The learning about imaging diagnosis technology

Objective To investigate the learning about management of the technology (efficient use, acquisition and maintenance of imaging diagnosis equipment) in the radiology residency program of Escola Paulista de Medicina - Universidade Federal de São Paulo, with a view to improving the education of radiologists. Materials and Methods Exploratory research where residents, faculty staff and tutors of the program were quantitative and qualitatively approached with Likert scale questionnaires (46), and deepening with recorded interviews (18) and categorization based upon meaning units (thematic analysis). Results Among the participants, 66% agreed that they had the opportunity of learning about the use of radiological equipment; for 61% the program should include knowledge on the importance of acquiring equipment; and 72% emphasized the lack of learning about equipment management and maintenance. Conclusion As the major moment in the education of specialists, the medical residency program provides residents with a favorable environment to the learning of the skills required to the future of their professional practice, but with limited emphasis on the management of the technology: efficient use, acquisition and mainly maintenance of equipment, still poorly explored. Both the investigated program and the medical residency in radiology should incorporate, whenever possible, the commitment with the training in supplementary skills related to equipment management, developing the competence of the future radiologists.

The Plastic Capacity of Boiler Supporting Headers

The goal of this thesis was to make a dimensioning tool to determine the plastic capacity of the boiler supporting header. The capacity of the header is traditionally determined by using FE-method during the project phase. By using the dimensioning tool the goal is to ensure the capacity already in the proposal phase. The study began by analyzing the headers of the ongoing projects by using FE-method. For the analytical solution a plain header was analyzed without the effects of branches or lug. The calibration of parameters in the analytical solution was made using these results. In the analytical solution the plastic capacity of the plastic hinges in the header was defined. The stresses caused by the internal pressure as well as the normal and shear forces caused by the external loading reduced the plastic moment. The final capacity was determined by using the principle of virtual work. The weakening effect of the branches was taken into account by using pressure areas. Also the capacity of the punching shear was defined. The results from the FE-analyses and the analytical solution correlate with each other. The results from the analytical solution are conservative but give correct enough results when considering the accuracy of the used method.

Method of numerical correction of errors occasioned by delay of records during the monitoring of environmental variables of interest for animal production

Thermal and air conditions inside animal facilities change during the day due to the influence of the external environment. For statistical and geostatistical analyses to be representative, a large number of points spatially distributed in the facility area must be monitored. This work suggests that the time variation of environmental variables of interest for animal production, monitored within animal facility, can be modeled accurately from discrete-time records. The aim of this study was to develop a numerical method to correct the temporal variations of these environmental variables, transforming the data so that such observations are independent of the time spent during the measurement. The proposed method approached values recorded with time delays to those expected at the exact moment of interest, if the data were measured simultaneously at the moment at all points distributed spatially. The correction model for numerical environmental variables was validated for environmental air temperature parameter, and the values corrected by the method did not differ by Tukey's test at 5% significance of real values recorded by data loggers.

Use of surgical mesh of different compositions in the correction of the abdominal wall defect in rats

Objective: To analyze the performance of two surgical meshes of different compositions during the defect healing process of the abdominal wall of rats. Methods: thirty-three adult Wistar rats were anesthetized and subjected to removal of an area of 1.5 cm x 2 cm of the anterior abdominal wall, except for the skin; 17 animals had the defect corrected by edge-to-edge surgical suture of a mesh made of polypropylene + poliglecaprone (Group U - UltraproTM); 16 animals had the defect corrected with a surgical mesh made of polypropylene + polidioxanone + cellulose (Group P - ProceedTM). Each group was divided into two subgroups, according to the euthanasia moment (seven days or 28 days after the operation). Parameters analyzed were macroscopic (adherence), microscopic (quantification of mature and immature collagen) and tensiometric (maximum tension and maximum rupture strength). Results : there was an increase in collagen type I in the ProceedTM group from seven to 28 days, p = 0.047. Also, there was an increase in the rupture tension on both groups when comparing the two periods. There was a lower rupture tension and tissue deformity with ProceedTM mesh in seven days, becoming equal at day 28. Conclusion : the meshes retain similarities in the final result and more studies with larger numbers of animals must be carried for better assessment.

Tertiary Treatment and Re-use of Kraft Pulp Mill Effluent

The efficient use of materials and natural recourses, for ecological and economic reasons, has become more and more important in all industries. In the forest industries this means higher levels of closure in the material circulations of the mills. One possibility to reduce wastewater discharge is to re-use part of the 2nd clarifier effluent as process water. The main target of this thesis was to evaluate the technical suitability of several mechanical and chemical tertiary treatment methods for water re-use. Some of the tested methods seemed to have high potential for the removal of some specific constituents from the wastewater. Tertiary treatment is needed because higher levels of closure may cause problems with increasing amounts of non-process elements in different points of kraft pulp process. The aspect of sustainable development was taken into account by evaluating positive and negative environmental effects of the treatment processes. Environmental benefits can be gained by using some of the tertiary treatment methods tested. These methods should still be researched more for system optimization.

Manifestation of the pairing symmetry in the vortex core structure in iron-based superconductors

The superconducting gap is a basic character of a superconductor. While the cuprates and conventional phonon-mediated superconductors are characterized by distinct d- and s-wave pairing symmetries with nodal and nodeless gap distributions respectively, the superconducting gap distributions in iron-based superconductors are rather diversified. While nodeless gap distributions have been directly observed in Ba1–xKxFe2As2, BaFe2–xCoxAs2, LiFeAs, KxFe2–ySe2, and FeTe1–xSex, the signatures of a nodal superconducting gap have been reported in LaOFeP, LiFeP, FeSe, KFe2As2, BaFe2–xRuxAs2, and BaFe2(As1–xPx)2. Due to the multiplicity of the Fermi surface in these compounds s± and d pairing states can be both nodeless and nodal. A nontrivial orbital structure of the order parameter, in particular the presence of the gap nodes, leads to effects in which the disorder is much richer in dx2–y2-wave superconductors than in conventional materials. In contrast to the s-wave case, the Anderson theorem does not work, and nonmagnetic impurities exhibit a strong pair-breaking influence. In addition, a finite concentration of disorder produces a nonzero density of quasiparticle states at zero energy, which results in a considerable modification of the thermodynamic and transport properties at low temperatures. The influence of order parameter symmetry on the vortex core structure in iron-based pnictide and chalcogenide superconductors has been investigated in the framework of quasiclassical Eilenberger equations. The main results of the thesis are as follows. The vortex core characteristics, such as, cutoff parameter, ξh, and core size, ξ2, determined as the distance at which density of the vortex supercurrent reaches its maximum, are calculated in wide temperature, impurity scattering rate, and magnetic field ranges. The cutoff parameter, ξh(B; T; Г), determines the form factor of the flux-line lattice, which can be obtained in _SR, NMR, and SANS experiments. A comparison among the applied pairing symmetries is done. In contrast to s-wave systems, in dx2–y2-wave superconductors, ξh/ξc2 always increases with the scattering rate Г. Field dependence of the cutoff parameter affects strongly on the second moment of the magnetic field distributions, resulting in a significant difference with nonlocal London theory. It is found that normalized ξ2/ξc2(B/Bc2) dependence is increasing with pair-breaking impurity scattering (interband scattering for s±-wave and intraband impurity scattering for d-wave superconductors). Here, ξc2 is the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length determined from the upper critical field Bc2 = Φ0/2πξ2 c2, where Φ0 is a flux quantum. Two types of ξ2/ξc2 magnetic field dependences are obtained for s± superconductors. It has a minimum at low temperatures and small impurity scattering transforming in monotonously decreasing function at strong scattering and high temperatures. The second kind of this dependence has been also found for d-wave superconductors at intermediate and high temperatures. In contrast, impurity scattering results in decreasing of ξ2/ξc2(B/Bc2) dependence in s++ superconductors. A reasonable agreement between calculated ξh/ξc2 values and those obtained experimentally in nonstoichiometric BaFe2–xCoxAs2 (μSR) and stoichiometric LiFeAs (SANS) was found. The values of ξh/ξc2 are much less than one in case of the first compound and much more than one for the other compound. This is explained by different influence of two factors: the value of impurity scattering rate and pairing symmetry.

The quality control of glycoprotein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum, a trip from trypanosomes to mammals

The present review deals with the stages of synthesis and processing of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides occurring in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum and their relationship to the acquisition by glycoproteins of their proper tertiary structures. Special emphasis is placed on reactions taking place in trypanosomatid protozoa since their study has allowed the detection of the transient glucosylation of glycoproteins catalyzed by UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase and glucosidase II. The former enzyme has the unique property of covalently tagging improperly folded conformations by catalyzing the formation of protein-linked Glc1Man7GlcNAc2, Glc1Man8GlcNac2 and Glc1Man9GlcNAc2 from the unglucosylated proteins. Glucosyltransferase is a soluble protein of the endoplasmic reticulum that recognizes protein domains exposed in denatured but not in native conformations (probably hydrophobic amino acids) and the innermost N-acetylglucosamine unit that is hidden from macromolecular probes in most native glycoproteins. In vivo, the glucose units are removed by glucosidase II. The influence of oligosaccharides in glycoprotein folding is reviewed as well as the participation of endoplasmic reticulum chaperones (calnexin and calreticulin) that recognize monoglucosylated species in the same process. A model for the quality control of glycoprotein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum, i.e., the mechanism by which cells recognize the tertiary structure of glycoproteins and only allow transit to the Golgi apparatus of properly folded species, is discussed. The main elements of this control are calnexin and calreticulin as retaining components, the UDP-Glc:glycoprotein glucosyltransferase as a sensor of tertiary structures and glucosidase II as the releasing agent.

The powerful high pressure tool for protein conformational studies

The pressure behavior of proteins may be summarized as a the pressure-induced disordering of their structures. This thermodynamic parameter has effects on proteins that are similar but not identical to those induced by temperature, the other thermodynamic parameter. Of particular importance are the intermolecular interactions that follow partial protein unfolding and that give rise to the formation of fibrils. Because some proteins do not form fibrils under pressure, these observations can be related to the shape of the stability diagram. Weak interactions which are differently affected by hydrostatic pressure or temperature play a determinant role in protein stability. Pressure acts on the 2º, 3º and 4º structures of proteins which are maintained by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions and by hydrogen bonds. We present some typical examples of how pressure affects the tertiary structure of proteins (the case of prion proteins), induces unfolding (ataxin), is a convenient tool to study enzyme dissociation (enolase), and provides arguments to understand the role of the partial volume of an enzyme (butyrylcholinesterase). This approach may have important implications for the understanding of the basic mechanism of protein diseases and for the development of preventive and therapeutic measures.

Study of carbohydrates present in the cladodes of Opuntia ficus-indica (fodder palm), according to age and season

Types and content of carbohydrates were evaluated by chemical (spectrophotometric assay) and physicochemical (Thin Layer Chromatography - TLC and High Performance Liquid Chromatography - HPLC) methods in some Opuntia ficus-indica varieties according to age and season. The samples comprised four varieties of palm (giant, copena F1, clone 20, and round palm). The results demonstrated that the four varieties of palm contain a good quantity of neutral and acid sugars in both summer and winter seasons. However, samples collected in the summer presented a higher content of carbohydrates specially glucose, fructose, galactose, xylose, and arabinose. The tertiary cladode (old cladode) presented almost the double content of sugar found in the quaternary cladodes (young cladodes). Pectic polysaccharides were sequentially extracted with water at 60 ºC, and EDTA at 60 ºC solution resulting in Water-Soluble Pectin (WSP) and a Chelating-Soluble Pectin (CSP) respectively. Galacturonic acid was detected in the fractions WSP and CSP. However, the fraction CSP presented the highest content of sugar acid.

An examination of existential faith in the writtings of Søren Kierkegaard

This thesis takes seriously the proposition that existentialism is a lived philosophy. While Descartes' proof for the existence of God initially sparked my interest in philosophy, the insights of existentialism have allowed me to appropriate philosophy as a way of life. I apply the insights of Kierkegaard's writings to my spiritual and philosophy development. Philosophy is personal, and Kierkegaard's writings deal with the development of the person in his aesthetic, ethical and religious dimensions. Philosophy is a struggle, and this thesis, reveals the existential struggle of the individual in despair. The thesis argues that authentic faith actually entails faith. The existential believer has this faith whereas the religious believer does not. The subjectively reflective existential believer recognizes that a leap of faith is needed; anything else, is just historical, speculative knowledge. The existential believer or, the Knight of Faith, realizes that a leap of faith is needed to become open in inwardness to receive the condition to understand the paradoxes that faith presents. I will present Kierkegaard's "Analogy of a House" which is in essence, the backbone of his philosophy. I will discuss the challenge of moving from one floor to the next. More specifically, I will discuss the anxiety that is felt in the very moment of the transition from the first floor to the second floor. I will outline eight paradoxes that must me resolved in order for the individual to continue on his journey to the top floor of the house. I will argue that Kierkegaard's example of Abraham as a Knight of Faith is incorrect, that Abraham was in fact not a Knight of Faith. I will also argue that we should find our own exemplars in our own lives by looking for Knight of Faith traits in people we know and then trying to emulate those people. I will also discuss Unamuno's "paradoxical faith" and argue that this kind of faith is a strong alternative to those who find that Kierkegaard's existential faith is not a possibility.

Microfacies analysis of the lower paleocene beda formation in Western Concession 59 and Block 59F, Sirte Basin, Libya /

The rock sequence of the Tertiary Beda Formation of S. W. concession 59 and 59F block in Sirte Basin of Libya has been subdivided into twelve platformal carbonate microfacies. These microfacies are dominated by muddy carbonates, such as skeletal mudstones, wackestones, and packstones with dolomites and anhydrite. Rock textures, faunal assemblages and sedimentary structures suggest shallow, clear, warm waters and low to moderate energy conditions within the depositional shelf environment. The Beda Formation represents a shallowing-upward sequence typical of lagoonal and tidal flat environments marked at the top by sabkha and brackish-water sediments. Microfossils include benthonic foraminifera, such as miliolids, Nummulites, - oerculina and other smaller benthonics, in addition to dasycladacean algae, ostracods, molluscs, echinoderms, bryozoans and charophytes. Fecal pellets and pelloids, along with the biotic allochems, contributed greatly to the composition of the various microfacies. Dolomite, where present, is finely crystalline and an early replacement product. Anhydrite occurs as nodular, chickenwire and massive textures indicating supratidal sabkha deposition. Compaction, micr it i zat ion , dolomit izat ion , recrystallization, cementation, and dissolution resulted in alteration and obliteration of primary sedimentary structures of the Beda Formation microfacies. The study area is located in the Gerad Trough which developed as a NE-SW trending extensional graben. The Gerad trough was characterized by deep-shallow water conditions throughout the deposition of the Beda Formation sediments. The study area is marked by several horsts and grabens; as a result of extent ional tectonism. The area was tectonically active throughout the Tertiary period. Primary porosity is intergranular and intragranular, and secondary processes are characterized by dissolution, intercrystalline, fracture and fenestral features. Diagenesis, through solution leaching and dolomitization, contributed greatly to porosity development. Reservoir traps of the Beda Formation are characterized by normal fault blocks and the general reservoir characteristics/properties appear to be facies controlled.

Optimization of the valence energy variance of the CuH molecule

We developed the concept of split-'t to deal with the large molecules (in terms of the number of electrons and nuclear charge Z). This naturally leads to partitioning the local energy into components due to each electron shell. The minimization of the variation of the valence shell local energy is used to optimize a simple two parameter CuH wave function. Molecular properties (spectroscopic constants and the dipole moment) are calculated for the optimized and nearly optimized wave functions using the Variational Quantum Monte Carlo method. Our best results are comparable to those from the single and double configuration interaction (SDCI) method.

Variational Monte Carlo estimation of the dissociation energy of CuH using correlated sampling

A new approach to treating large Z systems by quantum Monte Carlo has been developed. It naturally leads to notion of the 'valence energy'. Possibilities of the new approach has been explored by optimizing the wave function for CuH and Cu and computing dissociation energy and dipole moment of CuH using variational Monte Carlo. The dissociation energy obtained is about 40% smaller than the experimental value; the method is comparable with SCF and simple pseudopotential calculations. The dipole moment differs from the best theoretical estimate by about 50% what is again comparable with other methods (Complete Active Space SCF and pseudopotential methods).

Structural rules for the formation of backbone-backbone interactions between closely packed RNA double helices

Les interactions entre les squelettes sucre-phosphate de nucléotides jouent un rôle important dans la stabilisation des structures tertiaires de larges molécules d’ARN. Elles sont régies par des règles particulières qui gouverne leur formation mais qui jusque là demeure quasiment inconnues. Un élément structural d’ARN pour lequel les interactions sucre-phosphate sont importantes est le motif d’empaquetage de deux doubles hélices d’ARN le long du sillon mineur. Ce motif se trouve à divers endroits dans la structure du ribosome. Il consiste en deux doubles hélices interagissant de manière à ce que le squelette sucre-phosphate de l’une se niche dans le sillon mineur de l’autre et vice versa. La surface de contact entre les deux hélices est majoritairement formée par les riboses et implique au total douze nucléotides. La présente thèse a pour but d’analyser la structure interne de ce motif et sa dépendance de stabilité résultant de l’association optimale ou non des hélices, selon leurs séquences nucléotidiques. Il est démontré dans cette thèse qu’un positionnement approprié des riboses leur permet de former des contacts inter-hélices, par l’entremise d’un choix particulier de l’identité des pairs de bases impliquées. Pour différentes pairs de bases participant à ce contact inter-hélices, l’identité optimale peut être du type Watson-Crick, GC/CG, or certaines pairs de bases non Watson-Crick. Le choix adéquat de paires de bases fournit une interaction inter-hélice stable. Dans quelques cas du motif, l’identité de certaines paires de bases ne correspond pas à la structure la plus stable, ce qui pourrait refléter le fait que ces motifs devraient avoir une liberté de formation et de déformation lors du fonctionnement du ribosome.

Les actions de groupes en géométrie symplectique et l'application moment

Ce mémoire porte sur quelques notions appropriées d'actions de groupe sur les variétés symplectiques, à savoir en ordre décroissant de généralité : les actions symplectiques, les actions faiblement hamiltoniennes et les actions hamiltoniennes. Une connaissance des actions de groupes et de la géométrie symplectique étant prérequise, deux chapitres sont consacrés à des présentations élémentaires de ces sujets. Le cas des actions hamiltoniennes est étudié en détail au quatrième chapitre : l'importante application moment y est définie et plusieurs résultats concernant les orbites de la représentation coadjointe, tels que les théorèmes de Kirillov et de Kostant-Souriau, y sont démontrés. Le dernier chapitre se concentre sur les actions hamiltoniennes des tores, l'objectif étant de démontrer le théorème de convexité d'Atiyha-Guillemin-Sternberg. Une discussion d'un théorème de classification de Delzant-Laudenbach est aussi donnée. La présentation se voulant une introduction assez exhaustive à la théorie des actions hamiltoniennes, presque tous les résultats énoncés sont accompagnés de preuves complètes. Divers exemples sont étudiés afin d'aider à bien comprendre les aspects plus subtils qui sont considérés. Plusieurs sujets connexes sont abordés, dont la préquantification géométrique et la réduction de Marsden-Weinstein.