A hydraulic bending tool is used in the manufacturing of transformer windings at Hitachi ABB Power Grids. This tool is used to create a pitch between the turns in the winding, a process which demands very strict tolerances during bending. Hitachi/ABB believes that the current tool is quite inconvenient and, in some cases, dangerous to use. This is due to the tool's hydraulic hoses which causes potential risks of tripping and a risk of leaking pressurized hydraulic fluid. A potential solution to this problem was identified to be a redesign of the tool where the hydraulic system is replaced by an electrical system with batteries as the power source. Using interviews, experiments and literature reviews, user and product requirements specifications were formulated. These laid the foundation for the concept generation that followed where concepts were developed for different parts of the tool. These concepts were evaluated and then passed on to a concept combination matrix where different configurations were developed. The configurations were scored in a Pugh matrix which ultimately led to a final concept choice. This concept was then further developed with appropriate calculations and investigations, as well as a complete 3D-CAD modeling. The result was a complete solution that was equipped with batteries, an electro-hydraulic actuator as well as a control system for the stroke of the actuator. Evaluation of the tool’s performance and weight as well as cost calculations were made to compare the new design with the old one. The battery-powered bending tool proved to be a good replacement for the hydraulic bending tool. The weight and price increased slightly compared to the old one, but it was considered that the new tool generally fulfilled the needs and requirements that were presented in the beginning of the study. / Vid tillverkning av transformatorlindningar på Hitachi/ABB används ett hydrauliskt bockverktyg. Detta verktyg används för att skapa en stigning mellan varven i lindningen, denna process ställer mycket höga krav på toleransen vid bockningen. Hitachi/ABB anser att verktyget i dagsläget är otympligt och i vissa fall farligt att använda, detta beror på verktygets hydraulslangar som både utgör en snubbelrisk samt en risk för läckande hydraulolja. En potentiell lösning på detta problem identifierades att vara en omkonstruktion av verktyget där hydraulsystemet byts ut mot ett elektriskt system med batterier som kraftkälla. Med hjälp av intervjuer, experiment och litteraturstudier formulerades användar- och produktkravspecifikationer. Dessa lade grunden till den konceptgenerering som följde där koncept togs fram för olika delar i verktyget. Dessa koncept utvärderades och fördes sedan vidare till en konceptkombinationstabell där olika konfigureringar togs fram. Konfigureringarna poängsattes i en Pughmatris vilket slutligen ledde till ett slutgiltigt konceptval. Detta koncept vidareutvecklades sedan med lämpliga beräkningar och undersökningar, samt en komplett 3D-CAD modellering.Resultatet blev en komplett lösning som bestyckades med batterier, ett elektrohydrauliskt ställdon samt ett styrsystem för verktygets slaglängd. Utvärdering av prestanda samt vikt- och kostnadsberäkningar gjordes för att jämföra den nya konstruktionen med den gamla. Det batteridrivna bockverktyget visade sig vara en god ersättare till det hydrauliska bockverktyget. Vikten och priset steg något men det ansågs att verktyget över lag uppfyllde de krav och önskemål som ställts under arbetet.

L'émergence des thérapies ciblées dans le traitement des cancers a rendu indispensable la mise au point de marqueurs plus spécifiques et sensibles pour la surveillance des patients. Dès le stade invasif, des cellules tumorales peuvent passer dans le sang où elles constituent les Cellules Tumorales Circulantes (CTC). Les CTC sont accessibles par une simple prise de sang, évitant les biopsies invasives. De plus, elles représentent le seul matériel tumoral résiduel après traitement. C'est la raison pour laquelle les CTC constituent un axe de recherche très actif avec plus de 400 essais cliniques incluant ces cellules comme biomarqueurs. Ces essais apportent des renseignements importants sur le risque de récidive ou de progression métastatique, et ont pour objectif de pouvoir gérer en temps réel la conduite thérapeutique. Cependant, les CTC potentiellement métastatiques ne représentent qu'une fraction très minoritaire de ces cellules circulantes. Les technologies existantes, essentiellement basées sur une simple numération, ne suffisent pas pour guider efficacement la stratégie thérapeutique. Ce projet a évalué un ensemble de critères pouvant être utile pour la prise de décisions thérapeutiques pertinentes, adaptées à chaque patient, et la mesure de l'efficacité des traitements. Ce projet sera centre sur le mélanome. Les stades d'évolution de ce cancer sont bien définis, et dans les stades avances, le risque de développer des métastases est très élevé et la détection précoce de celles-ci est un enjeu important. Par ailleurs, ce cancer bénéficie de rapides progrès thérapeutiques, les CTC constituent donc un outil intéressant pour tester l'efficacité de ces nouveaux traitements. / The emergence of targeted therapies in cancer treatment has made essential the development of more specific and sensitive markers for monitoring patients. At the invasive stage, tumor cells can pass to blood. These cells are called Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC). CTCs are accessible through a simple blood test, avoiding invasive biopsies. Moreover, they represent the only residual tumor after treatment. It is why CTCs are a very active center of research with more than 400 clinical trials involving these cells as biomarkers. These tests provide important information on the risk of recurrence or metastatic progression and aim to manage in real time the therapeutic conduct. But the CTC potentially metastatic represents only a fraction very minority of these circulating cells. Existing technologies, mainly based on simple enumeration, are not enough to effectively guide therapeutic strategy. This project has evaluated a set of criteria to make appropriate therapeutic decisions, adapted to each patient, and able to measure the effectiveness of treatments. This project will focus on melanoma. Evolution stages of this cancer are well defined, and in advanced stages, the risk of developing metastases is very high and the early detection is an important issue. Moreover, CTC could be is an interesting tool to test the effectiveness of these new treatments.

As the CTC (transposed continuously conductor) is widely accepted as the cable used in transformers, mechanical analysis of CTC under different load cases is in need. This paper introduces a new method of creating detailed CTC models automatically in Comsol Multiphysics and the models are applied for conducting FEA (Finite Element Analysis) for different load cases of practical importance. The numerical analysis is verified by comparing the FEA results and the analytical results for the response of the CTC. The difference between the FEA of simplified models (bare straight strands conductor models) and detailed models (transposed strand conductor models), is also evaluated. Finally, the detailed model with an epoxy coating is evaluated. The detailed CTC model is found to be more compliant when subjected to radial bending compared to the simplified model, but it is stiffer than the simplified model when subjected to an axial bending load. In torsion, the detailed CTC models have much lower torsional rigidity than the simplified models. The epoxy coating makes the whole structure much more compliant and largely decreases the torsional rigidity of the CTC structure. The research shows that the difference between the simplified model and the detailed model is not negligible in many load cases. However, for an analysis that does not strictly require accuracy when doing axial loading analysis, the simplified model is a good option since it is easier to model, computationally cheaper, and the result is close to the detailed model result. In other cases, the detailed model is to be preferred. / CTC-kablar som används i högspänningstransformatorer utsätts under drift för olika typer av mekaniska laster och det finns ett behov att kunna analysera mekaniska egenskaper vid olika typer av lastfall. I denna rapport introduceras en ny metod för att automatiskt skapa detaljerade modeller av CTC i Comsol Multiphysics. Dessa modeller används sedan för analys med finita element-metoden (FEM) av några praktiskt viktiga belastningsfall. Den numeriska analysen verifieras genom att jämföra FE-resultaten med analytiska resultat för enkla idealiserade balkgeometrier. Vidare analyseras skillnaden mellan FEA för de förenklade modellerna och geometriskt detaljerade modeller CTC både med och utan isolerande epoxiskikt kring ledarna. Den detaljerade CTC-modellen visade sig vara mindre styv, jämfört med den förenklade modellen, när den utsätts för radiell böjning, men styvare när den utsattes för en axiell böjning, där radiell och axiell avser riktningarna CTC har i en högspänningstransformator. I torsion har de detaljerade CTC-modellerna mycket lägre vridstyvhet än de förenklade modellerna. Epoxibeläggningen gör hela strukturen mycket mer kompliant och minskar till stor del torsionsstyvheten hos CTC strukturerna. Vidare visar resultaten att skillnaden mellan den förenklade modellen och den detaljerade modellen inte är försumbar i många belastningsfall. Men för en analys som inte strikt kräver noggrannhet när man utför axiell belastningsanalys, är den förenklade modellen ett bra alternativ eftersom den är avsevärt lättare att modellera, beräkningarna är mycket snabbare och resultaten ligger nära de för den detaljerade modellen. I andra fall är den detaljerade modellen att föredra.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-24T19:38:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vagner Guedes.pdf: 1132706 bytes, checksum: b60ded5d1361a2188f123ba34a1a0614 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-19 / To avoid pollution and damage to the environment, Effluents need of treatment. The appropriate target these effluents should be the (STP), which are responsible for the removal of contaminants. The wastewater treatment plants seek to apply the same natural principles, using the same organisms that proliferate in soil and water, improving processes and minimizing costs to get the highest possible efficiency and can use aerobic or anaerobic processes. There is worldwide increasing production of waste, among which stands out the sewage sludge, generated by the sheer volume and complexity of management, which typically involves several processing steps. Chemical study was made of the sludge from the sludge blanket reactor (UASB) during the period of one year, using as the main techniques Fluorescence X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Atomic Emission Spectroscopy for Flame, UV-vis spectroscopy and metal extraction by Tessier method, the parameters analyzed were pH, cation exchange capacity, sum of bases, exchangeable acidity, potassium, phosphorus mineral, organic phosphorus, nitrogen and metals: barium, cadmium, lead, copper, chromium, iron , nickel, manganese, silver, and zinc. x / Os efluentes necessitam de tratamento, evitando a poluição e os danos causados ao ambiente. O destino adequado destes efluentes deve ser a (ETE), que são responsáveis pela remoção dos contaminantes. As estações de tratamento de efluentes procuram aplicar os mesmos princípios naturais, utilizando os mesmos organismos que proliferam no solo e na água, melhorando os processos e minimizando custos para obter a maior eficiência possível, podendo utilizar os processos aeróbios ou anaeróbios. Verifica-se em todo mundo a produção crescente de resíduos urbanos, entre os quais se destaca o lodo de esgoto, pelo grande volume gerado e pela complexidade de gerenciamento, que normalmente envolve diversas etapas de processamento. Fez-se estudo químico do lodo proveniente do reator de manto de lodo, (UASB) durante o período de um ano, utilizando como técnicas principais a Fluorescência de raios X, Espectroscopia de Absorção Atômica, Espectroscopia Emissão pela Chama, Espectroscopia UV-vis e Extração de metais pelo Método de Tessier, os atributos analisados foram pH, capacidade de troca catiônica, soma total das bases, acidez trocável, potássio, fósforo mineral, fósforo orgânico, nitrogênio e metais: bário, cadmio, chumbo, cobre, cromo, ferro, níquel, manganês, prata e zinco.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are known to escape from the primary tumor site and may settle down at the distant organ to grow a second tumor. CTCs are one of causes initiating carcinoma metastasis. Detection of CTCs has been considered to be valuable for cancer management, including diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical treatment management. However, efficient isolation, enumeration, characterization, and genetic analysis of CTCs in whole-blood samples from cancer patients are very challenging due to their extremely low concentration and rare nature (per CTC in blood cells is 1:106–109). With the increasing worldwide death rate associated with cancer, there is a desperate demand for a high-sensitivity, high-throughput, and low-cost detection and separation system. My doctoral research focused on the design and fabrications of the screening system for the detection of CTCs with further analysis of captured CTCs, such as immunofluoresce staining and fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH). The distinct significance of this research is that the development of the computer-controlled rotational holder with a series of six inverted microfluidic chips reduced the cost by significantly reducing the consumption of magnetic carriers (25% of the consumed amount used in the commercial CellSearch® system), increasing the capture efficiency by manipulating the blood sedimentation in the microchannel, enhancing the system stability by integrating the micromagnets on the plain glass slide substrate, and achieving high throughput because of the high flow rate (2.5 mL/hr) and large screening volume (screening up to six chips in parallel with each containing 2.5 mL of blood). Immunofluorescence staining and the FISH method have been performed to prove the capability of the system. In addition, the system has been successfully applied for patient samples screening. The incorporation of micromagnets has demonstrated that micromagnets provide localized magnetic forces to scatter the target cancer cells and free nanoparticles throughout the whole channel substrate to increase the channel space usage by 13%. Four cancer cell lines, including COLO 205 (colorectal cancer), SK-BR-3 (breast cancer), MCF-7 (breast cancer), and PC3 (prostate cancer), were spiked in blood samples from healthy donors to verify high capture efficiency of the developed system. On average, over a 97% capture rate was demonstrated for all cell lines. Moreover, the developed screening system has been successfully screened over 40 patient samples, including metastatic lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. After capture of CTCs, immunofluorescence staining was used to identified the captured cancer cells and the FISH method was performed to characterize the isolated cancer cells by studying the gene expression of CTCs from breast cancer. The proposed automated immunomagnetic microchip-based screening system shows high capture efficiency (average 97% for three spiked cell lines), high throughput (15 mL of blood sample per screening), high sensitivity, high specificity, and low nanoparticle consumption (75% less than CellSearch® system). The screening system provides great promise as a clinical tool for early cancer diagnosis, diagnosis, personalized therapy, and treatment monitoring. / text

About half of million deaths caused by colorectal cancer (CRC) has been reported worldwide every year. Programmes for early diagnosis of CRC has reduced mortality due to this disease, as the cancer is diagnosed in earlier stages which can be treated more successfully. Programme for early CRC diagnosis in Lithuania has been based on the faeces occult blood test (FOBT). If positive FOBT result is obtained, patients should be referred for colonoscopy (CS) examination. Based on the data from the National Health Fund, during the first three years CS examination was carried out for a little bit more than half of the patients participating in the programme and presenting with positive FOBT result. Aiming to improve accuracy of CRC diagnostics we have suggested alternative CS examination – computed tomography colonography (CTC). The aim of our study was to establish diagnostic value of CTC examination in the identification of neoplastic alterations in the patients with positive FOBT result and to specify factors having influence on the examination quality. CTC examinations were carried out and their results were compared with the findings of CS. We discovered that CTC is of high diagnostic value for detection of lesions sized ≥ 6 mm and of very high diagnostic value for detection of large ( ≥ 10 mm) polyps in a colon. We found out that the length of colon had no influence on how patients tolerated this examination and on patients well-being during CTC procedure, and colon cleaning... [to full text] / Pasaulyje kasmet nuo storosios žarnos vėžio (SŽV) miršta apie pusė milijono žmonių. SŽV ankstyvosios diagnostikos programos sumažina mirtingumą nuo šios ligos, nes vėžys tada yra aptinkamas anksčiau ir galima jį lengviau išgydyti. Lietuvoje SŽV ankstyvosios diagnostikos programa yra paremta slapto kraujo išmatose nustatymo testu (FOBT). Po teigiamo FOBT atsakymo pacientai yra nukreipiami kolonoskopijai (KS). Valstybinės ligonių kasos duomenimis per pirmuosius trejus metus iš pacientų, dalyvavusių programoje, kuriems nustatytas teigiamas FOBT, iš jų tik kiek daugiau nei pusei pacientų atlikta KS. Norint dažniau diagnozuoti SŽV, pasiūlėme alternatyvų KS tyrimą - kompiuterinės tomografijos kolonografiją (KTK). Taikydami KTK ir lygindami jos rezultatus su KS, norėjome išsiaiškinti KTK tyrimo diagnostinę vertę nustatant neoplastinius pakitimus pacientams su teigiamu FOBT bei nustatyti tyrimo kokybei darančius įtaką faktorius. Nustatėme, kad KTK pasižymi didele diagnostine verte nustatant ≥6 mm dydžio pakitimus bei labai didele diagnostine verte nustatant didelius (≥10 mm) polipus, storojoje žarnoje. Nustatėme, kad storosios žarnos ilgis neturi įtakos KTK tyrimo tolerancijai ir paciento savijautai KTK metu, o žarnos išsivalymo kokybė prieš KTK tyrimą nepriklauso nuo anatominių storosios žarnos savybių – tokių, kaip ilgis. Išsiaiškinome, kad KTK tyrimas yra jautrus nustatant storosios žarnos neoplastines adenomas ir vėžį, bet nesiekia KS tyrimo jautrumo, todėl KTK taikyti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The rise of terrorism and transnational organised crime (TOC) post-9/11, two previously separate phenomena, are now both a plague of the 21st century. The emergence of unconventional forms of terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State (IS) indicates new features in the crime-terror nexus. This requires rethinking of the conventional crime-terror convergence frameworks; including the crime-terror continuum (CTC) model, which is used to explain and categorise the relationships between organised crime (OC) and terrorism. The original 2003-2004 CTC model suggests that the relationship between crime and terrorism is not static but has evolved into a continuum. The CTC tracks down how the organisational dynamics and operational nature of both terrorism and OC changes over time. A single group can slide up and down between OC and terrorism, depending on the operational environment. Contemporary terrorism practices suggest that post-9/11 terrorist organisations have undergone significant transformations, and that the boundaries between organised crime and terrorism have become blurred. This brings into question the explanatory power and applicability of the conventional convergence trends, which are depicted in the 2003-2014 versions of the CTC model, to the reality of the transformation of terrorist organisations post-9/11. The conventional convergence trends revolve around ‘realities’ of relationships between OC and terrorism in the form of alliances, appropriation of tactics, integration, hybridisation, and transformation from terrorist to criminal entities or vice versa. The current realities raise several questions about the applicability of the CTC model, as an explanatory tool. Terrorist organisations can originate as criminal organisations, using ideological motives as a recruiting poster for criminal activities. This points to gaps in the relationship of contemporary terrorism and OC, which are found in the crime-terror nexus and its discourse. These gaps pave the way for rethinking and critical evaluation of the explanatory power of the CTC model in the post-9/11 period and lay the basis for the development of an alternative framework as a foundation for further research. This study aims to critically rethink the explanatory power and revisit the applicability of the CTC to changes in the relationship between crime and terrorism post-9/11. This study employs a systematic literature overview design followed by critical evaluation. It isolates key works on the crime-terror nexus and convergence phenomenon, and assesses their limitations, so as to better understand and tackle terrorism in the post-9/11 period. / Mini Dissertation (MSS)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Political Sciences / MSS / Unrestricted

<p>Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been proved to possess great value and potential in detection, diagnosis, and <a>prognosis</a> of non-haematologic cancers. Their unique characteristics in providing both phenotypic as well as genotypic information make them highly valuable in liquid biopsy assays. A<a>t the same time, though numerous studies and research have been done, identification and enumeration of CTCs is still technically challenging due to their rarity and heterogeneity</a>. The primary goal of the thesis is to develop a CTC detection and isolation system with ultra-high sensitivity and purity, while keeping it fast and scalable. We proposed a microfluidic system that integrates positive immunomagnetic capturing, high-throughput parallel flow and size filtration. In this thesis, two generations of the system have been developed to achieve the goal, and are approved to be able to effectively detect and isolate CTCs from hundreds of breast cancer blood samples in real clinical applications. </p> <p>The first-generation system is based on a sandwich-structured microfluidic chamber, which has a micro-aperture chip as the core to detect and isolate immunomagnetically targeted CTCs. The system achieves high detection yield (>95%) and purity (>99.9998% depletion of leukocytes) by streamlining the workflow and using unprocessed whole blood (without centrifuging), as well as utilizing an advanced surface coating approach to passivate the microchip surface. <a>We first demonstrate experiments for determining the optimal detection parameters. Then we characterize the system by isolating deterministically spiked 1, 10, and 100 single MCF-7 breast cancer cells into tubes of whole blood, and show that >95% of cells were captured. A detection yield of 100% from single cell spiking experiments (n = 6) demonstrates excellent detection capability and repeatability of the system. We finally demonstrate the use of the system for CTC detection in the context of a phase II clinical trial of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. As a part of the trial, 182 blood samples were collected from 124 early-stage TNBC patients at high-risk of relapse. We detected CTCs in 36.3% of patients who had already completed chemotherapy and surgery for curative intent and were thus nominally expected to have very few to zero CTCs. </a>Moreover, increasing CTC count from the same patients shows good correlation with <a></a><a>their clinical course</a>. The ability to detect CTCs’ presence using this first-generation system illustrates its important clinical utility.</p> <p>The second-generation system applies a similar detection strategy but employs an upgraded microchip and device, as well as a further streamlined process flow to achieve an even higher detection efficiency, especially for capturing the target cells with low surface marker expression level. We first did modeling and simulation of the new system to find the optimal magnet configuration and verify the detection sensitivity improvement on the first-generation system. Then we characterized the new system by detecting spiked JEG-3 and JAR cells in both cell culture medium and human blood. The result demonstrates that the detection yield increased by ~20% using the second-generation system under the same experiment condition. Next, we applied the system to a phase I clinical trial for CTC detection from metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) patient blood samples. CTCs of mTNBC are known to with in the low marker expression phenotype, which requires ultra-high detection sensitivity. Our system captured CTCs from 48 out of 102 (47%) blood samples, the positivity rate agrees with the conclusions from other studies and presents the reliability to the system. Finally, we explored a novel 4-marker panel for CTC detection from mTNBC patient blood samples. We conducted paired comparisons using the 4-marker panel versus a single marker for detection. The 4-marker panel yielded more CTCs in 5/8 complete paired assessments, and less CTCs in 1/8. The association missed the significance level only slightly (p = 0.08), and the result strongly illustrates the potential for using the panel to cover the mTNBC cells’ heterogeneity for enhanced CTC detection. Furthermore, the presence of CTCs from blood samples correlates well with the patient’s disease progression.</p> <p>Finally, we demonstrated downstream analysis ability of the CTCs detected by the second-generation system. Captured CTCs can be readily released from our system without any loss or damage to a secondary microchip device to be further isolated as single cells, and picked up individually for downstream analysis like DNA/RNA sequencing or single-cell cultivation. Directions for future work is also discussed. We envision this versatile and efficient system to be highly beneficial in a broad range of clinical and research applications regarding CTCs.</p>

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