Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leticia Abraham Malta.pdf: 2087016 bytes, checksum: de84d49faad64d99241fd1ac6ac580a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-25 / This master thesis aims to understand the exchange of experiences, cultural references and consumption practices among different population segments of the city of São Paulo through investigation of messengers, meaning those with family income varying between 2 and 8 minimum wages, living in peripheral areas of the city and exercising positions such as house maid, babysitter, concierge, motorcycle courier, store salesperson, office assistant, among others. What happens in the daily flow between their home and work site? What so many house maids, for instance, take from and bring to their day-to-day routine concerning consumption experience? Immersed in a context of social rising of segments of the Brazilian population and demographic bonus from 2010 to 2030 Brazil has had and will have most of its population of working age , many of such messengers are currently privileged persons in current consumption contexts. Further to their economic capital, such persons were investigated from a complex perspective that took into account other types of capital: cultural, social and symbolic capital and also a new concept formulated by the author along this paper, the emotional capital. This research aims to immerse in the life of such messengers to understand, after all, what are the messages exchanged between such different everyday realities. For such purpose, the first part of the paper consists of exploitation of consumption approach based on the premise that this may be a place to exercise citizenship in a consumer society , the different types of capital, geographic and socio-demographic data of the city of São Paulo. Next, narratives and the main findings of the field survey are presented: a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews at 10 messengers home and work environments. Among the authors underlying theoretical and conceptually this research we highlight: from the standpoint of consumption and culture, Nestor Canclini (2006; 2008), Raymond Williams (2011) and Edgar Morin (2011); and of social class, Pierre Bourdieu (2008) and Jessé de Souza (2010) / A presente dissertação de mestrado busca entender a troca de experiências, referências culturais e práticas de consumo entre diferentes segmentos populacionais da cidade de São Paulo, por meio da investigação de mensageiros, que são aqueles com renda familiar mensal variando entre 2 e 8 salários mínimos, moradores de áreas periféricas da cidade, por fim, que exerçam profissões do tipo empregada doméstica, babá, porteiro, motoboy, vendedor de loja, auxiliar de escritório, entre outras. O que acontece no fluxo diário entre suas casas e seus ambientes de trabalho? O que tantas empregadas domésticas, por exemplo, levam e trazem de experiências de consumo ao seu cotidiano? Imersos em um contexto de ascensão social de segmentos da população brasileira e de bônus demográfico momento que o Brasil vive de 2010 a 2030 em que tem a maior parte de sua população em idade economicamente ativa , muitos desses mensageiros são hoje sujeitos privilegiados em contextos atuais do consumo. Além da força do seu capital econômico, essas pessoas foram pesquisadas a partir de uma perspectiva complexa, que levou em consideração outros tipos de capital: o cultural, o social e o simbólico, e também um novo conceito formulado pela autora ao longo desse trabalho, o capital emocional. Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo mergulhar na vida destes mensageiros para entender, afinal, quais são as mensagens trocadas entre realidades cotidianas sociais tão distintas. Para isso, a primeira parte do trabalho consiste na exploração do tema consumo que aqui será abordado a partir da premissa de que este pode ser um lugar para exercício da cidadania em uma sociedade de consumidores , os diferentes tipos de capitais, dados geográficos e sócio-demográficos da cidade de São Paulo. Em seguida, são apresentadas narrativas e as principais descobertas da pesquisa de campo: uma abordagem qualitativa com entrevistas em profundidade na residência e ambientes de trabalho de 10 mensageiros. Dentre os autores que fundamentam teórica e conceitualmente esta investigação, destacam-se: sob o ponto de vista do consumo e cultura, Nestor Canclini (2006; 2008), Raymond Williams (2011) e Edgar Morin (2011); e de classe social, Pierre Bourdieu (2008) e Jessé de Souza (2010)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Minnesota, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-98). Also available on the World Wide Web as a PDF file.

Inaug.-Diss.--Bern. / Bibliography: p. 88-91.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1976. / Includes bibliographical references.

Plant natriuretic peptides (PNPs) comprise a novel class of hormones that share some sequence similarity in the active site with their animal analogues that function as regulators of salt and water balance. A PNP present in Arabidopsis thaliana (AtPNP-A) has been assigned a role in abiotic and biotic stress responses, and the recombinant protein has been demonstrated to elicit cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent stomatal guard cell opening, regulate ion movements, and induce osmoticum-dependent water uptake. Although the importance of the hormone in maintaining ion and fluid homeostasis has been established, key components of the AtPNP-A-dependent signal transduction pathway remain unknown. Since identification of the binding partners of AtPNP-A, including its receptor(s), is fundamental to understanding the mode of its action at the molecular level, comprehensive protein-protein interaction studies, involving yeast two-hybrid screening, affinity-based assays, protein cross-linking and co-immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometric (MS) analyses have been performed. Several candidate binding partners of AtPNP-A identified with at least two independent methods were subsequently expressed as recombinant proteins, purified, and the specificity of their interactions with the recombinant AtPNP-A was verified using surface plasmon resonance. Several specific binary interactants of AtPNP-A were subjected to functional assays aimed at unraveling the consequences of the interactions in planta. These experiments have revealed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are novel secondary messengers involved in the transduction of AtPNP-A signal in suspension-cultured cells of A. thaliana (Col-0). Further insight into the AtPNP-A dependent signalling events occurring in suspension-cultured cells in ROS-dependent or ROS-independent manner have been obtained from the large-scale proteomics study employing tandem mass tag (TMT) labelling followed by MS analysis to identify and relatively quantify proteins that are differentially expressed upon the treatment with nano- and picomolar concentrations of the biologically active AtPNP-A peptide at different time-points post-treatment. Characterization of both the AtPNP-A interactome and AtPNP-A dependent proteome afforded novel insights into the signal transduction pathways altered by PNPs and shed new light on the mechanisms by which these candidate interactants operate. Taken together, indications are that PNP dependent mechanisms can be harnessed for possible biotechnological applications.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study is about the application of a negotiated model of training needs analysis in the Registry/Messengers" Division of the Cape Town City Council. The negotiated model of training needs analysis is predicated on the formation of the performance evaluation committees. These committees comprise the assessees, the line managers, the peers and the trainers. Their primary responsibility is to address issues of performance ratings, causes of performance discrepancies, training solutions and/or non-training solutions in the key performance areas of individual employees who belong to the various job families. The study argues that the current application of the traditional model of training needs analysis in the RegistryfMessengers' Division which is both "menu-driven" and "line management-driven", is not scientific and participatory in form and nature. The study has four objectives. The first was to give some background to the RegistryfMessengers' Division. This painted a picture of the organisation, management and functions of the RegistryfMessengers' Division. The second objective was to provide a conceptual framework of the study by examining the existing literature on the contending models of training needs analyses, namely, the traditional model of training needs analysis and the negotiated model of training needs analysis, in public organisations. The third objective was to adopt and apply the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the RegistryfMessengers' Division. The fourth objective was to recommend the institutionalisation of the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the RegistryfMessengers' Division in “particular and the Cape Town City Council in general- given the fact that its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. The study concludes inter alia, that th~ current application of the traditional model of training needs analysis in the Registry/ Messengers' Division should be replaced by the negotiated model of training needs analysis considering the fact that the latter allowed the collective and scientific determination of the training needs of the employees. The study then recommends the adoption of the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the Registry/ Messengers' Division in particular and the Cape Town City Council in general. However, the following factors and issues need to be taken into account to ensure the effective implementation of the negotiated model of training needs analysis in the organization, for example, educating the employees about the new approach to training needs analysis; identification of key performance areas; conducting an organization wide training needs analysis; development of performance standards for the key performance areas; formation of performance evaluation committees in the various job families; and agreement upon the performance rating scale

Charles university in Prague, Pharmaceutical faculty in Hradci Králové, Department of biological and medical sciences Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology Candidate: Michaela Čajková Supervisor: PharmDr. Miroslav Kovařík, Ph.D. Consultant: Dr. Linda Sarah Hoffmann Title of diploma thesis: Role of Gq-coupled receptors in brown adipocytes In my diploma thesis, we focused on four Gq-coupled receptors (F2R, LPHN1, α1DAR, TSHR) in brown adipocytes (BAs), which were identified in the screen as the highest expressed in immature and mature BAs. Our goal was to validate suggestion, that Thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) plays a key role in differentiation of BAs and that F2R, LPHN1, α1D-AR might be important for BAs. In our study, we investigated gene expression of these four receptors in BAs, using analytical methodsquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. Results from analysis revealed, that expression of TSHR was increased in mature BAs, it means, that TSHR induce differentiation of BAs. The BAs transduced with short hairpin RNA (sh-RNA) against TSHR were less differentiated, this we proved also with Oil Red-O staining. Expression of adipocyte Protein 2 (aP2), peroxisome proliferator-activated...

Phospholipase Cβ (PLCβ) cleaves phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP₂) into the second messengers inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP₃) and diacylglycerol (DAG). IP₃ increases intracellular Ca²⁺, while DAG remains in the membrane, and together with increased Ca²⁺, activates protein kinase C (PKC). PLCβ has low basal activity but is activated following stimulation of G_i- and G_q-coupled receptors through direct interactions with Gα_q and Gβγ. PLCβ is essential for normal cardiomyocyte and vascular smooth muscle function and regulates cell proliferation, survival, migration, and differentiation. However, increased PLCβ activity and expression results in arrhythmias, hypertrophy, and heart failure. PLCβ must interact with the cell membrane for its activity. While heterotrimeric G proteins stimulate PLCβ, they are insufficient for full activation, suggesting the membrane itself contributes to increased lipid hydrolysis, potentially via interfacial activation. However, how the composition of the membrane and its resulting properties, such as surface charge, contribute to adsorption and interfacial activation is not well-established. Furthermore, whether or how interfacial activation also impacts other regulatory elements in PLCβ and Gα_q-dependent activation is unknown. Using an innovative combination of atomic force microscopy on compressed lipid monolayers and biochemical assays, we are beginning to understand how the membrane itself, PLCβ autoinhibitory elements and Gα_q regulate PLCβ activation. These studies provide the first structure-based approach to understanding how the cell membrane regulates the activity of this essential effector enzyme.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard University, 1976. / Includes bibliographical references.

The main theme of this thesis is the existential anxiety and the motive of death in the early prosaic texts of the Italian author Dino Buzzati. The first chapter is dedicated to the author's biography where mainly the early years of his literary career are emphasized. After this introductory session follows an overview of the main features of existentialism as well as its place in the context of 20th century European literature and philosophy. In the last section of the theoretical part of the thesis we comment on the possible analogies between the literary work of Dino Buzzati and those of Franz Kafka, which were noticed by the contemporary literary criticism. The analytical part of the thesis is dedicated to the literary analysis of the primary texts: the novel The Tartar Steppe and selected short stories of the collection The Seven Messengers. In the last section we draw conclusions on the literary style of Dino Buzzati based on the previous analysis of the literary texts.