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The purpose of this study is to investigate how the child perspective is considered, interpreted and applied in the investigation process within financial aid. Using the qualitative method as a tool, the investigation has been carried out in the form of semi-structured interviews with six financial assistance officers in order to answer the purpose of the study. The empirical material is analyzed in the study based on various theoretical starting points such as power theory and bureaucracy as well as the meaning of the children's perspective. Due to the limited contact with children, the results show that the children's perspective becomes more difficult to implement when handling cases. The result also shows that there is a problem with the implementation of the child perspective as the unit is adult-centered and thus only collects information from what is provided by the parents. In the results of the study, it also appears that aid workers interpret the child's perspective and the child's best interests differently, but that they nevertheless share the same motivation behind their varying interpretations. The result can therefore show that there are shortcomings in the adult-centered unit when considering the best interests of the child, as underlying problems such as power and room for action contribute to difficulties.

Åtta unga kvinnor (22–28 år) har deltagit i denna kvalitativa undersökning, som belyst ämnet kroppsaktivism och som utförts med e-postintervjuer, samtliga användare av sociala medier. Målet har varit att undersöka unga kvinnors upplevelser av ämnet kroppsaktivism. Syftet med studien har varit att bidra till ökad förståelse kring betydelsen av kroppsaktivism för unga kvinnor. Teoretiska utgångspunkter som använts är ‘den manliga blicken’ –sexualisering av kvinnan, ‘självpresentation’ -framställning av jaget och ‘receptionsteori’ – hur publik tolkar budskap. Uppsatsen har belyst följande forskningsfrågor: 1. Vad är unga kvinnors uppfattning om och inställning till kroppsaktivism? 2. Hur kan unga kvinnors svar tolkas utifrån budskapen som produceras i sociala medier av den kroppsaktivistiska rörelsen? 3. Hur kan unga kvinnors svar tolkas utifrån teorier om sexualiseringen och objektifieringen av kvinnan?Resultatet visar på att begrepp samt gränser inom rörelsen är oklara, majoriteten har positiv inställning till rörelsen, rörelsen har betydelse för samhället i avseende att bryta samhälleliga diskrimineringar, positiva upplevelser till visuellt material som rör ämnet. Rörelsen har även betydelse för individens identitetsskapande och självuppfattning. Resultatet visar likaså att informanternas medielandskap i stort präglas av ‘den manliga blicken’ då kropparna fortfarande är i fokus.

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBSU) is a biodegradable and biocompatible synthetic aliphatic polyester, which has been used extensively in packaging, catering and agriculture, and more recently in drug delivery and bone and cartilage repair. PBSU-based mats created by electrospinning show promise as wound dressing materials because of their good mechanical properties, high surface area-to-volume ratio and increased levels of porosity. In this work, we present the creation of antimicrobial PBSU fibrous mats through the incorporation of natural food grade agents via blend electrospinning. Three types of edible gums (namely arabic, karaya and tragacanth), two essential oils (coriander and lavender), and one free fatty acid (linoleic acid) were added to PBSU containing a chain extender and their effect on six clinically relevant pathogens was evaluated. Mats containing essential oils at the highest concentration studied (7% w/v) showed some antimicrobial behaviour against S. aureus, E. hirae and P. aeruginosa, whereas the incorporation of linoleic acid at both concentrations tested (3% and 5% w/v) gave a strong reaction against S. pyogenes. Gum arabic was the only gum that had a considerable impact on S. aureus. Furthermore, the three gums enhanced the mechanical properties of the polymer mats and brought them closer to those of the human skin, whilst all agents maintained the high biocompatibility of the PBSU mats when contacted with mouse fibroblasts. This work, for the first time, shows the great promise of PBSU blended fibres as a skin substitute and paves the way towards bioactive and cost effective wound dressings from renewable materials.

Although the discovery and characterization of multiple tumor antigens have sparked the development of many antigen/derived cancer vaccines, many are poorly immunogenic and thus, lack clinical efficacy. Adjuvants are therefore incorporated into vaccine formulations to trigger strong and long-lasting immune responses. Adjuvants have generally been classified into two categories: those that 'depot' antigens (e.g. mineral salts such as aluminum hydroxide, emulsions, liposomes) and those that act as immunostimulants (Toll Like Receptor agonists, saponins, cytokines). In addition, several novel technologies using vector-based delivery of antigens have been used. Unfortunately, the immune system declines with age, a phenomenon known as immunosenescence, and this is characterized by functional changes in both innate and adaptive cellular immunity systems as well as in lymph node architecture. While many of the immune functions decline over time, others paradoxically increase. Indeed, aging is known to be associated with a low level of chronic inflammation-inflamm-aging. Given that the median age of cancer diagnosis is 66 years and that immunotherapeutic interventions such as cancer vaccines are currently given in combination with or after other forms of treatments which themselves have immune-modulating potential such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the choice of adjuvants requires careful consideration in order to achieve the maximum immune response in a compromised environment. In addition, more clinical trials need to be performed to carefully assess how less conventional form of immune adjuvants, such as exercise, diet and psychological care which have all be shown to influence immune responses can be incorporated to improve the efficacy of cancer vaccines. In this review, adjuvants will be discussed with respect to the above-mentioned important elements.

BACKGROUND: Modern day scientific endeavour strives towards global sustainability through the smart utilisation of renewable resources as base materials for chemicals. Until now, the most common commercial process to produce levulinic acid (a mass-produced platform chemical) depends on a two-stage mineral acid-catalysed reaction, which generates harmful environmental waste. In this work, an environmentally friendly levulinic acid production route using less harmful organic acids assisted by microwave heating from biomass feedstocks is reported for the first time. RESULTS: Using aluminum sulfate as a green Lewis acid catalyst and seven organic acids, levulinic acid was successfully produced from barley straw under microwave heating, with maleic acid giving the highest catalytic conversion. A Response Surface Methodology (RSM) approach was used to rapidly and effectively examine the effect of five reaction variables on the productivity of the levulinic acid. A wide range of different biomass wastes (barley straw, brewery waste, olive cake, spent tea leaves and potato, tomato, and mandarin peels) were subsequently screened to produce the levulinic acid. The highest yield of 86 wt% based on cellulose content from mandarin peel (a value comparable to a lengthier ‘non-green’ route) was achieved under the following optimized reaction conditions: 180 °C, 38 min, 2 M maleic acid concentration, 0.1 g Al 2(SO 4) 3 and 1:22 biomass: maleic acid ratio (g mL −1). CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method is a promising new route towards the green, high yield production of levulinic acid from a variety of agricultural and household lignocellulosic biomass wastes, without the need for pre-treatment.

The French language in Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy reveals the power struggles between the colonizers and the colonized that took place in French West Africa.

UnlabelledThe AcrB protein of Escherichia coli, together with TolC and AcrA, forms a contiguous envelope conduit for the capture and extrusion of diverse antibiotics and cellular metabolites. In this study, we sought to expand our knowledge of AcrB by conducting genetic and functional analyses. We began with an AcrB mutant bearing an F610A substitution in the drug binding pocket and obtained second-site substitutions that overcame the antibiotic hypersusceptibility phenotype conferred by the F610A mutation. Five of the seven unique single amino acid substitutions--Y49S, V127A, V127G, D153E, and G288C--mapped in the periplasmic porter domain of AcrB, with the D153E and G288C mutations mapping near and at the distal drug binding pocket, respectively. The other two substitutions--F453C and L486W--were mapped to transmembrane (TM) helices 5 and 6, respectively. The nitrocefin efflux kinetics data suggested that all periplasmic suppressors significantly restored nitrocefin binding affinity impaired by the F610A mutation. Surprisingly, despite increasing MICs of tested antibiotics and the efflux of N-phenyl-1-naphthylamine, the TM suppressors did not improve the nitrocefin efflux kinetics. These data suggest that the periplasmic substitutions act by influencing drug binding affinities for the distal binding pocket, whereas the TM substitutions may indirectly affect the conformational dynamics of the drug binding domain.ImportanceThe AcrB protein and its homologues confer multidrug resistance in many important human bacterial pathogens. A greater understanding of how these efflux pump proteins function will lead to the development of effective inhibitors against them. The research presented in this paper investigates drug binding pocket mutants of AcrB through the isolation and characterization of intragenic suppressor mutations that overcome the drug susceptibility phenotype of mutations affecting the drug binding pocket. The data reveal a remarkable structure-function pl

The increasing demand for wood products is not satisfied by natural forests, and forest plantations are expected to provide a larger part of the global wood supply in the future. Eucalyptus is the dominant species planted in the tropics. Intensification of wood production will rely mainly on gain of productivity and on extension of afforested area on marginal zones. Wood production does not only depend on gross primary production (GPP) but also on carbon partitioning between growth (NPP) and respiration, and on NPP partitioning among the different plant organs (allocation). Less than one third of GPP is allocated to wood production in planted forest ecosystems and we hypothesized that this fraction varies among genotypes, or because of soil fertility, in relation to productivity. The partitioning of aboveground NPP between leaf, branch and stem growth was compared in four Eucalyptus plantations located in Congo and Brazil over an entire rotation (6 years). In addition, total below ground carbon allocation was estimated from soil respiration and litter fall measurements. Two clones differing in productivity were studies in Congo where productivity is known to be much less important than in Brazil. Two plots (fertilized or not with K) were studied in Brazil. In Congo, the wood production was twice higher in the most productive clone (UG) compared to the less productive one (PF1). This was due to a higher aboveground NPP, the surplus being allocated to wood production. In addition, an increase in leaf lifespan reduced the amount of carbon allocated to leaf production. Similar conclusions can be drawn when comparing K fertilised and control stand in Brazil where most of the surplus of aboveground NPP in fertilised plots was allocated to wood production and where leaf lifespan was also increased. Soil respiration increased in both sites with increasing NPP reflecting that more carbon is allocated below ground in these stands. A better understanding of genetic and environ

Sammanfattning För att skapa ett kontinuerligt framgångsrikt företag krävs det i dagens samhälle att många faktorer uppfylls. En av dem är att företaget måste arbeta med att implementera och bibehålla en stark och rätt organisationskultur. Men vad händer när företaget växer och blir så pass stort att det etablerar sig i främmande och lokala kulturer? Är den befintliga deltagaren villig att anamma en viss organisationskultur med annorlunda värderingar och normer? Syftet med denna uppsats är att ge kunskap om vilka utmaningar ett internationellt företag möter i sitt arbete med att implementera sin organisationskultur på en lokal markand. Den teoretiska ramen bildas av ett ledar- och personalperspektiv inom forskningsområdet organisationskultur, där vi lyfter fram de ledande forskare och författare samt deras teorier inom ämnet. Det empiriska materialet har bestått av kvalitativa intervjuer med en hotellchef och medarbetare på ett Marriott Renaissance Hotel. Utifrån undersökningen drar vi slutsatsen att hotellkedjan använder formella verktyg för att styra organisationskulturen och det är de som sätter ramarna för det informella agerandet vilket är djupet i organisationskulturen. Metoderna som används på Marriott Renaissance Hotel kan däremot användas av flera internationella organisationer som etablerar sig på lokala marknader. I organisationer anpassar sig människor olika till formella regler som är uppsatta av organisationen och utifrån reglerna skapar människorna sin egen informella kultur, vilken är unik. I dagens globala samhälle är det viktigt med en förståelse för skillnader över nationella gränser. Denna förståelse för kulturella skillnader underlättar implementeringen av en stark organisationskultur.

We used the multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method to evaluate the genetic diversity of 46 Campylobacter jejuni isolates from chickens and to determine the link between quinolone resistance and sequence type (ST). There were a total of 16 ST genotypes, and the majority of them belonged to seven clonal complexes previously identified by using isolates from human disease. The ST-353 complex was the most common complex, whereas the ST-21, ST-42, ST-52, and ST-257 complexes were less well represented. The resistance phenotype varied for each ST, and the Thr-86-Ile substitution in the GyrA protein was the predominant mechanism of resistance to quinolone. Nine of the 14 isolates having the Thr-86-Ile substitution belonged to the ST-353 complex. MLST showed that the emergence of quinolone resistance is not related to the diffusion of a unique clone and that there is no link between ST genotype and quinolone resistance. Based on silent mutations, different variants of the gyrA gene were shown to exist for the same ST. These data provide useful information for understanding the epidemiology of C. jejuni in Senegal.

This thesis takes as its starting point Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s argument that it is the way in which “Third World” women’s narratives are read and understood that is crucial, together with the need to locate them contextually. My original contribution to knowledge is to develop a deconstructive, cultural analysis through the re–reading of a selection of core postcolonial women’s texts written in former colonial societies, at a time prior to the full emergence of postcolonialism as a set of theoretical concepts and before feminism had developed its major contribution to academic scholarship. These theories are examined in the first three chapters of the thesis. This re–reading is of texts which arguably prefigured in many ways some of the main debates later articulated in postcolonial feminist criticism, thus (re–)interpreting them through a contemporary, critical lens. The objective of the textual analysis, among other things, is to underline the function of literary mapping in postcolonial women’s writing and the ways in which this resonates with key issues in postcolonial feminist studies. For example, the texts subvert the figure of the “universal woman” challenged by several critics, undermine images of women’s sameness, and transform marginalising spaces such as prison and home into sites of possible resistance. Overall, the main contribution of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, the interpretation of postcolonial women’s writing as a metachronous discourse of literary mapping in order to reclaim rather than deny the difference and complexity inherent in women’s texts and identities. This lends a wider dimension to the literary representations of women and justifies my attempt to order the texts as following an inverted rite of passage. Secondly, this thesis demonstrates that postcolonial women’s writing constitutes a discourse of literary activism and a cultural archive of prismatic female narratives which demands a responsive reading of the texts. This is to

This thesis takes as its starting point Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s argument that it is the way in which “Third World” women’s narratives are read and understood that is crucial, together with the need to locate them contextually. My original contribution to knowledge is to develop a deconstructive, cultural analysis through the re–reading of a selection of core postcolonial women’s texts written in former colonial societies, at a time prior to the full emergence of postcolonialism as a set of theoretical concepts and before feminism had developed its major contribution to academic scholarship. These theories are examined in the first three chapters of the thesis. This re–reading is of texts which arguably prefigured in many ways some of the main debates later articulated in postcolonial feminist criticism, thus (re–)interpreting them through a contemporary, critical lens. The objective of the textual analysis, among other things, is to underline the function of literary mapping in postcolonial women’s writing and the ways in which this resonates with key issues in postcolonial feminist studies. For example, the texts subvert the figure of the “universal woman” challenged by several critics, undermine images of women’s sameness, and transform marginalising spaces such as prison and home into sites of possible resistance. Overall, the main contribution of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, the interpretation of postcolonial women’s writing as a metachronous discourse of literary mapping in order to reclaim rather than deny the difference and complexity inherent in women’s texts and identities. This lends a wider dimension to the literary representations of women and justifies my attempt to order the texts as following an inverted rite of passage. Secondly, this thesis demonstrates that postcolonial women’s writing constitutes a discourse of literary activism and a cultural archive of prismatic female narratives which demands a responsive reading of the texts. This is to

This thesis takes as its starting point Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s argument that it is the way in which “Third World” women’s narratives are read and understood that is crucial, together with the need to locate them contextually. My original contribution to knowledge is to develop a deconstructive, cultural analysis through the re–reading of a selection of core postcolonial women’s texts written in former colonial societies, at a time prior to the full emergence of postcolonialism as a set of theoretical concepts and before feminism had developed its major contribution to academic scholarship. These theories are examined in the first three chapters of the thesis. This re–reading is of texts which arguably prefigured in many ways some of the main debates later articulated in postcolonial feminist criticism, thus (re–)interpreting them through a contemporary, critical lens. The objective of the textual analysis, among other things, is to underline the function of literary mapping in postcolonial women’s writing and the ways in which this resonates with key issues in postcolonial feminist studies. For example, the texts subvert the figure of the “universal woman” challenged by several critics, undermine images of women’s sameness, and transform marginalising spaces such as prison and home into sites of possible resistance. Overall, the main contribution of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, the interpretation of postcolonial women’s writing as a metachronous discourse of literary mapping in order to reclaim rather than deny the difference and complexity inherent in women’s texts and identities. This lends a wider dimension to the literary representations of women and justifies my attempt to order the texts as following an inverted rite of passage. Secondly, this thesis demonstrates that postcolonial women’s writing constitutes a discourse of literary activism and a cultural archive of prismatic female narratives which demands a responsive reading of the texts. This is to

This thesis takes as its starting point Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s argument that it is the way in which “Third World” women’s narratives are read and understood that is crucial, together with the need to locate them contextually. My original contribution to knowledge is to develop a deconstructive, cultural analysis through the re–reading of a selection of core postcolonial women’s texts written in former colonial societies, at a time prior to the full emergence of postcolonialism as a set of theoretical concepts and before feminism had developed its major contribution to academic scholarship. These theories are examined in the first three chapters of the thesis. This re–reading is of texts which arguably prefigured in many ways some of the main debates later articulated in postcolonial feminist criticism, thus (re–)interpreting them through a contemporary, critical lens. The objective of the textual analysis, among other things, is to underline the function of literary mapping in postcolonial women’s writing and the ways in which this resonates with key issues in postcolonial feminist studies. For example, the texts subvert the figure of the “universal woman” challenged by several critics, undermine images of women’s sameness, and transform marginalising spaces such as prison and home into sites of possible resistance. Overall, the main contribution of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, the interpretation of postcolonial women’s writing as a metachronous discourse of literary mapping in order to reclaim rather than deny the difference and complexity inherent in women’s texts and identities. This lends a wider dimension to the literary representations of women and justifies my attempt to order the texts as following an inverted rite of passage. Secondly, this thesis demonstrates that postcolonial women’s writing constitutes a discourse of literary activism and a cultural archive of prismatic female narratives which demands a responsive reading of the texts. This is to