Biomolecular Modeling is playing an important role in many practical applications such as biotechnology and structure-based drug design. One of the essential requirements of Biomolecular modeling is an accurate description of the solvent (water). The challenge is to make this description computationally facile that is reasonably fast, simple, robust and easy to incorporate into existing software packages. The most rigorous procedure to model the effect of aqueous solvent is to explicitly model every water molecule in the system. For many practical applications, this approach is computationally too intense, as the number of required water atoms is on average one order of magnitude larger than the number of atoms of the molecule of interest. Implicit solvent models, in which solvent molecules are represented by a continuum function, have become a popular alternative to explicit solvent methods as they are computationally more efficient. The Generalized Born (GB) implicit solvent has become quite popular due to its relative simplicity and computational efficiency. However, recent studies showed serious deficiencies of many GB variants when applied to Biomolecular Modeling such as an over- stabilization of alpha helical secondary structures and salt bridges. In this dissertation we present two new GB models aimed at computing solvation properties with a reasonable compromise between accuracy and speed. The first GB model, called NSR6, is based on a numerically surface integration over the standard molecular surface. When applied to a set of small drug-like molecules, NSR6 produced an accuracy, with respect to experiments, that is essentially at the same level as that of the expensive explicit solvent treatment. Furthermore, we developed an analytic GB model, called AR6, based on an approximation of the volume integral over the standard molecular volume. The accuracy of the AR6 model is tested relative to the numerically exact NSR6. Overall AR6 produces a good accuracy and is suitable for Molecular Dynamics simulations which is the main intended application. / Ph. D.

Yes / Born in Bradford (BiB) have carried out surveys of BiB participants during the first national lockdown (April – June 2020) and at a second Phase (Oct – Dec 2020). A third survey took place between June – July 2021. Participants were from either the BiB’s Growing Up (GU) or Better Start (BiBBS) cohorts and had children in pre-school, primary and secondary school age groups. This report presents a summary of the findings identified in Phase 2 (29th October 2020 – 23rd December 2020) of the Born in Bradford’s Covid-19 adult survey. / The Health Fund Covid-19 Award; Wellcome Trust; ESRC; NIHR: Applied Research Collaboration, Yorkshire and Humber; ActEarly UK Preventative Research Partnership Consortium; NIHR Clinical Research Network; National Lottery Community Fund

The culture in which people work and dwell is instrumental in shaping their sense of self. The decision to migrate from the country of one's heritage culture may result in the modification of self-identity in order to accommodate new experiences within the host culture. For working professionals, such modifications may be manifested in a number of different domains, including attitudes, behaviors, values, and sense of culture. When considering America's diverse workforce and the pressures placed upon people to be competitive, educated, and reasonably assimilated, the process of acculturation must also be addressed. This process is best understood when heritage and mainstream cultures are viewed independently. Formally educated foreign-born African women were the focus of this research. The purpose was to increase understanding of the employment status of African women with respect to identity style and acculturation strategies. Two hundred thirty-eight (238) women in the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Area were surveyed with respect to acculturation, identity style and employment status. The Vancouver Index of Acculturation was used to measure the heritage and mainstream dimensions of acculturation. The Identity Style Inventory was used to measure aspects of individual identity. Differences were found for the acculturation dimension of mainstream acculturation, which was observed to be higher for employed subjects for three of the four analyses used for employment status. No statistically significant differences were found for any of the identity style measures due to employment status, with one exception. The underemployed group of women may have been characterized by an identity orientation based on family and friends. If these women appear to experience problems associated with acculturation and identity, they may require more time to learn about the U.S. culture. These women represent a heterogeneous group with an amazing diversity in terms of language, culture, religion, and national backgrounds. This research suggests that their goal of securing or maintaining a professional career in the United States while residing in a major metropolitan area does not require assimilating into the U.S. culture at the expense of their own culture. Although, given that the majority of these women plan to remain in the United States as permanent residents, learning as much as possible about their host culture could perhaps benefit them with respect to employment. / Ph. D.

Avec la participation accrue des économies émergentes dans l’économie mondiale, les Born Globals de ces pays deviennent des acteurs significatifs. L’objectif de notre recherche est d’étudier le processus d’internationalisation des Born Globals chinoises, ainsi que d’explorer les facteurs clés expliquant ce processus d’internationalisation précoce et rapide. Pour répondre à notre questionnement, une double méthodologie a été employée : une approche quantitative par une étude exploratoire suivie d’une approche qualitative par une étude de cas multiples. Nous avons choisi la province du Zhejiang comme terrain de recherche, car la plupart des PME de cette région s’orientent dès leur création vers l’international. A partir d’une analyse des littératures relatives à l’internationalisation des PME et des Born Globals, nous avons identifié sept facteurs principaux dans le processus d’internationalisation des Born Globals et nous les avons examinés dans le contexte chinois par une étude exploratoire. Suite à cette étude qui nous a permis d’identifier les dirigeants et les réseaux comme facteurs clés expliquant l’internationalisation rapide des Born Globals chinoises, nous avons réalisé une analyse inter-cas auprès de sept Born Globals chinoises. Cette étude nous a permis de comprendre l’action de ces deux facteurs clés dans l’internationalisation rapide des Born Globals ainsi que leur impact sur ce processus. / With the increased participation of emerging countries in the global economy, the Born Globals in these countries become significant players. The aim of our research is to study the internationalization process of Chinese Born Globals and to explore the key factors explaining their early and rapid process of internationalization.To answer our questions, a double methodology was used: a quantitative approach of an exploratory study followed by a qualitative approach of a multiple case study. We choose the Zhejiang province as our research field because most SMEs in this region start to internationalize soon after their creation.From a literature review of the internationalization of SMEs and Born Globals, we have identified seven key factors in the internationalization process of Born Globals and we have examined them in the Chinese context through an exploratory study. Following this exploratory study, which allowed us to identify the leaders and the networks as two key factors explaining the rapid internationalization of Chinese Born Globals, we conducted a cross-case analysis within seven Chinese Born Globals. This study allowed us to understand the functions of these two key factors in the rapid internationalization of Born Globals as well as their impact on this process.

Orientador: Marcelo Yamashita / Resumo: Nesta dissertação vamos estudar um problema de três corpos via aproximação de Born-Oppenheimer em duas dimensões para um sistema constituído de duas partículas pesadas e uma leve. Considerando uma interação de contato entre a partícula leve e as pesadas e desconsiderando a interação entre as pesadas, estudamos o efeito do momento angular e da diferença de massa entre as partículas. Notamos que diminuindo a diferença de massa entre as partículas encontramos um número menor de estados ligados. Conforme aumentamos o momento angular observamos um número menor de estados ligados, isto porque o momento angular soma ao sistema um potencial repulsivo, tornando o sistema mais fracamente ligado. Considerando um potencial gaussiano entre as partículas pesadas calculamos a energia de três corpos e o raio quadrático médio. Observamos que a introdução deste potencial torna possível o rompimento do sistema de três corpos e o fenômeno de tunelamento. Estudando o raio quadrático médio percebemos que a região de tunelamento o tamanho do sistema varia consideravelmente, tornando esta região interessante de ser detectada experimentalmente / Abstract: In this thesis we study mass-imbalanced three-body system in two dimensions using BornOppenheimer approximation. Considering the heavy-light particle system interacting through zero-range interaction and disregarding interaction between the heavy-heavy, we study effects the angular momentum and mass ratio difference. Decreasing the mass difference between the heavy and the light particles a smaller number of bound states is found. Increasing the angular momentum we add to the system a repulsive potential, making the system weakly bounded, in this case a small number of bound states are expected. Considering a gaussian potential between the heavy-heavy particles it is possible to unbounded the system and observe tunneling phenomena. The considerable change in the tunneling region for the mean square radii indicates an increase in the system size, making this region interesting to be experimentally detected. / Mestre

Most of the existing research regarding internationalization is focusing on larger and established firms. Therefore, this paper will contribute to research by solely focusing on young and small firms' internationalization. There is today much research on specific theories. Meanwhile, the internationalization process is complex by nature. Therefore, this paper focuses on integration between several aspects, which are Born Global, Network strategy, Resources-based view, and Digitalization. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the “status quo” regarding Born Globals’ additional way of doing foreign business, which includes changes regarding network, resources, and digitalization. Based on the knowledge gaps the research questions want to answer how the internationalization process of Swedish Born Globals has been affected during Covid-19, in addition to how networks, resources, and digitalization helped and shaped the internationalization journey during Covid-19.This study aims to better understand how young firms internationalize and achieve rapid growth from foreign markets in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, with lockdowns and other restrictions. The paper aims to contribute knowledge regarding challenges and solutions during the Covid-19 pandemic or other future crises. Potentially, firms can learn from this research to prepare them to better meet the future and other potential pandemics or crises. In addition, other more established firms can learn from young organizations that adapted and built their organizations in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.With the help of a deductive approach that uses existing theories as a basis for the interview guide with semi-structured questions, we have found that Swedish Born Globals have been able to successfully internationalize during Covid-19. Networks have been highly important and a shift toward digital meetings has become the new normal. The importance of adapting to digitalization is crucial as connecting with your network has to a large extent taken a digital form. We found that digitalization helps Born Globals to become more resource-efficient and that knowledge of the staff which was regarded as a key resource can be even more efficient when working remotely and communicating digitally. In general, the Born Globals in this study are positive towards change and adaptations, which is a mindset that means opportunities to achieve competitive advantage and rapid international growth in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and after as well.

This study is an introduction to the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and TripleBottom Line (TBL) utilization in Swedish born global firms. The purpose of this study was toexplore how born globals utilize CSR and TBL and thus contribute to the research field withnew knowledge. The knowledge gap found by the researchers was the lack of foundationalknowledge of the field born globals, CSR and TBL together. The research questionsconcerned the utilization of CSR and TBL, what negative aspects of CSR and TBL were seenby the companies and what parts of CSR and TBL were most important. This study wasconducted on Swedish born global firms utilizing sustainability practices. A conceptualframework was generated by the concepts born global, CSR and TBL to visualize theirconnection. The purpose and the questions were fulfilled and answered by conductingsemi-structured interviews with four Swedish born global companies of different sizes andindustries. To further develop the analysis, Archie B Carroll's input was added. What could beconcluded from this study was that the companies had different ways of utilizing CSR.Furthermore, the negative aspects of working sustainably with CSR and TBL was seen aseconomical and time consuming. The positive aspects were the other values gained for thefirms externally which overweighted the negative costs. Thus has this research contributed tomanagers within born global firms as well as the theoretical research field of born globals andCSR.

I dagens digitala värld uppkommer nya typer av företag som Born Digitals, vilka har möjligheter att kunna etablera sin försäljning på internationella marknader på ett digitalt sätt. Forskningen om Born Digitals är begränsad trots denna typ av företags ökade närvaro i takt med digitaliseringen och den teknologiska utvecklingen i världen. Denna studie syftar till att utforska när och var Born Digitals etablerar försäljning på internationella marknader. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med nyckelpersoner i relevanta bolag har genomförts som en del av den kvalitativa ansatsen som har använts. Resultat i studien visar dels, i linje med tidigare forskning, dvs att Born Digitals kan skala upp effektivt och nå ut på internationella marknader snabbt. Samtidigt visar det också att de begränsas av faktorer som psykisk distans precis som traditionella företag. Vi finner tydliga hinder relaterade till kultur, språk, lagar och infrastruktur som förhindrar företagen att dra nytta av de egenskaper i en digital produkt och i ytterligare grad kunna bryta traditionella mönster inom internationalisering. Dessa hinder innebär resurskrävande anpassningar och relationsbyggande som ofta sker via fysisk närvaro med mänskliga interaktioner.

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As the demographics of faculty in American higher are fast changing and more foreign-born faculty entering the system, more information about this new group of entrants needs to be scrutinized. This research is aiming to answer some issues related the foreign-born professors overlooked by the mainstream studies about faculty in American postsecondary education. In the first half of this dissertation, related issues such as highly skilled immigrants and their importance to the economy, national strategy and smart power have been discussed. In the second half of this paper, some empirical research and statistical results revealed significant differences between the foreign-born and native-born faculty in terms of salary, working hours, time allocations and variances of above factors in different fields. This research suggested that foreign-born faculty is treated fairly in American academia and they enjoyed neither salary advantage nor disadvantage in comparison to their native counterparts. However, this author found empirical evidence that foreign-born did emphasize more on research by allocating more share of their work time on research and publications. This study shed some light on the researches about faculty salary, time allocation and some other aspects of employment for the foreign-born faculty. The author hopes to raise the academic interests of this topic and would like to see more detailed studies and researches in this direction.