The Glasgow Necropolis : theft, bribery and drunken gate keepers in a city of the dead

Wun Fung Chan is a geographer working at the University of Strathclyde. On visiting Glasgow City Archives he came across nine Necropolis Committee books containing some lively insights into Victorian landscapes of death

Scale invariance, gauge theory and renormalisation

Imperial Users onl

Effects of Retinoic Acid on Beta-Catenin Transcriptional Activity in Melanoma Cells

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer and its incidence has been increasing in the United States. Most melanomas are resistant to current chemotherapies; therefore, understanding the mechanism of melanomagenesis is beneficial to treatment of the diseases. Accumulation of β-catenin has been shown in colon and other cancers, including melanomas, but the transcriptional role of β-catenin in melanomas is still unclear. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is an anti-tumor agent that has an inhibitory effect on β-catenin, but this effect has not been studied in melanomas. It has been shown that Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), a melanocyte specific protein, can redirect the function of β-catenin from cell proliferation to melanocytespecific gene expression. In addition, ATRA induced Mitf mRNA expression was observed in mouse melanocyte. My objective is to understand the effects of ATRA on the β-catenin signal pathway in ATRA-sensitive melanoma cells. I hypothesize that ATRA will decrease β-catenin transcriptional activity. Western blotting was used to determine the effects of ATRA on β-catenin target genes. Gel Shift assays were used to investigate DNA/ protein interactions. Reporter gene assays were used to examine the effects of ATRA on the transcriptional activity of β-catenin. Results showed a 20% and 40% reduction in c-Myc protein expression after 2 days and 4 days ATRA treatment, respectively. Cyclin D-1 protein expression was reduced by 40% after 4 days treatment compared to the control. ATRA increased the protein levels of MITF after 2 days treatment. Reporter gene assay showed that ATRA reduced transcriptional activity of exogenous active β-catenin in human melanoma cells. Together, ATRA inhibits 5Fung Chan 5/2/2007melanoma progression by reducing β-catenin transcriptional activity, and in part through inducing MITF expression to alter the function of β-catenin away from growth regulatory pathway

Cohomologies on almost complex manifolds and the ∂∂ˉ\partial \bar{\partial}-lemma

We study cohomologies on an almost complex manifold $(M, J)$, defined using the Nijenhuis-Lie derivations $\mathcal{L}_J$ and $\mathcal{L}_N$ induced from the almost complex structure $J$ and its Nijenhuis tensor $N$, regarded as vector-valued forms on $M$. We show how one of these, the $N$-cohomology $H^{\bullet}_N (M)$, can be used to distinguish non-isomorphic non-integrable almost complex structures on $M$. Another one, the $J$-cohomology $H^{\bullet}_J (M)$, is familiar in the integrable case but we extend its definition and applicability to the case of non-integrable almost complex structures. The $J$-cohomology encodes whether a complex manifold satisfies the $\partial \bar{\partial}$-lemma, and more generally in the non-integrable case the $J$-cohomology encodes whether $(M, J)$ satisfies the $\mathrm{d} \mathcal{L}_J$-lemma, which we introduce and motivate in this paper. We discuss several explicit examples in detail, including a non-integrable example. We also show that $H^k_J$ is finite-dimensional for compact integrable $(M, J)$, and use spectral sequences to establish partial results on the finite-dimensionality of $H^k_J$ in the compact non-integrable case.Comment: 23 pages. Version 3: one harmless sign error was corrected. Final version, to appear in "Asian Journal of Mathematics

Optimistic Personality, Work Performance, and Interpersonal Relationships at Work: A Field Study

A field study examines the personality trait optimism, defined as an enduring personal tendency to expect favorable outcomes, in relation to work performance and interpersonal relationships at work. Based on prior research and theory, the hypothesis predicts that optimism will correlate positively with job performance and positively with the quality of interpersonal relationships with co-workers and supervisors. 282 employees at a large manufacturing plant in the southeastern United States completed a work-based measure of personality, the Personal Style Inventory (PSI). Participants’ immediate supervisors rated the employee’s job performance and the quality of their interpersonal relationships with peers and supervisors. Statistical analyses tested correlational relationships of optimism with job performance and the quality of interpersonal relationships with co-workers and supervisors. Results indicated a positive relationship of individual optimism with work performance and quality of peer and supervisor relationships. Implications are discussed

Fear of crime among older persons : an exploratory qualitative study in different environments in Hong Kong

Fear of crime among various groups has long been studied in Western societies. Many studies have concluded that older persons tend to exhibit higher levels of fear of crime than other age groups even though they are generally at a lower risk of being victims of crime. However, there have been relatively few studies on fear of crime and associated reasons amongst older persons in Asian cities and Chinese societies. Moreover, most existing studies have generally utilized quantitative methods to examine the possibly causal relationships between fear of crime and its underlying factors, and subjective evaluations by older people themselves of factors related to the fear of crime are very few. This study aimed to investigate factors related to fear of crime by exploring older persons’ perspectives on their living environments and their own situations. A qualitative research design was used to explore how and why fear arises in spite of considerable objective evidence that older persons are at relatively low risk of falling victim of crime. The study employed eight focus group discussions (FGDs) and two individual interviews. To provide a rage of typical HK residential environment, participants were drawn from two main categories of housing (traditional village housing and purpose-built housing) and four different types of physical living environment in Hong Kong (a village, an island, old-town housing, and new towns). Environmental factors, individual factors and moderators of fear of crime have been identified in this study. First, the qualitative findings suggest that environmental factors can be categorized as three dimensions, which include vulnerability (defect of the living environment), defensibility (level of protection that provided by the environment) and supportability (availability of social support that older persons can get when they are at risk). Vulnerability appears to be positive associated with fear of crime, but defensibility and supportability appear to be negatively associated with fear of crime. Second, the findings on individual factors enrich the Vulnerability model proposed by previous researchers, in which physical, psychological and behavioural weakness of older persons can be discussed. Third, moderators of fear of crime (e.g. people who have adjusted to a dangerous place by knowing the latest local crime event or figure.) which concentrate on the cognitive and behavioural adjustment among older persons, have been identified. Finally, policy recommendations for the welfare of older persons in Hong Kong are suggested based on the findings of the research

A Study of the relationship between leadership styles (transformational and transactional) and employees’ job satisfaction in the electronic industries, in Penang.

Kajian ini adalah untuk memeriksa hubungan antara kepimpinan (transformasi dan transaksi) dan kepuasan bekerja dalam industri elektronik. The study was to examine the relationship between leadership styles (transformational and transactional) and job satisfaction in electronic industry

Measuring and modelling lung microstructure with hyperpolarised gas MRI

This thesis is concerned with the development of new techniques for measuring and modelling lung microstructure with hyperpolarised gas magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This aim was pursued in the following five chapters: Development of a framework for lobar comparison of lung microstructure measurements derived from computed tomography (CT) and 3He diffusion-weighted MRI evaluated in an asthmatic cohort. Statistically significant linear correlations were obtained between 3He diffusion-weighted MRI and CT lung microstructure metrics in all lobar regions. Implementation of compressed sensing (CS) to facilitate the acquisition of 3D multiple b-value 3He diffusion-weighted MRI in a single breath-hold for whole lung morphometry mapping. Good agreement between CS-derived and fully-sampled whole lung morphometry maps demonstrates that CS undersampled 3He diffusion-weighted MRI is suitable for clinical lung imaging studies. Acquisition of whole lung morphometry maps with 129Xe diffusion-weighted MRI and CS. An empirically-optimised 129Xe diffusion time (8.5 ms) was derived and 129Xe lung morphometry values demonstrated strong agreement with 3He equivalent measurements. This indicates that 129Xe diffusion-weighted MRI is a viable alternative to 3He for whole lung morphometry mapping. Implementation of an in vivo comparison of the stretched exponential and cylinder theoretical gas diffusion models with both 3He and 129Xe diffusion-weighted MRI. Stretched exponential model diffusive length scale was related to cylinder model mean chord length in a non-linear power relationship; while the cylinder model mean alveolar diameter demonstrated excellent agreement with diffusive length scale. Investigation of clinical and physiological changes in lung microstructure with 3He and 129Xe diffusion-weighted MRI. Longitudinal studies with 3He and 129Xe diffusion-weighted MRI were used investigate changes in lung microstructure in cystic fibrosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Lung inflation mechanisms at the acinar level were also investigated with 3He and 129Xe diffusion-weighted MRI acquired at two different lung volumes

The Effects of Optimism and the Five-Factor Model of Personality on Stress and Performance in the Work Place

Occupational stress is an ever-increasing public health hazard and occupational risk factor. There are growing concerns around the world; people work harder and longer while injury and illness rates associated with occupational stress continues to grow. This field study explores the relationship among optimism, the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality (conscientiousness, openness, emotional stability, agreeableness, and extraversion), stress (perceived stress), and job performance variables (dedication, teamwork, self-responsibility, winning attitude, fit, quality of operations, guest promises/service) in employees of the service industry. It is hypothesized that the variable of optimism will be a better predictor than the FFM personality constructs for predicting stress and job performance. More specifically, it is hypothesized that individuals who score high on optimism will report lower levels of stress and receive better job performance evaluations compared with their counterparts. Questionnaires and surveys were administered and collected in a pen and paper format through mailings to the participants. Participants (N=201) were asked to complete questionnaires on measures of personality and stress while supervisors provided job performance ratings for each participant. Results indicated that optimism demonstrated an increase in incremental validity over the FFM in the model to predict stress. Optimism also yielded a higher correlational relationship with job performance than the FFM. The current study provides additional support in demonstrating the validity and practicability of using optimism as a predictive variable of stress and job performance in a working population