<p> In this thesis, two inner shell excitation spectroscopy techniques, inner shell electron energy loss spectroscopy (ISEELS) and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, were used to measure the C ls, N ls and 0 ls spectra of the amino acids, glycine, alanine, cysteine, phenylalanine, proline, threonine, tryptophan and the peptides, Gly-Ala, Lys-Trp-Lys (KWK), and Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD). The spectra are analysed with the aide of ab initio computations using the GSCF3 method. The characteristic spectral features of the specific side chains of amino acids are identified. Differences in the spectra of the gas and solid are related to differences between the neutral gas phase molecule and the zwitterionic solid form. A rationalization of observations of high degree of variability in theN ls spectra of amino acids is proposed. The characteristic spectral signatures of peptide bonds have been identified further by comparing the spectra of small peptides to the spectra of their subunit amino acids. A modified "building block" approach is showed to be very useful in modeling the inner shell excitation spectra of peptides through linear combinations of the spectra of the amino acids residues and peptide bonds. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Initial studies in this work explored the role of interleukin-6 (IL6) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in preimplantation bovine embryos. Neither cytokine affected the total percentage of embryos which developed to the blastocyst stage in vitro. However, supplementation of IL6 increased blastocyst inner cell mass (ICM) cell number without affecting trophectoderm (TE) cell number. Additionally, we found that IL6 activated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) specifically within ICM cells. LIF, however, did not affect ICM cell number or activate STAT3 in ICM cells, and was not pursued further. This increase in ICM cell number by IL6 was largely comprised of hypoblast (GATA6+:NANOG-) cells, and most IL6-responsive cells in day 9 blastocysts were hypoblast cells (as measured by STAT3 activation). However, some epiblast (NANOG+) cells were also IL6-responsive, and IL6 appeared to initially slow epiblast differentiation. Finally, IL6-treated blastocysts also had increased transcripts of hypoblast/primitive endoderm (PE) markers. These results indicate that IL6 may improve pregnancy retention of IVP embryos by improving yolk sac development, but further work is needed to confirm this theory. Activation of STAT3 by IL6 could be blocked with a chemical Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) inhibitor (AZD1480). JAK2 inhibition from day 5 to 8 resulted in blastocyst ICMs with fewer than 10% the normal cell number, regardless of IL6 supplementation. This indicates that STAT3 is critical for bovine ICM development. Further analysis revealed that inhibition of JAK2/STAT did not prevent ICM formation but disrupted its maintenance. Additionally, we assessed the suitability of zinc sulfate and a bovine embryonic stem cell culture media (TeSR) for improving bovine embryo development in vitro. Zinc sulfate increased day 8 blastocyst total and ICM cell number. Therefore, zinc sulfate appears to improve blastocyst quality. The TeSR medium improved embryo development beyond day 8. In normal synthetic oviduct fluid, blastocysts degenerated after day 8, while blastocysts moved to TeSR had greatly increased cell numbers, and even exhibited PE migration out from the ICM, a phenomenon that has not been reported in vitro. This indicates that extended blastocyst culture is possible with TeSR media. / Doctor of Philosophy / Bovine embryos have been produced in vitro for the purpose of being transferred to recipient cattle to produce a calf since the 1980s. This practice allows cattle breeders to increase the number of offspring from their best females each year, and also allows for more rapid progress in generational genetic improvement. However, only approximately 10% of bovine oocytes survive and produce a calf. This poor efficiency of bovine in vitro embryo production negatively impacts the procedure's widespread use. A significant portion of these embryo losses are likely a result of inadequate in vitro culture conditions, particularly of the embryo culture media, the fluid in which embryos are grown. This media is often called "synthetic oviduct fluid," or SOF, because it is designed to mimic the fluid present in the cow's oviduct, where the embryo would normally reside. However, SOF is much simpler in nature than actual cow oviduct fluid, and this leads to reduced embryonic survival of in vitro produced embryos. Unfortunately, we know very little of what molecules control and promote bovine embryo development. Therefore, one major goal of bovine embryo research is to identify these factors and add them to SOF. The goal of this work was to examine the ability of three molecules, interleukin-6 (IL6), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), and zinc sulfate, to increase the number and quality of blastocysts produced through in vitro culture techniques. Additionally, I tested the replacement of SOF with a complex cell culture media, known as TeSR. This medium is more complex than SOF, and therefore should better promote embryo development. This work revealed that IL6, but not LIF, improves in vitro produced (IVP) bovine blastocyst quality. Unfortunately, neither IL6 nor LIF affected the percentage of embryos which survived to the blastocyst stage. However, IL6, but not LIF, increased the number of cells in the inner cell mass (ICM) of the blastocysts. ICM cells are the portion of the embryo which will produce the future calf. IVP bovine embryos are known to have fewer cells than normal, in vivo derived, blastocysts, and this issue is believed to cause some embryonic death after embryo transfer. Therefore, treatment with IL6 may increase the percentage of embryos which will survive after transfer and produce a calf. We also found the addition of zinc sulfate to SOF to benefit embryo quality. None of the concentrations of zinc significantly improved the percentage of embryos which survived to the blastocyst stage, but 2 µM zinc did increase ICM cell number. Like IL6, this may improve embryo survival after transfer. The use of the TeSR media as a replacement for SOF had some benefits. Unfortunately, this media is unusable for producing embryos for transfer to recipients, as we discovered early embryos could not survive in the media. However, blastocyst-stage embryos thrived in it, and could be cultured in vitro for a longer period of time as a result. Therefore, this media will be a useful tool for studying bovine embryo development in vitro, however it is unlikely to benefit calf production. In summary, this work provides evidence that zinc sulfate and IL6 are beneficial additions to SOF. However, future work is needed to determine if embryos produced with these factors are more able to produce a calf. Additionally, we discovered that TeSR is a superior extended blastocyst culture medium.

Mongols in Northern China fear the end of a distinct cultural identity. Until the late 19th century, cultural differences between Mongols and Han could be seen through differences in each group's traditional way of life. Mongols were nomadic pastoralists. Han were sedentary farmers. Recent economic development, rapid urbanization, and assimilation policies have threatened Mongolian cultural identity. In response to this cultural identity anxiety, Mongols in Inner Mongolia have looked for ways to express their distinct cultural identity. This dissertation analyzes three case studies derived from material cultural productions that represent Mongolian cultural identity. These include pastoralism, the use of Genghis Khan, and the Mongolian language. The analyses of different material cultural artifacts and the application of cultural and political theory come together in this dissertation to demonstrate how Mongolian cultural identity is reimagined through representation. In this dissertation, I also demonstrate how these reimagined identities construct and maintain ethnic boundaries which prevent the total absorption of a distinct Mongolian identity. / Ph. D.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine one’s inner ear as a composer, thus developing a deeper understanding of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic ideas that lie within. Restricting the composing process by refraining from using any instrument, I have written five musical pieces entirely in my mind. After writing down the finished compositions as well as allowing myself to play them on the piano, I observed certain patterns regarding my capabilities and limitations within this method. I found it challenging not to be able to workshop ideas using the piano and having to formulate my vision straight from head to paper. While this method demands persistent concentration in order to actualize, the exploration of composing with my inner ear as a guide led me to discover that the inner idea world holds a great melodic and harmonic capacity. composition, inner hearing

In this thesis we shall examine the role of measurability in the theory of Lebesgue Integration. This shall be done in the context of the real line where we define the notion of an integral of a bouuded real-valued function over a set of bounded outer measure without a prior assumption of measurability concerning the function and the domain of integration

Projekt som arbetsform är vanligt för de flesta idag. Det är projektledaren som är ledaren av projektet och har som ansvar att se till att projektmålet uppnås, arbetsuppgifterna fördelas, skapa engagemang och motivera projektdeltagarna. En projektledare har oftast goda kunskaper om hur man på bästa sätt vägleder en projektgrupp genom olika projektfaser för att uppnå goda projektresultat och vilka framgångsfaktorer projektledare ska fokusera på. En framgångsfaktor som ofta inte prioriteras är hur motiverade projektmedlemmarna är. Vad är det som gör att individer gör sitt bästa och hur får man dem till det? Motiverade individer presterar bättre. En ledares beteende kan påverka en individs motivation och därmed även individens prestation. Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om vad projektledare fokuserar på idag när det kommer till att skapa motiverade projektmedlemmar. Det kan vara en väg framåt i utformningen av utbildningar som berör hur ledare arbetar med motivation. För att svara på studiens forskningsfråga har vi intervjuat sex projektledare utifrån en intervjuguide för att ta reda på vad de anser motivera sina projektmedlemmar. Svaren från projektledarna har analyserat och sju handlingar som anses motivera har tagits fram och sedan analyserats utifrån Amabiles progressprincip (Amabile &amp; Kramer 2011b). Progressprincipen visar att viktigast är att individer upplever progress för att känna sig motiverad. Våra resultat tyder på att de projektledare som ingått i studien inte har förstått det. Utifrån vår analys kan vi se att respondenterna fokuserar minst på att underlätta progress för projektmedlemmarna. Det bekräftar resultaten från en undersökning (Amabile &amp; Kramer 2011b) där ledare fått rangordna effekterna av fem faktorer som kan inverka på de anställdas motivation och känslor under arbetet. Projektledarna som intervjuats i den här studien fokuserar mest på den psykosociala arbetsmiljön i arbetsteamet när de ska motivera sina projektmedlemmar.   Nyckelord: Motivation, Projektledning, Progress Principle, Inner Work Life. / Projects as a work form is common for most people today. The project manager is the leader of the project and has the responsibility to ensure achieving the goals of the project, to allocate the tasks, create engagement and motivate participants in the project. A project manager usually has good knowledge about the best way to guide a project team through different project phases to achieve sufficient project results. A success factor that is often not a priority is how motivated project members are. What makes people doing their best and how do you get them to it? Motivated people perform better. A leader's behavior can affect an individual's motivation, and thus also the individual's performance. The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about what project managers focus on today when it comes to creating motivated project members. It can be a way forward in the design of education that concerns how manager’s work with motivation. In order to answer the study's research question, we have interviewed six project managers based on an interview guide to find out what they consider to motivate their project members. We have analyzed the responses from the project managers and we developed seven actions, which were considered to enhance motivation. These were analyzed using The Progress Principle (Amabile &amp; Kramer 2011b). The Progress Principle shows that the most important thing is that individuals experience progress to be motivated. Our results indicate that the project managers included in the study have not understood it. Based on our analysis, we can see that facilitating project members’ experience of progress, is the area least in focus. This confirms the results of a survey (Amabile &amp; Kramer 2011b) where leaders have ranked the effects of five factors that can affect employee motivation and emotions during the work. The project leaders interviewed in this study focus mostly on the psychosocial work environment, when motivating their project members. Keywords: Motivation, Project Management, Progress Principle, Inner Work Life

La recherche présente s’intéresse à l’idée de « composition » chez Kandinsky, au sens à la fois théorique et artistique qui inspire son art dit « peinture compositionnelle ». La composition, élément technique dans la peinture traditionnelle, acquiert un sens créateur avec Kandinsky. Sur son idée novatrice qui reflète la mutation de la pensée moderne et l’exigence singulière du spirituel propre à l’artiste, converge, tout en se dépassant, toute la tradition méthodologique de la peinture figurative. Nous avons ainsi abordé ce sujet selon trois approches : l’étude de l’héritage conceptuel et méthodologique de théories traditionnelles en peinture pour comprendre et mesurer la métamorphose que lui impose la composition selon Kandinsky ; puis l’étude de la motivation personnelle de Kandinsky gravitant autour de l’idée du spirituel et de l’intériorité, pour en dégager la logique interne qui préside à sa création picturale ; enfin, nous nous sommes attachée à la théorie même de la composition qui s’exprime à travers deux sous-théories, celles de la couleur et de la forme graphique, en les confrontant aux deux styles principaux relativement opposés et liés à deux périodes, celles de Munich et du Bauhaus, ce qui nous a permis de saisir l’idée de composition dans sa réalisation effective. / The present research investigates the idea of "composition" in Kandinsky’s art in both senses of theoretical and artistic activity. With Kandinsky, the composition, which is only a technical element in traditional painting, gains a creative meaning. The whole methodological tradition converges on his innovative idea that reflects the mutation of modern thinking as well as the exigency for the spiritual peculiar to the artiste, and, doing so, surpasses itself. We have adopted three different approaches to this question. First of all, we study the conceptual and methodological legacy of the traditional theories in painting in order to understand – and weigh up – the metamorphosis induced by the composition according to Kandinsky. Then, we study Kandinsky’s personal motivation, which revolves around the idea of the spiritual and the one of interiority, in order to draw from it the very theory of composition expressing itself through two sub-theories, color’s theory and graphic form’s theory, which we compare with both of his main styles, connected to two periods, Munich period and Bauhaus period, and quite different. It is this comparison in particular that allows us to grasp Kandinsky’s idea in its effective achievement.

Les ruminations mentales sont majoritairement exprimées sous forme verbale et il a été proposé de les considérer, par conséquent, comme une forme dysfonctionnelle de parole intérieure (i.e., production mentale de parole). D’autre part, les recherches sur la psychophysiologie de la parole intérieure ont révélé que les processus neuronaux impliqués dans la parole à voix haute et dans la parole intérieure sont similaires. Ces observations sont cohérentes avec l’idée que certaines formes de parole intérieure pourraient être considérées comme une forme de simulation de la parole à voix haute, de la même manière que certaines actions imaginées peuvent être considérées comme le résultat d’une simulation de l’action correspondante (par exemple, marcher et s’imaginer en train de marcher). En d’autres termes, l’hypothèse de la simulation motrice suggère que le système moteur de la parole devrait également être impliqué lors de la production de parole intérieure. L’hypothèse corollaire peut être formulée, selon laquelle la production de parole intérieure (et de ruminations) devrait être perturbée par une perturbation du système moteur de la parole. Nous avons mené une série de cinq études visant à sonder le rôle du système moteur de la parole dans les ruminations. Dans l’ensemble, nos résultats soulignent que, bien que la rumination verbale puisse être considérée comme une forme de parole intérieure, elle ne semble pas recruter spécifiquement le système moteur de la parole. Plus précisément, nous soutenons que la rumination peut être considérée comme une forme de parole intérieure particulièrement condensée, qui s’exprimerait sous la forme d’une représentation phonologique, et dont les traits articulatoires ne seraient pas complètements spécifiés. Nous faisons le lien entre ces résultats et l’hypothèse théorique du cadre “habitude-but” de la rumination dépressive et nous discutons de leurs implications pour les théories de la production de parole intérieure. / Rumination is known to be a predominantly verbal process and has been proposed to be considered as such as a dysfunctional form of inner speech (i.e., the silent production of words in one’s mind). On the other hand, research on the psychophysiology of inner speech revealed that the neural processes involved in overt and covert speech tend to be very similar. This is coherent with the idea that some forms of inner speech could be considered as a kind of simulation of overt speech, in the same way as imagined actions can be considered as the result of a simulation of the corresponding overt action (e.g., walking and imagined walking). In other words, the motor simulation hypothesis suggests that the speech motor system should be involved as well during inner speech production. The corollary hypothesis might be drawn, according to which the production of inner speech (and rumination) should be disrupted by a disruption of the speech motor system. We conducted a series of five studies aiming to probe the role of the speech motor system in rumination. Overall, our results highlight that although verbal rumination may be considered as a form of inner speech, it might not specifically involve the speech motor system. More precisely, we argue that rumination might be considered as a particularly strongly condensed form of inner speech that does not systematically involve fully specified articulatory features. We discuss these findings in relation to the habit-goal framework of depressive rumination and we discuss the implications of these findings for theories of inner speech production.

In this study, procedures were developed to produce ultra-clean, ultra-thin target foils and to remove x-ray interference from electron bremsstrahlung and low energy K-shell x-rays from contaminant elements.

”A finger pointing at the moon is not the moon...” -Buddhist Quote ”...but it can point you in the right direction.” -Charles Tart, American psychologist In this Master’s Thesis I will be presenting the idea of an Inner Gaze as an inherent witnessing system used in artistic practice. I will be mirroring my own practice as a Musician/Artist/Sound-Designer in the teachings of Hypnosis and The Science of Consciousness. Further I will share and analyze the collected data gathered from interviews with artists from different artistic fields, in order to gain a better understanding of how they experience their creative and performing minds. Is there any coherence in how we experience creativity? How common are the sensations of altered states of consciousness among artists? Can other artists relate to the idea of an inner gaze? Is this something we long to further explore and develop and would such a concept be beneficial for the artist and its works?