The role of gestures in determining the use of familiar and novel tools was explored. In the first study, participants were shown gestures for tools corresponding either to tool design, or to the physical affordances of a puzzle designed for each tool. In the second study, two additional conditions were added. In the first, gestures were used that did not correspond to tool design or the puzzle affordances. The second was a control condition in which no gestures were shown. Results indicate that the demonstration of gestures appropriate to a novel problem situation facilitate creative use of tools. Additionally, attention to tool and puzzle affordances is effective for creative tool use when no gestural input is present. However, knowledge of tool design may interfere with this creative application. Performance is further hindered by the demonstration of gestures consistent with tool design, which may prime individuals to rely on the design stance. / by Robert R. Freund. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

- The diploma thesis deals with linguistic devices of Mongolian origin in two Czech proses: Paměť mojí babičce Petra Hůlová (2002) and Krotitelé ďáblů Ludvík Souček (1965), which were written in different times. The linguistic devices served as multilingualistic function in the proses. Particularly, the thesis emphasizes on descriptions of treatment with Mongolian linguistic devices and methods of incorporation into Czech language in the proses. The Mongolian appellations in the proses are interpreted by a native speaker of Mongolian who speaks Czech as a second language. Each prose will be analyzed separately according to the order of Mongolian expression's occurences in the each prose. key words - multilingualism, czech prose, mongolian expressions, mongolian cultural studies

O objetivo geral da presente tese, é demonstrar que o tema linguagem, em seus mais variados vieses, é fundamental para que se possa compreender a concepção política de Rousseau. Para tanto é fundamental que se aborde o tema em questão sob diversas perspectivas. Em primeiro lugar faz-se o necessário recuo à tradição retórico-moral, para verificar a dívida de Rousseau para com autores como: Platão, Plutarco e Quintiliano, que ajudaram a formar seu arcabouço teórico. Em segundo lugar, apresenta-se o debate acerca da origem e da função da linguagem e suas vinculações com os temas da política, instaurado entre o autor e alguns de seus contemporâneos, tais como, Condillac e Diderot. E, por fim, trata-se de cotejar os vários textos de Rousseau acerca das vinculações percebidas entre a linguagem original, linguagem musical, linguagem teatral, línguas particulares e discurso e mostrar como estas interferem, para o bem ou para o mal, nos rumos das instituições políticas estabelecidas pelos homens no decorrer de seu processo histórico de desenvolvimento. Os principais textos de Rousseau aqui analisados são: o Discurso sobre a Desigualdade, o Ensaio sobre a origem das línguas e o Contrato Social. / The general objective of this thesis is showing that the language issue, in its various points of view, is fundamental for the comprehension of Rousseaus political concepts. Thus, it is crucial to approach the subject in different perspectives. In first place, it is necessary to make a retreat to moral rhetorical tradition, to verify Rousseaus debt with authors like: Plato, Plutarch and Quintilian, who helped him to form his theoretical framework. In second place, we must introduce the debate about the language origin and function, and also its linkages with political themes, established between the author and some of his contemporaries, such as Condillac and Diderot. Finally, we examine thoroughly the various texts of Rousseau about the linkages noticed among original language, musical language, theatrical language, particular languages and discourse, and show how the referred languages interfere in the directions of political institutions established by mankind in the course of its history. The main texts of Rousseau to be analyzed are: Discourse on the origin and basis of inequality among men, Essay on the origin of language and Of the social contract.

Escherichia coli enteropatogênica causa uma lesão denominada attaching and effacing, codificadas por genes presentes na região LEE, que está sujeita a regulação por diferentes fatores incluindo por quorum sensing. O veneno de Bothrops jararaca é uma mistura de vários componentes com diferentes efeitos biológicos. Para analisar o efeito de suas frações na interação de EPEC com HEp-2, o veneno foi ultrafiltrado. Testes mostraram que a concentração de 100 ng de fração causou um aumento de adesão bacteriana, sugerindo componente no veneno que potencializa a adesão até certa concentração. Fenótipo das amostras com concentração mais alta foi parecido ao do controle, exceto com 1000 ng da menor fração, onde a adesão foi menor, sugerindo que há componente que afeta negativamente a adesão bacteriana em concentração maior. Estes resultados mostram como diferentes componentes de veneno de serpentes afetam a interação bactéria-célula hospedeira, e apresentam potencial biológico de componentes de baixo peso molecular no veneno. / Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli causes a lesion named attaching and effacing, encoded by genes present in LEE region, which is subject to regulation by different factors including quorum sensing. Bothrops jararaca venom is a mixture of different components with different biological effects. To analyze the effect of its fractions in interactions between EPEC and HEp-2, venom was ultrafiltered. Tests showed that a fraction concentration of 100 ng caused an increase of adherence when compared to the control, suggesting that there is a component in the venom that potentiates the adherence up to a certain concentration. Phenotype of samples with higher concentration were similar to that of the control, except the one with 1000 ng of the lowest fraction, where adherence decreased, indicating that there is a component able to negatively affect adherence when in higher concentration. These results show how different snake venom components can affect a bacteria-host cell interaction, and present biological potential of components of low molecular weight present in venom.

O efeito país de origem é um dos assuntos mais abordados na literatura internacional de negó-cios, marketing e comportamento do consumidor. Diante da importância deste tema, esta pesquisa realizou, utilizando a ferramenta eletroencefalografia, um experimento geral que foi subdividido em três experimentos. No primeiro experimento, buscou-se verificar a influência que a origem de fabricação dos vinhos exercia sobre as atividades cerebrais dos consumidores brasileiros em geral em relação a vinho com a informação de ser do Brasil, da França e sem informação. No segundo experimento, 3(País de origem: Brasil, França e sem informação ) x 2(Gênro: Masculino e Feminino) buscou-se verificar a influência da origem de fabricação sobre as respostas cerebrais dos homens e das mulheres. No terceiro experimento, 3(País de origem: Brasil, França e sem informação ) x 2(Envolvimento: Alto e Baixo) buscou-se verificar esta influência para os consumidores de alto e baixo envolvimento. O vinho utilizado era o mesmo e de origem brasileira. A amostra foi constituída por estudantes da universidade de São Paulo. Como resultados, foram verificados, por meio da análise espectral de potência, que a informação do país de origem não gerou influências significativas para os consumidores em geral e nem para as mulheres nem nenhum dos grupos (experimental e de controle). Mas gerou influência significativas para os homens no grupo experimental. Também foram verificados resultados diferentes para os consumidores de alto e baixo envolvimento. Os consumidores de alto envolvimento prestaram mais atenção a informação do país de origem, contudo esta informação não impactou emocionalmente os consumidores. Já para os consumidores de baixo envolvimento verificou-se diferenças significativas entre o grupo experimental Brasil e França e o grupo de controle França e sem informação. Em termos teóricos, esta pesquisa apresenta uma grande contribuição para a literatura ao conciliar de forma inédita o efeito país de origem com a ferramenta da neurociência EEG. Em termos práticos sugere uma diferenciação das ações de marketing (propaganda, anúncios, campanhas, disponibilização no ponto de venda) sobre os grupos de consumidores / The country-of-origin effect is one of the most addressed issues in the international business literature, marketing and consumer behavior. Considering the importance of this theme, this research carried out, using the electroencephalography tool, a general experiment that was subdivided into three experiments. In the first experiment, it was sought to verify the influence that the origin of wine manufacturing exerted on the brain activities of Brazilian consumers in general in relation to wine with the information of being from Brazil, France and without information. In the second experiment, 3 (Country of origin: Brazil, France and without information) x 2 (Gênro: Male and Female) sought to verify the influence of manufacturing origin on the brain responses of men and women. In the third experiment, 3 (Country of origin: Brazil, France and without information) x 2 (Involvement: High and Low) sought to verify this influence for the consumers of high and low involvement. The wine used was the same and of Brazilian origin. The sample consisted of students from the University of São Paulo. As results, power spectral analysis verified that the information from the country of origin did not generate significant influences for consumers in general, neither for women nor for any of the groups (experimental and control). But it generated significant influence for men in the experimental group. Different results have also been found for high and low involvement consumers. High-involvement consumers paid more attention to home country information, but this information did not impact consumers emotionally. For the low-involvement consumers, there were significant differences between the experimental group Brazil and France and the control group France and without information. In theoretical terms, this research presents a great contribution to the literature in unprecedented reconciliation of the country of origin effect with the EEG neuroscience tool. In practical terms, it suggests a differentiation of marketing actions (advertising, ads, campaigns, availability at the point of sale) on consumer groups

A pre-operative energy restrictive diet is common practice prior to bariatric surgery in the United Kingdom. A review of current practice found variability in form, duration and application of the diet used, with little evidence for efficacy beyond patients successfully undergoing surgery. Imperative for best practice was to provide evidence of the efficacy of dietary approaches both in terms of the original aim of the diet to reduce liver size and improve access to enable laparoscopic surgery, but also to investigate the wider effects of the diet on this population. A clinical trial was designed to compare two very low energy dietary approaches applied over two weeks before bariatric surgery, using a) a food-based diet, which is standard practice at the Royal Derby Hospital, and comparing this to b) an alternative meal replacement approach with products supplied by LighterLife. The diets were designed to offer similar energy intakes, 800kcal/d, but with varying macronutrient composition and format. Both diets achieved comparable body weight loss (median -3.4%) and excess body mass index loss (median -1.79kg/m2). The trial found similar results from both diets for the original aim of the diet, which is to enable surgery. Surgeons’ visual assessment of the liver at the time of surgery for operative difficulty was associated to histologically assessed levels of steatosis, with lower levels of steatosis associated to less operative difficulty. Patient evaluation of the diets revealed no significant difference in outcomes between diets, and overall satisfaction of the diets was very high, with 92% and 85% reporting that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their diet respectively. Both diets produced a favourable change in circulating lipids, inflammatory markers and glucose (pooled median LDL -0.4mmol/L, Glucose-0.2mmol/L, CRP -3.6mg/L, IL6 -0.4pg/mL, ELF -0.8). Findings including histology and gene expression data suggest a dynamic lipid environment in both liver and omental adipose tissue post-diet, concurrent with insulin sensitivity, but suggest a less dynamic environment in subcutaneous adipose tissue. Overall the diets could not be separated in terms of effects on circulating biomarkers, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease outcomes, operative difficulty, gene expression levels, or patient acceptability. Negative associations with diabetes status were found for steatosis and inflammation post-diet and warrant further investigation. Also, childhood weight status was found to be linked to the level of improvement in insulin sensitivity and requires further work. Limitations suggest additional work should incorporate reporting or recording of physical activity levels, pre-diet assessment of liver condition, diabetes duration and habitual dietary intake. Work should also confirm findings and corroborate suppositions regarding physiological changes observed from mRNA transcript expression levels, into protein and onto functional levels. This work informs the format and application of a short-term pre-operative diet in severe obesity. It has established that pre-bariatric surgery patients were satisfied with either format of VLED when applied in clinical practice. It has also extended the existing evidence base on the effects of a short-term VLED, specifically the potential beneficial effects on progressive features of NAFLD, and adipose tissue inflammatory status, which could be of value in the management of the disease.

This paper investigates determinants of payout levels and payout composition in multinational corporations and domestic corporations and how payout differs between the two, as well as the effect of a country’s legal tradition on payout, on a worldwide sample. My main findings are that multinational corporations’ total payout is slightly lower than domestic corporations’ payout when taking into account a country’s legal tradition affects. No support is found that multinationals and domestic corporations differ in payout composition and payout composition is not changing over time, according to my results. My findings are partly consistent with theories on how ownership structures and agency problems affect payout policy. Still, the puzzle in unsolved.

Dependendo da cultivar, a banana acumula entre 15 e 22% de amido de reserva, durante o desenvolvimento. Este amido é degradado durante o amadurecimento, com a síntese e acúmulo concomitantes de 12 a 20% de açúcares solúveis. Dentre as várias mudanças que a banana sofre durante o amadurecimento, esta é uma das mais complexas e ainda muito pouco conhecida. Dentre as várias enzimas possivelmente relacionadas à degradação do amido, foi detectada a atividade da α-(1,4) glicosidase em extratos de polpa de banana em amadurecimento. Neste trabalho, estudou-se a atividade da α-(1,4) glicosidase, a clonagem do seu gene e a transcrição do respectivo mRNA da α-(1,4) durante o amadurecimento da banana tratada ou não com 100 ppm de etileno. Ambas as isoformas, neutra e ácida, tiveram perfis de atividade paralela à degradação do amido, compatível com uma possível atuação sobre compostos derivados da degradação do amido. Já que nenhuma das isoformas atua sobre a maltose, parece não tratar-se de uma maltase típica. Além disso, o seqüenciamento de parte do gene da isoforma neutra mostrou alta homologia com glicosidases de outros vegetais, confirmando a sua identidade. Em amostras de banana não tratadas foi observada um aumento no nível de transcrito de α-glicosidase neutra, contudo, com alterações no perfil de atividade. Quando as amostras de banana foram tratadas com 100 ppm de etileno, foi observado um aumento nos níveis de transcrito de α-glicosidase constante durante todo o amadurecimento. / Banana fruit accumulates between 15 and 22% of reserve starch, during development, depending on the cultivar. The starch is degraded during banana ripening, in concomitance with soluble sugars accumulation (12-20%). Among the changes that banana fruit suffers during ripening, this is one of most complex and still very little known. Alpha-(1,4) glucosidase activity was already detected before in banana pulp extracts. Here we report the study of the α-(1,4) glucosidase activity, the clone of its gene and the transcription of respective mRNA of α-(1,4) during the banana (treated or not with 100 ppm of ethylene) ripening. Both isoformas, neutral and acid, had an increase in activity concomitant with starch degradation. Since both forms do not act on maltose, it is possible that they utilize oligossacharides derived from starch degradation as substrate. Moreover, a partial cDNA sequence of neutral isoform, showed high similarity with glucosidases of other vegetables. Bananas samples treated with 100 ppm of ethylene, showed an increase in the constant transcript levels of α-(1,4) glucosidase during all the ripening.

Ce travail de thèse entend prendre en compte l'analyse d'un groupe humain évoluant dans un cadre géographique trop longtemps délaissé par l'historiographie et pour une période chronologique élargie par rapport à la tradition consacrée. Les Grecs, qui quittent leurs cadres de vie originels sous l'effet de causes variées (exils suite à la conquête ottomane intérêts économiques, humanistes ou religieux) entre le début du XVe siècle et la fin du XVI" siècle, se dirigent e majorité vers la Péninsule italienne. Certains n'y effectuent qu'un passage quand d'autres décident de s'implante durablement. Or, la chaîne montagneuse des Alpes a semble-t-il fait office de barrière infranchissable pour les Grecs aux yeux de nombre d'historiens. Or, les Grecs se déplacent hors d'Italie, quoiqu'en nombre très restreint : comme en Italie certains ne restent pas et d'autres s'installent. Leur étude révèle des logiques et des comportements originaux par rapport à ce qu'on observe plus au sud (comme l'organisation grecque en milieu urbain). La reprise de toute la documentation disponible mène à l'étude de trois axes majeurs : la construction d'une prosopographie grecque au nord des Alpes l'analyse des comportements sociaux des Grecs entre eux et avec les locaux ; une analyse fine des textes occidentaux que cherchent à comprendre, expliquer et verbaliser l'apparition de populations largement mal connues, souvent fantasmée et fréquemment décrites en des termes qui diffèrent de la vision personnelle que les Grecs peuvent avoir d'eux-mêmes. Toute l'analyse mène donc à une nouvelle approche de la fabrique des identités grecques. / The aim of this work is about studying mechanisms of identities' creation. Indeed, The Greeks are people who were leaded to leave Greece because of political (the rise of the Turks), economics (some are merchant) or religious reasons (some became Catholics since the council of Florence in 1439). For these reasons, the Greeks came first to Italy. Few of them decided to follow their path to Northern Europe, towards England, Burgundian States and France. Of course, they were only a handful of them, but we tried to understand who were they and what was their purpose. First we determined what were their number their qualities, their activities and their intentions. Secondly, we tried to evaluate the Greeks as strangers or as members diasporic groups like the historiography traditionally qualify the m. We brought to light that the Greeks couldn't be understood as rigid societies which were never changing: sometimes they were received as strangers and excluded from western societies sometimes not. A Greek could change during his life : he could be a poor and foreigner migrant during a certain period an then become a rich merchant integrated to a western society few years later. The third part of our work was to understand t meaning of the word 'Greek' which is often applied in documents: did the word 'Greek' get the same meaning in England in France, during the early fifteenth century or the end of the sixteenth century? Of course, not. We explained the documentation built a stereotypical speech about the Greeks, about what they were supposed to be, to eat, to wear, to spear or to pray . This is the Greek Identities' Laboratory.

O efeito país de origem é um dos assuntos mais abordados na literatura internacional de negó-cios, marketing e comportamento do consumidor. Diante da importância deste tema, esta pesquisa realizou, utilizando a ferramenta eletroencefalografia, um experimento geral que foi subdividido em três experimentos. No primeiro experimento, buscou-se verificar a influência que a origem de fabricação dos vinhos exercia sobre as atividades cerebrais dos consumidores brasileiros em geral em relação a vinho com a informação de ser do Brasil, da França e sem informação. No segundo experimento, 3(País de origem: Brasil, França e sem informação ) x 2(Gênro: Masculino e Feminino) buscou-se verificar a influência da origem de fabricação sobre as respostas cerebrais dos homens e das mulheres. No terceiro experimento, 3(País de origem: Brasil, França e sem informação ) x 2(Envolvimento: Alto e Baixo) buscou-se verificar esta influência para os consumidores de alto e baixo envolvimento. O vinho utilizado era o mesmo e de origem brasileira. A amostra foi constituída por estudantes da universidade de São Paulo. Como resultados, foram verificados, por meio da análise espectral de potência, que a informação do país de origem não gerou influências significativas para os consumidores em geral e nem para as mulheres nem nenhum dos grupos (experimental e de controle). Mas gerou influência significativas para os homens no grupo experimental. Também foram verificados resultados diferentes para os consumidores de alto e baixo envolvimento. Os consumidores de alto envolvimento prestaram mais atenção a informação do país de origem, contudo esta informação não impactou emocionalmente os consumidores. Já para os consumidores de baixo envolvimento verificou-se diferenças significativas entre o grupo experimental Brasil e França e o grupo de controle França e sem informação. Em termos teóricos, esta pesquisa apresenta uma grande contribuição para a literatura ao conciliar de forma inédita o efeito país de origem com a ferramenta da neurociência EEG. Em termos práticos sugere uma diferenciação das ações de marketing (propaganda, anúncios, campanhas, disponibilização no ponto de venda) sobre os grupos de consumidores / The country-of-origin effect is one of the most addressed issues in the international business literature, marketing and consumer behavior. Considering the importance of this theme, this research carried out, using the electroencephalography tool, a general experiment that was subdivided into three experiments. In the first experiment, it was sought to verify the influence that the origin of wine manufacturing exerted on the brain activities of Brazilian consumers in general in relation to wine with the information of being from Brazil, France and without information. In the second experiment, 3 (Country of origin: Brazil, France and without information) x 2 (Gênro: Male and Female) sought to verify the influence of manufacturing origin on the brain responses of men and women. In the third experiment, 3 (Country of origin: Brazil, France and without information) x 2 (Involvement: High and Low) sought to verify this influence for the consumers of high and low involvement. The wine used was the same and of Brazilian origin. The sample consisted of students from the University of São Paulo. As results, power spectral analysis verified that the information from the country of origin did not generate significant influences for consumers in general, neither for women nor for any of the groups (experimental and control). But it generated significant influence for men in the experimental group. Different results have also been found for high and low involvement consumers. High-involvement consumers paid more attention to home country information, but this information did not impact consumers emotionally. For the low-involvement consumers, there were significant differences between the experimental group Brazil and France and the control group France and without information. In theoretical terms, this research presents a great contribution to the literature in unprecedented reconciliation of the country of origin effect with the EEG neuroscience tool. In practical terms, it suggests a differentiation of marketing actions (advertising, ads, campaigns, availability at the point of sale) on consumer groups