The thioredoxin-like fold is a well conserved fold that is present in many families of proteins. One such superfamily of proteins include the GSTs which are involved in phase II detoxification. GSTs primarily catalyse the metabolism of xenobiotics but are also involved in transporting non–substrate ligands and reactive compounds. The GST fold comprises an N-terminal thioredoxin domain and an all alpha helical C-terminal domain and is present in at least 18 classes of proteins. The N-terminal thioredoxin domain is characterised by the βαβαββα topology and can be further divided into two structural motifs, an N-terminal (βαβ) and a C-terminal (αββα) motif. A well conserved hydrophobic network exists between these two motifs and the role of the C-terminal motif is elucidated in this study using class Alpha GST as a model protein. A topologically conserved valine (Val58) and an isoleucine (Ile75) located on β3 and α3, respectively, were mutated to alanine. Secondary and tertiary structural characterisation as well as ligandin function of the mutant enzymes displayed no major structural alteration with respect to the wild-type enzyme. This was confirmed with high resolution crystal structures obtained. Enzymatic activity was maintained indicating that no structural alterations have occured that affects the active site dynamics and the domain interface as a result of the induced mutations. Thermal denaturation studies, however, indicated a slight destabilisation in the enzyme in the case of the valine mutation, but a large destabilisation was witnessed as a result of the isoleucine mutation. This is further observed in denaturant-induced equilibrium studies where the thermodynamic stability of proteins can be determined. Furthermore, as a result of the isoleucine mutation, the enzyme unfolds via a populated intermediate in contrast to the wild-type which globally unfolds via a two-state mechanism with no stable intermediates being populated. Pulse-proteolysis was employed as an additional probe for thermodynamic stability where the enzyme was digested by thermolysin at varying denaturant concentrations. Pulse-proteolysis results were in agreement with the thermal and denaturant-induced stability studies further confirming that the isoleucince substitution causes a large destabilisation. Thus these conserved hydrophobic residues of the thioredoxin C-subdomain play a crucial stabilising role in the GST fold.

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The value grid model proposes a complex framework to analyse and understand value creatingactivities among different actors. This literature review is focusing on explaining the evolutionof the value grid model, thus explaining the following theories: (1) supply chain, (2) valuechain, (3) value system, (4) value network, (5) knowledge value chain, (6) value grid model.By underlining the significant changes in the level of business complexity, the importance forthe value grid model is explained. The model is based upon three dimensions, that when appliedcan enable a company to enhance its performance and leverage its own competitive advantage.

Spectral integration methods have been introduced for constant-coefficient two-point boundary value problems by Greengard, and pseudospectral integration methods for Volterra integral equations have been investigated by Kauthen. This thesis presents an approach to variable-coefficient two-point boundary value problems which employs pseudospectral integration methods to solve an equivalent integral equation. This thesis covers three topics in the application of spectral integration methods to two-point boundary value problems. The first topic is the development of the spectral integration concept and a derivation of the spectral integration matrices. The derivation utilizes the discrete Chebyshev transform and leads to a stable algorithm for generating the integration matrices. Convergence theory for spectral integration of C[subscript k] and analytic functions is presented. Matrix-free implementations are discussed with an emphasis on computational efficiency. The second topic is the transformation of boundary value problems to equivalent Fredholm integral equations and discretization of the resulting integral equations. The discussion of boundary condition treatments includes Dirichlet, Neumann, and Robin type boundary conditions. The final topic is a numerical comparison of the spectral integration and spectral differentiation approaches to two-point boundary value problems. Numerical results are presented on the accuracy and efficiency of these two methods applied to a set of model problems. The main theoretical result of this thesis is a proof that the error in spectral integration of analytic functions decays exponentially with the number of discretization points N. It is demonstrated that spectrally accurate solutions to variable-coefficient boundary value problems can be obtained in O(NlogN) operations by the spectral integration method. Numerical examples show that spectral integration methods are competitive with spectral differentiation methods in terms of accuracy and efficiency. / Graduation date: 2000

I denna uppsats har en studie genomförts med målet att ur ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv beskriva och sedan analysera hur mindre optikerföretag styrs mot value added selling filosofin. Studien har genomförts med en abduktiv ansats och med en kvalitativ metod. Empiriskt material har samlats in via semi-strukturerade intervjuer med Hagelin & Co, Björkegrens Optik AB, Optiker Tottie och Specsavers. Vi författare har kommit fram till att value added selling filosofin finns mer eller mindre implementerat de flesta mindre företag i någon form av norm eller företagskultur. Det är också företagskulturen vi författare identifierar som det viktigaste styrmedlet för value-added selling.  I optikerbranschen som vi studerat är detta speciellt intressant av den anledningen att respondenterna visat flera tecken på hur value added selling filosofin fungerar, vilket vi författare anser gör studien relevant för mindre företag i allmänhet som verkar på en konkurrensintensiv marknad.

This thesis was conducted in the field of Environmental technology for the Sustainability & Technology Assessment group, at Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology is a research institute, striving to contribute to Singapore’s industrial capital through use-inspired research. The manufacturing industry contributes to a significant portion of the world´s total energy and resource consumption. This resource consumption could be reduced significantly through sustainable initiatives and technologies already available today. The reasons why companies choose not to invest in such technologies are often not due to technical factors, but rather due to financial factors. Financial barriers exist because investments are made on the basis of cost based value systems, which seldom justify investments in sustainable technology. When investments are made, the primary reason is to reduce costs while intangible benefits are ignored. However, this study shows that sustainability creates intangible value that current value systems cannot account for. Understanding the true value of sustainability would help decision makers realize that sustainable manufacturing is a viable business opportunity. This thesis studies the effect sustainable attributes has on a company’s ability to generate value. A value system is proposed, linking 40 sustainable attributes to value domains of intangible value. The value of sustainable attributes is quantified using the Sustainable Value approach. The study shows that social indicators, deemed by others to be unsuitable, can be used when proper adjustments to the Sustainable Value approach are made. A case study was performed on the Swedish manufacturing company Finess Hygiene AB to investigate the applicability of the model. The case study showed that the value system was applicable using data that already exists within the company, but the main challenge lies in collecting good and reliable benchmark data. Benchmark data is significantly easier to obtain in Sweden than Singapore for users wishing to apply the proposed value system. A follow up study should be performed to study the potential of a large scale adoption of the value system in Singapore.

In today’s globalized business world Corporate Social Responsibility hasbecome the pioneer business issue with ethical business governance. Nonetheless,the idea is in the early developing stage in most of the underdevelopedcountries like Ethiopia. Unlike the developed world in which the corporategovernance system plays a kin role in ensuring the ethical business practice,countries without stock market like Ethiopia are faced with lack of wellestablished ethical business practice.   Ethiopian flower industry is at its infancy stage and generates aconsiderable amount of foreign currency and provides job opportunity for manycitizens. However it is still accused of unsustainable flower production.   This paper explores the practice of corporate social responsibility and therelated governance on Ethiopian flower industry. It highlights particularly oncorporate social responsibility practices and its implementation through theassistance of government bodies and other stakeholders. It attempts to revealthe growth of the industry, corporate social responsibility and governmentalregulations with its CSR drivers. The study also assesses convergence of theeconomical, ecological and human practices of flower farms with its related CSRdrivers in promoting their governance on corporate social responsibility. Finallythis research provides opportunity for students, researchers and stakeholdersto analyze and discuss on the current CSR issue of the industry.

The value of an IT system can be considered from a number of different perspectives. Specifically, the same IT system can be valued differently across different stakeholders, time periods, usage environments, and other contextual factors. When measuring the value of an IT system, it is important to consider what value perspectives are relevant and how those perspectives affect the development of value metrics. An IT value assessment framework is proposed to aid in identifying such contextual factors and exploring how those factors affect the value that is realized from an IT system.

With the advent of electronics technology, various instruments in surface roughness measurements appear sequentially. Errors and erroneous judgment will happen while using unsuitably, due to the operating method and range are not exactly the same. For stylus profilometer, the effects of operating parameters on surface roughness of standard sample and machined elements are presented. Furthermore, small size elements or mirror-like surfaces are measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Experimental results show that the cut-off value is the most significant parameter to Ra, it suggests that the best range for the cut-off value is greater and equal to 0.8mm. The error of Rmax is less than 3% at scanning speed of 0.05, 0.1 and 0.5mm/s, and that within 10% at scanning speed of 2mm/s. Rmax increases with increasing angle of work-stage. The measurement length for standard sample is insignificant to Ra and Rmax. When the surface with curvature is measured, the curvature is removed by the cut-off value for filtering, and the roughness curve is judged whether include peaks and valleys of profile curve, and then the surface roughness is measured by man-made. When the irregular surface is measured, the cut-off value of 0.8mm and higher is selected, and represented surface in the way of separate section or area. SEM and AFM are used to assist in measuring for real roughness value when small size elements or mirror-like surfaces are measured. Variations of roughness of machined elements in polishing are measured finally, results show that Ra, Rq, Rmax, Rz, Skewness will decrease with increasing polishing time, and Kurtosis will increase.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relations between F. Scott Fitzgerald and his novel The Great Gatsby, with emphasis on 1920s¡¦ American society as portrayed in this novel. Since the novel is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, it is necessary to discuss the novel in relation to the historical background. Therefore, in this thesis, I focus on the main themes of the novel with a view to better understanding its contexts. This thesis falls into five parts. In the introduction, I points out why the novel seems to be an autobiographical one and give an outline of the whole thesis. In the first chapter, I explore the novel in association with the author¡¦s real life. In the second chapter, I examine the author¡¦s narrative strategies, including characterization, imagery, and symbolism. In the third chapter, I discuss the value systems with reference to the social and economic situation of the 1920s as presented in the novel. In the fourth chapter, I aim to delineate the development of the American Dream in the novel¡Xthe initial pursuit and the later corruption. Furthermore, taking Gatsby as an example, I conclude the chapter by arguing that it is the continuous progress that matters, instead of the success, whether it be material, or spiritual.