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A violência sempre foi um fenómeno inerente à vida humana, por isso abordá-la no passado implica o conhecimento das variáveis que a condicionam. Nesta dissertação quisemos comprovar que são os factores sociais (género, estado civil), económicos (ocupações) e culturais (códigos morais vigentes)os que mais condicionam as práticas violentas na região em estudo. Por outro lado, procurámos perceber se a acção do Estado, com uma crescente influência no quotidiano dos indivíduos, fruto de uma forma própria de governar durante a segunda metade do século, condicionaram as práticas de violência, nomeadamente através de alterações legislativas, organização judiciale práticas de vigilância. Quisemos ainda compreender se alguns factores conjunturais, como altas de preços, sublevações populares, maiores fluxos migratórios e crescimento demográfico, são determinantes para a evolução quantitativa e qualitativa da violência. Para isso, baseámo-nos num corpo documental constituído, maioritariamente, por escrituras de perdão de parte (pela ausência de processos judiciais para o período em estudo), legislação, correspondência da Intendência Geral da Polícia e do Ministério do Reino, além de outros fundos de origem municipal.

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Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Historia / La presente tesis tiene por objetivo analizar las prácticas de resolución de conflictos ante la justicia en los Partidos de Quillota, Aconcagua y Santiago entre 1778 y 1840, a través de la revisión de juicios civiles por pensión de alimentos entablados por mujeres casadas, viudas y solas. El período estudiado representa un proceso de legitimación de un régimen jurídico institucional. Sin embargo, las prácticas de resolución de conflictos transitaron y dialogaron entre la ley y la costumbre. En este contexto, proponemos que el vínculo que mantenían los involucrados fue esencial para comprender el desarrollo de prácticas y estrategias desplegadas por ambos. En esta línea de análisis, las mujeres recurrieron a la justicia reclamando protección masculina para ellas y sus hijos, lo cual implicó, por parte de éstas, un desarrollo de estrategias que involucraron la resistencia de género, la cultura jurídica y la publicidad de los conflictos. En consecuencia, distinguimos que las mujeres casadas y viudas, amparadas por la institución matrimonial, tuvieron más poder de negociación con el demandado. En cambio, las mujeres solas, al no tener un vínculo formal, tuvieron que recurrir a la publicidad y divulgación de los conflictos para comprobar su honor y la filiación del hijo con el demandado. Ante esto, los hombres abordaron la demanda por pensión de alimentos a través de tres principales prácticas: la indiferencia, la vía judicial y la búsqueda de acuerdos con la demandante. Por consiguiente, distinguimos que los hombres casados utilizaron su superioridad conyugal como forma suspender la pensión de alimentos a su esposa. En cambio, los hombres que mantuvieron una relación ilícita con la demandante, fueran solteros o casados, al no sostener un vínculo formal, negaron la paternidad del menor, y utilizaron usos estratégicos de los códigos patriarcales, centrándose principalmente en la deshonra de la demandante y la ocultación del conflicto.

A cropland distribution model, which is based on climate, soil and topography, is applied to estimate the area and spatial distribution of global potential croplands under contemporary climate and to assess the effect of transient climate changes projected by the MIT Integrated Global System Model for assessment of climate change. The area of global potential croplands is about 32.91 x 10^6 km^2 under contemporary climate, and increases substantially over the period of 1977-2100 and differs among the three transient climate change predictions, being about +6.7% (2.20 x 10^6 km^2), +11.5% (3.78 x 10^6 km^2), and +12.5% (4.12 x 10^6 km^2) in 2100, respectively. Among twelve economic regions of the world, the Former Soviet Union and the Other OECD Countries regions have the largest increases in potential croplands, while developing countries have little increases in potential croplands. Spatial distribution of potential croplands changes considerably over time, dependent upon the transient climate change predictions. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 9-12). / Abstract in HTML and technical report in HTML and PDF available on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://mit.edu/globalchange/www/). / Supported by the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (CE-S-462041), and the National Institute of Global Environmental Changes of the Department of Energy. No:901214-HAR Supported by the Earth Observing Systems Program of NASA. NAGW-2669

Several cardiac diseases, including hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy, and myocardial infarction, result in the upregulation of cardiac angiotensin II type-1 receptors (AT1R). Imaging the AT1R in vivo via PET provides the potential to monitor disease progression and guide therapy accordingly. The aim of this research was to develop a novel F-18 labeled losartan analog as an AT1R PET tracer and begin evaluation in rats. Due to the longer half-life and shorter positron range of F-18, we presume that an F-18 labeled tracer will be more beneficial than current C-11 labeled tracers. Prior structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies suggested the addition of substituents to the hydroxyl group of losartan would minimally affect AT1R binding affinity. [18F]Fluoropyridine losartan ([18F]FPyrLos) was synthesized in an automated module through conjugation of [18F]fluoro-3-pent-4-yn-1-yloxypyridine ([18F]FPyKYNE) to azide-modified losartan via the Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (CuAAC) ‘click’ reaction. [18F]FPyrLos was produced in approximately 10% yield (decay-corrected) with > 97.5% purity and specific activities up to 4,200 mCi/µmol. MicroPET (Siemens Inveon) images of normal Sprague Dawley rats displayed high uptake in the kidneys (ratio of 8.3 compared to surrounding tissue at 10 min). Metabolite analysis in the kidneys and plasma by column-switch HPLC revealed that roughly two-thirds of the tracer was unchanged 10 min post-injection and that one labeled hydrophilic metabolite exists, accounting for roughly 6% of the total activity. Both microPET and metabolism studies displayed a dose-dependent reduction in renal uptake upon co-injection with AT1R blocker candesartan indicating specific binding. Further work in rat disease models is required to evaluate the potential of this tracer for imaging cardiac AT1R.

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Today’s pet food industry is growing rapidly, with pet owners demanding high-quality diets for their pets. The primary role of diet is to provide enough nutrients to meet metabolic requirements, while giving the consumer a feeling of well-being. Diet nutrient composition and digestibility are of crucial importance for health and well being of animals. A recent strategy to improve the quality of food is the use of “nutraceuticals” or “Functional foods”. At the moment, probiotics and prebiotics are among the most studied and frequently used functional food compounds in pet foods. The present thesis reported results from three different studies. The first study aimed to develop a simple laboratory method to predict pet foods digestibility. The developed method was based on the two-step multi-enzymatic incubation assay described by Vervaeke et al. (1989), with some modification in order to better represent the digestive physiology of dogs. A trial was then conducted to compare in vivo digestibility of pet-foods and in vitro digestibility using the newly developed method. Correlation coefficients showed a close correlation between digestibility data of total dry matter and crude protein obtained with in vivo and in vitro methods (0.9976 and 0.9957, respectively). Ether extract presented a lower correlation coefficient, although close to 1 (0.9098). Based on the present results, the new method could be considered as an alternative system of evaluation of dog foods digestibility, reducing the need for using experimental animals in digestibility trials. The second parte of the study aimed to isolate from dog faeces a Lactobacillus strain capable of exert a probiotic effect on dog intestinal microflora. A L. animalis strain was isolated from the faeces of 17 adult healthy dogs..The isolated strain was first studied in vitro when it was added to a canine faecal inoculum (at a final concentration of 6 Log CFU/mL) that was incubated in anaerobic serum bottles and syringes which simulated the large intestine of dogs. Samples of fermentation fluid were collected at 0, 4, 8, and 24 hours for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci, coliforms, clostridia). Consequently, the L. animalis strain was fed to nine dogs having lactobacilli counts lower than 4.5 Log CFU per g of faeces. The study indicated that the L animalis strain was able to survive gastrointestinal passage and transitorily colonize the dog intestine. Both in vitro and in vivo results showed that the L. animalis strain positively influenced composition and metabolism of the intestinal microflora of dogs. The third trail investigated in vitro the effects of several non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDO) on dog intestinal microflora composition and metabolism. Substrates were fermented using a canine faecal inoculum that was incubated in anaerobic serum bottles and syringes. Substrates were added at the final concentration of 1g/L (inulin, FOS, pectin, lactitol, gluconic acid) or 4g/L (chicory). Samples of fermentation fluid were collected at 0, 6, and 24 hours for analysis (ammonia, SCFA, pH, lactobacilli, enterococci, coliforms). Gas production was measured throughout the 24 h of the study. Among the tested NDO lactitol showed the best prebiotic properties. In fact, it reduced coliforms and increased lactobacilli counts, enhanced microbial fermentation and promoted the production of SCFA while decreasing BCFA. All the substrates that were investigated showed one or more positive effects on dog faecal microflora metabolism or composition. Further studies (in particular in vivo studies with dogs) will be needed to confirm the prebiotic properties of lactitol and evaluate its optimal level of inclusion in the diet.