Effect of sodium hypochlorite and edta irrigation, individually and in alternation, on dentin microhardness at the furcation area of mandibular molars

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of irrigation regimens on dentin microhardness at the furcation area of mandibular molars, using sodium hypochlorite and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), individually and in alternation. The occlusal surface and the roots of 20 non-carious extracted human permanent mandibular molars were cut transversally and discarded. The tooth blocks were embedded in acrylic resin and randomly assigned to 4 groups (n=5) according to the irrigating regimens: 1% NaOCl solution, 17% EDTA solution, 1% NaOCl and 17% EDTA and distilled water (control). Knoop microhardness of dentin at the furcation area was evaluated. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison tests (α=0.05). The results of this study indicated that all irrigation solutions, except for distilled water (control), decreased dentin microhardness. EDTA did not show a significant difference with NaOCl/EDTA (p>0.05), but showed a significant difference with NaOCl (p<0.01). EDTA and NaOCl/EDTA showed a maximum decrease in microhardness. The 17% EDTA solution, either alone or in combination with 1% NaOCl reduced significantly dentin microhardness at the furcation area of mandibular molars.

Performance and radial distribution profiles of a variable flow rate sprinkler developed for precision irrigation

Variable rate sprinklers (VRS) have been developed to promote localized water application of irrigated areas. In Precision Irrigation, VRS permits better control of flow adjustment and, at the same time, provides satisfactory radial distribution profiles for various pressures and flow rates are really necessary. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance and radial distribution profiles of a developed VRS which varies the nozzle cross sectional area by moving a pin in or out using a stepper motor. Field tests were performed under different conditions of service pressure, rotation angles imposed on the pin and flow rate which resulted in maximal water throw radiuses ranging from 7.30 to 10.38 m. In the experiments in which the service pressure remained constant, the maximal throw radius varied from 7.96 to 8.91 m. Averages were used of repetitions performed under conditions without wind or with winds less than 1.3 m s-1. The VRS with the four stream deflector resulted in greater water application throw radius compared to the six stream deflector. However, the six stream deflector had greater precipitation intensities, as well as better distribution. Thus, selection of the deflector to be utilized should be based on project requirements, respecting the difference in the obtained results. With a small opening of the nozzle, the VRS produced small water droplets that visually presented applicability for foliar chemigation. Regarding the comparison between the estimated and observed flow rates, the stepper motor produced excellent results.

Ovarian response of Suffolk ewes to estrous synchronization using short-term protocol

The efficacy of estrus synchronization using short-term protocol was evaluated by ultrasound exams in Suffolk ewes during the pre-breeding season. The control Group (n = 12) was synchronized by treatment for 12 days with vaginal sponges impregnated with medroxyprogesterone acetate, and 400 IU eCG at sponge withdrawal. Experimental groups I, II and III kept the sponge in place for 4 days, and 100 µg of PGF2a was administered at sponge withdrawal. Additionally, Group I (n = 12) had 0.1 mg of estradiol benzoate (EB) administered during sponge placement and 50 µg of GnRH 48 hours after sponge removal. Group II (n = 6) had 35 mg of progesterone (P4) injected, and 0.1 mg of EB administered during sponge placement, 400 IU eCG at withdrawal and 48 hours after, 50 µg GnRH were administrated. Group III (n = 12) had 35 mg of P4 and 0.2 mg of EB administered at sponge placement, 400 IU eCG at withdrawal, and 50 µg of GnRH was administrated after 56 hours. Ovaries were monitored through ultrasound scanning. Concerning the first wave, no difference was detected between the control group and the experimental groups. However, the characteristics of ovulatory wave were significantly different between the groups. The duration of the follicular wave was shorter for Group III than for Group II. The follicle in Group I reached its maximum diameter before the Group II. The diameter of the follicle at the sponge withdrawal in the control group was larger than in Group I. After sponge withdrawal, the follicular growth rate was smaller in the control group than in Group III. The maximum diameter of the follicle in Group II was larger than in the other groups. The short-term protocol in which estrogen was used did not synchronize the emergence of the wave of follicular development.

Contributions to effective protocol design to mitigate continuous multimedia services short disriptions in WiFi networks

Eliminadas las páginas en blanco

"Water users must be efficient producers". Women's access to and use of land in Chókwè irrigation scheme, Mozambique

The irrigation scheme Eduardo Mondlane, situated in Chókwè District - in the Southern part of the Gaza province and within the Limpopo River Basin - is the largest in the country, covering approximately 30,000 hectares of land. Built by the Portuguese colonial administration in the 1950s to exploit the agricultural potential of the area through cash-cropping, after Independence it became one of Frelimo’s flagship projects aiming at the “socialization of the countryside” and at agricultural economic development through the creation of a state farm and of several cooperatives. The failure of Frelimo’s economic reforms, several infrastructural constraints and local farmers resistance to collective forms of production led to scheme to a state of severe degradation aggravated by the floods of the year 2000. A project of technical rehabilitation initiated after the floods is currently accompanied by a strong “efficiency” discourse from the managing institution that strongly opposes the use of irrigated land for subsistence agriculture, historically a major livelihood strategy for smallfarmers, particularly for women. In fact, the area has been characterized, since the end of the XIX century, by a stable pattern of male migration towards South African mines, that has resulted in an a steady increase of women-headed households (both de jure and de facto). The relationship between land reform, agricultural development, poverty alleviation and gender equality in Southern Africa is long debated in academic literature. Within this debate, the role of agricultural activities in irrigation schemes is particularly interesting considering that, in a drought-prone area, having access to water for irrigation means increased possibilities of improving food and livelihood security, and income levels. In the case of Chókwè, local governments institutions are endorsing the development of commercial agriculture through initiatives such as partnerships with international cooperation agencies or joint-ventures with private investors. While these business models can sometimes lead to positive outcomes in terms of poverty alleviation, it is important to recognize that decentralization and neoliberal reforms occur in the context of financial and political crisis of the State that lacks the resources to efficiently manage infrastructures such as irrigation systems. This kind of institutional and economic reforms risk accelerating processes of social and economic marginalisation, including landlessness, in particular for poor rural women that mainly use irrigated land for subsistence production. The study combines an analysis of the historical and geographical context with the study of relevant literature and original fieldwork. Fieldwork was conducted between February and June 2007 (where I mainly collected secondary data, maps and statistics and conducted preliminary visit to Chókwè) and from October 2007 to March 2008. Fieldwork methodology was qualitative and used semi-structured interviews with central and local Government officials, technical experts of the irrigation scheme, civil society organisations, international NGOs, rural extensionists, and water users from the irrigation scheme, in particular those women smallfarmers members of local farmers’ associations. Thanks to the collaboration with the Union of Farmers’ Associations of Chókwè, she has been able to participate to members’ meeting, to education and training activities addressed to women farmers members of the Union and to organize a group discussion. In Chókwè irrigation scheme, women account for the 32% of water users of the familiar sector (comprising plot-holders with less than 5 hectares of land) and for just 5% of the private sector. If one considers farmers’ associations of the familiar sector (a legacy of Frelimo’s cooperatives), women are 84% of total members. However, the security given to them by the land title that they have acquired through occupation is severely endangered by the use that they make of land, that is considered as “non efficient” by the irrigation scheme authority. Due to a reduced access to marketing possibilities and to inputs, training, information and credit women, in actual fact, risk to see their right to access land and water revoked because they are not able to sustain the increasing cost of the water fee. The myth of the “efficient producer” does not take into consideration the characteristics of inequality and gender discrimination of the neo-liberal market. Expecting small-farmers, and in particular women, to be able to compete in the globalized agricultural market seems unrealistic, and can perpetuate unequal gendered access to resources such as land and water.

Climate change and the tourism sector: the clean development mechanism, a market instrument under the Kyoto Protocol to achieve multiple objectives

The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an instrument created under a global international treaty, can achieve multiple objectives beyond those for which it has been established. As such, while being already a powerful tool to contribute to the global fight against climate change, the CDM can also be successful if applied to different sectors not contemplated before. In particular, this research aimed at demonstrating that a wider utilization of the CDM in the tourism sector can represent an innovative way to foster sustainable tourism and generate additional benefits. The CDM was created by Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and represents an innovative tool to reduce greenhouse gases emissions through the implementation of mitigation activities in developing countries which generate certified emission reductions (CERs), each of them equivalent to one ton of CO2 not emitted in the atmosphere. These credits can be used for compliance reasons by industrialized countries in achieving their reduction targets. The logic path of this research begins with an analysis of the scientific evidences of climate change and its impacts on different economic sectors including tourism and it continues with a focus on the linkages between climate and the tourism sector. Then, it analyses the international responses to the issue of climate change and the peculiar activities in the international arena addressing climate change and the tourism sector. The concluding part of the work presents the objectives and achievements of the CDM and its links to the tourism sector by considering case studies of existing projects which demonstrate that the underlying question can be positively answered. New opportunities for the tourism sector are available.

Locator id separation protocol

Locator ID Separation Protocolo Tesi di Laurea in Reti di calcolatori

Conservation genetics of European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris): a wide and integrating analysis protocol for admixture inferences and population structure

Introgression of domestic cat genes into European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) populations and reduction of wildcats’ range in Europe, leaded by habitat loss and fragmentation, are considered two of the main conservation problems for this endangered feline. This thesis addressed the questions related with the artificial hybridization and populations’ fragmentation, using a conservation genetics perspective. We combined the use of highly polymorphic loci, Bayesian statistical inferences and landscape analyses tools to investigate the origin of the geographic-genetic substructure of European wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) in Italy and Europe. The genetic variability of microsatellites evidenced that European wildcat populations currently distributed in Italy differentiated in, and expanded from two distinct glacial refuges during the Last Glacial Maximum. The genetic and geographic substructure detected between the eastern and western sides of the Apennine ridge, resulted by adaptation to specific ecological conditions of the Mediterranean habitats. European wildcat populations in Europe are strongly structured into 5 geographic-genetic macro clusters corresponding to: the Italian peninsular & Sicily; Balkans & north-eastern Italy; Germany eastern; central Europe; and Iberian Peninsula. Central European population might have differentiated in the extra-Mediterranean Würm ice age refuge areas (Northern Alps, Carpathians, and the Bulgarian mountain systems), while the divergence among and within the southern European populations might have resulted by the Pleistocene bio geographical framework of Europe, with three southern refugia localized in the Balkans, Italian Peninsula and Iberia Peninsula. We further combined the use of most informative autosomal SNPs with uniparental markers (mtDNA and Y-linked) for accurately detecting parental genotypes and levels of introgressive hybridization between European wild and domestic cats. A total of 11 hybrids were identified. The presence of domestic mitochondrial haplotypes shared with some wild individuals led us to hypnotize the possibility that ancient introgressive events might have occurred and that further investigation should be recommended.

Boron determination in biological samples - Intercomparison of three analytical methods to assist development of a treatment protocol for neoplastic diseases of the liver with Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

Die Bor-Neuroneneinfang-Therapie (engl.: Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, BNCT) ist eine indirekte Strahlentherapie, welche durch die gezielte Freisetzung von dicht ionisierender Strahlung Tumorzellen zerstört. Die freigesetzten Ionen sind Spaltfragmente einer Kernreaktion, bei welcher das Isotop 10B ein niederenergetisches (thermisches) Neutron einfängt. Das 10B wird durch ein spezielles Borpräparat in den Tumorzellen angereichert, welches selbst nicht radioaktiv ist. rnAn der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz wurde die Forschung für die Anwendung eines klinischen Behandlungsprotokolls durch zwei Heilversuche bei Patienten mit kolorektalen Lebermetastasen an der Universität Pavia, Italien, angeregt, bei denen die Leber außerhalb des Körpers in einem Forschungsreaktor bestrahlt wurde. Als erster Schritt wurde in Kooperation verschiedener universitärer Institute eine klinische Studie zur Bestimmung klinisch relevanter Parameter wie der Borverteilung in verschiedenen Geweben und dem pharmakokinetischen Aufnahmeverhalten des Borpräparates initiiert.rnDie Borkonzentration in den Gewebeproben wurde hinsichtlich ihrer räumlichen Verteilung in verschiedenen Zellarealen bestimmt, um mehr über das Aufnahmeverhalten der Zellen für das BPA im Hinblick auf ihre biologischen Charakteristika zu erfahren. Die Borbestimung wurde per Quantitative Neutron Capture Radiography, Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis und Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy parallel zur histologischen Analyse des Gewebes durchgeführt. Es war möglich zu zeigen, dass in Proben aus Tumorgewebe und aus tumorfreiem Gewebe mit unterschiedlichen morphologischen Eigenschaften eine sehr heterogene Borverteilung vorliegt. Die Ergebnisse der Blutproben werden für die Erstellung eines pharmakokinetischen Modells verwendet und sind in Übereinstimmung mit existierenden pharmakokinetische Modellen. Zusätzlich wurden die Methoden zur Borbestimmung über speziell hergestellte Referenzstandards untereinander verglichen. Dabei wurde eine gute Übereinstimmung der Ergebnisse festgestellt, ferner wurde für alle biologischen Proben Standardanalyseprotokolle erstellt.rnDie bisher erhaltenen Ergebnisse der klinischen Studie sind vielversprechend, lassen aber noch keine endgültigen Schlussfolgerungen hinsichtlich der Wirksamkeit von BNCT für maligne Lebererkrankungen zu. rn

Optimisation of chemical lysis protocol for point-of-care leukocyte differentiation

The full blood cell (FBC) count is the most common indicator of diseases. At present hematology analyzers are used for the blood cell characterization, but, recently, there has been interest in using techniques that take advantage of microscale devices and intrinsic properties of cells for increased automation and decreased cost. Microfluidic technologies offer solutions to handling and processing small volumes of blood (2-50 uL taken by finger prick) for point-of-care(PoC) applications. Several PoC blood analyzers are in use and may have applications in the fields of telemedicine, out patient monitoring and medical care in resource limited settings. They have the advantage to be easy to move and much cheaper than traditional analyzers, which require bulky instruments and consume large amount of reagents. The development of miniaturized point-of-care diagnostic tests may be enabled by chip-based technologies for cell separation and sorting. Many current diagnostic tests depend on fractionated blood components: plasma, red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets. Specifically, white blood cell differentiation and counting provide valuable information for diagnostic purposes. For example, a low number of WBCs, called leukopenia, may be an indicator of bone marrow deficiency or failure, collagen- vascular diseases, disease of the liver or spleen. The leukocytosis, a high number of WBCs, may be due to anemia, infectious diseases, leukemia or tissue damage. In the laboratory of hybrid biodevices, at the University of Southampton,it was developed a functioning micro impedance cytometer technology for WBC differentiation and counting. It is capable to classify cells and particles on the base of their dielectric properties, in addition to their size, without the need of labeling, in a flow format similar to that of a traditional flow cytometer. It was demonstrated that the micro impedance cytometer system can detect and differentiate monocytes, neutrophils and lymphocytes, which are the three major human leukocyte populations. The simplicity and portability of the microfluidic impedance chip offer a range of potential applications in cell analysis including point-of-care diagnostic systems. The microfluidic device has been integrated into a sample preparation cartridge that semi-automatically performs erythrocyte lysis before leukocyte analysis. Generally erythrocytes are manually lysed according to a specific chemical lysis protocol, but this process has been automated in the cartridge. In this research work the chemical lysis protocol, defined in the patent US 5155044 A, was optimized in order to improve white blood cell differentiation and count performed by the integrated cartridge.

Multicentre study for a robust protocol in single-voxel spectroscopy: quantification of MRS signals by time-domain fitting algorithms

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is an advanced clinical and research application which guarantees a specific biochemical and metabolic characterization of tissues by the detection and quantification of key metabolites for diagnosis and disease staging. The "Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica (AIFM)" has promoted the activity of the "Interconfronto di spettroscopia in RM" working group. The purpose of the study is to compare and analyze results obtained by perfoming MRS on scanners of different manufacturing in order to compile a robust protocol for spectroscopic examinations in clinical routines. This thesis takes part into this project by using the GE Signa HDxt 1.5 T at the Pavillion no. 11 of the S.Orsola-Malpighi hospital in Bologna. The spectral analyses have been performed with the jMRUI package, which includes a wide range of preprocessing and quantification algorithms for signal analysis in the time domain. After the quality assurance on the scanner with standard and innovative methods, both spectra with and without suppression of the water peak have been acquired on the GE test phantom. The comparison of the ratios of the metabolite amplitudes over Creatine computed by the workstation software, which works on the frequencies, and jMRUI shows good agreement, suggesting that quantifications in both domains may lead to consistent results. The characterization of an in-house phantom provided by the working group has achieved its goal of assessing the solution content and the metabolite concentrations with good accuracy. The goodness of the experimental procedure and data analysis has been demonstrated by the correct estimation of the T2 of water, the observed biexponential relaxation curve of Creatine and the correct TE value at which the modulation by J coupling causes the Lactate doublet to be inverted in the spectrum. The work of this thesis has demonstrated that it is possible to perform measurements and establish protocols for data analysis, based on the physical principles of NMR, which are able to provide robust values for the spectral parameters of clinical use.

Impact of irrigation in the Po valley (Italy) on meteorological parameters through numerical simulation

Recent studies found that soil-atmosphere coupling features, through soil moisture, have been crucial to simulate well heat waves amplitude, duration and intensity. Moreover, it was found that soil moisture depletion both in Winter and Spring anticipates strong heat waves during the Summer. Irrigation in geophysical studies can be intended as an anthropogenic forcing to the soil-moisture, besides changes in land proprieties. In this study, the irrigation was add to a LAM hydrostatic model (BOLAM) and coupled with the soil. The response of the model to irrigation perturbation is analyzed during a dry Summer season. To identify a dry Summer, with overall positive temperature anomalies, an extensive climatological characterization of 2015 was done. The method included a statistical validation on the reference period distribution used to calculate the anomalies. Drought conditions were observed during Summer 2015 and previous seasons, both on the analyzed region and the Alps. Moreover July was characterized as an extreme event for the referred distribution. The numerical simulation consisted on the summer season of 2015 and two run: a control run (CTR), with the soil coupling and a perturbed run (IPR). The perturbation consists on a mask of land use created from the Cropland FAO dataset, where an irrigation water flux of 3 mm/day was applied from 6 A.M. to 9 A.M. every day. The results show that differences between CTR and IPR has a strong daily cycle. The main modifications are on the air masses proprieties, not on to the dynamics. However, changes in the circulation at the boundaries of the Po Valley are observed, and a diagnostic spatial correlation of variable differences shows that soil moisture perturbation explains well the variation observed in the 2 meters height temperature and in the latent heat fluxes.On the other hand, does not explain the spatial shift up and downslope observed during different periods of the day. Given the results, irrigation process affects the atmospheric proprieties on a larger scale than the irrigation, therefore it is important in daily forecast, particularly during hot and dry periods.