Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Medicine, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 98-114.

Title: Co-operative, prevent or complement? - An essay on the relationships between control systems.  Authors: Kim Eriksson and Victoria Karlsson Purpose: The essay aims to describe the relations between control systems and how they related to each other, based on an operationalization of the control systems.  Research question: What are the control systems relations to each other? With regards whether control systems co-operative, prevents and/or complement each other. Theoretical framework: The essays theoretical framework is based on Malmi and Browns (2008) description of five different control systems and control mechanisms associated with each control system.    Research methodology: The method was based on three different data collection methods. These methods were observations, documentation, and semi-structured interviews. Conclusions: It is concluded that the control systems has comprehensive relations. Control systems have more, than one, relation to each other.

[Truncated abstract] This study describes the results of a four and a half year investigation examining local regulation of ion transport through pumping epithelial cells. The study focussed on the standard isolated toad skin preparation, made famous by Hans Ussing. Originally, the objective was to perform some simple manipulations on the isolated toad skin, a standard and well-tested epithelial layer, which, according to the literature, was a well-behaved and stable preparation. The purpose of doing these toad skin experiments was to gain familiarity with the experimental techniques, such as measuring the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the short-circuit current (Isc) across an epithelium. In the process, the experimental information that was obtained was to assist in the development and refinement of a mathematical model of a single pumping epithelial cell . . . Finally, it should be emphasised the toad skin was a convenient tissue model for exploring more general issues such as: (i) how pumping epithelial cells may adjust to changes in the extracellular environment by locally regulating their membrane conductances; (2) how the topology of a cell can influence its function (i.e. the topology can determine whether a cell is optimised for salt transport or water transport). (3) how different cells, with different functions, may be positioned in apposition in a pumping epithelial tissue so that gradients generated by one cell type can be utilised by another. From a broader perspective, it is likely that such issues are also applicable to other pumping epithelia, and ultimately, may assist in understanding how these epithelia function.

Para melhor compreender a estrutura de governança corporativa das instituições financeiras brasileiras, a relação entre dois mecanismos de controle corporativo interno foram estudados: a estrutura de propriedade e o conselho de administração. A utilização destes mecanismos tem como objetivo harmonizar os interesses das partes envolvidas. Dado este objetivo comum, a relação de causalidade estabelecida na eleição dos conselheiros pela assembleia de acionistas origina o interesse em testar se o conselho de administração é uma função da estrutura de pro-priedade. Com este intuito, foram investigadas a concentração de propriedade, a concentração do capital votante, a presença de insider ownership, o tamanho do conselho de administração, o percentual de conselheiros independentes e a dualidade de presidência em 88 instituições financeiras brasileiras, entre 2001 e 2011. Os dados foram analisados com metodologia de dados em painel com efeitos fixos. Os resultados indicaram que algumas características da constituição do conselho de administração são função da estrutura de propriedade. Tanto para o tamanho do conselho de administração, quanto para a independência do conselho de admi-nistração as hipóteses nulas, de que as variáveis insider ownership, concentração de proprie-dade e concentração de capital votante não possuem poder explicativo sobre as variáveis de-pendentes puderam ser rejeitadas Contudo, a relação de causalidade testada não indica neces-sariamente uma relação de equilíbrio para boas práticas de governança corporativa. A escolha arbitrária do conselho de administração pelos acionistas/proprietários pode levar às constituições de conselhos que tragam às instituições financeiras uma imagem de boa governança, cercadas de interesses e delimitadas pelas regras dos órgãos reguladores. / To better understand the corporate governance structure of Brazilian financial institutions, the relationship between two internal corporate control mechanisms were studied: the owner-ship structure and the board. The use of these mechanisms aims to harmonize the interests of the parties involved. Given this common goal, the causal link established in the election of directors by the shareholders' meeting originates interest in testing whether the board is a function of the structure of ownership. To this end, we investigated the concentration of own-ership, the concentration of the voting capital, the presence of insider ownership, the size of the board, the percentage of independent directors and dual presidency in 88 Brazilian finan-cial institutions between 2001 and 2011. Data were analyzed using the methodology of panel data fixed effects. The results indicated that some features of the constitution of the board are a function of ownership structure. So much for the size of the board, and for the independence of the board of administration the null hypothesis, that the insider ownership variables, con-centration of ownership and voting concentration have no explanatory power variables-pending could be rejected, however, the causal tested does not indicate necessarily a bal-anced relation to good corporate governance practices. The arbitrary choice of the board of directors by the shareholders / owners can take to the constitutions of advice to financial in-stitutions to bring an image of good governance, surrounded interests and bounded by the rules of the regulatory bodies.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-03-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:27:32Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 grejo_cb_me_assis.pdf: 439302 bytes, checksum: de942442e3d1f61173b1c923a8cc3f2f (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Na Argentina - principalmente no final do século XIX – foi freqüente a utilização da etnicidade pelas elites intelectuais como uma das maneiras de formular questões pendentes ao processo de formação da pátria. Os cientificistas argentinos utilizaram–se, muitas vezes, de apelações biologistas e de concepções do darwinismo social, produzindo a teoria do “crisol de raças como mecanismo de controle social e étnico para nacionalizar as massas chegadas durante o processo de imigração européia, a partir de 1880. Neste trabalho, buscaremos compreender as relações existentes entre Carlos Octavio Bunge (1875-1918) e José Ingenieros (1877-1925), partindo da análise de sua produção intelectual do início do século XX e de suas publicações em revistas do período – Revista de Derecho, Historia y Letras, Revista de Filosofia, Cultura, Ciencias y Educación (1915 – 1929) e da revista El Monitor de la Educación Común (1881 – 1965) - uma vez que estes compartilhavam das mesmas idéias étnicas e da preocupação em decifrar a história nacional, sendo considerados, por isso, pertencentes à corrente cientificista. / In Argentina – mainly in the end of 19th century – It was often the utilization of ethnicity by the intellectual elite as one of the ways to formulate pending questions about the country formation process. The argentineans cientificists used, several times, biologist appeals and social darwinism conceptions, producing the theory of “racial mixture as mechanism of social and ethnic control to nationalize the arriving masses during the European immigration process, from 1880. In this work, we will focus the understanding of the relationships that existed among Carlos Octavio Bunge (1875-1918) and José Ingenieros (1877-1925), studying the analysis of his intellectual production of the beginning of the 20th century and the publications in magazines of the period - Revista de Derecho, Historia y Letras, Revista de Filosofia, cultura, ciencias y educación (1915 – 1929) and the magazine El monitor of la educación común (1881 - 1965) - once they shared the same ethnic ideas and the concern in deciphering the national history, being considered, for that, belonging to the cientificist current.

Notre thèse analyse la protection internationale des droits de l'homme dans des «zones grises», définies comme des zones géographiques où l’État, souverain sur son territoire, ne peut ou ne veut pas exercer un contrôle effectif. Or, une fois l’État n'a plus de contrôle sur une partie de son territoire, les mécanismes de contrôle des droits de l'homme deviennent paralysés. La question principale à laquelle notre étude vise à répondre est la question de savoir si et comment le droit international des droits de l'homme peut s'appliquer de façon effective dans des zones hors du contrôle effectif de l’État, premier garant des droits de l'homme dans son territoire. La Première Partie a pour objectif d'analyser la question de l'applicabilité du droit international des droits de l'homme et de répondre aux questions relatives à son applicabilité ratione loci, ratione materiae et ratione personae. Les conclusions clarifient si cette branche du droit international continue de s'appliquer dans les «zones grises» et quelles sont les obligations qui lient les États, notamment en répondant à la question, connexe, de savoir à quels autres sujets les obligations relatives aux droits de l'homme sont opposables. La Deuxième Partie examine les questions relatives à la mise en œuvre des normes du droit international des droits de l'homme, c'est-à-dire la question de la responsabilité internationale pour violations des droits de l'homme et le défi de l'engagement de la responsabilité dans les mécanismes de contrôle. Notre thèse soutient que le droit international des droits de l'homme est capable d'imposer son applicabilité et sa mise en œuvre dans une telle situation imparfaite. / The present thesis analyzes the international protection of human rights in "grey zones", defined as geographical areas where the State, sovereign of its territory, is unable or unwilling to exercise effective control. However, once the State has no more control over a part of its territory, human rights monitoring mechanisms become paralyzed. The main question to which the present study aims to answer is whether and how international human rights law can effectively apply in areas out of the effective control of the State, primary guarantor of human rights in its territory. The First Part aims to analyze the question of the applicability of international human rights law and to answer to the questions related to its applicability ratione loci, ratione materiae and ratione personae. The conclusions clarify whether this branch of international law continues to apply in the "grey zones" and which are the obligations binding States while answering to the related question to which other subjects human rights obligations are opposable. The Second Part examines the questions related to the implementation of the norms of international human rights law, i.e. the question of international responsibility for human rights violations and the challenge of the engagement of the responsibility in control mechanisms. The present thesis claims that international human rights law is able to impose its applicability and its implementation in such an imperfect situation.

Para melhor compreender a estrutura de governança corporativa das instituições financeiras brasileiras, a relação entre dois mecanismos de controle corporativo interno foram estudados: a estrutura de propriedade e o conselho de administração. A utilização destes mecanismos tem como objetivo harmonizar os interesses das partes envolvidas. Dado este objetivo comum, a relação de causalidade estabelecida na eleição dos conselheiros pela assembleia de acionistas origina o interesse em testar se o conselho de administração é uma função da estrutura de pro-priedade. Com este intuito, foram investigadas a concentração de propriedade, a concentração do capital votante, a presença de insider ownership, o tamanho do conselho de administração, o percentual de conselheiros independentes e a dualidade de presidência em 88 instituições financeiras brasileiras, entre 2001 e 2011. Os dados foram analisados com metodologia de dados em painel com efeitos fixos. Os resultados indicaram que algumas características da constituição do conselho de administração são função da estrutura de propriedade. Tanto para o tamanho do conselho de administração, quanto para a independência do conselho de admi-nistração as hipóteses nulas, de que as variáveis insider ownership, concentração de proprie-dade e concentração de capital votante não possuem poder explicativo sobre as variáveis de-pendentes puderam ser rejeitadas Contudo, a relação de causalidade testada não indica neces-sariamente uma relação de equilíbrio para boas práticas de governança corporativa. A escolha arbitrária do conselho de administração pelos acionistas/proprietários pode levar às constituições de conselhos que tragam às instituições financeiras uma imagem de boa governança, cercadas de interesses e delimitadas pelas regras dos órgãos reguladores. / To better understand the corporate governance structure of Brazilian financial institutions, the relationship between two internal corporate control mechanisms were studied: the owner-ship structure and the board. The use of these mechanisms aims to harmonize the interests of the parties involved. Given this common goal, the causal link established in the election of directors by the shareholders' meeting originates interest in testing whether the board is a function of the structure of ownership. To this end, we investigated the concentration of own-ership, the concentration of the voting capital, the presence of insider ownership, the size of the board, the percentage of independent directors and dual presidency in 88 Brazilian finan-cial institutions between 2001 and 2011. Data were analyzed using the methodology of panel data fixed effects. The results indicated that some features of the constitution of the board are a function of ownership structure. So much for the size of the board, and for the independence of the board of administration the null hypothesis, that the insider ownership variables, con-centration of ownership and voting concentration have no explanatory power variables-pending could be rejected, however, the causal tested does not indicate necessarily a bal-anced relation to good corporate governance practices. The arbitrary choice of the board of directors by the shareholders / owners can take to the constitutions of advice to financial in-stitutions to bring an image of good governance, surrounded interests and bounded by the rules of the regulatory bodies.

Para melhor compreender a estrutura de governança corporativa das instituições financeiras brasileiras, a relação entre dois mecanismos de controle corporativo interno foram estudados: a estrutura de propriedade e o conselho de administração. A utilização destes mecanismos tem como objetivo harmonizar os interesses das partes envolvidas. Dado este objetivo comum, a relação de causalidade estabelecida na eleição dos conselheiros pela assembleia de acionistas origina o interesse em testar se o conselho de administração é uma função da estrutura de pro-priedade. Com este intuito, foram investigadas a concentração de propriedade, a concentração do capital votante, a presença de insider ownership, o tamanho do conselho de administração, o percentual de conselheiros independentes e a dualidade de presidência em 88 instituições financeiras brasileiras, entre 2001 e 2011. Os dados foram analisados com metodologia de dados em painel com efeitos fixos. Os resultados indicaram que algumas características da constituição do conselho de administração são função da estrutura de propriedade. Tanto para o tamanho do conselho de administração, quanto para a independência do conselho de admi-nistração as hipóteses nulas, de que as variáveis insider ownership, concentração de proprie-dade e concentração de capital votante não possuem poder explicativo sobre as variáveis de-pendentes puderam ser rejeitadas Contudo, a relação de causalidade testada não indica neces-sariamente uma relação de equilíbrio para boas práticas de governança corporativa. A escolha arbitrária do conselho de administração pelos acionistas/proprietários pode levar às constituições de conselhos que tragam às instituições financeiras uma imagem de boa governança, cercadas de interesses e delimitadas pelas regras dos órgãos reguladores. / To better understand the corporate governance structure of Brazilian financial institutions, the relationship between two internal corporate control mechanisms were studied: the owner-ship structure and the board. The use of these mechanisms aims to harmonize the interests of the parties involved. Given this common goal, the causal link established in the election of directors by the shareholders' meeting originates interest in testing whether the board is a function of the structure of ownership. To this end, we investigated the concentration of own-ership, the concentration of the voting capital, the presence of insider ownership, the size of the board, the percentage of independent directors and dual presidency in 88 Brazilian finan-cial institutions between 2001 and 2011. Data were analyzed using the methodology of panel data fixed effects. The results indicated that some features of the constitution of the board are a function of ownership structure. So much for the size of the board, and for the independence of the board of administration the null hypothesis, that the insider ownership variables, con-centration of ownership and voting concentration have no explanatory power variables-pending could be rejected, however, the causal tested does not indicate necessarily a bal-anced relation to good corporate governance practices. The arbitrary choice of the board of directors by the shareholders / owners can take to the constitutions of advice to financial in-stitutions to bring an image of good governance, surrounded interests and bounded by the rules of the regulatory bodies.

A pineal participa da sincronização do organismo pela síntese de melatonina. Diabetes é um distúrbio metabólico caracterizado por hiperglicemia. Diante da controvérsia sobre a síntese de melatonina em animais diabéticos, esse trabalho objetivou avaliar as alterações da glândula pineal mediante o diabetes induzido por STZ (60mg/kg, i.p.). Ratos wistar (250-280g, 12h/12h claro/escuro) foram utilizados em todos os procedimentos que envolveram técnicas de FACS, microdiálise, HPLC, radiometria da atividade enzimática e qPCR. Os resultados mostraram que o diabetes causa diminuição (50%) e perda do perfil mono/bifásico da síntese pineal de melatonina, que não é causada por necrose ou apoptose dos pinealócitos e reflete um desarranjo no metabolismo pineal, evidenciado pela diminuição na atividade da AANAT (55%). Observou-se também um desbalanço rítmico de fatores determinantes como a expressão do receptor ß1 e a atividade e expressão das enzimas TPH1 e HIOMT. A menor concentração de melatonina circulante pode ser um fator contribuinte para o desenvolvimento da doença. / The gland is involved in the organism synchronization via its hormone melatonin. Diabetes involves hyperglicemia and insulin synthesis/signaling impairment. The aim of this work was to evaluate the pineal melatonin synthesis in STZ-diabetic rats (60mg/kg, i.p.). Male wistar rats (250-280g, 12h/12h light/dark) were used as the animal model and FACS, microdialysis, HPLC, enzyme activity assay and qPCR were the techniques used to evaluate the pineal phisiology. The results show a decrease in pineal melatonin (50%) and a circadian profile impairment that were not due to necrosis or apoptosis. This finding reflects an important impairment in the pineal metabolism that was related to a decrease in AANAT activity (55%). An alteration in the rhthmicity of important factors, such as the ß1-adrenergic receptor expression and the TPH1 and HIOMT activity and expression, was also observed. This decrease in circulating melatonin may be of fundamental importance to the establishment and maintenance of diabetes.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subpopulation of T cells with immuno-suppressive properties. Tregs play a key role in immune response regulation and tolerance to antigens, thereby preventing autoimmunity, and may be partly responsible for the lack of an appropriate immune response against tumor cells. However, a human microRNA (miR) Treg signature has not been described yet. We investigated human natural Tregs and identified a signature composed of five microRNAs (-21, -31, -125a, -181c and -374). Among those, two were considerably under-expressed (miR-31 and miR-125a). We identified a functional target sequence for miR-31 in the 3’ untranslated region (3’ UTR) of FOXP3 mRNA. Using lentiviral transduction of fresh cord blood T cells, we demonstrated that miR-31 and miR-21 had opposite effects on FOXP3 expression. We showed that miR-31 negatively regulates FOXP3 expression by binding directly to its potential target site in the 3’ UTR of FOXP3 mRNA. We next demonstrated that miR-21 acted as a positive, though indirect, regulator of FOXP3 expression.<p>Recent reports have shown that histone deacetylase inhibitors increased FOXP3 expression in T cells. We therefore decided to investigate in non-Treg CD4-positive cells, the mechanisms by which an aspecific opening of the chromatin could lead to an increased FOXP3 expression. We focused on the binding of potentially activating transcription factors to the promoter region of FOXP3 and on modifications in the five miRs constituting the Treg signature. Valproate treatment induced binding of Ets-1 and Ets-2 transcription factors to the FOXP3 promoter and acted positively on its expression, by increasing the acetylation of histone H4 lysines. Valproate treatment also induced the acquisition of the miRs of Treg signature. To elucidate whether the changes in the miRs expression could be due to the increased FOXP3<p>expression, we transduced these non-Tregs with a FOXP3 lentiviral expression vector, and found no changes in miRs expression. Therefore, the modification in their miR expression profile is not due to an increased expression of FOXP3 but directly results from histone deacetylase inhibition. Rather, the increased FOXP3 expression results from the additive effects of Ets factors binding and the change in the expression level of miR-21 and miR-31. These data, by allowing a better understanding of the molecular phenomena underlying the number and function of Tregs, could open the door to novel therapeutic approaches in cancer immunotherapy and treatment of autoimmune disorders. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished