Befunde zu Einflüssen genetischer Variation auf Temperamentsunterschiede und die Entwicklung psychiatrischer Störungen haben in den letzten Jahren bedeutende Beiträge zum eingehenderen Verständnis neurobiologischer Grundlagen von Verhaltensunterschieden geleistet. Eine der am eingehendsten untersuchten genetischen Variationen ist ein Polymorphismus des Dopamin-D4-Rezeptor-Gens (DRD4 Exon III). Nichtsdestoweniger ist seine funktionelle und verhaltenswirksame Rolle bisher weitgehend unklar: Zwar wurden bestimmte Varianten des Polymorphismus mit einer höheren Ausprägung in der Temperamentsdimension Novelty Seeking in Verbindung gebracht, Nachfolgeuntersuchungen erbrachten jedoch inkonsistente Resultate. Angesichts der methodischen und demografischen Heterogenität der einzelnen Studien war es das Anliegen zweier erster Studien der Dissertation, die Ursprungsbefunde möglichst exakt zu replizieren. Während in einer Voruntersuchung bei 136 Studierenden signifikant höhere Werte in Novelty Seeking bei Vorliegen des DRD4 Exon III 7-Repeat-Allels bzw. des 4/7-Genotyps festgestellt wurde, ergaben sich in Studie I, in der 276 Personen der selben Population mit der selben Methodik untersucht wurden, keinerlei Effekte des Polymorphismus. Auch anhand von Meta-Analysen ist gegenwärtig davon auszugehen, dass derzeit keine ausreichende empirische Grundlage für einen Haupteffekt von DRD4 Exon III auf Novelty Seeking vorliegt. Allerdings stellt ein einzelner Polymorphismus nur einen von vielen endogenen und exogenen Einflussfaktoren auf Temperamentsunterschiede dar, und inzwischen liegen auch Befunde zu Interaktionseffekten von DRD4 Exon III mit weiteren Polymorphismen vor. Derartigen Interaktionen wurde in Studie II nachgegangen, bei der für die Stichprobe aus Studie I zusätzlich zwei weitere genetische Polymorphismen genotypisiert wurden, die direkt oder indirekt die Dopamin-Funktion beeinflussen (COMT, 5-HTTLPR). In Studie II konnten die Ergebnisse einer vorhergehenden Arbeit repliziert werden, die einen Effekt des DRD4 Exon III 7-Repeat-Allels nur für bestimmte Genotyp-Gruppierungen der anderen beiden Polymorphismen zeigte. Zudem kann anhand der Befunde eine Abhängigkeit des Effektes von DRD4 Exon III von tonischen Dopamin-Niveaus vermutet werden. Ein neuerer Ansatz für die Aufklärung der funktionellen Rolle genetischer Variation geht davon aus, dass die relativ geringen Effekte von Polymorphismen auf endophänotypischer Ebene, also der Ebene etwa psychophysiologischer Maße wie dem EEG, möglicherweise besser erfassbar sind als auf Fragebogen-Ebene. Daher wurde in Studie III der Einfluss des DRD4 Exon III Polymorphismus auf einen Endophänotyp der Responsivität gegenüber Neuheit unter Berücksichtigung tonischer Dopamin-Niveaus untersucht. Als ein plausibler solcher Endophänotyp wurde die Novelty P3 des akustisch evozierten Potenzials im EEG in einer Stichprobe von 72 Personen im Hinblick auf ihre Modulation durch DRD4 Exon III untersucht. Tonische Dopamin-Niveaus wurden über die spontane Lidschlagrate als einem indirekten Indikator der Dopamin-Aktivität erhoben. Es zeigten sich keine Haupteffekte von DRD4 Exon III oder Lidschlagrate auf die akustisch evozierte Novelty P3. Es fand sich hingegen eine signifikante Interaktion der beiden Faktoren: Unter den Personen mit niedriger Lidschlagrate (=niedrigen tonischen Dopamin-Niveaus) zeigten Personen mit dem DRD4 Exon III 4/7-Genotyp eine signifikant höhere Novelty P3 in Antwort auf abweichende Reize als Personen mit dem 4/4-Genotyp. Dieses Ergebnis legt nahe, dass der Effekt von DRD4 Exon III auf die Verarbeitung abweichender Information von tonischen Dopamin-Niveaus abhängig ist. Insgesamt eröffnen die Resultate der Dissertation auch weiter gehende Erklärungsmöglichkeiten für Befunde etwa zu einer Assoziation von DRD4 Exon III mit Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit/Hyperaktivitätsstörung sowie für Zusammenhänge zwischen kognitiven, motivationalen und temperamentsmäßigen Verhaltenstendenzen.

Concussions are a common type of traumatic brain injury resulting in a series of physical, emotional, and psychosocial symptoms. Following a concussion, emotional processing is thought to be altered through small functional and structural disruptions that impact information processing pathways, which may eventually manifest as behavioral impairments. Thus, the use of both behavioral and functional outcomes may be effective for assessing the changes in emotional processing that may occur following a concussion. The primary purpose of this study was to examine behavioral and neurocognitive differences in response to emotional face images between individuals with and without a history of concussion. Fifty participants (18 female; 32 male) were recruited and assigned to either the concussed (n = 23; Mage = 24.1 ± 1.0) or non-concussed (n = 27; Mage = 23.2 ± 0.6) group based on medical and self-reported concussion history. Participants completed a modified emotional oddball paradigm where representative positive (smiling), negative (frowning), and neutral faces from the Radboud Faces Database were displayed. Neuroelectric measures of P3 amplitude and latency, as well as behavioral measures of response accuracy and reaction time were assessed during the experiment. The concussion group showed significant reductions in accuracy, but no difference in reaction time compared to the non-concussed group. An increase (i.e., slower) in P3 latency was also found in the concussed group, with no observed group differences in P3 amplitude. Findings suggest that concussions may lead to chronic neuroelectric and behavioral deficits in classifying emotional, facial expressions.

Min uppsats undersöker hur P3 arbetar för att bevara och attrahera den unga publiken i dagens medielandskap. Genom etnografisk metod har jag kombinerat intervjuer och deltagande observationer för att förstå hur P3 arbetar i dagens medielandskap. Den tidigare forskning och teorier som har använts beskriver värderingar inom public service, ungdomsradion och mediers inflytande i relation till dagens unga generation. Materialet består av transkriptioner från intervjuer och deltagande observationer. För att analysera materialet har jag använt mig av tematisk analys. Alla teman beskriver olika aspekter inom P3s arbete. De teman som jag har kategoriserat materialet i är: P3 – värderingar och legitimitet, En ung kanal – utbud och ton, Spelplanen – sociala medier och interaktion, Konkurrens – digitalisering och kommersialisering och Framtiden – format och teknologi. Resultatet visar hur P3 arbetar för att behålla sin legitimitet som public service-kanal i relation till dagens mediefält som ställer nya krav på P3 som publicist och hur P3 arbetar för att nå en ung publik som är väldigt tillgänglig, men ändå komplicerad att nå.

The performance of product development processes is important to the commercial success of new products. The improvement of these processes is thus a strategic imperative for many engineering companies - the aero-engine is one example of a complex product for which market pressures necessitate ever-shorter development times. This thesis argues that process modelling and simulation can support the improvement of complex product development processes. A literature review identified that design process modelling is a well-establishedresearch area encompassing a diverse range of approaches. However, most existing tools and methods are not widely applied in industry. An extended case study was therefore conducted to explore the pragmatic utility of process modelling and simulation. It is argued that iteration is a key driver of design process behaviour which cannot be fully reflected in a mechanistic model. Understanding iteration can help select an appropriate representation for a given process domain and modelling objective. A model-based approach to improve the management of iterative design processes was developed. This approach shows that design process simulation models can support practice despite their limited fidelity. The modelling and simulation framework resulting from this work was enhanced for application to a wider range of process improvement activities. A robust and extensible software platform was also developed. The framework and software tool have made significant contribution to research projects investigating process redesign, process robustness and process optimisation. These projects are discussed to validate the framework and tool and to highlight their applicability beyond the original approach. The research results were disseminated in academia and industry - 72 copies of the software were distributed following requests in the first three months of its release.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is partly to illustrate how the AES encryption methods ECB and CTR affect the computational speed when using the GPGPU framework Cuda, but also to clarify the advantages and disadvantages between the different AES encryption modes. Method – A preliminary study was conducted to obtain empirical data on the AES encryption modes ECB and CTR. Data from the study has been analyzed and compared to determine the various aspects of the AES encryption modes and to create a basis for determining the advantages and disadvantages between them. The preliminary study has been carried out systematically by finding scientific works by searching databases within the subject. An experiment has been used as a method to be able to extract execution time data for the GPGPU framework Cuda when processing the AES encryption modes. Experiment were chosen as a method to gain control over the variables included in the study and to see how these variables change when they are consciously influenced. Findings – The findings of the preliminary study show that CTR is more secure than the ECB, but also considerably more complex, which can lead to integrity risks when implementation is done incorrectly. In the experiment, computational speeds are produced when the CPU memory sends to the GPU memory, the encryption on the GPU and how long it takes for the GPU memory to send to the CPU memory. This is done for both CTR and ECB in encryption and decryption. The result of the analysis shows that the ECB is faster than CTR in encryption and decryption. The calculation speed is higher with the ECB compared to the CTR. Implications – The experiment shows that CTR is slower than the ECB. But the most amount of time spent in encryption for both modes are the transfers between the CPU memory and the GPU memory. Limitations – The file sizes of the files tested only goes up to about 1 gigabyte which gave small computation times.

Studien behandlar digitaliseringens påverkan på musiklandskapet i Sverige. Syftet med studienär att förstå om och hur musikdistributionen i ett förändrat musiklandskap, Spotifys spellistekulturoch spellistan Hits idag påverkar P3s musikval. Studien är en empirisk studie som har samlat datagenom en kvantitativ innehållsanalys som jämför spellistor, strukturerade intervjuer med tvåbranschverksamma och en fokusgrupp som diskuterat ämnet. Studien underbyggs av forskninginom medieutveckling, public service och spellistekulturen vilket lägger en grund för enjämförelse med resultatet som visar hur P3 distribuerar musik, hur spellistorna förhåller sig tillvarandra och musikbranschens syn på ämnet.I studiens slutsats framgår det att den digitala utvecklingen har lett till ökad konkurrens för P3vilket kan leda till att de lägger fokus på att öka sina lyssnarsiffror snarare än att bidra med denspetskompetens och kvalitet som ligger i deras uppdrag. Studien påvisar, trots att P3 ska hålla enoberoende ställning mot aktörer med ekonomiska intressen, att P3 har påverkats av Spotifysspellistor. Om Spotifys egna spellistor skapade av musikredaktörer eller algoritmer blir denfrämsta plattformen för musikkonsumtion, riskerar kulturen att bli fattigare, vilket stärker behovetav en samhällsaktör som arbetar i motsatt riktning. Det har också identifierats ett samband mellanmusikbolagen, Spotify och Sveriges Radio där dessa aktörer har en inverkan på varandra,konsumenterna, samhället och på musikutvecklingen. / This study discusses the effect of digitalization on the music landscape within Sweden. The aimwith the study is to understand if and how the public service radio channel P3 is influenced bythe music distribution in a modified musical landscape, Spotify's playlist culture and the playlistHits idag. This paper is an empirical study and the data is collected through a quantitative contentanalysis which compare playlists, structured interviews with two people working within the musicindustry and a focus group who discussed the subject. The theory is reinforced by research fromscientists within media development, public service and the playlist culture. This forms a groundfor discussion of the result that shows how P3 distribute music, how the playlists relate to eachother and what the music industry thinks about the subject.The conclusion shows that the effect of digitalization is a growing competition of P3's consumerswhich could lead to a great focus on increasing the number of listeners instead of producingquality and expertise, which the public service commission tells them to do. The study shows thateven if P3 should be independent from companies with financial interests P3 is affected bySpotify's playlists. If Spotify's own playlists, produced by editors or algorithms, becomes theultimate platform for music consumption there is a risk that the culture becomes inadequate whichstrengthen the need of an independent part who works in the opposite direction. The study hasalso identified a relation between the major music labels, Spotify and Swedish Radio where themajor players affects each other, the consumers, the society, and development of music.

No description available.

The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) of Virginia Tech is participating in the EcoCAR 3 Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition series organized by Argonne National Labs (ANL), and sponsored by General Motors (GM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). EcoCAR 3 is a 4-year collegiate competition that challenges student with redesigning a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro into a hybrid. The five main goals of EcoCAR 3 are to reduce petroleum energy use (PEU) and green house gas (GHG) emissions while maintaining safety, consumer acceptability, and performance, with an increased focus on cost and innovation. HEVT selected a P3 Plug-in Parallel hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to meet design goals and competition requirements. This study presents different stages of the vehicle development process (VDP) followed to integrate the HEVT Camaro. This work documents the control system development process up to Year 2 of EcoCAR 3. The modeling process to select a powertrain is the first stage in this research. Several viable powertrains and the respective vehicle technical specifications (VTS) are evaluated. The P3 parallel configuration with a V8 engine is chosen because it generated the set of VTS that best meet design goals and EcoCAR 3 requirements. The V8 engine also preserves the heritage of the Camaro, which is attractive to the established target market. In addition, E85 is chosen as the fuel for the powertrain because of the increased impact it has on GHG emissions compared to E10 and gasoline. The use of advanced methods and techniques like model based design (MBD), and rapid control prototyping (RCP) allow for faster development of engineering products in industry. Using advanced engineering techniques has a tremendous educational value, and these techniques can assist the development of a functional and safe hybrid control system. HEVT has developed models of the selected hybrid powertrain to test the control code developed in software. The strategy developed is a Fuzzy controller for torque management in charge depleting (CD) and charge sustaining (CS) modes. The developed strategy proves to be functional without having a negative impact of the energy consumption characteristics of the hybrid powertrain. Bench testing activities with the V8 engine, a low voltage (LV) motor, and high voltage (HV) battery facilitated learning about communication, safety, and functionality requirements for the three components. Finally, the process for parallel development of models and control code is presented as a way to implement more effective team dynamics. / Master of Science

This essay examines how the Norwegian web series SKAM presents mental illness; how discourse structures concerning mental illnesses are consolidated and challenged. Our analysis examines seasons one, two and three. The essay is based on Stuart Hall's representation theory, Michel Foucault's theories about madness, and Norman Fairclough's discourse theory. The starting point of the methodology used in this study is a critical discourse analysis based on Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model. The analysis primarily examines three levels: textual level, dialogues of the characters, and visual expression apparent in the scenography of the series. We analyze how the format is used, how the story is distributed through web and social media, and how this relates to a larger social context in addition to how the narrative of mental illness is inevitably part of cultural, institutional, and social order. Our findings reveal that SKAM reinforces cultural beliefs about mental ill health by representing mental illnesses as taboo and stigmatized as well as as being a problem that is (primarily) at the individual level. Mental illness in the series is presented as a threat to community norms where mental ill health is presented at an individual level and not as a product of society's constructed desires or structural problems. The series presents very limited help for the mentally ill. The absence of acceptance of and cure for the mentally ill causes them to wind up outside society and they have greater difficulty contributing in manners similar to those of healthy, working people. / Denna uppsats undersöker hur webbserien SKAM representerar psykisk ohälsa; på vilket sätt diskursiva konstruktioner kring psykiska sjukdomar befästs och utmanas. För att analysera detta undersöks säsong ett, två och tre. Uppsatsen bygger på Stuart Halls representationsteori, Michel Foucaults teorier kring vansinnet och Norman Faircloughs diskursteori. Den metodologi som används för studien är en kritisk diskursanalys där Norman Faircloughs tredimensionella modell är utgångspunkt. Analysen sker främst på tre olika nivåer: textuell nivå; karaktärernas dialoger och seriens visuella uttryck. Hur formatet används; hur berättelsen distribueras genom webb och sociala medier. Samt hur detta sker i en större social kontext; hur berättelsen om psykisk ohälsa ofrånkomligen också är en del av en kulturell, institutionell och samhällelig ordning. Vårt resultat visar att SKAM befäster kulturella föreställningar kring psykisk ohälsa genom att representera psykiska sjukdomar som tabubelagda och stigmatiserade samt som ett problem som (främst) ligger på individnivå. De psykiskt sjuka i serien framställs som hot mot samhällets normer där den psykiska ohälsan läggs på individnivå och inte som en produkt av samhällets konstruerade begär eller strukturella problem. Mycket begränsad hjälp till psykiskt sjuka presenteras i serien. Utlämnandet av acceptans och botemedel för de psykiskt sjuka medför att de hamnar utanför samhället och får svårare att bidra på samma sätt som en frisk, arbetande person kan.

L’Ins(1,4,5)P3 joue un rôle évident dans la signalisation cellulaire : il permet la libération du Ca 2+ des stocks intracellulaires par son action au niveau de récepteurs spécifiques. Pour mettre fin à son action, l’Ins(1,4,5)P3 peut être dégradé par une Ins(1,4,5)P3 5-phosphatase en Ins(1,4)P2, un métabolite inactif. L’Ins(1,4,5)P3 peut aussi être transformé en Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 par une Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase. L’Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 semble posséder des capacités de signalisation propres ou au contraire liées à celles de l’Ins(1,4,5)P3. L’Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 est aussi le point de départ de toute une série d’inositol hautement phosphorylés, dont les rôles ne sont pas clairs. Trois isoformes de l’Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase existent (A, B et C). Ces isoformes possèdent un domaine catalytique carboxy-terminal bien conservé. Par contre, les domaines amino-terminaux sont spécifiques et leur permettraient d’établir des interactions ou de subir des régulations propres. Pour tenter d’élucider le rôle fonctionnel de l’Ins(1,3,4,5)P4, nous avons généré et analysé des souris déficientes pour les isoformes B et C de cette enzyme. Les souris déficientes pour l’Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase C ne présentent pas de phénotype évident, ce qui suggère que son rôle n’est pas crucial ou que son absence peut être compensée par une autre enzyme. Les souris déficientes pour l’Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase B, par contre, présentent une immunodéficience caractérisée par une absence spécifique des lymphocytes T αβ périphériques. Cette absence fait suite à un blocage dans la différenciation du précurseur du lymphocyte, le thymocyte. Les caractéristiques de la signalisation induite par le récepteur de surface (TCR) permettent la sélection des thymocytes, de manière à constituer un pool de lymphocytes T restreints pour le MHC et tolérants pour le soi. Nous avons montré que ces phénomènes de sélection étaient défectueux dans les thymocytes mutants, du fait de leur hyporéactivité à la stimulation par le TCR. Le mécanisme responsable de cette hyporéactivité n’est pas encore élucidé. A première vue, la mobilisation de Ca 2+ ne semble pas altérée dans ces thymocytes mutants en réponse à des stimulations classiques. Cependant, d’autres types de stimulation, se rapprochant plus de celles réellement rencontrées par le thymocyte in vivo, doivent encore être investigués. L’intégrité d’autres voies de signalisation cruciales du lymphocyte T doit aussi être vérifiée. En conclusion, l’isoforme B de l’Ins(1,4,5)P3 3-kinase et l’Ins(1,3,4,5)P4 qu’il produit jouent un rôle crucial dans la différenciation du thymocyte, par un mécanisme qui reste encore à déterminer.