Association of kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR) gene polymorphism/ haplotypes with recurrent spontaneous abortion and genetic structure

Background: Recurrent spontaneous abortion is one of the diseases that can lead to physical, psychological, and, economical problems for both individuals and society. Recently a few numbers of genetic polymorphisms in kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR) gene are examined that can endanger the life of the fetus in pregnant women. Objective: The risk of KDR gene polymorphisms was investigated in Iranian women with idiopathic recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). Materials and Methods: A case controlled study was performed. One hundred idiopathic recurrent spontaneous abortion patients with at least two consecutive pregnancy losses before 20 weeks of gestational age with normal karyotypes were included in the study. Also, 100 healthy women with at least one natural pregnancy were studied as control group. Two functional SNPs located in KDR gene; rs1870377 (Q472H), and rs2305948 (V297I) as well as one tag SNP in the intron region (rs6838752) were genotyped by using PCR based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. Haplotype frequency was determined for these three SNPs’ genotypes. Analysis of genetic STRUCTURE and K means clustering were performed to study genetic variation. Results: Functional SNP (rs1870377) was highly linked to tag SNP (rs6838752) (D´ value=0. 214; χ2 = 16.44, p<0. 001). K means clustering showed that k = 8 as the best fit for the optimal number of genetic subgroups in our studied materials. This result was in agreement with Neighbor Joining cluster analysis. Conclusion: In our study, the allele and genotype frequencies were not associated with RSA between patient and control individuals. Inconsistent results in different populations with different allele frequencies among RSA patients and controls may be due to ethnic variation and used sample size.

GENETIC VARIATION, LOCAL ADAPTATION AND POPULATION STRUCTURE IN NORTH AMERICAN RED OAK SPECIES, QUERCUS RUBRA L. AND Q. ELLIPSOIDALIS E. J. HILL

Forest trees, like oaks, rely on high levels of genetic variation to adapt to varying environmental conditions. Thus, genetic variation and its distribution are important for the long-term survival and adaptability of oak populations. Climate change is projected to lead to increased drought and fire events as well as a northward migration of tree species, including oaks. Additionally, decline in oak regeneration has become increasingly concerning since it may lead to decreased gene flow and increased inbreeding levels. This will in turn lead to lowered levels of genetic diversity, negatively affecting the growth and survival of populations. At the same time, populations at the species’ distribution edge, like those in this study, could possess important stores of genetic diversity and adaptive potential, while also being vulnerable to climatic or anthropogenic changes. A survey of the level and distribution of genetic variation and identification of potentially adaptive genes is needed since adaptive genetic variation is essential for their long-term survival. Oaks possess a remarkable characteristic in that they maintain their species identity and specific environmental adaptations despite their propensity to hybridize. Thus, in the face of interspecific gene flow, some areas of the genome remain differentiated due to selection. This characteristic allows the study of local environmental adaptation through genetic variation analyses. Furthermore, using genic markers with known putative functions makes it possible to link those differentiated markers to potential adaptive traits (e.g., flowering time, drought stress tolerance). Demographic processes like gene flow and genetic drift also play an important role in how genes (including adaptive genes) are maintained or spread. These processes are influenced by disturbances, both natural and anthropogenic. An examination of how genetic variation is geographically distributed can display how these genetic processes and geographical disturbances influence genetic variation patterns. For example, the spatial clustering of closely related trees could promote inbreeding with associated negative effects (inbreeding depression), if gene flow is limited. In turn this can have negative consequences for a species’ ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In contrast, interspecific hybridization may also allow the transfer of genes between species that increase their adaptive potential in a changing environment. I have studied the ecologically divergent, interfertile red oaks, Quercus rubra and Q. ellipsoidalis, to identify genes with potential roles in adaptation to abiotic stress through traits such as drought tolerance and flowering time, and to assess the level and distribution of genetic variation. I found evidence for moderate gene flow between the two species and low interspecific genetic differences at most genetic markers (Lind and Gailing 2013). However, the screening of genic markers with potential roles in phenology and drought tolerance led to the identification of a CONSTANS-like (COL) gene, a candidate gene for flowering time and growth. This marker, located in the coding region of the gene, was highly differentiated between the two species in multiple geographical areas, despite interspecific gene flow, and may play a role in reproductive isolation and adaptive divergence between the two species (Lind-Riehl et al. 2014). Since climate change could result in a northward migration of trees species like oaks, this gene could be important in maintaining species identity despite increased contact zones between species (e.g., increased gene flow). Finally I examined differences in spatial genetic structure (SGS) and genetic variation between species and populations subjected to different management strategies and natural disturbances. Diverse management activities combined with various natural disturbances as well as species specific life history traits influenced SGS patterns and inbreeding levels (Lind-Riehl and Gailing submitted).

Spatiotemporal Variation in Abundance and Social Structure of Bottlenose Dolphins in the Florida Coastal Everglades

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are large-bodied predators that are locally abundant in the coastal Everglades. Because of their potential to exert strong top-down effects on their communities, it is important to understand how spatiotemporal variation in biotic and abiotic factors affects the abundance and behavior of dolphins. This study combined two years of transect surveys with photographic identification methods to assess spatiotemporal variation in the abundance and group sizes of bottlenose dolphins across four large regions of the coastal Everglades including the Shark and Harney Rivers, Whitewater Bay, and coastal oceans of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay. Dolphin abundance was similar across wet and dry seasons, except in river habitats where abundances were higher during the dry season. Group sizes were largest in Florida Bay and open water. Dolphins may be relatively resilient to abiotic changes in the coastal Everglades, with the possible exception of river habitats.

Don't get mad, get even: How employees abused by their supervisor retaliate against the organization and undermine their spouses

My study investigated the effects of abusive supervision on work and family outcomes including supervisor-directed and organization-directed deviance and spousal undermining. Using a moderated-mediation model, the relationship of abusive supervision on outcome variables was proposed to be mediated by moral courage and moderated by leader-member exchange (a-path) and work and family role quality (b-path). Two separate studies were conducted using a sample (N=200) recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and through relatives of students at a large US public southeastern university (N=150 dyads). Results confirm the effects of abusive supervision on work and family outcomes while analyses of contextual and conditional factors are mixed. Confirmatory factor analyses, factor loadings, and model fit statistics are provided and implications for research and practice are discussed.^

Productivity growth and the structure of production

In this study, interactions between potential hierarchical value chains existing in the production structure and industry-wise productivity growths are sought. We applied generalized Chenery-Watanabe heuristics for matrix linearity maximization to triangulate the input-output incidence matrix for both Japan and the Republic of Korea, finding the potential directed flow of values spanning the industrial sectors of the basic (disaggregated) industry classifications for both countries. Sector specific productivity growths were measured by way of the Trönquvist index, using the 2000-2005 linked input-output tables for both Japan and Korea.

Genetic diversity and population structure of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus L.) across its distributional range

Lampreys are a group of ancient vertebrates with 360 million years of existence. Throughout their evolution, they have acquired local adaptations to the colonized habitats, showing high plasticity and adaptive capacities. The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus L.) is a parasitic and anadromous species that occurs in both sides of the North Atlantic. The aims of this study were to analyse, using microsatellite markers, the genetic diversity and population structure of sea lamprey throughout its distributional range. Analyses demonstrated consistent signs of high population differentiation between European and North American samples (two-groups structure), most probably due to isolation by distance, but low differentiation among populations from the same coast. The apparent lack of homing in this species is in line with its high evolutive success, as homing may bring adults back to natal habitats that have changed, or that are intermittently unfavourable. Analyses also demonstrated higher levels of genetic diversity in North American samples; DIVERSIDADE GENÉTICA E ESTRUTURA POPULACIONAL DA LAMPREIA-MARINHA (PETROMYZON MARINUS L.) AO LONGO DA SUA ÁREA DE DISTRIBUIÇÃO Resumo: As lampreias são organismos ancestrais com cerca de 360 milhões de anos de existência. No decorrer da longa escala evolutiva têm vindo a adquirir adaptações aos locais que colonizaram, tendo uma forte capacidade evolutiva e adaptativa. A lampreia-marinha (Petromyzon marinus L.) é uma espécie parasita e anádroma que ocorre em ambas as costas do Atlântico Norte. Este estudo teve como principal objetivo estudar a diversidade genética e a estrutura populacional desta espécie ao longo da sua área de distribuição, através do uso de microssatélites. Os resultados demonstraram forte divergência entre populações das costas Este e Oeste do Atlântico Norte, provavelmente devido à elevada distância entre populações, mas pouca diferenciação entre populações da mesma costa. A ausência de homing nesta espécie terá contribuído para o seu sucesso evolutivo, uma vez que o homing pode levar indivíduos a reproduzirem-se em habitats que se tornaram desfavoráveis ou intermitentemente inapropriados. Os resultados demonstraram também uma maior variabilidade genética nas populações americanas.

Covariant Spectator Theory and Hadron Structure

We present the first results of a study on meson spectroscopy using a covariant formalism based on the Covariant Spectator Theory. Our approach is derived directly in Minkowski space and it approximates the Bethe–Salpeter equation by taking effectively into account the contributions from both ladder and crossed ladder diagrams in the $q\bar{q}$ interaction kernel. A general Lorentz structure of the kernel is tested and chiral constraints on the kernel are discussed. Results for the pion form factor are also presented.

Chiral-symmetry Breaking and Pion Structure in the Covariant Spectator Theory

We introduce a covariant approach in Minkowski space for the description of quarks and mesons that exhibits both chiral-symmetry breaking and confinement. In a simple model for the interquark interaction, the quark mass function is obtained and used in the calculation of the pion form factor. We study the effects of the mass function and the different quark pole contributions on the pion form factor.

Test of Emotion Comprehension: Exploring the underlying structure through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Similarity Structure Analysis

Some decades of research on emotional development have underlined the contribution of several domains to emotional understanding in childhood. Based on this research, Pons and colleagues (Pons & Harris, 2002; Pons, Harris & Rosnay, 2004) have proposed the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) which assesses nine domains of emotional understanding, namely the recognition of emotions, based on facial expressions; the comprehension of external emotional causes; impact of desire on emotions; emotions based on beliefs; memory influence on emotions; possibility of emotional regulation; possibility of hiding an emotional state; having mixed emotions; contribution of morality to emotional experiences. This instrument was administered individually to 182 Portuguese children aged between 8 and 11 years, of 3rd and 4th grades, in public schools. Additionally, we used the Socially in Action-Peers (SAp) (Rocha, Candeias & Lopes da Silva, 2012) to assess TEC’s criterion-related validity. Mean differences results in TEC by gender and by socio-economic status (SES) were analyzed. The results of the TEC’s psychometric analysis were performed in terms of items’ sensitivity and reliability (stability, test-retest). Finally, in order to explore the theoretical structure underlying TEC a Confirmatory Factor Analysis and a Similarity Structure Analysis were computed. Implications of these findings for emotional understanding assessment and intervention in childhood are discussed.

Performing inclusion and exclusion in the peer group. Children's social organization and peer socializing practices in the classroom

This PhD thesis investigates children’s peer practices in two primary schools in Italy, focusing on the ordinary and the Italian L2 classroom. The study is informed by the paradigm of language socialization and considers peer interactions as a ‘double opportunity space’, allowing both children’s co-construction of their social organization and children’s sociolinguistic development. These two foci of attention are explored on the basis of children’s social interaction and of the verbal, embodied, and material resources that children agentively deploy during their mundane activities in the peer group. The study is based on a video ethnography that lasted nine months. Approximately 30 hours of classroom interactions were video-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with an approach that combines the micro-analytic instruments of Conversation Analysis and the use of ethnographic information. Three main social phenomena were selected for analysis: (a) children’s enactment of the role of the teacher, (b) children’s reproduction of must-formatted rules, and (c) children’s argumentative strategies during peer conflict. The analysis highlights the centrality of the institutional frame for children’s peer interactions in the classroom. Moreover, the study illustrates that children socialize their classmates to the linguistic, social, and moral expectations of the context in and through various practices. Notably, these practices are also germane to the local negotiation of children’s social organization and hierarchy. Therefore, the thesis underlines that children’s peer interactions are both a resource for children’s sociolinguistic development and a potentially problematic locus where social exclusion is constructed and brought to bear. These insights are relevant for teachers’ professional practice. Children’s peer interactions are a resource that can be integrated in everyday didactics. Nevertheless, the role of the teacher in supervising and steering children’s peer practices appears crucial: an acritical view of children’s autonomous work, often implied in teaching methods such as peer tutoring, needs to be problematized.

Atletas paraolimpicas : figurações e sociedade contemporanea

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física

Aplicação da espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear para estudos de difusão molecular em líquidos: a técnica DOSY

Diffusion coefficients provide uniquely detailed and easily interpreted information on molecular organization and phase structure. They are quite sensitive to structural changes, and to binding and association phenomena, in particular for liquid colloidal or macromolecular systems. This paper describes the principles of diffusion measurements in liquids by pulsed magnetic field gradient spin-echo (PFG-SE) NMR spectroscopy. The important PFG-SE technique known as DOSY is presented and discussed. This is a noninvasive technique that can provide individual multicomponent translational diffusion coefficients with good precision in a few minutes, without the need for radioactive isotopic labelling.

Le traitement de l’espace dans Badlands et Days of Heaven, de Terrence Malick

Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audio‐visuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Estrategias de mercadeo online para el lanzamiento de la marca Rio Technology® en Colombia

RIO TECHNOLOGY SAS es una empresa que lleva 11 años en el mercado de la distribución al por mayor de tecnología a todo nivel y suministros para oficina en Bogotá y en algunas otras ciudades del país. Fue constituida formalmente en el año 2001 ante la cámara de comercio de Bogotá como una sociedad anónima, y en el año 2010 cambió su tipo de sociedad, y se convirtió en sociedad por acciones simplificada, aprovechando los beneficios que este tipo de sociedad comercial brinda a las empresas medianas y pequeñas en Colombia. La idea de este proyecto nace porque desde Julio del año 2013, la marca RIO® se encuentra registrada, lo que genera grandes inquietudes acerca del cómo poder aprovechar esta situación para que la empresa RIO TECHNOLOGY se dé a conocer en el mercado y lograr un mayor crecimiento de la misma mediante la promoción y fortalecimiento de su marca, generando mayores utilidades. El mercadeo online podría ser una excelente alternativa para lanzar la marca RIO® al mercado; usando las redes sociales, por ejemplo, pues estas han sido creadas para conectar personas, grupos, páginas, etc. Y además son un medio de comunicación muy efectivo, por lo que la empresa RIO TECHNOLOGY podría estar en contacto permanente y cercano con sus clientes, dando a conocer en todo momento su marca RIO® mediante estrategias promocionales. En la actualidad, las redes sociales han significado una gran oportunidad tanto para las grandes empresas como para las Pymes; pues por medio de ellas se llega a una gran cantidad de personas en cuestión de segundos, con lo cual, usando estrategias eficientes, se logran resultados potenciales que se ven reflejados en un fortalecimiento de marca. El objetivo de este proyecto es presentar a RIO TECHNOLOGY un plan estratégico de mercadeo online para lanzar y fortalecer su marca. Se busca que la empresa mejore potencialmente el nivel de sus ventas y comience a posicionar su marca en el mercado.

La Ley de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones (L1341/09). Actualización de un marco legal para un sector en constante evolución

La necesidad de preparar al sector de tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones para hacer frente a los desafíos que trae consigo el desarrollo de la convergencia en todas sus dimensiones, implicaba plantear un nuevo equilibrio entre la promoción del desarrollo competitivo del sector y el cumplimiento de los compromisos sociales de cobertura derivados de la naturaleza de servicio público que ostentan las telecomunicaciones. En consecuencia, desde comienzos de 2007 se trabajó, con una permanente retroalimentación intragubernamental y sectorial, en la estructuración de los pilares del Proyecto de Ley 112/07 Cámara - 340/08 Senado, que culminó en la sanción presidencial de la Ley 1341 el30 de julio de 2009. Este nuevo marco legal para un sector en constante evolución constituye un hito sin precedentes, que rompe con la tradición de más de diez años y seis intentos fallidos de ajuste legislativo e institucional.