Abstract Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents used in treatment of a variety of human solid tumors. The most common adverse side effect limiting the use of Cisplatin is nephrotoxicity. Recent studies indicate that inflammatory and oxidative signaling play critical role in pathogenesis of Cisplatin related nephrotoxicity. Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity is associated with lipid peroxidation and the superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical scavenger could prevent acute renal failure through both attenuation of tubular damage and enhanced regenerative response of the damaged tubular cells. It has been shown that green tea polyphenols with antioxidant properties inhibit inflammatory and oxidative responses in mice. However, the evidence indicating the protective effect of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenol found in green tea, on Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity is lacking. The present study is to evaluate the effect of EGCG injection on Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. The male rats were divided into four groups (n = 6 each); control group, Cisplatin group, EGCG group and Cisplatin + EGCG group. The control group received only intraperitoneal normal saline injection. Cisplatin (6 mg/kg) was given single dose intraperitoneally at day 0, EGCG (10 mg/time) was given subcutaneously at day 4, day 2 and day 0 before Cisplatin challenge and day 2 and day 4 after Cisplatin injection. Nephrotoxicity was evaluated by biochemical analysis of blood and histopathological observations of rat kidney. Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-£eB) activation, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression and malonyldialdehyde (MDA) content were also determined in rat kidney. Cisplatin injection induced an increase in serum blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and tubular necrosis, and upregulation of NF-£eB and iNOS expression and MDA content in kidney. All the increases were significantly inhibited by EGCG treatment. The results suggest that EGCG may attenuate Cisplatin induced nephrotoxicity through the anti-inflammatory/oxidative effects.

This project examines the determinants of political responsiveness to bureaucratic performance. A large literature exists that has examined how bureaucratic agencies are responsive to political institutions. While policy theory contends that the reverse is also true – that is, political institutions engage in political assessment of policies – there is little empirical literature examining this important question. Indeed, research in public administration suggests that political responsiveness only occurs following massive bureaucratic failure or policy crises. Using data from Texas public school districts, this dissertation explores the role of policy salience in determining the likelihood of political responsiveness to bureaucratic outputs and outcomes. The findings suggest that issue salience is the key determinant of political involvement in administration. Furthermore, this project incorporates the concepts of descriptive and substantive representation in examining these questions. The results indicate that policy salience depends on the composition of the interests of political institutions. Furthermore, race and ethnicity work to shape those preferences and, in turn, condition what policy makers deem as salient. The findings suggest that descriptively unrepresentative political institutions are less likely to be responsive to the needs of those who are not represented (e.g. Latino students). Thus, representation is central to political responsiveness when the policy outputs or outcomes in question are not universally salient. Finally, this project examines whether political institutions can influence policy outcomes, and, more importantly, what factors – environmental, organizational, managerial – either facilitate or constrain the political influence of elected officials. The findings suggest that goal and preference alignment between political institutions and bureaucratic agencies is critical in enhancing political influence – a finding that is commonly argued in formal models of political control, but rarely tested empirically. This research also finds that bureaucratic power or independence can work to hinder political influence of policy outputs.

Current research on account behavior has focused on responses to failure events in which one person is the victim and another is the transgressor. This study builds on this research by using a framing lens to examine account behavior in a conflict situation in which individuals are both actors and recipients of failures. After establishing the relationship between organizational conflict and failure events, the study explored the relationship between account behavior and three aspects of issue development framing: conflict naming, conflict blaming, and intentionality. Employees of nonprofit organizations were asked to read and respond to a vignette-based scenario depicting a conflict between two directors of a nonprofit organization. The research findings indicated that conflict framing was a significant predictor of account strategies. Specifically, the use of mitigating statements was more likely when the event was cast as intentional and the reproacher accepted blame. A clear interaction emerged between gender and conflict naming. In all, this research indicated that more attention should be paid to conflict framing when studying individuals' or corporations' use of account strategies.

The peel test is a commonly used testing method for adhesive strength evaluation. The test involves peeling a pressure sensitive tape away from a substrate and measuring the peel force that is applied to rupture the adhesive bond. In the present study, the mechanics of the peel test is analyzed based on a cohesive zone model. Cohesive failure is assumed to prevail in the vicinity of the peel front, that is, the adhesive fails not by debonding from the adherends but by splitting of the adhesive itself. Generally, the failure of the adhesive is accompanied with a process of cavitation and fibrillation. Therefore, the cohesive zone is modeled as a continuous fibrillated region. A Maxwell model is employed to characterize the viscoelastic behavior of the adhesive. The governing equation and boundary conditions that describe the mechanics of the peel test are derived. Numerical results are obtained under steady state conditions. The model predicts the peel force in terms of the peel rate, the peel angle, the nature of the adhesive, and the properties of the backing and the substrate. The traction distribution on the substrate surface is found to depend on various test parameters. Finally, finite element analysis is performed using the commercial software package ABAQUS. The results from FEA are compared with those from the mathematical method to evaluate the validity of the present model. The effective range of the present model is found to be related to the ratio of the critical fibril length to the extent of the cohesive zone. Given the nature of the adhesive as well as the properties of the backing and the substrate, the proposed model is able to predict the peel force and the traction distribution in terms of the peel rate and the peel angle, and thus provides a measure of the strength of the adhesive bond.

<p>An entrepreneur is an innovator, someone who transforms innovations and ideas intoeconomically viable entities; independent on whether in the process she creates oroperates a firm (Baumol 1993). When these firms are created however, sometimes theydo not achieve a viable sustainability; they often face problems and are forced to gobankrupt. When Bankruptcy occurs the entrepreneur is logically affected not onlyeconomically but also mentally and emotionally. Different situations have differenteffects on the entrepreneur´s emotions.</p><p>Lazarus´ Cognitive Appraisal Theory states that when faced with a problem or situationpeople "appraise" or perceive it in different ways. The Primary Appraisal happens whenthe entrepreneur first comes into the realization of the problem; she can view itdifferently, either as an event that deserves indifference, an opportunity, or as a harmfulthreat. The Secondary Appraisal happens when the entrepreneur analyses what resourceshe has available and what strategy he will proceed to use in order to tackle the situation.Furthermore, during the course of the situation the entrepreneur may come into therealization of new information that might change his way of perceiving things, this iscalled an Appraisal. The Cognitive Appraisal Theory is closely linked to the CopingTheory which talks about how entrepreneurs "cope" or deal emotionally with theiradversities. Coping can be divided into two types, Problem focused and Emotion focusedCoping. Problem focused coping intents on coming up with viable and practical solutionsto improve the situation, whereas Emotion focused intends on externalizing the blame andreacting with a worsened emotional state that does not help the situation in the long run.</p><p>This report is an exploratory research and bases its empirical data on the case studyapproach of five different cases of entrepreneurs leaving in Sweden who had theexperience of engaging in an enterprise that ended up in bankruptcy. During the course ofthis investigation a qualitative method was used and the empirical findings wheregathered by engaging in interviews that were later analyzed and correlated with thetheoretical framework.</p><p>In the Analysis we take apart the information gathered in the interviews and try tocorrelate the events to the theories while at the same time striving to find similarities ordifferences between the subjects. We also try to find patterns that may help us understandmore about the subject and finally allows us to address the problem and achieve thepurpose of this report which is to understand how an entrepreneur copes when faced witha business failure.</p><p>In our conclusion we came to the realization that people tend to follow specific patterns ofemotional reaction that concretely support the pre established theories. This report servesas a base or foundation of a tool for entrepreneurs. We find that if entrepreneurs hadprevious knowledge of ways to deal with failure they might be more prompt to avoid itentirely and consequently this can be an invaluable tool for them..3</p>

<p>Entrepreneurs are often perceived to be creative and risk taking (Kreuger, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurs’ response to a failure namely a bankruptcy. People react differently to a bankruptcy and tend to blame different things as the cause. Some blame themselves while others blame things out of their control. These differences can have an impact on the learning process and how easy the entrepreneur moves on after the failure. These findings can be used for situations when dealing with failures and entrepreneurial activities.</p><p>There is no single theory already existing for this topic, therefore several theories have been looked at and used for the analysis. The theories can be divided into five main areas: entrepreneurship, failure, entrepreneurial response to failure, factors affecting responses to failure and learning. Entrepreneurship is treated as the creation of new economic activity (Davidsson, 2004) and entrepreneurial traits (Kreuger, 2002) are considered in the analysis. Locus of control is an important trait since it shows the ability of the entrepreneur to think that they are in control of the environment. (Rotter, 1966) In order to explain the cause of a bankruptcy people tend to use certain attributions. Locus of causality refers to whether a person blames internal or external causes and stability whether these causes are changeable in the future or not. (Martinko, 1995) Several factors will influence the response to a bank-ruptcy and in this thesis motivation for the start-up, culture and separation of the company are looked upon. After a failure an entrepreneur can learn false lessons (McGrath & Cardon, 1997) and stop any entrepreneurial activities. However failure can also be positive if something true has been learnt. (Wiklund, 2006)</p><p>This report is an exploratory type of study and a case study was conducted where five cases were used with entrepreneurs that have run companies that have gone bankrupt. A qualitative method was used and the empirical findings were gathered trough interviews which were then analysed with the support from the theoretical framework.</p><p>In the analysis new models were created that showed patterns we found comparing the in-terviews. It also includes discussion about how culture affects the blaming factors of fail-ure. The factors that an entrepreneur is blaming the failure on are much depending on to what degree they possess entrepreneurial traits. This paper also suggest that how personally an entrepreneur takes his/her failure depends mostly on how financially dependent they were on their company and also how experienced they were from failure. Another finding was also that all the participants agreed that it is not a supportive business culture in the Jönköping region. Another conclusion is that entrepreneurs that blame their failure on in-ternal factors learn more from it, but this learning can be less significant due to earlier ex-perience from failure.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-130). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 87-89.

Zugl.: Berlin Freie Univ., Diss., 2006. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-253). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.