Patients' experiences of support for learning to live with diabetes to promote health and well-being : A lifeworld phenomenological study

Learning to live with diabetes in such a way that the new conditions will be a normal and natural part of life imposes requirements on the person living with diabetes. Previous studies have shown that there is no clear picture of what and how the learning that would allow persons to incorporate the illness into their everyday life will be supported. The aim of this study is to describe the phenomenon of support for learning to live with diabetes to promote health and well-being, from the patient's perspective. Data were collected by interviews with patients living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The interviews were analysed using a reflective lifeworld approach. The results show that reflection plays a central role for patients with diabetes in achieving a new understanding of the health process, and awareness of their own responsibility was found to be the key factor for such a reflection. The constituents are responsibility creating curiosity and willpower, openness enabling support, technology verifying bodily feelings, a permissive climate providing for participation and exchanging experiences with others. The study concludes that the challenge for caregivers is to create interactions in an open learning climate that initiates and supports reflection to promote health and well-being.

The Roles of Land and Orography on Precipitation and Ocean Circulation in Global Climate Models

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Sex steroid feedback regulation of pituitary gonadotropins during early secondary oocyte growth in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) – a potential target of endocrine disruption.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Phylum-wide transcriptome analysis of oogenesis and early embryogenesis in selected nematode species

Oogenesis is a prerequisite for embryogenesis in Metazoa. During both biological processes important decisions must be made to form the embryo and hence ensure the next generation: (1) Maternal gene products (mRNAs, proteins and nutrients) must be supplied to the embryo. (2) Polarity must be established and axes must be specified. While incorporation of maternal gene products occurs during oogenesis, the time point of polarity establishment and axis specification varies among species, as it is accomplished either prior, during, or after fertilisation. But not only the time point when these events take place varies among species but also the underlying mechanisms by which they are triggered. For the nematode model Caenorhabditis elegans the underlying pathways and gene regulatory networks (GRNs) are well understood. It is known that there the sperm entry point initiates a primary polarity in the 1-celled egg and with it the establishment of the anteroposterior axis. However, studies of other nematodes demonstrated that polarity establishment can be independent of sperm entry (Goldstein et al., 1998; Lahl et al., 2006) and that cleavage patterns, symmetry formation and cell specification also differ from C. elegans. In contrast to the studied Chromadorea (more derived nematodes including C. elegans), embryos of some marine Enoplea (more basal representatives) even show no discernible early polarity and blastomeres can adopt variable cell fates (Voronov and Panchin 1998). The underlying pathways controlling the obviously variant embryonic processes in non-Caenorhabditis nematodes are essentially unknown. In this thesis I addressed this issue by performing a detailed unbiased comparative transcriptome analysis based on microarrays and RNA sequencing of selected developmental stages in a variety of nematodes from different phylogenetic branches with C. elegans as a reference system and a nematomorph as an outgroup representative. In addition, I made use of available genomic data to determine the presence or absence of genes for which no expression had been detected. In particular, I focussed on components of selected pathways or GRNs which are known to play essential roles during C. elegans development and/or other invertebrate or vertebrate model systems. Oogenesis must be regulated differently in non-Caenorhabditis nematodes, as crucial controlling components of Wnt and sex determination signaling are absent in these species. In this respect, I identified female-specific expression of potential polarity associated genes during gonad development and oogenesis in the Enoplean nematode Romanomermis culicivorax. I could show that known downstream components of the polarity complexes PAR-3/-6/PKC-3 and PAR-1/-2 are absent in non-Caenorhabditis species. Even PAR-2 as part of the polarity complex does not exist in these nematodes. Instead, transcriptomes of nematodes (including C. elegans), show expression of other polarity-associated complexes such as the Lgl (Lethal giant larvae) complex. This result could pose an alternative route for nematodes and nematomorphs to initiate polarity during early embryogenesis. I could show that crucial pathways of axis specification, such as Wnt and BMP are very different in C. elegans compared to other nematodes. In the former, Wnt signaling, for instance, is mediated by four paralogous beta-catenins, while other Chromadorea have fewer and Enoplea only one beta-catenin. The transcriptomes of R. culicivorax and the nematomorph show that regulators of BMP (e.g. Chordin), are specifically expressed during early embryogenesis only in Enoplea and the close outgroup of nematomorphs. In conclusion, my results demonstrate that the molecular machinery controlling oogenesis and embryogenesis in nematodes is unexpectedly variable and C. elegans cannot be taken as a general model for nematode development. Under this perspective, Enoplean nematodes show more similarities with outgroups than with C. elegans. It appears that certain pathway components were lost or gained during evolution and others adopted new functions. Based on my findings I can conjecture, which pathway components may be ancestral and which were newly acquired in the course of nematode evolution.

Unia Europejska i jej granice. W poszukiwaniu modelu integracji na europejskich peryferiach

Research into borders and frontiers in the context of European integration has evolved, leading to the question of the shape of the external borders of the EU and their organization in relation to the external surroundings. The approach to how the unification processes of the continent are presented has recently changed, and the Union is being perceived through its peripheries. The one-way model of the flow of ideas from the center to the peripheries has been replaced by a two-way one. This allows us to use the Westfalen, imperial and neo-medieval geopolitical model to analyze the EU and, consequently, the four geo-strategies that are regionally diversified in the northern, eastern and southern peripheries of the Union. Nevertheless, it is the periphery that plays the key role and initiates certain types of relations with neighbors, whereas the center approves of them and modifies them, according to its own requirements.

Ferramentas de apoio à implementação da sustentabilidade na gestão da cadeia de abastecimento

O presente trabalho tem como principal objetivo contribuir para o desenvolvimento de um modelo de gestão da cadeia de abastecimento sustentável, posteriormente operacionalizado num conjunto de empresas. O principal elemento diferenciador do modelo apresentado é o seu cariz operacional, focado na fase da implementação com a integração de um conjunto de práticas de apoio à sustentabilidade. Para responder às pressões da conjuntura económica atual, das alterações climáticas, da escassez de recursos e das desigualdades sociais é necessário desenvolver de forma consolidada e abrangente um novo paradigma de gestão nas empresas. Muitas destas pressões fazem-se sentir nas atividades da Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento. O grande desafio é conseguir que as empresas obtenham bons resultados económicos, sociais e ambientais. A sustentabilidade tem sido abordada como a área de estudo donde deverá emergir este novo paradigma de gestão. Atendendo a esta problemática, a principal questão de investigação do presente trabalho é “Como se implementa a Sustentabilidade na Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento?” A metodologia de investigação partiu da revisão da literatura que permitiu estruturar um conjunto de pressupostos teóricos, estruturados num modelo conceptual sobre a implementação da sustentabilidade na Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento. O modelo foi aplicado em dois grupos de estudos empíricos: Análise Qualitativa de Relatórios de Sustentabilidade publicados por seis empresas com atividade em Portugal (Sonae; Lipor, Galp; EDP; Portucel e AutoEuropa); e o desenvolvimento de dois Estudos de Caso nas empresas Bosch Termotecnologia e Gestamp Aveiro. Os resultados permitiram o desenvolvimento de um Modelo Teórico de Implementação da Sustentabilidade na Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento. Bem como, um modelo de classificação das ferramentas de apoio à implementação da sustentabilidade adequadas a cada etapa que constitui o modelo de implementação. No desenvolvimento deste trabalho, acreditou-se que o caminho da sustentabilidade é possível e tangível. Os modelos desenvolvidos explicam que a integração da sustentabilidade se enceta pela estruturação da área da sustentabilidade na organização, prosseguindo com o processo de implementação constituído por quatro etapas: Envolvimento, Execução, Monitorização e Comunicação. A implementação necessita de ser abrangente a toda a cadeia de valor e apoiada num conjunto de ferramentas adequadas a cada fase de implementação.

Para uma pedagogia do reconhecimento: da concriação à pratica vocativa

Esta dissertação assume, na sua maior abrangência, a feitura de uma articulação entre a sustentação originária e constitutiva do ser humano, a manifestação concreta do sentido existencial do ato pedagógico e os seus modos de realização: dialógico, comunitário, personalista e humanista. Neste sentido, a nossa proposta passa inicialmente por uma procura do sujeito através do alcance da pessoa, do homem ao indivíduo (nas suas diversas vicissitudes), até à sua concretização numa consciência pedagógica precursora do agir, do conhecer, do sentir e, fundamentalmente, do ato de “Reconhecer”, este tido, por nós, como o processo fundamentador e fomentador de uma Pedagogia do Reconhecimento. É um percurso inovador na medida em que parte de uma Antropologia Filosófica e de uma Antroposofia, passando pelos meandros processuais da consciência lonerganiana e da fenomenologia buberiana da relação, pretendendo promover, no seu culminar, uma ambiência cultural de pedagogia dialógica inserida num topos comunitário, pressuposta e implicitamente proposta numa Teoria do Reconhecimento, que se situa na geografia disciplinar da Filosofia da Educação, e nas “Dinâmicas das Relações Interpessoais”. Temos, pois, que o seu epílogo é o reconhecimento: como resultado radical e subtil manifestado na intersubjetividade. A Pedagogia do Reconhecimento como concriação e ação vocativa está fundamentada num itinerário de estruturas idiossincráticas de sustentação do modo como “ser-aí” se faz (constrói e realiza). Partiremos da desaxialização do “Eu” tópico (anthropos) para uma estrutura transversal dialógica. Entendemos que toda a vida verdadeira é relação, afirmação buberiana que, só por si, derruba a clássica fronteira tópica e abre espaço à condição dialógica e essencial do fazer do ser humano. O papel do reconhecimento do “outro”, no homem, é um fenómeno de dialogicidade que abole as fronteiras dialéticas da pura argumentação e permite o brotar da reciprocidade; Abstract: This dissertation intends, in its greater scope, to make a link between the original and constitutive support of the human being, the concrete manifestation of pedagogical act's existential sense and its embodiments: dialogical, personalistic, communitarian and humanist. Our proposal initially goes through a search of the Self through the achievement of the person, from Man to the individual (in its various vicissitudes), till its development in a pedagogical conscience that is a precursor of action, knowing, feeling and, fundamentally, of the act of “Recognize”, as a justifying and instigating process of a Pedagogy of Recognition. It is an innovative path in the sense that it initiates itself from a Philosophical Anthropology and from an Anthroposophy and it continues through the procedural intricacies of lonerganian consciousness and buberian phenomenology of relation, intending to promote, in its culmination, a cultural ambience of dialogic pedagogy, inserted in a communitarian topos, presupposed and implicitly proposed in a Recognition Theory, that places itself in the disciplinary geography of Philosophy of Education and in the “Dynamics of Interpersonal Relationships”. Therefore, the epilogue is the recognition: as a radical and subtle outcome, expressed in the intersubjectivity. The Pedagogy of Recognition as co-creation and vocative practice is based on a route of idiosyncratic structures of support of the way in how to be there is done (built and accomplished). We start from the de-axialization of the topic “Self” (anthropos) to a transversal dialogical structure. We defend that all true life is relationship, a buberian statement that all alone drops the topical classical border and makes room for the dialogical and essential condition of doing of the human being. The role of recognition of the “other”, in Man, is a dialogical phenomenon that abolishes the dialectic borders of pure argument and allows the sprouting of reciprocity.

Análise hidromecânica do problema de fraturamento hidráulico

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Civil e Ambiental, 2016.

PHYSICAL FACTORS IN B CELL ACTIN DYNAMICS AND ACTIVATION

Cells adapt to their changing world by sensing environmental cues and responding appropriately. This is made possible by complex cascades of biochemical signals that originate at the cell membrane. In the last decade it has become apparent that the origin of these signals can also arise from physical cues in the environment. Our motivation is to investigate the role of physical factors in the cellular response of the B lymphocyte. B cells patrol the body for signs of invading pathogens in the form of antigen on the surface of antigen presenting cells. Binding of antigen with surface proteins initiates biochemical signaling essential to the immune response. Once contact is made, the B cell spreads on the surface of the antigen presenting cell in order to gather as much antigen as possible. The physical mechanisms that govern this process are unexplored. In this research, we examine the role of the physical parameters of antigen mobility and cell surface topography on B cell spreading and activation. Both physical parameters are biologically relevant as immunogens for vaccine design, which can provide laterally mobile and immobile antigens and topographical surfaces. Another physical parameter that influences B cell response and the formation of the cell-cell junction is surface topography. This is biologically relevant as antigen presenting cells have highly convoluted membranes, resulting in variable topography. We found that B cell activation required the formation of antigen-receptor clusters and their translocation within the attachment plane. We showed that cells which failed to achieve these mobile clusters due to prohibited ligand mobility were much less activation competent. To investigate the effect of topography, we use nano- and micro-patterned substrates, on which B cells were allowed to spread and become activated. We found that B cell spreading, actin dynamics, B cell receptor distribution and calcium signaling are dependent on the topographical patterning of the substrate. A quantitative understanding of cellular response to physical parameters is essential to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that drive B cell activation. The results of this research are highly applicable to the field of vaccine development and therapies for autoimmune diseases. Our studies of the physical aspects of lymphocyte activation will reveal the role these factors play in immunity, thus enabling their optimization for biological function and potentially enabling the production of more effective vaccines.

OriDB: a DNA replication origin database

Replication of eukaryotic chromosomes initiates at multiple sites called replication origins. Replication origins are best understood in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, where several complementary studies have mapped their locations genome-wide. We have collated these datasets, taking account of the resolution of each study, to generate a single list of distinct origin sites. OriDB provides a web-based catalogue of these confirmed and predicted S.cerevisiae DNA replication origin sites. Each proposed or confirmed origin site appears as a record in OriDB, with each record comprising seven pages. These pages provide, in text and graphical formats, the following information: genomic location and chromosome context of the origin site; time of origin replication; DNA sequence of proposed or experimentally confirmed origin elements; free energy required to open the DNA duplex (stress-induced DNA duplex destabilization or SIDD); and phylogenetic conservation of sequence elements. In addition, OriDB encourages community submission of additional information for each origin site through a User Notes facility. Origin sites are linked to several external resources, including the Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD) and relevant publications at PubMed. Finally, a Chromosome Viewer utility allows users to interactively generate graphical representations of DNA replication data genome-wide. OriDB is available at www.oridb.org.

Hacia la conformación de un modelo de distrribución de usos y asignación de características de ocupación a partir de análisis Geo estadístico: caso estudio Av. Paseo de los Cañarís de la ciudad de Cuenca año 2015

La presente tesis tiene por objeto generar estrategias para la distribución de usos y asignación de características de ocupación de suelo, este proceso se apoya en análisis geo estadísticos para obtener resultados más ajustados a la realidad y de esta manera comprender la dinámica de los espacios urbanos, las formas de ocupación del espacio por parte de la población, así también las dinámicas que generan ciertos elementos y el impacto en su contexto inmediato. Este estudio inicia con el desarrollo del marco teórico que aborda definiciones e investigaciones referentes a las dinámicas que los usos presentan en una ciudad.Posteriormente se analizan los elementos urbanos relevantes del área de estudio, iniciando con la delimitación y sectorización, los equipamientos, la vialidad, el transporte, las características de ocupación y la normativa vigente; mediante estos diagnósticos se llega a identificar como está conformada el área de estudio.Partiendo de estos diagnósticos se procede a realizar el estudio y análisis sistemático de los usos y la ocupación de suelo urbano, mediante la aplicación de herramientas geo estadísticas como el Kriging y MORAN-LISA. Los resultados obtenidos se representan en un corema, con la finalidad de crear un modelo espacial de análisis, apoyado también de un análisis de diversidad.Finalmente estos resultados generan estrategias apoyadas en datos estadísticos.

Sistema de sensoriamento eletromagnético utilizado para detecção da contaminação do óleo isolante do motor no método de elevação artificial do tipo bombeio centrífugo submerso

In the artificial lift method by Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP), the energy is transmitted for the well´s deep through a flat electric handle, where it is converted into mechanical energy through an engine of sub-surface, which is connected to a centrifugal pump. This transmits energy to the fluid under the pressure form, bringing it to the surface In this method the subsurface equipment is basically divided into: pump, seal and motor. The main function of the seal is the protect the motor, avoiding the motor´s oil be contaminated by oil production and the consequent burning of it. Over time, the seal will be wearing and initiates a contamination of motor oil, causing it to lose its insulating characteristics. This work presents a design of a magnetic sensor capable of detecting contamination of insulating oil used in the artificial lift method of oil-type Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP). The objective of this sensor is to generate alarm signal just the moment when the contamination in the isolated oil is present, enabling the implementation of a predictive maintenance. The prototype was designed to work in harsh conditions to reach a depth of 2000m and temperatures up to 150°C. It was used a simulator software to defined the mechanical and electromagnetic variables. Results of field experiments were performed to validate the prototype. The final results performed in an ESP system with a 62HP motor showed a good reliability and fast response of the prototype.

L’empreinte d’une expérience performative en littérature : le cas de Sophie Calle et de Miranda July

Le présent mémoire propose de croiser les démarches de deux auteures et artistes contemporaines, Sophie Calle et Miranda July, dont les quatre œuvres à l’étude – Douleur exquise (2003), Aveugles (2011), Rachel, Monique (2012) de Calle et Il vous choisit (2013) de July – se fondent sur des expériences en amont de l’écriture qui mobilisent le corps même des auteures, les engagent dans une action concrète et, bien souvent, dans des interactions avec autrui. Cet art de la contrainte, cet art action qui devient le sédiment de leurs écrits s’inscrit dans la filiation hypothétique des théories du philosophe pragmatique John Dewey et de celles de l’artiste Allan Kaprow – l’un des premiers à réfléchir l’art de la performance. L’écriture intermédiale qu’elles pratiquent – ce jeu de relations entre différents médias au sein même de l’œuvre – permet à la fois de réactiver la valeur performative de l’expérience qui a impulsé la création littéraire et d’embrayer une expérience de lecture qui devient elle-même performative. Exemplaires d’une esthétique relationnelle, polyphoniques dans les voix qui s’expriment, les quatre ouvrages du corpus donnent à sentir le bruissement d’une communauté. Il s’agit d’une littérature interdisciplinaire et intersubjective, mais surtout performative dans son questionnement incessant sur le pouvoir de l’art pour transformer la vie.

Effect of Pavement-Vehicle Interaction on Highway Fuel Consumption and Emission

Vehicle fuel consumption and emission are two important effectiveness measurements of sustainable transportation development. Pavement plays an essential role in goals of fuel economy improvement and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. The main objective of this dissertation study is to experimentally investigate the effect of pavement-vehicle interaction (PVI) on vehicle fuel consumption under highway driving conditions. The goal is to provide a better understanding on the role of pavement in the green transportation initiates. Four study phases are carried out. The first phase involves a preliminary field investigation to detect the fuel consumption differences between paired flexible-rigid pavement sections with repeat measurements. The second phase continues the field investigation by a more detailed and comprehensive experimental design and independently investigates the effect of pavement type on vehicle fuel consumption. The third study phase calibrates the HDM-IV fuel consumption model with data collected in the second field phase. The purpose is to understand how pavement deflection affects vehicle fuel consumption from a mechanistic approach. The last phase applies the calibrated HDM-IV model to Florida’s interstate network and estimates the total annual fuel consumption and CO2 emissions on different scenarios. The potential annual fuel savings and emission reductions are derived based on the estimation results. Statistical results from the two field studies both show fuel savings on rigid pavement compared to flexible pavement with the test conditions specified. The savings derived from the first phase are 2.50% for the passenger car at 112km/h, and 4.04% for 18-wheel tractor-trailer at 93km/h. The savings resulted from the second phase are 2.25% and 2.22% for passenger car at 93km/h and 112km/h, and 3.57% and 3.15% for the 6-wheel medium-duty truck at 89km/h and 105km/h. All savings are statistically significant at 95% Confidence Level (C.L.). From the calibrated HDM-IV model, one unit of pavement deflection (1mm) on flexible pavement can cause an excess fuel consumption by 0.234-0.311 L/100km for the passenger car and by 1.123-1.277 L/100km for the truck. The effect is more evident at lower highway speed than at higher highway speed. From the network level estimation, approximately 40 million gallons of fuel (combined gasoline and diesel) and 0.39 million tons of CO2 emission can be saved/reduced annually if all Florida’s interstate flexible pavement are converted to rigid pavement with the same roughness levels. Moreover, each 1-mile of flexible-rigid conversion can result in a reduction of 29 thousand gallons of fuel and 258 tons of CO2 emission yearly.

L’empreinte d’une expérience performative en littérature : le cas de Sophie Calle et de Miranda July

Le présent mémoire propose de croiser les démarches de deux auteures et artistes contemporaines, Sophie Calle et Miranda July, dont les quatre œuvres à l’étude – Douleur exquise (2003), Aveugles (2011), Rachel, Monique (2012) de Calle et Il vous choisit (2013) de July – se fondent sur des expériences en amont de l’écriture qui mobilisent le corps même des auteures, les engagent dans une action concrète et, bien souvent, dans des interactions avec autrui. Cet art de la contrainte, cet art action qui devient le sédiment de leurs écrits s’inscrit dans la filiation hypothétique des théories du philosophe pragmatique John Dewey et de celles de l’artiste Allan Kaprow – l’un des premiers à réfléchir l’art de la performance. L’écriture intermédiale qu’elles pratiquent – ce jeu de relations entre différents médias au sein même de l’œuvre – permet à la fois de réactiver la valeur performative de l’expérience qui a impulsé la création littéraire et d’embrayer une expérience de lecture qui devient elle-même performative. Exemplaires d’une esthétique relationnelle, polyphoniques dans les voix qui s’expriment, les quatre ouvrages du corpus donnent à sentir le bruissement d’une communauté. Il s’agit d’une littérature interdisciplinaire et intersubjective, mais surtout performative dans son questionnement incessant sur le pouvoir de l’art pour transformer la vie.