The upper layer sediments were collected from eight ports (22 sampling points) of Kaohsiung and Pingtung in southwest Taiwan. The organotin contents in sediment are all related to the grain size. The concentration of tributyltin (TBT) is between 0.041~4.843 ppm (as Sn) , the concentration of dibutyltin (DBT) is between 0.001~4.626 ppm (as Sn), and the concentration of monobutyltin (MBT) is between 0.001~4.908 ppm (as Sn). The Chien-chen harbor presents the hightest butyltins concentrations, and the TBT contents is much over 10-d LC50 to bivalve (2.6 ppm) and amphipoda (2.1 ppm). The concentrations of triphenyltin (TPT), diphenyltin (DPT) and monophenyltin (MPT) are between ND~0.298 ppm (as Sn), ND~0.216 ppm (as Sn) and ND~0.143 ppm (as Sn) individually. The highest phenyltin concentrations are shown in the outfall of Love River (the inflow of Love River in Kaohsiung Port). The organic carbon and nitrogen contents show significant the positive correlation (R2=0.757), and the organotin concentrations also show a positive correlation with the contents organic carbon.All the butyltins show a positive correlation with the quantities of boats. According to this study, the port of Kaohsiung presents the most serious content of butyltins and phenyltins in sediment. All the other ports also present a TBT content higher than 0.24 ppm. Therefore, it is recommended to monitor the organotin contents in the ports of this studying area.

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This work deals with multipath transmission in the data networks to speed up transmission over networks with limited transmission speed. Work compares the characteristics, efficiency and response to changes in individual transmission paths. Work is specifically dedicated to MPT and MPTCP mechanisms.

Chromatography units, used in the production of pharmaceuticals, degrade with use and need to be changed or repackaged. This study investigates the effectiveness of two statistical methods, principal component analysis and simple and one-point multiparameter technique, for determining degradation in the Fibro chromatography unit. The methods have been shown to be effective on resin chromatography columns but not before tested on the relatively new Fibro chromatography unit. The statistical methods are implemented in an unreleased version of the monitoring and control software Unicorn. This implementation aims to be a proof of concept for including more complex methods for monitoring runs directly in the software, easing the workflow of operators by removing the need to export measurements to a third-party program. The methods were tested on measurements of absorbance, conductivity, and pressure from two series of chromatograms performed on two Fibro chromatography units. One of the units was defective and broke down halfway through the series. Principle component analysis could clearly visualize a difference between early and late runs on the defective unit. The same could only be achieved for the non-defective unit by excluding measurements of pressure. Simple and one-point multiparameter technique visualized trends from early to late in the series which were much clearer for the defective unit. Both methods showed signs of predicting degradation in a Fibro chromatograpy unit but require validation on chromatogram series with more direct measurements of performance and a wider range of failure causes.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:30:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSSERTACAO CRISTINA.pdf: 3986017 bytes, checksum: add734135c93af474b22c106a3a51d41 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-23 / Tuberculosis (TB) caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis is responsible for more than 2 million deaths annually in the world. Although one third of the world population carries the bacilli, only 5% of the infected people develop active disease. 80% of TB cases are concentrated among 21 countries and Brazil is one of them. Due to the flaws existent inherent to the TB diagnostic, many works try to discover TB antigens to be used on an ELISA assay to detect active TB in underdeveloped countries, endemic for other mycobacterias such as leprosy (L). Several researches are identifying bacilli proteins obtained under nutritional culture stress, in order to mimic the intracellular milieu. It has been selected the immunodominant ones as a disease marker. The objective of this work was to characterize the humoral immune response among TB patients to rMPT-51 and rGlcB using an ELISA indirect test. It was included voluntaries that were HIV negative and the ones without pregnancy, chronic disease or under immunosuppressant treatment. Serum IgM and IgG against MPT-51 and GlcB recombinant antigen from 49 patients with active tuberculosis were measured by indirect ELISA, paired by sex and age with: healthy PPD negative individuals (controls) and lepromatous leprosy patients (LL). Patients with TB (0.810±0.319) showed higher levels of IgM against rMPT-51 than both LL individuals (0.454±0.195) and control (0.448±0.162) with statistical significant, p= 0.001 and p<0.001) respectively. These test showed 96.9% specificity and 67.3% sensitivity. Conversely, tuberculosis, controls, and LL individuals showed lower of MPT-51 IgG levels, which could not be distinguished among the groups. rGlcB antigen was able to distinguished TB patients from controls for IgM levels (specificity, 95.9 % and sensitivity, 8.2% ) and IgG levels (specificity, 99% and sensitivity, 18.2%). In order to evaluate the profiles of IgM and IgG against rMPT-51 and rGlcB before and after chemotherapy, the sera from 11 patients was collected and paired according to the treatment status (before or after). IgM and IgG against MPT-51 remained with the same profile levels before and after the treatment. The levels of serum IgG against rGlcB clearly diminished after the chemotherapy (p<0.01). Our results suggest that serum IgM levels against recombinant MPT-51 could to be useful to distinguish between active TB, controls and LL individuals. In addition, after TB treatment the IgG response to rGlcB diminished suggesting that it could be used to follow up of the TB treatment / A tuberculose (TB) causada pelo Mycobacterium tuberculosis, resulta em mais de dois milhões de óbitos anualmente. Segundo dados da OMS cerca de 30% da população mundial está infectada com o bacilo e 5% desses infectados desenvolvem a doença ativa. O Brasil juntamente com outros 21 países albergam 80% de todos os casos de TB no mundo. Devido às falhas existentes nos diagnósticos atuais, muitos estudos tentam descobrir antígenos do Mycobacterium tuberculosis que podem ser usados no ensaio ELISA, um teste de baixo custo. Esse teste seria de grande valia na identificação da tuberculose, principalmente em países em desenvolvimento endêmicos também para outras micobactérias como M. leprae, causador da hanseníase. Várias pesquisas têm identificado componentes do bacilo, como as proteínas secretadas pelas micobactérias em cultura, sob condições de estresse nutricional, mimetizando a situação vivida pelo bacilo no meio intracelular. Dessas proteínas são selecionadas aquelas imunodominantes que podem ser usadas como marcadores da doença. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar o reconhecimento de duas dessas proteínas: os antígenos recombinantes MPT-51 e GlcB do M. tuberculosis, por anticorpos séricos da classe IgM e IgG de pacientes com tuberculose ativa, pelo método imunoenzimático indireto (ELISA). Foram adotados como critério de inclusão aqueles indivíduos de qualquer grupo que fossem HIV negativos, sem doenças crônicas ou uso de medicamentos imunossupressores e mulheres não gestantes. Quarenta e nove pacientes com tuberculose ativa foram selecionados e comparados com os grupos: controles saudáveis PPD não reatores e pacientes hansenianos portadores da forma Virchoviana, pareados por sexo e idade. Os pacientes com TB (0,810±0,319) mostraram maiores concentrações de IgM anti-MPT-51 que os seus respectivos controles: pacientes com hanseníase 0,454±0,195) e controles saudáveis (0,448±0,162), com diferença estatística, p=0,001 e p<0,001 respectivamente. Os ensaios de ELISA nas dosagens de IgM e IgG anti-MPT-51 mostraram especificidade de 96,9% e 98,0% e sensibilidade 67,3% e 4,1% respectivamente. Para o antígeno GlcB, os ensaios de ELISA na dosagem de IgM e IgG mostraram especificidade de 95,9% e 99% e sensibilidade 8,2% e 18,2%. Onze pacientes com TB foram monitorados durante o tratamento, com realização de dosagens dos níveis de anticorpos IgM e IgG específicos ao rMPT-51 e rGlcB antes e após a terapia. Os níveis de anticorpos IgM e IgG anti-MPT-51 antes e após a terapia não sofreram alterações significativas. Entretanto, os níveis de IgG anti-GlcB diminuíram após a terapia (p<0,01). Nossos resultados sugerem que o rMPT-51 pode ser usado como marcador da tuberculose, quando mensuradas as concentrações de IgM específicos, pois foram capazes de discriminar pacientes TB, de controles e hansenianos. Apesar do ELISA ter demonstrado baixa sensibilidade quando o antígeno rGlcB foi utilizado, os níveis séricos dos anticorpos da classe IgG diminuíram após o tratamento da tuberculose (p<0,01) sugerindo que essa técnica poderia ser utilizada para o acompanhamento da terapêutica

La transmission d’énergie sans fils (TESF) a été initiée dans les années soixante afin de répondre à des préoccupations énergétiques de tout premier ordre. Un demi-siècle plus tard, la question énergétique reste une préoccupation majeure qui ne se pose plus uniquement en termes de ressources mais également en termes d’autonomie et de portabilité. La TESF s’est adaptée à cette situation et est actuellement orientée vers le développement de structures capables de convertir des densités de puissance faibles afin d’améliorer l’autonomie des systèmes électroniques portables ou d’alimenter à distance des dispositifs électroniques inaccessibles ou nomades.Le travail proposé est subdivisé en trois parties : une première partie qui traite de la conversion de puissances faibles et qui présente un circuit rectenna (rectifying antenna) mono-diode fonctionnant sur une gamme de puissance allant de 1 mW à 10 mW. Une seconde partie, traitant de la conversion de puissances importantes, basée sur un convertisseur en pont de diodes capable de convertir des puissances allant jusqu’à 200 mW, et une dernière partie dédiée à l’élévation de la puissance transmise à la charge au travers d’associations de rectenna dont nous présentons plusieurs variantes.La comparaison technologique est à la base de ce travail. En effet, les développements récents des composants CMS permettent aujourd’hui de les utiliser pour la réalisation de circuits RF fonctionnant à des fréquences allant jusqu’à plusieurs gigahertz. Nous proposons dans cette thèse plusieurs circuits basés sur cette technologie que nous comparons à une technologie intégrée qui s’impose comme une alternative aux circuits micro-rubans. Ce travail a également été l’occasion d’introduire certains principes de l’électronique de puissance dans la conception de circuits RF. / Microwave power transmission (MPT) was first presented in the 60th as a possiblesolution to the decrease of fossil energy resources. Actually, energy problematic is not only based on the finding of new resources but also in the autonomy of mobile electrical equipments.The recent MPT researches focused in this second point and several converters were developedfor transmitting low level power at low distances.Three types of circuits were developed in this work: first one is mono-diode rectenna that converts power from 1 mW to 10 mW. The second type is a bridge based rectenna, which converts RF power up to 200 mW. The third type is an association of rectenna circuits that permits an increase of DC power.This work presents a comparison between two technologies: SMC technology, which the recent developments make its use in RF applications possible, and integrated technology witch is more and more used as an alternative to micro-strip line technology. Also, this work introduces power electronics concepts in rectenna design.

Artificiell Intelligens (AI) är ett av världens mest spännande områden idag. Även om AI har funnits sedan 50-talet är det på senare år som det verkliga genombrottet infallit då hårdvaran förbättrats avsevärt och kostnaderna minskat. Tekniken har applicerats i flertalet branscher därbland även finansbranschen. 2017 lanserades världens första fond som till fullo förvaltas av Artificiell Intelligens, Artificial Intelligence Powered Equity ETF (AIEQ), fonden förvaltas med hjälp av superdatorn IBM Watson.  Syftet med denna undersökning är att jämföra avkastningen för fonder som förvaltas av Artificiell Intelligence med fonder som förvaltas av institutionella fondförvaltare. Slutsatsen är att AI-förvaltade fonder behöver undersökas under en längre tidsperiod för att resultaten ska säkerställas. Men att vissa AI-förvaltade fonder genererar högre avkastning än institutionellt förvaltade fonder samt index. AI-förvaltare har som helhet inte bevisat varför de ska ersätta mänskliga portföljförvaltare.

Portfolio diversification has been a subject frequently addressed since the publications of Markowitz in 1952 and 1959. However, the Modern Portfolio Theory and its mean variance framework have been criticized. The critiques refer to the assumptions that return distributions are normally distributed and the symmetric definition of risk. This paper elaborates on these short comings and applies a heuristic downside risk approach to avoid the pitfalls inherent in the mean variance framework. The result of the downside risk approach is compared and contrasted with the result of the mean variance framework. The return data refers to the real estate sector in Sweden and diversification is reached through property type and geographical location. The result reveals that diversification is reached differently between the two approaches. The downside risk measure applied here frequently diversifies successfully with use of fewer proxies. The efficient portfolios derived also reveals that the downside risk approach would have contributed to a historically higher average total return. This paper outlines a framework for portfolio diversification, the result is empirical and further research is needed in order to grasp the potential of the downside risk measures.

The State of Mississippi wants to manage its oyster resource to increase production, quality, ecological, and economic benefits. In this study, we employ modern portfolio theory (MPT) to test if there are potential gains to hold multiple oyster resources for multiple benefits to aid the state's effort in achieving its goal. Using a Delphi approach, we elicit complete sets of data on ecosystem services (on oxygen, nutrients, sedimentation, and salinity) across multiple oyster resources (traditional plantings, off-bottom farms, and restored reefs). A benefit transfer method is used later to assigned money-metric value to each service estimate. The multiple service values are then aggregated into net service value. We compute the means, standard deviations, and correlations of benefits across all resources using the net service values, and generate efficient frontiers from that information. Results indicate that Mississippi could benefit from holding multiple oyster resources while focusing more on off-bottom oyster farms.