Current perspective - Trastuzumab

This article will review the available clinical data on the efficacy of trastuzumab in the treatment of both early advanced breast cancer

The mechanics of a chain or ring of spherical magnets

Strong magnets, such as neodymium-iron-boron magnets, are increasingly being manufactured as spheres. Because of their dipolar characters, these spheres can easily be arranged into long chains that exhibit mechanical properties reminiscent of elastic strings or rods. While simple formulations exist for the energy of a deformed elastic rod, it is not clear whether or not they are also appropriate for a chain of spherical magnets. In this paper, we use discrete-to-continuum asymptotic analysis to derive a continuum model for the energy of a deformed chain of magnets based on the magnetostatic interactions between individual spheres. We find that the mechanical properties of a chain of magnets differ significantly from those of an elastic rod: while both magnetic chains and elastic rods support bending by change of local curvature, nonlocal interaction terms also appear in the energy formulation for a magnetic chain. This continuum model for the energy of a chain of magnets is used to analyse small deformations of a circular ring of magnets and hence obtain theoretical predictions for the vibrational modes of a circular ring of magnets. Surprisingly, despite the contribution of nonlocal energy terms, we find that the vibrations of a circular ring of magnets are governed by the same equation that governs the vibrations of a circular elastic ring

A Survival Analysis of Australian Equity Mutual Funds

Determining which types of mutual (or managed) investment funds are good financial investments is complicated by potential surbivorship biases. This project adds to a small recent international literature on the patterns and determinants of mutual fund survivorship. We use statistical techniques for survival data that are rarely applied in finance. Of specific interest is the hazard rate of fund closure, which gives the variation over time in the conditional probability of fund closure given fund survival to date. For a sample of 251 retail investment funds in Australia from 1980 to 1999 we identify a hump-shaped hazard function that reaches its maximum after about five or six years, a pattern similar to the UK findings of Lunde, Timmermann and Blake (1999). We also consider the impact of monthly and annual fund performance (gross and relative to a market benchmark). Returns relative to the benckmark are much more important than gross returns, with hgiher relative returns associated with lower hazard of fund closure. There appears to be an asymmetric response to performance, with positive shocks having a larger impact on the hazard rate than negative shocks.mutual funds; survivorship bias; duration analysis; cox regression

“The Greatest Human Travail”: Faith and the Context of Rhetoric in Zora Neale Hurston’s \u3cem\u3eDust Tracks on a Road\u3c/em\u3e

Zora Neale Hurston was a controversial in the Harlem Renaissance. Her little studied autobiography could be helpful in resolving many of the unanswered questions. However, critical responses have mostly been negative. Critics have questions her portrayal of social reality, particularly black/white relations. If the autobiography is examined in terms of the internal dynamics of the Harlem Renaissance and the political situation of blacks during the Second World War, with special attention paid to the development of Hurston’s religious faith, a different interpretation is possible. This thesis examines Dust Tracks on a Road as Hurston’s apologia, an autobiographical defense of faith. It is demonstrated that she is responding to those critics who dispute the worldview inherent in her fiction and her documentation of rural southern life. Further, it is asserted that no interpretation of the text is complete without some assessment of her implicit and explicit theological position. Nevertheless, it is conceded that the book is a failure. Hurston embodied a unique and radical double consciousness that caused her to be extremely marginalized. The autobiography suggests that there is completion and unity in Hurston’s life that is ultimately inconsistent with the elements of her story. Further, Dust Tracks on a Road is isolated from the dominant black autobiographical tradition, which also suggests inconsistency in her account. However, much can still be learned from the book, not only about Hurston, but also Afro-American religion, and the relationship between religion and autobiography

The short ghost story : a critical and historical survey

This thesis is an attempt to evaluate the work of the outstanding British and American short story writers from the early 1800\u27s to the present. No attempt has been made to make a precise historical survey of the development of the ghost story. This paper is limited to the short ghost story in fiction; all fairytales, folk-lore, supposedly authentic anecdotes, plays, novels, and poems of the supernatural are omitted. All pseudoscience stories, horror stories, and weird fantasy are also omitted. In the introductory part of this paper an attempt has been made to ascertain some of the factors which determine success or failure in the short ghost story. Attention has also been paid here to the various types of ghost story; an outline and discussion of ghost stories according to type has been attempted. Finally, some of the earlier and leaser writers have been briefly considered here, as being too unimportant for individual mention in subsequent sections. The second part of the paper is concerned with the individual authors and their work. Emphasis has been placed on authors according to their achievement in the ghost story, not in other fields. The authors have been considered in alphabetical order, as their dates were not always available. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a guide for those persons interested in learning who wrote ghost stories and what the stories were about. The author acknowledges and regrets many omissions, as some collections of ghost stories are long out of print and impossible to obtain

Magnetic chains: From self-buckling to self-assembly

Spherical neodymium-iron-boron magnets are perman-ent magnets that can be assembled into a variety of structures due to their high magnetic strength. A one-dimensional chain of these magnets responds to mechanical loadings in a manner reminiscent of an elastic rod. We investigate the macroscopic mechanical properties of assemblies of ferromagnetic spheres by considering chains, rings, and chiral cylinders of magnets. Based on energy estimates and simple experiments, we introduce an effective magnetic bending stiffness for a chain of magnets and show that, used in conjunction with classic results for elastic rods, it provides excellent estimates for the buckling and vibration dynamics of magnetic chains. We then use this estimate to understand the dynamic self-assembly of a cylinder from an initially straight chain of magnets.Comment: Final version, as publishe