The dynamic rearrangements of RNA and protein complexes and the fidelity of pre-mRNA splicing are governed by DExD/H-box ATPases. One of the spliceosomal ATPases, Brr2, is believed to facilitate conformational rearrangements during spliceosome activation and disassembly. It features an unusual architecture, with two consecutive helicase-cassettes, each comprising a helicase and a Sec63 domain. Only the N-terminal cassette exhibits catalytic activity. By contrast, the C-terminal half of Brr2 engages in protein interactions. Amongst interacting proteins are the Prp2 and Prp16 helicases. The work presented in this thesis aimed at studying and assigning functional relevance to the bipartite architecture of Brr2 and addressed the following questions: (1) What role does the catalytically inert C-terminal half play in Brr2 function, and why does it interact with other RNA helicases? (2) Which RNAs interact with the different parts of Brr2? (1) In a yeast two-hybrid screen novel brr2 mutant alleles were identified by virtue of abnormal protein interactions with Prp2 and Prp16. Phenotypic characterization showed that brr2 C-terminus mutants exhibit a splicing defect, demonstrating that an intact C-terminus is required for Brr2 function. ATPase/helicase deficient prp16 mutants suppress the interaction defect of brr2 alleles, possibly indicating an involvement of the Brr2 C-terminus in the regulation of interacting helicases. (2) Brr2-RNA interactions were identified by the CRAC approach (in vivo Crosslinking and analysis of cDNA). Physical separation of the N-terminal and C-terminal portions and their individual analyses indicate that only the N-terminus of Brr2 interacts with RNA. Brr2 cross-links in the U4 and U6 snRNAs suggest a step-wise dissociation of the U4/U6 duplex during catalytic activation of the spliceosome. Newly identified Brr2 cross-links in the U5 snRNA and in pre-mRNAs close to 3’ splice sites are supported by genetic analyses. A reduction of second step efficiency upon combining brr2 and U5 mutations suggests an involvement of Brr2 in the second step of splicing. An approach now described as CLASH (Cross-linking, Ligation and Sequencing of Hybrids) identified Brr2 associated chimeric sequencing reads. The inspection of chimeric U2-U2 sequences suggests a revised secondary structure for the U2 snRNA, which was confirmed by phylogenentic and mutational analyses. Taken together these findings underscore the functional distinction of the N- and C-terminal portions of Brr2 and add mechanistic relevance to its bipartite architecture. The catalytically active N-terminal helicase-cassette is required to establish RNA interactions and to provide helicase activity. Conversely, the C-terminal helicase-cassette functions solely as protein interaction domain, possibly exerting regulation on the activities of interacting helicases and Brr2 itself.

No description available.

The current world population of Muslims is in the range of 1.2 to 1.6 billion (20% of the world¡¦s population), and their numbers are spread out over various geographical areas and religious groups. After the Cold War, America has experienced several international conflicts with the Islamic world at large. Huntington, an American scholar, wrote a thesis ¡§The Clash of Civilizations¡¨ to explain the cause of conflict. While there are significant culture differences, it is difficult to conclude that it is a simple case of conflict in culture. Upon closer inspection of the conflict situation, we find that the American dispute with the Islamic world has largely been focused on the Middle-Eastern group of countries. It would be dangerous to take a stand point that the basis of conflict is in terms of culture, because it over-simplifies the situation and leaves an undesirable stereotype on the Islamic civilization. Using a historical sociology perspective, the author found that there have been several different changes at different times in the international relationship between the American and Middle-Eastern Islamic countries after the Cold War. In fact, before the Cold War, Afghanistan was a crucial ally in the Anti-Soviet movement. It is therefore worth pondering why Afghanistan became the first Middle-Eastern country target in the war against terrorism. This thesis serves to use a geo-political perspective to further examine and explain the intricate transitions and changes in the American-Islamic relationship, in order to demonstrate that the conflict is a struggle for power, rather than a mere ¡§Clash of Civilizations¡¨ as in Huntington¡¦s paper.

In the near future several Swedish family firms will face a need for succession. Many times there is no available successor within the family firm. Hiring a non-family CEO (NFC) is thus a solution to keep the firm within the family. Using a multiple case study with 6 participating family firms, we have identified how clashing logics between family business owners and NFCs, on the role of the NFC, influence their expectations and relationships. Clashing logics were often a source of disagreements and conflicts, leading to failure in the owner-NFC relationship. Furthermore, we have identified that the two parties often perceived the non-family CEO to offer more professional management which was a motive why family firms in this study hired NFCs. This perceived professionalism was also a reason for conflicting expectations. Adding to previous studies we also identified a series of influencing factors impacting the family business owner-NFC relationship. To conclude this study provides new insights for further research and practical recommendations for family firms in the process of hiring NFCs.

The area of this work is distressed denim in women’s wear. Denim wear has been distressed by machines to imitate the individual patina that becomes from wearing e.g. a pair of unwashed jeans until the color strips from creases. This work uses challenges the faked used look, using a decorative motive in distressed denim. Lace has been used as a decoration of dress since medieval times. By using lace as the pattern for the distressing of denim one will decorate the denim in a destructive way that questions the perfection and delicate way that lace is usually used. Lace consists of threads and holes that builds an ornamental pattern, worn down denim often results in holes and threads at the most vulnerable areas of the garment. Denim is a warp faced cotton twill weave with blue indigo yarn in warp and natural white yarn in weft. By using a laser cutter to engrave a pattern on the warp faced side of the denim, one can set the settings on the laser cutter so that only the blue warp threads will be met by the laser beam. After wash the engraved warp threads will dissolve and depending on the scale and the design of the pattern the unengraved parts can dissolve as well. Therefor one needs to fix the unengraved parts of the pattern before wash if one wants the pattern to remain. There is several ways to fix the pattern before wash; this work includes fixing with laser cut fusing and with seams. Some of the garments aren’t engraved in this work but cut in the laser cutter. The two cutting techniques used is first a regular cut out technique and second a slicing technique. The shapes of the garments derives from typical denim and lace garments such as jeans, denim jackets, denim shirts, lace gown, wedding dresses and underwear such as negligees, corsets, bras and panties. Initially, experiments were done to understand the visual and technical effect of clashing materials and garments. The result is a collection, combining ideas from two different origins in fashion, denim from mineworkers and lace from nobles. The outfits manages how one can control distressed denim and shows a variation from lace, to garments where the traces of lace have completely or partially dissolved. The primary motive is to investigate surface possibilities in distressed denim through a specific pattern. The result is difficult to control and experiments in full scale are necessary to evaluate distressed experiments. The secondary motive is global. Can lasercutting and engravings be an alternative to sandblasting ? It is not dealt with in this investigation. However this investigation shows a selection of alternative expressions for distressed denim. This work challenges the idea of distressed denim as the only way to make a fake, torned effect. It points at new possibilities, using decorative motifs by lasercuts and engravings in combination with other treatments in search for alternative expressions in denimwear.

Microorganisms are exposed to constantly changing environments, and consequently have evolved mechanisms to rapidly adapt their physiology upon stress imposition. These adaptive responses are coordinated through the rewiring of gene expression via complex networks that control the transcriptional program and the activity of post-transcriptional regulators. Although transcription factors primarily determine which genes are expressed, post-transcriptional regulation has a major role in fine-tuning the dynamics of gene expression. Post-transcriptional control is exerted by RNA-binding proteins and small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) that bind to mRNA targets and modulate their synthesis, degradation and translation efficiency. In Escherichia coli, sRNAs associated with an RNA chaperone, Hfq, are key post-transcriptional regulators, yet the functions of most of these sRNAs are still unknown. The first step in understanding the roles of sRNAs in regulating gene expression is to identify their targets. To generate transcriptome-wide maps of Hfq-mediated sRNA-mRNA binding, we applied CLASH (cross-linking, ligation and sequencing of hybrids), a method that combines in vivo capture of RNA-RNA interactions, high-throughput sequencing and computational analyses, in E. coli. We uncovered thousands of dynamic growth-stage dependent association of Hfq to sRNAs and mRNAs. The latter confirmed known sRNA-target pairs and identified additional targets for known sRNAs, as well as novel sRNAs in various genomic features along with their targets. These data significantly expand our knowledge of the sRNA-target interaction networks in E.coli. In particular, the Hfq CLASH data indicated 3'-UTRs of mRNAs as major reservoirs of sRNAs, and the utilization of these may be more common than anticipated. Our findings also provide mechanistic insights that ensue from the identification of tens of sRNA-sRNA interactions that point to extensive sponging activity among regulatory RNAs: many sRNAs appear to be able to interact and repress the functions of other base-pairing sRNAs. We validated and highlighted the biological significance of some of the CLASH results by characterizing a 3'-UTR derived sRNA, MdoR (mal-dependent OMP repressor). This sRNA emerges by processing of the last transcript of malEFG polycistron, encoding components of maltose transport system. We found MdoR directly downregulates several major porins, whilst derepressing the maltose-specific porin LamB via destabilization of its inhibitor, MicA, likely by a sponging mechanism. Physiologically, MdoR contributes to the remodelling of envelope composition and links nutrient sensing to envelope stress responses during maltose assimilation. MdoR is a clear example of how cells integrate circuitry through multiple networks as part of their adaptive responses and how the CLASH methodology can help expand our understanding of sRNA-based regulation.

<p>In the novel, Forster seems to observe the English Empire from a critical point of view rather than a nostalgic one. The theme of the book is the relationship of the Indians and the English; an attempt at understanding the country India and the Indians.</p>

In the novel, Forster seems to observe the English Empire from a critical point of view rather than a nostalgic one. The theme of the book is the relationship of the Indians and the English; an attempt at understanding the country India and the Indians.

This research attempts to identify the factors which influence the choice of science subjects in Mauritius among girls at the end of the third year of secondary education, the level up to which science is a compulsory subject. This low uptake of science subjects by girls beyond the compulsory level is a matter of concern. The study was undertaken in four purposely selected schools in Mauritius, two mixed-sex and two girls’ schools. Using mainly a qualitative approach, data were collected through: (i) non-participant observations of 60 science and 20 non-science lessons, (ii) 16 semi-structured face-to-face interviews of teachers, and six group interviews with pupils and (iii) 135 questionnaires administered to the parents of the pupils in the classes observed in the four schools. Based on the results of a pilot study, modifications were made for the main study. The data provided insights into teachers’ teaching approaches, the behaviour and interest of pupils in the lessons and other factors such as pupils’ perceptions of science, their self-identity and role models, and the extent to which parents and peers influence the choice of subjects among girls. The findings show that teaching approaches were mainly traditional and that both girls and boys prefer hands-on activities and contextual examples reflecting real-life situations. The majority of the girls’ experiences of science were negative and this deterred them from taking science beyond the compulsory level although they were aware of its importance. Teachers had positive opinions about girls’ ability to do science but stated that lack of infrastructure facilities did not allow them to involve the pupils in practical work as much as they would wish. However, brighter girls’ decisions to study sciences were not outweighed by these factors. Parents felt that they did not influence their daughters in the choice of subjects or eventual careers though they held science in high esteem.

The purpose of my thesis was to counter Samuel Huntington’s argument that the world’s conflict is over differing civilizations, religions, or cultures. Whether or not religion is declining or growing, it cannot be used to portray the world in a 'cosmic war,' or a battle between 'good and evil'. Natural resources, not religions, rest at the basis for the Islamic fundamentalist and militant movement due to its response to the Western structural pressures that are modernizing Muslim societies. Oil and water become vital tools for exercising power and authority of one nation over another, and are identified as the true culprits for a conflict that is often furtively concealed.