A Ilha de Sacalina é resultado da viagem do escritor russo Anton Tchékhov à colônia penal de Sacalina, em 1890, e o relato completo foi publicado em 1895, rico em detalhes demográficos e observações sobre os habitantes do local. Este trabalho apresenta a análise da obra a partir da figura do narrador e de seu olhar marcado pela ciência e pela literatura. Tchékhov construiu um narrador em primeira pessoa com base em suas duas profissões e, consequentemente, identidades: a do médico e a do escritor. Da ciência para a literatura, da população para o indivíduo, da natureza para uma casa, do macro para o micro, o narrador integra um texto objetivo com o subjetivo para fazer uma crítica ao sistema penal russo. O olhar científico herdado da medicina é exposto ao lado da perspectiva subjetiva da literatura e o resultado dessa união é a asseveração de um inferno simbólico e real tanto para os habitantes da colônia como para o próprio narrador. / Sakhalin Island is the result of the Russian writer Anton Chekhov\'s trip to the penal colony of Sacalina in 1890. The complete report was published in 1895, rich in demographic details and observations on the inhabitants of the place. This dissertation presents an analysis of the book from the figure of the narrator and his look marked by science and literature. Chekhov constructed a first person narrator based on his two professions and, consequently, identities: the doctor and the writer. From science to literature, from population to an individual, from nature to a house, from macro to micro, the narrator integrates an objective text with the subjective one to criticize the Russian penal system. The scientific look inherited from medicine is exposed alongside the subjective, literature perspective and the result of this union is an assertion of a symbolic and real hell for both the inhabitants of the colony and the narrator himself.

O enigma da capital estuda a mudança do vice-reinado português da Bahia para o Rio de Janeiro em 1763. Contesta a tese da inevitabilidade dessa mudança. Relativiza a importância do Rio de Janeiro. Realça a importância da Bahia. Reafirma a centralidade de Lisboa na tomada de decisão. Apresenta cenários políticos e econômicos europeus e americanos do reinado do rei José e da gestão do secretário Sebastião compreendidos no período que recobre do tratado de Madrid de 1750 ao fim da guerra de sete anos em 1763. Enfatiza o concerto de alianças luso-inglesas e franco-espanholas. Acentua a influência dos diplomatas ingleses em Portugal. Reavalia a presença de enviados franceses e espanhóis em Lisboa. Recupera personagens capitais dessa diplomacia. Exibe figuras inglesas agudas e engenhosas como os embaixadores Abraham Castres e Edward Hay, os chanceleres Willian Pitt e conde de Egremont, o oficial James OHara, afamado lord Tyrawley. Expõe personalidades francesas decisivas como o conde de Merle, a madame Pompadour, o ministro Jacques ODunne, os chanceleres François-Joachim Pierre Bernis e Étienne-François Choiseul. Informa da relação conflituosa e cooperativa entre eles e os secretários do rei José. Indica a fina sintonia do secretário Sebastião com o embaixador Edward Hay. Lembra que trabalharam hand by hand durante os momentos decisivos da guerra. Reconhece a gravidade da guerra e sua difícil gestão do lado português. Relata como a onipresença de problemas europeus inviabilizou eventual participação mais ativa dos homens do rei José nas complicações americanas. Revalora a importância do governador Gomes Freire de Andrade, o conde de Bobadela. Diz de sua condição de confiado irrestrito da corte de Lisboa nas Américas. Fala de sua presença no contencioso Sacramento e de sua atuação como governador do Rio de Janeiro e do desolamento transcontinental que sua morte no início de 1763 causou. Propõe que a mudança da sede do vice-reinado para o Rio de Janeiro esteve em muito relacionada à sua morte. Leva em conta a força que o Rio de Janeiro ganhou com a exploração de ouro, mas demonstra a influência inabalável da Bahia nos séculos. Ressalta diferenças dessas duas capitanias. Defende que a decisão de mudar a capital para o Rio de Janeiro teve pouco ou nada que ver com possível capitalidade ou ainda intransponível importância adquirida pelo Rio de Janeiro. Suporta, com documentação administrativa e diplomática portuguesa, luso-brasileira, inglesa, francesa, espanhola, que houve absoluta indiferença no referente à mudança do lugar do vice-reinado no Brasil. Entende que a valorização do tema e do próprio Rio de Janeiro como capital inevitável foi construção histórico-ideológica dos séculos seguintes. / The enigma of capital does a study on the Portuguese viceroyalty capital change from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro in 1763. It contests the thesis of the inevitability of that change. It relativizes the importance of Rio de Janeiro. It stresses the importance of Bahia. It reaffirms the centrality of Lisbon in the decision-making. It presents political and economic European and American scenarios under King Joseph`s reign and the management of Under-Secretary Sebastian within a period that covers the treaty of Madrid in 1750 to the end of seven years war in 1763. It emphasizes the concert alliances Luso-English and French-Spanish. It emphasizes the influence of British diplomats in Portugal. It reassesses the presence of envoys from France and Spain in Lisbon. It recovers the importance characters of this diplomacy. It displays some sharp and witty English personages as ambassadors Abraham Castres and Edward Hay, the foreign ministers William Pitt and Earl of Egremont, Officer James O\'Hara, the famous Lord Tyrawley. It exposes decisive French personalities as the Count de Merle, Madame Pompadour, Ambassador Jacques O\'Dunne, the Chancellor Pierre Francois-Joachim Bernis and Étienne-François Choiseul. It tells the confrontational and cooperative relationship between them and the king Josephs Under-Secretaries. It indicates the fine tuning of the Under-Secretary Sebastian to the ambassador Edward Hay. It remembers that they worked hand by hand during the decisive moments of the war. It recognizes the seriousness of war and its difficult to manage the Portuguese side. It relates how the omnipresence of European problems made it impossible for more active participation of King Joseph`s people due complications in America. It reevaluates the importance of Governor Gomes Freire de Andrade, Count of Bobadela. It says about his status as unrestricted and trustful inside the court of Lisbon in the Americas. It speaks of his presence in the Sacramento litigation and his performance as governor of Rio de Janeiro and the transcontinental desolation that his death caused in early 1763. It proposes that the change of the seat to viceroyalty in Rio de Janeiro was very much related to his death. It considers the force that Rio de Janeiro got with the exploration of gold, but it demonstrates the steady influence of Bahia in the centuries. It highlights differences in these two provinces. It argues that the decision to move the capital to Rio de Janeiro had little or nothing to do with possible \"capitality\" or insurmountable importance acquired by Rio de Janeiro. It supports, with Portuguese, Luso-Brazilian, English, French, Spanish administrative and diplomatic documentation, that there was complete indifference with regard to the change of place of the viceroyalty in Brazil. It believes that the valuation of the subject and Rio de Janeiro itself as the capital was inevitable historical and ideological construction of the following centuries.

Em 1668, D. Pedro assumiu o governo português, ainda como regente, devido a incapacidade de seu irmão D. Afonso VI. A conjuntura econômica, de finais do século XVII, não era favorável a Portugal. Muitas das possessões do Oriente estavam perdidas e o comércio de especiarias drasticamente reduzido, reflexo do conflito contra a República das Províncias Unidas. A Guerra da Restauração também infligiu grandes perdas aos cofres régios, mesmo com o fim das hostilidades os custos com a desmobilização das tropas foram sentidos por vários anos. O açúcar, que no início do século tinha gerado grandes lucros, sofria com a competição internacional e amargava constantes quedas nos preços. Nesse contexto de redução das receitas e aumento das despesas, medidas foram implementadas visando diversificar as fontes de rendimentos e, aumentar a eficiência dos mecanismos de controle da arrecadação de impostos, com intuito de diminuir os descaminhos das rendas régias. A aclimatação de especiarias, o fomento da economia do Maranhão, o aumento da fiscalização sobre a cultura do tabaco, estão entre as medidas empreendidas no período. A essas ações soma-se a tentativa de revitalizar a indústria açucareira. No presente trabalho pretendemos examinar se as ações implementadas no período foram fruto de um planejamento sistemático, ou, não podem ser consideradas como concorrentes, tendo sido apenas respostas as vicissitudes do período. As conclusões nos permitem afirmar, que observadas pela ótica das ideias econômicas que circulavam por Portugal no século XVII, essas reformas administrativas inseriam-se em um planejamento. / In 1668, D. Pedro assumed the Portuguese government, still as regent, due to the incapacity of his brother D. Afonso VI. The economic situation of the late seventeenth century was not favorable to Portugal. Many of the possessions of the East were lost and the trade of spices drastically reduced, reflecting the conflict against the United Provinces. The Restoration War also inflicted heavy losses on royal coffers, even with the end of hostilities the costs of demobilizing troops were felt for several years. Sugar, which at the beginning of the century had generated large profits, suffered from international competition and bitterly declined in prices. In this context of reducing revenues and increasing expenditures, measures were implemented to diversify sources of income and increase the efficiency of tax collection control mechanisms, in order to reduce the ruin of royal incomes. The acclimatization of spices, the promotion of the economy of Maranhão, and the increase in tobacco control are among the measures undertaken in the period. To these actions is added the attempt to revitalize the sugar industry. In the present work we intend to examine whether the actions implemented were not the result of a systematic planning, or, can not be considered as competitors, and were only responses to the vicissitudes of the period. The conclusions allow us to state that, observed from the perspective of the economic ideas that circulated in Portugal in the seventeenth century, these administrative reforms were part of a planning.

Esta pesquisa procura analisar o isolamento compulsório dos portadores de hanseníase no Asilo-colônia Santo Ângelo localizado em Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, tendo como ponto de partida os anos 1890, época em que as primeiras medidas de controle da hanseníase e de outras doenças foram adotadas pelo poder público paulista. A criação de várias instituições e do primeiro código sanitário marcaram o início da construção de uma forte estrutura para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas de saúde neste local. Os anos 1960 marcam o fim do período de isolamento dos hansenianos e a possibilidade dos portadores manterem uma vida fora das grades do Santo Ângelo e dos demais asilos do estado. O controle das doenças na capital paulista tornou-se uma grande preocupação do poder público na medida em que a industrialização possibilitava o enriquecimento e a modernização da cidade, atraindo um grande número de imigrantes. O aumento populacional trazia consigo o alastramento de diversas doenças endêmicas e epidêmicas, tornando urgente a intervenção do Estado no combate aos agravos à saúde da população, posto que as medidas particulares adotadas em períodos anteriores não estavam surtindo efeitos. Os conhecimentos produzidos acerca das doenças no Brasil e no mundo permitiam à medicina enfatizar o papel que o ser humano desempenhava na transmissão das doenças, favorecendo com isso o controle sobre os doentes. Desta forma, além da preocupação com o ambiente físico, posto que medidas sanitárias eram adotadas com o intuito de melhorar as condições de vida na cidade, a medicina lançava seu olhar também ao corpo social, vigiando, controlando e excluindo os doentes da população sã. Ao se dirigir ao ser humano, como fonte propagadora de doenças, a medicina sanitarista, que se desenvolvia em São Paulo, adotou técnicas de exclusão, de controle e de vigilância como formas de profilaxia das moléstias. Neste sentido, dentre as várias doenças de notificação compulsória, a hanseníase (antiga lepra) foi privilegiada neste trabalho por tratar-se de uma doença cuja prevenção exigiu o isolamento compulsório de seus portadores em asilos-colônias construídos em locais distantes da capital. A hanseníase se alastrou de maneira impressionante a partir do final do século XIX em São Paulo, causando grande medo entre a população posto que a cura não era conhecida e também porque trazia consigo representações herdadas de um passado distante, mas que ainda impressionavam as pessoas. O isolamento dos portadores de hanseníase no Asilo-colônia Santo Ângelo era visto pelas autoridades, pelos médicos e pela sociedade como única forma de profilaxia da doença. Neste sentido, o Santo Ângelo foi construído tendo em vista uma longa permanência dos doentes, sendo provido de diversas instalações e de uma infra-estrutura elogiada até mesmo fora do estado e do Brasil. Contudo, com o passar dos anos o asilo se tornou um lugar insuportável para se viver. Os doentes, afastados de suas famílias, eram constantemente vigiados, sofriam maus tratos, eram transformados em cobaias para experimentos de novos medicamentos e, fora dos muros do asilo, a doença se mantinha incontrolada. Após décadas de sofrimentos, finalmente em 1967 as portas do Asilo-colônia Santo Ângelo foram abertas para que os doentes pudessem sair. No entanto, muitas pessoas continuaram e continuam até hoje morando no lugar por não possuírem perspectivas de vida fora do asilo. Algumas delas tiveram seus corpos afetados pela doença e se tornaram incapacitados de alguma forma, seja perda da visão, da audição ou de mãos e pés, porém, todas devem levar consigo as marcas do abandono e da exclusão sofridos no período de isolamento compulsório. / This research tries analyse the compulsory isolation of hanseníase carriers at the asylum-colony located in Mogi das Cruzes, SP, starting in the 80s, when the first hanseníase and other illnesses control arrangements were adapted by the paulista government. The creation of many institutions and the first sanitary code sealed the beginning of the construction of a structure to the development of public policies of health in that place. The 60s indicate the end of hansenianos period of isolation and the possibility of carries to keep a life out of bars of Santo Ângelo and other asylums in the state. The illnesses control, in the paulista capital, became a great worry of the government as the industrialization mode the enrichment and modernization of the city possible, attracting a big number of immigrants. The increasing population brought with itself the expansion of many endemic and epidemic illnesses, making urgent state government intervention in the combat to the damages to health, though the particular arrangements adapted in previous periods were not working. The know ledges made about illnesses in Brazil and in the world allowed the medicine to emphasize the role the human blings played in the illnesses transmission, helping with this the control on sick people. This ways, besides the worry with the physical environment, though the sanitary arrangements were adapted with aim of improving the life conditions in the city, the medicine threw its look also to the social body, observing, controlling and excluding the sick people from the health population. By addressing to the human being, as a spreading temple of illnesses, the sanitary medicine, which grew in São Paulo, adapted exclusion, control and precaution techniques as ways of diseases preventive medicine. In this sense, among the many illnesses of compulsory notice, the hanseníase (former lepra) was privileged in this work by concerning a disease of which prevention demanded the compulsory isolation of its carriers in asylumcolonies built in places far from the capital. The hanseníase spread in an impressing way from the end of the 19th century in São Paulo, causing a great fear among the population since its cure was unknown and also because it brought with itself representations inherited from a distant past, but that still used to impress people. The isolation of hanseníase carriers at the Asylum-colony Santo Ângelo was seen by the authorities, by the doctors and by the society as the only way of preventing the disease. In this sense, Santo Ângelo was built having in view a long stay of the sick people, being provided with several facilities and an infrastructure praised even out of the state and Brazil. However, with the passing years the asylum became an unbearable place to live in. The sick people, apart from this families, were constantly watched, suffered maltreatments, were transformed into guinea pigs for testing new drugs and, out of the walls of the asylum, the illness kept out of uncontrolled. After decades of suffering, finally in 1967 the doors of the Asylum-Colony Santo Ângelo were open for the sick people to go out. Nevertheless, many people kept and keep up to today living in the place because they do not have perspectives of live out of the asylum. Some of them had their bodies affected by the illness and became in some way unable, eye sight, hearing or hands and feet loss, however all of then must take with them the forlornness blemish and the exclusion suffered in the period of compulsory isolation.

Entre 1808 e 1814 o Império Hispânico esteve envolvido por uma grande crise, iniciada pelo sequestro do rei Fernando VII por Napoleão Bonaparte. Com a invasão francesa, uma parte do povo espanhol resistiu aos conquistadores, e entre eles havia um grupo de ilustrados que se reuniam normalmente em uma tertúlia. Sob o comando do poeta Manuel Quintana, este grupo decidiu escrever o Semanario Patriótico, um jornal pioneiro, que interpretava a crise militar como uma crise constitucional e tentava comandar uma revolução. Em meio às dificuldades peninsulares, a questão americana foi motivo de preocupação e esperança, e nesse ponto houve um dos maiores debates do período, que dizia respeito tanto à posição das antigas colônias na nova ordem quanto em como combater as crescentes insurgências. Diante dos problemas políticos e militares, o grupo fundador do Semanario Patriótico se separou, não apenas fisicamente, mas também politicamente, e fundou novos jornais. Enquanto a maior parte dos seus redatores integrou o grupo liberal durante as Cortes de Cádis, outros se afrancesaram ou então emigraram para a Inglaterra. Conforme tentaremos comprovar ao longo da dissertação, o grupo também se dividiu quanto à resolução dos problemas advindos do Antigo Regime e da Crise, propondo diferentes soluções não apenas para a Europa, mas igualmente para o Império Americano. Esse trabalho é, portanto, um estudo de como um grupo ilustrado tentou manejar a crise do Antigo Regime na Espanha ao mesmo tempo em que tentava manter o Império Atlântico, porém sob novas condições, e não repetindo a estrutura de colônia e metrópole. / Between 1808 and 1814 the Hispanic Empire was involved in a major crisis, which begun by the arrest of Fernando VII by Napoleon Bonaparte. With the French invasion, a section of the Spanish people resisted to the conquerors, and amid them there was a group of illustrated that made up, before, a tertulia. Under the leadership of Manuel Quintana, this group decided to publish the Semanario Patriótico, a precursor newspaper that interpreted the military crisis as a constitutional crisis and was trying to do a revolution. Among the peninsular difficulties, the American problem was the whole time a reason to be worried and to hope. At this point, there was one of the hardest discussions of the period, which related both to the status of the ancient colonies in the new order and to how to face the growing insurgences. In the face of the political and military issues, the founding band of the Semanario Patriótico split up, not only territorially, but also politically, and started new journals. While the majority of its redactors helped do define what was the new liberal party during the Cortes de Cádiz, others frenchfyed themselves or emigrated to England. According to what we will defend along the dissertation, the group also split up about the resolution of the problems coming from the Ancient Regime and from the Crisis, developing different resolutions, not only for Europe, but likewise to the American Empire. This work is, therefore, a study of how a handful of illustrated tried to handle the crisis of the Ancient Regime in Spain at the same time as they were trying to keep the Atlantic Empire, but under new conditions, and not repeating the old structure of colony and metropolis.

Ce travail nous a permis de proposer un cadre pour sonder la morphogenèse d'une micro-colonie bidimensionnelle. Plus particulièrement, nous avons exploré la manière dont les effets individuels de croissance et d'adhésion se combinaient au cours de la croissance de la micro-colonie. Nous avons montré (i) que l'adhésion de cellules isolées est asymétrique du fait d'un vieux pôle plus ancré et (ii) que l'allongement des bactéries peut induire des forces de poussée à l'intérieur des colonies. Dans la mesure où ces deux effets, combinés à l'échelle d'une micro-colonie, sont susceptibles de générer des contraintes mécaniques, nous avons développé une technique pour mesurer les forces d'adhésion résultantes à l'aide de substrats déformables. Nous avons ainsi démontré que des adhésions focales sont créées et rompues dynamiquement, avec un biais au vieux pôle des cellules. Nous avons aussi examiné le rôle de l'adhésion sur la forme des colonies. Nous avons montré que l'adhésion polaire était responsable de la transition d'un régime de croissance linéaire à un régime bidimensionnel qui est observée après la première division. Pour des colonies de taille plus importante, le niveau d'adhésion était aussi corrélé avec la forme globale des colonies. Enfin, l'adhésion est aussi impliquée dans la transition d'une colonie bidimensionnelle à une colonie tridimensionnelle. L'ensemble de ces résultats suggère que l'expression des adhésines ainsi que leur localisation à la surface des cellules pourraient permettre aux bactéries de moduler activement la forme du groupe dans lequel elles vivent. / In this work, we propose a framework to understand the morphogenesis of two-dimensional microcolonies. In particular, we have explored how growth and adhesion of individual cells compete during microcolony extension. We have shown (i) that isolated cells display an asymmetry in their adhesion, which is higher at the old pole, (ii) that bacterial elongation can result in pushing forces inside the colony. Since the combination of these two effects is expected to produce mechanical stress at the scale of the microcolony, we have developed a method to measure the resulting adhesion forces using deformable substrates. We have demonstrated that focal adhesions are dynamically established and ruptured, with a bias towards the old poles. We have also probed the role of adhesion in the shape of the colony. We have shown that polar adhesion drives the transition from a linear to a two-dimensional growth after the first division. At larger colony sizes, the level of adhesion continues to correlate with the global shape of the colony. Finally, adhesion is involved in the transition from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional colony. Taken together, our results suggest that the expression of adhesins and their location at the surface of the cells could be levers by which bacteria actively modulate the shape of the group in which they reside.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:30:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Simone Merissi Dias.pdf: 488349 bytes, checksum: c398e3bce29634d5ed34a1017b33b76d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-02 / The main objective of this research is to deepen, through the divorces processes, the conflicts immersed it the social and family life of slaves and women in the Capitania of São Paulo. For this purpose, it also analyzes the construction of the family and the social life of slaves, as well as those women that, after marriage in the Church, wanted to divorce. The stories told by these women to the ecclesiastical authorities at the right moment of breaking point of family alliance revealed some information about the relationship between women and the Catholic Church. Based on the research, were discussed the Church laws and relativity social impact of surveillance undertaken by the Catholic Church which consequently allowed to slaves and women to build social and family foundations, allowing questioning the stereotypes constructed about them / Esta pesquisa tem como principal objetivo analisar e discutir a mobilidade e a sociabilidade forjada por mulheres e escravos na sociedade colonial através dos processos de divórcio e nulidade matrimonial encontrado no ACMSP. Os conflitos e as relações presentes na vida social e familiar de escravos e mulheres na Capitania de São Paulo nos abrem perspectivas para (re) avaliar o papel das mulheres na sociedade oitocentista na Capitania de São Paulo. Conseqüentemente também pode se analisar a construção familiar e a vida social dos escravos, bem como focalizar os personagens que, após o matrimônio, buscavam romper os laços que os uniam ao seu conjugue através da justiça eclesiástica que facultava as mulheres o mesmo direito dos homens para anular ou romper os laços que os unia através do sacramento do matrimônio. Com base na pesquisa efetuada, foram abordadas as leis eclesiásticas e a relatividade do alcance social da vigilância empreendida pelo catolicismo que, conseqüentemente permitiu aos escravos e às mulheres, uma atuação social e familiar, possibilitando assim questionar estereótipos construídos sobre o espaço ocupado pelas mulheres na sociedade

A Aflatoxina M1 (AFM1) é um metabólito tóxico que pode ser secretado no leite de animais contaminados com Aflatoxina B1 (AFB1). A ingestão do produto contaminado pode causar efeitos adversos de forma aguda ou crônica, sendo necessária não somente sua detecção, mas quantificação para um consumo seguro dos alimentos. Como os queijos coloniais são oriundos de pequenas propriedades rurais, muitas sem uma efetiva fiscalização e que são não somente consumidos pela família, mas também comercializados principalmente em pequenos estabelecimentos às margens de rodovias, este trabalho visa justamente avaliar o índice de contaminação em queijos coloniais produzidos artesanalmente comercializados em estabelecimentos às margens de rodovias de grande fluxo no vale do Taquari. Foram analisadas 15 amostras de queijos comercializados em estabelecimentos comerciais às margens das rodovias BR 386 e RS 287 na região do vale do Taquari, no estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A metodologia empregada na análise de Aflatoxina M1 envolveu uma partição líquido-líquido na etapa de extração e purificação e Enzimaimunoensaio em fase sólida (ELISA) para detecção e quantificação. O limite mínimo de detecção foi 16 ng/Kg (0,016 μg/Kg) e a avaliação da eficiência do método foi superior a 90% no teste de recuperação. Todas as amostras analisadas apresentaram níveis de AFM1, sendo que quatro delas apresentaram níveis superiores ao limite máximo toleradoestabelecido pela Comunidade Européia( 0,25μgKg). Nenhuma das amostras apresentou níveis superiores ao limite máximo tolerado definido pela legislação nacional (2,5 μg/Kg). Estes dados indicam a necessidade de um melhor controle na produção de queijos coloniais, principalmente das condições em que foram obtidas a matéria prima para o seu manufaturamento. / Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a toxic metabolite that can be secreted into the milk of animals infected with Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). Ingestion of the contaminated product may cause acute or chronic adverse effects, requiring not only its detection, but quantification for safe consumption of food. As the colonial cheeses come from small rural properties, many without an effective inspection and that are not only consumed by the family, but also marketed mainly in small establishments along roadsides, this work aims precisely to evaluate the contamination index in produced colonial cheeses traded in establishments along the banks of high-flow roads in the Taquari valley. Fifteen samples of cheeses marketed in commercial establishments along the BR 386 and RS 287 highways in the Taquari valley region in Rio Grande do Sul State were analyzed. The methodology used in the analysis of Aflatoxin M1 involved a liquid-liquid partition in step extraction and purification and solid phase enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) for detection and quantification. The minimum detection limit was 16 ng / kg (0.016 μg / kg) and the efficiency evaluation of the method was over 90% in the recovery test. All samples analyzed showed levels of AFM1, four of which presented levels above the maximum tolerated limit established by the European Community (0.25 μg kg). None of the samples had levels above the maximum tolerated limit defined by national legislation (2,5 μg / kg). These data indicate the need for a better control in the production of colonial cheeses, mainly from the conditions in which the raw material was obtained for its manufacture.

This research identifies and investigates major issues in inducing accurate and comprehensible fuzzy rules from datasets. A review of the current literature on fuzzy rulebase induction uncovers two significant issues: A. There is a tradeoff between inducing accurate fuzzy rules and inducing comprehensible fuzzy rules; and, B. A common strategy for the induction of fuzzy rulebases, that of iterative rule learning where the rules are generated one by one and independently of each other, may not be an optimal one. FRANTIC, a system that provides a framework for exploring the claims above is developed. At the core lies a mechanism for creating individual fuzzy rules. This is based on a significantly modified social insect-inspired heuristic for combinatorial optimisation -- Ant Colony Optimisation. The rule discovery mechanism is utilised in two very different strategies for the induction of a complete fuzzy rulebase: 1. The first follows the common iterative rule learning approach for the induction of crisp and fuzzy rules; 2. The second has been designed during this research explicitly for the induction of a fuzzy rulebase, and generates all rules in parallel. Both strategies have been tested on a number of classification problems, including medical diagnosis and industrial plant fault detection, and compared against other crisp or fuzzy induction algorithms that use more well-established approaches. The results challenge statement A above, by presenting evidence to show that one criterion need not be met at the expense of the other. This research also uncovers the cost that is paid -- that of computational expenditure -- and makes concrete suggestions on how this may be resolved. With regards to statement B, until now little or no evidence has been put forward to support or disprove the claim. The results of this research indicate that definite advantages are offered by the second simultaneous strategy, that are not offered by the iterative one. These benefits include improved accuracy over a wide range of values for several key system parameters. However, both approaches also fare well when compared to other learning algorithms. This latter fact is due to the rule discovery mechanism itself -- the adapted Ant Colony Optimisation algorithm -- which affords several additional advantages. These include a simple mechanism within the rule construction process that enables it to cope with datasets that have an imbalanced distribution between the classes, and another for controlling the amount of fit to the training data. In addition, several system parameters have been designed to be semi-autonomous so as to avoid unnecessary user intervention, and in future work the social insect metaphor may be exploited and extended further to enable it to deal with industrial-strength data mining issues involving large volumes of data, and distributed and/or heterogeneous databases.

In this thesis, a novel framework for dynamic congestion control has been proposed. The study is about the congestion control in broadband communication networks. Congestion results when demand temporarily exceeds capacity and leads to severe degradation of Quality of Service (QoS) and possibly loss of traffic. Since traffic is stochastic in nature, high demand may arise anywhere in a network and possibly causing congestion. There are different ways to mitigate the effects of congestion, by rerouting, by aggregation to take advantage of statistical multiplexing, and by discarding too demanding traffic, which is known as admission control. This thesis will try to accommodate as much traffic as possible, and study the effect of routing and aggregation on a rather general mix of traffic types. Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) are concepts that allow for dynamic configuration of network resources by decoupling control from payload data and allocation of network functions to the most suitable physical node. This allows implementation of a centralised control that takes the state of the entire network into account and configures nodes dynamically to avoid congestion. Assumes that node controls can be expressed in commands supported by OpenFlow v1.3. Due to state dependencies in space and time, the network dynamics are very complex, and resort to a simulation approach. The load in the network depends on many factors, such as traffic characteristics and the traffic matrix, topology and node capacities. To be able to study the impact of control functions, some parts of the environment is fixed, such as the topology and the node capacities, and statistically average the traffic distribution in the network by randomly generated traffic matrices. The traffic consists of approximately equal intensity of smooth, bursty and long memory traffic. By designing an algorithm that route traffic and configure queue resources so that delay is minimised, this thesis chooses the delay to be the optimisation parameter because it is additive and real-time applications are delay sensitive. The optimisation being studied both with respect to total end-to-end delay and maximum end-to-end delay. The delay is used as link weights and paths are determined by Dijkstra's algorithm. Furthermore, nodes are configured to serve the traffic optimally which in turn depends on the routing. The proposed algorithm is a fixed-point system of equations that iteratively evaluates routing - aggregation - delay until an equilibrium point is found. Three strategies are compared: static node configuration where each queue is allocated 1/3 of the node resources and no aggregation, aggregation of real-time (taken as smooth and bursty) traffic onto the same queue, and dynamic aggregation based on the entropy of the traffic streams and their aggregates. The results of the simulation study show good results, with gains of 10-40% in the QoS parameters. By simulation, the positive effects of the proposed routing and aggregation strategy and the usefulness of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm constitutes the central control logic, and the resulting control actions are realisable through the SDN/NFV architecture.