Total Synthesis of Brasoside and Littoralisone

The first total syntheses of littoralisone (1) and brasoside (2) have been achieved in 13 overall steps. Both natural products are forged from a common intermediate which is rapidly assembled using organocatalytic technology, including a proline-catalyzed α-aminoxylation and a contra-thermodynamic intramolecular Michael addition. Application of the two-step carbohydrate synthesis technology has enabled to access a selectively substituted glucose derivative for use as an intramolecular cycloaddition tether. This synthesis culminates with an intramolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition that serves to support the proposed biosynthetic origins of 1 from 2

The Passage of the Public Service Staff Relations Act, 1965-1967

The aim of this study is to determine why collective bargaining rights were granted to civil servants. Chapter one examines the historical development of labour relations in the civil service, specifically social, political, and economic trends present when new bills governing labour relations were introduced. Trends which were to have an impact on Bill C-170 are delineated. Chapter two follows the evolvement of collective bargaining rights into a political issue and the reaction of political parties and other interest groups. Emphasis is placed on the role of postal employees. Chapter three examines the political situation before and after the 1965 federal election and its impact on the decision to introduce the right to strike. The thoughts of editorialists and parliamentarians on the proposed bill are then reviewed. Chapter four follows Bill C-170 through parliamentary committee hearings where labour, business, and committee members expressed their concerns. Parliamentarian and editorial opinions are also put forward. The conclusion poses reasons why the right to strike was granted to all employees. The epilogue shows that on-going issues between the government and its unions stem from the 1960s and postulates that the current aspirations of civil service unions are unlikely to be met

The concept of regeneration in Christian thought

Who is the Christian? What does it mean to be a "new man" in Christ? What does it mean to be "born again"? Is this the same as the Pentecostal expression "the baptism in the Holy Spirit"? And what are we to make of the phrase, "the baptism in/with the Holy Spirit"? What is the relationship between water baptism and spirit baptism? What is the relation of regeneration to baptism? Does baptism alone constitute the complete rite of initiation, or is something more required? How is a person's initiation into the Christian way to be described and understood? What is Christian baptism? What is its place in the plan of salvation? When is the Holy Spirit given?In search of an authentic theology of the Christian, we have treated the writings of the Fourth Evangelist, Cyril of Jerusalem and Ambrose of Milan, John Calvin, Karl Barth and modern day Pentecostalists and NeoPentecostalists.The work, although not divided into specific parts, has two aspects. First of all, there is a full exposition of how the term, regeneration, has been treated in each of the above theologies. From this it can be seen that various interpretations of the concept have emerged in the church over the centuries.The second aspect is an examination of four critical categories surrounding our theme, namely, regeneration, initiation, water baptism and spirit baptism. Today is an opportune time to understand the various inter¬ relationships of these categories, both from the point of view of the pastoral ministry of the churches and the life of the individual Christian.In the course of our study, various other topics are touched upon: the nature of faith, the relation of baptism to confirmation, the paedobaptist debate, the need to restore a Spirit Christology either alongside, or instead of, Logos Christology, the nature of the gift of speaking in tongues and its place in the fellowship of the church. Each of these subjects requires a thesis of its own, and we have by no means exhausted their significance, although they have necessitated comment because of their relationship to our central theme

The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Strategies for Continuously Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty

This book summarizes the practical implications of our accumulation of experience, research studies, and active teaching and working with business organizations attempting to deal with uncertainty and with entrepreneurs learning to launch and grow their businesses. The primary thrust of the book—that uncertainty can yield tremendous opportunity when looked at in the right way—has long been topic at the heart of the academic study of entrepreneurship. Using lessons drawn from leading entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies, this book presents a set of practices for capitalizing on certainty and rapid change. Throughout this book, we have provided figures and tables that allow readers to generate scores and derive conclusions. These material are based on considerable theoretical and empirical research

Shoulder muscle EMG activity during push up variations on and off a Swiss ball

BACKGROUND: Surface instability is a common addition to traditional rehabilitation and strength exercises with the aim of increasing muscle activity, increasing exercise difficulty and improving joint proprioception. The aim of the current study was to determine if performing upper body closed kinetic chain exercises on a labile surface (Swiss ball) influences myoelectric amplitude when compared with a stable surface. METHODS: Thirteen males were recruited from a convenience sample of college students. Surface electromyograms were recorded from the triceps, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, rectus abdominis and external oblique while performing push up exercises with the feet or hands placed on a bench and separately on a Swiss ball. A push up plus exercise was also evaluated with hands on the support surface. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Not all muscles responded with an increase in muscle activity. The pectoralis major muscle was not influenced by surface stability. The triceps and rectus abdominis muscles showed increases in muscle activity only when the hands were on the unstable surface. The external oblique muscle was only influenced by surface stability during the performance of the push up plus exercise. No muscle showed a change in activation level when the legs were supported by the Swiss ball instead of the bench. CONCLUSION: Muscle activity can be influenced by the addition of surface instability however an increase in muscle activity does not influence all muscles in all conditions. The relationship between the participant's center of mass, the location of the unstable surface and the body part contacting the Swiss ball may be important factors in determining the muscle activation changes following changes in surface stability

An active learning approach to home heating in the smart grid

A key issue for the realization of the smart grid vision is the implementation of effective demand-side management. One possible approach involves exposing dynamic energy prices to end-users. In this paper, we consider a resulting problem on the user’s side: how to adaptively heat a home given dynamic prices. The user faces the challenge of having to react to dynamic prices in real time, trading off his comfort with the costs of heating his home to a certain temperature. We propose an active learning approach to adjust the home temperature in a semiautomatic way. Our algorithm learns the user’s preferences over time and automatically adjusts the temperature in real-time as prices change. In addition, the algorithm asks the user for feedback once a day. To find the best query time, the algorithm solves an optimal stopping problem. Via simulations, we show that our algorithm learns users’ preferences quickly, and that using the expected utility loss as the query criterion outperforms standard approaches from the active learning literature

Can consumer grade activity devices replace research grade actiwatches in youth mental health settings?

Mental health services increasingly recognize the benefits of monitoring sleep and activity patterns in youth. Objective, ecological monitoring via research grade actiwatches is valid, but an emerging literature suggests using cheaper, consumer grade activity tracking devices. This study aimed to compare the cross-validity of these devices, and their feasibility and usability in youth mental health settings. A convenience sample of 13 individuals recruited from youth mental health settings wore a consumer grade and research grade activity device for seven consecutive days. The five most frequently reported sleep and activity variables extracted directly from each device were compared using paired t tests, mean average percentage errors, and magnitude and direction of biases. Ten individuals provided usable recordings of sleep and activity parameters. Compared to the actiwatch recordings (criterion values), the consumer grade device showed systematic biases in the recording of total sleep time (overestimated by about an hour) and waking after sleep onset (underestimated by about half an hour). The consumer grade device was most reliable for monitoring daytime sedentary behaviour. However, participant feedback indicated that youth preferred the consumer grade device. The findings suggest that it is inappropriate to substitute actiwatches with commercial activity trackers in research setting, as the latter are probably insufficient for precision diagnostics or stratification of cases into treatment relevant subgroups. Consumer grade devices are more acceptable to youth, so they may be clinically useful for monitoring intra-individual where absolute accuracy is not required.publishedVersio