22282 research outputs found
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Psychological Well-being and Future-directed thinking in Borderline Personality Disorder
No full textThe aim of the present study was to further understand psychological well-being (PWB) and future-directed thinking in individuals with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). A cross-sectional mixed design was used with 24 individuals with a diagnosis of BPD and 24 community participants (Controls). Participants were measured on PWB and a measure of future-directed thinking. Future-thoughts provided by participants were also content analysed, and it was hypothesised the BPD Group would have particularly marked deficits within interpersonal future thoughts. Consistent with previous findings (MacLeod et al., 2004), BPD participants had fewer positive future-directed thoughts compared to Controls, in the absence of any differences in negative future-directed thoughts. The BPD Group had significantly lower PWB scores on all six of the Ryff Psychological Well-being dimensions. The Control Group generated significantly more positive future-directed thoughts related to Relations with Others and Recreational activities, as well as more thoughts related to Having/Raising Children than the BPD Group. The findings extend the understanding of BPD individuals by profiling their well-being and describing in more detail their future-directed thinking
Cryptographic approaches to security and privacy issues in pervasive computing
Full text linkTechnological innovation has enabled tiny devices to participate in pervasive com- puting. Such devices are particularly vulnerable to security and privacy threats, because of their limited computing resources and relatively weak physical security. We investigate possible cryptographic solutions to security and privacy problems arising in two kinds of emerging pervasive computing networks: Personal Area Net- works (PANs) and the EPCglobal Network.
A number of key management schemes have been proposed for use in PANs, but these schemes only support key management within a PAN. However, as people are increasingly equipped with multiple wireless devices, PANs are likely to be intercon- nected to share information or services. We introduce a term, iPANs, to name such interconnected PANs. We define system models and design goals for key manage- ment in iPANs, and propose a novel security initialisation scheme for use in iPANs. The proposed scheme achieves desirable security and efficiency properties by making use of the unique characteristics of PANs.
The EPCglobal Network is designed to give efficiency and cost savings in and beyond the supply chain using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology; however, privacy threats affecting such networks are particularly serious. We construct a formal privacy model for RFID systems accurately reflecting adversarial threats and power. We then give brief privacy analysis for the existing privacy-enhanced RFID schemes which have received wide attention in the literature. We then construct a secure refresh-based RFID system based on re-encryption techniques, and prove its privacy using the defined privacy model. Finally, we show that the proposed scheme can greatly enhance the security and privacy of EPC tags, making the maximum use of given tag functionalities as specified in the standards
The evolution of cooperation and diversity in public good producing organisms
Full text linkIn a population of altruists, all individuals thrive. But altruists are exploited by cheating individuals which do not perform altruistic acts but still benefit from those. In these conditions cooperation cannot easily evolve. This issue is resolved by kin recognition: altruists recognise each other through the use of a conspicuous tag. These altruists do well until cheaters acquire the signalling tag and disrupt the cooperation. But altruists using a different tag can then invade the population, followed by new cheaters. This mechanism can lead to a diversity of tags coexisting in the population. However it has not yet been applied in realistic biological systems. In this thesis, I formulated mathematical and simulation models to investigate the effect of diversity on the evolutionary dynamics in systems where different altruists compete with cheaters. In particular, I focused on organisms producing public goods, i.e. goods that can profit to the whole population. I considered two biological systems models: gynodioecious populations of plants, where hermaphrodites produce pollen that can be used by female-only individuals, and bacteria producing an iron-chelating molecule, called siderophore, that can be exploited by both producers and non-producers. I found that diversity in gynodioecious plants is dependent on population structure. In particular, I found that the maximal level of diversity occurs when the population structure does not favour altruists or cheaters. Next, I found a number of important results in siderophore-producing bacteria. By considering a detailed ecological model, I derived Hamilton's rule in a metapopulation and found that the level of cooperation in a population depends on the length of interaction between strains. Finally, I discovered a novel evolutionary mechanism generating and maintaining diversity and showed that it results from non-equilibrium mechanisms. These findings explain why cheaters appear readily in experiments but are rare in natural populations. My results demonstrate the importance of integrating ecological details in order to understand the mechanisms leading to cooperation and diversity, and will provide a basis and framework for future studies on the emergence and maintenance of diversity
Phenotypic and genotypic analysis of blaCTX-M encoding plasmids isolated from bovine E. coli samples in the United Kingdom
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to characterize blaCTX-M plasmids originating from bovine Escherichia coli and investigate their contribution to bacterial host fitness. In this study 52 bovine Escherichia coli strains collected between March and October 2007 encoding blaCTX-M, an extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) gene conferring resistance to 3rd generation cephalosporins, were characterized. The majority of strains belonged to E. coli commensal phylogroups A and B1 expressing a multi-drug resistance (MDR) phenotype and harboured multiple plasmids of which 90% were transferred by conjugation. Transconjugants or transformants were made successfully from all 52 strains when selecting for resistance to cefotaxime. All plasmids were shown by PCR and sequence analysis to harbour blaCTX-M and nearly 80 % encoded multiple resistances. Plasmid sequence analysis of four plasmids encoding blaCTX-M-14b (IncI1-X1), -15 (IncFII-FIA-FIB) and -32 (IncX1 and IncB), identified genes necessary for stable plasmid maintenance and spread.
Five representative plasmids encoding blaCTX-M-1, -15, -14b and -32 were assayed for their fitness impact upon the host. Efficiencies of β-lactam hydrolysis using whole cell extracts were determined in the same E. coli BL21 host strain with the most efficient encoded by blaCTX-M-14b and blaTEM-1 ESBL genes and least efficient encoded blaCTX-M-15 only. A 160 kb plasmid encoding 13 resistance genes was grown in the presence of 380 different metabolites and differences in metabolite utilisation between this and the plasmid-free BL21 strain determined. The plasmid-harbouring strain utilized less phosphor-sulphur compounds, suggesting the metabolic cost incurred by acquiring the plasmid may have implications of cellular utilization of alternative phosphate sources. There were no differences in growth was observed in nutrient rich media. The contribution of active efflux to resistance was investigated using L-phenylalanyl-L- 4 arginyl-b-naphthylamide (PAβN) in combination with ampicillin, cefotaxime or
ceftazidime. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were found to decrease ≥ 2 fold in the presence of the efflux pump inhibitor (EPI), in some cases becoming completely susceptible to ampicillin. This indicates that the possible use of EPIs in combination with previously failed antimicrobial drugs to potentially restore efficacy of treatment
Adding critical accounting voices to migration studies
No full textThe field of migration study is continually evolving and frequently controversial. Although scholars in many disciplines have actively contributed to migration research, accounting scholars have been less actively engaged, despite migration’s use of concepts so closely aligned with accounting: costs, benefits, risk, and control. This paper considers how accounting researchers may contribute to the study of migration, highlighting the potential for critical researchers to re-define terrains of discourse. Migration theories are introduced, illustrating the complexities and interconnectedness of the role of globalization, poverty, state functioning, and the social sciences. We integrate previous research of accounting, revealing the discipline as part of the language and neoliberal agenda imbued in migration issues, and its participation in co-creating precarious boundaries and myopic concepts defining the debates. We provide a case analysis, illustrating accounting’s calculative practices and rhetoric as obscuring social issues in migration. We reveal accounting’s role in simplifying reality, ignoring the complex interdependencies and powerful forces at play in migration arenas. The work’s originality is contained in its unique framing of migration discourse, revealing the skewed and shadowy assumptions of its traditional discourse, and examining how critical research expands possibilities for promoting social justice in the migration landscape
On the classifying space for the family of virtually cyclic subgroups for elementary amenable groups
No full textCurating Science in an Age of Empire: Kew's Museum of Economic Botany
No full textThis thesis considers the history and significance of the Museum of Economic Botany at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, focussing especially on the period from its opening in 1847 to the eve of the First World War. Looking specifically at the Museum’s collection of wood specimens and artefacts, it seeks to understand the nature of economic botany during this period, and to evaluate the contribution made to the field by the Kew Museum. Through examination of the Museum’s practices, networks, spaces, and objects, it sets out to address the question: how do museums produce scientific knowledge? Part One sets the context. Chapter One provides a brief historical account of nineteenth-century economic botany and the Museum. Chapter Two offers a critical overview of literatures on Kew and economic botany; on the role of place in the production, circulation, and reception of scientific knowledge; and on the role of the public museum in Victorian science and culture. It also outlines the conceptual framework of the thesis. Chapter Three presents an account of the methodology and sources. Part Two highlights museum practices. Chapters Four to Six are devoted respectively to the practices of ‘exhibition’ (the spatialities, rhetorics, and rationalities of display); ‘instruction’ (the educational uses of museum objects); and ‘supply’ (the circulation of objects). Part Three turns to specific objects and their biographies. Chapters Seven and Eight trace respectively the production, circulation and reception of a totem pole from British Columbia and a timber trophy from Tasmania, to demonstrate how objects acquire diverse meanings in diverse contexts, and how they are used to impart meaning to particular sites. In conclusion, Chapter Nine reflects on the cumulative findings of the thesis and on its potential outcomes, and it looks beyond the thesis to recommend areas for future research and practice
Exploring the Use of Accounting History in Post-Enron Stories
No full textThis study uses the concept of “popular history” to address the use of accounting history in post-Enron stories on corporate collapse and accounting failure. The study extends the work of Carnegie and Napier (2010), which focuses on how professional accountants and their firms and organizations were portrayed in post-Enron books that were published during the period 2002 to 2005. These books can be characterized as “popular histories”, and the paper illustrates how the scholarly work of academic accounting historians is given little attention by the authors of these post-Enron stories. It points to the largely untapped potential for accounting historians to make their research findings and insights available for a general readership
"Presences of the Infinite": J.M. Coetzee and Mathematics
No full textThis thesis articulates the resonances between J. M. Coetzee's lifelong engagement with mathematics and his practice as a novelist, critic, and poet. Though the critical discourse surrounding Coetzee's literary work continues to flourish, and though the basic details of his background in mathematics are now widely acknowledged, his inheritance from that background has not yet been the subject of a comprehensive and mathematically- literate account. In providing such an account, I propose that these two strands of his intellectual trajectory not only developed in parallel, but together engendered several of the characteristic qualities of his finest work. The structure of the thesis is essentially thematic, but is also broadly chronological. Chapter 1 focuses on Coetzee's poetry, charting the increasing involvement of mathematical concepts and methods in his practice and poetics between 1958 and 1979. Chapter 2 situates his master's thesis alongside archival materials from the early stages of his academic career, and thus traces the development of his philosophical interest in the migration of quantificatory metaphors into other conceptual domains. Concentrating on his doctoral thesis and a series of contemporaneous reviews, essays, and lecture notes, Chapter 3 details the calculated ambivalence with which he therein articulates, adopts, and challenges various statistical methods designed to disclose objective truth. Chapter 4 explores the thematisation of several mathematical concepts in Dusklands and In the Heart of the Country. Chapter Five considers Waiting for the Barbarians and Foe in the context provided by Coetzee's interest in the attempts of Isaac Newton to bridge the gap between natural language and the supposedly transparent language of mathematics. Finally, Chapter 6 locates in Elizabeth Costello and Diary of a Bad Year a cognitive approach to the use of mathematical concepts in ethics, politics, and aesthetics, and, by analogy, a central aspect of the challenge Coetzee's late fiction poses to the contemporary literary landscape
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