Releasing software is challenging. To decide when to release software, developers may consider a deadline, a set of features or quality attributes. Yet, there are many stories of software that is not released on time. In large-scale software development, release management requires significant communication and coordination. It is particularly challenging in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) ecosystems, in which hundreds of loosely connected developers and their projects are coordinated for releasing software according to a schedule. In this work, we investigate the release management process in two large-scale FOSS development projects. In particular, our focus is the communication in the whole release management process in each ecosystem across multiple releases. The main research questions addressed in this dissertation are: (1) How do developers in these FOSS ecosystems communicate and coordinate to build and release a common product based on different projects? (2) What are the release management tasks in a FOSS ecosystem? and (3) What are the challenges that release managers face in a FOSS ecosystem? To understand this process and its challenges better, we used a multiple case study methodology, and colleced evidence from a combination of the following sources: documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant observation, and physical artifacts. We conducted the case studies on two FLOSS software ecosystems: GNOME and OpenStack. We analyzed over two and half years of communication in each ecosystem and studied developers’ interactions. GNOME is a collection of libraries, system services, and end-user applications; together, these projects provide a unified desktop —the GNOME desktop. OpenStack is a collection of software tools for building and managing cloud computing platforms for public and private clouds. We catalogued communication channels, categorized coordination activities in one channel, and triangulated our results by interviewing key developers identified through social network analysis. We found factors that impact the release process in a software ecosystem, including a release schedule positively, influence instead of direct control, and diversity. The release schedule drives most of the communication within an ecosystem. To achieve a concerted release, a Release Team helps developers reach technical consensus through influence rather than direct control. The diverse composition of the Release Team might increase its reach and influence in the ecosystem. Our results can help organizations build better large-scale teams and show that software engineering research focused on individual projects might miss important parts of the picture. The contributions of this dissertation are: (1) an empirical study of release management in two FOSS ecosystems (2) a set of lessons learned from the case studies, and (3) a theory of release management in FOSS ecosystems. We summarize our theory that explains our understanding of release management in FOSS ecosystems as three statements: (1) the size and complexity of the integrated product is constrained by the release managers capacity, (2) release management should be capable of reaching the whole ecosystem, and (3) the release managers need social and technical skills. The dissertation discusses this theory in the light of the case studies, other research efforts, and its implications. / Graduate / 0984 / gpoo+proquest@calcifer.org

Monodispersed nanoparticles of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide-co-allylamine (PNIPAM-co-allylamine) and PNIPAM-co-acrylic acid (AA) have been synthesized and used as building blocks for creating three-dimensional networks. The close-packed PNIPAM-co-allylamine and PNIPAM-co-AA nanoparticles were stabilized by covalently bonding neighboring particles at room temperature and at neutral pH; factors which make these networks amicable for drug loading and release. Controlled release studies have been performed on the networks using dextran markers of various molecular weights as model macromolecular drugs. Drug release was quantified under various physical conditions including a range of temperature and molecular weight. These nanoparticle networks have several advantages over the conventional bulk gels for controlling the release of biomolecules with large molecular weights. Monodispersed nanoparticles of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide-co-allylamine (PNIPAM-co-allylamine) can self-assemble into crystals with a lattice spacing on the order of the wavelength of visible light. By initiating the crystallization process near the colloidal crystal melting temperature, while subsequently bonding the PNIPAM-co-allylamine particles below the glass transition temperature, a nanostructured hydrogel has been created. The crystalline hydrogels exhibit iridescent patterns that are tunable by the change of temperature, pH value or even protein concentration. This kind of soft and wet hydrogel with periodic structures may lead to new sensors, devices, and displays operating in aqueous solutions, where most biological and biomedical systems reside. The volume-transition equilibrium and the interaction potential between neutral PINPAM particles dispersed in pure water were investigated by using static and dynamic light-scattering experiments. From the temperature-dependent size and energy parameters, the Sutherland-like potential provides a reasonable representation of the inter-particle potential for PNIPAM particles in swollen and in collapsed phases. An aqueous dispersion of PNIPAM particles can freeze at both high and low temperatures. At low temperatures, the freezing occurs at a large particle volume fraction, similar to that in a hard-sphere system; while at high temperature, the freezing occurs at low particle concentrations, driven by the strong van der Waals attraction due to the collapsed microgel particles. The calculated phase diagram has been confirmed semi-quantitatively by experiments.

The main function of the cardiovascular system is to deliver a sufficient quantity of oxygenated blood to the tissues, cells, and organs of the body in order to provide the cells with essential nutrients for metabolism and for the removal of waste products. All cells require and utilize oxygen. Oxygen is transported to various cells and tissues via red blood cells flowing through the microcirculation of an organism. Measurement of oxygen transport in the microcirculation has shown that about ten times more oxygen appears to leave the blood of arterioles than can be accounted for by diffusion. One possibility to explain the high oxygen loss is an increased release of oxygen due to exposure of blood to light. In the present in vitro study the release of oxygen from red blood cells was measured during exposure of the sample to light by monitoring the change in PO2 of the suspension during light exposure. A PO2 electrode was calibrated using PBS solution and utilized to monitor the change in current in the present study. Red blood cell suspensions were made using blood withdrawn from male Sprague-Dawley rats. The red blood cell suspension was placed in a closed sample chamber and exposed to light for 5 minutes. A method to correct for the drift of the PO2 electrode and temperature change during the experiment was implemented. The calculated change in PO2 of the RBC suspension due to light exposure was small. The change of PO2 in the sample chamber during light exposure was an average of 1.60 ± 0.9 mmHg (SEM). The contribution of photo-dissociation of oxygen from oxygenated hemoglobin molecules to the observed oxygen loss per RBC can account for only about 0.01% of the observed in vivo results. Therefore, light-associated oxygen release is negligible. These findings disprove the hypothesis of the present study, in which light exposure does not have a significant effect on oxygen release and thus rules out this possible explanation for the discrepancy between experiment and theory.

Thesis in theoretical part provides an overview of oral drugs in the biopharmaceutical point of view. It describes the main difficulties of this application route and presents selected facts about new approaches to improve the bioavailability of poorly absorbable substances. These approaches, in recent years, also use nanofiber membranes. The experimental part focuses on the in vitro evaluation of diamine delivery from nanofiber membranes in vehicle buffered at pH 7.4. The tested membranes contain the active substance in three graduated concentrations (20%, 30% and 40%), and specifically differ in basic weight. To evaluate the delivery the fluxes of diamine witin the first linear section of delivery are used, the percentage of substance released within 60 minutes was used to the evaluation of releasable proportion of diamine. Determination of diamine was performed by HPLC. The release of nearly all releasable diamine amounts were always obtained in 15 minutes from the beginning of release. The release rate of the diamine from nanofiber membranes is high. Important, however, is the finding that the rate of drug release is not probably significantly dependent on the drug concentration in the nanofiber membrane, but it is significantly influenced by the basic weight of membranes. The variability...

A theoretical part of the diploma thesis describes solubility, classification of solubility and ways of influencing of solubility, and it gives a detailed summary of naproxen as the drug further used and evaluated in in vitro experiments for drug release. An experimental section is focused to in vitro release of naproxen from nanofibre membranes produced by electrospinning with regard to the possibility of the use of layering. At both layered and non-layered nanofibre membranes of three different naproxen concentrations (e.g. 5%, 15% and 30% by weight) the drug release amounts within 5 minutes were from 10 to 90 percent of total amounts. An overal percentage of naproxen released in 60 minutes was always about 100 % of the total drug loaded in the nanomembranes. The nanofibre membranes layered with the glycerol and propylene glycol were of the same profiles as with non-layered membranes.

Infektionen medizinscher Titanoberflächen stellen ein aktuelles Problem in der rekonstruktiven Medizin dar. Dabei wird oft versucht, diesem Problem mit systemischer Antibiotikaanwendung zu begegnen, die jedoch Resistenzentstehung begünstigt und am Ort der Infektion nur einen oft unzureichenden Wirkspiegel ermöglicht. Eine mögliche Verbesserung wir hierbei in lokaler Wirkstofffreisetzung gesehen. Gegenstand dieser Arbeit war die Modifikation medizinischer Titanoberflächen mittels Anodisierung in fluoridhaltigen Elektrolyten und die Abschätzung ihres Potentials hinsichtlich der Einlagerung und der Freisetzung ausgewählter antibakteriell wirksamer Substanzen. Durch die Anodisierung der Titanoberflächen konnten Titannanotubes aus Titanoxiden mit Röhrenlängen von bis zu 6,54 m und Röhrendurchmessern von bis zu 160 nm erzeugt werden. Als Modellwirkstoffe wurden das noch heute als Reserveantibiotikum gegen manche Problemkeime geltende Chemotherapeutikum Vancomycin, sowie Silber als Element mit breiter antibakterieller Wirkung, verwendet. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass durch die Oberflächenvergrößerung, die sich aus der Entstehung von nanotubeförmigem Titanoxid ergab, im Vergleich zu nicht anodisierten Referenzproben um bis zu 447 % mehr Wirkstoff eingelagert werden konnte. In der Freisetzungskinetik von Vancomycin zeigten sich oberflächenabhängig deutliche Unterschiede. Dabei setzten Titanoberflächen, die in einem Elektrolyten auf Wasserbasis anodisiert worden waren, den adsorbierten Wirkstoff schneller frei als die Referenzproben, während das Vancomycin auf Oberflächen, die in einem Elektrolyten auf Ethylenglycolbasis modifiziert worden waren, deutlich retardiert über einen Zeitraum von circa 305 Tagen freigesetzt wurde. Des weiteren wurde Silber in Proben eingelagert, die in einem Elektrolyten auf Wasserbasis anodisiert worden waren. Auch für Silber resultierte eine deutliche Steigerung der Gesamtmenge des adsorbierten Wirkstoffs um bis zu 229 %. Dabei war seine Freisetzung, verglichen mit der Referenzprobe, deutlich verzögert. Durch die Anodisierung der Titanproben in fluoridhaltigen Elektrolyten konnten Oberflächen erzeugt werden, die entsprechend ihrer Morphologie verschiedene Wirkstoffbeladungen und Freisetzungskinetiken ermöglichen. Hinsichtlich der unterschiedlichen Anforderungen in der klinischen Medizin nach Abgabemenge und Abgabekinetik antibakteriell wirksamer Substanzen zur postoperativen Infektionsprävention offerieren diese Oberflächenmodifikationen ein hohes Potential für die Erzeugung schnell verfügbarer und kostengünstiger Drug-Release-Systeme. / Infection of medical titanium surfaces is one important problem in modern medicine, especially orthepedics and dentistry. In the present work titanium surfaces were modified by anodisation. Titanium nanotube formations of different shape were obtained. These surfaces were modified with example drugs (vancomycin and silver ions) for drug-release. Drug-release was measured and compered.

A papaína é uma enzima proteolítica extraída do látex das folhas e frutos do mamão verde adulto. Tem sido amplamente utilizada como agente debridante de escaras e cicatrizante de feridas. No entanto, apresenta baixa estabilidade, o que limita seu uso a formulações de manipulação extemporânea ou de curto prazo de validade. O objetivo deste trabalho foi incorporar a papaína em uma matriz polimérica de modo a obter um sistema de liberação controlada do fármaco. Polímeros de aplicação médica foram selecionados e inicialmente avaliados quanto à sua citotoxicidade. Os polímeros não-citotóxicos foram submetidos ao ensaio de irritação cutânea primária in vivo em animais, para avaliar sua capacidade de causar irritação na pele humana. Diversas membranas foram preparadas com os polímeros considerados adequados para aplicação biomédica para incorporação da papaína. As membranas preparadas com 2% de papaína foram selecionadas para serem submetidas ao ensaio de liberação com células de difusão de Franz. Parte dessas membranas foi irradiada com raios γ na dose de 25 kGy para esterilização do material. As membranas irradiadas e não-irradiadas foram testadas simultaneamente a fim de verificar se a radiação γ interferiria no perfil de liberação do fármaco. Os resultados do ensaio de liberação indicaram que o fármaco é liberado de maneira constante durante as 12 horas iniciais do experimento. A análise, por Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura, das membranas irradiadas revelou que as membranas formadas são bastante densas e que seus poros são pequenos. / Papain is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the latex of green papaya leaves and fruits. It has been widely used as debridant for scars and wound healing agent. However, papain presents low stability, which limits its use to extemporaneous or short shelf life formulations. The purpose of this study was to entrap papain into a polymeric matrix in order to obtain a drug delivery system. Polymers of medical application were selected and firstly assessed for cytotoxicity. Non-cytotoxic polymers were evaluated for primary cutaneous irritation test in vivo in animals, in order to verify if they are able to cause irritation to human skin. Many membranes were prepared with the polymers considered suitable for biomedical application for papain entrapment. Membranes containing 2% papain were selected to be evaluated in the releasing test using Fanz diffusion cells. Some of these membranes were irradiated by γ rays with 25 kGy dose for material sterilization. Irradiated and non-irradiated membranes were simultaneously assessed in order to verify if γ radiation interferes on drug releasing profile. Results obtained from releasing test indicated the drug is released in a constant manner over 12 hours in the beginning of the experiment. Scanning Eletronic Microscopy analysis of the irradiated membranes revealed that membranes are very dense and its pores are small.

Esta tese envolveu o estudo de encapsulação de vacina bivalente contra difteria e tétano de uso adulto (dT) em microesferas de ácido poli(láctico-coglicólico) (PLGA), com o objetivo de desenvolver uma formulação que induzisse uma resposta protetora com um número reduzido de doses, ou preferencialmente de apenas uma dose. Para ter sucesso, uma formulação como tal deve ter um perfil de liberação de antígeno que simule as múltiplas doses que recebem o indivíduo. Assim, nesta tese são mostrados os resultados dos experimentos de caracterização bioquímica e imunológica da formulação citada, sem o uso de estabilizadores protéicos, a fim de reduzir a complexidade do sistema em estudo. Do ponto de vista das proteínas encapsuladas, tal caracterização envolveu estudos de fluorescência, de dicroísmo circular, de atividade antigênica e determinação por HPLC da degradação durante o processo de encapsulação. Do ponto de vista da formulação, foram realizados ensaios de degradação in vitro e de atividade imunogênica in vivo, em camundongos e cobaias. Os dados obtidos indicaram que a encapsulação em microesferas de PLGA de vacina dT, sem o uso de estabilizadores, permitiu a produção de uma formulação vacinal viável, capaz de estimular uma resposta imunológica protetora e de memória, abrindo caminho para o desenvolvimento da tecnologia de produção de vacinas polivalentes encapsuladas em microesferas de PLGA. / The study on encapsulating a bivalent single dose vaccine against diphtheria and tetanus for adults (dT) within PLGA microspheres is described in this thesis. A successful single dose vaccine must show an antigen release profile mimicking the several doses a person should receive during the life. Therefore, results from the immunological and biochemical characterization of the formulation, prepared without protein stabilizers, is showed here. From the encapsulated protein point of view the characterization involved fluorescence, circular dichroism, antigenicity and HPLC analysis. From the formulation point of view, there were performed in vitro release assays and immunogenicity on mice and on guinea-pigs. The results indicated that the dT microencapsulation within PLGA microspheres without protein stabilizers lead to the production of a viable vaccine formulation, able to elicit protective and memory immune response.

A papaína é uma enzima proteolítica extraída do látex das folhas e frutos do mamão verde adulto. Tem sido amplamente utilizada como agente debridante de escaras e cicatrizante de feridas. No entanto, apresenta baixa estabilidade, o que limita seu uso a formulações de manipulação extemporânea ou de curto prazo de validade. O objetivo deste trabalho foi incorporar a papaína em uma matriz polimérica de modo a obter um sistema de liberação controlada do fármaco. Polímeros de aplicação médica foram selecionados e inicialmente avaliados quanto à sua citotoxicidade. Os polímeros não-citotóxicos foram submetidos ao ensaio de irritação cutânea primária in vivo em animais, para avaliar sua capacidade de causar irritação na pele humana. Diversas membranas foram preparadas com os polímeros considerados adequados para aplicação biomédica para incorporação da papaína. As membranas preparadas com 2% de papaína foram selecionadas para serem submetidas ao ensaio de liberação com células de difusão de Franz. Parte dessas membranas foi irradiada com raios γ na dose de 25 kGy para esterilização do material. As membranas irradiadas e não-irradiadas foram testadas simultaneamente a fim de verificar se a radiação γ interferiria no perfil de liberação do fármaco. Os resultados do ensaio de liberação indicaram que o fármaco é liberado de maneira constante durante as 12 horas iniciais do experimento. A análise, por Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura, das membranas irradiadas revelou que as membranas formadas são bastante densas e que seus poros são pequenos. / Papain is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the latex of green papaya leaves and fruits. It has been widely used as debridant for scars and wound healing agent. However, papain presents low stability, which limits its use to extemporaneous or short shelf life formulations. The purpose of this study was to entrap papain into a polymeric matrix in order to obtain a drug delivery system. Polymers of medical application were selected and firstly assessed for cytotoxicity. Non-cytotoxic polymers were evaluated for primary cutaneous irritation test in vivo in animals, in order to verify if they are able to cause irritation to human skin. Many membranes were prepared with the polymers considered suitable for biomedical application for papain entrapment. Membranes containing 2% papain were selected to be evaluated in the releasing test using Fanz diffusion cells. Some of these membranes were irradiated by γ rays with 25 kGy dose for material sterilization. Irradiated and non-irradiated membranes were simultaneously assessed in order to verify if γ radiation interferes on drug releasing profile. Results obtained from releasing test indicated the drug is released in a constant manner over 12 hours in the beginning of the experiment. Scanning Eletronic Microscopy analysis of the irradiated membranes revealed that membranes are very dense and its pores are small.

Because of its high specific strength, durability, and biocompatibility, titanium is a widely used material for orthopedic implants. However, its insufficient binding with the surrounding bone tissue regularly leads to stress shielding, bone resorption and implant loosening. A promising solution to improve adhesion is to modify the implant surface chemistry and topography by coating it with a protein-eluting polyelectrolyte complex. Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), a potent osteoconductive growth factor, was adsorbed onto the surface of anodized titanium, and polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) coatings prepared from solutions of poly-L-histidine (PLH) and poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) were built on top of the BMP-2. The effect of solution pH during the deposition process was investigated. High levels of BMP-2 released over several months were achieved. Approximately 2 μg/cm² of BMP-2 were initially adsorbed on the anodized titanium and a pH-dependent release behavior was observed, with more stable coatings assembled at pH = 6-7. Three different diffusion regimes could be determined from the release profiles: an initial burst release, a sustained release regime and a depletion regime. Mass adsorption monitoring using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) showed that PLH was adsorbed in greater quantities than PMAA, and that more mass was adsorbed per bilayer as the number of bilayers grew. Moreover, the pH of the water used during the rinsing step significantly impacted the composition of the multilayer. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle analysis (CAA) were used to determine the topography and surface energy of the PEMs. No visible change was observed in surface morphology as the assembly pH was varied, whereas the surface energy decreased for samples prepared at more basic pH. These variations indicate that the influence of the initial BMP-2 layer can be felt throughout the PEM and impact its surface structure.