<p>Extensive evidence demonstrates how mental illness symptomatology can inhibit perceptions of and actual performance on important tasks. However, receiving treatment from the medical establishment for such symptomatology requires diagnosis, whereby the patient becomes labeled and subject to the stereotypes connected to that label. Mental illness labeling is associated with a variety of negative outcomes including inhibited access to unemployment, housing, health insurance, and marriage and parenthood opportunities and can disrupt interpersonal relationships. However, the repercussions of mental illness labeling for one area of life have remained largely overlooked; that area is task performance. Adults spend a substantial portion of their lives at work engaged in group-based or individual level tasks. This dissertation explores external perceptions of mental illness in task groups and the role of self-internalization of stereotypes about mental illness in individual task performance through two experimental studies. </p><p> Previous research has revealed that, on average, task partners with a mental illness are stigmatized and subject to diminished status when they are identified to participants as having been hospitalized for general psychological problems for an extended period of time. Study 1 of this dissertation explores the stigma- and status-based attributions triggered by engaging with a partner in a mutual task who is identified as having a specific mental illness label: none, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or schizophrenia. </p><p> Additionally, research has revealed that members of a group about which negative stereotypes exist may face a situational threat in a domain relevant task--stereotype threat. Race, gender, social class, age, and a variety of other sociodemographic attributes can trigger stereotype threat. However, little research has considered the potential for stereotype threat to emerge on the basis of mental illness labeling. Study 2 of this dissertation focusing on individual-level performance, exploring the potential for ADHD to trigger stereotype threat in test-taking situations.</p><p> Results from Study 1 suggest that the specific mental illness labels studied, presented devoid of symptomatology severity, do not trigger stigmatized attributions but may trigger some negative status attributions in the case of a task relevant diagnosis. (ADHD). Study 2 suggests that a task relevant diagnosis may also trigger stereotype threat in a test-taking situation, negatively impacting performance. Taken together, the results indicate that task relevance of one's mental illness label may be a driving factor in negative external and internal perceptions of mental illness.</p> / Dissertation

2003 m rugsėjo 11 d. Lietuvos Respublikos vyriausybė patvirtino „Nacionalinę darnaus vystymosi strategiją“, kurioje įsipareigojo teikti paramą atsinaujinantiems energijos šaltiniams, tarp jų ir hidroenergetikai. Žymaus elektros gamybos padidinimo iš atsinaujinančių energijos šaltinių siekia ir ES, priėmusi Elektros, pagamintos iš atsinaujinančių energijos šaltinių, skatinimo direktyvą (Directive on the promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sourses; RES, 2009/28/EB). Tačiau Bendrosios vandens politikos direktyvos (Water Framework Directive; WFD, 2000/60/EC) vykdymas reikalauja pasiekti gerą būklę visuose vandens telkiniuose 2015 metais, o tai tampa kliūtis naujų hidroelektrinių statymui bei visos hidroenergetikos vystimuisi. Geriausia galima išeitis – hidroelektrinių sertifikavimas. Hidrojėgainės, kurios atitiktų aplinkosauginius reikalavimus, gautų žaliosios elektros energijos žymą. Šis darbas skirtas įvertinti užsienyje esamų žaliųjų sertifikavimo sistemų pritaikomumą Lietuvos sąlygomis. / In September 2003 Lithuanian Government approved the “National Sustainable Development Strategy“ in which committed to provide support for alternative energy sources, including hydropower. Approving Directive on the promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, EU is seeking significant increase in electricity produced from renewable sources. However Water Framework Directive requires achieving good status in all water bodies in 2015. This is an obstacle to constructions of new hydroelectric power plants ant to whole hydropower development. Hydropower certification is the best possible solution. Hydropower plants, that will meet environmental requirements, will receive green label. This work is intending to evaluate adaptability of existing foreign green certification systems in Lithuanian conditions.

The accurate and timely referral and identification of twice-exceptional students remains a challenge. In a statewide study, the referral decisions for both special education and gifted programming evaluations made by four participant groups (i.e., general education teachers, special education teachers, gifted education teachers, and school psychologists) were compared. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of three identically described students in a vignette that differed only in the presence of a diagnostic label—autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specific learning disability (SLD), or no diagnostic label. In all, special education teachers made the most special education referrals, while gifted education teachers made the most gifted programming referrals, both regardless of the diagnostic label present. The students with diagnostic labels were recommended for special education referrals significantly more than for gifted programming, while this difference was not evident in the no diagnostic label condition. Moreover, the student with the ASD label was the most likely to be referred for evaluations for both special education and gifted programming out of all three vignette conditions. Overall findings indicated the importance of considering the referral source as well as how the presence of a diagnostic label might influence educational referral decisions, particularly in how this might influence overall multidisciplinary team decisions for these unique learners.

Affibody molecules are promising candidates for targeted radionuclide-based imaging and therapy applications. Optimisation of targeting properties would permit the in vivo visualization of cancer-specific surface receptors with high contrast. In therapy, this may increase the ratio of radioactivity uptake between tumour and normal tissues.  This thesis work is based on 5 original research articles (papers I-V) and focuses on optimisation of targeting properties of anti-HER2 affibody molecules by optimising the labelling chemistry. Paper I and II report the comparative evaluation of the anti-HER2 ZHER2:2395 affibody molecule site specifically labelled with 111In (suitable for SPECT imaging) and 68Ga (suitable for PET imaging) using the thiol reactive derivatives of DOTA and NODAGA as chelators. The incorporation of different macrocyclic chelators and labelling with different radionuclides modified the biodistribution properties of affibody molecules. This indicates that the labelling strategy may have a profound effect on the targeting properties of radiotracers and must be carefully optimized. Paper III reports the study of the mechanism of renal reabsorption of anti-HER2 ZHER2:2395 affibody molecule. An unknown receptor (not HER2) is suspected to be responsible for the high reabsorption of ZHER2:2395 molecules in the kidneys. Paper IV reports the optimization and development of in vivo targeting properties of 188Re-labelled anti-HER2 affibody molecules. By using an array of peptide based chelators, it was found that substitution of one amino acid by another or changing its position can have a dramatic effect on the biodistribution properties of 188Re-labelled affibody molecules. This permitted the selection of –GGGC chelator whichdemonstrated the lowest retention of radioactivity in kidneys compared to other variants and showed excellent tumour targeting properties. Paper V reports the preclinical evaluation of 188Re-ZHER2:V2 as a potential candidate for targeted radionuclide therapy of HER2-expressing tumours. In vivo experiments in mice along with dosimetry assessment in both murine and human models revealed that future human radiotherapy studies using 188Re-ZHER2:V2 may be feasible. It would be reasonable to believe that the results of optimisation of anti-HER2 affibody molecules summarized in this thesis can be of importance for the development of other scaffold protein-based targeting agents.

Copper is an essential trace element and required for various biological processes, but free copper is toxic. Therefore, copper is tightly regulated in living cells and disruptions in this homeostatic machinery are implicated in numerous diseases. The current understanding of copper homeostasis is substantial but incomplete, particularly in regard to storage and exchange at the subcellular level. Intracellular copper is primarily present in the monovalent oxidation state. Therefore, copper(I) selective fluorescent probes can be utilized for imaging exchangeable copper ions in live cells, but these probes are often lipophilic and hence poorly water soluble. To address this problem, water-soluble fluorescent probes with greatly improved contrast ratio and fluorescence quantum yield are characterized in this work. This work also describes a novel application of water-soluble fluorescent probes, in-gel detection of copper proteins with solvent accessible Cu(I) sites under non-denaturing conditions. Knowledge of copper(I) stability constants of proteins is important to elucidate the mechanisms of cellular copper homeostasis. Due to the high affinity of most Cu(I)-binding proteins, the stability constants cannot be determined directly by titration of the apo-protein with Cu(I). Therefore, accurate determination of Cu(I) stability constants of proteins critically depends on the Cu(I) affinity standards. However, the previously reported binding affinity values of the frequently used Cu(I) affinity standards are largely inconsistent impeding reliable data acquisition for the Cu(I) stability constants of proteins. To solve this problem, a set of water-soluble ligands are developed in this work that form colorless, air-stable copper(I)-complexes with 1:1 stoichiometry. These ligands can be applied as copper(I) buffering agents and affinity standards in order to study copper biochemistry. Copper(I) binding proteins are an integral part of the copper homeostatic machinery and they work in conjunction to regulate copper uptake, distribution, and excretion. However, available evidence indicates the existence of putative copper-binding proteins that are yet to be characterized. Therefore, several proteomics-based methods are developed in this work by employing the strategy to label Cu(I)-binding cysteines in a copper-dependent manner which lays the foundation for the identification of new copper proteins from cellular extracts.

The thesis is focused on site-specific labeling of affinity molecules for different applications where two types of binding proteins, Affibody molecules and antibodies, have been used. For the purpose of improving the properties of Affibody molecules for in vivo imaging, novel bi-functional chelators for radiolabeling using the radionuclide 111In were evaluated. In a first study, two chelators denoted NOTA and DOTA, respectively, were separately conjugated via maleimide chemistry to a C-terminal cysteine residue in a HER2-binding Affibody molecule (ZHER2:2395). In vivo evaluation using mice with prostate carcinoma cell line xenografts showed that the 111In-NOTA-MMA-ZHER2:2395 tracer exhibited faster clearance from blood than the 111In-DOTA-MMA-ZHER2:2395 counterpart,resulting in improved tumor-to-organ ratios. In a second study the in vivo imaging properties of a third tracer, 111In-NODAGA-MMA-ZHER2:2395, was investigated in tumor-bearing mice. While the tumor uptake was lower than seen for the 111In-DOTA-MMA-ZHER2:2395 tracer, a low uptake in non-targeted organs and a fast clearance from blood resulted in higher tumor-to-organ ratios for 111In-NODAGA-MMA-ZHER2:2395 compared to the DOTA variant. In a following study, a synthetically produced HER2-targeting affibody variant, denoted ZHER2:S1, was used where NODAGA, NOTA and DOTA chelators instead were conjugated via an amide bond to the N-terminus. In vivo evaluation in mice showed an unfavorable uptake in liver for 111In-NOTA-ZHER2:S1, resulting in a discontinuation. The study showed faster clearance of 111In-NODAGA-ZHER2:S1 from blood, but also an increased uptake in bone in comparison to 111In-DOTA-ZHER2:S1. As bone is a common metastatic site in prostate cancer, the favorable tumor-to-bone ratio for 111In-DOTA-ZHER2:S1 suggests it as the tracer of choice for prostate cancer. Further, the DOTA chelator was also evaluated as conjugated to either N- or C-terminus or to the back of helix 3 via an amide bond, where the in vivo evaluation showed that that C-terminal conjugation resulted in the highest contrast. Site specificity is also of great importance for labeling antibodies, as conjugation in the antigen-binding regions might influence the affinity. A method for site-specific labeling of antibodies using an IgG-binding domain that becomes covalently attached to the Fc-region of an antibody by photoconjugation was optimized. By investigation of positions most suitable for incorporation of the photoreactive probe, the conjugation efficiencies were increased for antibody subclasses important for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In addition, optimized variants were used in combination with an incorporated click-reactive handle for selective labeling of the antibody with a detection molecule. / <p>QC 20140929</p>

Low socioeconomic families must make many difficult decisions when purchasing foods for their family. As a result, many low-income families base their diets on less expensive, nutrient-poor convenience foods. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the impact of a virtual grocery shopping tour on the ability of low-income Delaware County adults to understand and use the Nutrition Facts Panel. Twenty-one low-income adults participated in the virtual grocery tour that focused on how to use the Nutrition Facts Panel to select healthier food items. Results indicated participants’ confidence in their ability to “use the Nutrition Facts Panel” (7.0 ± 3.5 vs. 9.2 ± 1.8; t=2.53, p=0.021) and to identify a low sodium breakfast cereal (t=3.375; p=0.003) increased after the intervention. However, there was no increase in the participants’ confidence to choose healthy items at the grocery store (t=1.34; p=0.196) or in their ability to identify if a cereal was “high” in fiber (t=1.714; p=0.104), “high” in iron (t=0.438; p=0.667), or a “good” source (e.g., 10-19% DV) of calcium (t=0.438; t=0.667). Future efforts should focus on a narrower curriculum so as not to overwhelm participants. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

The objective of this research was to study how two newspapers in Sweden, Aftonbladet and Expressen are creating an image of the Stockholm suburb Rinkeby. The method used to do the study was qualitative content analysis. Ten articles were chosen, five off either newspaper and were found on the internet homepages of the newspapers on 15 November of 2013 and 27 January of 2014. Several theories were used in the study. Agenda setting theory, a media theory that explains the power of media, Figuration theory developed by Norbert Elias that deals with power struggles between different groups in society. Labeling theory explains how society, by labeling someone a “criminal” may accept it as an own identity and become one. Mats Franzén theory of power and how it can be understood thru discourse, context and resources. While studying the subject I realized that for long time the suburbs of Sweden have been portrayed in a negative context, especially “famous” suburbs like Rinkeby. The suburbs’ are constructed by the media as very dangerous places, with young people (often males) running wild and engaging in destructive behavior.

The subject of digital image analysis deals with extracting relevant information from image data, stored in digital form in a computer. A fundamental problem in image analysis is image segmentation, i.e., the identification and separation of relevant objects and structures in an image. Accurate segmentation of objects of interest is often required before further processing and analysis can be performed. Despite years of active research, fully automatic segmentation of arbitrary images remains an unsolved problem. Interactive, or semi-automatic, segmentation methods use human expert knowledge as additional input, thereby making the segmentation problem more tractable. The goal of interactive segmentation methods is to minimize the required user interaction time, while maintaining tight user control to guarantee the correctness of the results. Methods for interactive segmentation typically operate under one of two paradigms for user guidance: (1) Specification of pieces of the boundary of the desired object(s). (2) Specification of correct segmentation labels for a small subset of the image elements. These types of user input are referred to as boundary constraints and regional constraints, respectively. This thesis concerns the development of methods for interactive segmentation, using a graph-theoretic approach. We view an image as an edge weighted graph, whose vertex set is the set of image elements, and whose edges are given by an adjacency relation among the image elements. Due to its discrete nature and mathematical simplicity, this graph based image representation lends itself well to the development of efficient, and provably correct, methods. The contributions in this thesis may be summarized as follows: Existing graph-based methods for interactive segmentation are modified to improve their performance on images with noisy or missing data, while maintaining a low computational cost. Fuzzy techniques are utilized to obtain segmentations from which feature measurements can be made with increased precision. A new paradigm for user guidance, that unifies and generalizes regional and boundary constraints, is proposed. The practical utility of the proposed methods is illustrated with examples from the medical field.

Let G be a directed graph with a total labeling. The additive arc-weight of an arc xy is the sum of the label on xy and the label on y. The additive directed vertex-weight of a vertex x is the sum of the label on x and the labels on all arcs with head at x. The graph is additive arc magic if all additive arc-weights are equal, and is additive directed vertex magic if all vertex-weights are equal. We provide a complete characterization of all graphs which permit an additive arc magic labeling. A complete characterization of all regular graphs which may be oriented to permit an additive directed vertex magic labeling is provided. The definition of the subtractive arc-weight of an arc xy is proposed, and a correspondence between graceful labelings and subtractive arc magic labelings is shown.