5 research outputs found
Case studies in open access publishing. Number one. The Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon): an open access journal using an un-paid, volunteer-based organization.
No full textThis case study is based on the experiences with the Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon), founded in 1995. This journal is an example of a particular category of open access journals, which use neither author charges nor subscriptions to finance their operations, but rely largely on unpaid voluntary work in the spirit of the open source movement. The journal has, after some initial struggle, survived its first decade and is now established as one of half-a-dozen peer reviewed journals in its field. The journal publishes articles as they become ready, but creates virtual issues through alerting messages to “subscribers”. It has also started to publish special issues, since this helps to attract submissions, and also helps in sharing the work-load of review management. From the start the journal adopted a rather traditional layout of the articles. After the first few years the HTML version was dropped and papers are only published in PDF format. The journal has recently been benchmarked against the competing journals in its field. Its acceptance rate of 53% is slightly higher and its average turnaround time of seven months almost a year faster compared to those journals in the sample for which data could be obtained. The server log files for the past three years have also been studied. Our overall experience demonstrates that it is possible to publish this type of OA journal, with a yearly publishing volume equal to a quarterly journal and involving the processing of some fifty submissions a year, using a networked volunteer-based organization
Application of stochastic differential games and real option theory in environmental economics
No full textThis thesis presents several problems based on papers written jointly by the author and Dr. Christian-Oliver Ewald. Firstly, the author extends the model presented by Fershtman and Nitzan (1991), which studies a deterministic differential public good game. Two types of volatility are considered. In the first case the volatility of the diffusion term is dependent on the current level of public good, while in the second case the volatility is dependent on the current rate of public good provision by the agents. The result in the latter case is qualitatively different from the first one. These results are discussed in detail, along with numerical examples. Secondly, two existing lines of research in game theoretic studies of fisheries are combined and extended. The first line of research is the inclusion of the aspect of predation and the consideration of multi-species fisheries within classical game theoretic fishery models. The second line of research includes continuous time and uncertainty. This thesis considers a two species fishery game and compares the results of this with several cases. Thirdly, a model of a fishery is developed in which the dynamic of the unharvested fish population is given by the stochastic logistic growth equation and it is assumed that the fishery harvests the fish population following a constant effort strategy. Explicit formulas for optimal fishing effort are derived in problems considered and the effects of uncertainty, risk aversion and mean reversion speed on fishing efforts are investigated. Fourthly, a Dixit and Pindyck type irreversible investment problem in continuous time is solved, using the assumption that the project value follows a Cox-Ingersoll- Ross process. This solution differs from the two classical cases of geometric Brownian motion and geometric mean reversion and these differences are examined. The aim is to find the optimal stopping time, which can be applied to the problem of extracting resources
Web accessibility diagnosis, improvement and maintenance
No full textContext: This thesis examines how organisations create and maintain their web pages with particular focus on ensuring pages are accessible. It also investigates the potential for using a Tree-Map based tool to support such web maintenance and process improvement. Novel process improvement recommendations are given and an adaptation of a class web publishing model is presented. Methods: To supplement a review of current literature, 20 accessibility specialists and 79 large organisations were surveyed. This identified web accessibility best practices and whether these practices were implemented in the reality. A subsequent assessment of the accessibility of each organisation's web site tested if certain activities could be linked with better accessibility. Finally, a controlled experiment tested the accuracy and efficiency of a Tree-map based tool for web maintenance. Results: The survey results suggested a wide variety of web accessibility awareness amongst web developers and accessibility specialists. Best practice appeared to be implemented by many organisations with the exception of training provision. It was found that when the best practices aimed specifically at web accessibility were implemented there was a significant improvement in web accessibility. The Tree-Map based tool was proved to be more efficient than and as accurate as report based tool for web maintenance activities. Conclusions of the study: Web accessibility awareness is now reasonably high amongst web developers but the extent to which it is addressed varies. Organisations which take a systematic and mature approach to accessibility have more accessible web sites. As such, accessibility should be integrated into web publishing. Better tools are also required to facilitate this systematic integratio
Both Ca2+ and Zn2+ are essential for S100A12 protein oligomerization and function
No full textBackground
Human S100A12 is a member of the S100 family of EF-hand calcium-modulated proteins that are associated with many diseases including cancer, chronic inflammation and neurological disorders. S100A12 is an important factor in host/parasite defenses and in the inflammatory response. Like several other S100 proteins, it binds zinc and copper in addition to calcium. Mechanisms of zinc regulation have been proposed for a number of S100 proteins e.g. S100B, S100A2, S100A7, S100A8/9. The interaction of S100 proteins with their targets is strongly dependent on cellular microenvironment.
Results
The aim of the study was to explore the factors that influence S100A12 oligomerization and target interaction. A comprehensive series of biochemical and biophysical experiments indicated that changes in the concentration of calcium and zinc led to changes in the oligomeric state of S100A12. Surface plasmon resonance confirmed that the presence of both calcium and zinc is essential for the interaction of S100A12 with one of its extracellular targets, RAGE – the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End products. By using a single-molecule approach we have shown that the presence of zinc in tissue culture medium favors both the oligomerization of exogenous S100A12 protein and its interaction with targets on the cell surface.
Conclusion
We have shown that oligomerization and target recognition by S100A12 is regulated by both zinc and calcium. Our present work highlighted the potential role of calcium-binding S100 proteins in zinc metabolism and, in particular, the role of S100A12 in the cross talk between zinc and calcium in cell signaling
