A reciclagem de resíduos sólidos tem se tornado cada vez mais relevante devido a alguns fatores como os impactos ambientais ocasionados com o seu descarte inadequado, ao rigor crescente de legislação específica e ao custo elevado para o gerenciamento apropriado destes resíduos. Na área de materiais poliméricos, os resíduos poliméricos podem ser de origem pósconsumo ou pós-industrial. Alguns rejeitos industriais poliméricos possuem características estruturais ou químicas que impossibilitam o seu reaproveitamento direto no processo que o gerou, como é o caso filmes multicamadas de polietileno de baixa densidade (PEBD) com poliamida 6 (PA6), usados para a produção de embalagens. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo central o reaproveitamento de rejeitos de filmes multicamadas de PEBD com PA6 na forma de blendas recicladas destes polímeros, fazendo uso de agente compatibilizante e variação na composição das blendas com a incorporação de PA6 virgem, a fim de produzir materiais com propriedades adequadas e custo compatível para a aplicação comercial. O desenvolvimento experimental foi dividido em três etapas que consistiram na avaliação do teor mais adequado de agente compatibilizante de fases da blenda (etapa 1), na determinação do comportamento das propriedades das blendas não compatibilizadas em diferentes composições de rejeito do filme multicamada e PA6 virgem (etapa 2) e na associação do uso de compatibilizante com variação das composições das blendas (etapa 3). A partir da execução experimental das atividades das etapas 1 e 2 do trabalho foi possível determinar que o teor de 2,5% do agente compatibilizante polietileno grafitizado com anidrido maleico (PEg- AM) é o mais adequado para compatibilizar as blendas poliméricas e que a maioria das suas propriedades das blendas apresentam um comportamento próximo ao aditivo linear, que leva em consideração somente as propriedades iniciais dos componentes poliméricos PEBD e PA6 isolados. Os diversos materiais gerados no desenvolvimento desta pesquisa apresentam desempenho de propriedades e custo de produção variáveis em função do teor de PA6 nas blendas, que podem viabilizar o uso deste material reciclado em aplicações comerciais específicas. / Recycling of solid waste has been an important issue due to some factors such as environmental damage caused by inappropriate discards, increasing rigor of specific legislation and high cost to the appropriate management of these waste. Polymeric waste can be originated from post-consume or post-industrial sources. Some polymeric waste have chemical or structural characteristics that difficult their direct reuse in the same productive process such as multilayer film of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyamide 6 (PA6), which are used for packing. The aim of this work has been the study the mechanical recycling of multilayer films of PEBD and PA6 as PEBD/PA6 blends with adequate properties and compatible cost for commercial applications. The experimental development has been performed in 3 steps, which correspond to evaluation of more adequate content of compatibilizer agent for interface of blends (step 1), determination of behavior of the properties of blends without compatibilizer agent on different compositions of waste form multilayer films (step 2) and production of blends with compatibilizer agent graphitized polyethylene with maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA) (step 3). Has been verified that the content of 2.5% of PE-g-MA is more adequate to be used in the compatibilization of recycled PEBD/PA blends and that the performance of the blends dependents of the content of PA6 in the material. The recycled materials have potential for commercial applications.

Orientadores: João Sinézio de Carvalho Campos, Marco-Aurélio De Paoli / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Química / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T19:54:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Barros_NataliaGarrotede_M.pdf: 8371421 bytes, checksum: b1ace4db177a03ca77cde81260779535 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Considerando a importância da reciclagem, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo apresentar as propriedades mecânicas, térmicas e reológicas do material polimérico obtido a partir do processo de reciclagem de embalagens multicamadas constituídas de poliamida 6 (PA 6), polietileno de baixa densidade (PEBD) e polietileno de baixa densidade linear (PEBDL). Obteve-se o material polimérico processando-se em extrusora mono-rosca as embalagens com compatibilizantes (CP) de polietileno funcionalizado com anidrido maleico (PE-g-AM) e polietileno de alta densidade pósconsumo (PEADpc). As amostras foram preparadas nas composições que variam de 50 a 100% em massa de embalagem aglutinada. O melhor desempenho no ensaio de tração foi obtido com PE-g-AM. Porém, a adição deste CP nas blendas que continham o PEADpc, mostrou-se desnecessária. Os corpos de prova sem PE-g-AM apresentavam delaminações, devido à falta de compatibilidade entre os diferentes materiais. Entretanto, as propriedades de flexão das blendas com PEADpc foram melhores quando comparadas com as que continham PEAD virgem. Estes dados sugerem que grupos polares, originados na degradação oxidativa do polímero pósconsumo, reagiram com grupos polares da poliamida, promovendo melhor compatibilização. As análises de Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura mostraram que estes compatibilizantes contribuíram para a diminuição do tamanho dos domínios da fase dispersa, resultando em uma mistura mais homogênea. As blendas que continham o polietileno virgem apresentaram um aumento na viscosidade quando o PE-g-AM foi adicionado. De acordo com as propriedades físico-químicas, estes materiais podem ser utilizados, por exemplo, em aplicações na área moveleira, lonas ou vasos / Abstract: Considering the importance of recycling, this study aimed to show mechanical, thermal and rheological properties from recycled multilayers packaging consisted of polyamide 6 (PA6), low density polyethylene (LDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The polymeric material was processed in a single screw extruder. Two compatibilizers (CP) were applied: polyethylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PE-g-AM) and post-consumer high density polyethylene (PEADpc). Blends were prepared from 50 to 100% of agglutinated packaging. The best tensile properties were obtained with PE-g-AM. However, It is not necessary the addition of this CP in the blends with PEADpc. The specimens without PE-g-AM showed delamination, because of the lack of adherence of different polymeric materials contained in these blends. Nevertheless, the flexural properties of the blends with PEADpc were better than those with virgin PEAD. These results suggested that the polar groups from PEADpc, originated from oxidation process, may have reacted with polar groups from polyamide. The scanning electron microscopy showed a reduction in the size domains of the disperse phase when these CP were used. This produced a more homogeneous mixture. Other characteristic observed is that the addition of PE-g-AM in blends with virgin PEAD appears to increase the viscosity. The materials obtained can be applied, for example, in furniture in general, tarpaulins or vessels / Mestrado / Ciencia e Tecnologia de Materiais / Mestra em Engenharia Química

In mobile communication, the user’s information is transmitted through a wireless communication link that is subjected to a range of deteriorating effects. The quality of the transmission can be presented by the rate of transfer and the reliability of the received stream. The capacity of the communication link can be reached through the use of channel coding. Channel coding is the method of adding redundant information to the user’s information to mitigate the deteriorating effects of the communication link. Mobile WiMAX is a technology that makes use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation to transmit information over a wireless communication channel. The OFDM physical layer has a high peak average to power ratio (PAPR) characteristic that saturates the transmitter’s amplifier quite easily when proper backoff is not made in the transmission power. In this dissertation an optimized graph code was used as an alternative solution to improve the system’s performance in the presence of a saturated transmission’s amplifier. The graph code was derived from a degree distribution given by the density evolution algorithm and provided no extra network overhead to implement. The performance analysis resulted in a factor of 10 improvement in the error floor and a coding gain of 1.5 dB. This was all accomplished with impairments provided by the mobile WiMAX standard in the construction of the graph code. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

The United States (U.S.) Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) conducted a series of rotary-wing flight tests for the sole purpose of checking out Telemetry data link instrumentation. Four flights were conducted at YPG in February 2016 that built upon an earlier test flight conducted in June 2015. The most recent iteration of testing examined the benefits of frequency diversity on aircraft and the spatial diversity of receiving sites using existing hardware at YPG. Quantitative analysis from those flight results will be presented and include discussion on how results will affect future mission operations at YPG.

The majority of the world's languages are poorly represented in informational media like radio, television, newspapers, and the Internet. Translation into and out of these languages may offer a way for speakers of these languages to interact with the wider world, but current statistical machine translation models are only effective with a large corpus of parallel texts - texts in two languages that are translations of one another - which most languages lack. This thesis describes the Babylon project which attempts to alleviate this shortage by supplementing existing parallel texts with texts gathered automatically from the Web -- specifically targeting pages that contain text in a pair of languages. Results indicate that parallel texts gathered from the Web can be effectively used as a source of training data for machine translation and can significantly improve the translation quality for text in a similar domain. However, the small quantity of high-quality low-density language parallel texts on the Web remains a significant obstacle.

Orientador: Marta Helena Krieger / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T20:20:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Wanschel_AmarylisClaudineBonitoAzeredo_M.pdf: 1512032 bytes, checksum: 92d5d4fda32e196e08b7ee261c365152 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A incidência de riscos de doença aterosclerótica cardiovascular é maior em homens do que em mulheres na fase reprodutiva, essa diferença diminui quando diminui a produção de estrógenos após a menopausa. Uma série de estudos sugere que essa diferença em ambos os sexos pode ser causada em parte, pela ação pró-aterogênica dos andrógenos. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a participação do dimorfismo sexual em camundongos adultos LDLr-/- no efeito vasculoprotetor promovido pelo tratamento com a S-nitrosotiol-N-acetilcisteína (SNAC) na fase inicial da aterogênese por meio dos seguintes avaliações : a) expressão fenotípica da hipertensão; b) desenvolvimento de ateroma; c) perfil lipídico; d) imunorreatividade das isoformas das NOS vasculares. Camundongos machos e fêmeas com 3 meses de idade foram avaliados nos seguintes grupos experimentais: selvagens C57BL/6 (WT) sob dieta comercial; LDLr-/- sob dieta comercial com os controles (CT);LDLr-/-sob dieta hipercolesterolêmica (HC); LDLr-/- sob diet hiperlipidêmica associado ao tratamento com SNAC 0,51µm ip/dia ( HC+SNAC). Após 2 semanas de tratamento com administração de dieta hipercolesterolêmica, verificou-se que as fêmeas desenvolveram lesões ateroscleróticas na aorta proximal ascendente 50% menores em relação aos machos. Tais evidências sugerem o papel protetor do estrógeno presente nas fêmeas adultas no estágio inicial da aterosclerose. O tratamento com SNAC promoveu a redução em 50% na instalação do ateroma em ambos sexos, evidenciando não haver relação com o dimorfismo sexual. Contudo, o perfil lipídico das fêmeas mostrou valores mais elevados que os encontrados em machos, tanto de colesterol (COL), como de triglicérides (TG) plasmáticos nos camundongos sob dieta hipercolesterolêmica. Assim, o tratamento com SNAC não impediu o aumento dos teores lipidêmicos induzidos pela dieta hipercolesterolêmica em fêmeas, inferindo que a condição não está correlacionada ao tamanho da área de lesão desenvolvida. Camundongos fêmeas LDLr-/- sob dieta aterogênica evidenciaram aumento de cerca de 10% na pressão arterial, quando comparados aos respectivos camundongos selvagens (WT). O tratamento com SNAC preveniu totalmente a hipertensão induzida pela dieta hipercolesterolêmica. Contudo, nos machos tal hipertensão foi verificada ocorrer em camundongos LDLr-/- sem dieta hipercolesterolêmica, e o tratamento com SNAC não produziu efeito preventivo na hipertensão. Tais resultados indicam que a gênese da hipertensão é diferente nos dois sexos, sugerindo a participação das vias androgênicas. As fêmeas não apresentaram hipertrofia ventricular esquerda ou redução na frequência cardíaca associada à hipertensão, a qual foi evidenciada nos machos sob as mesmas condições. Assim o conjunto de alterações hemodinâmicas indica que as fêmeas sofreram um menor impacto do que camundongos machos nas alterações cardiovasculares estudadas. A expressão de NOS foi evidenciada na aorta das fêmeas LDLr-/- sob dieta comercial (CT), contudo ausente nas WT e, sob dieta hipercolesterolêmica (HC) a sua imunorreatividade foi menor que no animal controle porém expressiva e difusa , as expressões tanto no controle como no animal HC foram reduzidas pelo tratamento com a SNAC. Estas alterações indicaram a sua participação na disfunção endotelial presente neste modelo e o fato de que o efeito protetor promovido pela SNAC está associado às vias NO/NOS / Abstract: The incidence of risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) is greater in men than in woman during the reproducible years, and this gender difference diminishes after cessation of estrogen production after menopause (Kannel et al, 1976). Many studies have ben suggested also that this gender difference may be caused in part by proaterogenic actions of androgens. The aim this study was verify the role of the sexual dimorphism in LDLr-/- mice in the vasculoprotector effect treatment promoted by S-nitroso-N-acetilcisteína (SNAC) in the initial phase of atherogenesis valuation following:1- phenotypic expression of the hypertension; 2- lesion area development; 3- plasma lipid levels; 4- localization of NOS using immunohistochemistry; Male and female mice 3 months old were evaluated in experimental groups following: C57Bl/6 wild type (WT) chow diet; LDLr-/- control group (CT) chow diet; LDLr-/- hypercholesterolemic diet(HC); LDLr-/- hypercholesterolemic diet plus SNAC 0.51 µmol/Kg ip/daily (SNAC). After treatment for 2 weeks the female developed a 50% decrease lesion area in the proximal aortic as compared to males. This evidence indicated the protector role of the estrogen in female in the initial stage of atherosclerosis. The treatment with SNAC promoted a 50% reduction in installation of atherosclerosis in both sexes with no sexual dimorphism. In female the lesion area was not correlated with the average plasma cholesterol levels. Female mice LDLr-/- under a hypercholesterolemic diet showed an increase of 10% in blood pressure compared whith the background (WT). The treatment with SNAC prevented the hypertension induced by the hypercholesterolemic diet. Nevertheless male hypertension is associated with mice LDLr-/- and chow diet treatment does not prevent hypertension. These results showed that hypertension genesis is different in both sexes suggesting the participation of androgenic pathways. The males showed left ventricular hypertrophy and decreased heart rate associated with hypertension, but the female in the same conditions did not show. Thus is hemodynamic alteration set indicate that female have a less impact than male mice in the studied cardiovascular alterations. The expression of the three types of NOS was evident in aorta of the female LDLr-/- chow diet, although absent in WT. In female LDLr-/- hypercholesterolemic diet there was enhanced immunoreactivity. This overexpression was decreased by treatment with the SNAC. These alterations participated in endothelial dysfunction present in this model and the protector effect promoved by SNAC is associated with the NO/NOS pathways / Mestrado / Fisiologia / Mestre em Biologia Funcional e Molecular

The co-localization of plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and atherogenic low-density lipoprotein (LDL) at the atherosclerotic lesions raises the possibility of a role of CRP in the disease process. In vitro, in its native pentameric structural form, CRP does not bind to oxidized LDL. However, in its non-native pentameric structural form, CRP is capable of binding to oxidized LDL. It has been proposed that CRP changes its structure at sites of inflammation to gain the oxidized LDL-binding activity. In vivo, native CRP is neither pro-atherosclerotic nor atheroprotective in animal models of atherosclerosis. We assumed that native CRP shows no effect because inflammatory microenvironment in the arterial wall in animal models of atherosclerosis is not appropriate and, therefore, the structure of CRP remains unchanged. Accordingly, we hypothesized that a CRP mutant, generated by site-directed mutagenesis, capable of binding to oxidized LDL without the requirement of any further structural change should show an effect on the disease. In the current study, we evaluated the impact of such a CRP mutant on the development of atherosclerosis employing LDL receptor knockout mouse model of atherosclerosis. We found that there was a two-week delay in the development of atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic root of mice treated with mutant CRP compared to mice that did not receive CRP. The development of atherosclerotic lesions in the whole aorta was also reduced; there was 30% reduction in the size of lesions in mice treated with mutant CRP. Overall, the data indicate that CRP is indeed an atheroprotective molecule.

In alcoholic hepatitis (AH), high neutrophil counts correlate with inflammation and poor clinical outcomes. Here, we sought to elucidate the neutrophil-mediated pathogenesis of AH. We revealed that in vivo neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation was significantly increased in AH patients and that alcohol alone is sufficient to induce NET formation in neutrophils; thereby, neutrophils increase liver damage through increased NET formation. Moreover, we identify that alcohol-induced NET formation is vital to NETosis and that high-density neutrophils (HDNs) become low-density neutrophils (LDNs) after NET formation in response to alcohol. Through transcriptome profile analysis, we found that genes related to neutrophil activation and immune responses are significantly upregulated in AH HDNs but significantly downregulated in AH LDNs compared to HDNs from healthy subjects. These data suggest that AH HDNs and LDNs have opposing phenotypes: HDNs are activated and more prone to release NETs, while LDNs are functionally incompetent. Consequently, the increase in activated HDNs and defective LDNs are likely associated with an increase in liver damage through NET formation and enhanced susceptibility to infection in AH patients, respectively. Therefore, we evaluated the therapeutic benefits of preventing NET formation in HDNs using peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) inhibition and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment as well as neutrophil depletion in mice. We observed that in vivo neutrophil depletion and G-CSF treatment prevent NET formation in the liver, thereby significantly reducing liver damage in alcohol-fed mice. Our work identifies the neutrophil/NET-mediated mechanisms of AH pathogenesis and provides insights into therapeutic interventions for AH.

Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharm / Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as ischaemic heart diseases, heart failure and stroke remain a major cause of death globally. Various deep-rooted factors influence CVD development; these include but are not limited to elevated blood lipids, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. A considerable number of proteins are involved directly and indirectly in the transport, maintenance and elimination of plasma lipids, including high and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C and LDL-C). There are several mechanisms involved in the removal of LDL particles from systemic circulation. One such mechanism is associated with the gene that encodes proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), which has become an exciting therapeutic target for the reduction of residual risk of CVDs. Currently, statins are the mainstay treatment to reduce LDL-C, and a need exists to further develop more effective LDL-C-lowering drugs that might supplement statins.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining the steady-state and dynamic characteristics of the admittance of a metallic probe immersed in a laboratory plasma which has the low electron densities and low electron temperatures characteristic of the ionospheric plasma. The problem is separated into three related topics: the design and production of the laboratory plasma, the measurement of the steady-state properties of dc and very low frequency probe admittance, and the study of transient ion sheath effects on radio frequency probe admittance.