Structural biology is a branch of science related to biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology that deals with the molecular structures of biological macromolecules, in particular nucleic acids and proteins. Structure-guided drug design uses three-dimensional knowledge of protein structures to design small molecules which block the action of specific proteins. When crystals of theses macromolecules and their complexes can be obtained, their crystal structures can be determined by using isomorphous differences between a native structure and a derivative structure. This allows crystallographers to determine the coordinates of a small number of heavy atoms which provide initial phases for macromolecules. The advent of synchrotron radiation allowed determination of a heavy atom substructure by use of anomalous differences using either multiple wavelengths (MAD) or a single wavelength (SAD); the latter has become the most common phasing method in crystallography and is the method used in this study. The use of SeMet has been by far the most successful method employed in SAD. However, in some cases production of SeMet proteins is not possible thus necessitating additional options, for example, xenon. Noble gases such as xenon may be used in SAD experiments by binding to various, non-specific sites. Advances in noble gas pressurization systems like the Hampton Research Xenon Chamber have greatly eased the production of noble gas derivatives, xenon itself being a prime candidate with a very strong anomalous signal when compared to lighter noble gases like krypton and argon. Investigation of the phasing properties of xenon was carried out on test proteins hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL), thermolysin, glucose isomerase, and thaumatin II. Phases were successfully determined for all four proteins including thaumatin II which did not bind xenon but was successful due to the anomalous signal from 17 native sulfurs. The three remaining proteins showed varying occupancies and numbers of sites including xenon sites in thermolysin and glucose isomerase which have not been observed previously. This document will serve as a guide for the preparation of xenon derivative crystals and provides a strategy for the collection and processing of data from xenon derivatives.

The placebo effect, a beneficial effect attributable to a treatment containing no specific properties for the condition being treated, has been demonstrated in a variety of medical conditions. This thesis includes four studies aimed at increasing our knowledge on the neurobiology of placebo. Study I, a review of the placebo neuroimaging literature, suggested that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may be a common site of action for placebo responses. However, because placebo neuroimaging studies in clinical disorders are largely lacking, the clinical relevance of this needs further clarification. The subsequent three empirical studies were thus designed from a clinical perspective. Using positron emission tomography (PET) these studies investigated the underlying neurobiology of sustained placebo responses in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD), a disabling psychiatric condition that nonetheless may be mitigated by placebo interventions. Study II demonstrated that serotonergic gene polymorphisms affect anxiety-induced neural activity and the resultant placebo phenotype. In particular, anxiety reduction resulting from placebo treatment was tied to the attenuating effects of the TPH2 G-703T polymorphism on amygdala activity. Study III further compared the neural response profile of placebo with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), i.e the first-line pharmacological treatment for SAD. A similar anxiety reduction was noted in responders of both treatments. PET-data further revealed that placebo and SSRI responders had similar decreases of the neural response in amygdala subregions including the left basomedial/basolateral (BM/BLA) and the right ventrolateral (VLA) sections. To clarify whether successful placebo and SSRI treatments operate via similar or distinct neuromodulatory pathways, study IV focused on the connectivity patterns between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex that may be crucial for normal emotion regulation. In responders of both treatment modalities, the left amygdala (BM/BLA) exhibited negative coupling with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the rostral ACC as well as a shared positive coupling with the dorsal ACC. This may represent shared treatment mechanisms involving improved emotion regulation and decreased rumination. This thesis constitutes a first step towards better understanding of the neurobiology of placebo in the treatment of anxiety, including the neural mechanisms that unite and segregate placebo and SSRI treatment.

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, 2018. / Submitted by Raquel Almeida (raquel.df13@gmail.com) on 2018-04-16T20:06:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_JeuelBernardesAlves.pdf: 5225733 bytes, checksum: ecd7359db9b2dd5499afe71a6452ec93 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana (raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2018-05-08T21:45:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_JeuelBernardesAlves.pdf: 5225733 bytes, checksum: ecd7359db9b2dd5499afe71a6452ec93 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-08T21:45:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_JeuelBernardesAlves.pdf: 5225733 bytes, checksum: ecd7359db9b2dd5499afe71a6452ec93 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-08 / A investigação acerca do risco de insustentabilidade é inscrita na temática de sistemas de apoio à decisão e provocada pela questão científica: até que ponto a cooperação entre agentes de decisão minimiza o risco de insustentabilidade coletiva? Para averiguação da questão é proposto um mecanismo de prognóstico de risco de insustentabilidade coletiva entre os agentes de decisão sob conflito de interesses. Ao entender que a atuação individual do agente de decisão pode ser expressa sob a estrutura de projeto, de sorte a repercutir seus resultados sobre os demais e produzindo o desempenho coletivo na eficiência do portfolio no intuito de que estes impactos sejam medidos, é que é adotado o processo de investigação fundamentado na abordagem hipotético-dedutiva, uma vez que é admitido o desempenho de eficiência da teoria moderna de portfolios para validação dos ajustes nos projetos, bem como na identificação do limiar do risco de insustentabilidade coletiva. Foram obtidos dados históricos e documentais para estruturar o cenário de estudo em uma instituição de ensino superior e que na etapa de definição do planejamento orçamentário surgiram conflitos de interesses entre seus cursos. Para apoiar esse processo utilizou-se a simulação adaptativa para realizar cenários de ajustes nas variáveis de decisão dos projetos dos cursos com efeito no portfolio, bem como comparações entre os regimes de decisão cooperada e competitiva. O risco de eficiência do portfolio foi a medida utilizada tanto para indicar o regime de decisão, como para estruturar os ajustes dos projetos que permitiram minimizar o risco de insustentabilidade coletiva. Portanto, o mecanismo proposto permite congregar decisões entre agentes competitivos sob uma plataforma comum de prognóstico e fator risco de insustentabilidade coletiva, de forma a sugerir uma referência de comparação entre decisões cooperadas e competitivas, a partir de parâmetros de amplitude de ajuste de cada variável e tolerância ao risco ao longo do tempo. / An investigation into the risk of unsustainability and training in the issue of decision support systems, and provoked by the scientific journal: to whoever points an agent between decision makers minimizes the risk of collective unsustainability? Therefore, a prognostic mechanism and risk factor of collective unsustainability among the decision agents under conflict of interests is proposed. What you are looking for is a project structure, so as to reflect its results on the others and produce the collective performance in the efficiency of the portfolio, without intention that these impacts are measured that are adopted by the process of investigation based on the hypothetical-deductive approach , since the efficient performance of the modern portfolio theory is accepted for validation of the adjustments in the projects, as well as in the identification of the threshold of the risk of instituting the collective. There are archives obtained historical and documentary data to structure the study scenario in an institution of higher education, that in the stage of definition of the budgetary planning arise conflict of interest between its courses. For the decision-making process of the decision group, use the adaptive simulation process to perform scenarios of adjustments in the decision variables of the course projects, as well as comparisons between the cooperative and competitive decision regimes. The portfolio's risk of efficiency for a measure used to indicate the decision regime, as a structure of project adjustments that allow to minimize the risk of collective unsustainability. On the other hand, the proposed mechanism allows the participation of competitive agents, under a common prognostic platform and risk factor of collective unsustainability, in order to suggest a reference of comparison between cooperative and competitive decisions, from the parameter amplitude of adjustment each variable and risk tolerance over time.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:42:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo7450_1.pdf: 1066453 bytes, checksum: fbb20f359c8c69462a9c3fb935a50759 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Já faz algum tempo que pesquisadores e profissionais da área de Tecnologia da Informação (TI) chegaram ao consenso de que as novas tecnologias têm a capacidade de melhorar o desempenho das organizações. Foram determinados vários pontos que deveriam ser observados para que essas vantagens fossem efetivamente agregadas, quando da aplicação da TI como, por exemplo, o alinhamento estratégico da TI com a estratégia organizacional. Um ponto que ainda não conseguiu ser devidamente elucidado foi qual o retorno que a TI traz para o negócio. Esta questão está diretamente relacionada com a tomada de decisão de investimentos em Tecnologia da Informação, e a falha nesta medição gera uma tensão constante nos gerentes os quais, cada vez mais, aplicam grandes somas de capital em TI. Neste trabalho é proposto um modelo de decisão de investimento em Tecnologia da Informação que agrega aspectos não-financeiros (intangíveis) e aspectos financeiros (tangíveis) sob uma abordagem Multicritério de Apoio a Decisão. O modelo é implementado na forma de um Sistema de Apoio a Decisão (SAD) que é utilizado em uma aplicação prática

Tidigare studier visar på ett samband mellan årstidsbunden depression och underprissättning vid börsintroduktioner på den amerikanska marknaden. Studien undersöker detta samband på börsintroduktioner genomförda i Sverige, där prevalensen av årstidsbunden depression är hög. Prevalensen och effekten av årstidsbunden depression skattas genom dagslängd och förändringen av dagslängden. För att besvara forskningsfrågan utförs tre regressionsanalyser på studiens urval bestående av 147 börsintroduktioner genomförda år 2006 till 2019 på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm och Nasdaq First North. Resultatet visar en genomsnittlig underprissättning på 8,2%. Däremot uppvisas inget signifikant samband mellan årstidsbunden depression och underprissättning.

Many of us can relate to being tired and maybe even feel down during the winter months. Reports show that we spend more and more time indoors and with that, problems linked to low daylight exposure increases. The main recommendation from doctors is to try to spend more time outdoors to really get that dosage of the sun that one needs. Research also shows that people are not aware of the actual amount of time they spend either indoors or in their cars.  With this in mind, what could we do to create a healthier way of living?  In this project, I have chosen to explore how we can motivate and inspire people with a sensitivity to light to spend more time outdoors and help them stimulate their circadian rhythm. People that suffer from symptoms could in worst cases not even leave their bed making them unable to cope with their life. Using natural ways of changing habits could in most cases have a better effect than what heavy medication does.

No description available.

Denna studie belyser hur nyhetsrapporteringen framställer Lisa Montgomery i samband med hennes avrättning, mot bakgrund av genusteori och mer specifikt begreppen Sad/Mad och Bad. Lisa Montgomery mördade en gravid kvinna och skar ut hennes ofödda barn. Hon kidnappade barnet för att hävda att det var hennes eget. Montgomery dömdes till döden och avrättades den 13 januari, 2021. Genom att analysera hur Lisa Montgomery i egenskap av avvikande kvinna framställs och konstrueras, är syftet att öka förståelsen kring vilka framställningar som gör henne “avrättningsbar”. Materialet utgörs av femton amerikanska nyhetsartiklar som berör fallet kring tidpunkten för avrättningen. Med utgångspunkt i tidigare forskning kring kvinnlig brottslighet och avvikelse samt dödsstraffet som kulturellt fenomen, synliggörs sociala och kulturella konstruktioner relaterade till debatten kring Lisa Montgomery. Genom en tematisk textanalys, tolkas och analyseras framställningar i nyhetsrapporteringen av Montgomerys upplevda trauma, det brott hon begick och straffet som utdömdes. I vår analys av traumat framstår hon som ett offer för övergrepp och även för systemet som skulle skydda henne. Hennes brott framstår som kulturellt otänkbart och predatoriskt, vilket överskuggar hennes trauma. Straffet framstår som å ena sidan grymt och ovanligt, å andra sidan befogat. Lisa Montgomery kan framställas som både Sad/Mad och Bad och kategorierna tenderar att överlappa. Den avgörande faktorn ter sig vara huruvida hennes eget trauma framstår som en ”ursäkt”, eller en förmildrande omständighet. Om traumat ses som en ursäkt, eller irrelevant i relation till brottet och straffet, möjliggörs framställningen av Montgomery som Bad och kulturellt otänkbar - hon framstår därmed som ”avrättningsbar”.

Kim Marie Johansson, tidigare känd som Kristoffer Johansson, är en av media omskriven brottsling som dömdes för att ha dödat och styckat hennes tidigare flickvän. Under 2018 blev det uppmärksammat av media att Johansson genomgått en könskorrigering och bytt namn till Kim Marie Johansson. Syftet med vår studie har varit att fördjupa kunskapen kring medias genuskonstruktioner av Kim Marie Johansson före och efter hennes könskorrigering, för att sedan undersöka om det funnits skillnader mellan dessa. För att undersöka detta användes en genusteoretisk ansats med stöd av Petterssons (2003) uppställda dikotomi och Christies (2001) beskrivning av den ideala gärningsmannen. Brennan & Vandenbergs (2009) beskrivningar av kvinnliga förövare som “bad” och “mad/sad” applicerades även på analysen. Materialet bestod av artiklar från Aftonbladet, Expressen och NSD där vi tittade på två olika tidsperioder: perioden då Johansson blev dömd och efter att Johansson genomgått en könskorrigering. Forskningsdesignen för studien har varit en flerfallsstudie där vi använde en tematisk analys. Resultaten visar att Johansson beskrivs i enlighet med både femininiteter och maskuliniteter under de båda tidsperioderna och rör sig även mellan de olika begreppen “bad” och “mad/sad”. Johansson framställs under båda tidsperioderna som avvikande från normativa genusföreställningar, avsett till de begrepp som använts som analysverktyg för studien.

No description available.