El nostre grup ha desenvolupat una tècnica directa per a la determinació radioisotòpica de la síntesi i l’alliberament de DA en cervell de rata. Les mostres s’incuben amb 3H-Tirosina i la 3H-Dopamina que es forma en el teixit és purificada posteriorment per HPLC. La determinació simultània amb la nostra tècnica de la síntesi i l’alliberament de dopamina fa que sigui una solució versàtil i permeti un processament de gran quantitat de mostres de manera automatitzada utilitzant el HPLC. Actualment la dependència a la cocaïna no té tractament farmacològic. S’utilitzen com a model animals de recaiguda per a la cerca de nous medicaments. El receptor H3 de histamina és relativament abundant en el cervell respecte altres teixits i en particular el nucli accumbens i l’estriat. Estudis previs suggereixen que l’antagonista/agonista invers del receptor H3 facilita l’alliberament de dopamina reforçant els efectes subjectius dels psicoestimulants. El nostre grup ha demostrat que l’agonista del receptor H3 d’ histamina disminueix la cerca de cocaïna en un test d’extinció i recaiguda en un model animal d’autoadministració. El pretractament del agonista H3 d’histamina disminueix la resposta en una prova d’extinció i recaiguda. / We have developed a straightforward radioisotopic determination of dopamine synthesis in brain striatal tissue preparations. Brain miniprisms are incubated with 3H-tyrosine, and 3H-dopamine formed is purified by HPLC. We tested our method with prototypical stimulators (dbcAMP, okadaic acid) and inhibitors (3-I-tyrosine, GABA) of tyrosine hydroxylase activity as well as with dopamine D2 autoreceptor agonists. Dopamine release to the incubation buffer was simultaneously determined in some experiments in order to better characterize dopaminergic neuronal mechanisms. We tested our method on determinations of 3H-dopamine release after K+ depolarization, inhibition of dopamine uptake or metabolism. Effects of psychotropic drugs nicotine and cocaine are also described. Cocaine dependence has no pharmacological treatment. Relapse models in animals are used as a screen for new medications. Histamine H3 receptors are relatively abundant in brain respect to other tissues, and particularly in the nucleus accumbens and striatum. Previous studies suggest that H3 antagonists/inverse agonists could facilitate dopamine release, reinforcement and/or the subjective effects of psychostimulants. Here we show that histamine H3 receptor agonists decrease cocaine seeking in tests of extinction and reinstatement of cocaine self-administration. Rats were subjected to cocaine self-administration under a FR5 schedule, followed by a reinforcement dose-response, progressive ratio, extinction and reinstatement tests elicited by two doses of cocaine priming.

When I decided to produce an edition of Akhbar Siffin I discovered four manuscripts dealing with the historical accounts of the Battle of Siffin. The examination of these four manuscripts showed that they are not the same work; two of them are different copies of Akhbar Siffin. They are Ambrosiana H 129 and Borlin Q.U. 2040. The other two are different copies of the work of Abu Muhammad, Ahmad b. A`tham al-Kufi entitled Waq`at Siffin. They are Ankara, 'Saib 5418 and Mingana Collection, Islam, Arab 572. The next action was to compare the material of Akhbar Siffin with the material of Ibn A'tham's Waq`at Siffin. I concluded that Akhbar Siffin had more original material than Ibn A'tham's Waq'at Siffin and accordingly I decided to edit it. A study of the Ambrosiana Manuscript and the Berlin Manuscript of Akhbar Siffin indicated that the edition would best be based upon the Ambrosiana Manuscript because it has the fuller text and fewer mistakes and gaps than the Berlin Manuscript. The name of the author of Akhbar Siffin does not appear in either of the two manuscripts, and there is no assistance from any other source which may help in identifying him. The introduction of this edition consists of two parts; a bibliographical survey of the, works on the Battle of Siffin and analytical description of the material and the manusoripts of Akhbar Siffin.

The research described in this dissertation concerns two fields of theoretical chemistry: Part I concerns applications of Density Functional Theory, and part II high accuracy calculations within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation using explicitly correlated Gaussian functions.In the first part, after a brief introduction to Density Functional Theory and Hartree Fock methods, the candidate's research in Density Functional Theory is described in two chapters. One treats the charge transport in B-DNA, specifically (GC)$_N$ oligomers solvated by water. The second chapter treats the charge transfer between the Lithium atom and Fullerene-C$_{60}$ in the endohedral complex Li@C$_{60}$. In both applications Density Functional Theory was the central quantum mechanical technique that allowed the approaching of such large molecular systems.In the second part of this dissertation, the candidate's development of a FORTRAN code using explicitly correlated Gaussian functions within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation is presented.Every item of the author's research during his graduate studies has been published in co-authorship with the author's scientific advisor and other collaborators in peer-reviewed journals. A total of 8 scientific articles and one letter have been published by the author while at The University of Arizona.

In Scottish Presbyterianism the period from 1796 to 184 3 was a transitional era of Evangelical ascendancy over Moderatism. Within that period, certain parishes had brief periods of evangelistic activities called 'revivals'. These movements were centered in services of public worship. The purpose of this thesis is to examine public worship during the era as a means of evangelism and to discern the processes by which the revivals took place. Public worship in Scotland during the eighteenth century has been commonly characterized as very ineffective, even barren. In both Moderate and Evangelical kirks, public worship was a preaching service with certain acts of devotion, but without a liturgy. From 1796 to 1843, public worship generally followed the traditions of the past, including the annual sacramental season. Although there were some stirrings toward a future renascence of worship, in such areas as published aids-to-worship, instrumental music, the singing of para-phrases and hymns, and more frequent Communion services, public worship continued to be a preaching service. Yet, in a few parishes, a season of revival did take place primarily within traditional, "weak" worship. The most unusual revival during the period of this study was the preaching tours by lay-preachers. Originated by J. A. Haldane, John Aikman, and Joseph Rate, this movement began as a plan for establishing religious schools in Highland parishes, and became an evangelistic organization called 'The Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home'. This organization not only was instrumental in brief awakenings in some parishes but also fostered certain discord in the state of religion in Scotland which resulted in official acts in Presbyterianism against lay-preaching. The S.P.G.H. ended in dissension from within in 1808. Even so, the evangelistic work of the S.P.G.H. did provide some notable revivals and a portion of the background for the revivals at Arran and Skye. Other revivals during the early nineteenth century were in parishes in the following places: Moulin (1796-1802), Arran (1812-13), Skye (1812-14), and Kilsyth (1839). The Kilsyth revival was the origin of a movement that spread to many other parishes in Scotland through 1841. Revival leaders were local parish ministers, with the exception of the Kilsyth movement which was led by a licentiate preacher, W. C. Burns, along with various local ministers. The revivals were centered in public worship services and prayer meetings. Sacramental seasons had no uniform place in each movement. Extemporaneous preaching within the general context of the traditional order of worship was the chief agent of awakenings. Generally, each brief season of revival also included a period of preparation characterised by expectation, a noticeable element of emotionalism, and results that were observable among certain individual lives more than those effecting parish life. The theology in the revivals was a portion of the Calvinism of the time which was directed at personal salvation. Conviction of total depravity, the covenant of grace which had conditional overtones, and limited atonement were the central doctrines of the theology in the revivals. The many detailed events in each revival parish gave each story an individuality apart from the other seasons of revival. And similarities noted among the various revivals did not uniquely distinguish them from many other contemporary parishes. Thus, in addition to that which can be discerned from the revivals of religion and their relation to public worship, the Church is reminded of her dependence upon the mysteries of God.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (MSc (Pharmacology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Pharmacology / unrestricted

A major cause of congestion in queuing situations, that is of immoderate waits and lengthening queues, is often the assumed independence of the arrival and service mechanisms. This dissertation is concerned with single server "correlated" models, defined to be such that either the service mechanism is somehow tailored to the arrival pattern, or vice versa. The greatest attention is given to a particular model in which the service time allotted to the nth arrival is λ Tn , where λ is a non-time dependent constant and numerically has the value of congestion index, and Tn is the interval between the (n-l)th and the nth arrivals which, it is important to note, could be observed by the server before service is initiated. It is shown that the effect of the correlation mechanism is to reduce congestion under a given level of traffic intensity, as compared with single server systems in which arrivals and service are independent. This result is achieved without inflicting on the service facility the penalty of increased periods of idleness. The particular model is a queuing interpretation of a stochastic-kinematic situation studied by B. W. Conolly in connection with a military tactical analysis. The dissertation is divided into two parts. Part I develops the theory of the main model with particular reference to state probabilities, waiting time, busy period, and output. Some consideration is also give to a related model where service depends on the arrival pattern, and to what is referred to as the "dual" problem in which the arrival mechanism is geared to service capability. Further, the state probabilities at arrival epochs for a conventional M/M/l queue are obtained by employing a simple probabilistic argument. This is needed for Part II. Part II applies the theory to give a practical comparison of the correlation mechanism with the elementary "independent" single server queues M/M/I, M/D/l and D/M/l; and it is shown in detail that the practical result referred to above is achieved. The superiority of the correlation mechanism increases with traffic intensity. State probability, busy period and output comparisons are made only with the M/M/l system. The main conclusions are found to extend also to these processes. It is concluded that, where its application is practicable, a mechanism of correlation can achieve important gains in efficiency. / Ph. D.

Processes occurring at mineral-water interfaces play critical roles for regulating the composition of surface and groundwater, for soil development, and for the availability of plant nutrients. Sulfate adsorption at three pH levels was conducted on y-AI203 and kaolinite. The adsorption isotherms were described well by the simple Langmuir, two-site Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin equations. The capacity of SO42-adsorption for y-AI203 was five times greater than for kaolinite, indicating the difference in reactive site density between y-Ab03 and kaolinite. Mathematical analyses for the adsorption isothenns demonstrated that S042- may not be adsorbed on the d-plane, i.e., in the diffuse layer, whereas both outer- and inner-sphere complexation mechanisms predicted S042- adsorption equally well. / Ph. D.

Administration of adrenal steroids or blocking agents at optimum doses influenced northern fowl mite development on chickens. Corticosterone at 20 ppm or desoxycorticosterone at 30 ppm in feed were most effective in inhibiting mite infestations. High levels of social stress increased resistance of chickens to mites in a manner similar to but more effective than steroid administration. The mechanism of resistance was a decrease in capillary density at the skin surface. Commercial laying hens caged alone had lower plasma corticosterone levels and supported more mites than hens caged in groups. Stress-induced, steroid initiated, or inbred mite resistance was incompatible with maximum production from chickens. Resistant chickens produced poorer weight gains and testes mass than did susceptible birds. Sex hormones were shown to play a supplementary, and antibody a minor role in mite resistance. Carbaryl was shown to be the compound most toxic to northern fowl mites of those registered in Virginia for application to poultry. Malathien resistance was noted in mites from a commercial poultry house. The synthetic pyrethroid permethrin was effective against these mites. / Ph. D.

An analytical threshold criterion in approximation has been developed for the basic phase-locked loop demodulator utilizing quasi-linearization technique. The analysis is based on assumptions that the loop is excited by an input FM signal and additive white Gaussian noise. This paper defines the threshold criterion by the characteristics of maximum demodulating sensitivity limit. Finally, the effects of the modulation indeces and loop parameters on the threshold characteristics are discussed from a theoretical and practical point of view. / Master of Science

O gênero Pagurus é um táxon heterogêneo de ermitões, com ampla distribuição mundial, descrito há mais de duzentos anos. A sistemática do grupo é complexa com uma longa história de rearranjos taxonômicos. A classificação conta com a inclusão de numerosas novas espécies e separação de algumas inicialmente contidas no táxon estabelecendo-se novos gêneros. Devido à extensa distribuição das espécies que compõem o táxon, foi necessário restringir o objetivo deste estudo. Assim foi avaliado o status taxonômico das espécies que ocorrem nas costas Pacífica e Atlântica da América do Sul, por meio da combinação de análises morfológicas e moleculares das espécies, utilizando dois marcadores genéticos (16S rDNA e Histona 3). As análises taxonômicas mostraram uma alta variabilidade morfológica nas 22 espécies examinadas. As espécies se encaixam perfeitamente em quatro dos onze grupos preestabelecidos dentro de Pagurus. Além disso, foram fornecidos os caracteres morfológicos que definem um desses grupos. Adicionalmente foi incluída uma chave para ajudar na identificação de todas as espécies. As análises independentes dos dados moleculares mostraram resultados contrastantes. O gene mitocondrial foi mais variável e portanto mais informativo, proporcionando uma hipótese mais clara das relações internas entre os membros de Pagurus. Assim, as topologias moleculares resultantes, concordaram em vários aspectos com o reportado nos dados morfológicos das espécies. De modo que, as semelhanças morfológicas foram refletidas na formação dos nós internos. Assim, as análises do gene 16S e H3 mostraram-se concordante com a morfologia, refletindo-se na formação de alguns dos grupos previamente propostos. Como ponto importante, ressalta-se a separação das espécies que compõe o grupo provenzanoi como um táxon diferenciado dentro de Pagurus. Ao mesmo tempo, as análises com o gene H3 mostraram a espécie Propagurus gaudichaudii inserida dentro de Pagurus, questionando a validade taxonômica de Propagurus. Como só foi incluída uma das cinco espécies do gênero, é claramente necessário a inclusão de outras espécies contidas neste táxon, bem como alguns outros genes uma revisão das espécies contidas neste táxon, junto com análises de outros genes, a fim de resolver definitivamente o status taxonômico de Propagurus. / The genus Pagurus is a heterogeneous taxon of hermit crabs, with worldwide distribution which was described more than two hundred years ago. Systematics of the group is complex and with a long history of taxonomic rearrangements. Thus current classification accounts for inclusion of many new species and splitting-off of some of the original species in order to establish new genera. Because of the extensive distribution of the species that conform this taxon it was necessary to restrict the aim of this study. Thus I evaluated the taxonomic status of the species found in the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South America using a combination of both morphologic and molecular analyses (16S rDNA and Histona 3). The taxonomic analysis showed high morphological variation among all the 21 examined species. The analyzed species seemed to perfectly fit four out of the eleven morphologically pre-established groups of Pagurus. Furthermore I provide morphological characters that define one of these groups. Additionally, I included a key to aid in the identification of all the target species. Independent analysis of the molecular data showed contrasting results. The mitochondrial gene was the most variable and thus the most informative, providing a clearer hypothesis of the internal relationships among members of Pagurus. Therefore, both 16S and H3 analyses were in general agreement with the morphology. Thus, the resultant molecularly based topologies reflected some of the groups previously proposed. It is important to point out that all the included species belonging to the provenzanoi group were clustered together separated from other clades within Pagurus. At the same time, the analysis with the gen H3 showed Propagurus gaudichaudii clustered within Pagurus, thus questioning the taxonomic validity of Propagurus. As I only included one of the five species of the genus, it is obviously necessary to include other the species contained in this taxon, as well as some other genes in order to definitely solve the taxonomic status of Propagurus.