The study explores language bias in the NEO-PI-R both quantitatively and qualitatively. A sample of 28 postgraduate psychology student volunteers completed a questionnaire containing the NEO-PI-R and two open-ended questions about the instrument. These responses were then analysed across English first language and second language speakers to explore issues of bias. Reliability of the NEO-PI-R appeared to be robust at a domain level. The reliability of the facets, while appropriate for the most part, still yielded low alpha coefficients for the Excitement-seeking, Actions, Values and Straightforwardness facets. ANOVA’s at the domain and facet scale levels indicated no significant differences across home language. However ANOVA’s at the item level yielded 33 in total that were problematic, comprising of 12 items that were significant at the 5% level of significance and 21 items at the 10% level of significance. These items were primarily from the N and E domains. Thematic analysis of the open-ended questions of the questionnaire indicated 26 items were difficult to understand and/or inappropriate for the South African context. These items were primarily from the E and A domains. From the original sample of 28 volunteers, two focus groups were formed, comprising of volunteers from the initial sample. The focus groups explored several qualitative issues, including concepts of personality, language and culture and the applicability of the NEO-PI-R for South African user groups. It was perceived that there is a presence of American socio-cultural references within the use of language, grammar and socio-cultural context in the instrument. Thus the results show evidence of language bias in the NEO-PI-R, and subsequently identify particular aspects and items of the instrument that are especially problematic for a South African user group. The present study suggests that the NEO-PI-R would need to be revised to suit the South African context by changing the problematic items.

Orientador: Silvia Aparecida Guarnieri Ortigoza / Banca: Roberto Braga / Banca: Geisa Daise Gumiero Cleps / Banca: Paulo Borges da Cunha / Banca: Tânia Maria de Campos Leite / Resumo: As cidades apresentam um nível de organização interna, cada vez mais complexo, caracterizado pela composição e diversificação de usos do solo urbano ao atingirem uma determinada forma urbana, em geral, média ou grande (metrópole). Esta complexidade é a expressão, de certa forma, da maneira dispersa com que o espaço urbano se configura. Por este padrão de formação da cidade, novos elementos espaciais com funções e abrangências diversas incorporam-se e redefinem a estrutura urbana, caracterizando determinadas áreas, conferindo-lhes uma diferenciação. Assim, nos estudos da organização espacial das cidades merecem destaque: o centro, por significar o ponto de onde essas se expandem e por ser a maior referência, em termos históricos, simbólicos e funcionais no conjunto dos elementos espaciais; e as novas centralidades ou subcentros, que se formam associados a um processo de crescimento urbano, representando uma descentralização/centralização territorial, significando que a cidade rompeu com seu modelo monocêntrico no início do processo, do ponto de vista da estrutura urbana, e, ao centralizar-se com estas novas áreas, reestrutura-se, indicando a ocorrência de policentralidade. Assim, este trabalho se propõe a analisar a formação de uma centralidade ou subcentro urbano, na região Sudeste de Teresina-PI, representado pelo bairro Itararé (área eu possui marcas mais visíveis deste processo), como novo elemento espacial da estrutura urbana capaz de significar o começo da ocorrência de policentralidade. As observações deste estudo estão relacionadas ao crescimento de Teresina a as mudanças na distribuição espacial das atividades do setor terciário, fato que denota a existência de uma descentralização, que por conseqüência gera uma centralização / Abstract: Cities present a level of internal organization very complex, characterized by the composition and diversification of the urban areas use, when they achieve a determined urban form, in general, medium or large (metropolitan). This complexity is, somehow, the expression of the dispersed way of the urban space formation. Because of this model of cities formation, new spatial elements with new functions and ranges are incorporated and redefine the urban structure, characterizing certain areas, making them different. In the studies of spatial organizational of the cities must be highlighted: the center, which is the point where the city starts and increases, being an important reference in historical, symbolical and functional terms at the set of spatial elements; and the new center or subcenters, that are formed associated with an urban increase process, representing a territorial decentralization/centralization, meaning, from a urban structure point of view, that the city brooked with its monocentric model in the beginning of the process, and, when the city centralize itself with new areas a restructure of the city happens, indicating the policentralization occurrence. Thus, this study has the objective to analyze the formation of a centrality or urban subcenter, at the Southeast region of Teresina-PI, where is located a district named Itararé (area that has more visible marcs of this process), as a new spatial element of urban structure, that should mean the beginning of the policentralization occurrence. This study brings some observations about the increase of Teresina that are related to the changes in the spatial distribution of tertiary activities, a fact which indicates a decentralization and, therefore, centralization / Doutor

Orientadora: Silvia Aparecida Guarnieri Ortigoza / Banca: Antonio Cardoso Façanha / Banca: Ricardo José Gontijo Azevedo / Banca: Maria Dalva de Souza Dezan / Banca: Evelyn Monari Belo / Resumo: Esta pesquisa sobre a Geografia Urbana de Teresina tem como foco os espaços públicos de lazer da cidade, sua distribuição, apropriação, conservação. Como objetivo principal, buscou-se compreender como estão espacializados os espaços públicos de lazer em Teresina (PI), seus principais problemas e potencialidades e os específicos foram entender sua conservação, localização e utilização. O lazer tornase cada vez mais importante para a qualidade de vida das pessoas, uma vez que se tem atualmente uma rígida separação entre tempo do trabalho e tempo do lazer, nas cidades este ganha destaque, pois esta separação é ainda mais rígida. Os espaços públicos presentes nas cidades devem, portanto, de forma democrática, permitir o acesso ao lazer para todas as pessoas independente de sua classe social; isso porque o lazer passou a ser importante conteúdo da vida urbana. A vertente teórico/metodológica, centrada na dialética, permitiu uma análise dos espaços públicos de lazer de Teresina como um fenômeno social rico em contradições. Os procedimentos metodológicos adotados foram: pesquisa bibliográfica, pesquisa documental, observação, pesquisa de campo com a aplicação de questionários e entrevistas. O recorte espacial da pesquisa foi a cidade de Teresina, e a amostra utilizada foram dez bairros, sendo dois de cada zona da cidade, foram ainda analisados os espaços públicos de lazer maiores existentes na cidade. A análise empreendida nesta pesquisa permitiu observar que a cidade de Teresina ainda está muito carente no que diz respeito à existência, distribuição e estruturação de seus espaços públicos de lazer. Constatou-se que apesar de a sociedade teresinense ter diversificado suas formas de lazer, ao longo do tempo, as políticas urbanas no sentido de equipar os bairros de espaços públicos não têm sido eficazes. Além disso, existem outros entraves, como a falta de conservação dos espaços públicos... / Abstract: This research on the urban geography of Teresina, focuses on public recreational areas of the city, its distribution, appropriation, conservation. As a main goal, we sought to understand how the public leisure spaces in Teresina-PI are specialized, their main problems and potentialities. Leisure becomes increasingly important to life quality, since it currently has a strict separation between work time and leisure time, this is highlighted in the cities, because this separation is even more rigid. The public spaces of cities, therefore, should in a democratic manner, allow access to recreation for all people regardless of their social class, this because leisure has become an important content of urban life. The theoretical and methodological strand focused on dialectics allowed an analysis of public recreational areas of Teresina as a social phenomenon, rich in contradictions. The methodological procedures adopted were: literature review, documentary research, observation, field research with questionnaires and interviews. The spatial area of research was the city of Teresina, and the sample used were 10 districts two in each area of the city, the largest leisure public spaces existing in the city were further analyzed. The analysis undertaken in this study allowed us to observe that the city of Teresina is still very needy regarding the existence, distribution and structuring of its public spaces for leisure. It was verified that although the society has diversified its forms of leisure over time, urban policies towards equipping the neighborhoods with public spaces have not been effective. In addition, there are other barriers such as lack of maintenance of existing public spaces and urban violence that puts people off of these places / Doutor

The air quality in the Ångström cleanroom was to be measured for monitoring and control purposes, with the measurements displayed on a website. To do this several sensors, micro controllers, means of communication, and ways to host the server were investigated. In the end the chosen components were the DHT12 sensor, Arduino Nano micro controllers, 433MHz LoRa modules for communication, and a Raspberry Pi for data aggregation and website hosting. Four edge nodes with sensors were placed in locations of interest and transmitted data to the central node that hosted the website. For the website a development methodology called AJAX was used to handle data, and the HTML canvas element was used to display data. The system as a whole met its requirements.

Context: Smart farming, agritech, is growing in popularity and is starting to develop rapidly with some already existing technology that is implemented in agriculture for both industrial and private use. Objectives: The goal of this thesis is to investigate the benefits and issues with implementing technology in agriculture, agritech. In this thesis the investigation and research is performed by conduction a literature study and an experiment. Realization: A prototype was created to monitor the soil moisture level and calculating the average soil moisture value, then water the plants when needed. This was then compared to a manually watered pot to investigate if agritech could reduce the water usage when maintaining plants. Results: The result of the experiment indicates that it is possible to improve the use of resources such as human labor, time spent on maintaining the plants and water usage. Conclusions: The conclusion of this thesis is with the help of agritech, human workers can spend more time on other tasks and maintain the technology implemented. Instead of observing the plants to see if they need watering and watering them manually. Water usage may also be minimized with the help of sensors that make sure the plants only get watered when needed by constantly checking the soil moisture level.

Thesis advisor: Mary F. Roberts / Phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) is an enzyme important in membrane-associated signal transduction in eukaryotes, and pathogenic factors in bacteria. It catalyzes the conversion of PI to DAG and cIP, which is further converted to I-1-P. The phospholipid PC has been shown to activate cIP hydrolysis. EPR and NMR were used to examine PI-PLC binding to PC and PMe vesicles through the use of spin labels attached to cysteine mutants. It was concluded that the spin label interacted more significantly with the phosphorus of PC than that of PMe. The results also suggested the -OCH3 group was preferred over the -N(CH3)3 group, and that the protein penetrated into the bulk methylene region of the phospholipid bilayer. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2005. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Chemistry. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

吳淑瑩. / 手稿本 (cops. 2-3複印本). / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院語文學部. / Shou gao ben (cops. 2-3 fu yin ben). / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-312). / Wu Shuying. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan yu wen xue bu. / 前言 --- p.1-4 / Chapter 第一章 --- 生平與施政 --- p.5-34 / Chapter 第二章 --- 典論的探討 --- p.35-124 / Chapter 第一節 --- 寫作年代、輯本 --- p.38-46 / Chapter 第二節 --- 文學理論與品評 --- p.47-92 / Chapter 甲 --- 文學批評的障蔽 / Chapter 乙 --- 文體論──體裁與體貌的結合 / Chapter 丙 --- 文氣說 / Chapter 丁 --- 對作家的品評 / Chapter 戊 --- 文學的價值 / Chapter 第三節 --- 論姦讒 --- p.93-106 / Chapter 第四節 --- 論酒誨及方術 --- p.107-118 / Chapter 第三章 --- 文學作品 --- p.125-261 / Chapter 第一節 --- 賦 --- p.126-161 / Chapter 甲 --- 詠情懷 / Chapter 乙 --- 寫器物 / Chapter 丙 --- 記遊歷 / Chapter 丁 --- 述武事 / Chapter 第二節 --- 樂府與詩 --- p.162-232 / Chapter 甲 --- 內容類別 ── 位高思賢、客遊行役、酬酢宴遊、即事言情、序志述時 / Chapter 乙 --- 藝術特色 ── 形式、語言、情韻 / Chapter 第三節 --- 書啟 --- p.233-246 / Chapter 第四節 --- 作品綜論 --- p.247-255 / Chapter 第四章 --- 曹丕與建安文學 --- p.262-284 / Chapter 第一節 --- 建安文學蓬勃的原因 --- p.266-272 / Chapter 第二節 --- 曹丕在建安文學上的領導地位 --- p.273-283 / Chapter 第五章 --- 總結 --- p.285~302 / 附：參考資料目錄 --- p.303~312

So Hon-tou. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-59). / Text and abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Table of contents --- p.iii / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter I: --- "Relationship between the pipa and the guqin, and other instruments" --- p.7 / Chapter Chapter II: --- Establishment of authority and legitimacy of the editor's own edition --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter III: --- Influence of the record industry --- p.21 / Chapter Chapter IV: --- A Compilation of the Textual Parts from the Anthologies --- p.25 / Conclusion --- p.54 / Selected bibliographical references --- p.55

PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten) is a potent tumor suppressor. PTEN’s tumor suppressor action is rooted in its phosphatase function on the lipid substrate phosphatidylinositol-(3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PI(3,4,5)P3). PTEN’s enzymatic activity is specific for the third position of the inositol headgroup. PI(3,4,5)P3 is a second messenger that is a part of the PI3K-Akt pathway, and its dysregulation leads to constitutively activated AKT. The result of AKT activation is cell cycle progression, motility, cell growth, and proliferation, and consequently, overaction leads to neoplastic growth and tumorigenesis. PTEN antagonizes this pathway by regulating PI(3,4,5)P3 population through its phosphatase activity which produces the lipid PI(4,5)P2 (phosphatidylinositol-(4,5)-bisphosphate). A result of PTEN’s function is that its activity must be localized at the PM (plasma membrane) since this is where its substrate resides. Additionally, the mole percent of the phosphoinositide family of lipids is small. From highest percent composition to lowest the phosphoinositide species in the PM rank as PI(4,5)P2 (~2%), PI(4)P (~1%), and PI(3,4,5)P3 (~0.02%). For PTEN to turn over its substrate, it must first translocate from the cytosol to the PM and then search through the plasma membrane for this rare but high in demand lipid. This is at the center of the scarcity paradox. This work explores how PTEN may overcome this paradox by using its multiple lipid binding domains to interact with multiple lipid partners to efficiently localize it toward a region with a high probability of having PI(3,4,5)P3. This hypothesis is tested using two kinetic methodologies. First, we use pre- steady state stopped-flow spectrometry to determine the rates that govern PTEN-lipid binding. Second, we use single-molecule total internal reflectance fluorescence (smTIRF) microscopy to resolve the diffusion coefficients and dwell times of bound PTEN on SLBs supported lipid bilayers (SLBs). We test PTEN against various lipid compositions to determine how the bilayer structure in addition to the chemistry of the lipid influences the enzyme’s binding. These compositions include PI(4,5)P2, PI phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylserine (PS), PI(4,5)P2/PI and PI(4,5)P2/PS. In addition to this kinetic work, we will also present a novel model membrane platform that takes advantage of a microfluidic device to develop lateral lipid gradients in SLBs. This microfluidic platform, in the future, will allow for the investigation of the dynamic behavior of proteins interacting with lipids but with a bilayer that has a structure recapitulating polarized membranes like in chemotaxing cells.

This thesis presents a linguistic ethnographic case study on a large Chinese complementary school (CCS) in Birmingham, England. Guided by Bakhtin’s theory of heteroglossia, the study investigates multilingual practices of adult participants in and around the school, focusing on the changing constructions of language ideology, Chinese teachers’ professional identity and the ethnic identification of Chineseness. It documents the impact of globalisation on the shifting relations among Chinese varieties and English in the Chinese diaspora. The 10-month fieldwork for the study was conducted in 2013/14 academic year, with observations and interviews as dominant methods for data collection. Main findings are: (1) an ideological ecology including ‘separate bilingualism’, ‘translanguaging’, ‘a hegemony of Putonghua’, and ‘a preferred school-wide monolingualism’ is dynamically constructed in the school. ‘Language as pride’ and ‘Language as profit’ are simultaneously in play leading to the dynamic ecology; (2) Chinese teachers’ professional identities are shaped by the changing structure of Chinese diaspora, the shifting power balance among different Chinese varieties and English, and teachers’ own biographical trajectories of settlement into English society; (3) practices in CCS context reflect an evolving ethnic identification of diasporic Chineseness which ‘de-freezes’ from a cultural heritage affiliated purely with the past and the national homeland.