Yes / This paper makes use of a leading UK supermarket’s loyalty card based data which records information on purchase decisions by consumers who shop at its stores in order to assess the effectiveness and impact of the UK reduced salt campaign. We present an empirical analysis of consumption data to assess the effectiveness of the UK Food Standard Agency’s (FSA) ‘reduced salt campaign’ on the basis of information on health related announcements undertaken by the FSA under its ‘low salt campaign’. We adopt a general approach to determining structural breaks in consumption data, including making use of minimum LM unit root tests whereby structural breaks are endogenously determined from the data. We find evidence supporting the effectiveness of the FSA’s reduced salt campaign.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur lärare och elever i lågstadiet upplever brain breaksunder matematiklektioner. Begreppet brain break innebär att, i detta fall, läraren sätter in en mental paus under matematiklektionen. Detta för att uppnå förbättrad koncentration och resultat hos eleverna. I studiens brain breaks utövas en pulshöjande aktivitet som varar i cirka två till fem minuter. Samtliga lärare och elever som deltagit i studien är bekanta med- och utövar brain breaks kontinuerligt under matematiklektionerna. För att kunna söka svar på mina forskningsfrågor i studien har jag använt mig av observationer med kompletterande semistrukturerade intervjuer i tre klasser, i samma skola, i årskurs två. Valet av skola låg nära till hands då jag tidigare har genomfört verksamhetsförlagd utbildning och även vikarierat på skolan. För att kunna analysera resultatet av de semistrukturerade intervjuerna gjordes en tematisk analys. Denna tidsbegränsade studie visar att både lärare och elever upplever brain breaks som positiva men att det även finns kritiska punkter i användandet av brain breaks. Samtidigt som man såg att eleverna kunde hålla fokus längre stunder då de har fått genomföra en brain break, fanns det elever som upplevde brain breaks som ett störningsmoment. Under intervjuerna med lärarna framkom det många positiva aspekter med att genomföra brain breaks i undervisningen, dessa positiva aspekter överväger de negativa sidorna. Jag har under studiens gång skapat mig en större förståelse kring hur lärare och elever upplever brain breaks i matematikundervisningen.

The most widely used classification method for statistical mapping is Jenks’s natural breaks. However, it has been found that natural breaks is not good at classifying data which have scaling property. Scaling property is ubiquitous in many societal and natural phenomena. It can be explained as there are far more smaller things than larger ones. For example, there are far more shorter streets than longer ones, far more smaller street blocks than bigger ones, and far more smaller cities than larger ones. Head/tail breaks is a new classification scheme that is designed for values that exhibit scaling property. In Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), there are far more lower elevation points than higher elevation points. This study performs both head/tail breaks and natural breaks for values from five resolutions of DEMs. The aim of this study is to examine advantages and disadvantages of head/tail breaks classification scheme compared with natural breaks. One of the five resolutions of DEMs is given as an example to illustrate the principle behind the head/tail breaks in the case study.The results of head/tail breaks for five resolutions are slightly different from each other in number of classes or level of details. The similar results of comparisons support the previous finding that head/tail breaks is advantaged over natural breaks in reflecting the hierarchy of data. But the number of classes could be reduced for better statistical mapping. Otherwise the top values, which are very little, would be nearly invisible in the map.A main conclusion to be drawn from this study is that head/tail breaks classification scheme is advantaged over natural breaks in presenting hierarchy or scaling of elevation data, with the top classes gathered into one. Another conclusion is when the resolution gets higher; the scaling property gets more striking.

Inledning: De psykoterapeutiska ramarna, samt brott mot dessa ramar, är av central betydelse för psykodynamiska terapeuter. Syftet: med denna studie var att undersöka psykoterapeuters rambegrepp, dess mening, samt deras upplevelser av egna rambrott. Frågeställningar: Frågeställningarna var vilken ramen och dess mening var, samt hur psykoterapeuterna upplevde sina egna rambrott. Metod: I studien användes kvalitativ metod och fem psykodynamiska terapeuter intervjuades. Data analyserades med tematisk analys. Resultat: Resultatet visade att deltagarnas rambegrepp skiljde sig åt. Skillnaderna härleddes dels från olika teoribildningar för psykoterapi, dels efter egna ställningstaganden. Vidare tillämpades något olika ramar för olika patienter.  Även psykoterapeuternas upplevelser av egna i studien redovisade rambrott uppvisade olikheter så som oro, skam, känsla av misslyckande och tillfredsställelse. Diskussion: Ramar samt avsteg från dessa intog en komplex roll i terapeuternas arbete. Ramar utformades av terapeuterna själva på grundval av terapeutisk inriktning. Brott mot dem kunde ske planerat eller spontant, orsakade sammansatta känsloreaktioner och kunde ge ett bättre eller sämre utfall för patienten. / Introduction: The psychotherapeutic frames, and breaking these frames, is of central significance to psychodynamic therapists. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychotherapist's concepts of frames, and experiences of personal frame breaks. Problem statement: The questions explored were which the frame and its meaning were, and how the psychotherapists experienced their own frame breaks. Methods: In the study, a qualitative method was used, and five psychodynamic therapists were interviewed. The material was analyzed by thematic analysis. Results: The results showed, that the concepts of frame were differing. The differences were derived partly from different theories of psychotherapy, partly from personal standpoints. Moreover, somewhat differing frames were used for different patients. The psychotherapists' experiences of their own frame breaks also showed differences, such as anxiety, shame, feelings of failure and satisfaction. Discussion: Frames and departures from them take a complex role in the therapists work. Frames are formed by the therapists themselves with their psychotherapeutic orientation as a cornerstone. Breaks to the frames can take place in a planned or unplanned way, cause compounded reactions of feelings and can bring better or worse result for the patient.

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/29/2009). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-87).

abstract: Most studies that explored the health benefits of interrupting sitting time focused on using different modalities (i.e., comparing walking vs standing breaks)33,36,59. However, experimental studies that directly compare patterns of interrupting sitting time through standing only are needed to advance the field. This study aimed to (i) determine if there is a difference in glucose response between continuous sitting (CS) and two intermittent standing regimes (high frequency, low duration breaks (HFLD) and low frequency, high duration breaks (LFHD)) and (ii) to determine if there is a difference in glucose response between the two strategies (HFLD vs. LFHD). Ten sedentary employees (mean±SD age 46.8±10.6 years; 70% female) with impaired fasting glucose (mean glucose= 109.0±9.8 mg/dL) participated. Eligible participants were invited to three 7.5 hour laboratory visits where they were randomized to perform each study conditions: (i) CS, (ii) HFLD and (iii) LFHD. Standardized meals (breakfast and lunch) were given with each meal providing 33% of the participant’s total daily caloric needs following a typical American diet (50-60% carbohydrates, 25-30% fat, and 10-20% protein). Participants wore an activPAL device to measure compliance with the sit-stand condition and a continuous glucose monitor to measure post-prandial glucose response. Post-prandial mean glucose, incremental area under the curve and mean amplitude glycemic excursion between conditions were evaluated using linear mixed models. Participants demonstrated high compliance with the study condition. The results indicated that the mean glucose of the HFLD condition were significantly lower (p< .01) than the CS condition with mean difference of -7.70 (-11.98, -3.42) mg/dL·3.5h and -5.76 (-9.50, -2.03) mg/dL·7h for lunch and total time, respectively. Furthermore, the mean post-prandial glucose during lunch and total time were significantly lower in the HFLD condition compared to the LFHD condition with mean difference of -9.94 (-14.13, -5.74) mg/dL·3.5h and -6.23 (-9.93, -2.52) mg/dL·7h, respectively. No differences were found between the CS and LFHD conditions. This study provides evidence favoring the use of frequent interruptions in sitting time to improve glycemic control of prediabetic individuals. In contrast, less frequent, although longer bouts of standing resulted in similar post-prandial glucose profile to that of the continuous sitting condition despite total standing time being equal to the LFHD condition. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physical Activity, Nutrition and Wellness 2019

No / The comet assay or single-cell gel electrophoresis assay is a relatively simple and sensitive technique for quantitatively measuring DNA damage and repair at the single-cell level in all types of tissue where a single-cell suspension can be obtained. Isolated cells are mixed with agarose, positioned on a glass slide, and then lysed in a high-salt solution which removes all cell contents except the nuclear matrix and DNA, which is finally subjected to electrophoresis. Damaged DNA is electrophoresed from the nuclear matrix into the agarose gel, resembling the appearance of a comet, while undamaged DNA remains largely within the proximity of the nuclear matrix. By choosing different pH conditions for electrophoresis, different damage types and levels of sensitivity are produced: a neutral (pH 8–9) electrophoresis mainly detects DNA double-strand breaks, while alkaline (pH ≥ 13) conditions detect double- and single-strand breaks as well as alkali-labile sites. This protocol describes a standard comet assay study for the analysis of DNA damage and outlines important variations of this protocol.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the financial volatility dynamics through the GARCH modelling framework. We use univariate and multivariate GARCH-type models enriched with long memory, asymmetries and power transformations. We study the financial time series volatility and co-volatility taking into account the structural breaks detected and focusing on the effects of the corresponding financial crisis events. We conclude to provide a complete framework for the analysis of volatility with major policy implications and benefits for the current risk management practices. We first investigate the volume-volatility link for different investor categories and orders, around the Asian crisis applying a univariate dual long memory model. Our analysis suggests that the behaviour of volatility depends upon volume, but also that the nature of this dependence varies with time and the source of volume. We further apply the vector AR-DCC-FIAPARCH and the UEDCC-AGARCH models to several stock indices daily returns, taking into account the structural breaks of the time series linked to major economic events including crisis shocks We find significant cross effects, time-varying shock and volatility spillovers, time-varying persistence in the conditional variances, as well as long range volatility dependence, asymmetric volatility response to positive and negative shocks and the power of returns that best fits the volatility pattern. We observe higher dynamic correlations of the stock markets after a crisis event, which means increased contagion effects between the markets, a continuous herding investors’ behaviour, as the in-crisis correlations remain high, and a higher level of correlations during the recent financial crisis than during the Asian. Finally, we study the High-frEquency-bAsed VolatilitY (HEAVY) models that combine daily returns with realised volatility. We enrich the HEAVY equations through the HYAPARCH formulation to propose the HYDAP-HEAVY (HYperbolic Double Asymmetric Power) and provide a complete framework to analyse the volatility process.

No description available.

Antibiotics are a foundation of modern medicine, helping to save millions of lives since their discovery in 1928. But the improper and excessive use of these drugs over the last few decades has led to an alarming increase in antimicrobial resistance; coupled with the recent decrease in antibiotic discovery, it is widely thought that we are approaching a post-antibiotic era. A less well-understood problem is that of drug tolerance. Even at high doses, antibiotics often cannot kill all the bacteria in an infection because of cells that are able to tolerate antibiotic treatment. Evidence points to drug-tolerant cells, also called persisters, to be a major cause of treatment failure and chronic and recurring infections It is imperative that we develop insight and methods to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance and combat antimicrobial tolerance. One key effort is characterizing bacterial responses to antibiotic drug treatment to generate a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that contribute to cell death and to elucidate potential targets for new therapies. Quinolones are an important class of antibiotics that target DNA replication. They bind to topoisomerase II and IV, leading to eventual DNA fragmentation and death. However, the precise mechanism by which they work is not well understood. Because they inhibit DNA replication, quinolones lead to up-regulation of the SOS response, which allows for increased mutagenesis and the potential for increased antimicrobial resistance, thus making quinolones an interesting class of antibiotics to study. Although quinolones are one of the most effective classes of antibiotics, there are many conditions in which they do not kill, such as in stationary-phase cultures. Understanding the mechanism behind quinolone killing, quinolone-induced mutagenesis and tolerance to quinolones is important to improve quinolone efficacy. Here I have presented my work on understanding quinolones: sensitivity, mutagenesis and tolerance. In understanding quinolone sensitivity, I focus on DNA repair and its involvement in quinolone-mediated death. I then probe the field of stress-induced mutagenesis by quinolones, uncovering phenotypes of dose-dependent mutagenesis that have previously been uncharacterized. Finally, I focus on drug tolerance and how density-dependent tolerance to quinolones can be reversed by up-regulating cellular respiration through the addition of a carbon source and electron acceptor. / 2018-11-02T00:00:00Z