O desenvolvimento de novos recursos terapêuticos capazes de acelerar o processo de reparo tem proporcionado avanços significativos no tratamento de lesões tendinosas. O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar a influência da radiação LASER HeNe em cicatrização de tendões. Foi desenvolvido um modelo experimental de lesão de tendão de Aquiles através de um procedimento minimamente invasivo em coelhos adultos. Foram utilizados 40 animais distribuídos em quatro grupos de 10 animais (I, II III IV). No grupo I a lesão do tendão foi unilateral (pata direita) e o tendão lesado não recebeu estímulos com LASER. No grupo II a lesão foi unilateral (pata direita) e o tendão lesado recebeu estímulos com LASER. No grupo III a lesão do tendão foi bilateral e apenas a pata direita foi estimulada com LASER. No grupo IV foi realizada \"Sham Operation\" bilateralmente e apenas o tendão da pata direita recebeu estímulo com LASER. Todos os animais foram tratados com dose a 5 J/cm2 de forma pontual com contato direto durante 8 dias consecutivos, diariamente. Após este período os animais foram sacrificados e os tendões de Aquiles submetidos a ensaios mecânicos de tração em máquina de ensaio mecânico. Foram ensaiados 71 tendões, sendo 09 descartados. Embora não tenhamos observado diferença estatística significante nas comparações feitas entre os grupos, podemos notar que existiu uma tendência apontando que os tendões estimulados com LASER apresentaram resistência menor que os grupos controles. Estes resultados sugerem que o LASER diminuiu a resistência dentro das condições estudadas. Relevância Clínica: O presente trabalho mostra o conceito de que a irradiação LASER pode diminuir a resistência mecânica da cicatrização tendinosa em fases precoces do processo. / The development of new therapeutic resources addressing accelerating the repairing process has proportioned a meaningful advance in the treatment of tendon lesions. The purpose of the present study was to analyse the influence of He-Ne LASER radiation on tendon healing. An experimental model of Achilles tendon lesion was developed through a minimally invasive procedure in adults rabbits. We used 40 animals divided in groups of 10 animals each. In group I the tendon lesion was unilateral (right-paw) and the injured tendon did not receive LASER stimulation. In group II the lesion was unilateral (right-paw) and only, the injured side received LASER stimulation. In group III the tendon lesion was bilateral and only the right-paw was stimulated by LASER. In group IV bilateral sham operation was performed and only the right - paw received LASER stimulation. All the animals were treated with 5 J/cm2 dosis in a punctual way with direct contact for 8 successive days. After this period the animals were killed and the Achilles tendons were submitted to mechanical tests in traction on a mechanical testing machine. Seventy-one tendons were tested and 9 were discarded. No statiscally significant difference was observed in the comparison done between groups, however we could notice a tendency suggesting that the tendons stimulated by LASER presented a lesser mechanical resistance. These results suggest that LASER probably reduces the resistance in the studied conditions. Clinic Relevance: The present study supports the concept that LASER irradiation may induce an attenuation of the mechanical properties of the healing tendon in a very early phasis of the proccess.

Exhumed faults record the temperatures produced by earthquakes. We show that transient elevated fault surface temperatures preserved in the rock record are quantifiable through microtextural analysis, fault-rock thermochronometry, and thermomechanical modeling. We apply this approach to a network of mirrored, minor, hematite-coated fault surfaces in the exhumed, seismogenic Wasatch fault zone, UT, USA. Polygonal and lobate hematite crystal morphologies, coupled with hematite (U-Th)/He data patterns from these surfaces and host rock apatite (U-Th)The data, are best explained by friction-generated heat at slip interface geometric asperities. These observations inform thermomechanical simulations of flash heating at frictional contacts and resulting fractional He loss over generated fault surface time temperature histories. Temperatures of >similar to 700-1200 degrees C, depending on asperity size, are sufficient to induce 85-100% He loss from hematite within 200 pm of the fault surface. Spatially-isolated, high temperature microtextures imply spatially -variable heat generation and decay. Our results reveal that flash heating of asperities and associated frictional weakening likely promote small earthquakes (M-w approximate to -3 to 3) on Wasatch hematite fault mirrors. We suggest that similar thermal processes and resultant dynamic weakening may facilitate larger earthquakes. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The aim of this study was to produce a grounded theory to describe the experiences of international students living in the UK and studying in a British university, and to understand and explain their behavioural responses to those experiences. Eighteen postgraduate international students were interviewed at a university in the south-west of England and the data was analysed using classic grounded theory methodology. The theory proposes that international students’ two biggest concerns are in regard to their English language skills and their detachment from home students. Students felt that their language skills were inadequate and they perceived themselves to be disadvantaged because of having to operate in a second language. They felt ignored when they attempted to reach out to home students and as a result they turned to co-nationals and recreated their home environment. International students were surprised at the size of the challenge they faced when they took up their studies and had to work hard to bridge the gap that existed between their academic and sociocultural skills and those needed in the UK. International students provided emotional, practical and academic support to each other but the academic support they offered to each other was not always good quality. International students engaged in a process of identity change during their stay in the UK which reflected the multiple and changing nature of their identities and during which they gained the skills they needed to be academically successful.

Craton cores far from plate boundaries have traditionally been viewed as stable features that experience minimal vertical motion over 100-1000Ma time scales. Here we show that the Fennoscandian Shield in southeastern Sweden experienced several episodes of burial and exhumation from similar to 1800Ma to the present. Apatite, titanite, and zircon (U-Th)/He ages from surface samples and drill cores constrain the long-term, low-temperature history of the Laxemar region. Single grain titanite and zircon (U-Th)/He ages are negatively correlated (104-838Ma for zircon and 160-945Ma for titanite) with effective uranium (eU=U+0.235xTh), a measurement proportional to radiation damage. Apatite ages are 102-258Ma and are positively correlated with eU. These correlations are interpreted with damage-diffusivity models, and the modeled zircon He age-eU correlations constrain multiple episodes of heating and cooling from 1800Ma to the present, which we interpret in the context of foreland basin systems related to the Neoproterozoic Sveconorwegian and Paleozoic Caledonian orogens. Inverse time-temperature models constrain an average burial temperature of similar to 217 degrees C during the Sveconorwegian, achieved between 944Ma and 851Ma, and similar to 154 degrees C during the Caledonian, achieved between 366Ma and 224Ma. Subsequent cooling to near-surface temperatures in both cases could be related to long-term exhumation caused by either postorogenic collapse or mantle dynamics related to the final assembly of Rodinia and Pangaea. Our titanite He age-eU correlations cannot currently be interpreted in the same fashion; however, this study represents one of the first examples of a damage-diffusivity relationship in this system, which deserves further research attention.

In today's business environment, manufacturers need to manage their enterprises as an inseparable part of a supply chain. Key to achieving this is the creation of an extended and integrated information system. In an attempt to find out what needs to be done to improve current supply chain methods and tools, the current research project 1) reviewed the literature to establish current approaches to Supply Chain Management (SCM); 2) identified what tools and methods are available; 3) categorised the current approaches to supply chain management and established a current practice SCM model; 4) identified the requirements for improved SCM; 5) produced an outline requirements specification for improved SCM. The research has made a number of contributions to knowledge. A literature survey on the subject of what SCM involves and what a SCM system is was carried out and was followed by the conclusions that existing software systems have not been classified and tested against the criteria of a true SCM system. A survey of existing SCM software solutions provided data for an analysis of what typical SCM applications include and concluded that a comprehensive SCM solution currently does not exist. That conclusion was verified by a survey based on SCM expert interviews. Three case studies were carried out that looked into different parts of the supply chain and demonstrated the significance of advanced SCM functionality for each one of them. The case studies also involved the design and implementation of a supply chain mapping tool and a supplier relationship management tool. Finally, a conceptual specification of an improved SCM system was developed. The research will be of interest to practitioners in the area of SCM that are looking for ideas to improve SCM procedures and namely, are looking into implementing or developing an already existing software system for SCM. It also suggests ideas for further research, which may be of interest to research students who are interested in the area of SCM.

The High Arctic has been a complex region of collisional and extensional tectonism through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Svalbard, the sub-aerial exposure of the northwestern Barents Shelf, is an excellent natural laboratory investigating for High Arctic tectonism. Using apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He low-temperature thermochronometry combined with geological constraints, we resolve Cretaceous through Paleogene time-temperature histories for four regions of the Southwestern Province. Our results indicate a temperature gradient from south to north of ~185°C to >200°C, respectively, as a consequence of sedimentary burial and elevated geothermal gradient ( 45°C/km) from High Arctic Large Igneous Province activity. Late Cretaceous cooling affected all regions during regional exhumation related to initial rifting in the Eurasian Basin. During Eurekan tectonism: 1) our models indicate a heating event (55-47 Ma) characterized by overthrusting and a lack of erosion of the West Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt, with Central Basin sediments derived from northern Greenland, followed by 2) a subsequent cooling event (47-34 Ma) corresponding to a shift in tectonic regime from compression to dextral strike-slip kinematics; exhumation of the WSFTB coincided with strikeslip tectonics.

Abstract: The content of this thesis is the creation of strategy of a med-sized business company. This strategy is elaborated on three time horizons: . 1. Short-term strategies - end of 2014 2. Medium-term Strategy - end 2015 ( 3 years ) 3. Long-term strategy - the end of the year 2018 ( 5 years). The primary indicator of the success of the planned strategy is : The projected sales volume Achieved market share. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part contains theoretical knowledge needed to develop this strategy. The theoretical part is followed by the practical part, which focuses on the description of the company, including corporate portfolio analysis, timing and objectives for which this strategy is intended . The strategy is based on an analysis of the market in which we operate and sell our products, existing and potential clients who are located here and competition that operate here. Follow-up action plan for each country, along with resource requirements to achieve this plan will allow to achieve the objectives set out in this strategy.

Adolescent students’ perceptions of parental influence in relation to mathematics education is an under-researched area, since most studies in this area focus on parental involvement in primary mathematics. This research study aims to fill this gap in the literature by exploring adolescent students’ perceptions of parental influence on their dispositions towards studying mathematically-demanding courses in Higher Education (HE). This study employs mixed research methods to investigate students’ perceptions of parental influence with a survey (N=563) and semi-structured interviews with six students and their parents. Additional interviews were conducted with three immigrant families in Cyprus. The study builds on Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction of social inequalities and extends some concepts of Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to discuss parental influence. The main findings of this research study are reported in three journal papers whilst the papers are under review for publication. The first paper of the thesis reports the analysis of the quantitative data of this study by combining Rasch analysis with statistical modelling. The statistical analysis showed that parental influence is not statistically significant for predicting students’ mathematical dispositions in some models, when other background variables are included in the models. However, further statistical analysis showed that the effect of parental influence is mediated through students’ choice of mathematics course and their mathematical inclination. The non-statistical significance of parental influence in some models was interpreted as a ‘misrecognition’ after Bourdieu (1980). The same phenomenon was noted in the second paper of the thesis, where students and their parents ‘denied’ parental influence during their interviews. This was again interpreted as ‘misrecognition’ and parental influence is conceptualised as a form of ‘symbolic violence’ that parents exercise on their children. Arguably, parents possess more capital in the family field and their influence on their children’s educational choices might be unconscious, thus students’ misrecognise their parents’ influence but they draw significantly on their family’s capital to make their choices for future studies in HE.Lastly, the third paper of the thesis explored cultural differences in students’ perceptions of parental influence in England and Cyprus; stronger perceptions of parental influence were identified in immigrant students’ interviews compared to indigenous students in both countries. Bourdieu’s (1977) concept of ‘hysteresis’ was adapted to theorise this phenomenon. Arguably, while immigrant students’ habitus adjust to the new field, students become more reflective on their parents’ influence because of the reflexivity the hysteresis effect entails. In all three papers Bourdieu’s theoretical framework was used to operationalise students’ mathematical dispositions and to interpret the findings of this study. The main contributions to knowledge of this study is the operationalisation of students’ mathematical habitus; the new theoretical conceptualisation of parental influence as a form of symbolic violence in the family field and the extension of the hysteresis effect to interpret immigrant students’ stronger perceptions of their parents’ influence.

Nanoporous low-k dielectrics are used for integrated circuit interconnects to reduce the propagation delays, and cross talk noise between metal wires as an alternative material for SiO2. These materials, typically organosilicate glass (OSG) films, are exposed to oxygen plasmas during photoresist stripping and related processes which substantially damage the film by abstracting carbon, incorporating O and OH, eventually leading to significantly increased k values. Systematic studies have been performed to understand the oxygen plasma-induced damage mechanisms on different low-k OSG films of various porosity and pore interconnectedness. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy are used to understand the damage kinetics of O radicals, ultraviolet photons and charged species, and possible ways to control the carbon loss from the film. FTIR results demonstrate that O radical present in the plasma is primarily responsible for carbon abstraction and this is governed by diffusion mechanism involving interconnected film nanopores. The loss of carbon from the film can be controlled by closing the pore interconnections, He plasma pretreatment is an effective way to control the damage at longer exposure by closing the connections between the pores.

abstract: The relationship between Chinese modern and contemporary artistic creation and the national sovereignty of China is a worthy subject of debate. Within it, modernism and intellectual/artistic subjectivity are two necessary starting points. However, there is still a good deal of uncertainty around these two points. First, can the modernization process of China be accepted as the general meaning of modernization? Second, are some Chinese modern and contemporary artists actually modern intellectuals? Based on clarification of the above two uncertainties, this thesis is an attempt to argue that the Chinese artists who regard themselves, their artworks and creations, as intellectual, reflect the collision domain between themselves and the political entity of national sovereignty in China: the communist regime controlled by the CCP, Chinese Communist Party中國共産黨. In this thesis, three chapters discuss the relationship between Chinese modern and contemporary art and the CCP. In my theoretical exposition, I argue that the artistic/intellectual subjectivity of modern Chinese artists gradually developed and changed during the conflict and struggle with the Communist rule. In the first chapter, I introduce the biography and artistic creation of Chinese literati painters under the communist rule, exemplified by Wu Hufan吳湖帆. I analyze and demonstrate how the subjectivity of the traditional literati gradually lost strength under the pressure of nationalism, the disenchantment with modernization, and communism. In the second chapter, I focus on the Scar Art art movement of the 1970s to the 1980s, as well as representative artists and their works in this direction of art, such as Cheng Conglin程叢林 and Gao Xiaohua高小華. In this chapter, I use feminism and Foucault's political-philosophical theories to explain these visual expressions of the memory of historical trauma in Scar Art during this period. In Chapter 3, by discussing the works of two artists, He Gong何工 and Ai Weiwei艾未未, in the context of Foucault’s political philosophy, I argue that artists how to express their intellectual subjectivity and political resistance through their contributions to Chinese contemporary art. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Art History 2020