This is a work that explores linguistic style within the Greek New Testament and the extent to which its presumed causes (e.g. differences in authorship, genre, topic, subject matter, and the like) can be “disentangled.” Scarcely anyone who has perused the long history of authorship debates in the New Testament can mistake the profound implications such a “disentangling” would bring. Two motivations exist to revisit this issue: compelling recent findings in computational stylistics, and the sheer theological implications such a study may bring. Concerning the former motivation, earlier generations of scholars assigned, de facto, virtually any significant stylistic variation to authorship alone. The last thirty years of research outside NT studies, however, has demonstrated that more frequently than not, more of the total summed stylistic variation in mixed genre corpora is due to genre rather than authorship. What, indeed, would be the implications if those findings proved true of the GNT as well? First, and somewhat deconstructively, if the major proportion of stylistic variation in the GNT were found to be due to genre rather than authorship—or even close to it—any prior studies that had (1) failed to test for genre as a competing theory or (2) failed to remove genre as a covariate have almost certainly confounded genre with authorship. Second, and more constructively, if a convincing separation between what is commonly termed authorial variation and the various sources of sociolectic variation (which include component as genre/register, subject matter, audience, and the like) can be achieved, such a thing would have broad and sweeping impact upon many topoi within New Testament scholarship. Not only would it influence the obvious suspects (i.e. the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles, the extent of the Pauline Canon, pseudepigraphy, the Synoptic Problem, and the like) it would also necessarily influence the current vigorous discourse in New Testament hermeneutics itself. My approach is threefold. First, the history of computational stylistics both within and outside NT studies will be reviewed. Second, as to method, an abductive approach, one that harnesses both Systemic Functional Linguistics and a variety of univariate and multivariate methods will be adopted. Third, that method will be exercised on the text of the Greek New Testament itself. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In this work, gadolinium-based carbon nanocapsules are developed as a novel nanotechnology that addresses the shortcomings of current diagnostic and therapeutic methods of stem cell-based cardiomyoplasty. With cardiovascular disease (CVD) responsible for approximately 30% of deaths worldwide, the growing need for improved cardiomyoplasty has spurred efforts in nanomedicine to develop innovative techniques to enhance the therapeutic retention and diagnostic tracking of transplanted cells. Having previously been demonstrated as a high-performance T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent, Gadonanotubes (GNTs) are shown for the first time to intracellularly label pig bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Without the use of a transfection agent, micromolar concentrations of GNTs deliver up to 10^9 Gd(III) ions per cell, allowing for MSCs to be visualized in a 1.5 T clinical MRI scanner. The cellular response to the intracellular incorporation of GNTs is also assessed, revealing that GNTs do not compromise the viability, differentiation potential, or phenotype characteristics of the MSCs. However, it is also found that GNT-labeled MSCs exhibit a decreased response to select cell adhesion proteins and experience a non-apoptotic, non-proliferative cell cycle arrest, from which the cells recover 48 h after GNT internalization. In tandem with developing GNTs as a new stem cell diagnostic agent, this current work also explores for the first time the therapeutic application of the magnetically-active GNTs as a magnetic facilitator to increase the retention of transplanted stem cells during cardiomyoplasty. In vitro flow chamber assays, ex vivo perfusion experiments, and in vivo porcine injection procedures all demonstrate the increased magnetic-assisted retention of GNT-labeled MSCs in the presence of an external magnetic field. These studies prove that GNTs are a powerful ‘theranostic’ agent that provides a novel platform to simultaneously monitor and improve the therapeutic nature of stem cells for the treatment of CVD. It is expected that this new nanotechnology will further catalyze the development of cellular cardiomyoplasty and other stem cell-based therapies for the prevention, detection, and treatment of human diseases.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:17:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Augusto Alfeld Rodrigues.pdf: 3220495 bytes, checksum: 7af7f0231da01250360719c23f24d76e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-30 / This dissertation presents a cutting of the audiovisual medias, in the case the television, considered an expressive media of the contemporary culture. It is a study of the focus given to the feminine and the masculine by two programs, Superbonita and Contemporâneo, transmitted by the cable television channel GNT, that makes part of the net of channels Globosat. Those programs are thematic, one approaches the feminine universe and the other the masculine. The main proposal of this study is centered in the investigation of like GNT it builds the discursive taste of the feminine and masculine audience. The central objective is to show how the subject's identity is constituted for the other in taste terms. With base in the identification of the figurative lines, the accomplished investigation looked for answers for as the simulacrum of the feminine and of the masculine they are enrolled in the discursive structures of Superbonita and Contemporâneo. The generated effect of sense of the cutting that those programs do of the global pattern are of the order of the spectacular, that it is originating from the staging s of the media resulting in the way for which the situations are presented in the pictures of the programs. The one that is presented is a situation no rehearsed that it stages, in action, the effects of sense of the lived experience. In the analysis of Superbonita and of Contemporâneo we used the theoretical-methodological outline of the Semiotics developed around Algirdas Julien Greimas and the Sociossemiotic by Eric Landowski prioritizing the interaction regimes as sense regimes. We treated of the subjects related to the discursive interaction, to the taste forms and the direction for the consumption that they are put in Superbonita and in Contemporâneo. Doing complex of the media it acts on three interaction regimes, where the logic that prevails is the one of the regularity and of the intentionality, the contagion happens for an impression form, in which the enunciatee will resist the incentives, to the pulses given by the enunciator. Doing to feel is explored to move in the volition of the programming, because the road traveled to encourage the volition passes for the sensibility / Esta dissertação apresenta um recorte das mídias audiovisuais, no caso a televisão, considerada uma mídia expressiva da cultura contemporânea. Trata-se de um estudo do enfoque dado ao feminino e ao masculino por dois programas televisuais, Superbonita e Contemporâneo, transmitidos pelo canal de televisão a cabo GNT, que faz parte da rede de canais Globosat. Esses programas são temáticos, um aborda o universo feminino e o outro o masculino. A proposta principal deste estudo centra-se na investigação de como o GNT constrói discursivamente o gosto da audiência feminina e masculina. O objetivo central é mostrar como a identidade do sujeito se constitui para o outro em termos de gosto. Com base na identificação dos traços figurativos, a investigação realizada buscou respostas para como os simulacros do feminino e do masculino estão inscritos nas estruturas discursivas e sêmio-narrativas de Superbonita e Contemporâneo. Os efeitos de sentido gerados do recorte que esses programas televisuais fazem do padrão global são da ordem do espetacular, que é proveniente das encenações da mídia resultantes do modo pelo qual as situações são apresentadas nos quadros dos programas. O que é apresentado é uma situação não ensaiada que encena, em ato, os efeitos de sentido da experiência vivida. Na análise de Superbonita e de Contemporâneo usamos o arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Semiótica desenvolvida em torno de Algirdas Julien Greimas e as teorizações da Sociossemiótica de Eric Landowski priorizando os regimes interacionais como regimes de sentido. Tratamos das questões relacionadas à interação discursiva, às formas de gosto e ao encaminhamento para o consumo que estão colocadas em Superbonita e em Contemporâneo. O fazer complexo da mídia atua sobre três regimes interacionais, onde a lógica que prevalece é a da regularidade e da intencionalidade, o contágio acontece por uma forma de impressão, na qual o enunciatário vai reagir aos estímulos, aos impulsos dados pelo enunciador. O fazer sentir é explorado para mexer no volitivo da programação, pois o caminho percorrido para animar a volição passa pela sensibilidade