No description available.

Objectives: The effects of estrogens on immune system formation and function are well documented. Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen, has been linked to neoplasia and immune cell dysfunction in humans and animals exposed in-utero. In-vitro effects of DES exposure of murine embryonic stem (ES) cells on the early embryonic immune system development and the expression of cellular surface markers associated with common hemangioblastic and hematopoietic precursors of the endothelial, lymphoid & myeloid lineages were investigated. Hypothesis: Early ES cell expression of CD45 a marker common to lymphoid lineage hematopoietic stem cells and differentiation of lymphoid lineage precursors are affected by in-vitro exposure to DES. Methods: Murine ES cells were cultured using a variety of techniques: an OP9 co-culture system, and formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) in a liquid medium and hanging drop system. The OP9 co-culture system did not appear to give rise to well differentiated lymphoid lineage cells during 12 days of differentiation. The hanging drop EB culture system, previously shown to promote differentiation of endothelial and lymphoid precursor cells, was chosen for further studies of ES cell differentiation. ES cells were harvested at five time points: undifferentiated (day 0), and differentiated (days 3, 8, 12 and 16). Differentiating ES cells were treated with DES beginning on day 3. The synthetic estrogen, DES, was chosen as a treatment because of its similar potency to 17β estradiol and documented association with neoplasia in women exposed in-utero. Surface marker expression, measured by real-time RT-PCR amplification, was recorded using fluorogenic TaqMan(R) probes designed specifically for the surface proteins of interest: oct4, c-Kit, Flk1, ERα, ERβ, CD45, Flt1, & VE-cadherin. Analysis & Results: Changes in surface marker gene expression between day 0 and day 16 of differentiation were analyzed using the RT-PCR threshold counts (CT) and the comparative threshhold cycle method. The expression of each target mRNA was normalized internally to a housekeeping gene (18s rRNA) and calculated relative to day 0. ANOVA (Type 3 fixed-effects analysis, SAS) was performed using the unexponentiated ΔΔCT values. The effects of DES, time, and the interaction between DES and time were evaluated for days 8, 12 and 16. Additionally, the effects of DES on the expression of each marker were evaluated for day 16. Expression of estrogen receptor receptor α & β (ERα & β) in the EBs was established, and did not appear to be affected at any time by treatment with DES. ERα was expressed in significant levels on day 16, while ERβ was expressed in low levels throughout the period of differentiation. The expression of the cell surface marker, c-Kit was significantly (P<0.0001) altered by the presence of DES between the three time points sampled. The expression of the VEGF receptor, Flt1, and the adhesion molecule, VE-cadherin, markers of endothelial cells, were also significantly (P<0.026) altered by treatment with DES on day 16 of differentiation. Treatment with DES appeared to have no effect on the expression of CD45, a marker common to lymphoid precursor cells. Conclusions: These results indicate the presence of estrogen receptors in differentiating ES cells as early as day three in-vitro (ERβ) until day 16 (ERα). DES alters expression of common hemangioblastic and hematopoietic precursor, as well as endothelial lineage markers, but has no effect on expression of the marker of lymphoid lineage development before day 16. These effects coincided with the expression of ERα. The enduring effects of DES exposure in-utero may not be manifest in this ES model, or may occur at later stages of differentiation or in selected subpopulations of CD45+ cells. / Master of Science

<p>Systemutvecklingsmetoder har funnits för att utveckla system och</p><p>programvaror sedan vattenfallsmodellen gjorde sin introduktion på den</p><p>tiden då IT kallades för data processning. Sedan dess har det funnits ett</p><p>antal metoder, vissa av dem används än idag. Gemensamt för de flesta</p><p>metoderna är att de är anpassade till mycket komplexa system som används</p><p>inom stora organisationer. Inom det Svenska samhället så fanns det år 2005</p><p>över 890 000 småföretag (0-49 anställda) enligt statistiska centralbyrån.</p><p>Det är lätt att förstå att småföretagen är viktiga för Sverige. För att Sveriges</p><p>småföretag skall kunna överleva i en allt tuffare konkurrenssituation så är</p><p>det viktigt att de hela tiden effektiviserar sina verksamhetsprocesser med</p><p>exempelvis innovativa IT lösningar. Denna rapport kommer att undersöka</p><p>tänkbara systemutvecklingsmetoder till småföretag och där efter</p><p>specialanpassa en metod.</p> / <p>System development methods have existed to develop systems and</p><p>programs since the waterfall model was introduced when IT was called</p><p>data processing. There have been a number of methods since that day,</p><p>some of them are still used. A common denominator for the most software</p><p>development methods are that they where all developed to support software</p><p>engineering to complex system in large organizations. Within the Swedish</p><p>society there were over 890 000 small businesses (0-49 employed) in year</p><p>2005 according to statistiska centralbyrån. It’s no secret that the small</p><p>businesses are very important to Sweden. To assure survival when the</p><p>competition gets harder the small businesses must the entire time look over</p><p>there business processes. Sometimes this means that they need new custom</p><p>made IT systems. This thesis will examine possible system development</p><p>methods for small Swedish businesses and adopt one method to fit small</p><p>business software development.</p>

Systemutvecklingsmetoder har funnits för att utveckla system och programvaror sedan vattenfallsmodellen gjorde sin introduktion på den tiden då IT kallades för data processning. Sedan dess har det funnits ett antal metoder, vissa av dem används än idag. Gemensamt för de flesta metoderna är att de är anpassade till mycket komplexa system som används inom stora organisationer. Inom det Svenska samhället så fanns det år 2005 över 890 000 småföretag (0-49 anställda) enligt statistiska centralbyrån. Det är lätt att förstå att småföretagen är viktiga för Sverige. För att Sveriges småföretag skall kunna överleva i en allt tuffare konkurrenssituation så är det viktigt att de hela tiden effektiviserar sina verksamhetsprocesser med exempelvis innovativa IT lösningar. Denna rapport kommer att undersöka tänkbara systemutvecklingsmetoder till småföretag och där efter specialanpassa en metod. / System development methods have existed to develop systems and programs since the waterfall model was introduced when IT was called data processing. There have been a number of methods since that day, some of them are still used. A common denominator for the most software development methods are that they where all developed to support software engineering to complex system in large organizations. Within the Swedish society there were over 890 000 small businesses (0-49 employed) in year 2005 according to statistiska centralbyrån. It’s no secret that the small businesses are very important to Sweden. To assure survival when the competition gets harder the small businesses must the entire time look over there business processes. Sometimes this means that they need new custom made IT systems. This thesis will examine possible system development methods for small Swedish businesses and adopt one method to fit small business software development.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 30-November 02, 1995 / Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada / Object Oriented techniques have been successfully applied to all phases of software development including Requirements Analysis, Design, and Implementation. There has been some reluctance to extend the Object paradigm into the System Analysis, Architecture Development, and System Design phases. This is due to reasons generally related to technology immaturity and concerns with applicability. Telemetry systems in particular appear to be somewhat slow in embracing object technology. The Range Standardization and Automation program has integrated proven techniques to successfully produce an Object-oriented Systems Model. This paper presents the techniques and benefits.

Abstract Today’s business environment involves a globalised market, greater than before competition and more challenging customers, all factors which contribute to higher uncertainty and variability. Manufacturing flexibility is becoming more important in order to cope with the complexity of products through frequency volume changes and evaluations of the technological requirements of products. The research for this thesis was performed within a subcontractor company, Laserkraft AB, who focus on laser cutting, turning and welding processes in their production. The company utilises a variety of volume and product mixes, which is in correlation with the objective of this study. The purpose of this research was to investigate the common source drivers in order to achieve volume and product mix flexibility on batch production systems. First, a literature review was conducted in order to build the framework of common source factors between volume and product mix flexibility. Then, a single case study was conducted to examine the outcomes of framework on batch production. In this case, qualitative techniques included interviews and an observation of the shop floor. The analysis of this study was conducted with empirical research on a case study and theoretical framework from literature. From the literature stand point; it was found that flexible manufacturing competencies (FMC) and strategic flexibility approaches are two main elements to determine internal source drivers between volume and product mix flexibility. The groups of common source factors were then analysed with respect to characteristics of batch production systems at the chosen company. A comparison between the framework and the empirical findings identified source drivers in order to achieve volume and product mix flexibility. Due to the limited nature of the study, all source factors that have an impact on achieving volume and product mix flexibility might not be presented in this thesis. Besides, it is difficult to generalise the result on a single case study. As a result, each organisation and industry refers to their product, process and type of layout, and requires a group of practices to achieve volume and product mix flexibility. This thesis concludes with the top three common source factors between volume and product mix flexibility such as: set-up time reduction, multi-trained employees and advanced manufacturing technology.

No description available.

Most computational models of neurons assume that their electrical characteristics are of paramount importance. However, all long-term changes in synaptic efficacy, as well as many short-term effects, are mediated by chemical mechanisms. This technical report explores the interaction between electrical and chemical mechanisms in neural learning and development. Two neural systems that exemplify this interaction are described and modelled. The first is the mechanisms underlying habituation, sensitization, and associative learning in the gill withdrawal reflex circuit in Aplysia, a marine snail. The second is the formation of retinotopic projections in the early visual pathway during embryonic development.

Today’s competitive global market has placed companies under great pressure and the focus on production systems has been more prominent. Although there are several claimed benefits with using frameworks in the development of production systems, companies are reluctant to use these. Consequently, a relevant question formulation is: Are frameworks in the development of production systems usable? The purpose with this thesis work was therefore to evaluate the usability of production system development frameworks (PSDFs) in practice. In order to achieve this purpose, two research questions were established: RQ1.  How can usability of frameworks be evaluated? RQ2.  How does the use of a framework contribute to the development of a new production system? In order to answer the posed research questions, Bellgran and Säfsten’s PSDF was used in the production system development (PSD) process of a new production system at Xylem. Based on the PSD process, a meta-study was performed to evaluate the practical usability of the PSDF. Usability was defined and evaluated based on the five usability terms learnability, memorability, efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. The result showed that all the five usability terms contribute to the usability evaluation of PSDFs. However, memorability was considered difficult to use on only one study since the user has to think a step further and make a qualified guess to answer if it is possible to memorize a framework. Therefore, it was considered memorability is only appropriate to use in a multiple study. The results also showed that Bellgran and Säfsten’s PSDF contributed most in the beginning of the PSD process by putting emphasis on the planning phase and providing a structure to follow. Due to the nature of a framework (i.e., to serve as a guide for structures to follow), this was not unexpected. However, the contributions from a structure or plan are hard to exactly distinguish. Since companies most often want tangible and accurate evidences, frameworks’ vague contributions are considered to be a major reason to why companies do not use frameworks more frequently.

We are addressing two aspects of vision based system development that are not fully exploited in current frameworks: abstraction over low-level details and high-level module reusability. Through an evaluation of existing frameworks, we relate these shortcomings to the lack of systematic classification of sub-tasks in vision based system development. Our approach for addressing these two issues is to classify vision into decoupled sub-tasks, hence defining a clear scope for a vision based system development framework and its sub-components. Firstly, we decompose the task of vision system development into data management and processing. We then proceed to further decompose data management into three components: data access, conversion and transportation. To verify our approach for vision system development we present two frameworks: the Vision Utility (VU) framework for providing abstraction over the data management component; and the Hive framework for providing the data transportation and high-level code reuse. VU provides the data management functionality for developers while hiding the low-level system details through a simple yet flexible Application Programming Interface (API). VU mediates the communication between the developer's application, vision processing modules, and data sources by utilizing different frameworks for data access, conversion and transportation (Hive). We demonstrate VU's ability for providing abstraction over low-level system details through the examination of a vision system developed using the framework. Hive is a standalone event based framework for developing distributed vision based systems. Hive provides simple high-level methods for managing communication, control and configuration of reusable components. We verify the requirements of Hive (reusability and abstraction over inter-module data transportation) by presenting a number of different systems developed on the framework using a set of reusable modules. Through this work we aim to demonstrate that this novel approach for vision system development could fundamentally change vision based system development by addressing the necessary abstraction, and promoting high-level code reuse.