Previous research indicates a link between shyness and the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion, particularly among children. The current study examined college students’ facial recognition as a potential influence on their levels of self-reported shyness. Three factors related to facial expression recognition were examined: the participants’ ability to accurately identify facial expressions, their ratings of the intensity of the faces, and their tendency to make positive or negative interpretation errors. Demographic variables, introversion, self esteem, and mood were also examined for their ability to predict shyness. The results indicated a weak relationship between facial expression recognition and shyness. Possible limitations and future directions for research are addressed in light of these new findings. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Psychological Science

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A RIDGE (Region of IncreaseD Gene Expression), as defined by previous studies, is a consecutive set of active genes on a chromosome that span a region around 110 kbp long. This study investigated RIDGE formation by focusing on the well-defined, immunological important MHC locus. Macrophages were assayed for gene expression levels using the Affymetrix MG-U74Av2 chip are were either 1) uninfected, 2) primed with IFN-g, 3) viral activated with mCMV, or 4) both primed and viral activated. Gene expression data from these conditions was studied using data structures and new software developed for the visualisation and handling of structured functional genomic data. Specifically, the data was used to study RIDGE structures and investigate whether physically linked genes were also functionally related, and exhibited co-expression and potentially co-regulation. A greater number of RIDGEs with a greater number of members than expected by chance were found. Observed RIDGEs featured functional associations between RIDGE members (mainly explored via GO, UniProt, and Ingenuity), shared upstream control elements (via PROMO, TRANSFAC, and ClustalW), and similar gene expression profiles. Furthermore RIDGE formation cannot be explained by sequence duplication events alone. When the analysis was extended to the entire mouse genome, it became apparent that known genomic loci (for example the protocadherin loci) were more likely to contain more and longer RIDGEs. RIDGEs outside such loci tended towards single-gene RIDGEs unaffected by the conditions of study. New RIDGEs were also uncovered in the cascading response to IFNg priming and mCMV infection, as found by investigating an extensive time series during the first 12 hours after treatment. Existing RIDGEs were found to be elongated having more members the further the cascade progress.

The aquaculture sector is currently thriving, and has expanded to meet the demand for fish and shellfish as an alternative protein source to meat. This is especially true for high value products such as Atlantic salmon, where in Scotland salmon farming is reported to be worth> £1 billion to the national economy. Currently around 40% of farmed fish and shellfish destined for human consumption are derived from aquaculture. Therefore, a great deal of attention is paid to problems that the industry faces, with fish diseases of paramount importance. A variety of species of bacteria, viruses and parasites are common in the aquatic environment, which can result in serious diseases amongst fish stocks. As a result, ways to improve disease resistance have been the focus of much attention, with the use of vaccines considered a desirable way forward. However, other approaches are also followed, such as the use of immunostimulants to improve fish health in a more limited, non-specific way, or the use of genetic markers to allow selective breeding of important disease resistance traits. For all of these approaches more information is needed on the pathways that give rise to disease resistance in fish in different situations, to allow their manipulation or monitoring, and the studies in this thesis are directed towards this goal. Fish has been used as a model to study the evolution of vertebrate immunolity for some deacades, especially work on humoral immune responses where knowledge on antibody production has dominated much of the literature on fish immunology. In contrast, little known about specific cell-mediated immunity in fish, even though it also likely plays an important role in the immune system and disease resistance. Therefore, this thesis has been focused on analysing such responses, taking advantage of the recently discovered cytokines of adaptive immune responses in fish, which allow transcriptomic studies in particular to look at the molecules turned on during infection and after vaccination. Thus the goal of this thesis was to take advantage of some successful vaccines that exist for rainbow trout, and examine the gene expression changes that occur in vaccinated trout post-challenge with the homologus pathogen, and to try to dissect pathways that may correlate with disease resistance in this species.

La détermination de la structure d’une molécule dans une cellule est souvent la première étape à la compréhension de son mode d’action. Un exemple flagrant est le riborégulateur, qui est un ARN hautement structuré capable de lier un ligand et de modifier la régulation génique chez les bactéries. Cette étude se penche sur la structure de l’aptamère d’un riborégulateur pouvant se lier au métabolite S-adénosylméthionine (SAM), qui est impliqué dans des réactions de méthylations essentielles dans une cellule. Plus précisément, le modèle sélectionné pour ces travaux provient de la famille SAM-I et est composé de quatre tiges (P1 à P4). En utilisant des techniques biophysiques telles le FRET et le single-molecule FRET (sm-FRET), nous pouvons comprendre plus en détails le dynamisme structural du repliement de l’aptamère qui se passe en deux étapes. La première étape de repliement de l’aptamère est constituée par la formation de l’état intermédiaire induite par la liaison du magnésium. Cet état a été caractérisé grâce à des mutations nucléotidiques bloquant des changements conformationnels spécifiques. Aussi, cette étude a permis d’ajouter des détails biophysiques sur la dernière étape de repliement de l’aptamère induite par la liaison de SAM. La réorganisation finale du site de liaison implique une rotation de la tige P1. D’ailleurs, la formation de la tige P1 permet le contrôle direct de l’expression génétique. Ces deux étapes permettent à l’aptamère du riborégulateur SAM d’adopter sa structure native essentielle à l’arrêt de transcription. En bref, nous décrivons en détail les mécanismes structuraux expliquant le fonctionnement du riborégulateur SAM. Certains de ces mécanismes pourraient être communs à plusieurs classes de riborégulateurs, d’où l’intérêt de prospecter d’autres cibles.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease of the lung vessels that causes severe effects on the right ventricle of the heart; ultimately, most patients with severe PAH die as a result of right heart failure. However, little is known about the causes of right heart failure. Here, we describe a pattern of gene expression that differs between the normal rat left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (RV). These genes are known to be involved in the development of the heart as well as adaptations to the heart during stress. This gene expression pattern is used as a baseline to describe changes in gene expression the occur in the RV as a result of adaptive hypertrophy, stimulated by chronic hypoxia, or right ventricular failure (RVF), caused by administration of Su5416 and hypoxia. The genes differing between RVF and hypertrophy encode glycolytic enzymes, mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes, cell-growth promoting proteins, and angiogenic capillary maintenance proteins. Additionally, we show that RVF is associated with an increase in the serum cytokine production of IL-1 beta, IL-10, TNF-alpha, and VEGF. Finally, we show that treatment with the beta-adrenergic receptor blocker carvedilol partially changed the gene expression pattern seen with RVF. The most profound effects were on the genes encoding glycolytic enzymes and mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes. Together, these results show that the normal LV and RV have a distinct pattern of expression and that the failing RV is characterized by changes in cell growth, angiogenesis, and energy utilization. Treatment with carvedilol can partially reverse these gene expression changes in the failing RV.

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This diploma thesis deals with freedom of speech and its limits. Freedom of speech as the fundamental right which is necessary to proper functioning of a democratic state where the law rules. In this regard the freedom of speech has to be protected properly. Protection in Czech legal order is entrusted with the legal regulation of the major legal force, part of constitutional order, "Charter of fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms". Freedom of speech as we know it today, was expressed after the Second World War as a prevention of similarly devastating conflict in the future. Certain desire for the free dissemination of ideas we can see in a deep histor when firs attemps of gaining freedom of speech was closely connected to religion. In the 19th century, when the freedom of denomination has found its stable place in the statutes of the most European countries, the freedom of speech has become to be undestood in connection to the freedom of the press, that was the only communicatory media. During the 20th century, when the humankind all over the world witnessed the appalling horror of wars the strict protection od human rights became necessary. For this purpose first international organizations were estabilished and in their scope was formulated first indexes of human rights. The formulation of fundamental...

The thesis provides a qualitative analysis of an autobiographical play based on journals written by a mentally challenged woman. The analysis is founded on authentic personal experience, the script of the play and a video recording of its performance. The empirical section is preceded by a theoretical introduction focused on mental disability in relation to theatre. The empirical section begins with the question: What can we learn about a mentally disabled person through theatre? The analytical process consists of three levels: a content analysis of the performance, an analysis of the author's perspective and the viewpoint of an implied spectator. The analysis shows that the story contains common autobiographical topics and the author barely reflects her disability. The creative perspective consists of the process of adapting the story into a play. Theatre also plays a therapeutic role and raises awareness. There is an imaginary window on the boundary between the stage and the audience, one that the author opens from within and the viewer from without. During the course of the play, the implied spectator becomes confronted with their prejudice and an accumulation of ambivalent feelings. This process ends in a catharsis and a genuine encounter with the actor's world and her spontaneity. KEY WORDS...

Les anticorps catalytiques sont étudiés pour comprendre leur rôle en conditions physiopathologiques. Ils semblent aussi représenter des outils révolutionnaires pour des études à l'interface entre la chimie, la biochimie, la biologie et immunologie. Par conséquent, la connaissance des relations de structure- fonction représente un grand intérêt. Nous avons exploré deux systèmes d'expression pour la production d'un anticorps catalytique modèle présentant une activité bêta-lactamase. Le fragment scFv recombinant a été produit dans le système d'expression procaryote. Les scFv sont souvent décrits comme des protéines difficiles à produire. Une méthode efficace a été développée pour produire de grandes quantités de scFv solubles et correctement repliés. L'anticorps catalytique entier a aussi été produit en exploitant le système d'expression eucaryote. Des cellules de mammifères ont été utilisées car elles peuvent conserver le repliement original des protéines, leur assemblage et les modifications post-traductionnelles. La structure secondaire du scFv catalytique a été analysée par dichroïsme circulaire pour s’assurer que la renaturation du scFv est en accord avec le repliement des scFv natifs. La fonctionnalité du scFv catalytique et de l'anticorps catalytique entier a été validée par deux approches : (1) le développement d’un test immuno-enzymatique (ELISA) et la résonance plasmonique de surface (RPS) et (2) le développement d'un test catalytique sensible utilisant un substrat fluorogénique. Ce travail amène à considérer de potentielles applications biotechnologiques et thérapeutiques des anticorps catalytiques. / Catalytic antibodies are investigated in order to understand their role under physio-pathological situations. But they also appear to be revolutionary tools to perform studies at the interface between chemistry, biochemistry, biology and immunology. Consequently, the knowledge of structure–function relationships is of great interest. We explored two expression systems for the production of a model catalytic antibody displaying a beta-lactamase activity. The recombinant scFv fragment was produced in the prokaryotic expression system. scFv fragments are often described as proteins being laborious to produce. An efficient method was developed to produce large quantities of refolded soluble catalytic scFv. Whole catalytic antibody was also produced by exploiting eukaryotic expression system. Mammalian cells were used because they are able to retain the original protein folding, assembly and post-translational modifications. The secondary structure of the catalytic scFv has been analyzed by circular dichroism to ensure that the refolded scFv is consistent with a native scFv fold. The functionality of the catalytic scFv and whole catalytic antibody has been validated by two approaches: (1) development of enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) approaches for testing that the binding characteristics of an inhibitory peptide have been retained, and (2) proof of the subtle catalytic properties conservation through the development of a new sensitive catalytic assay using a fluorogenic substrate. This will lead to consider potential biotechnological and therapeutic applications of catalytic antibodies.