A cisplatina é um dos mais efetivos agentes antitumorais, porém seu uso clínico é limitado principalmente pela nefrotoxicidade. A terapia adjuvante com antioxidantes tem sido sugerida como estratégia de proteção contra a toxicidade induzida pela cisplatina nos tecidos saudáveis, e a eficácia de diferentes antioxidantes tem sido demonstrada em diversos modelos experimentais. Entretanto, a maioria dos compostos descritos como citoprotetores não foi ainda avaliada em modelos experimentais portadores de tumores e não há um consenso sobre o impacto da terapia antioxidante na atividade antitumoral da cisplatina. Além disso, há poucos dados sobre o efeito de muitos destes citoprotetores sobre a saúde humana, sendo que alguns podem apresentar atividade pró-oxidante sob determinadas condições. Nossos estudos anteriores demonstraram que o beta-bloqueador carvedilol protege eficazmente contra a nefrotoxicidade induzida pela cisplatina em ratos. No presente estudo foram explorados dois novos aspectos da proteção exercida pelo carvedilol: (a) o efeito da carvedilol na atividade antitumoral da cisplatina e (b) os mecanismos moleculares de proteção. O primeiro aspecto foi avaliado in vivo em camundongos portadores de Sarcoma 180. Neste modelo, quatro grupos (n=8) de camundongos Swiss, machos adultos, inoculados com uma suspensão de células de Sarcoma 180 (via subcutânea) foram submetidos aos seguintes tratamentos: (I) Grupo Controle: carboximetilcelulose 0,5% (0,10mL/ animal 30g, via oral ou v.o, 1 vez ao dia, por 3 dias) e solução salina (0,75mL/animal 30g, intraperitoneal ou i.p. no primeiro dia) ; (II) Grupo Cisplatina (Cisp): cisplatina (25 mg/kg, i.p., no primeiro dia); (III) Grupo Carvedilol+Cisplatina (CV+Cisp): carvedilol (10 mg/kg, v.o, 1 vez ao dia, por 3 dias) e cisplatina (25 mg/Kg, i.p., no primeiro dia); e (IV) Grupo Carvedilol (CV): carvedilol (10 mg/kg, v.o., 1 vez ao dia, por 3 dias). A função renal (uréia e creatinina plasmáticas), e a análise histopatológica do tecido renal comprovaram o dano renal induzido pela cisplatina e a nefroproteção exercida pelo carvedilol. A biodistribuição da platina (ICP-MS) e a atividade antitumoral da cisplatina (índice de remissão tumoral e curva de sobrevida) não foram alteradas pelo carvedilol. O carvedilol não protegeu contra a mutagenicidade (avaliada em sangue periférico) e contra a mielossupressão induzidas pela cisplatina. O ensaio de TUNEL e análise imuno-histoquímica da caspase-3 clivada e da proteína pró-apoptótica Bax comprovaram a proteção do carvedilol contra a apoptose que foi induzida pela cisplatina no tecido renal, porém a proteína anti-apoptótica Bcl-xL permaneceu inalterada nos quatro grupos. O envolvimento da atividade antioxidante do carvedilol no mecanismo de proteção foi demonstrado pelos ensaios de peroxidação lipídica e GSH no tecido renal. Os estudos mecanísticos foram realizados em modelo in vitro com células HK-2 (de rim humano normal) divididas em quatro grupos de tratamento: (I) Controle: salina tamponada com fosfato (PBS); (II) Cisp: 25?M de cisplatina; (III) CV+Cisp: 50?M de carvedilol e 25 ?M de cisplatina; (IV) CV: 50 ?M de carvedilol. Foi observada diminuição da morte celular por apoptose e da expressão das proteínas caspase-3, pro-caspase-9 e Bax no grupo CV+Cisp quando comparado ao grupo Cisp. Assim como nos estudos in vivo, não houve alteração na expressão da ii proteína Bcl-xL. A atividade da proteína SIRT-1 apresentou-se aumentada no grupo CV+Cisp e inalterada nos demais. Adicionalmente, o mecanismo antioxidante do carvedilol foi associado ao sequestro dos íons ferrosos, mas não ao sequestro de radicais livres. Em conclusão, a atividade nefroprotetora do carvedilol está associada a mecanismos antioxidantes provavelmente decorrentes do sequestro de íons ferrosos. O mecanismo nefroprotetor do carvedilol não diminui a atividade antitumoral da cisplatina, o que sugere que mecanismos distintos sejam responsáveis pela nefrotoxicidade e pela atividade antitumoral da cisplatina. Ainda, o estresse oxidativo parece desempenhar papel central na nefrotoxicidade, o que não acontece na atividade antitumoral, que tem sido associada principalmente a danos ao DNA nuclear. Estes resultados sugerem que a terapia antioxidante pode ser uma alternativa segura na proteção dos tecidos saudáveis durante a quimioterapia com cisplatina. / Cisplatin is one of the most effective anticancer agents; however, its clinical use is limited mainly by its nephrotoxicity. The adjuvant therapy with antioxidants has been suggested as a strategy of protection against the toxicity induced by cisplatin in healthy tissues and the efficacy of different antioxidants has been demonstrated in several experimental models. However, most of these compounds described as cytoprotectors have never been tested in tumor-bearing models, and there is not a consensus on the impact of the antioxidant therapy on the antitumor activity of cisplatin. Moreover, there are few data about the effect of many of these compounds on human health; some can even display pro-oxidant activity under certain conditions. Our previous studies have demonstrated that the beta-blocker carvedilol efficiently protects against the nephrotoxicity induced by cisplatin in rats. In the present study two new aspects of the protection of carvedilol were explored: (a) the effect of carvedilol on the antitumoral effect of cisplatin and (b) the molecular mechanisms of protection. The first aspect was evaluated in vivo in Sarcoma-180-tumor-bearing mice. In this model, four groups groups (n=8) of Swiss, adult mice, inoculated with Sarcoma-180 cells (subcutaneous via) were treated as follows: (I) Control group: carboxymethylcellulose 0.5% (0.10mL/ 30g animal, oral, once a day, 3 days) and saline solution (0.75mL/30g animal, intraperitoneal or ip, on the first day); (II) Cisplatin group (Cisp): cisplatin 25mg/kg, i.p., on the first day; (III) Carvedilol + Cisplatin group (CV+Cisp): carvedilol (10mg/kg, oral, once a day, 3 days) and cisplatin (25 mg/kg, i.p., on the first day); (IV) Carvedilol group (CV): carvedilol (10mg/kg, oral, once a day, 3 days). The renal function (plasmatic BUN and creatinine) and the renal histopathology, showed the renal damage induced by cisplatin and the nephroprotection of carvedilol. The biodistribution of platinum (ICP-MS) and the antitumor activity of cisplatin (tumor remission index and survival curve) were not altered by carvedilol. Carvedilol did not protect against the mutagenicity (evaluated in the peripheral blood) and the bone marrow suppression induced by cisplatin. TUNEL assay and the imunnohistochemical analyses of the cleaved caspase-3 and the proapoptotic protein Bax showed the protection of carvedilol against the apoptosis induced by cisplatin in the renal tissue; however, the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL remained unaltered in the four groups. The involvement of the antioxidant activity of carvedilol in the protective mechanism was demonstrated by lipid peroxidation and GSH assays in the renal tissue. The mechanistic studies were performed in vitro in HK-2 cells (from normal human kidney) divided into four groups of treatment: (I) Control: phosphate buffered saline (PBS); (II) Cisp: 25?M cisplatin; (III) CV+Cisp: 50?M carvedilol and 25 ?M cisplatin; and (IV) CV: 50 ?M carvedilol. Reduced cell death by apoptosis and reduced expression of caspase-3, pro- caspase-9 and Bax were observed in CV+Cisp as compared to Cisp. Similarly to the in vivo studies, no alterations in the expression of Bcl-xL were observed. The activity of SIRT-1 was increased in the group CV+Cisp, but was unaltered in all the other groups. Additionally, the antioxidant mechanism of carvedilol was associated with the scavenging of ferrous ions but not with the scavenging of free radicals. In conclusion, the nephroprotective activity of carvedilol is associated with antioxidant iv mechanisms which probably results from the scavenging of ferrous ions. The nephroprotective mechanism of carvedilol does not reduce the antitumor activity of cisplatin, which suggests that distinct mechanisms are responsible for the nephrotoxicity and the antitumor activity of cisplatin. Moreover, the oxidative stress might play a central role in the nephrotoxicity, but this does not happen in the antitumor activity, which has been associated mainly with nuclear DNA damage. These findings suggest that the antioxidant therapy might be a safe alternative to protect healthy tissues during cisplatin chemotherapy.

Behovet av mätning med totalstation har inom många områden minskat till förmån för mätning med GNSS-baserad teknik som ett resultat av dess större flexibilitet och ofta acceptabla osäkerhet. GNSS-baserad mätning kan dock begränsas av olika faktorer, vilket skapar ett behov av mätning med totalstation. Etablering av totalstation sker traditionellt genom kända punkter, men när dessa inte finns tillgängliga behövs andra metoder för etablering som ger en låg osäkerhet.  Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka två GNSS-baserade fri stationsetablerings-metoder. Realtidsuppdaterad fri station (RUFRIS) bygger på kombinerad mätning, där koordinaterna för minst 15 bakåtobjekt mäts in med NRTK samtidigt som totalstationen mäter längd och riktning mellan station och bakåtobjekt. 180-sekundersmetoden bygger på kontinuerlig mätning i tre minuter på minst tre punkter, för att sedan använda dessa punkter som bakåtobjekt under fri stationsetablering. Under tre dagar insamlades mätdata från totalt 60 etableringar i Skålsjön i Ovanåkers kommun. Totalt 30 etableringar per metod utfördes växlande med varandra för att få samma tidspåverkan för mätningarna. Platsen valdes till följd av en närliggande stompunkt av hög kvalitet samt en realistisk mätningsmiljö. Insamlade data bearbetades och beräknades med avseende på spridning och mätosäkerhet. Dessutom utfördes en tidsanalys av erhållna mätdata. Den enskilda standardosäkerheten för RUFRIS beräknades vara 6,7 mm i plan och 15 mm i höjd. För 180-sekundersmetoden beräknades standardsosäkerheten till 10 mm i plan och 7,2 mm i höjd. Enligt den lägeskontroll som utfördes i studien var det endast RUFRIS som klarade den beräknade toleransen i plan. I höjd var det enbart 180-sekundersmetoden som befann sig inom toleransen. RUFRIS klarade dock toleransen när samtliga grova fel uteslöts från beräkningen. Slutsatsen som drogs i denna studie var att RUFRIS lämpar sig väl för mätnings-situationer med fokus på plan i områden med god sikt. 180-sekundersmetoden lämpar sig däremot bättre till höjdmätning och kan potentiellt vara ett alternativ till avvägning när toleransen i höjd är inom 10 mm. Mätningarna utfördes under goda förhållanden med avseende på jonosfären, därav antogs upplevda störningar gällande erhållandet av fixlösning och mätvärden inte härstamma från denna felkälla. Mätosäkerheten ökade i samband med kraftigt snöfall, vilket tyder på att vädret påverkade resultatet. Sammanfattningsvis har båda metoderna sina styrkor och svagheter, men ingen av metoderna visade sig vara mer lämplig än den andra när etableringen avser mätning i både plan och höjd. / The purpose of this study is to investigate two GNSS-based methods of establishing a free total station. Due to technological advances made within GNSS-based measuring, the total station is seeing less use by surveyors in the field. Despite this, there are situations where GNSS-receivers might struggle and the need to use a total station arises. In these situations, there needs to be a reliable method of establishing the total station without known points and with a low uncertainty. This can be accomplished by utilizing real time updated free station (RUFRIS) and the 180-seconds method. Both RUFRIS and the 180-seconds method is frequently used by municipalities and companies, which raises the question about which of these methods performs better. To answer this, a comparison is made between these two methods regarding their uncertainty, their user friendliness, which situations they are best suited for and how different time aspects might affect them. A total of 60 establishments have been made over the course of three days while comparing the results to a known reference point. The results showed that RUFRIS is better suited for horizontal measurements, is quick to use and needs a larger area, while the 180-seconds method is better suited for vertical measurements, takes a bit longer and requires less space.

Cette étude est entièrement consacrée à un examen du deuxième chapitre du premier livre des "Politiques" d'Aristote. Elle vise à analyser l'affirmation aristotélicienne selon laquelle l'homme est un animal plus politique que les autres animaux politiques (Pol., I, 1, 1253a7-9). Tous les commentateurs d'Aristote expliquent cette affirmation par référence à la rationalité, ou à la moralité ou encore à la capacité langagière de l'homme. Selon l'idée soutenue dans cette étude, bien que ces traits exclusivement humains ne soient pas impertinents à la forme spécifique que prend la vie politique de l'homme, le plus haut degré de son caractère politique ne peut pas s'expliquer en fonction d'eux. Après un examen détaillés des plusieurs difficultés que l'on rencontre dans les commentaires contemporains des Politiques, 1,2, nous avons développé la thèse que selon Aristote l'homme est le plus politique des animaux politiques parce qu'il est un animal grégaire à multiple communautés. D'après Aristote, l'homme développe cette multiplicité de communautés en vue de l'autosuffisance. Pour pouvoir montrer que cette interprétation est en conformité avec une autre affirmation d'Aristote selon laquelle la polis existe en vue du bien-vivre, nous avons aussi démontré qu'il existe chez le Stagirite des éléments d'une notion de bien-vivre qui relève moins de la moralité que des conditions animales de l'homme et que c'est dans ce dernier sens que l'existence de la polis en vue du bien-vivre doit être comprise. / This dissertation is dedicated to an exclusive study of Aristotle's "Politics", I, 2. It aims at analyzing Aristotle's affirmation that human beings are more political than the other political animals (Pol., I, 1, 1253a7-9). According to the most widely shared views about Aristotle's argument here, human beings would be more political either because they are rational, or because they have a natural capacity for speech or because they are perceptive about questions of morality. According to the idea defended in this study, although these exclusively human features are not impertinent to the specific form that human beings' political life takes, human beings' higher degree of politicalness cannot be explained on the basis of them. After a detailed examination of certain difficulties and shortcomings in contemporary commentaries on Politics, l, 2, we develop the thesis that according to Aristotle, the human being is more political because it is a gregarious animal of multiple communities. For Aristotle, human beings develop this multiplicity of communities for the sake of self-sufficiency. In order to show that this thesis is in conformity with Aristotle's other main idea that the polis exists for the sake of living-well, we demonstrate that elements of a different conception of living-well, based more on human being's animality than its rnorality, are present in Aristotle’s work. Aristotle's affirmation that the polis exists for the sake of living-well must be understood in this rather zoological sense of living-well.

R.E. Hillger, M.W.P. Strandberg. / II. HDS. / "October 5, 1950." / Includes bibliography. / Army Signal Corps Contract DA36-039 sc-100 Project no. 8-102B-0. Dept. of the Army Project 3-99-10-022.

Recognition memory - a type of episodic memory in long term memory - is known in the literature to be affected by emotion, aging and the modality of the presented stimuli. The major aim of this study was to investigate whether emotional stimuli enhances recognition memory. Another goal was to observe whether modality and aging effects are present and differentiable in a non-Western subject sample. In literature, emotion studies were based on mainly two dimensions of emotions: valence and arousal. However, the contribution of these two dimensions to the enhancement of recognition memory still needs clarification. The present study investigated specifically the effect of valence on recognition memory. Moreover, the experimental manipulations of this study allowed observing the effect of valence on recognition memory due to normal aging. Since modality of the presented stimuli is a major confounding factor on recognition, separate experiments involving visual and verbal stimuli were designed. Pictures and words were selected on the basis of valence and arousal ratings. The stimulus set of the visual recognition memory task consisted of the pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) (Lang et al., 2005). The stimulus set of the verbal recognition memory task was constructed from partially standardized material for affective norms of Turkish emotional words (METU TEW), which was developed as a part of this study. METU TEW allowed selecting words with positive, neutral and negative valence while controlling arousal. The results replicated two findings reported in the literature: (1) younger adults recognized more accurately than older adults / (2) recognition memory was enhanced for visual items regardless of age and valence. Interestingly, this study revealed that recognition memory was not enhanced for emotional stimuli varying only on the valence dimension. More specifically, there was a decline in recognition memory for positive items and no change was observed for negative items, regardless of age. Further analysis also revealed that there may be differential effects of abstractness and concreteness on verbal recognition memory in aging.

Gas turbines are widely used as power sources in many industrial and transportation applications. This kind of engine is the most preferred prime movers in aircrafts, power plants and some marine vehicles. They have different configurations according to their mechanical constructions such as turbo-prop, turbo-shaft, turbojet, etc. These engines have different efficiencies and specifications and some advantages and disadvantages compared to Otto-Cycle engines. In this thesis, a small turbojet engine is investigated in order to find different control algorithms. AMT Olympus HP small turbojet engine has been used to determine the mathematical model of a gas turbine engine. Some important experimental data were taken from AMT Olympus engine by making many experiments. All components of the engine have been modeled by using laws of thermodynamics and some arithmetic calculations such as numerical solution of nonlinear differential equations, digitizing compressor and turbine map etc. This mathematical model is employed to create control algorithm of the engine. At first, standard control strategies had been considered such as P (proportional), PI (proportional integral), and PID (proportional-integral-differential) controllers. Because of the nonlinearities in gas turbines, standard control algorithms are not commonly used in literature. At the second stage fuzzy logic controllers have been designed to control the engine efficiently. This control algorithm was combined with mathematical of the engine in MATLAB environment and input-output relations were investigated. Finally, fuzzy logic control algorithm was embedded into an electronic controller.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) based bioceramics have been developed to treat bone defects for the last 30 years. Doping HA with elements is a common approach to increase mechanical strength, biocompatibility and osteointegrity. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-containing bioceramic composites enhance osteointegrity and induce bone formation. Strontium (Sr) is currently used to treat osteoporosis clinically as this element inhibits bone resorption and stimulates bone formation. In this study, HA was doped with silicon (Si), Sr, BMP-2 and evaluated in cortical bone defect healing. Ceramics were produced and tested mechanically after characterization. Sr release from ceramics was assessed. Ceramics were further evaluated in in vitro and in vivo conditions. X-ray diffraction analysis results of HA were in line with the literature and Sr-Si-HA ceramics showed similar intensities with HA. Ceramics had 36.9 to 41.6% porosity. Compression strength of Sr1000-Si-HA ceramics was 117.5 MPa which was more than that of the other groups. Consistent Sr release was observed in the Sr1000-Si-HA and the Sr250-Si-HA groups. Sr1000-Si-HA and Sr250-Si-HA ceramics showed higher cellular proliferation rates than the other groups in vitro. BMP addition increased alkaline phosphatase activities and DNA amounts. BMP-Sr-Si-HA group presented higher (0.304&plusmn / 0.02 g/cm2) bone mineral density values than the other groups 4 weeks after implantation however differences between groups were not significant in vivo. Sr-Si-HA and BMP-Sr-Si-HA composites stimulated new bone formation at cortical bone defects of tibia according to micro computerized-tomography and histological results. Findings of this study promote future research on Sr containing bioceramics in treatment of orthopedic problems.

The main objective of this study was to determine differences, if any, in three-dimensional (3D) kinematic characteristics of the three principal punches (the jab, hook and uppercut) executed by novice, intermediate and elite level amateur boxers. Specifically, the kinematic variables related to the displacement, linear velocity and acceleration of the upper body segments, translational hand acceleration and vertical ground reaction force generated by boxers were analyzed. The subjects of this study composed of 10 novice, 9 intermediate, and 11 elite level amateur boxers. Ages of the subjects ranged from 18 to 34 years old. All subjects executed their punches toward a head-high target on a standard practice bag. The motions were captured with PhaseSpace real time optical tracking system with 8 high speed cameras at 240 fps. Then, the motions captured were analyzed to quantify the kinematic factors associated with each punch. The results showed that the uppercut punch generated larger linear shoulder, elbow and wrist velocity compared to the jab punch. Similarly, the uppercut punch generated larger linear shoulder, elbow and wrist acceleration compared to the hook and jab punches. Moreover, the uppercut and hook punches generated larger translational hand acceleration compared to the jab punch. As a conclusion, the results for all kinematic variables demonstrated that the type of punch executed was the major determinant of the magnitude of each factor studied. Moreover, the technique employed can significantly affect the resulting displacement, linear velocity and acceleration, and translational hand acceleration of the fist.

<p>As communication becomes more and more vital in defending a country’s borders, better radios are needed. When the Swedish armed forces saw that their existing radios took too much bandwidth in their net, they knew that something had to be done.</p><p>The existing radio, called Ra 180 RAP, was modified so that it could send X.25 messages into a network. This significantly reduced the use of bandwidth, as a packet switched network only uses the bandwidth when sending info.</p><p>This final thesis has been aimed to create a system that can test the X.25 function in the upgraded, so called CI-RAP, radio. This system will come in handy both when upgrading and later when performing service on the radios.</p>

The objective of this study is to remove turbidity originating from algae present in oxidation ponds effluents by an easy and inexpensive method. For this reason, a novel lab-scale Step Feed Dual Treatment (SFDT) process was constructed and the efficiency of trickling filter (TF) to remove algae and organic matter was investigated. SFDT process developed in this study is the unique, inexpensive and new system to scavenge algae from oxidation pond effluents. In this system, influent is first treated in a stabilization pond, and subsequently they directed to a TF, so as to provide a dual treatment. Moreover, some fraction of the raw influent was directly sent to TF to maintain a steady biofilm on the TF medium. Stabilization pond was not simulated in the experimental set-up as the main objective of the study is to observe TF ability to scavenge algae from pond effluent. To determine the magnitude of the effect of individual operational parameters (hydraulic loading rate, influent COD and chlorophyll-a concentration) and of their combinations on organics and particle removal efficacy an experimental design was followed. Experiments consistent with twolevel factorial design with three variables (23) were performed. Hydraulic loading rate (HLR) (0.5-2 m3/m2.day), influent COD (150-550 mg/l) and influent chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl-a) (250-600 &micro / g/l) were selected as independent variables. The COD and algae removal (as Chl-a) were selected as dependent variables. Data obtained from the experiments showed that when HLR (m3/m2.day) was increased from 0.5 to 2, Chl-a, NTU, SS and COD removals were decreased, however, more than 85 % removal was attained in each case, except for COD. The lowest removal efficiencies were obtained for all the quality parameters when hydraulic loading was increased to 4 m3/m2.day. It was observed that in general removal percentages for turbidity, Chl-a, SS and COD increased considerably with the decreasing hydraulic loading rate. Highest removals were obtained at lowest HLR. The removal of algae in TF was presumably due to both flocculation (due to algal and bacterial EPS production) and degradation (through bacterial activity) of algae. In conclusion, trickling filter produced clear effluents, with less than 2 NTU, for most of the cases.