DNA damage in spermatozoa is a crucial contributor to spontaneous abortion, severe genetic disease in the offspring and infertility. The chromatin of spermatozoa is highly compacted, transcriptionally and translationally silent, hence lacking DNA damage response (DDR). DDR foci follow within seconds after a DNA double strand break (DSB) and correlate to an abortive topoisomerase-IIb activity during spermiogenesis. When comparing the DSB frequencies at the two most fragile genomic loci (fragile sites FRA3B, FRA16D) in human and murine spermatozoa with lymphocytes, significantly increased DSB levels were detected in spermatozoa in both species. This corroborates that spermatozoa are more prone to DSBs than somatic cells. When comparing the DSB frequencies at FRA3B/FRA16D in spermatozoa of smokers with non-smokers, two-fold increases were found, probably caused by cigarette smoke components triggering abortive topoisomerase-IIβ activity. The phosphorylated DDR proteins H2AX and ATM were identified in human spermatozoa and murine spermatids using multicolour immunostaining with laser-scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) and Western blots. Based on significantly increased DDR foci in spermatozoa of smoking men, but lacking DDR foci in response to in vitro challenge with H2O2, an abortive topoisomerase-IIb activity is the likely cause of DDR foci in spermatozoa. As DDR foci are susceptible to cigarette smoke, they can potentially be used as a novel biomarker. When comparing paternal spermatozoa, and lymphocytes as well as maternal and cord lymphocytes from 39 families for DSBs (via high-throughput LSCM pH2AX detection) and DNA fragmentation (Comet assay), significant increases were found in newborns of mothers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke and smoking fathers. When challenging lymphocytes and spermatozoa to different genotoxicants, significantly increased DNA damage in newborns compared to adults was found. This confirms an exceptional vulnerability in newborns, believed to cause increased susceptibly to disease in later life, including cancer.

<p>Hantering av information blir allt viktigare i dagens informationssamhälle då information är en av de värdefullaste tillgångarna för verksamheter. Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att skapa ett styrdokument för IT-administratörer som hjälper dem vid klassificering av informationssystem. Styrdokumentet har som uppgift att kontrollera att informationssystem lever upp till verksamheternas krav som finns på konfidentialitet, integritet, tillgänglighet och spårbarhet. Styrdokumentets vetenskapliga värde har verifierats genom att utvalda IT-administratörer undersökt och utvärderat styrdokumentet. Resultatet visar att styrdokumentet kan användas som ett hjälpmedel. Det är lättförståeligt, lämpar sig för mindre tekniska personer och kan även i vissa fall effektivisera klassificeringsprocessen. Slutsatsen är att behovet av denna typ av styrdokument för klassificering av informationssystem behövs inom verksamheter.</p> / <p>Information management is increasingly important in today’s information society as information is one of the most valuable assets for businesses. The purpose of this paper was to create a steering document for IT administrators and to help them when classifying information systems. The steering document is responsible for verifying that information systems meet businesses requirements of confidentiality, integrity, availability, and traceability. The scientific value of the steering document has been verified by selected IT administrators, who have investigated and evaluated it. The results show that the steering document may be used as a guideline for information system classification. It is easily understandable, suitable for less technical people, and may in some cases make the classification process even more efficient. The conclusion is that this type of steering document for information system classification is needed within businesses.</p>

Society's concern over the negative impact of business activities on the natural environment has significantly increased and, as a result, environmental regulations have grown considerably both in number and scope. As these policies affect businesses and their competitive environment, firms are interested in shaping the nature of such legislation through corporate political activities (CPAs). This thesis investigates the CPAs of MNEs in the automotive industry that are directed towards environmental regulations in the EU. Using the resource-based view as its theoretical framework, it investigates six research questions that address the characteristics, determinants and consequences of these CPAs in relation to three regulatory areas (pollutant emissions, CO2 emissions and end-of-life vehicles). Case study analysis is based on 71 interviews with stakeholders from the automotive industry (the entire population of 11 MNEs from the Triad regions that are politically active in Brussels) and related industries, EU institutions and civil society organisations, representing the societal triangle (market, state, civil society). The thesis finds that the 11 automotive firms engage in CPAs to inform policymakers, and because of the impact that regulations have on their businesses. Whilst the firms attempt a cooperative approach, in reality this is not always the case: whereas individual company and association activities should lead to a united voice, this does not occur when it comes to important company-specific technologies and particular environmental policies. These regulations are viewed by companies as both a costly burden and as opportunities, though non-corporate respondents perceive that MNEs see them only as costs. The main (political) resources and competences used in CPAs are found to be human resources (including the related resources of expertise, contacts, trust and reputation, i.e. social capital), and technological resources. Regulations and the technological resources influencing CPAs are directly and uniquely linked to the product portfolios of MNEs. These differences in technological resources and product ranges account for most of the variance in MNEs‟ CPAs rather than the respective countries of origin within the Triad.

Background: The number of women participating in sports has increased dramatically, though research in sports are often performed on men. Physical exercise is known to increase physical performance and improve well-being. Although exercise has beneficial health effects for most of the women, it is known that strenuous exercise may also have negative health consequences. Common are menstrual dysfunctions and the medical effects of a long-standing amenorrhea are serious. Moreover, strenuous exercise without adequate recovery may lead to overreaching (OR) /overtraining syndrome (OTS). An improved muscle strength are of great importance in many sports, hence an increased understanding on how to generate optimal strength training programs in women without negative side effects are essential. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the effects on strength and power of high frequency periodised leg resistance training to evaluate a training regime and moreover to investigate if the training was well accepted and without potential exercise-related negative consequences. Moreover, to provide normative data on oxytocin and cortisol to elucidate if these hormones could be one diagnostic marker in combination with others to monitor and diagnose female athletes that may be at risk to develop OR/OTS. Methods: Fifty-nine women, participated in the four month intervention study. Two groups performed high frequency leg resistance training for two weeks of each menstrual/oral contraceptive (OC) cycle. The remaining part of the cycle they performed the leg training once a week. Group 1, trained with high frequency (5 times·w-1) during the first two weeks of each cycle, and group 2, during the last two weeks of each cycle. A control group performed regular (3 times·w-1) leg resistance training. Another 33 women participated in the observational study. The OC users and non-users, were followed over a nine-month period with monthly blood sampling of oxytocin and cortisol, and the Profile of Mood State (POMS) as a subjective measure of OR/OTS. Results: The women who performed high frequency leg resistance training, 5 times·w-1, during the first two weeks of each cycle showed significant increase in jump height, peak torque values in hamstrings, increased lean body mass of the legs, and their experiences of the training were positive. These results were not found when the periodised training was performed during the last two weeks of each cycle. In the control group an increase in jump height, and peak torque (left hamstring) was observed. There were no evident differences in the training effects between women with or without OC use. Moreover, no exercise-related negative consequences were detected in any of the three groups. The women in the observational study showed seasonal variations in oxytocin and cortisol, with different pattern in OC users to non-users. No convincing relationships to POMS were found.  Conclusions: The high frequency periodised leg resistance training during the first two weeks of the cycle is more beneficial to optimize resistance training, than the last two weeks. The high frequency periodised leg resistance training was not associated with exercise-related negative consequences and was well accepted when performed during the first two weeks of each cycle. Due to seasonality and impact of OC use, oxytocin and cortisol are not suggested to be optimal, diagnostic markers alone/in combination with others, to detect OR/OTS in physically active women.

Theatre Triad is a new approach to devising collaborative ensemble theatre starting with the three main components of Performance: Voice, Movement, and Text. These components were deconstructed and reconstructed in pairs as the basis for the devising process. The performance process begins with creating an ensemble followed by four steps: exploring the theatrical genres affiliated with the pairings of Voice and Movement, Movement and Text, Voice and Text, and completed with reintegrating all three components. Through this process many things occur, a new play is created, ensemble members focus on exploring the elements of acting and performance, and a strong foundation of acting skills is laid for young actors. Theatre Triad can also be used as a method for teaching a number of courses in Devising Theatre or Acting classes. In this paper you will learn how Theatre Triad works as both a production approach and method in actor training.

The thesis attends to the mathematical charts constructing of additive triad of pupils on 1st grade of the primary school by means of two mathematical - didactic settings "The Neighbours" and "The Coloured Trio". They occure in mathematical textbooks created by prof. RNDr. Milan Hejný, CSc., RNDr. Darina Jirotková, Ph.D., PhDr. Jana Slezáková, Ph.D. and their colleagues and which are published by Fraus. In my thesis I shall attend to the theoretical pieces of knowledge in the given mathematical area as well as to the reasons for the creation of the new mathematical teaching concept after the czech educational reform. Mathematical tasks from the two appointed settings will be handed in to the pupils to be solved. The pupils will encounter such tasks for the first time. It shall be observed how they are able to cope with the given tasks and if they will be able to infiltrate the problem of the tasks or to invent their own tasks. Further on the thesis shall attend to the means of solutions of similar tasks by the students of The Pedagogical Faculty of the Univerzita Karlova and to the analysis of their comments on the tasks.

L. pneumophila, der Erreger der Legionärskrankheit, kodiert für eine Vielzahl lipolytischer Enzyme. Bis zu 17 verschiedenen Proteinen kann aufgrund von Sequenzhomologien oder experimenteller Analyse phospholipolytische Eigenschaft zugeschrieben werden. Neben sekretierten Formen wird eine besonders aktive zell-assoziierte Variante exprimiert, die Phospholipase A/Lysophospholipase A PlaB. Wie bereits gezeigt werden konnte, kodiert das plaB Gen für die hauptsächliche membranständige Phospholipase A von L. pneumophila mit Enzymaktivitäten, die die Aktivität sekretierter Proteine um das 100-fache übersteigen. Da PlaB zu keiner der bisher beschriebenen Phospholipasen Homologien aufweist, wurden in dieser Arbeit durch gezielte Mutagenese die katalytisch wichtigen Aminosäuren identifiziert. Dies ergab, dass PlaB zwar eine für Lipasen und Proteasen typische katalytische Triade aus Serin, Asparat und Histidin ausbildet, die umliegenden Motive sich aber deutlich von bisher beschriebenen Enzymklassen unterscheiden. Somit stellt PlaB das erste näher charakterisierte Mitglied einer neuen Familie phospholipolytischer Enzyme dar. Im Weiteren konnten für die Substratspezifität wichtige Aminosäurereste identifiziert werden. Dabei stellte sich heraus, dass die Fähigkeit zur Hydrolyse von cholinkettentragenden Substraten besonders suszeptibel gegenüber Mutationen war. Da im Vergleich zu nicht-pneumophila Stämmen, wie z. B. L. spiritensis, nur L. pneumophila in der Lage war, diese Lipide in hohem Maße umzusetzen, kann die Eigenschaft von PlaB, Phosphatidylcholin (PC) zu hydrolysieren, einen Virulenzvorteil für L. pneumophila bedeuten. Die Hypothese konnte durch Hämolyse-experimente bestärkt werden. Hier zeigten sich Mutanten mit reduziertem Potential zur Hydrolyse von PC weniger zytotoxisch gegenüber humanen Erythrozyten. Das zell-zerstörende Potential von PlaB könnte somit eine enorme Auswirkung auf die Virulenzeigenschaften von L. pneumophila haben. Wie in der vorliegenden Arbeit untersucht, bestätigten in vitro Experimente, dass PlaB die hauptsächliche Aktivität während einer Makrophageninfektion darstellt, die Deletion des Gens aber keine Auswirkungen auf das Replikationspotential der Bakterien hat. Ganz im Gegenteil dazu waren plaB Insertionsmutanten bei der Infektion von Meerschweinchen in ihrer Vermehrungsfähigkeit in der Lunge als auch in der Verbreitung der Erreger zur Milz der Tiere reduziert. Um den Grund des Defektes näher zu erörtern, wurde in einem Screen auf 40 verschiedene Entzündungsmediatoren die Sekretion von IL-8, MCP-1, RANTES und TIMP-2 als PlaB-abhängig identifiziert. Somit repräsentiert die zell-assoziierte Phospholipase A, PlaB, von L. pneumophila eine neue Klasse lipolytischer Enzyme und kann durch Hydrolyse eines breiten Substratspektrums, insbesondere durch Hydrolyse von PC, die Vermehrung und Verbreitung des Erregers im Wirtsorganismus unterstützen. / L. pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease (LD) expresses numerous lipolytic enzymes. According to sequence homology or determined lipolytic activities, up to 17 open reading frames of the L. pneumophila genome may encode functional phospholipases. In addition to secreted and/or injected lipolytic enzymes, it was shown that the pathogen expresses a highly active and membrane-bound phospholipase A/lysophospholipase A with hemolytic activity, designated PlaB. As PlaB does not belong to any established bacterial or eukaryotic protein family of lipolytic enzymes nor does it show sequence homology to conserved motifs harboring the catalytically important amino acids, we analyzed putative catalytic centers using site-directed mutagenesis. This study shows that PlaB exhibits a catalytic triad of serine, aspartate and histidine residues, most commonly found within lipolytic and proteolytic enzyme families. However, surrounding motifs differ significantly from described ones. Thus, PlaB is the first representative of a new class of lipolytic enzymes. In addition, we described amino acids important for substrate specificity, revealing that the ability to hydrolyze phosphatidylcholine (PC) is severely susceptible to various mutations. Since PlaB of non-pneumophila strains, such as L. spiritensis, express comparable activities against glycerol-containing lipids, but are reduced in their hydrolytic potential to cleave choline-containing substrates, PC-targeting activity could be an important contribution to the pathogenicity of L. pneumophila, the most common cause of LD. The hypothesis was underlined by reduced hemolytic potential of L. spiritensis PlaB and PC-hydrolysis impaired mutants of L. pneumophila PlaB and is in accordance with PC being the major lipid in the outer leaflet of eukaryotic membranes. The cell destructive properties of PlaB may enhance bacterial pathogenicity in multiple ways. As depicted within this study, PlaB represents the major lipolytic activity present throughout host cell infections; however, gene deletion mutants retained their ability to multiply within several host cell infection systems. On the contrary, the plaB mutant strain was inhibited in replicating in the lung and disseminating to other organs in a guinea pig infection model. To elucidate the impact of PlaB on Legionella virulence we investigated 40 inflammatory factors secreted by lung epithelial cells upon Legionella infection and observed that IL-8, MCP-1, RANTES and TIMP-2 are released in a PlaB-dependent manner. Thus, PlaB represents a new family of lipolytic enzymes which could, according to the lipolytic profile and especially the ability to hydrolyse PC, contribute to replication and dissemination properties of a pathogen within a host cell, e.g. amoeba, or even more complex organisms such as guinea pigs or humans.

Submitted by Ricardo Cedraz Duque Moliterno (ricardo.moliterno@uefs.br) on 2017-02-17T00:04:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Disserta??o - Tadeu Baliza - vers?o final.pdf: 3041186 bytes, checksum: 7d65c78f34eb4aab43e7503333ca8b30 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-17T00:04:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Disserta??o - Tadeu Baliza - vers?o final.pdf: 3041186 bytes, checksum: 7d65c78f34eb4aab43e7503333ca8b30 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-27 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / This paper aims to historicize the region of Itaberaba, chasing peculiarites of families who occupied the region, especially, of Mascarenhas, since they arrived to the Sert?es ?Stone that shines? and created perpetuation mechanisms in power. The study also reveals the main workers of agriculture: farmers and vaqueiros, ensaled or not, sampling some features of their way of life. The association of Agrarian History, Regional and Local History and Social History, enabled better analysis of the selected set of documents: land records, notes of notaries books, inventory, correspondence, payment procedures, accouting records, book of births, list of citizens. The Mascarenhas being surname that more is repeated in the sources, they stood out as the main owners in the region sertaneja of triad: land, cattle, slaves. They examine carefullied in inventories 24 slaves who belonged to Mascarenhas Family, especially the ranchers and domestic services related activities. / Este trabalho pretende historicizar a Regi?o de Itaberaba, perseguindo peculiaridades de fam?lias que ocuparam a regi?o, sobretudo, a dos Mascarenhas, desde que chegaram aos Sert?es da ?Pedra que Brilha? e criaram mecanismos de perpetua??o no poder. O estudo tamb?m revela os principais trabalhadores da agropecu?ria: lavradores e vaqueiros, escravizados ou n?o, com amostragem de algumas caracter?sticas de seus modos de vida. A associa??o da Hist?ria Agr?ria, da Hist?ria Regional e Local e da Hist?ria Social, possibilitou uma melhor an?lise do conjunto documental selecionado: registros de terras, livros de notas dos tabeli?es, invent?rios, correspond?ncias, processos de pagamentos, registros cont?beis, livro de nascimentos, lista de cidad?os. Sendo Mascarenhas o sobrenome que mais se repete nas fontes, destacam-se como os principais propriet?rios na regi?o da tr?ade sertaneja: terra, gado, escravos. Foram compulsados nos invent?rios 24 escravos que pertenciam ? fam?lia Mascarenhas, mormente ligados as atividades agropecuaristas e aos servi?os dom?sticos.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:29:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mara Aparecida Lissarassa Weber.pdf: 1216913 bytes, checksum: 2e85eb10324d7ee4690b83a985c7453f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-02 / Universidade Estadual Paulista J?lio de Mesquita Filho / Inequalities of our society and the difficulty of existing humanized relationship between adults and children based on the values of the Statute of Children and Adolescents has motivated this study. Thus, this research was aimed in knowing how the values of the triad of Entire Protection Doctrine- liberty, dignity and respect were understood by parents and teachers and its implication on the children?s daily life. This research was taken at a public preschool, having as participants its children?s parents and teachers. The data of this study was produced during the discussion groups as well as the researcher s field diaries records developed during her presence at the school. The results were analyzed according to the historical and dialectical materialism since we believe on the interpretation of the phenomenon from the existing contradictions of daily life. It was proved that the ideology of the capitalism system rules parents and teachers of which subdue to this system even believing that they are the ones who establish the rules and limits. For them the warranty of dignity value is associated with the family?s wealth, respect is related with children?s autonomy, even though adults and children subdue to the society?s oppressive relation and liberty has been understood as the permission for children to express themselves and do whatever they want to, thus it was not observed during our presence at the school. The Statute cannot guarantee a humanized life to this population once social inequalities restrain an equal treatment for those who live such distant reality. The school psychologist needs to assume a role of social transformation promoting the access, the argument and the criticism to what is imposed. / As desigualdades vividas em nossa sociedade e a dificuldade em existirem rela??es humanizadas entre adultos e crian?as tendo como base os valores atribu?dos no Estatuto da Crian?a e do Adolescente motivaram a realiza??o deste estudo. Assim, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal conhecer como os valores da trilogia da Doutrina da Prote??o Integral - liberdade, dignidade e respeito - eram compreendidos por pais e educadores e as suas implica??es no cotidiano da crian?a. Realizamos esta pesquisa em uma escola p?blica de educa??o infantil, tendo como participantes os pais e os educadores das crian?as que l? estudavam. Nossos dados foram produzidos nos grupos de discuss?o que realizamos com esses participantes, al?m dos registros dos di?rios de campo da pesquisadora, elaborados ao longo de sua inser??o na escola. Os resultados obtidos foram analisados ? luz do materialismo hist?rico e dial?tico, por acreditarmos na interpreta??o dos fen?menos a partir das contradi??es existentes na realidade cotidiana. Evidenciamos que a ideologia do sistema capitalista domina pais e educadores, os quais se submetem ao sistema, apesar de acreditarem que s?o eles que determinam suas regras e limites. Para eles a garantia do valor da dignidade est? associada ao poder aquisitivo da fam?lia, o respeito relaciona-se com a autonomia das crian?as, apesar de adultos e crian?as se submeterem ?s rela??es opressivas da sociedade e a liberdade foi compreendida como a permiss?o para a crian?a se expressar e realizar aquilo que desejasse, apesar de n?o ser isso que evidenci?vamos na nossa inser??o na escola. O Estatuto n?o ? capaz de garantir uma vida humanizada a essa popula??o uma vez que as desigualdades sociais impedem um tratamento igual para quem vive realidades t?o distantes. O psic?logo escolar, diante disso, precisa assumir um papel de transforma??o social oportunizando o acesso, o questionamento e as cr?ticas ?quilo que est? imposto.

Researchers have determined that field experience is crucial in education preparation programs, yet little information is available about field experience within online early childhood education (ECE) programs. Educators who work in online ECE programs need to understand how to facilitate field experience effectively. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to understand the processes, procedures, and experiences of instructors who facilitate preservice teachers' field experience in online ECE programs. A constructivist framework was used to examine facilitation practices. Nine instructors from online ECE programs in the United States participated in 2 semistructured interviews that lasted approximately 1 hour each. A combination of a priori and open coding was used to support inductive analysis. Themes included communication, mentoring, collaboration, parity between online and live facilitation of field experiences, roadblocks, innovations, assessment, and reflection. Participants reported that a constructivist approach was crucial for online facilitation. Four key findings included an intentionality of design for parity between online and live facilitation, active engagement in responding to facilitation challenges, embedded constructivism in curriculum design, and a necessity for online options despite preference for live field supervision. Social change implications for ECE instructors include sharing of best practices to improve facilitation of field experience in online ECE programs and acknowledgement of need for research focused on quality of field experience. Enhancing the quality of field experiences could better prepare teachers, which would benefit young children in ECE classrooms.