A farewell to Neo-Punic: Tac-Caghqi revisited

The alleged inscriptions in the south-east hypogeum of Tac-Caghqi (within the premises of St Nicholas College in Rabat, Malta) were discussed in depth by Mons. Benedetto Rocco in 1972. Rocco interpreted the glyphs as Neo-Punic, with a long 'Inscription' supposedly consisting of a prayer to appease the deceased through the offering of a gift, and an alleged minor 'Inscription' addressing the dead to 'rise'. These readings were discussed against the notion of possible libation rites that may have been a custom within the hypogeum, as suggested by the tomb furniture in situ. Rocco based his readings of the script and types of letters on his previous study of further alleged Punic and Neo-Punic inscriptions within cave sites in Palermo and Favignana (Sicily), in combination with semantic analysis of Biblical Hebrew. Nevertheless, the supposed Tac-Caghqi inscriptions come across as ambiguous sets of glyphs that are illegible, and actually cannot be deemed Punic or Neo-Punic script.peer-reviewe

Japanese quantitative easing: The effects and constraints of anti-deflationary monetary expansions

An undergraduate dissertation in Monetary Economics. The aim of this dissertation is to empirically analyse the effects of the Bank of Japan’s anti-deflationary Quantitative Easing Policy carried out between March 2001 and April 2006. In doing so, this study also reviews the zero bound to interest rates, defined as the primary constraint to the effectiveness of conventional monetary policy at the interest rate floor. The results of the economic models contained in this study confirm the economic significance of a sustained increase in liquidity in fostering a return to inflationary pressures. Moreover, the findings of the study confirm that effective anti-deflationary policies may not necessarily entail extreme measures on the part of a central bank; on the other hand, credibility coupled with a resolved commitment may very well be enough to provide for positive macroeconomic repercussions.Deflation; monetary policy at the zero-bound; quantitative easing

Promoting the integration of third-country nationals through the labour market : combating discrimination in employment : the case of third-country nationals in Malta

The paper identifies a series of obstacles to the integration of Third Country Nationals as a category within the Maltese labour market, including: TCNs’ lack of knowledge about the procedures for obtaining a work permit; institutionalised discrimination against them as a category in allowing their entry into the labour market; opaque, dilatory and discretionary procedures for obtaining and renewing work permits and for recognising TCNs’ qualifications; poor knowledge by managers about handling workplace diversity and intercultural issues, abuse of employers’ leverage powers as regards wages and other conditions of employment, linguistic problems, overlapping and poorly defined political responsibilities for integration, lack of cooperation between institutional stakeholders and pervasive discrimination against foreigners in relation to utility rates and other areas of social life.peer-reviewe

Japanese quantitative easing: The effects and constraints of anti-deflationary monetary expansions

An undergraduate dissertation in Monetary Economics. The aim of this dissertation is to empirically analyse the effects of the Bank of Japan’s anti-deflationary Quantitative Easing Policy carried out between March 2001 and April 2006. In doing so, this study also reviews the zero bound to interest rates, defined as the primary constraint to the effectiveness of conventional monetary policy at the interest rate floor. The results of the economic models contained in this study confirm the economic significance of a sustained increase in liquidity in fostering a return to inflationary pressures. Moreover, the findings of the study confirm that effective anti-deflationary policies may not necessarily entail extreme measures on the part of a central bank; on the other hand, credibility coupled with a resolved commitment may very well be enough to provide for positive macroeconomic repercussions

Evaluation of flight parameters during approach and landing phases by applying principal component analysis

This paper adopts an unsupervised learning technique, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to analyze flight data. While the flight parameters for a stable approach have been established for a while, the paper reevaluates these flight parameters using PCA for a set of airports across the United States of America. Some flight parameters were found to be more sensitive to some airports. The parameters have been cross-checked with experts in the industry to better interpret their significance.peer-reviewe

Dynamics of muscle fibre growth during postnatal mouse development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postnatal growth in mouse is rapid, with total skeletal muscle mass increasing several-fold in the first few weeks. Muscle growth can be achieved by either an increase in muscle fibre number or an increase in the size of individual myofibres, or a combination of both. Where myofibre hypertrophy during growth requires the addition of new myonuclei, these are supplied by muscle satellite cells, the resident stem cells of skeletal muscle.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we report on the dynamics of postnatal myofibre growth in the mouse extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, which is essentially composed of fast type II fibres in adult. We found that there was no net gain in myofibre number in the EDL between P7 and P56 (adulthood). However, myofibre cross-sectional area increased by 7.6-fold, and length by 1.9-fold between these ages, resulting in an increase in total myofibre volume of 14.1-fold: showing the extent of myofibre hypertrophy during the postnatal period. To determine how the number of myonuclei changes during this period of intense muscle fibre hypertrophy, we used two complementary mouse models: <it>3F-nlacZ-E </it>mice express <it>nlacZ </it>only in myonuclei, while <it>Myf5</it>^{<it>nlacZ</it>/+}mice have β-galactosidase activity in satellite cells. There was a ~5-fold increase in myonuclear number per myofibre between P3 and P21. Thus myofibre hypertrophy is initially accompanied by a significant addition of myonuclei. Despite this, the estimated myonuclear domain still doubled between P7 and P21 to 9.2 × 10³μm³. There was no further addition of myonuclei from P21, but myofibre volume continued to increase, resulting in an estimated ~3-fold expansion of the myonuclear domain to 26.5 × 10³μm³by P56. We also used our two mouse models to determine the number of satellite cells per myofibre during postnatal growth. Satellite cell number in EDL was initially ~14 satellite cells per myofibre at P7, but then fell to reach the adult level of ~5 by P21.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Postnatal fast muscle fibre type growth is divided into distinct phases in mouse EDL: myofibre hypertrophy is initially supported by a rapid increase in the number of myonuclei, but nuclear addition stops around P21. Since the significant myofibre hypertrophy from P21 to adulthood occurs without the net addition of new myonuclei, a considerable expansion of the myonuclear domain results. Satellite cell numbers are initially stable, but then decrease to reach the adult level by P21. Thus the adult number of both myonuclei and satellite cells is already established by three weeks of postnatal growth in mouse.</p

Constitutive expression of Yes-associated protein (Yap) in adult skeletal muscle fibres induces muscle atrophy and myopathy

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Association between Circulating Levels of C-reactive Protein and Positive and Negative Symptoms of Psychosis in Adolescents in a General Population Birth Cohort

Background Schizophrenia is associated with elevated levels of circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and other inflammatory markers, but it is unclear whether these associations extend to psychotic symptoms occurring in adolescence in the general population. A symptom-based approach may provide important clues for apparent trans-diagnostic effect of inflammation, which is also associated with depression and other psychiatric disorders. Methods Based on data from 2421 participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort, we examined associations of serum CRP levels assessed around age 16 with ten positive and ten negative symptoms of psychosis assessed using questionnaires around age 17, using both individual symptoms and symptom dimension scores as outcomes. Regression models were adjusted for sex, body mass index, depressive symptoms, substance use, and other potential confounders. Results Most prevalent positive symptoms were paranoid ideation (4.8%), visual (4.3%) and auditory (3.5%) hallucinations. Negative symptoms were more strongly correlated with concurrent depressive symptoms (r=0.51; P < 0.001) than positive symptoms (rpb=0.19; P < 0.001). The associations of CRP with positive and negative symptom dimension scores were similar. At individual symptom level, after adjusting for potential confounders including depressive symptoms, CRP was associated with auditory hallucinations (adjusted OR = 2.22; 95% CI, 1.04–4.76) and anhedonia (adjusted OR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02–1.26). Conclusions Inflammation is associated with sub-clinical psychotic symptoms in young people in general population. Association of CRP with symptoms commonly shared between mood and psychotic disorders, such as auditory hallucinations and anhedonia, could be one explanation for the apparent trans-diagnostic effect of inflammation

A Comparison of Agricultural and Urban influences on Water Quality in South West WA

In Western Australia, a number of coastal rivers and estuaries have suffered from eutrophication since the 1960’s. Often the focus of the threat to water quality in these areas has been agriculture because of its extensive nature and widespread use of highly soluble fertilisers. Over recent years a focus on nutrient inputs, outputs and nutrient balance in a number of projects provides an opportunity to compare the relative nutrient threats from the agricultural and urban sectors, placed in the context of increasing urbanisation and development. These disparate data sets also allow a comparison of nutrient inputs in each sector in the form of fertiliser and non-fertiliser sources, and show how these translate into whole of catchment nutrient inputs, transformations and exports to waterways. These sets of data also provide some insight into the adoption of management practices in each sector, and the relative threats to water quality from each sector on the basis of its location in a catchment

Literature review of machine learning techniques to analyse flight data

This paper analyses the increasing trend of using modern machine learning technologies to analyze flight data efficiently. Flight data offers an important insight into the operations of an aircraft. This paper reviews the research undertaken so far on the use of Machine Learning techniques for the analyses of flight data by evaluating various anomaly detection algorithms and the significance of feature selection in Flight Data Monitoring. These algorithms are compared to determine the best class of algorithms for highlighting significant flight anomalies. Furthermore, these algorithms are analyzed for various flight data parameters to determine which class of algorithms is sensitive to continuous parameters and which is sensitive to discrete parameters of flight data. The paper also addresses the ability of each anomaly detection algorithm to be easily adaptable to different datasets and different phases of flight, including take-off and landing.peer-reviewe