This thesis analyzes current status of software distribution in gaming industry and its biggest challenges. Thesis also includes insight in completely different approach to the software distribution -- Cloud Gaming. In practical part are thoroughly tested existing solutions and done functionality analysis. Practical part also includes experiment which regards to building own platform using currently existing tools and it is followed by discussion of results.

Plants are fundamental to life on earth, crucially providing the basis of our food supply. As world population continues to grow, so too does the pressure on our agricultural systems, with one of the biggest challenges being the control of plant pathogens to ensure a healthy crop. The interaction between plant and pathogen is complex, with subtleties at the molecular level dictating the boundary between health and disease. This is exemplified by pathogen effectors; secreted proteins which enter the plant cell and interact with host targets to facilitate infection. AVR2 is one such effector, secreted by the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans; the pathogen responsible for potato late blight. AVR2 interacts with a family of kelch-repeat containing phosphatases in potato, the BSLs, implicated in brassinosteroid pathway signalling – a major hormone signalling pathway in plants associated with growth and development. This work investigates the role of AVR2 and its host targets in pathogen virulence, with focus on the link between the brassinosteroid pathway and immunity in S. tuberosum. StBSL1 is shown to be a ‘susceptibility factor’ in P. infestans infection – a host protein with a positive effect on pathogen virulence. AVR2 stabilises BSL1 in planta, and both AVR2 and BSL1 are shown to suppress primary defence responses in the plant. Transcriptional analysis of brassinosteroid-treated S. tuberosum is used to identify a set of marker genes for active BR signalling. Strikingly, AVR2 is shown to upregulatethis pathway, and specifically upregulates the transcription factor StHBI1-like, identified as a suppressor of immunity. These findings reveal a novel mechanism in oomycete effector biology; the exploitation of crosstalk between the brassinosteroid pathway and immune signalling in plants.

This paper analyzes if neighborhood income inequality has an effect on informal regulation of environmental quality, using census tract-level data on industrial air pollution exposure from EPA´s Risk Screening Environmental Indicators and income and demographic variables from the American Community Survey and EPA´s Smart Location Database. Estimating a spatial lag model and controlling for formal regulation at the states level, we find evidence that overall neighborhood inequality - as measured by the ratio between the fourth and the second income quintile or the neighborhood Gini coefficient - increases local air pollution exposure, whereas a concentration of top incomes reduces local exposure. The positive coefficient of the general inequality measure is driven by urban neighborhoods, whereas the negative coefficient of top incomes is stronger in rural areas. We explain these findings by two contradicting effects of inequality: On the one hand, overall inequality reduces collective action and thus the organizing capacities for environmental improvements. On the other hand, a concentration of income at the top enhances the ability of rich residents to negotiate with regulators or polluting plants in their vicinity. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

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The goal of this investigation was to explore the efficacy of implementing a rehabilitation robot controlled by a noninvasive brain-computer interface (BCI) to influence brain plasticity and facilitate motor learning. The motivation of this project stemmed from the need to address the population of stroke survivors who have few or no options for therapy. A stroke occurs every 40 seconds in the United States and it is the leading cause of long-term disability [1-3]. In a country where the elderly population is growing at an astounding rate, one in six persons above the age of 55 is at risk of having a stroke. Internationally, the rates of strokes and stroke-induced disabilities are comparable to those of the United States [1, 4-6]. Approximately half of all stroke survivors suffer from immediate unilateral paralysis or weakness, 30-60% of which never regain function [1, 6-9]. Many individuals who survive stroke will be forced to seek institutional care or long-term assistance. Clinicians have typically implemented stroke rehabilitative treatment using active training techniques such as constraint induced movement therapy (CIMT) and robotic therapy [10-12]. Such techniques restore motor activity by forcing the movement of weakened limbs. That active engagement of the weakened limb movement stimulates neural pathways and activates the motor cortex, thus inducing brain plasticity and motor learning. Several studies have demonstrated that active training does in fact have an effect on the way the brain restores itself and leads to faster rehabilitation [10, 13-15]. In addition, studies involving mental practice, another form of rehabilitation, have shown that mental imagery directly stimulates the brain, but is not effective unless implemented as a supplemental to active training [16, 17]. Only stroke survivors retaining residual motor ability are able to undergo active rehabilitative training; the current selection of therapies has overlooked the significant population of stroke survivors suffering from severe control loss or complete paralysis [6, 10]. A BCI is a system or device that detects minute changes in brain signals to facilitate communication or control. In this investigation, the BCI was implemented through an electroencephalograph (EEG) device. EEG devices detect electrical brain signals transmitted through the scalp that corresponded with imagined motor activity. Within the BCI, a linear transformation algorithm converted EEG spectral features into control commands for an upper-limb rehabilitative robot, thus implementing a closed-looped feedback-control training system. The concept of the BCI-robot system implemented in this investigation may provide an alternative to current therapies by demonstrating the results of bypassing motor activity using brain signals to facilitate robotic therapy. In this study, 24 able-bodied volunteers were divided into two study groups; one group trained to use sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs) (produced by imagining motor activity) to control the movement of a robot and the other group performed the 'guided-imagery' task of watching the robot move without control. This investigation looked for contrasts between the two groups that showed that the training involved with controlling the BCI-robot system had an effect on brain plasticity and motor learning. To analyze brain plasticity and motor learning, EEG data corresponding to imagined arm movement and motor learning were acquired before, during, and after training. Features extracted from the EEG data consisted of frequencies in the 5-35Hz range, which produced amplitude fluctuations that were measurably significant during reaching. Motor learning data consisted of arm displacement measures (error) produced during an motor adaptation task performed daily by all subjects. The results of the brain plasticity analysis showed persistent reductions in beta activity for subjects in the BCI group. The analysis also showed that subjects in the Non-BCI group had significant reductions in mu activity; however, these results were likely due to the fact that different EEG caps were used in each stage of the study. These results were promising but require further investigation. The motor learning data showed that the BCI group out-performed non-BCI group in all measures of motor learning. These findings were significant because this was the first time a BCI had been applied to a motor learning protocol and the findings suggested that BCI had an influence on the speed at which subjects adapted to a motor learning task. Additional findings suggested that BCI subjects who were in the 40 and over age group had greater decreases in error after the learning phase of motor assessment. These finding suggests that BCI could have positive long term effects on individuals who are more likely to suffer from a stroke and possibly could be beneficial for chronic stroke patients. In addition to exploring the effects of BCI training on brain plasticity and motor learning this investigation sought to detect whether the EEG features produced during guided-imagery could differentiate between reaching direction. While the analysis presented in this project produced classification accuracies no greater than ~77%, it formed the basis of future studies that would incorporate different pattern recognition techniques. The results of this study show the potential for developing new rehabilitation therapies and motor learning protocols that incorporate BCI.

This thesis aims to explore an aspect of the history of vernacular speech through analysis of some eighteenth century verse texts. These satirical anti-Jesuit pamphlets by Nicolas Jouin, known as the 'Sarcelades', were collected posthumously in 'Le Vrai Recueil des Sarcelles' of 1764. The texts purport to be in the patois of the peasants of Sarcelles and show features which may be paralleled in the vernacular speech of Paris and elsewhere, and even correspond with features of contemporary colloquial French. The study may appeal to French historical sociolinguists interested in reconstructing spoken language of the past, and particularly in the history of vernacular speech of Paris since the Middle Ages through to the eighteenth century, in the context of the development of urban dialects. In order to set the scene for a linguistic description of Jouin’s work the limited biographical information available was collated. Then a period of bibliographical research led to acquisition of copies of the texts which were to be studied in order to identify and examine their non-standard linguistic features. Firstly the process of growth of urban dialects was discussed, and then the development of the Paris vernacular in particular. Then attention was turned to direct written evidence in the form of commentary and to a number of texts from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries containing features of the Paris vernacular. These had already been analysed by certain historical linguists, although the texts in the 'Sarcelades' had hitherto only been briefly mentioned. However, here they are considered to be of sufficient interest to be examined more closely, although it had to be established whether Jouin’s texts containing a selection of non-standard features could be regarded as an accurate depiction of the Paris vernacular at the period. The non-standard phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and lexical features in the texts were therefore compared with findings in other texts by previous commentators. Following these analyses it was noted to what extent the relative frequency of the variables correlates with the salience of certain features in popular speech in Paris at the period, as already observed in other texts by previous commentators, and it was concluded that in general established characteristics of the 'patois de Paris' at the period are to be found in the 'Sarcelades', even though there do remain certain features which do not appear to be generally attested elsewhere. Nevertheless, despite reservations concerning the authenticity of some of the non-standard features employed by Jouin, by bringing attention to this little-known series of texts this study may help to claim a place for the Sarcelades amongst the corpus of texts which reflect aspects of the lower-class sociolect, the 'patois de Paris', at the period.