Morphogens are signaling molecules that play a key role in animal development. They spread from a restricted source into an adjacent target tissue forming a concentration gradient. The fate of cells in the target tissue is determined by the local concentration of such morphogens. Morphogen transport through the tissue has been studied in experiments which lead to the suggestion of several transport mechanisms. While diffusion in the extracellular space contributes to transport, recent experiments on the morphogen Decapentaplegic (Dpp) in the fruit fly Drosophila provide evidence for the importance of a cellular transport mechanism that was termed "planar transcytosis". In this mechanism, morphogens are transported through cells by repeated rounds of internalization and externalization. Starting from a microscopic theoretical description of these processes, we derive systems of nonlinear transport equations which describe the interplay of transcytosis and passive diffusion. We compare the results of numerical calculations based on this theoretical description of morphogen transport to recent experimental data on the morphogen Dpp in the Drosophila wing disk. Agreement with the experimental data is only achieved if the parameters entering the theoretical description are chosen such that transcytosis contributes strongly to transport. Analyzing the derived transport equations, we find that transcytosis leads to an increased robustness of the created gradients with respect to morphogen over-expression. Indications for this kind of robustness have been found in experiments. Furthermore, we theoretically investigate morphogen gradient formation in disordered systems. Here, an important question is how the position of concentration thresholds can be defined with high precision in the noisy environment present in typical developing tissues. Among other things, we find that the dimensionality of the system in which the gradient is formed plays an important role for the precision. Comparing gradients formed by transcytosis to those formed by extracellular diffusion, we find substantial differences that may result in a higher precision of gradients formed by transcytosis. Finally, we suggest several experiments to test the theoretical predictions of this work.

The rise of Agile project methodologies has increased the success rate of software development projects, but recent studies show that, even though the risk of failing has lessened, only 31% of the completed software development projects are declared as successful while the rest are declared either challenged or failed. A concept called Pair Programming that derives from agile methodologies is widely and basically always used by developers but in present time as we are heading towards a more remote environment and Distributed Pair Programming has become a hot topic. At its core, it is the same as Pair Programming, but the coding session is conducted in a distributed setting, meaning, the two developers are not sitting next to each other. There are little to no studies conducted about DPPs impact on software development projects and if DPP has the potential to mitigate risk factors that may arise while implementing code in an agile software development project.   The purpose of this thesis has been to research and discover what the perceived benefits and drawback of Distributed Pair Programming (DPP) are and which factors that are the most harmful to a software development project and if DPP can facilitate higher success rates. To answer the research questions, a qualitative research method has been used. The empirical data have been gathered by conducting 6 semi structured interviews with developers. Further, a thematic analysis has been carried through with the intent to easily map out the different themes that appears during the interviews.     The findings from the conducted study shows that there are multiple drawbacks and benefits. According to the informants, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in such a manner that by not conducting DPP, they set themselves up for setbacks. It is very beneficial when onboarding a new team member and when tackling tougher problems. When it comes to implementing DPP in a successful manner there is a need for a digital infrastructure that supports verbal communication, web camera, screensharing and collaboration tools. / Ökningen av agila projektmetoder har ökat framgångsfrekvensen för programvaruutvecklingsprojekt, men nyare studier visar att även om risken för att misslyckas har minskat, förklaras endast 31 % av de avslutade programvaruutvecklingsprojekten som framgångsrika medan resten förklaras antingen utmanade eller misslyckades. Ett koncept som kallas för parprogrammering som härrör från gila metoder används i stor utsträckning och i princip alltid av utvecklare, men för närvarande är vi på väg mot en mer digital miljö och distribuerad parprogrammering(DPP) har blivit ett hett ämne. I grunden är det samma sak som parprogrammering men kodningssessionen genomförs i en distribuerad miljö, vilket innebär att de två utvecklarna inte sitter bredvid varandra. Det finns väldigt få studier utförda om DPPs inverkan på programvaruutvecklingsprojekt och om DPP har potential att mildra riskfaktorer som kan uppstå när kod implementeras i ett agilt programvaruutvecklingsprojekt. Syftet med detta examensarbete har varit att undersöka och upptäcka vad de upplevda fördelarna och nackdelarna med DPP är och vilka faktorer som är mest skadliga för ett programvaruutvecklingsprojekt och om DPP kan främja högre framgångsfrekvens. För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod använts. Empirin har samlats in genom att genomföra 6 semistrukturerade intervjuer med utvecklare. Vidare har en tematisk analys genomförts i syfte att enkelt kartlägga de olika teman som framställts under intervjuerna. Resultaten från den genomförda studien visar att det finns flera nackdelar och fördelar. Enligt informanterna uppväger fördelarna nackdelarna på ett sådant sätt att man genom att inte bedriva DPP dukar upp för problem. Det är mycket fördelaktigt när en ny teammedlem ska introduceras och när du tar itu med ett tufft problem. När det gäller att implementera DPP på ett framgångsrikt sätt finns ett behov av bra digital infrastruktur som stödjer verbal kommunikation, webbkamera, skärmdelning och samarbetsverktyg.

In the last decade, the European Union has looked to become more sustainable toreach the global environmental goals. With The European Green deal, a transition towards a circular economy has been set in place. One of the proposals is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) that will improve the circularity and sustainability of almost all categories of physical goods. The digital product passport is a significant part of the ESPR with the goal to enable circular economy and carbon reduction plans by providing product information in a digital format and enable traceability. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Digital Product Passport in product design and manufacturing and to assess the potential opportunities and challenges associated with its introduction. The study also identifies the key traceability aspects that need to be considered when implementing this technology. A qualitative study has been conducted with a focus on small-to-medium sized enterprises in the Swedish furniture industry. In this study, the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework has been used to identify key factors that will have an impact on the future implementation of Digital Product Passport. Based on empirical findings and the literature review, an adapted model of TOE is presented in the discussion. The study has identified several opportunities in the Swedish furniture industry, such as transparency, digital identification, marketing and competitive advantages, value chain collaboration and the traceability aspect. Challenges found were organizational resources, decentralised databases, lack of frameworks, establishing access levels and digital platforms. A traceability aspect that needs to be considered are the security and privacy. Blockchain solution could be seen as a traceability enhancer that provides security, while interoperability between different blockchain networks is questioned. / Under det senaste decenniet har Europeiska unionen försökt bli mer hållbar för att nå de globala miljömålen. I och med EU:s gröna överenskommelse har en övergång till en cirkulär ekonomi inletts. Ett av förslagen är förordningen om ekodesign för hållbara produkter (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, ESPR) som kommer att förbättra cirkulariteten och hållbarheten inom nästan alla kategorier av fysiska varor. Det digitala produktpasset är en viktig del av ESPR med målet att möjliggöra planer för cirkulär ekonomi och koldioxid minskning genom att tillhandahålla produktinformation i digitalt format och möjliggöra spårbarhet. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka det digitala produktpasset i produktdesign och tillverkning samt att bedöma de potentiella möjligheter och utmaningar som är förknippade med dess införande. Studien identifierar också de viktigaste spårbarhetsaspekterna som måste beaktas vid införandet av denna teknik. En kvalitativ studie har genomförts med fokus på små till medelstora företag inom den svenska möbelindustrin. I denna studie har ramverket Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) använts för att identifiera nyckelfaktorer som kommer att ha en inverkan på den framtida implementeringen av Digital Product Passport. Baserat på empiriska resultat ochlitteraturstudien presenteras en anpassad modell av TOE i diskussionen. Studien har identifierat flera möjligheter i den svenska möbelindustrin, såsom transparens, digital identifiering, marknadsföring och konkurrensfördelar, samarbete i värdekedjan och spårbarhetsaspekten. Utmaningar som hittades var organisatoriska resurser, decentraliserade databaser, brist på ramverk, fastställande av åtkomstnivåer och antalet digitala plattformar. En spårbarhetsaspekt som måste beaktas är säkerhet och integritet. Blockkedjelösningen kan ses som en spårbarhetsförbättring som ger säkerhet, medan interoperabiliteten mellan olika blockkedjenätverk ifrågasätts.

In a surprising turn of events Chen Shui-bien won the 2000 presidential election in Taiwan, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became the ruling party of Taiwan. This marked a dramatic change in Taiwan's China policy, in that the DPP's China policy was quickly characterized by Taiwan’s objection to the one China principle, the DPP’s insistence on cross-Strait relations is a two-state’s relationship and emphasize Taiwan independence. However, Chen's actions prompted China to pass the Anti-Secession Law in March of 2005 and to force Chen and the DPP to moderate Taiwan’s China Policy. Part of the reasons for Chen's provocative actions toward China and China's response are Taiwan's domestic politics where elections control what the political parties do. The electoral factor in Taiwan has had a critical effect of the establishment of the DPP’s China policy. Therefore, the electoral factor in Taiwan’s domestic politics influences the DPP’s China policy because the DPP is primarily motivated by maintaining their power through vote maximization in elections and uses Taiwan’s China policy as a tool to increase their vote totals. This thesis explores how such domestic political issues have affected Chen and the DPP's China policy and China's response. It also explores how these domestic factors will affect Taiwan's China policy in the future under the DPP. Keywords: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan domestic politics, DPP’s China policy, elections in Taiwan.

There is a continuous search for novel enzymes to complement the abilities of today’s commercially available enzyme and find tailor-fit alternatives to suit the diverse array of bio-based industries. One application could be to increase biogas yield by finding substrate degrading proteases that can be added to the anaerobic digestion process and survive degradation themselves. A novel enzyme identified as a hypothetical dipeptidyl peptidase III, a zinc dependent metallo-protease, was found by a metaproteogenomics approach to be produced by the microorganisms of a thermophilic biogas process. The aim of this study was to express and refold a recombinant variant of the novel DPP III to its active form after production in inclusion bodies in Escherichia Coli. Assaying of refolding conditions was performed by stepwise dialysis and drip dilution. Nine attempts were performed based on findings in literature, although no other variant of DPP III has earlier been successfully refolded from inclusion bodies. The study resulted in a limited set of conditions of temperature, volumes, metal ions, salts and other additives being tested in the refolding buffers. Enzyme refolding and activation was monitored by the hydrolysis of the DPP III fluorescent substrate Arg-Arg β-naphthylamide trihydrochloride, alongside with measurements of protein concentration and SDS-PAGE. The novel DPP III was successfully purified but no definite strategy of producing correctly folded protein was found.

於1980年代的後半幾年中國大陸對台灣的選舉影響開始演變。中國仍然秉持一個中國的原則，而且中國為了統一台灣不排除使用軍力。但是中國這幾年開始用跟之前不同的手段影響台灣的選舉。中國最近開始用經濟發展與自由貿易來試圖影響台灣的選舉。反過來說台灣的兩個政黨對中共的新手段亦有不同的立場。藍影認為中國對台灣來說是個機會，綠影則認為中國對台灣的民主是一個威脅。 / Beginning with Taiwan’s transition to democracy in the late 1980s China’s influence over Taiwan has begun to evolve. China, although still maintaining the right to use military force, has transition to a more economic way of dealing with Taiwan. China attempts to influence Taiwanese voting behavior by offering economic incentives for closer relations with the Mainland. This change has resulted in both of Taiwan’s main political parties evolving their positions on China. The Kuomintang (KMT) views China as an opportunity and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) views China as a threat. Keywords: China, Taiwan, Kuomintang (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

This study characterized the effects of two anti-diabetic drugs, a thiazolidinedione (TZD) and a Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor on bone quality in a glucose intolerant mouse model. Bone quality in a DPP-4 -/- mouse model was also examined. Bone quality was evaluated through densitometry, mechanical testing and techniques to assess remodeling, structural and mineral properties. TZD treatment negatively affected trabecular mechanical properties in male, female and ovariectomized female (OVX) mice. Male mice exhibited the greatest effect due to TZD treatment with reduced vertebral vBMD, trabecular structure and bone formation. DPP-4 inhibitor treatment improved vertebral vBMD and trabecular architecture in female mice but improvements were lost in females following OVX. Male, female and OVX mice experienced increased trabecular mineralization due to DPP-4 inhibitor treatment. Genetic inactivation of DPP-4 did not produce a major bone phenotype in male and female mice but lead to reduced femoral geometry and mechanics in OVX mice.

This study characterized the effects of two anti-diabetic drugs, a thiazolidinedione (TZD) and a Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor on bone quality in a glucose intolerant mouse model. Bone quality in a DPP-4 -/- mouse model was also examined. Bone quality was evaluated through densitometry, mechanical testing and techniques to assess remodeling, structural and mineral properties. TZD treatment negatively affected trabecular mechanical properties in male, female and ovariectomized female (OVX) mice. Male mice exhibited the greatest effect due to TZD treatment with reduced vertebral vBMD, trabecular structure and bone formation. DPP-4 inhibitor treatment improved vertebral vBMD and trabecular architecture in female mice but improvements were lost in females following OVX. Male, female and OVX mice experienced increased trabecular mineralization due to DPP-4 inhibitor treatment. Genetic inactivation of DPP-4 did not produce a major bone phenotype in male and female mice but lead to reduced femoral geometry and mechanics in OVX mice.

Orientador:Caris Maroni Nunes / Co-orientador:David Anthony Orin Courtenay / Banca:Márcia Dalastra Laurenti / Banca:Mary Marcondes / Resumo:As estratégias de controle da leishmaniose visceral (LV) no Brasil estão baseadas no diagnóstico e tratamento precoce de casos humanos, no controle dos vetores, através do uso de inseticidas e na triagem sorológica com posterior eutanásia de cães positivos para leishmaniose. Assim, o diagnóstico da leishmaniose visceral canina (LVC) deve ser capaz de identificar adequadamente o reservatório canino, garantindo a eficiência desta medida de controle. Considerando-se que a resposta imune humoral desenvolvida por cães à infecção natural por Leishmania spp. é dependente da carga parasitária, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar se o resultado dos testes diagnósticos atualmente utilizados em inquéritos soro epidemiológicos no Brasil (teste rápido-DPP BioManguinhos® e teste ELISA indireto EIE-ELISA BioManguinhos®) apresentam relação com a carga parasitária do sangue de cães. Para tal foram avaliadas amostras de 610 cães da região noroeste do Estado de São Paulo a qual é endêmica para LV. A positividade variou de 15,9 a 68.4% acordo com as técnicas utilizadas, devido às diferenças na sensibilidade e especificidade dos testes. De modo geral, cães sorologicamente positivos apresentaram carga parasitária média maior que a dos cães negativos. Entretanto, a avaliação do potencial de transmissão dos cães sorologicamente negativos faz-se necessária / Abstract:Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) control strategies in Brazil are based on the early detection and treatment of the patients, vector control by insecticide and the serological screening and euthanasia of positive dogs. Thus, canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) diagnosis must accurately identify canine reservoir hosts to ensure the efficiency of screening. Considering that the humoral immune response of dogs to natural Leishmania spp. infection is dependent on parasite load, our aim was to evaluate if outcomes of the diagnostic kits currently used in canine seroepidemiological surveys in Brazil (DPP-BioManguinhos™ rapid test and EIA-ELISA Indirect ELISA BioManguinhos™) could be related to the blood parasite loads in dogs. Six hundred and 10 dogs from the VL endemic region of Northwest São Paulo State were sampled for this evaluation. Positivity varied from 15.9 to 68.4% between diagnostic techniques, due to differences in test sensitivity and specificity. Overall, positive dogs had higher mean parasite loads than negative dogs. Nevertheless, the potential of transmission of the negative dogs shall be investigated / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-06T13:02:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-07-17. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-10-06T13:19:32Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000849010.pdf: 646917 bytes, checksum: 6ff31432c39a9bdc92b648de138b7639 (MD5) / Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) control strategies in Brazil are based on the early detection and treatment of the patients, vector control by insecticide and the serological screening and euthanasia of positive dogs. Thus, canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) diagnosis must accurately identify canine reservoir hosts to ensure the efficiency of screening. Considering that the humoral immune response of dogs to natural Leishmania spp. infection is dependent on parasite load, our aim was to evaluate if outcomes of the diagnostic kits currently used in canine seroepidemiological surveys in Brazil (DPP-BioManguinhos™ rapid test and EIA-ELISA Indirect ELISA BioManguinhos™) could be related to the blood parasite loads in dogs. Six hundred and 10 dogs from the VL endemic region of Northwest São Paulo State were sampled for this evaluation. Positivity varied from 15.9 to 68.4% between diagnostic techniques, due to differences in test sensitivity and specificity. Overall, positive dogs had higher mean parasite loads than negative dogs. Nevertheless, the potential of transmission of the negative dogs shall be investigated