Drug delivery systems (DDS) are essentially pharmaceutical products for human therapy, typically involving a mixture of active ingredients and excipients. Based upon quantitative characterization of structure, the thesis introduces the concept of classifying the architecture of DDS into four levels by their spatial scale and the life time period. The primary level is recognised as the static structure of the whole dosage form with a size from μm to cm with the final structure generated by formulation design. The secondary level categorises the structures of particles or sub-units to form a DDS with sizes from nm to mm as key units in processing such as mixing, grinding, granulation and packing; The tertiary level represents the dynamic structures of DDS during the drug release phase in vitro or in vivo incorporating the structure size range from nm to mm, which undergo changes during dissolution, swelling, erosion or diffusion. The spatial scale for the quaternary level is defined as the meso or micro scale architecture of active and non-active molecules within a DDS with sizes from Å to μm for the molecular structure of drug and excipients. Methods combining X-ray tomography, image processing, and 3D reconstructions have been devised and evaluated to study systematically pharmaceutical structures and correlate them with drug release kinetics of DDS. Based on the quantitative structural information of pharmaceutical intermediates and dosage forms, it is possible now to correlate structures with production processing, behaviour and function, and the static and dynamic structures of DDS with the release kinetics. Thus, a structure-guided methodology has been established for the research of DDS. / Chinese Academy of Sciences

SEM and CT X-ray imaging were used to quantify the surface geometries of sandstone pore and throat networks of the oil-bearing Stanley Sandstone of the Eutaw Formation of Jasper County, Mississippi, both in dry samples and in samples that had undergone laboratory simulations of Microbial Permeability Profile Modification (MPPM) oil-recovery technology. The goal of the study was to acquire some quantified understanding of the way induced bacterial activity affected the surface geometries and impacted the porosity and permeability of the oil-bearing Stanley Sandstone. Visible porosity remained high, but significant permeability modification occurred ubiquitously with pore and throat spaces of 10 ìm – 20 μm diameter. Based upon quantitative analysis of photomicrographs, biofilm did not completely fill porosity but did clog pore throats, thus significantly impacting permeability.

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Στη συγκεκριμένη μεταπτυχιακή εργασία γίνεται ανάλυση των ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογραφικών καταγραφών επιληπτικών ασθενών με βάση την κλασματική διάσταση για τον εντοπισμό της έναρξης των επιληπτικών κρίσεων καθώς και για την ανίχνευση των επερχόμενων επιληπτικών κρίσεων. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, χρησιμοποιούνται τέσσερις μέθοδοι υπολογισμού της κλασματικής διάστασης στο πεδίο του χρόνου. Πραγματοποιείται μία συγκριτική μελέτη των συγκεκριμένων μεθόδων χρησιμοποιώντας δύο συνθετικά σήματα γνωστής κλασματικής διάστασης και στη συνέχεια οι μέθοδοι εφαρμόζονται σε ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογραφικές καταγραφές ασθενών που πάσχουν από επιληψία. Η συγκεκριμένη εργασία αποδεικνύει ότι όλες οι μέθοδοι μπορούν και εντοπίζουν την έναρξη των επιληπτικών κρίσεων ενώ η στατιστική ανάλυση δείχνει ότι κάποιες από αυτές τις μεθόδους μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν και ως δείκτες πρόβλεψης των επερχόμενων επιληπτικών κρίσεων. Επίσης, διαπιστώνεται ότι ανάλογα με το είδος των ηλεκτροεγκεφαλογραφικών καταγραφών, το μέγεθος του παραθύρου και τη ζώνη διέλευσης του φίλτρου τα αποτελέσματα της κλασματικής διάστασης που προκύπτουν επηρεάζονται. / Τhe fractal dimension is a powerful tool in the analysis of electroencephalograms. In this work, four methods of estimating the fractal dimension of electroencephaolographic recordings of epileptic patients directly in the time domain are analyzed and compared. The analysis is performed over both synthetic data and real recordings of epileptic patients. The effects of the type of recordings, the window size and the frequencies in the passband filter are examined. This study shows that the four methods detect the beginning of the epileptic seizures, while the statistic analysis proves that some of these methods can be used for the prediction of the next seizures.

Submitted by Michele Mologni (mologni@unoeste.br) on 2019-01-23T12:44:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Fernandes Tribst.pdf: 777315 bytes, checksum: b27a7e6b55bc34cf1e1df838b6e087c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2019-01-23T12:44:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Fernandes Tribst.pdf: 777315 bytes, checksum: b27a7e6b55bc34cf1e1df838b6e087c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-21 / Smoking is a global concern because of the impact on public health, particularly in causing chronic illness and suffering for millions of people and is a leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. The global annual cost of health services associated with smoking is estimated at US$ 422 billion, equivalent to US$ 56.34 per person. This represents 5.7% of total health expenditure in the world. The blend of cigarette smoke contains around 4.7000 toxic substances that are associated with decreased bone mass and influencing the process of bone healing and remodeling. Bone tissue being multifunctional and subject to cell differentiation at different stages of development is more susceptible to receiving the deleterious action of the main smoking agent of cigarette smoke. Functional, probiotic, prebiotic and symbiotic foods due to their ability to improve intestinal absorption and compete with pathogenic microorganisms may contribute to the improvement of bone quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of probiotic, prebiotic and symbiotic supplements on mineral composition, histomorphometry, biomechanical properties and fractal dimension of the femur of growing rats, chronically exposed to cigarette smoke (PT). Sixty-four young male rats were randomly assigned to eight groups (n = 8): control (C) [basal diet (DB)]; probiotic (Pro) [DB + probiotic (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecium, Bifidobacterium thermophilum and Bifidobacterium longum (2-5 109 CFU each)], prebiotic (Pre) [DB + prebiotic (mannan oligosaccharide)], symbiotic probiotic + prebiotic + PT), prebiotic smoker (PreT) (DB + prebiotic + PT), smoker control (PT + The rats were sacrificed after 189 days of experimental period, and the results showed that probiotic, prebiotic and symbiotic supplementation improved significantly (P <0.05), as well as symbiotic smoker (SymT) (DB + prebiotic + probiotic + PT). The results showed that the functional food supplementation, probiotic, prebiotic, and the presence of the functional, probiotic, optical or symbiotic improved bone health in growing rats chronically exposed to cigarette smoke. / O tabagismo é uma preocupação global devido ao impacto na saúde pública, particularmente em causar doenças crônicas e sofrimento de milhões de pessoas e é uma das principais causas de mortes evitáveis em todo o mundo. Estima-se em US$ 422 bilhões o custo global anual dos serviços de saúde associados ao tabagismo, equivalente a US$ 56,34 por pessoa. Isso representa 5,7% do gasto total em saúde no mundo. A mistura da fumaça do cigarro contém por volta de 4.700 substâncias tóxicas que estão associados à diminuição de massa óssea e influenciando no processo de consolidação e remodelação óssea. O tecido ósseo por ser multifuncional e sujeito a diferenciação celular em diferentes estágios de desenvolvimento é mais susceptível a receber á ação deletéria da nicotina, principal agente agressor da fumaça do cigarro. Os alimentos funcionais, probiótico, prebiótico e simbiótico, devido sua capacidade de melhorar a absorção intestinal e competir com microrganismos patógenos podem contribuir para a melhora da qualidade óssea. O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar os efeitos da suplementação na dieta de suplementos alimentares: probiótico, prebiótico e simbiótico, na composição mineral, histomorfometria, propriedades biomecânicas e dimensão fractal do fêmur de ratos em fase de crescimento, expostos cronicamente a fumaça do cigarro (PT). Sessenta e quatro ratos machos jovens foram randomicamente distribuídos em oito grupos (n=8): controle (C) [dieta basal (DB)]; probiótico (Pro) [DB + probiótico (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecium, Bifidobacterium thermophilum e Bifidobacterium longum (2–5 109 UFC cada)]; prebiótico (Pre) [DB + prebiótico (mananoligossacarídeo)]; simbiótico (Sym) (DB + probiótico + prebiótico); controle fumante (CT) [DB + protocolo de exposição ao tabagismo passivo (PT)]; probiótico fumante (ProT) (DB + probiótico + PT); prebiótico fumante (PreT) (DB + prebiótico + PT); e simbiótico fumante (SymT) (DB + prebiótico + probiótico + PT). Os ratos foram sacrificados após a189 dias de período experimental e os resultados revelaram que a suplementação com probióticos, prebióticos e simbióticos melhoraram significativamente (P<0,05) os parâmetros: P, Ca, Mg, DMO, CMO, resistência, resiliência, dimensão fractal e tamanho da área das diáfises dos fêmures dos ratos expostos cronicamente ou não a fumaça do cigarro. Concluímos que a suplementação dos alimentos funcionais, probiótico, prebiótico ou simbiótico, melhorou a saúde óssea de ratos em fase de crescimento expostos cronicamente a fumaça do cigarro.

A diversidade de espécies presentes no riquíssimo reino vegetal torna o processo de identificação de órgãos foliares uma tarefa muito complexa. A biodiversidade das espécies, associada aos modelos tradicionais de taxonomia, transforma essa tarefa em um verdadeiro desafio para os pesquisadores. Neste trabalho é apresentada uma nova abordagem para identificação de espécies vegetais baseada em características internas dos órgãos foliares. A coleta de informações é realizada através de técnicas de visão computacional e análise de imagens, através das quais são extraídas características relativas à complexidade (dimensão fractal) e biometria dos órgãos foliares. A eficiência da metodologia desenvolvida foi avaliada em casos reais de identificação de espécies, em que foram utilizados dois conjuntos de imagens: espécies da Mata Atlântica e do Cerrado brasileiro, e espécies de maracujás silvestres do gênero Passiflora. Para classificação das espécies foram utilizadas as técnicas de reconhecimento padrões de análise de agrupamentos e redes neurais artificiais. / The plant species diversity makes their correct identification a very complex task. The traditional taxonomy models, associated with species biodiversity, has been transformed this task in a challenger for the researches. This work presents a new approach to plant species identification, based on internal characteristics of leaf form. The data are collected by computer vision and shape analysis techniques, which extracts features from complexity (fractal dimension) and biometry of plant species. The methodology efficiency was evaluated with real cases of species identification: digital images of Mata Atlântica and brazilian Cerrado species; and passion fruit species of genus Passiflora. The species classifications are performed using pattern recognition techniques as clustering and artificial neural networks.

This work is dedicated to the study of the structure of attractors of dynamical systems with the objective of estimating their fractal dimension. First we study the case of exponential global attractors of some generalized gradient-like semigroups in a general Banach space, and estimate their fractal dimension in terms of themaximumof the dimension of the local unstablemanifolds of the isolated invariant sets, Lipschitz properties of the semigroup and rate of exponential attraction. We also generalize this result for some special evolution processes, introducing a concept of Morse decomposition with pullback attractivity. Under suitable assumptions, if (A, \'A POT. \') is an attractor-repeller pair for the attractor A of a semigroup {T (t ) : t 0}, then the fractal dimension of A can be estimated in terms of the fractal dimension of the local unstable manifold of \'A POT. \', the fractal dimension of A, the Lipschitz properties of the semigroup and the rate of the exponential attraction. The ingredients of the proof are the notion of generalized gradient-like semigroups and their regular attractors, Morse decomposition and a fine analysis of the structure of the attractors. Also, making use of the skew product semiflow and its Morse decomposition, we give some estimates of the fractal dimension of the pullback attractors of non-autonomous dynamical systems / Este trabalho é dedicado ao estudo da estrutura dos atratores de sistemas dinâmicos com o objetivo de obter estimativas de suas dimensões fractais. Primeiramente estudamos o caso de atratores globais exponenciais de alguns semigrupos gradient-like generalizados em um espaço de Banach geral, e estimamos suas dimensões fractais em termos da máxima dimensão das variedades instáveis locais dos conjuntos invariantes isolados, a propriedades de Lipschitz do semigrupo e da taxa de atração exponencial. Também generalizamos este resultado para alguns processos de evoluções especiais, introduzindo um conceito de decomposição de Morse com atração pullback. Sob hipóteses apropriadas, se (A, \'A POT. \') é um par atrator-repulsor para o atratorA de um semigrupo {T (t ) : t 0}, então a dimensão fractal de A pode ser estimada em termos da dimensão fractal da variedade instável de \'A POT. \', a dimensão fractal de A, as propriedades de Lipschitz do semigrupo e a taxa de atração exponencial. Os ingredientes da demonstração são a noção de semigrupos gradient-like e seus atratores regulares, decomposição de Morse e uma análise fina da estrutura dos atratores. Além disto, fazendo uso do skew product semiflow e sua decomposição de Morse, damos estimativas da dimensão fractal dos atratores pullback de sistêmas dinâmicos não-autônomos