively trivial role in ethanol metabolism. The significance of these reactions lies in the interaction between ethanol and other substances which may compete for the same metabolic pathways.

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) seems unquestionably the most important enzyme in the oxidation of ethanol. It probably detoxifies the small amounts of ethanol produced in the gastrointestinal tract, yet its kinetic properties suggest that its major role in vivo involves some other substrate than ethanol. Indeed, ADH appears to be a group of enzymes, each of which may have a different primary role in vivo. The discrepancy between ADH activity measured in vitro and the rate of ethanol metabolism in vivo probably depends upon a variety of factors including the presence of competing substrates, differences in pH, extrahepatic metabolism of ethanol, changes in hepatic and other regional blood flows, and differences in rate of mitochondrial reoxidation of NADH. The last may be particularly important in relation to adaptive increases in ethanol metabolism after chronic ethanol ingestion. At the same time liver damage or malnutrition, which frequently accompanies ethanol intake, tends to reduce the ADH activity so that the final effect on ethanol metabolism reflects a balance of opposing tendencies.

The metabolic effects of ethanol are of at least three different types: those resulting from alterations in metabolite pools and cofactors produced by the etabolism of ethanol itself, those resulting from neuroendocrine disturbances secondary to the state of intoxication, and those produced directly by the pharmacological action of ethanol on specific cells and processes. In almost every major area of metabolism these various types of effect contribute in different degrees. Many of the apparent disagreements concerning the metabolic effects of ethanol arise from differences in experimental conditions, which cause the relative contributions of these factors to vary.

Effects of the first type, resulting from ethanol metabolism, have been studied most intensively. The fundamental effect is the increase in NADH: NAD+ ratio within the cytoplasm and mitochondria of the liver cell. This in turn affects the availability of pyruvate and oxaloacetate, thus bringing about a wide-ranging series of disturbances in mitochondrial oxidation of fatty acids and other substrates, gluconeogenesis and carbohydrate utilization. In addition, the change in nucleotide ratio directly affects many other NAD+-dependent reactions involved in metabolism of amino acids, biogenic amines, glycerol, carbohydrates, porphyrins and compounds of other classes. Finally, the large amounts of acetate, lactate and lipids, and the smaller amounts of acetaldehyde, which leave the liver during ethanol oxidation produce indirect effects on the metabolism of other tissues.

Effects of the second type, related to the degree of intoxication, have been much less thoroughly studied. Sympathetic and adrenomedullary responses are involved in hepatic glycogenolysis produced by large doses of ethanol, and probably in the mobilization of fatty acids from peripheral adipose tissue which appears to play an important role in hepatic steatosis after a single large dose of ethanol. Hypoxia and disturbances in blood flow through various organs may account for much of the variability in metabolism of ethanol itself, as well as in its effects on metabolism of other substances.

Effects of the third type, resulting from a direct pharmacological action of ethanol, have been the least well explored of all, even though they may prove to be of considerable significance. Very incomplete evidence suggests that ethanol may reduce active transport of amino acids in the liver, gastrointestinal tract and elsewhere. It may also have a direct effect on processes involved in synthesis and exocytosis of lipoproteins in the liver, on renal tubular transport mechanisms, and on permeability of mitochondrial and cell membranes. All of these, if verified, would have important implications for metabolism.

Because of the peculiar kinetics of ethanol oxidation in vivo, effects of the first type predominate at low concentrations of ethanol in body fluids, while those of the second and third types become progressively more important at higher concentrations. This variation, together with the complicating factors of nutritional imbalance and hepatic pathology which may occur during chronic ethanol ingestion, must be taken into account in explaining or predicting the metabolic consequences of ethanol under any given set of conditions.


Camilla Peretti (1519–1605), sister of Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585– 90), was one of an influential group of Roman noblewomen who supported the Counter Reformation through their patronage of architecture. Peretti's projects included collaboration with her brother to develop the sprawling Villa Montalto complex on the Esquiline Hill and renovation of the ancient church of S. Susanna al Quirinale, where she commissioned a chapel dedicated to St. Lawrence and built a convent for a group of radically reformed Cistercian nuns. Although Sixtus V is usually characterized as a solitary urban genius who worked only with his architect, Domenico Fontana, study of Camilla Peretti's patronage reveals that the pope's sister played a key role in the implementation of the famous Sistine plan for Rome. In fact, Camilla Peretti's two projects are demonstrated to form a previously unrecognized nucleus of the Sistine plan, which has traditionally been understood as having no central core.


While classic machine learning paradigms assume training and test data are generated from the same process, domain adaptation addresses the more realistic setting in which the learner has large quantities of labeled data from some source task but limited or no labeled data from the target task it is attempting to learn. In this work, we give the first formal analysis showing that using active learning for domain adaptation yields a way to address the statistical challenges inherent in this setting. We propose a novel nonparametric algorithm, ANDA, that combines an active nearest neighbor querying strategy with nearest neighbor prediction. We provide analyses of its querying behavior and of finite sample convergence rates of the resulting classifier under covariate shift. Our experiments show that ANDA successfully corrects for dataset bias in multiclass image categorization.


Rising obesity rates among children have lead many to lay blame at the feet of the school lunch program. Local school lunch administrators feel tremendous pressure from parents and activists to drop higher calorie items from the menu such as cookies, sodas or ice cream. Proponents of these measures argue that if children can't buy it, they will not consume the items, thus reducing the child's total intake of calories. Additional pressure has pushed for healthier fare in the USDA subsidized school lunches. Here proponents have pushed to replace the familiar pizza, hot dogs or burgers with items involving words such as "whole grain," "organic," "vegetarian" or "raw." At the same time, strong demands are placed on district school lunch programs to be financially solvent. With declines in property values and other income, school budgets are declining. While not run for profit, school lunch programs must keep participation levels high and must meet costs in order to preserve the education budget of the school district. Thus, school lunch administrators must also worry about what will sell. It may be possible to replace the standard cheese pizza on white flour crust with a pizza smothered in spinach, artichoke hearts and other vegetables on a whole wheat flaxseed crust. But, the healthier pizza is more expensive, and fewer children want to eat it. Hence many school districts walk a tightrope. They must increase the health content of their sales, while trying not to reduce their financial viability. Often times, eliminating the less healthy items means eliminating the highest margin items. Further, child patronage of the school lunch program is understandably dependent upon schools offering foods that they are familiar with, like, and that will satisfy their appetite.Economists and psychologists are developing a new set of tools that promise to help relax the tension between these two competing views of school lunches. These new tools are based in the emerging discipline of behavioral economics. Behavioral economics combines the behavioral models of psychology with the decision models of economics to help highlight how biases in perception, memory, or thought processes may influence purchasing decisions. This new approach helps us to identify the behavioral triggers that lead to the selection and consumption of healthier foods and healthier quantities of food. As well, we can determine the subtle and inadvertent signals that school cafeterias may send that trigger less healthy eating. Moreover, many of the factors identified by behavioral economics can be exploited with very little investment.Much of the apparent tension between health and cost is due to the particular approaches taken to each problem. Introducing ultra healthy products into the lunchroom requires a significant increase in spending while reducing unit sales and total participation levels. Banning popular items for their content also directly reduces sales. But suppose, for example, that instead we could simply rearrange items that are currently offered within the school to encourage children to buy more of the healthy items and less of the unhealthy items. Such a strategy costs very little, has a negligible impact on overall revenue, and may provide a way for school districts to show a demonstrable increase in the healthy content of their meals. By using tools that will both increase the sales of healthier foods while decreasing the sales of less healthy foods, behavioral tools can achieve the nutritional goals while having a minimal impact on the bottom line.


What explains China's response to intervention at the UN Security Council? China and Intervention at the UN Security Council argues that status is an overlooked determinant in understanding its decisions, even in the apex cases that are shadowed by a public discourse calling for regime change in Sudan, Libya, and Syria. The book posits that China reconciles its status dilemma as it weighs decisions to intervene: seeking recognition from both its intervention peer groups of great powers and developing states. Understanding the impact and scope conditions of status answers why China has taken certain positions regarding intervention and how these positions were justified. Foreign policy behavior that complies with status, and related social factors like self-image and identity, can at times mean that China selects policy options bearing material costs. China and Intervention at the UN Security Council offers a rich study of Chinese foreign policy, going beyond works available in breadth and in depth. It draws on an extensive collection of data, including over 200 interviews with UN officials and Chinese foreign policy elites, participant observation at UN Headquarters and a dataset of Chinese-language analysis regarding regime change and intervention. The book concludes with new perspectives on the malleability of China's core interests, insights about the application of status for cooperation, and the implications of the status dilemma for rising powers.


The secret keys of critical network authorities -- such as time, name, certificate, and software update services -- represent high-value targets for hackers, criminals, and spy agencies wishing to use these keys secretly to compromise other hosts. To protect authorities and their clients proactively from undetected exploits and misuse, we introduce CoSi, a scalable witness cosigning protocol ensuring that every authoritative statement is validated and publicly logged by a diverse group of witnesses before any client will accept it. A statement S collectively signed by W witnesses assures clients that S has been seen, and not immediately found erroneous, by those W observers. Even if S is compromised in a fashion not readily detectable by the witnesses, CoSi still guarantees S's exposure to public scrutiny, forcing secrecy-minded attackers to risk that the compromise will soon be detected by one of the W witnesses. Because clients can verify collective signatures efficiently without communication, CoSi protects clients' privacy, and offers the first transparency mechanism effective against persistent man-in-the-middle attackers who control a victim's Internet access, the authority's secret key, and several witnesses' secret keys. CoSi builds on existing cryptographic multisignature methods, scaling them to support thousands of witnesses via signature aggregation over efficient communication trees. A working prototype demonstrates CoSi in the context of timestamping and logging authorities, enabling groups of over 8,000 distributed witnesses to cosign authoritative statements in under two seconds.


The Permian alkaline lamprophyres from the Spanish Central System (SCS) are highly porphyritic rocks which carry
a heterogeneous population of clinopyroxene and kaersutite zoned phernocrysts. Clinopyroxene phenocrysts may show 1) normal
zoning (Cpx-I), 2) reverse zoning with Fe-rich green cores (Cpx-II), and 3) reverse zoning with colourless Al-poor, silica-rich cores
(Cpx-III). Kaersutite phenocrysts also show a slight reverse zoning. Major and trace element composition of Cpx-I suggests that
their compositional variation is related to a crystal fractionation process from melts similar to the host lamprophyres. The Cpx-II
cores represent crystallization from highly evolved melts (low Mg-Cr contents and incompatible element enrichment), genetically
related with the SCS alkaline magmatism, and the growth or surrounding Mg-rich inner rims points to a magma mixing process.
The major and trace element composition of Cpx-III cores supports derivation from a magma which has fractionated plagioclase.
This characteristic, together with their similarities when compared to clinopyroxenes from charnockite xenoliths, suggests that
they might be xenocrysts from deep calc-alkaline cumulates. The composition of melts in equilibrium with clinopyroxene and
amphibole phenocrysts supports a model in which Cpx-II and Cpx-III cores would have been incorporated into a more primitive
lamprophyric magma stagnated at lower crustal levels. The low pressure composition of all phenocryst outer rims indicates that
they crystallised directly from the host alkaline magma at their subvolcanic emplacement levels.


We study (d−1)-dimensional excitations in the d-dimensional color code that are created by transversal application of the R_d phase operators on connected subregions of qubits. We find that such excitations are the superpositions of electric charges and can be characterized by the fixed-point wave functions of (d−1)-dimensional bosonic symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases with (Z_2)^(⊗d) symmetry. While these SPT excitations are localized on (d−1)-dimensional boundaries, their creation requires operations acting on all qubits inside the boundaries, reflecting the nontriviality of emerging SPT wave functions. Moreover, these SPT excitations can be physically realized as transparent gapped domain walls which exchange excitations in the color code. Namely, in the three-dimensional color code, the domain wall, associated with the transversal R_3 operator, exchanges a magnetic flux and a composite of a magnetic flux and the looplike SPT excitation, revealing rich possibilities of boundaries in higher-dimensional TQFTs. We also find that magnetic fluxes and the looplike SPT excitations exhibit nontrivial three-loop braiding statistics in three dimensions as a result of the fact that the R_3 phase operator belongs to the third level of the Clifford hierarchy. We believe that the connection between SPT excitations, fault-tolerant logical gates and gapped domain walls, established in this paper, can be generalized to a large class of topological quantum codes and TQFTs.


Passive Q-switching of a 1.34 µm Nd3+:YAlO3 laser and a 1.54 µm Er3+:glass laser using Co2+:MgAl2O4(Co2+:MALO) and Co2+:LaMgAl11O19(Co2+:LMA) crystals as saturable absorbers are demonstrated. Q-switched laser pulses of 110 ns (75 ns) in duration and up to 10 mJ (3.8 mJ) energy at 1.34 µm and 56 ns (40 ns) in duration and up to 2.7 mJ (4.5 mJ) in energy at 1.54 µm were obtainable for the Co2+:MALO(Co2+:LMA) crystals. Using the Co2+:MALO as saturable absorber, mode-locked 1.34 µm Nd3+:YAlO3 laser single pulses were obtained to be ~300 ps duration and up to 0.2 mJ energy. Differential absorption spectra recorded with picosecond pump-probe technique and absorption saturation of the Co2+:MALO and Co2+:LMA crystals are investigated.


The manufacturing sequence influence, to a large extent, component properties like fatigue life, shape accuracy and manufacturability. By simulating the manufacturing sequence, using numerical or empirical models, and extracting important accumulated data, like residual stress, hardness and shape, the possibilities of early analysis of a design concept and the associated manufacturing sequence will increase. An established methodology has the potential of reducing physical testing and the time and costs of product design and process planning.This thesis proposes an algorithm to be used for setting up a framework of interconnected process step models. With support from the algorithm, it is possible to extract a virtual simulation sequence from a physical manufacturing sequence. Thereby, you can replicate the aggregated effects of process steps on part key features and manufacturing features. The algorithm will serve as a tool in process planning when establishing virtual manufacturing sequences. The virtual sequences should be used for virtual prediction of component properties, optimization of process parameters and evaluation of the effects of replacing, removing or adding process steps to a manufacturing sequenceThe algorithm is based on stepwise upstream selection of process steps, definition of interconnected models and selection of interconnected datasets using breadth first search. The algorithm completes existing procedures for data mapping and exchange of data between models into an overall approach for establishing virtual manufacturing sequences. Other scientific contributions are methods for modelling of deep rolling and blasting, a model material for validation of rolling and forging simulation and principles for integration of process simulation with CAD/CAM.


We develop algorithms for the numerical computation of the quadratic hedging strategy in incomplete markets modeled by pure jump Markov process. Using the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman approach, the value function of the quadratic hedging problem can be related to a triangular system of parabolic partial integro-differential equations (PIDE), which can be shown to possess unique smooth solutions in our setting. The first equation is non-linear, but does not depend on the pay-off of the option to hedge (the pure investment problem), while the other two equations are linear. We propose convergent finite difference schemes for the numerical solution of these PIDEs and illustrate our results with an application to electricity markets, where time-inhomogeneous pure jump Markov processes appear in a natural manner.


Purpose: Prior neoadjuvant trials with 12 weeks of dual anti-HER2 therapy without chemotherapy demonstrated a meaningful pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. In this trial, we sought to determine whether longer treatment would increase the rate of pCR. Patients and Methods: TBCRC023 (NCT00999804) is a randomized phase II trial combining a Simon phase II design in the experimental arm with a pick-the-winner design, not powered for direct comparison. Women with HER2-positive breast tumors measuring ≥2 cm (median = 5 cm) were randomized in a 1:2 ratio to 12 versus 24 weeks of lapatinib and trastuzumab. Letrozole (along with ovarian suppression if premenopausal) was administered in patients whose tumors were also estrogen receptor (ER) positive. All evaluable patients were assessed for in-breast pCR. Results: Ninety-seven patients were enrolled (33 in 12-week arm and 64 in 24-week arm), of whom 94 were evaluable. Median age was 51 years, and 55% were postmenopausal. Median tumor size was 5 cm, and 65% were ER-positive. The rate of pCR in the 24-week arm was 28% and numerically superior to the 12-week arm (12%). This was driven by increased pCR in the ER-positive subgroup (33% vs. 9%). Study treatment was well tolerated, with grade 1–2 diarrhea and acneiform rash being the most common toxicities. Conclusions: Treatment with dual anti-HER2 therapy for 24 weeks led to a numeric increase in pCR rate in women with HER2-positive breast cancer, without using chemotherapy. If validated, this approach may help identify patients who may benefit from deescalation of therapy.


Describes a probabilistic technique for the coupled reconstruction and restoration of underwater acoustic images. The technique is founded on the physics of the image-formation process. Beamforming, a method widely applied in acoustic imaging, is used to build a range image from backscattered echoes, associated point by point with another type of information representing the reliability (or confidence) of such an image. Unfortunately, this kind of images is plagued by problems due to the nature of the signal and to the related sensing system. In the proposed algorithm, the range and confidence images are modeled as Markov random fields whose associated probability distributions are specified by a single energy function. This function has been designed to fully embed the physics of the acoustic image-formation process by modeling a priori knowledge of the acoustic system, the considered scene, and the noise-affecting measures and also by integrating reliability information to allow the coupled and simultaneous reconstruction and restoration of both images. Optimal (in the maximum a posteriori probability sense) estimates of the reconstructed range image map and the restored confidence image are obtained by minimizing the energy function using simulated annealing. Experimental results show the improvement of the processed images over those obtained by other methods performing separate reconstruction and restoration processes that disregard reliability information.


The aim of this working paper is to describe the nature of actions to foster interdisciplinary
research efforts at a major United Kingdom university. The focus was placed on the
structures and processes that strengthen and inhibit interdisciplinary research in universities
through the lens of leadership theory.
The study employed a descriptive mixed method case study approach to collecting and analyzing
the data used to draw its conclusions. A survey was constructed around dispositions,
processes and practices, which facilitate or impede interdisciplinary research, gathered from the
literature and initial interviews. The survey included open ended questions from which narrative
data were collected. One hundred and twenty seven academic staff responded to the survey.
The results of the survey were verified by 25 interviews with heads of colleges, heads of schools,
research coordinators, research team leaders, and team members. These interviews were supported
by document review to support the findings and draw conclusions from the study.
Leadership is important. The ability to establish direction, alignment and commitment, and
develop community is often the difference between success and failure. At the University direction
has been established, commitment is partially established, but alignment and community
development lag behind.
There seems to be a working consensus recognising the importance of interdisciplinary research
to solve the most intractable societal problems. There is less of a consensus as to whether the
approach to accomplishing this should be forced or engineered.
Good leadership and good decision making is required for interdisciplinary research to thrive.
The University has done well with most of the big structures that enrich and support interdisciplinarity,
institutes, centres and networks. Positive examples are noted in the text. However,
the prevailing position is that clusters have made management easier but has not necessarily
supported teaching and research. In this effort 'small' structures such as clarity of meaning,
motivation of staff, misalignment of old structures, time and workload, and loss of identify have
impeded the move to university wide interdisciplinarity.
Three recommendations are suggested to move the interdisciplinary project forward: stay clear on
focus, extend the benefits of serendipity to more people, and remember that one size does not fit all.


The ratification of the Prespa Agreement between Greece and North Macedonia marked the end of one of the longest diplomatic disputes in Europe. EU officials were quick to praise the agreement not only as a positive example for resolving bilateral disputes in the Western Balkans, but also as an illustration of the power of attraction of the EU. Nevertheless, while it is undeniable that the agreement aligns with EU strategic interests and its normative agenda of transformation of its near abroad, we argue that a closer look into the history of the dispute and the ratification process in each country reveals tensions that cut across the internal governance of the EU and the conduct of its external relations. Our analysis of the Prespa Agreement as an instance of this internal-external nexus of EU governance showcases lingering stresses that today's mode of European integration generates between state elites, EU institutions and democratic communities across the EU's internal and external periphery.


From the Publisher:
Oracle Developer Forms Techniques describes the concepts and techniques needed to build Web-enabled applications with Forms. The book covers advanced topics in great detail, including understanding and overcoming error handling limitations in Forms, such as errors which cannot be tracked through normal FORM_SUCCESS or FORM_FAILURE, ordering by items based on FK look-ups, obtaining Query Count without actually executing a query, and performing an exclusive server-side commit from Forms. The book also covers object-oriented methods in Forms, and Intelligence in Forms. Code segments are provided to help developers implement these techniques, thus easing application development time and effort.


This paper develops a quantitative dynamic general equilibrium model in which households' preferences for safe and liquid assets constitute a violation of Modigliani and Miller. I show that the scarcity of these coveted assets created by increased bank capital requirements can reduce overall bank funding costs and increase bank lending. I quantify this mechanism in a two-sector business cycle model featuring a banking sector that provides liquidity and has excessive risk-taking incentives. Under reasonable parametrizations, the marginal benefit of higher capital requirements related to this channel significantly exceeds the marginal cost, indicating that US capital requirements have been sub-optimally low.


Swim is a celebration of swimming and the effect it has on our lives. It's an inquiry into why we swim-the lure, the hold, the timeless magic of being in the water. It's a look at how swimming has changed over the millennia, how this ancient activity is becoming more social than solitary today. It's about our relationship with the water, with our fishy forebearers, and with the costumes that we wear. You'll even find a few songs to sing when you push out those next laps. Swimming enthusiast Lynn Sherr explores every aspect of the sport, from the biology of swimming to the fame of Esther Williams; from turquoise pools and wild water to the training of Olympians; and she reveals the secret of buoyancy so that anyone can avoid the example of the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who lamented, "Why can't I swim, it seems so very easy?" When his friend, the biographer Edward John Trelawny, said, "because you think you can't," Shelley plunged into Italy's Arno River and dropped like a rock. With Swim, you can avoid that happening to you.


Initiatives for the development of literacy at the University of Wollongong are growing within an Australian national commitment to increase overall tertiary enrollment, provide access to students from less-advantaged groups, and enroll more international students. While this essay describes successful programs within the Academic Services Division at Wollongong built to support student literacy, especially academic writing, it primarily emphasizes the work of a problemsolving task force on English language proficiency aimed at building consensus for a collaborative, cross-disciplinary paradigm of literacy growth that moves away from the traditional idea of separable services. The essay profiles a new initiative in the Master of Science program that exemplifies uses of technology to make literacy growth integral to every aspect of student learning and success, including the design of mainstream courses. This initiative and others like it depend on the collaboration of language teachers and researchers with teachers in the target disciplines.


Displacement sensor based on the polarization mixture and the cavity tuning of the orthogonal polarized He-Ne laser 1.15 μm is presented. The power tuning curves of He-Ne laser are irregular, and it is difficult to measure the change in cavity length. The distortion of the curves is caused by the higher relative excitation compared with the He-Ne laser at 633 nm. In view of its potential for the wider displacement measuring range, a new method of displacement sensing is developed. Experiments show that displacement measuring stability based on the method of the polarization mixture is better than that of the power tuning curves. The displacement sensor achieves the measuring range of 100 mm, resolution of 144 nm, and linearity of 7 × 10-6.


Condensed matter systems undergoing phase transitions rarely allow exact solutions. The presence of disorder renders the situation even worse but collective Monte Carlo methods and parallel algorithms allow numerical descriptions. This thesis considers classical phase transitions in disordered spin systems in general and in effective models of superfluids with disorder and novel interactions in particular. Quantum phase transitions are considered via a quantum to classical mapping. Central questions are if the presence of defects changes universal properties and what qualitative implications follow for experiments. Common to the cases considered is that the disorder maps out correlated structures. All results are obtained using large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of effective models capturing the relevant degrees of freedom at the transition.Considering a model system for superflow aided by a defect network, we find that the onset properties are significantly altered compared to the $\lambda$-transition in $^{4}$He. This has qualitative implications on expected experimental signatures in a defect supersolid scenario.For the Bose glass to superfluid quantum phase transition in 2D we determine the quantum correlation time by an anisotropic finite size scaling approach. Without a priori assumptions on critical parameters, we find the critical exponent $z=1.8 \pm 0.05$ contradicting the long standing result $z=d$.Using a 3D effective model for multi-band type-1.5 superconductors we find that these systems possibly feature a strong first order vortex-driven phase transition. Despite its short-range nature details of the interaction are shown to play an important role.Phase transitions in disordered spin models exposed to correlated defect structures obtained via rapid quenches of critical loop and spin models are investigated. On long length scales the correlations are shown to decay algebraically. The decay exponents are expressed through known critical exponents of the disorder generating models. For cases where the disorder correlations imply the existence of a new long-range-disorder fixed point we determine the critical exponents of the disordered systems via finite size scaling methods of Monte Carlo data and find good agreement with theoretical expectations.


Tropical lowland plant communities in north-eastern Queensland remain under pressure from continuing clearing, fragmentation, exotic species invasion, inappropriate fire regimes, and altered hydrological patterns. Comparatively little scientific research has been conducted on the highly diverse and ecologically significant range of remnant vegetation types. Additionally, most plant communities remain very poorly represented in the existing conservation reserve system. Melaleuca viridiflora Sol. ex Gaertn. open woodlands were selected for investigation based on their relatively simple structure, compared to other lowland communities, and the large extent to which they have been affected by past clearing patterns. A detailed analysis of community structure and composition was conducted at 24 sites throughout the wet-tropics coastal region between Townsville and Cooktown. Surprisingly, a high diversity of structural and floristic types was recorded, with a total of 127 species documented across the 24 sites. Classification analyses of species composition data produced seven or eight main groups of sites (dependent on the statistical technique used), essentially related to a gradient of latitude and rainfall. These floristic groups were not well explained by either species richness, past fire frequencies or soil types. Structural classification analyses based upon DBH data identified six or seven main groups, the singularly most striking of which were sites with annual fire histories. Ordinations based on both the DBH and species composition data produced groupings that supported those detected by the classification techniques. On closer examination of sites with similar fire histories, soil moisture and soil type were both found to have significant effects on community structure and composition. Many of the woodland types recorded are not adequately included (some not at all) in the existing conservation reserve system.


Rodents perceive pheromones via vomeronasal receptors encoded by highly evolutionarily dynamic Vr and Fpr gene superfamilies. We report here that high numbers of V1r pseudogenes are scattered in mammalian genomes, contrasting with the clustered organization of functional V1r and Fpr genes. We also found that V1r pseudogenes are more likely to be expressed when located in a functional V1r gene cluster than when isolated. To explore the potential regulatory role played by the association of functional vomeronasal receptor genes with their clusters, we dissociated the mouse Fpr-rs3 from its native cluster via transgenesis. Singular and specific transgenic Fpr-rs3 transcription was observed in young vomeronasal neurons but was only transient. Our study of natural and artificial dispersed gene duplications uncovers the existence of transcription-stabilizing elements not coupled to vomeronasal gene units but rather associated with vomeronasal gene clusters and thus explains the evolutionary conserved clustered organization of functional vomeronasal genes.


The history of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)'s strike can be traced back to 1978, the period of the beginning of the decline in the oil boom, when the country faced the consequences of the failure by its rulers to use the oil wealth to generate production and a social welfare system. Military dictatorship had eroded deeply the basic freedoms in the society. Academic freedom and university autonomy were casualties of military dictatorship. The funding of education, and so of universities, became poorer. The factors required a changed orientation of the union of academics. However, questionnaires were administered to seek the opinions of the students in University of Benin (UNIBEN) and in Benson Idahosa University (BIU), Edo States and one thousand and fifty four staff and students were randomly selected. Nine hundred and seventy one respondents validly returned their questionnaire. From the analyzed data, it was observed that frequent strikes had adverse effects on the academic performance of students. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made that adequate measures should be put in place by government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) etc to check incessant strike in the educational system; and conclusively that government owned Universities should emulated private school owners by avoiding strikes and intensify efforts to convince ASUU on the evils of strikes to see that students would have enough time to study so that they can be able to face challenges in the Labour Market. This paper painstakingly appraised several of these issues and concluded that all stakeholders in the education sector and federal polity should  thread softly, be objective, rational, altruistic and magnanimous in order not to make the existence of true federalism (social, political, educational and economic cohesive existence of the people, peace and tranquillity) a fleeting illusion and a mirage. Keywords: ASUU, strikes, Academic performance, economic downturn, National Universities Commission


Many studies have uncovered evidence that visual cortex contains specialized regions involved in processing faces but not other object classes. Recent electro-physiology studies of cells in several of these specialized regions revealed that at least some of these regions are organized in a hierarchical manner with viewpoint-specific cells projecting to downstream viewpoint-invariant identity-specific cells [1]. A separate computational line of reasoning leads to the claim that some transformations of visual inputs that preserve viewed object identity are class-specific. In particular, the 2D images evoked by a face undergoing a 3D rotation are not produced by the same image transformation (2D) that would produce the images evoked by an object of another class undergoing the same 3D rotation. However, within the class of faces, knowledge of the image transformation evoked by 3D rotation can be reliably transferred from previously viewed faces to help identify a novel face at a new viewpoint. We show, through computational simulations, that an architecture which applies this method of gaining invariance to class-specific transformations is effective when restricted to faces and fails spectacularly when applied to other object classes. We argue here that in order to accomplish viewpoint-invariant face identification from a single example view, visual cortex must separate the circuitry involved in discounting 3D rotations of faces from the generic circuitry involved in processing other objects. The resulting model of the ventral stream of visual cortex is consistent with the recent physiology results showing the hierarchical organization of the face processing network.


A method for quantitative characterization of grain size in thin sections has been established for mantle spinel peridotite xenoliths, using optical scanning of large areas of thin sections, skeletonization of grain-section outlines and computerized measurement of individual grain-section areas. Measurements range from 218 for the coarsest example to more than 3000 in the finest grained. Variability of the samples has been examined in relation to size and number of grain-section areas measured by using multiple and orthogonal sections from several xenoliths. The results show a linear relationship of arithmetic mean against additive standard deviation, including data from coarse-grained protogranular, through porphyroclastic to the finer-grained equigranular examples. This suggests that peridotite textures form a continuous series rather than discrete groups, as suggested by qualitative (subjective) assessment. The observed distributions of grain-section areas have been explored in relation to their description and possible mechanistic origin. By direct measurement and comparison of cumulative number and area distribution curves, we show that qualitatively assessed 'typical grain sizes' are influenced by a small number of larger grain sections. Although the arithmetic mean and standard deviation provide a convenient method for comparison, in practice grain-section area distributions show marked positive skewness more consistent with log-normal or power-law functions. Linear log-probability curves also support the existence of a continuous series of peridotite textures, suggesting that the shallow lithospheric mantle has been subject to processes of comminution and/or grain growth dependent on the Law of Proportionate Effect.


Various reasons have been given to explain downturns in U.S. economic activity since World War II. Romer and Romer (1989) argued that these recessions were primarily associated with monetary contractions, while Hamilton (1983) and others attributed them to oil price increases. We investigate these competing hypotheses and find that when measures of oil prices are included, the Romers' measure of monetary policy does not significantly explain economic downturns. However, alternative measures of monetary policy, specifically the federal funds rate the spread between the ten-year Treasury rate and the federal funds rate, are significantly linked to economic activity. We also find that Hamilton's result that oil prices significantly influence real activity are robust to the inclusion of these alternative indicators of monetary policy.


The goal of this project was to investigate the neural correlates of reading impairment in dyslexia as hypothesised by the main theories – the phonological deficit, visual magnocellular deficit and cerebellar deficit theories, with emphasis on individual differences. This research took a novel approach by: 1) contrasting the predictions in one sample of participants with dyslexia (DPs); 2) using a multiple-case study (and between-group comparisons) to investigate differences in BOLD between each DP and the controls (CPs); 3) demonstrating a possible relationship between reading impairment and its hypothesised neural correlates by using fMRI and a reading task. The multiple-case study revealed that the neural correlates of reading in dyslexia in all cases are not in agreement with the predictions of a single theory. The results show striking individual differences - even, where the neural correlates of reading in two DPs are consistent with the same theory, the areas can differ. A DP can exhibit under-engagement in an area in word, but not in pseudoword reading and vice versa, demonstrating that underactivation in that area cannot be interpreted as a 'developmental lesion'. Additional analyses revealed complex results. Within-group analyses between behavioural measures and BOLD showed correlations in the predicted regions, areas outside ROI, and lack of correlations in some predicted areas. Comparisons of subgroups which differed on Orthography Composite supported the MDT, but only for Words. The results suggest that phonological scores are not a sufficient predictor of the under-engagement of phonological areas during reading. DPs and CPs exhibited correlations between Purdue Pegboard Composite and BOLD in cerebellar areas only for Pseudowords. Future research into reading in dyslexia should use a more holistic approach, involving genetic and environmental factors, gene by environment interaction, and comorbidity with other disorders. It is argued that multidisciplinary research, within the multiple-deficit model holds significant promise here.


Machine learning (ML) used for static portable executable (PE) malware detection typically employs per-file numerical feature vector representations as input with one or more target labels during training. However, there is much orthogonal information that can be gleaned from the \textit{context} in which the file was seen. In this paper, we propose utilizing a static source of contextual information -- the path of the PE file -- as an auxiliary input to the classifier. While file paths are not malicious or benign in and of themselves, they do provide valuable context for a malicious/benign determination. Unlike dynamic contextual information, file paths are available with little overhead and can seamlessly be integrated into a multi-view static ML detector, yielding higher detection rates at very high throughput with minimal infrastructural changes. Here we propose a multi-view neural network, which takes feature vectors from PE file content as well as corresponding file paths as inputs and outputs a detection score. To ensure realistic evaluation, we use a dataset of approximately 10 million samples -- files and file paths from user endpoints of an actual security vendor network. We then conduct an interpretability analysis via LIME modeling to ensure that our classifier has learned a sensible representation and see which parts of the file path most contributed to change in the classifier's score. We find that our model learns useful aspects of the file path for classification, while also learning artifacts from customers testing the vendor's product, e.g., by downloading a directory of malware samples each named as their hash. We prune these artifacts from our test dataset and demonstrate reductions in false negative rate of 32.3% at a $10^{-3}$ false positive rate (FPR) and 33.1% at $10^{-4}$ FPR, over a similar topology single input PE file content only model.


We examine a randomized trial that allows separate identification of peer screening and enforcement of credit contracts. A South African microlender offered half its clients a bonus for referring a friend who repaid a loan. For the remaining clients, the bonus was conditional on loan approval. After approval, the repayment incentive was removed from half the referrers in the first group and added for half those in the second. We find large enforcement effects, a $12 (100 Rand) incentive reduced default by 10 percentage points from a base of 20%. In contrast, we find no evidence of screening.


The over-inhibition of thalamic relay cells by hyperactivity of the internal part of the globus pallidus is a cornerstone of the parkinsonian pathophysiology that leads to a distortion of the thalamocortical dynamics called thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD). Here, we present the results of the stereotactic pallidothalamic tractotomy (PTT), which interrupts selectively the enhanced pallidal output to the thalamus in a restricted location in the fields of Forel. This operation represents a reactualization of Spiegel's campotomy. PTT was offered to 41 patients (66.1+ 8.5 years) suffering from chronic, therapy-resistant Parkinson's disease. It was performed bilaterally in 21 patients. Forty patients displayed mixed, i.e. tremulent and akinetic parkinsonian signs, and seven had drug-induced dyskinesias. One patient had only rest tremor. The evaluation was based on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores, comparing the patients' preoperative medicated state with the state at the last postoperative follow-up. We, thus, tested surgical success in terms of superiority to drug treatment. Mean follow-up was 22.4 months with 15 patients followed for .2 years. Mean improvement was 60% (P , 0.001) for UPDRS III and 51% (P , 0.001) for UPDRS II. Significant improvement (P , 0.001) appeared in subscores for tremor (87%), limb akinesia (58%) and axial akinesia (33%). Improvement of postural stability and gait was at the limit of significance (P , 0.05). Improvement of hypomimia and hypophonia did not reach statistical significance. Increase of dysarthria was significant (P , 0.01). Intake of L-DOPA was reduced significantly and 21 patients were able to stop intake. Median improvement of the Quality of Life score was 67%. Improvement remained, independent of follow-up length. In conclusion, PTT provides a high, stable level of relief to parkinsonian patients whose condition cannot be controlled with pharmacotherapy. The rationale of the surgical therapy is based on a selective extrathalamic regulation of the parkinsonian TCD.


Free-ranging or feral horses (Equus ferus caballus) were important to the livelihood of First Nations and indigenous communities in Canada. The early inhabitants of the boreal region of British Columbia (BC) capitalized on naturally occurring wildfi res and anthropogenic burning to provide forage for free-ranging horses and manage habitat for wildlife. This form of pyric herbivory, or grazing driven by fi re via the attraction to the palatable vegetation in recently burned areas, is an evolutionary disturbance process that occurs globally. However, its application to manage forage availability for free-ranging horses has not been studied in northern Canada. Across Canada, there are varying levels of governance for feral and free-ranging horses depending on the provincial jurisdiction and associated legislation. The BC Range Act (Act) allows range tenure holders to free-range horses that they own for commercial operations on Crown land. Big-game guide outfi tters as range tenure holders are provided grazing licences or grazing permits under the Act with an approved range use plan. Guide outfi tters and other range tenure holders have incorporated fi re ecology as part of their rangeland management in mountainous portions of the boreal forest of northeastern BC to promote mosaics of vegetation height and species composition across the landscape to meet nutritional requirements of their free-ranging horses. Using resource selection function models, we evaluated the infl uence of pyric herbivory on boreal vegetation and use by horse herds occupying 4 distinct landscapes. We found that horses preferentially selected recently burned areas and areas that burned more frequently when they were available. We also found that horses avoided steep slopes and forest cover types. Fire and the ecological processes associated with it, including pyric herbivory, are important considerations when managing boreal rangelands in northeastern BC. Because historical fi re regimes of the boreal region of Canada diff er from the arid regions of the United States inhabited by feral horses, the role of pyric herbivory in altering horse distributions in the United States is limited.


Discussed herein are selected oral fluorinated pyrimidines that are converted to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in vivo to exert antitumor activity. These agents include capecitabine (Xeloda), tegafur-uracil (UFT) plus leucovorin (Orzel), and S-1 (BMS247616). These agents offer the convenience of an orally administered therapy with potentially fewer toxic effects than conventional bolus regimens of 5-FU plus leucovorin. These oral agents provide prolonged 5-FU exposure at lower peak concentrations than observed with bolus intravenous administration of 5-FU and may confer pharmacoeconomic advantages by reducing administration costs and toxicity-related hospitalizations. These regimens also have the potential for improved therapeutic activity by achieving higher 5-FU concentrations in the tumor or by biochemically modulating 5-FU. Phase III trials in patients with advanced colorectal carcinomas are comparing the antitumor activity of these agents with that of intravenous 5-FU plus leucovorin.


ABSTRACT The success of biological control of the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, with commercial products based on C. pomonella granulovirus (CpGV) isolates relies both on the ingestion of a sufficient amount of occlusion bodies (OBs) between their hatching from the egg and the penetration inside the fruits, and the correct replication of the virus in the insect larvae. Larvae resistant to one isolate, CpGV-M are frequently found in European orchards. In recent years, efforts have been devoted to obtaining virus isolates able to control resistant insects, among them, CpGV-R5. Ingestion of CpGV-M by a resistant larva does not allow replication of CpGV-M. Ingestion of CpGV-R5 results in virus replication and larval death. Ingestion of a mixture of CpGV-M and CpGV-R5 allows replication of both genotypes and better insect control. Both CpGV-M and CpGV-R5 are present in the commercial product Carpovirusine® Evo 2 (NPP, Arysta LifeSciences). No recent data have been collected concerning the actual amount of virus ingested by the neonate larvae. As mixed infection CpGV-M and CpGV-R5 provide better protection, this is an interesting property to explore to improve the strategy of treatment in orchards. We analysed the distribution of virus droplets on leaves for two orchards using two different dispersion techniques and leaves sprayed in laboratory conditions. We observed the mortality of larvae allowed to feed on these contaminated leaves for selected amounts of time. We then used High resolution melting (HRM) to estimate the occurrence of each genotype alone and mixed genotypes in individual larvae.


Researchers have long observed different illusion magnitudes in verbal response tasks and visually-directed action tasks. The cause of such differences has been the topic of debate. The "two visual systems hypothesis" (TVSH) suggests that two separate visual pathways independently control a certain type of tasks. According to this theory, the difference in illusion magnitudes is caused by the different performance of these two pathways. An alternative theory is the "two modes of processing" (TMOP) hypothesis, which states that the two visual processing modes function within a single visual pathway but weigh the same set of visual information differently. According to this theory, the drop of illusion magnitudes in visually-directed action tasks is the result of such different weights. The three experiments presented here focus on the effect of motion parallax and binocular depth cues, haptic feedback from 3D target disks, and body postures, respectively. Results suggest that while haptic feedback and body postures are critical to the reduction in illusion magnitudes, motion parallax and binocular depth cues seem to be irrelevant. Limitations and future directions are


Introduction: Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is a well-known traditional medicinal plant used for therapeutic effects in both Unani and Ayurvedic System of Medicine. It has been founded to have many therapeutic activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic and anti-gout properties. It is also useful in the management of cough, dyspepsia, loss of appetite, relaxed sore-throat, retching, spasms / spasmodic affections of the stomach, vomiting. The present study aimed towards the evaluation of the parameters involved in the determination of the quality and purity of Zingiber officinale Rosc. rhizome and its standardization. Methods: Organoleptic characters, extractive values, ash values, phyto-chemical analysis, TLC, HPTLC, fluorescence analysis and HPLC profile etc. were the parameters used for the standardisation of the test drug. Results: Total ash values, water, alcohol and Ether soluble extractive values and volatile oil percentage was found to be 7.60%, 11.23%, 8.55%, 2.5% and 3.75% respectively. TLC profile of Z. officinale Rosc shows 05 and 13 spots in UV short and exposure in anisaldehyde-sulphuric acid respectively. The HPLC pattern shows 29 peaks and the peak no. 2, 7 and 5 are major peaks having area concentration and retention time as 9.64% at 2.66 min, 10.12% at 3.25 min. and 15.22% at 3.61 min. respectively. Conclusion: The study will provide referential information for the good quality, purity and identification for the future batches of Zingiber officinale Rosc.


The pressure to adopt information technologies has clearly reached the judicial branch of government. General trends toward greater transparency and more openness in the public sector have pushed judges, ministers, and lawyers to use emergent technologies and to provide more information online. In fact, judicial agencies have created their own websites with diverse levels of technological sophistication and functionality, often with the intention of opening their processes and interacting with multiple stakeholders. In contrast to the executive branch, however, little is known about the structure, usability, content, and impacts of these websites. There is also no clear understanding of how judicial websites could be used to better understand and assess electronic justice and open justice efforts. Using a longitudinal mixed-method research design, this study analyzes the functionality of judicial websites and proposes a comprehensive assessment framework that not only evaluates the availability of information but also the participatory mechanisms related to e-justice and open justice. We started with an exploratory research project, followed by a pilot evaluation, and ended with an assessment of the 32 state judicial websites in Mexico in 2014 and 2016. Based on the results of these empirical efforts, this article proposes a framework to understand e-justice and open justice through the assessment of judicial websites.


Relationship Building and Unethical Behavior in the Hospitality Industry by Sharron Lee Koch MS, Salem International University 2009 BS, Limestone College, 2007 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University July 2016 Abstract Relationship building is a fundamental component to develop successful businesses, although corrupt purchasing executives pay bribes in excess of $1.5 trillion dollars annually. The participants for this case study consisted of 10 national sales managers who have successfully implemented strategies to train suppliers in relationship building in a hotel in Greensville, South Carolina. The resource dependence theory grounded the study. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies a hotel owner in Greenville, South Carolina used to train managers on relationship building. Collection of data included 8 semi-structured telephone interviews and 2 video interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, archived data, and field notes. Using a modified van Kaam method and methodological triangulation, 3 prominent themes were identified that included the appropriateness of relationship building activities to collect data critical to negotiations, the need to clarify unclear expectations, and developing an increased awareness of the gray areas for possible boundary violations between the vendor and the customer. The data from the results indicated the need for increased training to reduce the number of instances of unethical behavior perceived in relationshipRelationship building is a fundamental component to develop successful businesses, although corrupt purchasing executives pay bribes in excess of $1.5 trillion dollars annually. The participants for this case study consisted of 10 national sales managers who have successfully implemented strategies to train suppliers in relationship building in a hotel in Greensville, South Carolina. The resource dependence theory grounded the study. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies a hotel owner in Greenville, South Carolina used to train managers on relationship building. Collection of data included 8 semi-structured telephone interviews and 2 video interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim, archived data, and field notes. Using a modified van Kaam method and methodological triangulation, 3 prominent themes were identified that included the appropriateness of relationship building activities to collect data critical to negotiations, the need to clarify unclear expectations, and developing an increased awareness of the gray areas for possible boundary violations between the vendor and the customer. The data from the results indicated the need for increased training to reduce the number of instances of unethical behavior perceived in relationship building activities. The implications for positive social change include the potential to increase the awareness of ethical issues in multicultural business settings on the part of national sales managers, which could decrease the rate of unethical behavior in the hospitality industry. Relationship Building and Unethical Behavior in the Hospitality Industry by Sharron Lee Koch MS, Salem International University 2009 BS, Limestone College 2007 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration