Vasopressin (VP) is an antidiuretic hormone that is synthesized and released by osmosensitive magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) to regulate water homeostasis in the body. The rate and firing pattern of MNCs determines the amount of VP release, which is elevated during physiological stress particularly dehydration. During acute osmotic changes the MNCs shrink and swell due to hypertonic and hypotonic stimuli, respectively. In contrast to hippocampal neurons, which display regulatory volume increases (RVI) and regulatory volume decreases (RVD) in response to hypertonic and hypotonic stimuli, MNCs do not have compensatory mechanisms. The MNCs undergo hypertrophy as a part of their physiological structural and functional plasticity during chronic dehydration. These changes are thought to be important during long term osmotic changes for the sustained and high level releases of hormone. However, the mechanism of hypertrophy is still unclear and it is difficult to address this issue in vivo. We therefore undertook studies on acutely isolated MNCs to test hypertrophy in MNCs. We observed that acutely isolated MNCs treated with hyperosmolar solution (325 mOsmol kg-1) for 150 minutes in vitro showed hypertrophy (a 9% increase in CSA) and recovered their original size when returned to isotonic solution (295 mOsmol kg-1) for another 60 minutes. Whole cell patch clamp experiments showed a 34% increase in cell membrane capacitance following treatment with hypertonic solution for 90-150 minutes. The osmotically-evoked hypertrophic response was blocked by using a TAT (human immunodeficiency virus transactivator of transcription) peptide (TAT-NSF700) that prevents SNARE-mediated exocytotic fusion by blocking the function of NSF (N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor). The hypertrophic response did not appear to be altered by a scrambled version of the peptide, showing that osmotically-evoked hypertrophy depends on SNARE-mediated exocytotic fusion. The VP and OT-MNCs exposed to hyperosmolar solution for two hours showed increased immunofluorescence for L-type Ca²⁺ channels (both Cav1.2 and Cav1.3). Our data suggest that the osmotically-evoked hypertrophy is associated with an increase in the total membrane surface area due to the exocytotic fusion of intracellular granules with the plasma membrane and with increased expression of L-type Ca2+ channels. This study will be helpful in understanding of the adaptation that MNCs undergo during long term dehydration and pathological conditions that lead to increased plasma osmolality.

Fiercely global competition and Taiwan¡¦s readiness to go along with WTO¡¦s requirement have put tremendous pressure on companies on this island to be more responsive to market by becoming more internally integrated enterprise and leveraging limited resources to exert synergy. The motivation that ERP systems are implemented are from several sources: internal system integration from an Intranet prespective, process efficiency improvement, upgrading legacy system, imitation from competitors. The electronics industries, which have been taking orders outsourced from multi-nation companies, are under great pressure from their international partners to implement ERP systems in order to capture the synergy effect of supply chain management. In addition, government subsidies for IT related investment in responding to Y2K crisis has encouraged companies to replace their old systems with ERP systems. The major problem confronted to the company that has implemented an ERP system is how to realize the benefits accompanied with the ERP implementation. Managerial adaptation is usually required when companies introduce a new technology. Thus, this research applies Leonard-Barton¡¦s perspective as the reference structure and adopts case study methodology to investigate how the three dimensions (technical, delivery system and organizational performance) could be related to the four chosen companies (an adaptor manufacturer, a passive component manufacturer, an IC packaging company and a LCD/LCM manufacturer). The data was collected mainly through semi-structured interviews. By doing the above, this research would like to explore the relationship between ERP implementation and organizational adaptation. Based on conventional wisdom, business process reengineering(BPR) goes together with ERP implementation. The research results indicated that BPR in these four cases was conducted according to the built-in system flows of the ERP package adopted. Because of this system-oriented implementation, the targeted company can exploit the integrity and internal flow of the implemented ERP to improve its information flows and strengthens the connection across different departments in the company. The system integrity and the paradigm of built-in flow are the main benefits derived from ERP implementation from the technology perspective. Guided by the built-in flow, the company can adapt itself through learning and obtain potential synergy. However, by so doing, the company is exposed to the risk of system function inadequacy and the deleterious impact brought by BPR, which is conducted without active participation of the user organization. In summary, the potential hazard of technology dimension comes from system function inadequacy and system transplant without conducting proper BPR. This in turn will increase the risk of software project and incur potential costs such as compromise and system tuning. According to data available, this research suggests that: 1.In case that ERP system function does not meet customer requirement, the system integrity should be preserved. 2.Guided by the built-in ERP system flow, the company can keep learning and achieve evolutionary change. 3.Change management is essential to ERP system delivery in order to realize the benefits of implementation. In summary, ERP implementation requires a careful mapping analysis of system function and user requirement. In addition, companies should pay more attention to managerial adaptation to enable organizational change and gain benefits through continuous learning.

Bulls of various breedtypes including Angus (Bos taurus), Bonsmara (Sanga X Bos taurus), Brahman (Bos indicus), Romosinuano (Criollo), Tuli (Sanga) and Wagyu (Japanese Bos taurus) were utilized to evaluate the influence of tropical adaptation on adrenal and testicular function. The objectives were to determine if tropical adaptation influenced: a) response to management stressors, b) organ and gland weights, adrenal and testis StAR and P450 content and total adrenal, medullary and cortical areas, c) basal and hCG-induced testosterone and d) testis and epididymal sperm concentrations. Blood samples were obtained within 5 min before and after transportation and during restraint every 15 min for 6 h to evaluate cortical response. Angus, Brahman and Romosinuano bulls were slaughtered following sexual maturity. Cortical responses to transportation and restraint were not influenced by tropical adaptation. Response to these stressors could be categorized into high responders (Angus, Brahman), intermediate responders (Romosinuano, Tuli) and low responders (Wagyu, Bonsmara). Tropically-adapted breedtypes were not categorized into a single group; therefore, cortical responses to management stressors were influenced by breedtype, but not by tropical adaptation. Most organ and gland weights (actual weight and weight corrected for BW) and the steroid precursors, StAR and P450, were not influenced by tropical adaptation, but were by breedtype. Paired adrenal gland weight, total adrenal area, medullary and cortical areas were influenced by tropical adaptation. Tropically-adapted breedtypes had lighter glands and smaller areas than the temperate Bos taurus breedtypes. All breedtypes except Wagyu had similar basal concentrations of plasma testosterone prior to hCG administration; therefore, basal testosterone was not influenced by tropical adaptation, but only by breedtype. Wagyu had greater basal concentrations of testosterone than other breedtypes. Testosterone concentrations following hCG administration was similar between adaptation groups and breedtypes. As expected, testis and epididymal sperm concentrations were influenced by tropical adaptation. Tropically-adapted breedtypes had greater testicular and epididymal sperm concentrations than the temperate Bos taurus breedtypes during the summer months. In summary, adrenal weight and area and testicular and epididymal sperm concentrations were influenced by tropical adaptation. Cortical response to management stressors, basal testosterone and StAR and P450 content were influenced by breedtype, not tropical adaptation.

In this research project composed of multiple case studies, I focused on how bona fide virtual groups appropriated multiple media to facilitate group boundary construction and boundary management, which are preconditions of group identity formation. Specific topics explored in the study included how virtual groups socially constructed their group boundaries through recurring patterns of media use as well as other communication practices, how the group boundaries were preserved and blurred in both internal and external communication, and how bona fide groups managed dialectal tensions in interacting with external groups. To explore those research questions, I conducted four in-depth case studies of real life groups operating in natural contexts. Multiple qualitative methods of data collection were employed in the study and a modified grounded theory method was used in analyzing the collected data. As a result, the study found that the groups studied constructed group boundaries through communication practices such as making sense of common goals, negotiation of task jurisdiction with other interlocking groups, distinguishing patterns of ingroup interaction from those of outgroup interactions, and through developing group specific patterns and norms of media combination and media use. Group boundaries were preserved when the influence of outgroup members were constrained through media use, such as excluding them from team conference calls, filtering messages from external groups or members, and using boundary spanners to interact with external members. Group boundaries were blurred when intergroup communication impacted internal dynamics and when norms and practices were transferred from other contexts into a given group context. The study suggested that technology adaptation and boundary management occurred simultaneously. In addition, the groups experienced dialectical tensions in face of the permeability of group boundaries and developed communication tactics to deal with those tensions. Theoretical implications of the study were also discussed.

Abstract This research is to probe into the parent-child relationship and the learning adaptation of the foreign spouses¡¦ children. This study used a questionnaire that was designed using the ¡§Demographic Survey¡¨, the ¡§Father-Child Relationship Scale¡¨, the ¡§Mother-Child Relationship Scale¡¨, and the ¡§Learning Adaptation Scale¡¨. We received 161 usable samples from third to sixth-grade. The data was analyzed using statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, t-test, one way ANOVA , Pearson¡¦s correlation , and multiple regression. The major results are as follows: 1.The some demographic variables including birth order , grade level of elementary school and the contact windows with the teacher in a family of the foreign spouses¡¦ children had no significant influence on their learning adaptation. 2.The girls are significant superior to the boys in learning adaptation. 3.The foreign spouses¡¦ children from small families are significant superior to the foreign spouses¡¦ children from the extended families and the kinship families. 4.The foreign spouses¡¦ children whose mothers¡¦ nationality had significant influence on their learning adaptation. 5.The foreign spouses¡¦ children whose mothers can write Chinese are significant superior to the foreign spouses¡¦ children whose mothers can¡¦t write Chinese. 6.All aspects of the father-child relationships had significant influence on the learning adaptation of the foreign spouse ¡¦ children , the foreign spouses¡¦ children had the better father-child relationship , they had better learning adaptation. 7.All aspects of the mother-child relationships had significant influence on the learning adaptation of the foreign spouse ¡¦ children , the foreign spouses¡¦ children had the better mother-child relationship , they had better learning adaptation. 8.This study compared with the study with no foreign spouses prove that parent-child relationship is the chief reason in learning adaptation. According to the findings , suggestions were provided for the parents , educational authorities and the future researches.

Land subsidence is a common phenomenon worldwide. When mitigation has approached a limitation, adaptation becomes an important strategy for sustainable development. Specially, climate variability and changes can make more serious impacts on coastal areas. This study focused on adaptation to land subsidence in Chiangyuan area consisting of several coastal villages, Pingtung county, Taiwan. Little research about the adaptations had been done in this area, except there was some studies for its awareness. Using a case study approach with questionnaires, in-depth interview, direct observation, this study explored past and existed adaptation behaviour in different categories of stakeholders. Moreover, we also tried to analyze the capacity of these adaptation for future impacts from land subsidence and flood made by climate change, and could increase the capacity. The results have revealed local people in Chiangyuan area had abundant experiences on adaptations to land subsidence and flood. They used different kinds of adaptation at same time to cope with flooding, land loss, and salted land problems. The followings have summarized the adaptation of four categories of stakeholders. 1. for local citizen, the major adaptation is house-elevating, who didn¡¦t adopt house elevating were without budget or planning to move out. 2. for farmer, planting economic fruits with higher tolerance to salt-water. 3. for aquaculture, fish-pond elevating, harvesting earlier, or building fish-pond on higher land. 4. for school, using water-proof gates or no classes during flooding. Some suggestion focused on adaptation to land subsidence was also given in this study, specially for government.

This study is an investigation of adaptations of the Greek tragic chorus since World War II, including the historical, political, and aesthetic contexts that gave rise to these adaptations. Influenced by recent work in the field of Classical Performance Reception and Linda Hutcheon’s work on adaptation, this thesis is designed not around a set of case studies, but around a variety of research questions, including: the current definition of “the chorus” and how it might include the “one-person chorus”; the techniques of mediation used by modern choruses and how they might relate to techniques of the ancient chorus; the connection between political adaptations and the encouragement of audience “complicity”; and the complexities involved in the production and reception of intercultural choruses. I begin by arguing that although August Wilhelm Schlegel’s conception of the chorus as an “ideal spectator” remains the most persistently popular model of understanding the chorus, it should be replaced with a new model based on the concentric frames of performance described by Susan Bennett. Through the use of this model, the chorus is revealed as a liminal, oscillating figure that mediates the action for the audience, and I argue that these qualities have made the chorus an attractive element of tragedy to modern adapters. In the case studies that are offered throughout, I further develop this model in order to analyze the ways in which modern choruses create relationships with audiences, as well as what political or ideological functions these relationships are intended to serve. The model that I develop encourages an engagement with both the intentions of adapters and the realities of reception, and I therefore explore not only how communication strategies of the chorus are intended to operate, but also the issues these strategies raise and the challenges adapters - and their choruses - encounter.

This study is an investigation of adaptations of the Greek tragic chorus since World War II, including the historical, political, and aesthetic contexts that gave rise to these adaptations. Influenced by recent work in the field of Classical Performance Reception and Linda Hutcheon’s work on adaptation, this thesis is designed not around a set of case studies, but around a variety of research questions, including: the current definition of “the chorus” and how it might include the “one-person chorus”; the techniques of mediation used by modern choruses and how they might relate to techniques of the ancient chorus; the connection between political adaptations and the encouragement of audience “complicity”; and the complexities involved in the production and reception of intercultural choruses. I begin by arguing that although August Wilhelm Schlegel’s conception of the chorus as an “ideal spectator” remains the most persistently popular model of understanding the chorus, it should be replaced with a new model based on the concentric frames of performance described by Susan Bennett. Through the use of this model, the chorus is revealed as a liminal, oscillating figure that mediates the action for the audience, and I argue that these qualities have made the chorus an attractive element of tragedy to modern adapters. In the case studies that are offered throughout, I further develop this model in order to analyze the ways in which modern choruses create relationships with audiences, as well as what political or ideological functions these relationships are intended to serve. The model that I develop encourages an engagement with both the intentions of adapters and the realities of reception, and I therefore explore not only how communication strategies of the chorus are intended to operate, but also the issues these strategies raise and the challenges adapters - and their choruses - encounter.

Adaptation from literature to film has always been a much criticized enterprise, with fidelity criticism, or an attempt to discredit fidelity criticism, often driving the critical discussion. However, this type of thinking is somewhat limited, becoming circular and going nowhere productive. Instead, taking into account what has come before, this thesis attempts to settle on a method of examination that moves away from fidelity criticism and towards an approach that aligns itself with cultural studies. Adaptations, then, can be seen as products of the historical, cultural, political and general socio-economic framework out of which they emerge, owing perhaps more to their context of production than to their source material. In order to provide a case study that reflects this idea, this paper looks to an author who has been adapted on multiple occasions, Jane Austen, and examines her as a cultural construct. Looking at Austen’s most popular novel, Pride and Prejudice, and using Robert Z. Leonard’s Pride and Prejudice (1940), Cyril Coke’s Jane Austen ‘s Pride and Prejudice (1980), Simon Langton’s Pride and Prejudice (1995), Andrew Black’s Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy (2003), Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice (2005), the thesis argues that the appeal of Austen is a result of her cult status and economic viability, and also the malleability of her text, which allows filmmakers to use it in a number of different contexts, while still embodying the source material.

The aim of the magistracy paper ,,The problems of the first year student‘s as future teachers adaptation at the university“ done by Daiva Klizaitė is to analyze difficuties et the first year student‘s adaptation. The aim of dis paper – the problems of the first year student‘s adaptation at the university. The tasks of dis paper is: 1. To analyze pedagogical, psychological literature on this subject; 2. To unfol the first year student‘s difficulties of adaptation at the university; 3. To clear intereses end motyves for their future pedagogical activities. Methods applied: theoretical, questionnaire, statistical. At the research was done in 2006 in which 93 student’s of the Vilnius pedagogical university and 102 student of Marijampoles college were questioned. The main conclusions. Studies are too hard. Too much home works. Lack et time because et time because et great amount of materials students must study. Student’s lack capacity to organize their own activities. Student’s receive help from their teachers and friends. Student’s health turned worse. Friends are very important to the first year student’s. Student’s are interested in their specialty, their studies are motivated. Student are satisfied by their decision to be a teacher.