Economic Change in India

India has become an increasingly important part of the global economic landscape over the past decade. Its economy has become more open to international trade, its workforce is growing strongly and the rate of investment has picked up following economic reforms. The strong growth of the Indian economy has also seen a significant deepening of the trade relationship between Australia and India, with India now the third largest destination for Australia’s exports.India; economic reform; investment; trade

Reflections on Frankfort Rally

Comments about Frankfort rally

Addressing the actuation problem with quantitative models of sound change

Computational models are presented that evaluate different theories of sound change, particularly with regard to the actuation of change. Standard phonologization of coarticulation models predict counterfactual across-the-board change (cf. Weinreich, Labov, and Herzog 1968). Models that simulate a sigmoidal trajectory of change are more empirically appealing, but also are very sensitive to initial conditions. It is proposed that herein lies the solution to the actuation riddle. Sound change arises when a linguistic leader (Labov 2001) perceives an incidental correlation of social and phonetic variables, and adopts her speech to the change. This simple incident leads to an entire sound change. We expect sound change to arise with the same frequency as these spurious correlations. The (presumed) infrequency of such correlations offers a schematic solution to the actuation problem

Image quality of standard and synthetic diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging in prostate cancer

The extension from Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging to synthetic imaging has the clear advantage of being able to continually image the patient after the exam. MR techniques such as DWI are commonly used but have some clear disadvantages resulting from the use of echoplanar imaging. It should then be asked whether one imaging technique is objectively better. If one technique is better, the incorporation in clinical settings could produce better diagnostic rates, and save valuable time. In order to quantitatively assess the quality of these techniques, the SNR and CNR values of similar tissues were compared. The pre-analysis discussion concentrating on the spatial resolution and artifacts, supports that synthetic images have an advantage over DWI due to higher resolution and absence of artifacts. The SNR and CNR values were calculated for each patient and image type for the comparison, initially assuming that the synthetic images would have a higher mean SNR and CNR. In most cases the differences between scan types was found to not be statistically significant. In conclusion, this analysis could not support the initial theory that the synthetic images had a higher SNR or CNR. The research shows that they are more likely to be comparable. An investigation of the diagnostic power of the synthetic in comparison to standard DWI would give clinical relevance to these results

Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC) Detection Strategies with Formalin-Fixed STEC Cells

Certain pathogenic Escherichia coli known as Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are commensals in cattle, and typically cause bloody diarrhea in humans once the Stx toxin is secreted in invaded intestinal epithelial cells. Infections with STEC cells can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is commonly associated with kidney failure. Several STEC serogroups have been declared adulterants in raw, non-intact ground meat, and future regulations could potentially lead to a higher number of STEC serogroup detection strategies for these pathogenic microorganisms. Microbiological research laboratories may benefit from formalin-fixed STEC cells for periodic (daily, weekly, monthly, among others) instrument validation/calibration by serving as a working set of known cell concentration samples and internal standard i.e. positive control. These cell concentrations may be used across laboratories in different geographical locations, within an individual laboratory, and across a broad range of detection assays (molecular as well as immuno-based). This thesis consists of three research parts: a comprehensive literature review that covers STEC incidence in foods and molecular detection techniques (chapter 1), a literature review that covers immuno-based detection strategies (chapter 2), and a research manuscript that involves the development of an internal standard and positive control with formalin-fixed STEC cells that can be used for a broad range of molecular as well immuno-based detection assays for instrument calibration and validation purposes (chapter 3)