Modelos de fração de cura compõem uma vasta subárea da análise de sobrevivência, apresentando grande aplicabilidade em estudos médicos. O uso deste tipo de modelo é adequado em situações tais que o pesquisador reconhece a existência de uma parcela da população não suscetível ao evento de interesse, consequentemente considerando a probabilidade de que o evento não ocorra. Embora a teoria encontre-se consolidada tratando-se de censuras à direita, a literatura de modelos de fração de cura carece de estudos que contemplem a estrutura de censura intervalar, incentivando os estudos apresentados neste trabalho. Três modelos semiparamétricos de fração de cura para este tipo de censura são aqui considerados para aplicações em conjuntos de dados reais e estudados por meio de simulações. O primeiro modelo, apresentado por Liu e Shen (2009), trata-se de um modelo de tempo de promoção com estimação baseada em uma variação do algoritmo EM e faz uso de técnicas de otimização convexa em seu processo de maximização. O modelo proposto por Lam et al. (2013) considera um modelo semiparamétrico de Cox, modelando a fração de cura da população através de um efeito aleatório com distribuição Poisson composta, utilizando métodos de aumento de dados em conjunto com estimadores de máxima verossimilhança. Em Xiang et al. (2011), um modelo de mistura padrão é proposto adotando um modelo logístico para explicar a incidência e fazendo uso da estrutura de riscos proporcionais para os efeitos sobre o tempo. Os dois últimos modelos mencionados possuem extensões para dados agrupados, utilizadas nas aplicações deste trabalho. Uma das principais motivações desta dissertação consiste em um estudo conduzido por pesquisadores da Fundação Pró-Sangue, em São Paulo - SP, cujo interesse reside em avaliar o tempo até a ocorrência de anemia em doadores de repetição por meio de avaliações periódicas do hematócrito, medido em cada visita ao hemocentro. A existência de uma parcela de doadores não suscetíveis à doença torna conveniente o uso dos modelos estudados. O segundo conjunto de dados analisado trata-se de um conjunto de observações periódicas de cervos de cauda branca equipados com rádiocolares. Tem-se como objetivo a avaliação do comportamento migratório dos animais no inverno para determinadas condições climáticas e geográficas, contemplando a possibilidade de os cervos não migrarem. Um estudo comparativo entre os modelos propostos é realizado por meio de simulações, a fim de avaliar a robustez ao assumir-se determinadas especificações de cenário e fração de cura. Até onde sabemos, nenhum trabalho comparando os diferentes mecanismos de cura na presença de censura intervalar foi realizado até o presente momento. / Cure rate models define an vast sub-area of the survival analysis, presenting great applicability in medical studies. The use of this type of model is suitable in situations such that the researcher recognizes the existence of an non-susceptible part of the population to the event of interest, considering then the probability that such a event does not occur. Although the theory finds itself consolidated when considering right censoring, the literature of cure rate models lacks of interval censoring studies, encouraging then the studies presented in this work. Three semiparametric cure rate models for this type of censoring are considered here for real data analysis and then studied by means of simulations. The first model, presented by Liu e Shen (2009), refers to a promotion time model with its estimation based on an EM algorithm variation and using convex optimization techniques for the maximization process. The model proposed by Lam et al. (2013) considers a Cox semiparametric model, modelling then the population cure fraction by an frailty distributed as an compound Poisson, used jointly with data augmentation methods and maximum likelihood estimators. In Xiang et al. (2011), an standard mixture cure rate model is proposed adopting an logistic model for explaining incidence and using proportional hazards structure for the effects over the time to event. The two last mentioned models have extensions for clustered data analysis and are used on the examples of applications of this work. One of the main motivations of this dissertation consists on a study conducted by researches of Fundação Pró-Sangue, in São Paulo - SP, whose interest resides on evaluating the time until anaemia, occurring to recurrent donors, detected through periodic evaluations of the hematocrit, measured on each visit to the blood center. The existence of a non-susceptible portion of donors turns the use of the cure rate models convenient. The second analysed dataset consists on an set of periodic observations of radio collar equipped white tail deers. The goal here is the evaluation of when these animals migrate in the winter for specic weather and geographic conditions, contemplating the possibility that deer could not migrate. A comparative study among the proposed models is realized using simulations, in order to assess the robustness when assuming determined specifications about scenario and cure fraction. As far as we know, no work has been done comparing different cure mechanisms in the presence of interval censoring data until the present moment.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:13:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2006-Simone Gadelha Cavalcante.pdf: 707753 bytes, checksum: f0b33be91024838f1581484b42ae1662 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-09-29 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / This dissertation was based on a case study about popular faith healing practices by rezadeiras in the municipality of Maranguape which were linked to the health public system in that municipality with the implementation of the Program "Soro Ra?zes e Rezas" for the reduction of infant mortality. Since 1998, this program has been implemented in this municipality located in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, Cear? in the Northeast of Brazil. By analyzing the possibility of exchanging experiences and a dialogue between rezadeiras and institutional medicine, especially with the health professionals of the Family Health Program (PSF) who work in this municipality, a study was made about what health representations are being delineated from this contact between rezadeiras and health professionals involved in the program. We tried to investigate whether and how this "encounter" between the two medicine has produced a new frontier and new values that resulted in a re-configuration of the representations and health practices. In this manner, the object of this study is to contribute towards a reflection about the new relationships established between rezadeiras and physicians as well as the effects on the community assisted by the Program. This study also tries to raise the implications of this insertion process of rezadeiras for the public system which is disseminated as a modern model of public policy in health. / Esta disserta??o teve como fundamento o estudo de caso sobre as pr?ticas populares de cura das rezadeiras de Maranguape que foram vinculadas ao sistema p?blico de sa?de do munic?pio, com a implanta??o do Programa Soro, Ra?zes e Rezas para a diminui??o da mortalidade infantil. Este Programa foi implementado neste munic?pio, localizado na zona metropolitana de Fortaleza-Cear?, no nordeste do Brasil desde 1998. Analisando-se a possibilidade de troca de experi?ncias e de di?logo entre as rezadeiras com a medicina institucional, em especial com as equipes do Programa de Sa?de da Fam?lia PSF, que atuam neste munic?pio, estudou-se quais as representa??es em sa?de que est?o sendo delineadas a partir desse contato entre as rezadeiras e os profissionais de sa?de envolvidos no Programa. Buscou-se verificar se e de que modo este encontro entre as medicinas tem produzido uma nova fronteira e novos valores, resultando numa reconfigura??o das representa??es e pr?ticas em sa?de. Objetiva-se desse modo com este estudo, contribuir com uma reflex?o sobre as novas rela??es que se estabelecem entre as rezadeiras e os profissionais m?dicos e os efeitos na comunidade assistida pelo Programa. Bem como tamb?m, prop?e-se colocar em cena as implica??es desse processo de inser??o das rezadeiras ao sistema p?blico divulgado como um modelo moderno de pol?tica p?blica em sa?de.

Pour améliorer les sols possédant des caractéristiques mécaniques faibles, il est possible d'utiliser un traitement à la chaux et/ou au liant hydraulique. Dans certains cas, ce type de traitement est inefficace en raison de la présence dans le sol de perturbateurs. Cependant, sauf dans le cas des composés soufrés, il existe très peu de données sur la perturbation due à d'autres composés chimique, comme par exemple les fertilisants utilisés en agriculture. Dans ce contexte, une étude a été entreprise pour identifier clairement l'influence de composés chimiques réellement perturbateurs de la prise (performance à court terme), à la fois géotechniquement et physico-chimiquement. Des éléments chimiques ont été ajoutés aux sols étudiés, à différentes concentrations, puis les variations de paramètres géotechniques et physico-chimiques ont été mesurées pour les sols perturbés ou non. Nous avons ainsi étudié les effets de quatre composés chimiques : le sulfate, le chlorure, le phosphate, et le nitrate, sur deux sols différents, un limon et un sable, traités par deux liants hydrauliques différents. Le gonflement volumique, la résistance à la compression simple, et à la traction indirecte ont été mesurés pour évaluer les effets de chacun des composés considérés sur les propriétés mécaniques des sols traités. Ces mesures seront complétées par des observations microtexturales (MEB), minéralogiques (DRX) et chimiques. Cette étude permet de mettre en évidence les difficultés de déterminer si un élément est perturbateurs ou non du traitement des sols, sans considérer un système intégrant la nature du sol, la nature des liants, l'élément chimique et sa concentration, et enfin les conditions d'essai.

Solvent-borne thermally cured coil-coating resins contain large amounts of volatile organic solvents in order to obtain suitable flow for film application. This work describes how the expensive and environmental hazardous volatile organic solvent content of a solvent-borne thermally cured polyester/melamine coil-coating system can be reduced by introduction of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) as reactive diluents and modification of the polyester binder resin. The evaluated reactive diluents, two rape seed methyl esters (RMEs), two linseed oil methyl esters (LMEs), and a tall oil methyl ester (TOME) have been evaluated both in a fully formulated clear-coat system and via model studies. Viscosity measurements of wet paint mixtures showed that formulations with hyperbranched polyester binder hold lower viscosity than conventional polyester binder resins and that FAME works as a diluent. Fully formulated clear-coats were cured under simulated industrial coil-coating cure conditions and in a convection oven at lower temperatures respectively. FAME increases the mobility of the system enhancing the film formation process. Free-standing clear-coat films were analyzed with Raman, carbon-14 dating, extraction, dynamic mechanical analysis, and visual observation. Incorporation of FAME could not be confirmed by Raman analysis. However, carbon-14 dating indicated the presence of FAME that could not be extracted from the films. The mechanical properties of the films were also affected by the addition of FAMEs, oven temperature, choice of co-solvent, and flash-off period. Conventional film characterization tests on substrate supported coatings indicated that binder resin structure and cure conditions affect the final film properties. Model studies were performed to clarify how FAME can chemically react through transesterification with the hydroxyl-groups of the polyester. The transesterification reaction between different FAMEs and primary alcohols with and without tertiary hydrogen was monitored with 1H-NMR and real time IR. Evaporation and side reactions, e.g. alkene reactions, are competing factors to the transesterification reaction. The study showed that fatty acid structure, reaction time, and temperature affect the transesterification conversion, degree of side reactions, and choice of catalyst. A pigmented fully formulated polyester/melamine formulation with a reactive diluent was cured at full scale in an industrial coil-coating production facility. Evaluation of the final film properties showed that the coating fulfills the specification of conventional polyester/melamine coil-coating systems. / QC 20100817

Diese Arbeit liefert einen Beitrag zur Auslegung geklebter Karosserie-Mischbaustrukturen. Die derzeit verwendeten Strukturklebstoffe genügen komplexen mechanischen und schon im Fertigungsprozess hohen thermischen Beanspruchungen. Die Beschreibung der physikalischen, thermischen und mechanischen Eigenschaften des Klebstoffs über den gesamten Prozess hinweg ist für die Auslegung der Klebverbindung vor allem in Mischbaustrukturen entscheidend. Temperaturen von bis zu 200 °C im KTL-Lacktrocknungsprozess führen zum einen zur Vernetzung der Klebstoffe, zum anderen aber auch zur thermischen Ausdehnung der artfremden Werkstoffpaarungen. Die so auftretenden Relativverschiebungen in großflächigen, geklebten Mischbaustrukturen können aufgrund der in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Vorgehensweise schon in der Konzeptphase numerisch berechnet und die damit verbundenen bleibenden Deformationen sowie festigkeitsrelevanten Bereiche in der Klebschicht prognostiziert werden. Für die Dimensionierung der Klebverbindungen ist hiermit ein Nachweis der temperatur- und vernetzungsgradabhängigen Klebstofffestigkeit unter mehrachsiger Beanspruchung erbracht worden.

In high performance electronic systems, with increasing chip speed and larger number of processors, the system performance is being limited by off-chip metal interconnects. In such systems, polymer optical waveguides are being considered to replace electrical interconnects because of their high capacity for bandwidth and less constraints on interconnect length. The optical loss in the polymer optical waveguides is the key criterion used to evaluate their performance, and is significantly affected by thermal curing and aging. The evolution of degree-of-cure is determined from differential scanning calorimetry and compared to optical absorption from spectroscopy. Optical loss due to scattering mechanisms is related to local density fluctuations, which is studied using dielectric analysis. Based on the optical loss trends in uncladded and cladded waveguides, the underlying mechanisms for the optical loss variations are proposed and a cure process schedule to realize the lowest optical loss is recommended. Process-induced thermal stresses can also affect the polymer waveguide by introducing stress birefringence. The stress-optical coefficients of the siloxane polymer are extracted and employed in a numerical modeling method to determine the stress-induced birefringence in an optical waveguide system. The thermal-aging dependent optical loss is determined for waveguide samples at several different accelerated temperature conditions. To get the field-use conditions, the temperature distribution in the vicinity of the embedded laser and the polymer waveguide is determined. Using such thermal experimental data, the analytical reliability models were employed to relate the optical loss with time, and provide a practical way of determining whether the optical waveguides would perform within the optical loss budget during field-use conditions.

The goal of this work was to achieve a homogeneous morphology of carbon nanotubes in a polyimide matrix, characterize the resulting nanocomposite properties, and understand structure-property relationships. Melt-mixing was used as an effective method for dispersing multiwall nanotubes and carbon nanofibers in a phenylethynyl terminated imide resin where aggregation occurred only in particle-saturated systems. Particle network formation within the nanocomposites was studied using rheology and impedance spectroscopy; results showed that the electrical percolation threshold occurred at a lower particle loading than the rheological percolation threshold, consistent with the oligomer size in comparison to the distance for electrical conductivity (~5 nm). Thermomechanical analysis showed that the addition of nanoparticles enhanced the polyimide storage modulus and thermal behavior indicated that the nanoparticles restricted polymer motion to higher temperatures. A study of the cure mechanism of the oligomer with and without nanoparticles showed that the nanoparticles reduced the activation energy required for cure initiation while increasing the obtainable extent of cure at various isothermal temperatures. The work presented in this dissertation shows that an easy, time effective processing method can be used to homogeneously disperse nanoparticles in an imide oligomer, and the resulting nanocomposites exhibit enhanced properties. A business plan is also presented that reflects the market potential of this technology.

Thesis--University of California, San Francisco. / Photocopy of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1977. -- 21 cm. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 195-205).

This thesis examines the methods through which Gail Anderson-Dargatz and Ann-Marie MacDonald construct region in their novels The Cure for Death by Lightning and Fall on Your Knees. These texts, like all successful regional novels, describe more than geography. Their regions are also functions of time. I introduce the term "temporal region" to describe the spaces created by this interdependence of time and place. I then focus upon the specifics of descriptive and narrative approach that lead to the convincing portrayal of the Shuswap and Cape Breton Island in the texts. Anderson-Dargatz and MacDonald direct attention to the foddways of their regions, expressing the connection between consumption choices and a society's historical and physical location. The authors also articulate their regions by highlighting cultural diversity in the areas they describe. In this way they deny the social homogeneity more sentimental regional texts often rely upon. Finally, the novelists use an appropriately Canadian method of regional opposition to define their temporal regions according to that which they are not ~ they are not American, glamorous, or urban. They therefore must be Canadian, quotidian, and rural.

Halogenation of poly(isobutylene-co-isoprene) (IIR) increases its reactivity towards sulphur and other nucleophiles. Currently brominated (BIIR) and chlorinated (CIIR) derivatives are commercially available; however, an iodinated derivative has been briefly investigated. The effects of leaving group ability and microstructure on the reactivity of halogenated poly(isobutylene-co-isoprene) were studied to put iodobutyl rubber reactivity into context and to compare existing commercial products to their isomeric derivatives. Polymers containing halomethyl (r-CIIR, r-BIIR, r-IIIR) isomers of butyl rubber were prepared from as-received BIIR to compare the effect of leaving group on thermal stability and reactivity towards nucleophilic substitution. The polymer containing (E,Z)-endo-iodomethyl isomers (r-IIIR) readily underwent nucleophilic substitution at low temperatures; however, it was sensitive towards dehydrohalogenation at temperatures above 65⁰C. At temperatures between 100⁰C and 135⁰C, the bromomethyl derivative (r-BIIR) demonstrated the best balance between reactivity toward nucleophilic substitution and dehydrohalogenation. Exceptional thermal stability at temperatures up to 190⁰C was displayed by the chloromethyl derivative (r-CIIR); however, it was unreactive at low temperatures towards certain nucleophiles. This lack of reactivity shown by r-CIIR was not consistent with all nucleophiles, as reaction dynamics with TBAAc display its variable reactivity towards nucleophilic substitution with results parallel to those of r-BIIR. Exo-methylene allylic halides (Exo-Br, Exo-Cl) and (E,Z)-endo-halomethyl (r-BIIR, r-CIIR) isomers were vulcanized with sulphur to determine the effect of microstructure on reactivity. Results showed a clear effect of microstructure on the ability to cure with sulphur. While the Exo-Cl isomer has no ability to cure, when rearranged to its (E,Z)-endo-chloromethyl isomer curing occurs readily. Both the Exo-Cl and (E,Z)-endo-bromomethyl isomers readily vulcanize in the presence of sulphur, however Exo-Br cures to a greater extent. / Thesis (Master, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-30 12:55:25.665