The present study investigated autonomic nervous system (ANS) patterning during experimentally manipulated emotion. Film clips previously shown to induce amusement, anger, contentment, disgust, fear, and sadness, in addition to a neutral control, were presented to 34 college-aged subjects while electrodermal activity, blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) were recorded as was self-reported affect. Mean and mean successive difference of inter-beat interval were derived from the ECG. Pattern classification analysis revealed emotion-specific patterning for all emotion conditions except disgust. Discriminant function analysis was used to describe the location of discrete emotions within a dimensional affective state space, for both self-report and ANS activity. Findings suggest traditional dimensional emotion models accurately describe the state space for self-reported emotion, but may require modification in order to accurately describe the state space for ANS activity during discrete emotions. Proposed modifications are consistent with the adoption of a discrete-dimensional hybrid model as well as current trends in emotion theory. / Master of Science

Research on the autonomic specificity of emotion has spanned several decades. Even though considerable evidence exists for supporting autonomic specificity for discrete emotion states (Kreibig, 2010), there is still an active debate, and conflicting explanations, for these findings (Quigley and Barrett, 2014). There have been several studies employing multivariate pattern classification analytic techniques and calls for those types of studies are still prevalent (Kragel and LaBar, 2014). Although many studies have explored the autonomic specificity of emotions, few have explored what effects the induction methods, themselves, have had in inducing the autonomic change. Autonomic specificity of induction methods might be a meaningful, and confounding, phenomenon in this literature. Based on this unknown variable, the current experiment was designed to see if methods for emotion elicitation could be meaningfully captured by these same pattern classification techniques. This was accomplished using three separate emotion-elicitation methods to elicit five separate emotions. A sample of 64 college-aged students watched film clips, read imagery scripts, and recalled personal memories for five discrete emotions. Using discriminant analysis, the evidence from the current study lent less support for autonomic specificity of emotion than past experiments, and lends some support for providing future exploration into autonomic change that is related to methods for induction. Potential confounds and task fatigue effects are discussed. / Ph. D.

A redefinição da escultura e as pautas atuais de criação, fazendo uso da prática de projeto, provocam mudanças na formação do artista. Da aula expandida à aula Site-Specificity. A hipótese estudada: o projeto didático pautado em explorar as possibilidades das formas de experimentação e procedimentos artísticos em projeto Site-Specificity, que traz a vida para a \'sala de aula\', envolve mais o aluno, enquanto articulador de diferentes e complexas atividades no espaço público, supondo que essas características da prática de projeto Site-Specificity possam contribuir na formação do jovem artista e fornecer soluções às crescentes exigências de profissionalização que vem sofrendo a arte contemporânea em relação à sociedade. O principal objetivo: explorar as possibilidades de renovação das formas de experimentação e procedimentos em projeto Site-Specificity para descrever e explorar suas contribuições na formação do artista. Os objetivos específicos correspondem ao percurso da dissertação e ao processo das aulas \'site\', para os quais os três capítulos são como um campo das relações dialéticas, onde o Site-Specificity designa igualmente tanto o que é proposto para ser realizado quanto o que é feito para atingi-lo. Essa relação dialética leva a muitas possibilidades de operacionalizar projetos, tendo em vista as diferentes preocupações dos alunos. Concluindo, cada capítulo, respectivamente, concorre para um objetivo. O primeiro capítulo é uma reflexão sobre a expansão da escultura e as transformações do Site-Specificity; o segundo capítulo é sobre as aulas Site- Specificity e por último, no terceiro capítulo denominado \"Dupla exposição\", apresento exposições realizadas por alunos como resultados do processo de aprendizagem a partir das aulas Site-Specificity. / The redefinition of sculpture and the current guidelines for creation, through the practice of projects, provoke change in the artist\'s formation. The class expanded to learning Site-Specificity. The studied hypothesis, along with the educational project outlined to explore the possibilities of forms of experimentation as well as the artistic procedures in Site-Specificity project, bring life into the \'classroom\' and better involve the students as they perform different and complex activities in public spaces, supposing that these characteristics from the practice of Site-Specificity project can contribute to the formation of the young artist and provide some solutions to the growing demands of professionalization that has been suffering contemporary art in relation to society. The main goal was to explore the possibilities of the renewal of both, the forms of experimentation and the procedures in Site-Specificity project to depict and explain its influences and contributions to an artist\'s formation. The specific goals correspond to the course taken by the dissertation and the \'site\' classes\' process, of which the three chapters stand as fields of dialectical relationships, where Site-Specificity designates equally what is to be accomplished as well as what is done in order to achieve it. This dialectical relationship leads to many possibilities of operating projects, having in mind the different student\'s concerns. In conclusion, each chapter, respectively, collaborates to a goal. The first chapter is a reflection of the expansion of sculpture and the Site-Specificity\'s transformations; the second chapter is about the Site-Specificity classes, and lastly, the third chapter denominated \"Double exposure\", presents student\'s exhibitions as a result of the learning process from the Site-Specificity classes.

O projeto de pesquisa analisa os rumos do pensamento escultórico moderno em direção a uma escala ambiental, processo que tem origem no final do séc. XIX, momento em que a obra A Porta do Inferno, de Auguste Rodin, modifica o espaço narrativo clássico, rompendo com a premissa do monumento e passando a pleitear cada vez mais uma imersão da obra no espaço do observador. O período das vanguardas históricas também foi fundamental para se repensar as fronteiras entre as linguagens tradicionais e o reconhecimento de outras esferas que não a das belas-artes, desde a dissolução da base na escultura de Constantin Brancusi, passando pela renovação do estatuto de arte em Marcel Duchamp, até as experiências de colagem com a obra Merzbau, de Kurt Schwitters. A dissertação examina especialmente a produção que desde então problematizou a tradição da escultura, privilegiando as manifestações contemporâneas que derivam da tradição moderna, projetando o campo da arte para além dos gêneros artísticos fixados até então, buscando expandir a noção de escultura em termos espaciais, temporais e experienciais. Entre as décadas de 1940 e 1960, a ruptura com essa tradição culmina na radicalidade das ações corporais de Jackson Pollock, que conferem uma nova escala às pinturas; e, mais à frente, numa produção que emergia como crítica aguda ao mercado e à institucionalização cada vez mais precoce do trabalho de arte. A arte contemporânea, então, teria sua origem num processo de crítica do objeto, precipitado pelo problemas da cultura de massa, onde os trabalhos se reconhecem num mundo da cultura, mesmo ao resistirem a sua cooptação. Sem ter sido objeto de análises abrangentes, a escultura contemporânea, se é que ainda podemos denominar escultura os trabalhos produzidos a partir da década de 1960, parece ter colocado em crise a noção moderna de forma, e passa a operar num contexto ampliado, aberta ao espaço e à dinâmica cultural urbana. É nesse momento que a dissertação se aproxima das obras de Richard Serra, José Resende e Hélio Oiticica e passa a dedicar uma análise mais atenta sobre aqueles trabalhos que lidaram com uma escala ambiental, ou ainda, se aproximaram das contingências do lugar onde atuam, quer físicas, sociais ou culturais, operando próximos à poética do site specificity. / The research project analyses the directions of the modern sculptural thoughts towards an environmental scale, a process that begins in the end of the 19th Century, a moment in which Auguste Rodins The Gates of Hell modifies the classic narrative space breaking up with the premise of the monument and defend every time more an immersion of the work in the observer space. The historical vanguard period was also fundamental to rethink the boundaries between the traditional languages and the recognition of spheres that are not of fine arts ñ from the dissolution of the base in sculpture of Constantin Brancusi, passing through the renovation of the art statute of Marcel Duchamp, to the collage experiences of Kurt Schwitters Merzbau. The dissertation examines specially the production that has questioned the sculpture tradition, the contemporary manifestations that come from modern tradition, projecting the art field beyond the so far fixed artistic genders and searching to expand the notion of sculpture in terms of space and time, as well as your artistic practice significance. Between the decades of 1940 and 1960, the break with this tradition culminates in the radically body actions of Jackson Pollock that gives a new scale to paintings; and afterwards, in a production that emerged as a deep critique of the market and the every time earlier institutionalization of the art work. The contemporary art, therefore, would have its origin in a process of the object critique precipitated by mass culture problems where the works are recognized in a cultural word, even when they resist to their cooptation. Without being object of comprehensive analyses, the contemporary sculpture, if we still can denominate sculpture the works produced from the 1860 decade on, seems to have placed the modern notion of form in crisis, and started to operate in an enlarged context, open to space and to the urban cultural dynamic. It is at his moment that the dissertation approaches Richard Serra, José Resende and Hélio Oiticicas work and dedicates more careful analyses over those works that deal with environmental scale, or yet, approach either physical, social or cultural contingencies of the place in which they act, operating to the poetic of the site specificity.

A redefinição da escultura e as pautas atuais de criação, fazendo uso da prática de projeto, provocam mudanças na formação do artista. Da aula expandida à aula Site-Specificity. A hipótese estudada: o projeto didático pautado em explorar as possibilidades das formas de experimentação e procedimentos artísticos em projeto Site-Specificity, que traz a vida para a \'sala de aula\', envolve mais o aluno, enquanto articulador de diferentes e complexas atividades no espaço público, supondo que essas características da prática de projeto Site-Specificity possam contribuir na formação do jovem artista e fornecer soluções às crescentes exigências de profissionalização que vem sofrendo a arte contemporânea em relação à sociedade. O principal objetivo: explorar as possibilidades de renovação das formas de experimentação e procedimentos em projeto Site-Specificity para descrever e explorar suas contribuições na formação do artista. Os objetivos específicos correspondem ao percurso da dissertação e ao processo das aulas \'site\', para os quais os três capítulos são como um campo das relações dialéticas, onde o Site-Specificity designa igualmente tanto o que é proposto para ser realizado quanto o que é feito para atingi-lo. Essa relação dialética leva a muitas possibilidades de operacionalizar projetos, tendo em vista as diferentes preocupações dos alunos. Concluindo, cada capítulo, respectivamente, concorre para um objetivo. O primeiro capítulo é uma reflexão sobre a expansão da escultura e as transformações do Site-Specificity; o segundo capítulo é sobre as aulas Site- Specificity e por último, no terceiro capítulo denominado \"Dupla exposição\", apresento exposições realizadas por alunos como resultados do processo de aprendizagem a partir das aulas Site-Specificity. / The redefinition of sculpture and the current guidelines for creation, through the practice of projects, provoke change in the artist\'s formation. The class expanded to learning Site-Specificity. The studied hypothesis, along with the educational project outlined to explore the possibilities of forms of experimentation as well as the artistic procedures in Site-Specificity project, bring life into the \'classroom\' and better involve the students as they perform different and complex activities in public spaces, supposing that these characteristics from the practice of Site-Specificity project can contribute to the formation of the young artist and provide some solutions to the growing demands of professionalization that has been suffering contemporary art in relation to society. The main goal was to explore the possibilities of the renewal of both, the forms of experimentation and the procedures in Site-Specificity project to depict and explain its influences and contributions to an artist\'s formation. The specific goals correspond to the course taken by the dissertation and the \'site\' classes\' process, of which the three chapters stand as fields of dialectical relationships, where Site-Specificity designates equally what is to be accomplished as well as what is done in order to achieve it. This dialectical relationship leads to many possibilities of operating projects, having in mind the different student\'s concerns. In conclusion, each chapter, respectively, collaborates to a goal. The first chapter is a reflection of the expansion of sculpture and the Site-Specificity\'s transformations; the second chapter is about the Site-Specificity classes, and lastly, the third chapter denominated \"Double exposure\", presents student\'s exhibitions as a result of the learning process from the Site-Specificity classes.

<p>This dissertation studies three interrelated concepts—power, knowledge, and mobility—in order to understand how knowledge mobility (specificity) affects power in the knowledge economy. To do this, the thesis is divided into two parts. The first part develops a theoretical approach, while the second employs this theoretical approach to different empirical fields. In the first, theoretical, part, the dissertation begins by discussing the different ways that the sundry literatures on power, asset specificity and knowledge types have developed. These literature reviews are used to develop a set of theoretically-deduced expectations in Chapter 5. These chapters contribute to broadening our understanding of the core concepts, especially asset and factor specificity, by explicitly linking them to the notion of knowledge mobility and to configurations of power.</p><p>The second part of the dissertation interrogates the expectations developed in Chapter 5 across three different venues: a case study of a regime change in a knowledge-intensive consultancy firm; cross-national multivariate statistical assessments on the relationship between specificity, knowledge, and configurations of power; and an historical case study of how the co-working of a set of international institutions—the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Organization for Standardization, and the World Trade Organization—influences knowledge specificity and mobility. These empirical studies elaborate how knowledge mobility and power are interrelated. The chapters are suggesting that the degree of knowledge mobility may be seen as an element in otherwise well-known, empirical regularities. These sorts of similarities are revealed at all three (firm, national and international) levels.</p><p>The dissertation employs a broad methodological approach that swaps between analytical levels, alternative operationalizations, methods and causal interpretations. The resulting "montage effect" combines case studies, multivariate regressions, and institutional analyses to create a picture that may be seen as rich representation of a reality. This picture reveals that the specificity and mobility of assets matters for shaping and reshaping configurations of power.</p>

This dissertation studies three interrelated concepts—power, knowledge, and mobility—in order to understand how knowledge mobility (specificity) affects power in the knowledge economy. To do this, the thesis is divided into two parts. The first part develops a theoretical approach, while the second employs this theoretical approach to different empirical fields. In the first, theoretical, part, the dissertation begins by discussing the different ways that the sundry literatures on power, asset specificity and knowledge types have developed. These literature reviews are used to develop a set of theoretically-deduced expectations in Chapter 5. These chapters contribute to broadening our understanding of the core concepts, especially asset and factor specificity, by explicitly linking them to the notion of knowledge mobility and to configurations of power. The second part of the dissertation interrogates the expectations developed in Chapter 5 across three different venues: a case study of a regime change in a knowledge-intensive consultancy firm; cross-national multivariate statistical assessments on the relationship between specificity, knowledge, and configurations of power; and an historical case study of how the co-working of a set of international institutions—the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Organization for Standardization, and the World Trade Organization—influences knowledge specificity and mobility. These empirical studies elaborate how knowledge mobility and power are interrelated. The chapters are suggesting that the degree of knowledge mobility may be seen as an element in otherwise well-known, empirical regularities. These sorts of similarities are revealed at all three (firm, national and international) levels. The dissertation employs a broad methodological approach that swaps between analytical levels, alternative operationalizations, methods and causal interpretations. The resulting "montage effect" combines case studies, multivariate regressions, and institutional analyses to create a picture that may be seen as rich representation of a reality. This picture reveals that the specificity and mobility of assets matters for shaping and reshaping configurations of power.

In this thesis we implement an ensemble of sequence analysis strategies aimed at identifying functional and structural protein features. The first part of this work was dedicated to two case studies of specific proteins analyzed to provide candidate functional positions for experimental validation: the protein alpha-synuclein (αsyn) and the alanine racemases protein family. In the case of αsyn, the objective was to predict its aggregation prone regions. For the alanine racemase protein family, the scope was to predict sites responsible for substrate specificity. In these two studies, computational predictions allowed systematically exploring potentially functionally relevant protein sites in an efficient manner that may not be possible to implement with traditional experimental approaches. Our strategy provided a powerful forecasting tool for the selection of candidate sites to be later verified experimentally. In the second part, we analyze the role of intrinsic disorder (ID) as a modulator of protein function in different organisms and cellular processes, which is largely unexplored. As key components of the diverse cellular pathways, disordered proteins are often involved in many diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, there is an impeding need to unveil the general principles underlying the role of ID in proteins. We provide a multi-scale analysis of the involvement of ID in protein function starting with a large-scale analysis at genomic level of the role of ID in Arabidopsis, zooming in into the specific processes of vesicular trafficking in Human and yeast, and finally focusing on specific proteins of diverse organisms. The results of this thesis provide a better understanding of the functional roles mediated by ID in different organisms and biological processes, such as acting as flexible linkers connecting structured domains, mediating protein-protein interactions, and assisting the quick assembly of large macromolecular complexes. In addition, we present evidence of the use of ID as a mechanism to increase the complexity of protein and biological networks, and as a means to increase the adaptability of proteins in specific processes. Thus, our results contribute to elucidating the relationship between network and organismal complexity and ID, while they also provide evidence of the evolutionary advantages offered by ID.

O projeto de pesquisa analisa os rumos do pensamento escultórico moderno em direção a uma escala ambiental, processo que tem origem no final do séc. XIX, momento em que a obra A Porta do Inferno, de Auguste Rodin, modifica o espaço narrativo clássico, rompendo com a premissa do monumento e passando a pleitear cada vez mais uma imersão da obra no espaço do observador. O período das vanguardas históricas também foi fundamental para se repensar as fronteiras entre as linguagens tradicionais e o reconhecimento de outras esferas que não a das belas-artes, desde a dissolução da base na escultura de Constantin Brancusi, passando pela renovação do estatuto de arte em Marcel Duchamp, até as experiências de colagem com a obra Merzbau, de Kurt Schwitters. A dissertação examina especialmente a produção que desde então problematizou a tradição da escultura, privilegiando as manifestações contemporâneas que derivam da tradição moderna, projetando o campo da arte para além dos gêneros artísticos fixados até então, buscando expandir a noção de escultura em termos espaciais, temporais e experienciais. Entre as décadas de 1940 e 1960, a ruptura com essa tradição culmina na radicalidade das ações corporais de Jackson Pollock, que conferem uma nova escala às pinturas; e, mais à frente, numa produção que emergia como crítica aguda ao mercado e à institucionalização cada vez mais precoce do trabalho de arte. A arte contemporânea, então, teria sua origem num processo de crítica do objeto, precipitado pelo problemas da cultura de massa, onde os trabalhos se reconhecem num mundo da cultura, mesmo ao resistirem a sua cooptação. Sem ter sido objeto de análises abrangentes, a escultura contemporânea, se é que ainda podemos denominar escultura os trabalhos produzidos a partir da década de 1960, parece ter colocado em crise a noção moderna de forma, e passa a operar num contexto ampliado, aberta ao espaço e à dinâmica cultural urbana. É nesse momento que a dissertação se aproxima das obras de Richard Serra, José Resende e Hélio Oiticica e passa a dedicar uma análise mais atenta sobre aqueles trabalhos que lidaram com uma escala ambiental, ou ainda, se aproximaram das contingências do lugar onde atuam, quer físicas, sociais ou culturais, operando próximos à poética do site specificity. / The research project analyses the directions of the modern sculptural thoughts towards an environmental scale, a process that begins in the end of the 19th Century, a moment in which Auguste Rodins The Gates of Hell modifies the classic narrative space breaking up with the premise of the monument and defend every time more an immersion of the work in the observer space. The historical vanguard period was also fundamental to rethink the boundaries between the traditional languages and the recognition of spheres that are not of fine arts ñ from the dissolution of the base in sculpture of Constantin Brancusi, passing through the renovation of the art statute of Marcel Duchamp, to the collage experiences of Kurt Schwitters Merzbau. The dissertation examines specially the production that has questioned the sculpture tradition, the contemporary manifestations that come from modern tradition, projecting the art field beyond the so far fixed artistic genders and searching to expand the notion of sculpture in terms of space and time, as well as your artistic practice significance. Between the decades of 1940 and 1960, the break with this tradition culminates in the radically body actions of Jackson Pollock that gives a new scale to paintings; and afterwards, in a production that emerged as a deep critique of the market and the every time earlier institutionalization of the art work. The contemporary art, therefore, would have its origin in a process of the object critique precipitated by mass culture problems where the works are recognized in a cultural word, even when they resist to their cooptation. Without being object of comprehensive analyses, the contemporary sculpture, if we still can denominate sculpture the works produced from the 1860 decade on, seems to have placed the modern notion of form in crisis, and started to operate in an enlarged context, open to space and to the urban cultural dynamic. It is at his moment that the dissertation approaches Richard Serra, José Resende and Hélio Oiticicas work and dedicates more careful analyses over those works that deal with environmental scale, or yet, approach either physical, social or cultural contingencies of the place in which they act, operating to the poetic of the site specificity.

Biocatalysis is an ever evolving field that uses enzymes or microorganisms for chemical synthesis. By utilizing enzymes that generally have evolved for specific reactions under mild conditions and temperatures, biocatalysis can be a more environmentally friendly option compared to traditional chemistry. Amide-type chemistries are important and bond formation avoiding poor atom economy is of high priority in organic chemistry. Biocatalysis could potentially be a solution but restricted substrate scope is a limitation. Esterases/lipases usually display broad substrate scope and catalytic promiscuity but are poor at hydrolyzing amides compared to amidases/proteases. The difference between the two enzyme classes is hypothesized to reside in one key hydrogen bond present in amidases, which facilitates the transition state for nitrogen inversion during catalysis. In this thesis the work has been focused on introducing a stabilizing hydrogen bond acceptor in esterases, mimicking that found in amidases, to develop better enzymatic catalysts for amide-based chemistries. By two strategies, side-chain or water interaction, variants were created in three esterases that displayed up to 210-times increased relative amidase specificity compared to the wild type. The best variant displayed reduced activation enthalpy corresponding to a weak hydrogen bond. The results show an estimated lower limit on how much the hydrogen bond can be worth to catalysis. MsAcT catalyze kinetically controlled N-acylations in water. An enzymatic one-pot one-step cascade was developed for the formation of amides from aldehydes in water that gave 97% conversion. In addition, engineered variants of MsAcT with increased substrate scope could synthesize an amide in water with 81% conversion, where the wild type gave no conversion. Moreover, variants of MsAcT displayed up to 32-fold change in specificity towards amide synthesis and a switch in reaction preference favoring amide over ester synthesis. / <p>QC 20161125</p>