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It would possibly face a great challenge under the framework of WTO (World Trade Organization), our domestic agri-market should be impacted by the opening up international market. Our farmers are habituated for the payment and protection policies by the government for a long time, so that the market competence is rather poor. Therefore, after joining WTO, as the international market opens up, the direct payment and set-aside premium would only palliative the short term problem. With the shortage of the exchequer, the deficiency could reveal. And the basic and essential trend of the future agricultural changeover pattern is to consider how to establish a competitive and distinctive operating prototype for our agriculture for the long-term solution. This research takes the important agricultural area of Koahsiung County in southern Taiwan as an example. The main topic of this research focuses on the production of the tropical fruit for the specialized agricultural products. Step by step aiming at internal advantage, disadvantage and external possibility, and threats. And examine the organizational environment for the research by collecting of documents and references, interviewing with related personnel and further having questionnaire from academics, experiment units, agricultural administration personnel, farmers¡¦ union (farmers¡¦ association), production-line & sales farmers. According to the result of the questionnaire, we have the following conclusion: 1: Overall evaluation (Tropical Fruit) found the following conclusion: (1) Top four tropical fruits that are considered to be most competitive in southern Taiwan, the first is Wax-apple, the second is Jin-Huang Mango, the third is Guava and the forth is Lychee with over 50% identification. (2) The less competitive is Longan at ninth position (14.2%) with the less identification percentage. 2: We have the following conclusion after analyzing each characters of SWOT on its identification level: (1) For the Strength we found (S) that the weather condition in southern Taiwan is beneficial local tropical fruit planting and has more confident in technological and quality aspects. (2) For the Weakness (W) we found that that having high labor cost, lacking marketing personnel, petty farmland, and aging population are becoming growing burden. (3) In the Opportunity (O) we found that by establishing quality brand, diversifying operation and strategic alliance, referring the experience from member nations, create business possibility for weekend holiday as to change the operating style and method for strategic direction. (4) In The Threats (T) we found that under the pressure of being threatened with foreign low cost, abundance and diverse agriculture products by developed member countries in WTO, and production circle and nature condition etc. are also to be concerned in order to break through for the strategic direction decision. To sum up, this research hope to bring out and present a correct strategic direction with eight concrete policy and ten advisement for the agricultural policy department to follow the right direction to suit the agriculture operation style for both government related agricultural governing body and farmer to face and challenge the coming impact for our agricultural development after joining WTO.

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I examine firm governance characteristics for a sample of companies disclosing material weaknesses under section 404 of SOX to examine what factors impact the likelihood that a company will disclose those material weaknesses prior to their first section 404 report (under section 302 reporting requirements). I find companies that were audited by industry leading auditors, that have higher quality audit committees, that have shorter auditor/client relationships, that recently restated their financial statements or have been the subject of an SEC AAER, or that have experienced poor financial performance are more likely to discover and disclose weaknesses in their controls under section 302. I find moderate evidence of a positive relationship between company's that have a CFO with financial accounting background and disclosure prior to the SOX 404 report and a negative relationship between a company's institutional ownership concentration and the probability that they disclose weaknesses in their controls prior to the SOX 404 report. In sensitivity tests, I find a positive relationship between a company's institutional ownership concentration and the probability that they disclose significant deficiencies in their controls prior to the SOX 404 report suggesting systematic misclassification of control problems as significant deficiencies rather than material weaknesses in high institutional ownership concentration settings.

Most of us fall short of virtue—we are, at various times, weak-willed, selfish, self-absorbed, hypocritical, morally complacent, cowardly, and self-deceived. But most of us are not vicious, either. In this dissertation I argue that the actions of flawed, morally imperfect agents can be as praiseworthy as the actions of more perfectly virtuous people. The first, introductory chapter explains my account of moral worth, which depends on the assessment of an agent’s deliberative outlook in acting. In the second chapter, I argue that being praiseworthy on every possible occasion is not a precondition for being praiseworthy on any particular occasion. This may seem obvious, but it is also inconsistent with a common interpretation of the nature of virtue. The third chapter argues that someone’s actions can be morally worthy despite displaying a failure of practical rationality quite similar to weakness of will, or akrasia. By exploring cases of so-called inverse akrasia, I argue that sometimes, an agent can be praised for acting in ways that he himself believes are morally wrong, and that while these actions display serious failures of practical reason, they can still be both done for a good reasons and deserving of praise. The fourth chapter explores the moral status of hypocrisy. I reject the standard interpretation of hypocrites as blameworthy manipulative deceivers, and argue instead that they are people who misdirect their ethical attention by caring too much about their image for having certain values, and not enough about the values themselves. The second, third, and fourth chapters draw a close connection between moral imperfection and failures of self-knowledge. The fifth and final chapter therefore considers the nature of such failures of self-knowledge by exploring the moral significance of self-deception. I argue that, in a central range of cases, it is impossible to be self-deceived about the content of one’s own mind. Instead, I argue that the morally relevant form of self-deception is a failure of self-assessment. This has important implications for our understanding of moral development, since it means that such development centrally involves the cultivation of a specific kind of self-knowledge. / Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-31 12:18:30.156

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked lethal condition associated with high morbidity and mortality. There is currently no cure for this disease. Several gene-based therapeutic approaches for treating DMD are currently under development but all are dependent on the knowledge of the causative dystrophin gene mutation. A combined mutation detection approach consisting of a quantitative PCR based analysis and DNA sequencing of the dystrophin gene resulted in a mutation etection rate of 96% in the New South Wales (NSW) DMD cohort. The proportion of exon duplication mutations was twice that generally reported for similar patient opulations. The clinical utility of the combined mutation protocol for DMD carrier testing clarified the carrier status of an additional one-third (33%) of female relatives compared to a conventional approach of biochemical, pedigree and linkage studies. The generally accepted view that two-thirds of mothers of isolated cases of DMD are themselves mutation carriers is challenged. Although this assumption is valid for duplication and DNA sequence mutations, it is not valid for deletion mutations in the NSW cohort. The incidence of new cases of DMD in the New South Wales population was educed from approximately 1 in 3594 live male births to 1 in 6022 live male births over a 25 year period, indicative of a significant effect of the combination of genetic counselling and improved methods of carrier detection over that period. In a study of a cohort of boys with DMD, who had both psychological and mutational analysis, it was shown that mutations affecting the shorter, C-terminal isoforms of dystrophin are associated with decreased mean intellectual function. A hypothesis is presented that mutations within the long 5' untranslated region of the Dp140 isoform are unlikely to significantly affect expression of this brain-expressed isoform. During the course of studying the NSW DMD cohort a family was identified which exhibited X-linkage and a unique clinical presentation involving episodes of severe and prolonged muscle weakness. A novel variant in the pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 alpha subunit (PDHA 1) was identified. The phenotypic effect of this variant is not proven but a body of evidence implicates this as likely to be causative of the observed phenotype.

Skeletal muscle weakness is a problem for people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Alterations in the central nervous system may be the primary source of muscle weakness because of the pathophysiology of MS. However, changes in peripheral mediators of force production may also contribute to muscle weakness in persons with MS. The main objective of the dissertation was to systematically identify key neural (motor unit discharge rates, spasticity) and muscular (muscle size, contractile function) mechanisms of force production that may explain lower isometric strength and dynamic power in persons with MS compared with age-matched controls. The knee extensor muscles of the weaker leg were studied, because this muscle group is commonly affected by MS. We showed that persons with MS had lower peak isometric torque and dynamic power compared with controls. Persons with MS had lower motor unit discharge rates, smaller muscle size, and lower specific power compared with controls. There was no difference in passive torque (spasticity), specific strength, or maximal rate of force development between groups. Because differences in isometric strength between persons with MS and controls were abolished when torque was normalized to muscle size, smaller muscle size may explain a large portion of lower isometric strength in persons with MS. Differences in dynamic power were reduced when peak power was normalized to muscle size, but remained lower in persons with MS compared with controls, suggesting that changes in neural factors (e.g., lower motor unit discharge rates) may explain lower dynamic power in persons with MS. These results suggest that different mechanisms may contribute to muscle weakness in MS, depending on the mode of contraction. Lower motor unit discharge rates and smaller muscle size were identified as key mechanisms of muscle weakness in persons with MS. Each of these mechanisms has been shown to improve with resistance training in controls. Thus, this dissertation provides an evidence-based rationale for resistance training interventions in persons with MS, to improve isometric strength and power production by increasing motor unit discharge rates and muscle size.

To gain insight into the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) impact on audit quality, this study investigates the association between PCAOB inspection exposure (akin to the threat of a PCAOB inspection) and auditor reporting decisions. Certain foreign governments prohibit PCAOB inspections of their domestic auditors of U.S. SEC registrants citing sovereign control. This unique setting provides an opportunity to observe variation in the reach of the PCAOB inspection program and isolate its' effect on auditor reporting. I find that auditors in jurisdictions allowing PCAOB inspections are more likely to report going concern opinions and material weaknesses relative to auditors in jurisdictions barring PCAOB inspections. I find no difference in these auditor reporting propensities in the pre-PCAOB regulatory. This study provides evidence that PCAOB inspection exposure is associated with auditor reporting incentives, and ultimately audit quality, which is the fundamental purpose of the PCAOB inspection program.

At present there is no theory which describes fully observations of weakness and anomalous slip behaviour on many faults. Recent field studies upon such faults indicate that reactions which generate frictionally weak phyllosilicate minerals, including talc, may be significant. A series of experiments was carried out on a deionised water fluid medium triaxial deformation apparatus to investigate the effect of the syntectonic generation of talc upon fault strength and slip characteristics, where talc is produced by the reaction: lizardite + quartz → talc + H2O. Experiments to investigate reaction kinetics were performed on lizardite and Brazilian quartz powder samples. Talc is generated by this reaction within 72 hours under hydrothermal conditions between 350°C and 500°C and effective pressures of 5 to 50 MPa. Microstructural study shows porous talc overgrowths surrounding lizardite and quartz grains suggesting an armouring effect with progressive reaction. Constant displacement rate tests and subsequent stress relaxation tests were performed upon cylindrical samples of lizardite and Hodge quartzite saw-cut at 35° juxtaposed across the shear zone. Some samples were assembled with pure talc or lizardite gouge between the forcing blocks. Tests were carried out under hydrothermal conditions: 450 °C, 50 to 150 MPa effective pressure and 4.64 x 10-4 mm s-1 shear surface displacement rate. Some samples were deformed at once to assess frictional properties of the starting materials. Other samples were held at hydrothermal conditions for 72 hours prior to deformation, to allow the blocks and gouge to react to talc. Continued reaction to talc was expected during stress relaxation. All samples displayed stable sliding behaviour, with little strain hardening. Friction coefficients averaged from varied effective pressure tests were largely in line with previous studies. A strength contrast is shown between talc gouge (average µ=0.11) and talc grown as a thin veneer between lizardite and quartz forcing blocks, (average µ=0.22) which is likely to be due to asperity effects including the variable contiguity of the talc veneer. Lizardite gouge gives a value of µ=0.45, but when partially reacted to talc gives µ=0.23. This is significantly weaker despite representing perhaps less than 15% talc. Stress relaxation data initially shows similar behaviour for all sample geometries, with a temperature-controlled dominant deformation mechanism. Lizardite gouge with ongoing reaction to talc shows enhanced shear stress reduction at low strain rates (stress exponent falls from n=12 to n=5.5). This is ascribed to the effect of reaction via production of a weaker phase, leading to reduction of frictional strength and grain size, compaction and pressure solution effects. Pure lizardite gouge also shows a reduction in stress exponent to n=7.5, attributed to dissolution-precipitation of lizardite. Microstructural study shows that talc grows as a thin veneer along the quartzite forcing block indicative of localisation of deformation with foliated talc and recrystallised lizardite present within Riedel shear structures in the lizardite gouge. The talc veneers are deformed and may be subject to mechanical smearing, enhancing their contiguity. Results of this study highlight the significance of both mechanical smearing and incongruent pressure solution creep as potential mechanisms for weakening and aseismic creep-of particular interest is the rate of strength reduction versus the rate of reaction and whether this can be extrapolated fully to creep rates on the San Andreas Fault. Similar weak phases of hydrothermal origin have been identified by other studies and the contiguity of these phases is thought crucial to their impact upon weakness, and may be enhanced greatly by the joint effects of syntectonic reaction and mechanical smearing.

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