This thesis work takes an investigative approach into developing a middleware solution for managing services in a community cloud computing infrastructure predominantly made of interconnected low power wireless devices. The thesis extends itself slightly outside of this acute framing to ensure heterogeneity is accounted for. The developed framework, in its draft implementation, provides networks with value added functionality in a way which minimally impacts nodes on the network. Two sub-protocols are developed and successfully implemented in order to achieve efficient discovery and allocation of the community cloud resources. First results are promising as the systems developed show both low resource consumption in its application, but also the ability to effectively transfer services through the network while evenly distributing load amongst computing resources on the network.

No description available.

No description available.

The control of synthesis of the cell-wall polymer chitin has been implicated as a crucial event in yeast - hyphal dimorphism of the pathogenic fungus, <i>Candida albicans</i>. This thesis presents evidence that suggests that the activity of the zymogenic enzyme, chitin synthase, is modulated by an endogenous activatory metalloprotease <i>in vitro</i>. The proposed activating protease is characterised and partially purified. A comparison of the intracellular proteolytic activity of yeast and hyphal cells suggest that hyphal cell may be nutrient-stressed compared to yeast cells.

Dependencies between program elements can reflect the architecture, design, and implementation of a software project. According a industry report, intra- and inter-module dependencies can be a significant source of latent threats to software maintainability in long-term software development, especially when the software has millions of lines of code. This thesis introduces the design and implementation of an accurate and scalable analysis tool that extracts code dependencies from large C/C++ software projects. The tool analyzes both symbol-level and module-level dependencies of a software system and provides an utilization-based dependency model. The accurate dependencies generated by the tool can be provided as the input to other software analysis suits; the results along can help developers identify potential underutilized and inconsistent dependencies in the software. Such information points to potential refactoring opportunities and assists developers with large-scale refactoring tasks.

In the first half of the thesis a necessary and sufficient condition is given for a separable C*-algebra to be *-isomorphic to a maximal full algebra of cross-sections over a base-space such that the fibre algebras are primitive throughout a dense subset. The condition is that the relation of inseparability for pairs of points in the primitive ideal space should be an open equivalence relation. In the second half of the thesis a characterisation is given of those C*- algebras A for which each self-adjoint inner derivation D(α, A) satisfies ∥D(α, A)∥ = 2 inf {∥α-z∥ : z ∈Z(A), the centre of A}. This time the characterisation is that A should be quasicentral and the relation of inseparability for pairs of points in the primitive ideal space should be an equivalence relation. Those C*-algebras for which every inner derivation satisfies the equation are characterised in a similar way.

No description available.

Charles Watson-Wentworth, second Marquis of Rockingham, is, perhaps, the most overlooked Prime Minister of the eighteenth century. The aim of this thesis is to re-examine the current assessments of the marquis, that he was immature, inept and unfit for high office, and to revise them as necessary. It also aims to indicate the areas where he may have been misjudged. The marquis primarily is placed in his local context of Yorkshire. His upbringing is studied to give same insight into his background and then his roles of landowner and local magnate are examined. His duties of Lord Lieutenant are dealt with by looking at four specific episodes in which he was involved. His political career is investigated at local level both as leader of the Rockingham party and particularly in his ability to influence Yorkshire politics between 1753 and 1782. The udder interests and concerns of Rockingham in Ireland and America are also studied. Rockingham showed great promise as a child although he suffered from a debilitating illness which recurred throughout his life and probably caused his sudden and early death. Far from being incompetent and immature, he was an active estate developer and improver and was a key figure in the social, economic and political life of the neighbourhood of Wentworth Woodhouse. He virtually controlled Yorkshire politics for twenty years and led the largest and best-organized opposition party in parliament during that time. His views on the problems of Ireland and America have been under-valued and his personal qualities both for attracting loyalty and friendship and for his active leadership of his party have not been given sufficient recognition. In spite of his faults Rockingham was far more capable and a far more complex person than has been realised.

No description available.

Liver transplantation was first performed in 1963 (1) as an experimental treatment for end stage liver disease. Three patients were transplanted, all of whom died within 3 weeks. Since then it has become an established therapy resulting in improved quality of life (2), with 675 transplants from cadaveric donors taking place in the UK in 2001 and 706 in 2002 (3). This level of activity compares with 10 years ago when 502 liver transplants were performed in 1992. Figures released for survival up to the year 2000 show that early (1 year) survival has improved to 88% for patients transplanted from 1998 – 1999, with 3 year survival for the period 1996 – 1997 being 73% and 5 year survival for the period 1994 – 1995 being 64% (3). This improvement is probably due to a combination of factors such as improved surgical and anaesthetic technique, changes in medical management after transplantation, the improved recognition of other harmful factors like hypertension, choice of immune suppression and better prediction of patients in whom liver transplantation is not likely to be appropriate such as those with cholangiocarcinoma or multiple large hepatocellular carcinomas. [Taken from Introduction]