The Evolution of Interdependence in World Equity Markets - Evidence from Minimum Spanning Trees

The minimum spanning tree concept from physics is used to study the process of market integration for a large group of national stock market indices. We show how the tree grows over time and describe the dynamics of its various characteristics. Over the period studied, 1997-2006, the tree shows a tendency to become less bushy. This implies that global equity markets are increasingly interrelated. The consequence for global investors is a potential reduction of the benefits of international portfolio diversification.Econophysics, minimal spanning trees

Application of Semantic Feature Analysis as a Treatment for Aphasic Dysnomia

Despite agreement that dysnomia affects virtually every aphasic patient, there is no consensus about the purpose and effectiveness of techniques to treat it. Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) is a treatment technique designed to improve retrieval of conceptual information by accessing semantic networks. This paper reports the application of SFA as a treatment for aphasic dysnomia to a subject with Broca's aphasia. SFA was effective for improving confrontation naming and for generalizing the improvement to untreated pictures. However, no generalization to connected speech was seen on the measures used in this study. Discussion will focus on possible reasons for these results

A C-H activation-based enantioselective synthesis of lower carbo[n]helicenes

The three-dimensional structure of carbohelicenes has fascinated generations of molecular chemists and has been exploited in a wide range of applications. Their strong circularly polarized luminescence has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to promising applications in new optical materials. Although the enantioselective synthesis of fused carbo- and heterohelicenes has been achieved, a direct catalytic enantioselective method allowing the synthesis of lower, non-fused carbo[n]helicenes (n = 4-6) is still lacking. We report here that Pd-catalysed enantioselective C-H arylation in the presence of a unique bifunctional phosphine-carboxylate ligand provides a simple and general access to these lower carbo[n]helicenes. Computational mechanistic studies indicate that both the C-H activation and reductive elimination steps contribute to the overall enantioselectivity. The observed enantio-induction seems to arise from a combination of non-covalent interactions and steric repulsion between the substrate and ligand during the two key reductive elimination steps. The photophysical and chiroptical properties of the synthesized scalemic [n]helicenes have been systematically studied

Ikäihmisen kokemus hoidosta ja elämänlaadusta ympärivuorokautisessa hoivassa

Opinnäytetyö tarkastelee ikäihmisen kokemusta ympärivuorokautisessa hoivassa. Työssä tutkitaan vanhuksen elämisen laatua, kokemusta hoitamisesta, vanhuksen toimintakykyä suhteessa avunsaantiin ja palveluasumista asuinympäristönä. Tavoitteena on saada realistinen kuva hoivakodin laadusta ja kehittämistarpeista eri osa-alueilla. Tuloksia hyödynnetään laadun parantamisessa ja henkilökunnan koulutuksissa. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin kvantitatiivisena tutkimuksena. Opinnäytetyön kyselylomak-keena käytettiin valmista lyhyttä CLINT-IC kyselylomaketta, joka perustuu Care Keys arviointimalliin. Kyselylomakkeet jaettiin asukkaille ja/ tai heidän läheisilleen, 37 kyse-lylomaketta. Vastausprosentti oli 64,9 %. Kerätty aineisto tallennettiin Excel-ohjelmalla ja analysoitiin tilastollisin menetelmin; keskiarvot, frekvenssijakauma ja ristiintaulukointi. Tulosten perusteella hoitokodin kyselyyn vastanneiden asukkaiden elämisenlaatu, hoi-don laatu ja asuinympäristön viihtyvyys ovat hyvällä tasolla. Tästä tutkimuksesta selvi-ää, että tyytyväisimpiä ovat nuorimmat ja kognitiivisilta taidoiltaan hyväkuntoisimmat. Viihtyvyyteen vaikuttaa myös vuorovaikutus, ystävien tuki ja erilaiset tukitoimet. Tut-kimuksen tulos on samansuuntainen, kuin muissakin vastaavissa tutkimuksissa. Kysyt-täessä avunsaantia suhteutettuna toimintakykyyn ovat naiset kriittisempiä. Kehittämiskohteeksi nousevat huonokuntoisten asukkaiden ulkoilun mahdollistaminen ja kokonaisuudessaan perushoidon monimuotoisuuden lisääminen. Viriketoiminnan suuresta määrästä huolimatta huonokuntoiset asukkaat kokevat, ettei heillä ole tarpeeksi toimintaa, joten kehittämiskohteeksi nousee oikeanlaisen viriketoiminnan järjestäminen kognitiivisilta taidoiltaan alentuneille vanhuksille.The purpose was to study experience of an elderly person in a round-the-clock care, focusing on the quality of life, the experience of the care, one’s functional capacity in relation to the access to assistance and assisted living as a living environment. The aim was to obtain a realistic idea of the quality of the nursing home and to name the devel-opment needs. The results will be used to raise the quality and to train the staff. The thesis was accomplished as a quantitative study. The questionnaire was a ready-made, short questionnaire (CLINT-IC), based on Care Keys –evaluation model. The questionnaires (37) were distributed to the residents and/or their close relatives. The response rate was 64.9 %. The data was stored with Excel and it was analyzed by using statistical methods; aver-ages, frequency distribution and cross-tabulation. Based on the results the respondents’ quality of life, the quality of the nursing care and the comfort of the living environment are at a good level. The study shows that the most satisfied are the youngest residents whose cognitive skills are at the best level. The result of this study parallels the similar studies. The main developing targets are enabling outdoor activities, increasing the diversity of basic care as well as organizing the right kind of stimulating activities. When asking about the access to assistance in relation to one’s functional capacity, the female are more critical

The TAOS Project: Statistical Analysis of Multi-Telescope Time Series Data

The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) monitors fields of up to ~1000 stars at 5 Hz simultaneously with four small telescopes to detect occultation events from small (~1 km) Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). The survey presents a number of challenges, in particular the fact that the occultation events we are searching for are extremely rare and are typically manifested as slight flux drops for only one or two consecutive time series measurements. We have developed a statistical analysis technique to search the multi-telescope data set for simultaneous flux drops which provides a robust false positive rejection and calculation of event significance. In this paper, we describe in detail this statistical technique and its application to the TAOS data set.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to PAS

Genomic sequences of Streptococcus agalactiae with high-level gentamicin resistance, collected in the BSAC bacteraemia surveillance

Background: Like other streptococci, Streptococcus agalactiae typically has intrinsic low-level aminoglycoside resistance. High-level gentamicin resistance was seen in 2 of 1125 isolates collected in the BSAC Bacteraemia Surveillance Programme between 2001 and 2014. These organisms, both isolated in 2014, were characterized. Methods: Identifications were by latex agglutination, MICs by BSAC agar dilution and sequencing by Illumina methodology. Results: Gentamicin MICs were >1024 mg/L versus a species mode of 8 mg/L; both isolates also were unusually ciprofloxacin resistant with MICs of 64 mg/L versus a species mode of 1 mg/L. They were distinct by sequence, but both belonged to the ST19 clone, which occurs globally. Both had aac(6′)-aph(2″), carried by different transposons, explaining their gentamicin resistance, and had gyrA[81:S-L];parC[79:S-Y], accounting for ciprofloxacin resistance. Conclusions: These are the first multiresistant S. agalactiae with the bifunctional AAC(6′)-APH(2″) enzyme to be reported in the UK for >10 years. Despite belonging to the same clonal complex, the two isolates and their resistance transposons were distinct. Both retained full susceptibility to penicillin, but any penicillin/gentamicin synergy is likely to be lost

The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey Project Stellar Variability. II. Detection of 15 Variable Stars

The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) project has collected more than a billion photometric measurements since 2005 January. These sky survey data—covering timescales from a fraction of a second to a few hundred days—are a useful source to study stellar variability. A total of 167 star fields, mostly along the ecliptic plane, have been selected for photometric monitoring with the TAOS telescopes. This paper presents our initial analysis of a search for periodic variable stars from the time-series TAOS data on one particular TAOS field, No. 151 (R.A. = 17^(h)30^(m)6^(s).7, decl. = 27°17'30", J2000), which had been observed over 47 epochs in 2005. A total of 81 candidate variables are identified in the 3 deg^2 field, with magnitudes in the range 8 < R < 16. On the basis of the periodicity and shape of the light curves, 29 variables, 15 of which were previously unknown, are classified as RR Lyrae, Cepheid, δ Scuti, SX Phonencis, semi-regular, and eclipsing binaries

The TAOS Project Stellar Variability I. Detection of Low-Amplitude delta Scuti Stars

We analyzed data accumulated during 2005 and 2006 by the Taiwan-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) in order to detect short-period variable stars (periods of <~ 1 hour) such as delta Scuti. TAOS is designed for the detection of stellar occultation by small-size Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and is operating four 50cm telescopes at an effective cadence of 5Hz. The four telescopes simultaneously monitor the same patch of the sky in order to reduce false positives. To detect short-period variables, we used the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (FFT) inasmuch as the data points in TAOS light-curves are evenly spaced. Using FFT, we found 41 short-period variables with amplitudes smaller than a few hundredths of a magnitude and periods of about an hour, which suggest that they are low-amplitude delta Scuti stars (LADS). The light-curves of TAOS delta Scuti stars are accessible online at the Time Series Center website (http://timemachine.iic.harvard.edu)Comment: Accepted for publication in A