Discovering and Inducing Rules to Categorize Sales Personnel

In sales, it is presumed that the behavior of sales personnel differs depending on what part of sales they are in. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies about conducting a segmentation of sales personnel based on behavioral data from Salesforce, the world’s largest Customer Relationship Management platform. Previous research describes how to segment different customers based on their behavioral data, but no one has yet attempted to segment sales personnel. In this thesis, we extracted Salesforce behavioral data about sales staff and clustered them into previously unknown segments. Using a mixture of supervised and unsupervised learning we created six profiles that describe how different sales personnel work in Salesforce. Our findings helped the company Brisk to improve their knowledge about sales personnel.Inom sälj antas säljare uppvisa olika beteenden beroende på vilken roll de har. Det visar sig dock att de flesta arbetar på ett mer enhetligt sätt än vad man kan tro

Trähägn en tänkbar metod för viltskydd i Svenskt skogsbruk?

This survey was made to investigate the possibility of using an alternative method of fencing in Swedish forestry. The most common way of fencing in Sweden today is made by a two meter high metal net that is attached to turned impregnated poles. The fencing methods that have been investigated is a fencing system made completely out of wood so called “German wood fence”. Browsing of game in forest regeneration areas is often a big problem and some kind of protection of the plants is often necessary. There is several ways of building fences and the most common way is to use metal nets and impregnated poles, this leads to a problem when the fence has profiled its purpose. The net and the poles has to be removed out of the forest which is expensive and don’t give the landowner any income. In the spring of 2007 we were in Germany on an internship, there we came in contact with “German wood fencing”. During our visit we also had the opportunity to build one fence with this method. This became the starting point of this thesis that has been written in the spring of 2010. In our work with this thesis we also made a fieldtrip back to Germany and the Forstliches Bildungs Zentrum in Münchehof. During our trip we did inventory in Forstamt Sessen and Forstamt Saupark on this wood fencing system, we also revisited to the fence we built in 2007. We did interviews and had discussions with forest managers, forest workers and others with expertise. The districts that we visited in Germany have almost stopped fencing with metal net because the cost to bring the fence down is considered too expensive. They use instead this wood fencing system. We have studied the conditions for fencing in Sweden and the literature on the subject. Contacts have been taken with fencing entrepreneurs to learn what problem they have in their work and what their cost are. To build steal net fences is expensive and if the ground has to be flattened before the fence can be built the cost will increase. Manny of the entrepreneurs that we have been in contact with have built allot of fences and expect a problem in the future that weary few are taken down. Wood fences have benefits but further investigation is needed to see if the system is adjustable to Swedish conditions and demands. The biggest benefit is that the landowner don’t have to remove the fence when it have fulfilled its purpose, since the hole construction is built out of wood it will decay with time. One problem for alternative fencing systems are the Swedish National board off forestry’s criteria on how a fence should be constructed so the land owner can apply for subsidies of building the fence. Today can forest owner not expect to get any financial support from the National Board of Forestry for protecting their regeneration if they use wood fence. The criteria’s can be change if it is shown with studies that the system works.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka möjligheterna att använda en alternativ metod av hägning i svenskt skogsbruk. I Sverige byggs i princip bara hägn av metallnät. Vi ska med detta examensarbete undersöka möjligheterna att hägna med så kallade Tyska trähägn. Skador av klövvilt i ungskog är ofta ett stort problem för skogsbruket och någon form av hägn är ofta en nödvändighet för att skydda föryngringen. Det finns flera metoder att hägna på varav det vanligaste i Sverige är med konventionellt stålstängsel och tryckimpregnerade stolpar. Problemet med denna metod är att markägaren har krav på sig att montera ner hägnet när det fyllt sitt syfte. Hägnet ska inte lämnas kvar som sopor i naturen eller blir dödsfällor för det vilda. Arbetet med examensarbetet infattade en studieresa till Tyskland där vi besökte Forstliches Bildungs Zentrum i Münchehof. Där inventerade vi trähägn i Forsamt Sessen och Forstamt Saupark. Vi utförde en återinventering av det hägn som vi byggde våren 2007 samt vi samlade in data från andra trähägn med olika ålder ute i fält. Vi hade diskussioner med olika skogsförvaltare på distrikten och sakkunniga på området. I de distrikt som besöktes i Tyskland har man i stort sett slutat att hägna med konventionellt stålstängsel. Detta motiveras med att nedmontering av dessa hägn blir för kostsamma. Vi har även studerat rådande förutsättningarna för hur hägning går till i Sverige och studerat den litteratur som finns på området. Kontakt har tagits med stängselentreprenörer för att se vilka problem man har och hur kostnaderna ser ut i Sverige. Att hägna är dyrt och arbetskrävande, kostnaden med totalentreprenad är runt 80kr/m. Med detta förutsätter att inga förberedande markarbeten behövs. Nedmontering av näthägn ser flera entreprenörer som ett växande problem, mycket hägn har byggts men väldigt lite har plockats ner. Trähägn har sina fördelar men det bör vidare undersökas om det går att anpassa metoden för Svenskt skogsbruk och hur bra träkonstruktionen klarar våra krav och förhållanden. Trähägn har sin största styrka i att det är byggt i obehandlat virke och därför inte behöver monteras ned och forslas ut ur skogen. Utan man lämnar hägnet när det fyllt sitt syfte och låter det förmultna. Ett problem för alternativa hägningsmetoder, så som tyska trähägn är skogsstyrelsens kriterier på hur ett hägn ska vara utformat för att markägaren ska kunna erhålla bidrag. I dag betalas det inte ut några bidrag för trähägn eftersom stödbestämmelserna inte uppfylls. Men kriterierna kan komma att omarbetas om det påvisas genom forskning eller dokumenterade erfarenheter att hängmetoden fungerar tillfredställande. Denna studie har till stor del byggts på personliga kontakter med sakkunniga inom hägning i Sverige och Tyskland. I Sverige har information om konventionella hägn samlats in för att kunna jämföra kostnader och för och nackdelar med de båda metoderna. Vår ekonomiska analys visar på att kostnaderna för material och uppsättning inte skiljer sig särskilt mycket åt mellan konventionella näthägn och Tyska trähägn. Men för Konventionella näthägn krävs ofta mer omfattande markarbeten med grävmaskin samt kostnader för nedmontering

Conformational Dynamics of Phytoglobin BvPgb1.2 from <i>Beta vulgaris</i> ssp. <i>vulgaris</i>

Plant hemoglobins, often referred to as phytoglobins, play important roles in abiotic stress tolerance. Several essential small physiological metabolites can be bound to these heme proteins. In addition, phytoglobins can catalyze a range of different oxidative reactions in vivo. These proteins are often oligomeric, but the degree and relevance of subunit interactions are largely unknown. In this study, we delineate which residues are involved in dimer formation of a sugar beet phytoglobin type 1.2 (BvPgb1.2) using NMR relaxation experiments. E. coli cells harboring a phytoglobin expression vector were cultivated in isotope-labeled (2H, 13C and 15N) M9 medium. The triple-labeled protein was purified to homogeneity using two chromatographic steps. Two forms of BvPgb1.2 were examined, the oxy-form and the more stable cyanide-form. Using three-dimensional triple-resonance NMR experiments, sequence-specific assignments for CN-bound BvPgb1.2 were achieved for 137 backbone amide cross-peaks in the 1H-15N TROSY spectrum, which amounts to 83% of the total number of 165 expected cross-peaks. A large proportion of the non-assigned residues are located in α-helixes G and H, which are proposed to be involved in protein dimerization. Such knowledge around dimer formation will be instrumental for developing a better understanding of phytoglobins’ roles in planta

Variability analysis of pathogen and indicator loads from urban sewer systems along a river

The pathogen loads within surface waters originating from urban wastewater sources needs to be assessed to support drinking water risk estimations and optimal selection of risk reduction measures. Locally reported discharges from sewer systems (>100,000 persons connected) were used to simulate the potential microbial loads into the Gota alv river, Sweden. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the median and 95% percentile (i.e. worst case) of total microbial load from wastewater treatment plants, sewer network overflows and emergency discharges were assessed and presented for dry and wet weather conditions. Wastewater treatment plants with secondary treatment represented a major source of E. coli, norovirus, Giardia and Cryptosporidium. During wet weather, comparably high microbial loads were found for sewer overflows due to heavy rains. Substantial loads were also associated with an incident of the emergency discharge of untreated wastewater. Simulated river water concentrations of faecal indicators (E. coli, sulfite reducing clostridia, somatic coliphages) and pathogens (norovirus, Giardia, Cryptosporidium) were confirmed by river sampling data, suggesting that urban wastewater is the major microbial source for this river

Mapping the energy landscape of protein-ligand binding : Via linear free energy relationships determined by protein NMR relaxation dispersion

Biochemical signaling is mediated by complexes between macromolecular receptors and their ligands, with the duration of the signal being directly related to the lifetime of the ligand-receptor complex. In the field of drug design, the recognition that drug efficacy in vivo depends on the lifetime of the drug-protein complex has spawned the concept of designing drugs with particular binding kinetics. To advance this field it is critical to investigate how the molecular details of designed ligands might affect the binding kinetics, as well as the equilibrium binding constant. Here we use protein NMR relaxation dispersion to determine linear free energy relationships involving the on- and off-rates and the affinity for a series of congeneric ligands targeting the carbohydrate recognition domain of galectin-3. Using this approach we determine the energy landscape and the position of the transition state along the reaction coordinate of protein-ligand binding. The results show that ligands exhibiting reduced off-rates achieve this by primarily stabilizing the bound state, but do not affect the transition state to any greater extent. The transition state forms early, that is, it is located significantly closer to the free state than to the bound state, suggesting a critical role of desolvation. Furthermore, the data suggest that different subclasses of ligands show different behavior with respect to these characteristics. This journal i

How does it really move? Recent progress in the investigation of protein nanosecond dynamics by NMR and simulation

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin relaxation experi-ments currently probe molecular motions on timescales from picoseconds to nanoseconds. The detailed interpretation of these motions in atomic detail benefits from complementarity with the results from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In this mini-review, we describe the recent developments in experimental techniques to study the backbone dynamics from 15N relaxation and side-chain dynamics from 13C relaxation, discuss the different analysis approaches from model-free to dynamics detectors, and highlight the many ways that NMR relaxation experiments and MD simulations can be used together to improve the interpretation and gain insights into protein dynamics

A de Novo Designed Coiled-Coil Peptide with a Reversible pH-Induced Oligomerization Switch

Protein conformational switches have many useful applications but are difficult to design rationally. Here we demonstrate how the isoenergetic energy landscape of higher-order coiled coils can enable the formation of an oligomerization switch by insertion of a single destabilizing element into an otherwise stable computationally designed scaffold. We describe a de novo designed peptide that was discovered to switch between a parallel symmetric pentamer at pH 8 and a trimer of antiparallel dimers at pH 6. The transition between pentamer and hexamer is caused by changes in the protonation states of glutamatic acid residues with highly upshifted pKa values in both oligomer forms. The drastic conformational change coupled with the narrow pH range makes the peptide sequence an attractive candidate for introduction of pH sensing into other proteins. The results highlight the remarkable ability of simple-α helices to self-assemble into a vast range of structural states

Flexibility and Function of Distal Substrate-Binding Tryptophans in the Blue Mussel β-Mannanase <i>Me</i>Man5A and Their Role in Hydrolysis and Transglycosylation

β-Mannanases hydrolyze β-mannans, important components of plant and microalgae cell walls. Retaining β-mannanases can also catalyze transglycosylation, forming new β-mannosidic bonds that are applicable for synthesis. This study focused on the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) GH5_10 β-mannanase MeMan5A, which contains two semi-conserved tryptophans (W240 and W281) in the distal subsite +2 of its active site cleft. Variants of MeMan5A were generated by replacing one or both tryptophans with alanines. The substitutions reduced the enzyme’s catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km using galactomannan) by three-fold (W281A), five-fold (W240A), or 20-fold (W240A/W281A). Productive binding modes were analyzed by 18O labeling of hydrolysis products and mass spectrometry. Results show that the substitution of both tryptophans was required to shift away from the dominant binding mode of mannopentaose (spanning subsites −3 to +2), suggesting that both tryptophans contribute to glycan binding. NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to analyze protein flexibility and glycan binding. We suggest that W240 is rigid and contributes to +2 subsite mannosyl specificity, while W281 is flexible, which enables stacking interactions in the +2 subsite by loop movement to facilitate binding. The substitutions significantly reduced or eliminated transglycosylation with saccharides as glycosyl acceptors but had no significant effect on reactions with alcohols