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Rhodococcus rhodochrous DAP 96253, a well-known industrial bacterium, had various 1-hexene monooxygenase (1-HMO) activities when grown on YEMEA plates supplemented with eight different carbohydrates. Besides, 1-HMO exhibited different storage temperature preferences. Lactose could induce the highest 1-HMO activity in R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 while the cells showed the lowest 1-HMO activity when trehalose was the supplement. The 1-HMO activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 was not maintained when stored at 37°C as well as at 4°C and 25°C. Trehalose-induced 1-HMO activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 was more stable from Day 0 to Day 21 at all these three temperatures, compared with the other seven carbohydrates. Immobilization of enzymes can maintain enzyme activity longer, offer easier enzyme storage conditions and make some enzymes reusable, much research has been done in this area. In this study, R. rhodochrous DAP 96253, grown on YEMEA plates supplemented by glucose and urea, was investigated using whole bananas as the inducer of 1-HMO activity and different immobilization methods to maintain this enzyme activity. It was shown that calcium-alginate polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) beads could maintain 1-HMO activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 more stable than calcium-alginate beads. Whole bananas exhibited very obvious effects of inducing 1-HMO activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253. A number of recent studies have clearly demonstrated that induced cells of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 can prolong the shelf-life of post-harvested fruits. With USDA estimates of 40% of all harvested produce in the US not being consumed because of loss of quality, the ability to extend the period of ripeness of produce has great potential to improve the quality of nutrition. Modification or degradation of those signals (primary and secondary) associated with ripening in fruit or the perception of those signals represents a potential mode of action for delayed ripening by induced cells of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253. Ethylene and cyanide are the two primary signals in ripening. In this study, the role of 1-HMO from induced cells was investigated by time-course experiments focusing on 1-HMO activity and stability. In addition, fruit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected and compared by GC-FID and GC/MS over the course of fruit ripening. The results show a correlation between 1-HMO activity and stability in delayed fruit ripening. It was further demonstrated that the presence of secondary signal fruit VOCs enhanced 1-HMO activity. Aromatic profiles of treated fruits, by GC-FID and GC/MS, show a consistent picture of VOCs associated with earlier fruit ripening stages.

Knowledge levels of issues related to fertility, reproduction, and assisted reproductive technology (ART) are low among the general population. There have also been increasing trends for women to delay childbearing and for many individuals to turn to various forms of ART to aid reproduction. Many commentators assume the provision of information targeting fertility related issues and ART will be influential in altering women’s intentions related to delay childbearing, but there is a lack of both empirical and theoretical evidence to support this assumption. Further, suggestions for how to provide education related to fertility and ART have not yet been examined. The present study examined the applicability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for predicting women’s intentions to delay childbearing and whether the provision of detailed, accurate, and accessible information regarding reproduction, factors influencing fertility, and the limitations of fertility treatments would alter individual attitudes and levels of perceived control surrounding delayed childbearing. Participants received one of two informational interventions (i.e., fertility-related or alcohol-related information) then completed a questionnaire measuring the constructs of the theory of planned behavior. It was predicted that the theory of planned behavior would provide an adequate framework for examining women’s intentions to delay childbearing in that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control would all emerge as significant predictors of these intentions (hypothesis 1). It was also predicted that the provision of detailed, accurate and accessible information regarding reproduction, factors influencing fertility, and the limitations of fertility treatment would alter young women’s intentions to delay childbearing (hypothesis 2). Multiple regression analyses provided support for Hypothesis 1 and substantiated that TPB provides an adequate framework for examining women’s intentions to delay childbearing. Hypothesis 2 was partially supported such that the intervention groups significantly differed with respect to their delayed childbearing intentions. However, most of the women in this sample did not evidence intentions to delay childbearing into critical fertile periods. Future research is warranted to examine the theory of planned behavior’s ability to predict delayed childbearing over time, across cohorts, and amongst men, as well as the impact of improved reproductive technologies and media reports of fertility on intentions to delay childbearing.

Eine Fraktur, welche nicht innerhalb von 4 Monaten ausheilt bezeichnet man als verzögerte Knochenheilung. Kommt es innerhalb von 6 bis maximal 8 Monaten nicht zur Knochenintegrität spricht man von einer Pseudarthrose. Trotz moderner Knochenosteosynthese und Osteoinduktiven Substanzen sind Knochenheilungsstörungen immer noch eine häufige und ernste Komplikation. Um die Qualität der Behandlung von Pseudarthrosen in der Klinik für Unfallchirurgie, Plastische und Wiederherstellungschirurgie der Universität Göttingen zu verbessern, wurde das Outcome von 175 Patienten mit Ergebnissen der aktuellen Literatur verglichen. Die fünf häufigsten Frakturlokalisationen Tibia, Femur, Humerus, Scaphoid und Clavicula wurden dabei detailliert untersucht.

C'est à partir d'un questionnement suscité par la clinique en hôpital de jour pour enfants et adolescents que s'est construite la recherche intitulée Guérir du temps commun. Notre culture contemporaine considère en effet comme "retardés" - c'est-à-dire en retard sur le "temps commun" (sur un temps saisi comme linéaire, d'abord, et devant obéir à une chronologie commune à tous, ensuite)- certains enfants ne présentant pas les capacités ou performances attendues à tel ou tel "moment" précis. Or il s'avère que c'est bien lorsque ces enfants viennent à se nomme et à nommer l'autre, d'une part, et en viennent à "parler le temps" et à se retrouver dans les termes usuels du "temps commun", d'autre part, que s'engage alors le travail psychique leur permettant tout simplement de se reconnaître comme sujets. Il s'agit en somme, pour ces enfants, de s'approprier les repères nécessaires à la nomination de l'autre et au découpage du temps (à sa scansion), pour que puisse émerger du sens, c'est-à-dire pour que s'embraye un "temps subjectif" propre où ils arrivent à trouver place, à se construire une histoire, et à bénéficier d'une forme de transmission. C'est ce que ce travail de recherche se consacre à démontrer, exemples et situations cliniques à l'appui, et dont il s'emploie à tirer les conséquences, en particulier sur les plans éthique, thérapeutique et institutionnel. / The research entitled « safe out common temporality » is raised from a clinical issue in day hospital for children and adolescents. Our contemporary culture indeed considers « delayed » those children who don’t present expected capabilities relativelly to their age range. It is a matter of time taken as both common linear chronology and standards. But it is mainly when those children come to name themselves and others around that they reveal the psychic work consisting in using common temporality terms. They thus open a sharable meaning of their world from the recognation of themselves as a person. The research is then about how some of those « delayed » children appropriate « subjective temporality » and build out a begenning of an historical time where they can take place and share the world inside and around them, by using common words in common meanings. That is the point developped in the paper, with clinical situations. Related ethical, institutional and therapeutical consequences are also deployed

The involvement of the pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and the sympathetic nervous system in the development of delayed-onset muscle soreness has not been established. I assessed the effect of etanercept, a TNF- α inhibitor, and atenolol, a β1-receptor antagonist, on DOMS induced in the quadriceps muscle. Thirteen male subjects reported to the exercise laboratory on three separate occasions, 6-15 weeks apart. In a randomised, double-blind cross-over format, I administered etanercept (25mg), atenolol (25mg) or placebo, one hour before the exercise. Subjects then completed four sets of 15 repetitions at 80% of their one repetition maximum (1RM) on a 45° inclined leg press machine. Muscle strength changes were detected by remeasuring the subject’s 1RM 24h, 48h and 72h after the exercise. Sensitivity to pressure of the quadriceps muscle was measured using a pressure algometer before and 24h, 48h and 72h after exercise. The subject’s perception of the pain was measured with the visual analogue scale and McGill Pain Questionnaire. Muscle tumour necrosis factor-alpha concentration was measured before exercise and then 2h and 24h after exercise in four subjects. Muscle strength was impaired 24h and 48h after exercise regardless of agent administered (P < 0.001). At 72h after exercise, muscle strength was significantly improved (P < 0.01) in subjects receiving etanercept and atenolol compared to those receiving placebo. The subject’s were significantly more sensitive to pressure applied to the quadriceps 24h, 48h and 72h after exercise compared to before exercise, regardless of agent administered (P < 0.001). The VAS was elevated significantly at all three time intervals, with no difference after etanercept or atenolol administration compared to that of placebo. There was no significant difference in the muscle TNF-α concentration between any of the time intervals or between subjects receiving placebo and etanercept (P=0.065). The administration of atenolol and etanercept, at the regimen used, had no effect on the soreness associated with DOMS.

Thesis advisor: Peter Kreeft / Thomas Aquinas is generally viewed as the chief proponent of the theory of delayed animation, the view that the human embryo does not at first have the rational soul proper to human beings. Thomas follows Aristotle's embryology, in which an embryo is animated by a succession of souls. The first is a nutritive soul, having the powers of growth, nutrition, and generation. The second is a sensitive soul, having the additional powers of locomotion and sensing. The third and final soul is the human, or rational soul, which virtually includes the nutritive and sensitive souls. Because Thomas holds that there is only one substantial form of a composite, none of these forms overlap to provide continuity. It is therefore exceedingly difficult to speak of the embryo as one enduring subject through the succession of souls. Moreover, because of the way that the nutritive soul is associated with plants, and the sensitive soul is associated with animals, interpreters generally hold that for Thomas the embryo is first a plant, then an animal, and with the advent of the rational soul, finally a human being. Those who write about the ontological status of the embryo assume that delayed animation necessarily entails delayed hominization, that is, that the embryo only becomes human at a later stage of its development, when it receives the rational soul. Those who hold a delayed animation view of the embryo often invoke Thomas' schedule of successive souls in the embryo as a model for viewing it as not yet human in early stages of development, linking hominization to the ability to perform intellectual operations. That Thomas specifies that a body must be sufficiently organized before the advent of the rational soul seems to them to solidify their view of the embryo as not sufficiently organized to be truly human. Additionally, even outside of an explicitly Thomist framework, Thomist metaphysical principles are often invoked in arguments that center on twinning and totipotency of blastomeres in the early embryo, and whether that early embryo is one individual if it is potentially many. Those who hold immediate animation views (i.e., the embryo receives the rational soul at once, with no mediate states) often adopt the strategy of importing modern data on the internal organization and self-directed development of the embryo, and argue that if only Thomas had known that the zygote was not unformed and undifferentiated, that it has within itself all it needs to become a mature adult human, he would have held that the embryo is immediately suited to receive the rational soul, and thus is human from conception. In this way they attempt to employ a change in scientific data to negate the need for a succession of forms in the embryo. The author identifies the being of the human embryo as a prior metaphysical problem within Thomas' work, and advances a different interpretation of his views: that the embryo, even before the advent of the rational soul, is human. To establish this claim, she traces the problems which emerge in the current debate about when the embryo becomes human, and argues that contrary to expectation, it is not necessary to equate immediate rational animation with immediate hominization, demonstrating that all other approaches yield results entirely untenable for Thomas. A survey of texts reveals that Thomas did in fact view the embryo as human before the rational soul, though he does not methodically work out the implications of that view in a number of areas. Moreover, a distinction based on a passage in Aristotle's Generation of Animals with regard to an additional meaning of generation may resolve the ambivalence in Thomas' account of the embryo as passive under the formative power of the father's semen. Finally, a third meaning of generation is offered to show that Thomas recognized and wished to resolve the difficulty of explaining the continuity and identify of the embryo in the succession of souls. What results is an immediate hominization view of the embryo that, because it accommodates Thomas' succession of souls and does not depend upon importing modern biological data on the embryo, is consistent with Thomas' account, and is thoroughly cognizant of the way Thomas viewed human nature and the final end of human being. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Extending the retirement age is becoming an inevitable trend given the extension of the population’s life expectancy, the need to reduce the financial burden of pensions, the increase in the utilization rate of human capital, the impetus to alleviate labor market shortages, and other social problems. Increasing numbers of countries are beginning to impose extended retirement policies. For instance, the United States, South Korea, Canada and the Nordic countries, among others, have all taken measures to delay retirement. However, the general social recognition is not high. The age of the elderly, education level and individual lifestyle have a significant impact on policies of delayed retirement age. A situation of severe aging puts the future pension system at risk, based on the interests of the country, delayed retirement can help to maximize human capital and relieve a country’s financial pressure. From an individual perspective, extending the retirement age may reduce provisions for elderly people. This study, based on the previous literature review, conducted a survey of people in Halmstad to analyze local citizens’ perception of delayed retirement and the influencing factors behind this. The results indicate that willingness for delayed retirement among the people studied is not very high, with reasons varying across different types of respondents.

This study was directed toward improving the balance and consistency of student participation by thinning, randomizing, and delaying credit for student participation. Each of three sections of a large college course (n = 55) employed a different contingency for choosing the days in which participation credit was awarded: (1) credit units identified ahead of time, (2) credit units announced at the end of the course, and (3) credit units randomly selected by students at the end of the course. For all contingencies, random selection of 2 out of 4 discussion days in each credit unit occurred at the conclusion of the course. The study compared the effects of the different credit contingencies on the percentage of students participating at selected levels across days and units. Students recorded their individual comments during class discussion. External raters recorded the number of timely and repetitious comments per student, the number of comprehension and factual questions posed by instructors, and the amount of positive and negative feedback provided to each student. Results showed that when students knew which units would provide participation credit (Section A), the percentage of non-participants and dominant participants decreased, while the percentage of credit-level participants increased. These results are consistent with previous research (e.g., Krohn et al, 2010) reporting balanced participation when students know in advance the specific units when credit is available for participation. Conversely, when students did not know until the end of the semester which units would provide credit (Sections B and C), participation patterns remained relatively similar across units. The percentage of participants at different levels in Sections B and C fell between the percentages for credit and non-credit levels in Section A. A 50-item survey also was given at the beginning of the course to assess student beliefs concerning class participation. The total survey scores significantly predicted student placement into low- or high-participation groups throughout the course. Logistic regression analyses showed that the primary factor, Personal History and Preference regarding Class Participation, better predicted membership in the low-participant group in non-credit units and membership in the high-participant group in credit units in Section A.

Group and family living is an integral part of many animals’ ecology. Thus the behavior became associated with plenty of advantages as well as disadvantages. However, rarely has the actual concept of the group been investigated. Questions such as, “What constitutes a ‘group’?” and “Do the individuals within these ‘groups’ associate with each other frequently enough to actually enjoy the benefits of group living?” are seldom asked. With these questions in mind, the aim of this study was to use Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus) individuals in their territories to explore and shed more light on the issue of the extent of group living. A working definition of a ‘group’ was made and subsequently the birds were observed in their natural habitat in northern Sweden during several seasons. Consequently, a pair-wise coherence index (CI) was created to quantify the levels of association between the individuals within each territory in order to investigate which possible factors affect the extent of the observed cohesion. Results of the study indicate that pair-wise cohesion was strongly dependent on the kinship of the birds. Moreover, it was found that the alpha and kin birds had significantly higher coherence values than the non kin birds. Thus, within a territory, it was the alpha and the kin birds that formed the core of the group with the non kin birds being much less associated with the other individuals. This was in contrast to the hypothesis, which predicted alpha birds to form the core of the group solely, with kin birds having significantly lower coherence. Interestingly, no effect of habitat type and season was found on the cohesion of the territorial group. Moreover, further evidence of sub-grouping was found even on the kinship level, thus suggesting yet more complex interplay between group cohesion and the group members.  All in all, with the non kin birds having low coherence values, the study casts light on the fact that even if individuals are present in a territory, they might not necessarily be a tight unit and as such be unable to fully benefit from group living.