Runtime analysis of applications can help to gain insight into control flow of applications as well as detect performance issues. This work presents efficient means for integrating runtime monitoring facilities into the DROPS operating system and uses these to analyse performance and behavior of L4-based applications such as L4Linux.

Zooplankton data from the 1988-2007 Station L4 time-series were used to determine inter-and intra-annual patterns of meroplankton community change at Station L4, Plymouth, UK. Abundances were calculated for five groups: Cirripedia, Decapoda, Polychaeta, Echinodermata and Bivalvia. Analyses showed that, while there is some annual variability, seasonal variation accounts for the major changes in the meroplanktonic community composition throughout the time-series. Cirripedia were the only group to show any significant change in abundance over the time-series. Further sampling at the study site produced data at a finer taxonomic resolution allowing for the analyses of the seasonal cycles of abundance of previously unresolved families and genera from the 1988-2007 time-series. A similar pattern was shown to that seen in the earlier time-series with no evidence of major changes in the meroplanktonic community being found. Comparison with historical data taken from Lebour (1947) showed little evidence of major variation in meroplanktonic species composition. The limitations of traditional methods of taxonomic resolution were highlighted during these analyses and led to the investigation of molecular techniques as a viable aid to identification. Bivalve larval samples were identified to species in many cases using PCR and sequencing reactions focussing on the 18S rRNA gene. Larvae of Phaxas pellucidus were shown to be the most common, and further analysis revealed the presence of two groups of species within the data over the time sampled, comprising the larvae of several hard-substrata species. Development of an RFLP technique focussing on the mtCOI gene, allowed for the successful discrimination of porcellanid larvae to species that were unable to be resolved morphologically. Long-term data-sets play an important role in revealing the long-term patterns of community composition and abundance of meroplanktonic larvae and should be continued to identify those patterns not evident over the time-period studied. Molecular techniques were valuable in aiding the taxonomic resolution of meroplanktonic larvae, allowing previously unknown patterns of species diversity and richness to be ascertained.

This thesis defends an account of value which emphasizes the central place occupied by experiences among the objects of evaluation, a point that is particularly stark in the case of aesthetic value, to which a chapter is devoted that adumbrates the wider understanding of value subsequently defended. More generally it is argued that values do not transcend the attitudes and institutions in which they are embodied. They nonetheless enjoy in virtue of their structuring by norms of consistency, stability and deference enough in the way of objectivity to do justice to various phenomenological considerations often thought to favour realism. It is argued however that this level of objectivity is compatible with the rejection of any form of reductive naturalism and, more generally, of cognitivism- views which should indeed, it is argued, be rejected in favour of an expressivistic understanding of value.

A meta-evaluation of the Taiwan Ministry of Education's 1990 National Technology Institutes Evaluation practices was conducted. The major focus of the meta-evaluation was to compile pertinent information and to make comparisons of performance relative to the utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy of the Taiwan Ministry of Education's 1990 National Technology Institutes Evaluation practices as perceived by the evaluation team members (evaluators) and the stakeholders (the evaluated). The evaluation team and stakeholders were also asked to assess the importance of 30 Program Evaluation Practice Standards for the evaluation. Data were collected through mailed questionnaires and informal interviews. Information gleaned from this study were based on responses received from the 1990 Taiwan National Technology Institutes Evaluation team members and the stakeholders including institute presidents and academic program leaders. Results of the study provided the basis for improving the evaluation practices of the Taiwan National Technology Institutes Evaluation including recommendations for improving the evaluation model, policies, procedures, and practices. Results of the study revealed that: 1. The evaluation team and stakeholders held similar beliefs regarding the importance of the 30 Program Evaluation Practice Standards for the 1990 Taiwan National Technology Institutes Evaluation. The Program Evaluation Practice Standards were perceived as important ideals for the orientation of the process and practice of evaluation in Taiwan. 2. The evaluation team and stakeholders gave similar assessments as to the utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy of the 1990 Taiwan National Technology Institutes Evaluation practice. Based upon analyses of the data, the findings indicated that the evaluation system employed by the Taiwan Ministry of Education produces outcomes that are overall acceptable to both the evaluators and the evaluated. As the result, recommendations were offered and reviewed by a panel of experts in Taiwan. / Ph. D.

The oxidative addition of H-H to iridium(l) trimethylphosphine complexes was studied and the reactivity of the resulting water soluble dihydrido iridium (III) complexes was investigated. One Dihydrido iridium(III) complex, mer-Ir(H)₂(PMe₃)₃CI <b>(2)</b> was characterized by ¹H, ³¹p and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, CH analysis and single crystal xray diffraction. <b>(2)</b> reacted with the strong sigma donor PMe₃ to form [IrH2(PMe₃)4]CI <b>(3b)</b> without having to remove the chloride ligand. <b>(2)</b> reacted with monosubstituted acetylenes and an internal diyne in water to form the vinyl complexes Ir(H)(C(R')=C(H)-(R))(PMe₃)₃CI (R = CMe₃, C₆H₅, SiMe₃, R' = H, <b>(4)-(6);</b> R' = CCMe₃, R= Me, <b>(7)). (2)</b> also reacted in water with ethynylpyridine to form an unusual metallacycle "trimer" <b>(8)</b>. A mechanism for tltrimerizationtl is proposed. <b>(2)</b> also reacted with ethylene in water to form the diethyl iridium complex Ir(CH₂CH₃)₂(PMe₃)₃CI <b>(8)</b>. Encouraged by these results, catalytic hydrogenation of unsaturates in water was investigated. It was found that <b>(2)</b> is active as a water soluble catalyst for hydrogenation of unsaturates. A mechanism for catalytic hydrogenation was proposed. / Ph. D.

Currently, there is a significant increase in oceanic air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is attempting to keep pace with this traffic. Automation is being planned in the airline and Air Traffic Control (ATC) system; eventually, all oceanic functions will be part of the FAA Advanced Automation System (AAS). The Oceanic Display and Planning System (ODAPS) capabilities include oceanic flight data processing, conflict probe, flight strip printing; and aircraft situation display capabilities. The Fight Data Input/Output (FDIO) device is currently being used as the main controller input device to the ODAPS. The objective of the Oceanic Air Traffic Control System (OATCS) is to replace the FDIO device with a system that will provide more flexibility and assistance to the oceanic air traffic controller in interfacing with the ODAPS The OA TCS being proposed by this research and thesis is an interim system in support of planned automation. The OATCS will provide the controller with the ability to scroll, and search through previous received ODAPS update, alert, and response messages, and to compose and edit ODAPS flight plan messages. The OATCs will augment and enhance the current functionality of the FDIO system of the ODAPS by providing high technology workstations similar to AAS. The OATCS also will provide the capability to process Automatic Depending Surveillance (ADS) position reports by replacing ODAPS peripherals to improve the working environment for oceanic controllers, the ARINC Communication Center, and the pilot. In addition, the OATCS will support a future two way data link between the oceanic controller and the pilot. / Master of Science

Regulation of adenoviral gene expression is a complex process directed by viral proteins controlling a multitude of different activities at distinct phases of the virus life cycle. This thesis discusses adenoviral regulation of transcription and splicing by two proteins expressed at the late phase: L4-22K and L4-33K. These are closely related with a common N-terminus but unique C-terminal domains. The L4-33K protein is an alternative RNA splicing factor inducing L1-IIIa mRNA splicing, while L4-22K is stimulating transcription from the major late promoter (MLP). The L4-33K protein contains a tiny RS-repeat in its unique C-terminal end that is essential for the splicing enhancer function of the protein. Here we demonstrate that the tiny RS-repeat is required for localization of the protein to the nucleus and viral replication centers. Further, we describe an auto-regulatory loop where L4-33K enhances splicing of its own intron. The preliminary characterization of the responsive RNA-element suggests that it differs from the previously defined L4-33K-responsive element activating L1-IIIa mRNA splicing. L4-22K lacks the ability to enhance L1-IIIa splicing in vivo, and here we show that the protein is defective in L1-IIIa or other late pre-mRNA splicing reactions in vitro. Interestingly, we found a novel function for the L4-22K and L4-33K proteins as regulators of E1A alternative splicing. Both proteins selectively upregulated E1A-10S mRNA accumulation in transfection experiments, by a mechanism independent of the tiny RS-repeat. Although L4-22K is reported to be an MLP transcriptional enhancer protein, here we show that L4-22K also functions as a repressor of MLP transcription. This novel activity depends on the integrity of the major late first leader 5’ splice site. The model suggests that at low concentrations L4-22K activates MLP transcription while at high concentrations L4-22K represses transcription. So far, characterizations of the L4-22K and L4-33K proteins have been limited to human adenoviruses 2 or 5 (HAdV-2/5). We expanded our experiments to include HAdV-3, HAdV-4, HAdV-9, HAdV-11 and HAdV-41. The results demonstrated that the transcription- or splicing-enhancing properties of L4-22K and L4-33K, respectively, are evolutionarily conserved and non-overlapping. Thus, the sequence-based conservation is mirrored by the functions, as expected for functionally important proteins.

Adenoviruses have been extensively studied in the field of gene regulation, since their genes are subjected to a tightly controlled temporal expression during the virus lifetime. The early-to-late shift in adenoviral gene expression distinguishes two completely different programs in gene expression. The adenoviral L4-33K protein, which is the subject of this thesis, was previously implicated to be a key player in the transition from the early to the late phase of infection. Here we show that L4-33K activates late gene expression by functioning as a virus-encoded alternative RNA splicing factor activating splicing of transcripts containing weak 3’ splice sites; a feature common to the viral genes expressed at late times of infection. The splicing enhancer activity of L4-33K was mapped to a tiny arginine/serine (RS) repeat in the carboxyl-terminal domain of the protein. Also, the subcellular distribution to the nucleus with enrichment in the nuclear membrane and subnuclear redistribution to viral replication centers during a lytic infection was observed to depend on this motif. RS repeats are common features for the cellular splicing factors serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins, which in turn are regulated by reversible phosphorylation. We further show that L4-33K is phosphorylated by two cellular protein kinases, the double-stranded DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) and protein kinase A (PKA) in vitro. Interestingly, DNA-PK and PKA have opposite effects on the control of the temporally regulated L1 alternative RNA splicing. DNA-PK functions as an inhibitor of the late specific L1-IIIa pre-mRNA splicing whereas PKA functions as an activator of L1-IIIa pre-mRNA splicing. In summary, this thesis describes L4-33K as an SR protein related viral alternative splicing factor. A tiny RS repeat conveys splicing enhancer activity as well as redistribution of L4-33K to replication centers. Finally, DNA-PK and PKA that phosphorylates L4-33K are suggested to be novel regulatory factors controlling adenovirus alternative splicing.

The thesis examines the experiences and perceptions of wheelchair users living in different types and tenures of housing in the City of Dundee. The interrelationships between space, society and the body are examined in the empirical context of housing, ableism and the disabled body. The voices of wheelchair users, gleaned from in-depth, semi-structured interviews, are used throughout the thesis to illustrate how the geographies of people with disabilities are delineated and constrained by socio-cultural representations of disability. Conceptually the study has been guided by the social model of disability, but insights from postmodernism and feminist literature are drawn on to add a further dimension to the interpretation of the data and the study's methodology. The social construction of difference, social exclusion and definitions of the normal and aberrant body emerge as key concepts linking analysis of the data at the spatial scales of the neighbourhood, home and the body. Spatial metaphors of 'out of place', 'marginalised' or 'socio-spatially excluded' capture the essence of the impressions people with disabilities hold of their interactions with their living spaces and service providers. The study suggests that greater reciprocal dialogue is required between service users and service providers to broaden the knowledge base from which disability related housing decisions are made.

This paper applies an intuitive approach based on stock market data to a unique dataset of large concentrations during the period 1990-2002 to assess the effectiveness of European merger control. The basic idea is to relate announcement and decision abnormal returns. Under a set of four maintained assumptions, merger control might be interpreted to be effective if rents accruing due to the increased market power observed around the merger announcement are reversed by the antitrust decision, i.e. if there is a negative relation between announcement and decision abnormal returns. To clearly identify the events' competitive effects, we explicitly control for the market expectation about the outcome of the merger control procedure and run several robustness checks to assess the role of our maintained assumptions. We find that only outright prohibitions completely reverse the rents measured around a merger's announcement. On average, remedies seem to be only partially capable of reverting announcement abnormal returns. Yet they seem to be more effective when applied during the first rather than the second investigation phase and in subsamples where our assumptions are more likely to hold. Moreover, the European Commission appears to learn over time. (authors' abstract)