Using the Eysenk Personality Inventory and the Psychological Research Test by Bemot, Dumonr. Laurent and Philonenko, the authors have analysed diffetent personality lacrors in women who asked for rubal sterilization as irreversible birth-control method. A comparative study of 100 women (mean age of 35, a mean of 13 years of marriage and a mean of 4 childten) who underwent a rubal sterilization (experimental group) and 100 women (mean age of 31, 8 years of marriage and a mena of 2 children) who underwent a reversible birth control method (control group). Results showed no sign6cant differences between the experimental and the control groups with respect to Neuroticism {N-EPI) and Psychopathology Levels (PSY). / Este trabajo ha analizado diferentes factores de personalidad en la mujer que solicita esterilización tubárica como método anticonceptivo irreversible, a través del  Cuestionario de personalidad de Eysenk (EPI) y del Test de Investigación Psicológica de Bemot, Dumont, Laurent y Philooenlco {PSY). Se hace un análisis comparativo de 100 mujeres (con una edad promedio de 35 :años, 13 años de matrimonio en promedio y un promedio de 4 hijos) a las que se les ha realizado la esterilización rubárica (grupo experimental), y 100 mujeres (con una edad promedio de 31 años, 8 años de matrimonio y un promedio de 2 hijos) que solicitan un método anticonceptivo reversible (grupo control). Los resultados no muestran diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre ambos grupos, con respecto a las variables de Neuroticismo (N-EPI) y de Balance Psicoparológico (PSY).

This master’s thesis deals with functional magnetic resonance and monitoring of the effect of acquisition acceleration methods on the quality of functional images and observed BOLD signal. The basic principles of magnetic resonance imaging, the explanation of the specifics of functional magnetic resonance and the formation and scanning of BOLD signal are described here. Subsequently, there is the definition of fMRI experiment and description of sequences used for fMRI, focusing on aquisition acceleration techniques. The influence of sequence parameters on image quality and the data processing methods are explained aftewards. The practical part describes the parameters of used sequences, the acquisition procedure and the task for the subject during aquisition. Data from 26 healthy volunteers were obtained and analyzed afterwards. Based on this, the differencesbetween the different sequence variants were evaluated and the initial assumption that the multi-echo acquisition yields better results with faster measurements than single-echo was confirmed.

A novel non-invasive imaging method of unique k-space trajectory named “3D center-out EPI with cylindrical encoding” was developed and implemented for fast imaging of the human brain. The method based on a variant of 3D hybrid EPI combines advantages of the Cartesian and the radial encoding to achieve ultra-short echo time independent of spatial resolution and reasonably short echo train length yielding a quality image of high signal-to-noise ratio. Unlike rectilinear sampling, the method offers not only less motion and flow artifacts but enables also the undersampling capability. As a result, the method improves temporal resolution by shortening the measurement time. Nonetheless, artifacts induced from long-term drifts of the magnetic field as well as geometrical distortions caused by B0 inhomogeneity were removed with the average phase of the k-space center lines and an additional field map scan. Compared to other cylindrical k-space trajectories based on echo-planar imaging, which lead to progressively increasing echo time upon increasing the spatial resolution, the proposed method offers more benefits. As a significant application, imaging readout of the novel technique was applied to true 3D cine imaging which was later used in the combination of pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling module in order to track a short arterial spin labeling (ASL) bolus of well-defined length along the fast passage through the large vessel compartment of the brain. Parametric maps of ASL signal change, estimated time-to-peak and ASL bolus width were extracted in order to characterize the macrovascular compartments of the brain-feeding arteries. Consequently, bolus dispersion within a single arterial branch was also assessed.

This dissertation analyzes the basalt ground stone industry at the archaeological site of Tres Zapotes, Mexico. Artifacts and by-products were recovered in the excavations conducted by a University of Kentucky project directed by Christopher Pool. All contexts were examined, and the corpus of this study comprises the whole sequence of production, use, and discards of basalt such as by-products of manufacture, unfinished and finished tools, and discarded artifacts. In this opportunity was possible to study over time a change from the Early/Middle Formative period (Olmec occupation) a centralized and exclusionary political economic system to the Late/Terminal Formative period (Epi-Olmec occupation) when there was a corporate system. This work applied contemporary concepts in social sciences such as agency, practice theory, technological choice, and chaîne opératoire. The variation of raw materials over time was studied recoding physical characteristics and a sample of artifacts was analyzed with X-ray florescence in order to see variation in acquisition of rocks over time.

This dissertation examines settlement patterns and political and economic organization at the archaeological site of El Mesón, located in the Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin, in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Monumental art from the site indicated that the primary occupation dated to the Late Formative (400 B.C.-A.D. 1) or Protoclassic period (A.D. 1-300), however aside from a small surface collection of ceramic sherds, the area remained uninvestigated archaeologically. The Recorrido Arqueológico was initiated in 2003 to provide data about the development of settlement in the area around El Mesón, and to examine how the area was organized politically and economically. The settlement data indicate that over the course of the Formative period El Mesón expanded from a medium sized village to become a secondary center to Tres Zapotes during the Late Formative period. The replication of Tres Zapotes’s civicceremonial architecture in the core of El Mesón indicates its subordinate status to the larger center. Over the course of the Protoclassic period, El Mesón was abandoned and a series of new architectural complexes proliferated in the area until the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900), settlements in the El Mesón area declined. In assessing the political organization I focus on how exclusionary strategies that focus of the personal prestige of the leader were combined with corporate strategies that promote group solidarity. I argue that based on the architectural layouts and internal organization of the civic-ceremonial complexes that exclusionary strategies predominated in the area, but corporate strategies were also promoted to reinforce group solidarity among factions. This work complements ongoing work at Tres Zapotes by providing a perspective on the use of exclusionary and corporate strategies within secondary centers. This work contributes to the study of political systems more broadly by focusing on how different political strategies were integrated within political systems at the regional and local scale.

Student Number : 0215978H - MPh research report - School of Public Health - Faculty of Health Sciences / The study was conducted in the City of Mbabane and assessed Occupational Health and Safety in the informal car maintenance, welding and spray-painting industry. The objective of the study was to assess the risks workers are exposed to in the informal car maintenance, welding and spray-painting industry in Mbabane city in Swaziland. Data was collected by administration of a questionnaire to managers of the establishments and by personal observations of workers while on the job from walk through surveys that were conducted in the city. Seventy (70) workplaces were identified and sixty five (65) of them participated in the study, representing a response rate of 92.86%. There were twenty (20) workplaces doing car maintenance, twenty five (25) doing welding and twenty (20) doing spray painting. Fifty-three (53) The data was analysed using the EPI INFO software and results revealed that most workers in this sector were indeed at high risk of exposure to occupational health and safety problems. They worked under unfavourable conditions such as working in the open and subjected to adverse weather conditions, exposed to solvents, welding fumes and gases, strenuous work, improper postures, lifting heavy loads, exposed to spray painting aerosols and fumes and exposed to dust. The workers’ occupational health and safety was made worse by the fact that most of them did not have or use personal protective equipment. 90% of the workers were exposed to emissions while carrying out their jobs of spray painting and 10% of them were exposed to paint. All the workers that were doing spray painting were exposed to paint (95%) and solvents 5%). Although 75% of the workers, doing spray painting had some kind of personal protection provided however the usage rate was very low. In all the workplaces that were doing spray painting, there were no other existing control measures for protecting the workers from paint emissions 76% did not have any respiratory protection. However, only 33.3% of them were using the PPE provided and 66.7% were not using them. Therefore most of the workers were at risk of breathing in welding fumes and other welding related gases. This means 92 % of workers were at risk to welding fumes and gases. 68% of the workers did not have protection for the hands, only 32% had. Those workers that had hand protection (32%) had gloves with shorter cuffs and separate sleeves (12%). Others had leather gauntlet gloves with canvas or cuffs (20%). 75% of these workers who had PPE were not using them, only 25% did. Since most of the workers did not use hand protection, this means that their hands were not protected against heat, spatter, and radiation. Most of the workers (72%) did not wear eye protection when removing slag and that put them at risk of eye injuries. All welding operations were not done in a booth. This means that the workers and co-workers were at risk of exposure to welding gases and fumes. 48% of the workplaces had their surroundings with materials that could catch fire. 52% had their surroundings free from burnable material. Therefore almost half of the workplaces were at risk of catching fire. 76% of the working places had no fire extinguishers. Only 24% had fire extinguishers, but only two had been serviced accordingly. The workplaces were less prepared for outbreaks of fire. 68% of the workers took no precautions against burns; they had their sleeves rolled up and forearms without gloves or sleeves when carrying out their work. Only 32% of the workers took precautions against burns. 72% of the workers said that they did not know how to treat burns. Only 28% said they knew how to treat them. 72% of the workplaces did not have first aid kits. The means that they were not prepared for accident, only 28% had first aid kits. 71.4% of the work places had first aid kits without the necessary medicines, bandages, and equipment, only 28.6% had. This indicated a lack of preparedness for accidents on their part. A long-term strategy should be developed aimed at improving the occupational health and safety of the workers. Workers need to be empowered to perform their tasks safely. Workers and owners of informal industries should participate in the formulation of interventions aimed at improving occupational health and safety. The City Council should provide health and safety education and training to the Informal Sector.

Cultivated tomato plants are extremely susceptible to the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch. Selection for pest resistance is usually a crucial step required to achieve successful genetic resistance transfer from wild into cultivated tomato genotypes. S. habrochaites LA2329, a wild relative of tomato, is highly resistant to arthropods. Its resistance has been attributed to the presence of a high density of type IV and type VI trichomes and abundant production of 7-epi-zingiberene, a sesquiterpene hydrocarbon. The interspecific backcross hybrids used in this research were derived from the cross between the wild relative tomato, S. habrochaites LA2329, and the cultivated tomato, S. lycopersicum ‘Zaofen 2’ (ZH2). This population has been directly selected for type IV trichome density and zingiberene. The arthropod resistance status of the backcross hybrids was unknown when this research was initiated. Thus, the main objective of the research was to verify the transfer of arthropod resistance from S. habrochaites to cultivated tomato. The effects of glandular trichome densities and leaf zingiberene contents on spider mite behavior and biology were also explored. Also, the chemical composition of the trichome secretions in the wild tomato donor is segregating for presence and abundance of sesquiterpenoids related to zingiberene. The bioactivity of these sesquiterpenoids was explored in this research. To evaluate the relative bioactivities of zingiberene alcohol and 7-epizingiberene, extracted from glandular trichomes of Solanum habrochaites accession LA2329, as well as alpha-zingiberene obtained from ginger oil, these were purified by silica gel chromatography and bioassayed with two-spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) using a bean leaf disc bioassay. Zingiberene alcohol was most efficacious and alpha-zingiberene, was least efficacious, while the efficacy of 7-epizingiberene was intermediate. Thus, tomato breeders should consider introgression of the genes responsible for the oxidation of 7-epizingiberene into zingiberene alcohol to potentially improve the spider mite resistance of cultivated tomato. Also, it is possible that this compound may be exploited as eco-biopesticide approach for integrated pest management against a broad spectrum of herbivorous pests. To verify transfer of arthropod resistance, a bioassay utilizing whole leaves was employed. Nine hybrids (BC3F3 and BC3F4) were chosen for this bioassay, based on variation of type IV trichome density and zingiberene concentration among the hybrids. The experiment also included three susceptible and three resistant control plants. Mite responses on some of the hybrids were similar to those on the resistant wild donor parent, S. habrochaites, as indicated by number of leaflet surfaces infested by mites, degree of mite webbing and feeding damage. Egg density on four backcross hybrids was similar to that on the S. habrochaites resistant controls. Based these results, we concluded that resistance had been successfully transferred from the wild accessions to the hybrids by deployment of backcrossing and indirect selection. There was a significant negative correlation of almost all mite behavioral and biological responses with Type IV trichome density and zingiberene content. This bioassay illuminated behavioral variations of mites associated with presence or absence of leaf compounds and glandular trichome densities. Also, the results support the idea that introgression of type IV trichomes and zingiberene has led to effective spider mite resistance. In another bioassay-based experiment to verify transfer of resistance, seven interspecific backcross hybrids (BC3F2), the resistant parent LA2329, and two susceptible cultivated tomato lines, the recurrent parent ZH2 and ‘Small Roma’, were used in thumbtack bioassays. Mite movement was measured by imaging bioassayed leaves at 15, 20, 30, 45, and 60 min intervals. In addition to confirming transfer of spider mite resistance, other objectives included determination of the relative contributions of type IV and VI trichome densities and leaf compounds to mite behavior over time intervals. Our findings confirmed the transfer of mite repellency from the wild resistant parent to advanced backcross hybrids. Several backcross hybrids performed similarly to the wild donor parent, displaying shorter distances traveled on the leaves after 15 and 30 min. The type IV and type VI trichome densities as well as zingiberene contents had a significant positive correlation with the number of spider mites remaining on tack. There was a significant negative correlation of type IV density and zingiberene concentration with the total distance travelled by mites for both the abaxial and adaxial surfaces across most time intervals. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the type IV trichome density was the most critical factor, and zingiberene content was a secondary factor across over most time intervals. T. urticae remained longer on the thumbtack heads and traveled shorter distances on the leaf surface of the wild donor parent LA2329 and the interspecific hybrids compared to S. lycopersicum leaves. These results indicated that introgression of genetic resistance, especially repellence, against spider mite from the wild relative into cultivated tomato varieties has been successfully achieved. In conclusion, trichome type IV and/or zingiberene content has been successfully transferred from the wild relative into interspecific tomato hybrids, and the hybrids show significant adverse impact on spider mite behavior and/or biology in whole leaf and thumbtack bioassays. Type IV trichome density is the most crucial factor in mite deterrence while zingiberene seemed to be a second key factor across most of time durations for both surfaces. Collectively, several backcross hybrids had similar leaf characteristics to the S. habrochaites LA2329, also may be a potential source of resistance to other insect pests.

I och med informationsteknologins snabba framväxt i samhället ställs vi också inför problem som hur vi ska handskas med denna utveckling. Forskning visar att fenomenet datorrädsla kan bero på faktorer som exempelvis erfarenhet, personlighet, attityd eller kön. Syftet med denna studie är dock att undersöka eventuella samband mellan datorrädsla, personlighet samt datorerfarenhet. Nittio studenter vid Högskolan Dalarna agerade undersökningsdeltagare (UD) genom att svara på en enkät bestående av tre delar; bakgrundsfrågor, ett personlighetstest sammansatt av Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) samt åtta scenarier, där UD fick skatta sin självupplevda stressnivå i olika situationer. Studien visar att såväl neuroticism som datorerfarenhet skulle kunna predicera datorrädsla. Starkast effekt på den självskattade stressnivån hade dock variabeln kön. Man kan även dra slutsatsen att fenomenet datorrädsla inte är en specifik slags rädsla, utan till viss del hänger samman med andra fobier.

The extraembryonic endoderm (XEN) defines the yolk sac, a set of membranes that provide essential support for mammalian embryos. Recently, the committed XENprecursor was identified in the embryonic Inner Cell Mass (ICM) as a group of cells that intermingles with the closely related, anatomically indistinguishable epiblast (EPI)- precursor that gives rise to the fetus. In vitro, the EPI-precursor is represented by the well-known embryonic stem (ES) cell lines, but cell lines representing the XENprecursor are not known. Furthermore, since the XEN-precursor cells were discovered only very recently, the unexpected fact that they express the key pluripotency marker Oct4 has not been explored. Recently, however, our laboratory has isolated rat XEN cell lines that express Oct4, leading to the following two questions: (i) Do these new XEN cell lines represent XEN-precursor cells? (ii) Is their Oct4 expression regulated similarly as previously known from ES cells? These two questions are addressed here by lineage marker and reporter gene analyses. Whole culture analyses showed that rat XEN cell lines expressed markers of all XEN stages including XEN-precursor, primitive endoderm (PrE) and/or visceral endoderm (VE), and parietal endoderm (PE) but trophoectoderm and EPI-precursor markers were missing. In line with this, immunocytochemistry demonstrated heterogeneity and directly visualized the XEN-precursor, PrE/VE, and PE subpopulations. Low-density plating and time-dependent immunocytochemistry on resulting colonies strongly suggested that XEN-precursor cells generate the other XEN stages. Moreover, by analyzing single-cell derived clones, it was shown that culture heterogeneity results from the self-renewal and differentiation of a single cell. Reporter gene analyses using the 5’ regulatory region of the mouse Oct4 gene revealed that a DNA fragment containing the previously described distal enhancer drove reporter gene expression only in ES cells whereas inclusion of an upstream fragment led to high expression in both mouse ES and rat XEN cells. In conclusion, our rat XEN cell lines contain XEN-precursor cells that differentiate extensively, providing for the first time an in vitro model that mimics the natural process of early XEN differentiation. In addition, they regulate Oct4 gene transcription differently than ES cells suggesting heterogeneous Oct4 regulation within the mammalian ICM.

The permeability of lipid bilayer membranes to glucose and carboxyfluorescein has been studied in model membranes. Using an enzyme assay, the permeability of glucose was monitored spectrometrically with both large and giant unilamellar vesicles (LUVs and GUVs). The permeability of carboxyfluorescein was studied by entrapping the dye and monitoring its leakage over time from a single GUV. Permeability study using GUVs may provide new information that cannot be obtained from LUVs.The stability of lipid membranes was enhanced by incorporating polymer scaffold. LUVs were prepared with hydrophobic monomers partitioned and then polymerized inside the hydrophobic interior of the lipid bilayers. The sizes of the formed polymers were characterized using gel permeation chromatography and mass spectrometry. This study suggests that large molecular weight polymers were formed inside the lipid bilayers and that the stability of the membranes is related to the size of the polymers.