The initial return performance of UK property company IPOs

This paper presents empirical evidence for a sample of 48 UK property company initial public offerings over the period 1986 to 1995. From which a number of conclusions can be drawn. First, property companies in general show positive average first day returns. Second, the average first day return by property trading companies is significantly higher than that for property investment companie

Benefiting From Technology: A Game Approach

The use of technology in the classroom is becoming more and more popular despite the dot com crash earlier this decade. This paper explores a project undertaken by a university business school incorporating a learning technology model. Students in general, and the students from the information technology and computer science departments in particular, felt that this project also helped them develop business skills and gave practical insight into the learning phenomena and the impact of this class. The course was better rated than other courses taught using face-to-face interaction

Security Assessment Taxonomy

Learning today has shifted from face-to-face curriculum to distance learning. Recent advances in distance learning bring major changes in education and educators take different roles in teaching courses. As technology offers a great potential for distance learning, many schools have been adopting this innovative approach. This paper explores a project undertaken by a large US university. We examine a security course that employs a distance learning environment and investigate how this environment affects learners and educators. Our findings indicate that distance learning is not considered a superior teaching method; on the contrary, in many cases, students reported on technical difficulties working with an on-line system. We conclude that further study and research of this method is warranted in order to determine the long-term benefits of using distance learning and to address its many challenges

A sequence-oriented comparison of gene expression measurements across different hybridization-based technologies

Over the last decade, gene expression microarrays have had a profound impact on biomedical research. The diversity of platforms and analytical methods available to researchers have made the comparison of data from multiple platforms challenging. In this study, we describe a framework for comparisons across platforms and laboratories. We have attempted to include nearly all the available commercial and 'in-house' platforms. Using probe sequences matched at the exon level improved consistency of measurements across the different microarray platforms compared to annotation-based matches. Generally, consistency was good for highly expressed genes, and variable for genes with lower expression values as confirmed by quantitative real-time (QRT)-PCR. Concordance of measurements was higher between laboratories on the same platform than across platforms. We demonstrate that, after stringent preprocessing, commercial arrays were more consistent than in-house arrays, and by most measures, one-dye platforms were more consistent than two-dye platforms

GATA1 (GATA binding protein 1 (globin transcription factor1))

We provide a survey of the disease entities associated with GATA1 mutations

The Monogenic Architecture of Retinal and Neurological Diseases

Monogenic diseases, or single-gene disorders, are clinical manifestations that can be traced to genetic variation in a single gene that alters the biologically intended (wildtype) function of its protein (or mRNA) product. Although the causal gene and its function are well-understood in many monogenic diseases, this knowledge alone often does not fully encapsulate the extensive clinical spectrum of phenotypes seen in patients. This is due in part to the numerous types of pathogenic variants that can arise in a single gene, all of which can have distinct effects on disease expression. Understanding the relationship between the vast number of possible genotypes and corresponding disease phenotypes defines a gene’s monogenic disease architecture—an important but poorly understood concept that can yield informative mechanistic and clinical insight. This doctoral dissertation integrates traditional sequencing approaches with in-depth characterization of patient phenotypes to elucidate the monogenic disease architecture of three etiologically distinct disorders: retinal degeneration caused by autosomal recessive variation in ABCA4 and neurodevelopmental disease entities caused by autosomal dominant variants in CERT1 and PUM1. Genetic modifiers are identified as a significant factor in the penetrance of the major disease-causing allele of ABCA4 and several other genetic inconsistencies are resolved to create a coherent genotype-phenotype model for the disease. Insight from this model is then applied to demonstrate the effect of allele differences in disease progression and evaluation of treatment efficacy in patients. A large cohort of affected individuals with CERT1 variation is assembled to (1) validate the causal role of CERT1 in disease, (2) delineate the precise mechanism of CERT protein dysfunction in sphingolipid metabolism and (3) demonstrate therapeutic efficacy of an inhibitor compound for a newly described syndrome. Finally, the mutational spectrum of PUM1 is expanded to previously unattributed variant classes with unexpected pathophysiological consequences to patients. Not only do the findings in this dissertation advance the prospects of delivering personalized, precision medicine to patients, the overall impact underscores the importance of this integrated approach in reconciling knowledge gaps between observations at the molecular and organismal level

Synthesis of luminescent silicon clusters by spark ablation

The synthesis of luminescent nanometer-scale Si clusters by spark ablation from a crystalline Si substrate is described. The cluster source, described in the text, generates clusters in a flowing Ar stream at atmospheric pressure. Electron microscopy reveals that the clusters have diameters in the 2-4 nm size range. The luminescence spectra of the clusters, similar to that of porous Si, are presented

Recognizing classical ballet steps using plase space constraints

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68).by Lee Winston Campbell.M.S