Sweden is a country with high levels of trust in both state and the criminal justice system and also the most prominent country in the EU in regard to gender equality. This essay aims to examine the paradox of high female trust in the Swedish criminal justice system in contrast to the low propensity to report domestic violence and crimes of which women are the majority of victims. This is done by answering three main frames of questions; What factors can explain and therefore influence trust towards the justice system? What factors can explain and therefore influence the propensity to report domestic crime and how do these factors pertain to trust? How can factors that affect trust and propensity to report crimes in close relationships be affected and remedied by the state? To answer these questions, we utilise established theories of trust, feminist political theory, research about propensity to report and models of agency and a historical account of the Swedish government's policy in regard to the safety of women and domestic violence. This is utilised to examine 10 official documents regarding different aspects of propensity to report domestic violence and trust. The high levels of trust could be explained by a combination of high levels of basic trust owed to Sweden's universalistic welfare model, high conceptions of police availability and good treatment and also a symbolic value of the justice system as bearer of societal norms and of being good willed in nature. The low propensity to report crimes could in part be explained by the conflict of interests between the women and the government. The government's responsibility and governing works through their definition of women's encapsulated interests. These are shown to differ from a majority of the affected women's definition of their own interests which could invite a feminist critique.

Bacteria-based cancer therapy (BBCT) holds immense promise in addressing the limitations in treatment of solid tumors. Bacterial strains used for BBCT are engineered to express therapeutics, facilitate precise navigation within the tumor microenvironment by enhancing bacteria's motility, chemotaxis (movement toward or away from specific chemicals), or other mechanisms that aid in reaching and infiltrating the tumor tissue effectively, and complementing traditional chemotherapy and immunotherapies while minimizing side effects. Bacterial motility not only influences the ability of bacteria to navigate within the tumor but also plays a pivotal role in optimizing drug delivery, treatment efficacy, and minimizing potential obstacles associated with the complex microenvironment of human tissues. However, the current understanding of bacterial motility remains limited. In this thesis, we use a reductionist approach and study bacteria motile behavior within human tissue phantoms (collagen and agar) and the bacteria-hydrogel interactions. Apart from motility, it is important to analyze the mechanical properties of the hydrogels the bacteria interact with as they play a vital role in overall behavior and physics of bacteria movement. To that extent, there exists a gap in our understanding of the viscoelastic properties of hydrogels. Lastly, systematic and comprehensive investigation of bacteria behavior in hydrogels requires tracking of thousands of individual cells. Thus, there is an unmet need to develop new automated techniques to reduce the labor-intensive manual tracking of bacteria in low-contrast hydrogel environments, with feature sizes comparable to that of bacteria. To address these gaps, this thesis proposes a trident approach towards mechanistic understanding of bacteria motility in time-invariant agar and temporally evolving collagen hydrogels to bridge critical gaps in understanding bacterial motile behavior in these media, non-destructive microelastography-based mechanical characterization of hydrogels with less than 4.7% error compared with rheology, and the development of deep learning-enabled automated bacteria tracking tools with 77% precision. / Master of Science / There exists a huge scope for improvement in cancer therapies. The gold standard chemotherapy and immunotherapies are responsible for a lot of side effects. Over a century ago, bacteria-based cancer therapy started to develop and over the period, it was discovered that they can be effective when used with traditional therapies improving precision and reducing side effects. The motility of bacteria is shown to improve bacterial distribution in solid tumors. However, the physical underpinnings of bacteria motility in the tumor environment remains understudied. This thesis proposes a trident approach, investigating bacteria motility in tissue-like environments (hydrogels), characterizing the mechanical properties of hydrogels using acoustic waves to capture bacteria-induced alterations, and developing deep-learning-enabled automated bacterial tracking approach for high throughput analysis of experimental data. We report bacteria behavior and motility patterns in hydrogels, the mechanics of these hydrogels with less than 4.7% error compared with standard characterization methods, and automated bacteria tracking with 77% precision to inform the development and advancement of bacteria-based drug delivery systems. In summary, these tools can help improve our understanding of bacteria-hydrogel interactions, allowing us to develop innovative bacteria-based cancer therapies in the long term.

Evolutionary Psychology (EP) tends to be associated with a Massively Modular (MM) cognitive architecture. I argue that EP favors a non-MM cognitive architecture. The main point of dispute is whether central cognition, such as abstract reasoning, exhibits domain-general properties. Partisans of EP argue that domain-specific modules govern central cognition, for it is unclear how the cognitive mind could have evolved domain-generality. In response, I defend a distinction between exogenous and endogenous selection pressures, according to which exogenous pressures tend to select for domain-specificity, whereas the latter, endogenous pressures, select in favor of domain-generality. I draw on models from brain network theory to motivate this distinction, and also to establish that a domain-general, non-MM cognitive architecture is the more parsimonious adaptive solution to endogenous pressures.

Os efeitos da substituição da uréia tradicional por uréia de liberação lenta (ULL) e de dois níveis de nitrogênio não-protéico (NNP) na fração proteína bruta (PB) em suplementos oferecidos a 0,6% do peso vivo (PV) de novilhos Nelore alimentados ad libitum com feno de Brachiaria brizantha foram avaliados. Foram utilizados oito animais com 374,40kg (± 42Kg) de PV, dotados de cânulas ruminais, em um delineamento Quadrado Latino 4 x 4 replicado, cujos períodos foram compostos por cinco dias de adaptação dos animais às dietas e 7 dias de coletas de amostras. Os suplementos foram confeccionados de forma a conterem 40% (0; 50 ou 100% de uréia de liberação lenta em substituição à uréia tradicional) ou 80% da PB como fonte de NNP (100% de uréia de liberação lenta). Os dados foram analisados utilizando-se contrastes ortogonais para avaliar os efeitos de substituição da uréia tradicional e de percentagem da PB oriunda de fonte de NNP. Quando houve efeitos significativos de substituição da uréia, foi utilizada análise de regressão polinomial. Para o estudo dos parâmetros de fermentação ruminal, foi considerado adicionalmente o delineamento em parcelas sub-divididas, a fim de se avaliar a interação entre tratamentos e tempo de coleta. A substituição da uréia tradicional não teve efeitos sobre o consumo de matéria seca e matéria seca digestível. O aumento na percentagem de NNP na fração proteína bruta dos suplementos diminuiu a digestibilidade da matéria seca e o consumo de matéria seca digestível em percentagem do peso vivo e em gramas por quilo de peso metabólico. A digestibilidade da proteína bruta foi maior, à medida que ULL foi inclusa no suplemento, porém nenhum efeito foi verificado sobre a digestibilidade da, fibra em detergente ácido (FDA) e neutro (FDN), carboidratos não-fibrosos (CNF) e matéria orgânica (MO). O suplemento com 80% da PB como NNP oriundo de ULL diminuiu a digestibilidade das frações PB, FDA e FDN. A substituição de uréia tradicional por ULL diminuiu linearmente a concentração total de ácidos graxos voláteis no rúmen, mas não afetou as concentrações de ácidos acético, propiônico e butírico, assim como a relação acético:propiônico. O aumento de 40% para 80% da PB como fonte de NNP aumentou a concentração de ácido acético e diminuiu a concentração de ácido butírico, sendo que não foi verificado nenhum efeito sobre as concentrações de AGVs totais e de ácido propiônico e na relação acético:propiônico. O pH e as concentrações de nitrogênio amoniacal ruminal não foram afetados pela inclusão de ULL ou pelos níveis de NNP do suplemento. A substituição de uréia tradicional por uréia de liberação lenta apresentou poucos efeitos no padrão de fermentação ruminal e na disponibilidade dos nutrientes de dietas à base de forragem de baixa qualidade. O aumento no teor de NNP da PB dietética pode comprometer a disponibilidade de nutrientes de bovinos alimentados com forragens. / The effects of traditional urea replacement for slow-release urea (SRU) and of two levels of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) in crude protein (CP) fraction of supplements fed at 0.6% of body weight (BW) to Nellore steers consuming Brachiaria brizantha hay (ad libitum) were evaluated. Eight animals, with 374,40kg (± 42Kg) of BW and fitted with rumen cannulas were used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin Square design, composed by 5-day adjustment-periods and 12-day sampling periods. Supplements were prepared with the purpose to contain: 40% (0; 50 and 100% of SRU replacing traditional urea) or 80% of CP as a NPN source (100% of SRU). Data were analyzed using ortogonal contrasts in order to evaluate the effects of traditional urea replacement and NPN levels. Polynomial regression was used when effects of urea replacement levels were significant. To ruminal fermentation parameters evaluation, additional split-plot design was considered to assess treatments and time for sampling interaction. Replacement of traditional urea for SRU had no effects on dry matter and digestible dry matter intakes. Increasing NPN percentage of CP fraction decreased dry matter digestibility and digestible dry matter intakes as percentage of BW and in grams per kilogram of metabolic weight (MW). Crude protein digestibility was increased as SRU was included in the supplement, but had no effect on acid (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), ether extract (EE), non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC) and organic matter (OM) digestibility. Supplement with 80% of CP as SRU NPN decreased CP, ADF and NDF digestibility. Replacement of urea for SRU decreased linearly ruminal total volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration, but had no effect on acetic, propionic and butyric acids concentration, as well as acetic to propionic ratio. Increasing 40% to 80% of CP as NPN source increased acetic acid and decreased butyric concentrations. Ruminal pH and amnoniacal nitrogen concentration were not affected by SRU inclusion or NPN levels. Replacement of traditional urea for slow-release urea showed few effects on rumen fermentation patterns and on nutrients availability of low quality forage based diets. Increasing NPN percentage of diet CP fraction may compromise nutrients availability of cattle fed forage.

nÃo hà / Esta pesquisa apresenta uma anÃlise integrada das caracterÃsticas sintÃticas, semÃnticas e pragmÃticas do tradicionalmente chamado aposto de oraÃÃo. A base teÃrica assenta-se nos pressupostos da GramÃtica Discursivo-Funcional (GDF), desenvolvida por Hengeveld & Mackenzie (2008), cuja unidade bÃsica de anÃlise à o Ato Discursivo. Para a definiÃÃo e descriÃÃo das funÃÃes discursivas da aposiÃÃo encapsuladora, tomamos como aporte os trabalhos de Quirk et al (1985), Meyer (1992), Nogueira (1999, 2012), Decat (2010) e Hannay; Keizer (2005). Metodologicamente, a pesquisa apresenta um percurso de descriÃÃo que parte das caracterÃsticas formais, anÃlise de frequÃncia com o uso do programa SPSS para um desenho do comportamento prototÃpico dessa estrutura e, por fim, apresenta uma anÃlise qualitativa das funÃÃes discursivas das estruturas em questÃo, baseada em um corpus composto de 108 ocorrÃncias advindas de artigos de opiniÃo publicados na Folha de S. Paulo, entre os anos de 2006 a 2010. Na anÃlise, optamos por descrever formalmente a aposiÃÃo encapsuladora como as relativas sem cabeÃa ou nÃo nucleadas, conforme proposto pela GDF, e determinar o carÃter atributivo dessa estrutura. A estrutura mais frequente à aquela composta de pronome demonstrativo + oraÃÃo adjetiva restritiva, encapsulando Estado-de-Coisas. As funÃÃes discursivas assumidas por essas estruturas foram definidas com base na natureza da informaÃÃo que elas acrescentam ao fluxo textual. Assim, definimos as seguintes funÃÃes bÃsicas: AvaliaÃÃo, ExplicaÃÃo, Desdobramento, ConstataÃÃo/RatificaÃÃo, ConclusÃo. / This research presents an integrated analysis of the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of the tradition ally called âapposition clauseâ. The theory is based on the assumptions of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), developed by Hengeveld and Mackenzie (2008), that basic unit of analysis is the Discourse Act. For the definition and description of the discourse functions of the encapsulated apposition, we take as support the researches of Quirk et al (1985), Meyer (1992), Nogueira (1999, 2012), Decat (2010) e Hannay; Keizer (2005). Methodologically, the research presents a description course that starts from the formal characteristics, frequency analysis with the use of the SPSS program for a design of the prototypical behavior of this structure and, finally, presents a qualitative analysis of the discourse functions of the structures in question based on a corpus composed by 108 occurrences from articles of opinion published in Folha de SÃo Paulo between 2006 to 2010. In the analysis, we chose to describe the encapsulated apposition as the relative headless or non - nucleated such as proposed by FDG and to determine the attributive feature of this structure. The most frequent structure is composed of demonstrative pronouns + restrictive adjective clause, encapsulating State â of - assairs. The discourse functions assumed by these structures were defined based on the na ture of the information they add to the textual flow. Thus, we define the following basic functions: Evaluation, Explanation, Developing, Evidencing / Confirming , Conclusion.

Water infiltration into the unsaturated zone especially in a shallow water table environment is affected by air compression ahead of the wetting front and air counterflow. Neglecting air compression in infiltration modeling can overestimate infiltration and infiltration rates, whereas not accounting for air counterflow can underestimate infiltration and infiltration rates due to unrealistic buildup of air pressure resistance ahead of the wetting front. A method, derived on the basis of the Green and Ampt (1911) infiltration model, is introduced to simulate air compression and air counterflow during infiltration into a shallow water table. The method retains the simplicity of the Green and Ampt (1911) model but adds the air pressure resistance term ahead of the wetting front. Infiltration equations are derived on the basis of the Green and Ampt (1911) and Sabeh’s (2004) infiltration model which accounts for air compression and air counterflow. The difference between this method and Sabeh’s (2004) model is that air counterflow, air compression, and infiltration are decoupled and updated with each wetting front increment whereas Sabeh’s (2004) method uses time step as a decoupling mechanism. Air compression ahead of the wetting front is predicted using the perfect gas law. Laboratory experiments showed that the introduced method is reasonably accurate when modeling cumulative infiltration values. Results of laboratory experiments were compared to results of the modeled infiltration methods: original Green and Ampt (1911) model and Green and Ampt with air compression and counterflow. The advantage of this new method is its simplicity. The new method uses parameters that are generally needed for modeling infiltration with the Green and Ampt (1911) approach. Disadvantages of the model are assumptions of the uniform water content and the uniform pressure. Another shortcoming of the model is that it does not account for air compression and air counterflow prior to ponding. Laboratory experiments described in this work and a proposed model can be further used for modeling and studying infiltration with air effects. In addition, this work can be of use to someone studying irrigation techniques of rice or other crops.

Submitted by LUCAS ROCHA REBELO (lucas-rebelo@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-07T17:01:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucas R. Rebelo, 2017 (Dissertação V. Definitiva).pdf: 2280665 bytes, checksum: b29a6bac1e5b9d5f3d59ba95d2fa0e55 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-13T17:51:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucas R. Rebelo, 2017 (Dissertação V. Definitiva).pdf: 2280665 bytes, checksum: b29a6bac1e5b9d5f3d59ba95d2fa0e55 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-13T17:51:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucas R. Rebelo, 2017 (Dissertação V. Definitiva).pdf: 2280665 bytes, checksum: b29a6bac1e5b9d5f3d59ba95d2fa0e55 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-19 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Este estudo objetivou avaliar o efeito da substituição da fonte de proteína verdadeira e da ureia por nitrato encapsulado (En) e enxofre (S) elementar sobre consumo, digestibilidade, parâmetros ruminais, eficiência de síntese de proteína microbiana e emissão de CH4 em bovinos Nelore. Foram utilizados cinco novilhos Nelore (352.7 ± 38.4 kg PV) canulados no rumen, e distribuídos em um delineamento em quadrado latino 5 × 5 (5 tratamentos e 5 períodos, 21 dias cada). O volumoso utilizado foi feno de Tifton 85 e o concentrado basal foi composto por milho, farelo de soja, e suplemento mineral comercial. Ureia, En e S foram adicionados para compor demais dietas. Os tratamentos foram: farelo de soja (SBM) como tratamento controle; ureia (U); U mais S elementar (US); nitrato encapsulado (EN); e EN mais S elementar (ENS). O En foi incluído nos tratamentos EN e ENS em 2% da MS (1,42% de NO3 - ânion), enquanto que a inclusão de ureia nos tratamentos U e US foi de 0,8% na MS da dieta. A inclusão de S nos tratamentos U e EN foi em 0,24% da MS, e a relação N:S foi reduzida de 8:1 para 4:1 com a adição de S. O En foi incluído gradualmente de 0,5% até 2% da MS da dieta. Os contrastes ortogonais para avaliar os efeitos de tratamento foram: SBM vs. EN + ENS; U + US vs. EN + ENS; U vs. US; e EN vs. ENS. Os novilhos apresentaram baixos níveis de MetHb (média de 1,1%) a medida em que a quantidade de En foi aumentada. O consumo de OM e NDF foram menores (P ≤ 0,01) para os animais alimentados com En comparado à SBM. A digestibilidade da DM, OM, e GE foram maiores (P ≤ 0,01) quanto fornecido En comparado à ureia. O pH ruminal foi maior (P = 0,01) e N-NH3 foi menor (P = 0,01) para animais recebendo En na dieta comparado à ureia. Comparado à ureia, o fornecimento de En causou redução (P = 0,01) na proporção de propionato, assim como aumento (P ≤ 0,03) na proporção de acetato e na relação acetato:propionato. O consumo de N foi menor (P ≤ 0,07) em animais alimentados com En comparado à SBM e ureia. O N retido (g N/d) foi menor (P = 0,01) com dietas com En comparado à SBM e ureia. Nitrogênio microbiano (MN; g MN/d) tendeu a aumentar (P = 0,06) com a inclusão de En comparado à SBM, e foi aumentado (P ≤ 0,04) pela adição de S elementar à dietas com NNP. O fornecimento de dietas com En aumentou (P ≤ 0,01) MN quando em proporção à ingestão de PB (CPI; g MN/kg CPI) e aumentou (P = 0,02) a eficiência de síntese de MN com base na ingestão de OM digestível (DOMI; g MN/kg DOMI) comparado à SBM, assim como tendeu a aumentar (P = 0,09) g MN/kg DOMI comparado à ureia. A adição de S elementar às dietas com NNP tendeu a aumentar (P ≥ 0,05) g MN/kg CPI, e aumentou (P = 0,04) g MN/kg DOMI quando incluído na dieta EN. Animais alimentados com En tiveram redução (P = 0,02) na emissão de CH4 em cerca de 31,2 g CH4/d, e tenderam a reduzir (P = 0,06) a emissão de CH4 em g CH4/kg DMI e como % da GEI, quando comparados à SBM. Portanto, En mais S elementar em substituição parcial à proteina verdadeira da ração ou substituindo totalmente a ureia pode otimizar a eficiência de síntese de proteína microbiana e concomitantemente reduzir a emissão de CH4 por bovinos Nelore. / The objective of this study was to investigate the replacement of true protein source as well as the conventional NPN source (urea) by encapsulated NO3 - (En) plus elemental sulfur (S) on microbial protein synthesis efficiency, and CH4 emission in Nellore beef cattle. Five ruminally-cannulated Nellore steers (352.7 ± 38.4 kg BW) were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square design with 5 periods of 21 d each. Tifton 85 hay was used as forage and the basal concentrate consisted of corn, soybean meal, and commercial mineral supplement (50:50 wt/wt, forage:concentrate). Urea, En and S were added to compose the other diets. The treatments were: true protein from soybean meal as control (SBM); urea (U); U plus elemental S (US); encapsulated NO3 - (EN); and EN plus elemental S (ENS). En was included in 2% on dietary DM (1.42% NO3 - anion), while the inclusion of urea in U and US diets was 0.8% on dietary DM. The inclusion of S for U and EN diets was 0.24% on dietary DM, and the N:S ratio was reduced from 8:1 to 4:1 with the addition of S. En was gradually included from 0.5 to 2% on dietary DM by 0.5% every 4 d. The orthogonal contrasts for specific partitioning of treatment effects were: SBM vs. EN + ENS; U + US vs. EN + ENS; U vs. US; and EN vs. ENS. Steers displayed adequate MetHb levels as dietary En content increased. Organic matter and aNDF intake were smaller (P ≤ 0.01) for animals fed En diets compared to SBM. Digestibility of DM, OM, and GE were greater (P ≤ 0.01) when fed En diets compared to urea. Ruminal pH was greater (P = 0.01) and ruminal NH3-N was smaller (P = 0.01) for animals fed En diets compared to urea. Compared to urea, En supply resulted in lower propionate proportion (P = 0.01), but increased (P ≤ 0.03) acetate proportion and acetate:propionate ratio. Nitrogen intake was smaller (P ≤ 0.07) with En supply compared to SBM and urea. Retained N (g N/d) for animals fed En diets was smaller (P = 0.01) compared to SBM and urea. Microbial N (MN; g MN/d) tended to increase (P = 0.06) with En inclusion compared to SBM, and was increased (P ≤ 0.04) by the addition of elemental S to NPN diets. Encapsulated NO3 - diets supply increased (P ≤ 0.01) MN as a proportion of CPI (g MN/kg CPI), increased (P = 0.02) MN efficiency based on digestible OM intake (DOMI; g MN/kg DOMI) compared to SBM, and as well tended to increase (P = 0.09) g MN/kg DOMI compared to urea. The addition of elemental S to NPN diets tended to increase (P ≥ 0.05) g MN/kg CPI, and increased (P = 0.04) g MN/kg DOMI when included in EN. Animals fed En diets decreased (P = 0.02) CH4 emission by 31.2 (g CH4/d), and tended to decrease (P = 0.06) CH4 emission (g CH4/kg DMI, and CH4 as % of GEI) when compared to SBM. Thus, En plus elemental S as a dietary additive replacing part of true protein of the ration or totally urea can optimize microbial protein synthesis efficiency and concomitantly decrease CH4 emission by Nellore beef cattle. / FAPESP: 2016/01562-0

Os efeitos da substituição da uréia tradicional por uréia de liberação lenta (ULL) e de dois níveis de nitrogênio não-protéico (NNP) na fração proteína bruta (PB) em suplementos oferecidos a 0,6% do peso vivo (PV) de novilhos Nelore alimentados ad libitum com feno de Brachiaria brizantha foram avaliados. Foram utilizados oito animais com 374,40kg (± 42Kg) de PV, dotados de cânulas ruminais, em um delineamento Quadrado Latino 4 x 4 replicado, cujos períodos foram compostos por cinco dias de adaptação dos animais às dietas e 7 dias de coletas de amostras. Os suplementos foram confeccionados de forma a conterem 40% (0; 50 ou 100% de uréia de liberação lenta em substituição à uréia tradicional) ou 80% da PB como fonte de NNP (100% de uréia de liberação lenta). Os dados foram analisados utilizando-se contrastes ortogonais para avaliar os efeitos de substituição da uréia tradicional e de percentagem da PB oriunda de fonte de NNP. Quando houve efeitos significativos de substituição da uréia, foi utilizada análise de regressão polinomial. Para o estudo dos parâmetros de fermentação ruminal, foi considerado adicionalmente o delineamento em parcelas sub-divididas, a fim de se avaliar a interação entre tratamentos e tempo de coleta. A substituição da uréia tradicional não teve efeitos sobre o consumo de matéria seca e matéria seca digestível. O aumento na percentagem de NNP na fração proteína bruta dos suplementos diminuiu a digestibilidade da matéria seca e o consumo de matéria seca digestível em percentagem do peso vivo e em gramas por quilo de peso metabólico. A digestibilidade da proteína bruta foi maior, à medida que ULL foi inclusa no suplemento, porém nenhum efeito foi verificado sobre a digestibilidade da, fibra em detergente ácido (FDA) e neutro (FDN), carboidratos não-fibrosos (CNF) e matéria orgânica (MO). O suplemento com 80% da PB como NNP oriundo de ULL diminuiu a digestibilidade das frações PB, FDA e FDN. A substituição de uréia tradicional por ULL diminuiu linearmente a concentração total de ácidos graxos voláteis no rúmen, mas não afetou as concentrações de ácidos acético, propiônico e butírico, assim como a relação acético:propiônico. O aumento de 40% para 80% da PB como fonte de NNP aumentou a concentração de ácido acético e diminuiu a concentração de ácido butírico, sendo que não foi verificado nenhum efeito sobre as concentrações de AGVs totais e de ácido propiônico e na relação acético:propiônico. O pH e as concentrações de nitrogênio amoniacal ruminal não foram afetados pela inclusão de ULL ou pelos níveis de NNP do suplemento. A substituição de uréia tradicional por uréia de liberação lenta apresentou poucos efeitos no padrão de fermentação ruminal e na disponibilidade dos nutrientes de dietas à base de forragem de baixa qualidade. O aumento no teor de NNP da PB dietética pode comprometer a disponibilidade de nutrientes de bovinos alimentados com forragens. / The effects of traditional urea replacement for slow-release urea (SRU) and of two levels of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) in crude protein (CP) fraction of supplements fed at 0.6% of body weight (BW) to Nellore steers consuming Brachiaria brizantha hay (ad libitum) were evaluated. Eight animals, with 374,40kg (± 42Kg) of BW and fitted with rumen cannulas were used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin Square design, composed by 5-day adjustment-periods and 12-day sampling periods. Supplements were prepared with the purpose to contain: 40% (0; 50 and 100% of SRU replacing traditional urea) or 80% of CP as a NPN source (100% of SRU). Data were analyzed using ortogonal contrasts in order to evaluate the effects of traditional urea replacement and NPN levels. Polynomial regression was used when effects of urea replacement levels were significant. To ruminal fermentation parameters evaluation, additional split-plot design was considered to assess treatments and time for sampling interaction. Replacement of traditional urea for SRU had no effects on dry matter and digestible dry matter intakes. Increasing NPN percentage of CP fraction decreased dry matter digestibility and digestible dry matter intakes as percentage of BW and in grams per kilogram of metabolic weight (MW). Crude protein digestibility was increased as SRU was included in the supplement, but had no effect on acid (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), ether extract (EE), non-fiber carbohydrates (NFC) and organic matter (OM) digestibility. Supplement with 80% of CP as SRU NPN decreased CP, ADF and NDF digestibility. Replacement of urea for SRU decreased linearly ruminal total volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration, but had no effect on acetic, propionic and butyric acids concentration, as well as acetic to propionic ratio. Increasing 40% to 80% of CP as NPN source increased acetic acid and decreased butyric concentrations. Ruminal pH and amnoniacal nitrogen concentration were not affected by SRU inclusion or NPN levels. Replacement of traditional urea for slow-release urea showed few effects on rumen fermentation patterns and on nutrients availability of low quality forage based diets. Increasing NPN percentage of diet CP fraction may compromise nutrients availability of cattle fed forage.

Thermal energy storage (TES) in a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant allows for continuous operation even during times when solar radiation is not available, thus providing a reliable output to the grid. Energy can be stored either as sensible heat or latent heat, of which latent heat storage is advantageous due to its high volumetric energy density and the high Rankine cycle efficiency owing to the isothermal operation of latent thermal energy storage (LTES) system. Storing heat in the form of latent heat of fusion of a phase change material (PCM), in addition to sensible heat, significantly increases the energy density, thus potentially reducing the storage size and cost. However, a major technical barrier to the use of latent thermal energy of PCM is the high thermal resistance to energy transfer due to the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of PCMs, which is a particularly acute constraint during the energy discharge. Secondly, for integration of TES in CSP plants, it is imperative that the cyclic exergetic efficiency be high, among other requirements, to ensure that the energy extracted from the system is at the maximum possible temperature to achieve higher cycle conversion efficiency in the power block. The first objective is addressed through computational modeling and simulation to quantify the effectiveness of two different approaches to reduce the thermal resistance of PCM in a LTES, viz. (a) developing innovative, inexpensive and passive heat transfer devices that efficiently transfer large amount of energy between the PCM and heat transfer fluid (HTF) and (b) increase the heat transfer area of interaction between the HTF and PCM by incorporating the PCM mixture in small capsules using suitable encapsulation techniques.   The second portion of the research focuses on numerical modeling of large scale latent thermal storage systems integrated to a CSP plant with the aforementioned enhancement techniques and cascaded with more than one PCM to maximize the exergetic efficiency. Based on systematic parametric analysis on the various performance metrics of the two types of LTES, feasible operating regimes and design parameters are identified to meet the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative requirements including storage cost < $15/kWht and exergetic efficiency > 95%, for a minimum storage capacity of 14 h, in order to reduce subsidy-free levelized cost of electricity (LCE) of CSP plants from 21¢/kWh (2010 baseline) to 6¢/kWh, to be on par with the LCE associated with fossil fuel plants. / Ph. D.

Lipid bilayers and lipid-associated proteins play crucial roles in biology. As in vivo studies and manipulation are inherently difficult, membrane-mimetic systems are useful for the investigation of lipidic phases, lipid–protein interactions, membrane protein function and membrane structure in vitro. This dissertation describes a route to leverage the programmability of DNA nanotechnology to create DNA-encircled bilayers (DEBs), a novel nano-scaled membrane-mimetic system. DEBs are made of multiple copies of an alkylated oligonucleotide hybridized to a single-stranded minicircle, in which up to two alkyl chains per helical turn point to the inside of the toroidal DNA ring. When phospholipids are added, a bilayer is observed to self-assemble within the ring such that the alkyl chains of the oligonucleotides stabilize the hydrophobic rim of the bilayer to prevent formation of vesicles and support thermotropic lipid phase transitions. This straight-forward and robust route enables the rational design of DEBs so that their size, shape or functionalization can be adapted to the specific needs of biophysical investigations of lipidic phases and the properties of membrane proteins. Next, we optimized the DEB system to provide proper anchoring of a large variety of lipids by creating an improved DNA scaffold. This scaffold, called DNA double-decker, consists of two interconnected DNA minicircles stacked on top of each other. In comparison to the DNA minicircle in DEB system, this scaffold is two times thicker and contains two times more hydrophobic strands, which should increase the stability of the lipid bilayer rim. Finally, we explored the option of using DEBs in studies of GPCRs using CCR5 as a model protein. The CCR5 was labeled with DNA strands, purified and characterized. The strands on CCR5 are complementary to the protruding strands on the DNA minicircle in DEBs. This can allow the reconstitution of GPCRs inside DEBs with controlled orientation of the receptor.