This poetry manuscript tells the story of a family dealing with betrayal, loss, and aging.

INTRODUÇÃO: A qualidade da interface osso-implante pode ser influenciada diretamente pela rugosidade da superfície e determina a forma como as células interagem, aderem-se e fixam-se a ela, podendo potencializar e encurtar o tempo de osseointegração. Este estudo propôs-se analisar qualitativamente a topografia e arquitetura de diferentes superfícies de implantes dentários, compará-las, descrevê-las e correlacioná-las com os possíveis eventos moleculares e celulares iniciais da osseointegração. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: cinco implantes com diferentes tratamentos de superfície foram analisados em três diferentes áreas: apical, região de roscas (topos, flancos e vales) e região cervical por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) e topo do ápice em microscopia de força atômica (MFA). RESULTADOS: as superfícies dos implantes NanoTite®, SLA® e Xive® TG plus, no MEV, são semelhantes pelo seu aspecto de lacunas, diferindo no plano superficial; a superfície do implantes TiUnite® apresenta características coraliformes/vulcanoides, enquanto a do implante Exopro® apresenta estrias em formas de pequenos sulcos. A rugosidade média (Ra) à MFA, apresentou-se maior no implante TiUnite®, seguido pelos implantes Xive®TG plus, NanoTite®, Exopro® e SLA®. A área analisada se restringe a pequenos pontos (nanométricos), que não possibilita uma visão panorâmica de todas as estruturas (micrométricas), e consequentemente não permite uma real comparação da rugosidade. CONCLUSÕES: a metodologia ideal para análise das superfícies com o objetivo de compreender como as células às colonizam e se aderem deve ser em escala micrométrica, destacando-se à MEV em detrimento da MFA. As duas metodologias, MEV e MFA, são fundamentais na análise de superfície de implantes dentários, porém devem ser conjuntamente e/ou simultaneamente empregadas. A MFA parece ser a mais adequada para estudos que visem a interação da superfície dos implantes com estrutura de nível molecular e à MEV, no nível celular. Cada tratamento de superfície promove um tipo específico de topografia, cujos benefícios moleculares, teciduais e clínicos devem ser estudados caso a caso. / Introduction: Bone-implant interface quality may be influenced by surface roughness and determines how cells interact, cling to and fix to, therefore can enhance and shorten the time for osseointegration. This study aims to analyze qualitatively the topography and architecture of different dental implants surfaces, to compare and describe them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: five implants with different surface treatments were evaluated in three different areas: apical, region of threads (tops, sides and valleys) and cervical region by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), correlating the possible molecular and cellular initials events of osseointegration. RESULTS: the surfaces of the implants NanoTite®, SLA® and ® Xive® TG plus, in the SEM, are similar by their appearance of gaps, although they differ in surface plane; the surface of TiUnite® implants have features such as corals and/or volcanos, while the implant Exopro ® has stretch marks in form of small grooves. The average roughness (Ra) to the AFM, appeared higher in TiUnite ® implant, followed by Xive® TG plus NanoTite®, Exopro® and SLA® implants. The area analyzed in the AFM, is restricted to small points (nanometrics), and do not allow denote a panoramic view of all structures (micrometrics), not allowing a real comparison of surface roughness. CONCLUSIONS: the optimal methodology for surfaces analysis with the objective of understanding how the cells colonize and fix to dental implants should be in the micrometer scale, highlighting the SEM over AFM. The AFM seems to be most suitable for studies aiming the interaction of the implant surface with molecular-level and SEM at the cellular level. Each treatment promotes a specific surface topography whose benefits molecular, tissue, and clinical should be studied separately.

INTRODUÇÃO: A qualidade da interface osso-implante pode ser influenciada diretamente pela rugosidade da superfície e determina a forma como as células interagem, aderem-se e fixam-se a ela, podendo potencializar e encurtar o tempo de osseointegração. Este estudo propôs-se analisar qualitativamente a topografia e arquitetura de diferentes superfícies de implantes dentários, compará-las, descrevê-las e correlacioná-las com os possíveis eventos moleculares e celulares iniciais da osseointegração. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS: cinco implantes com diferentes tratamentos de superfície foram analisados em três diferentes áreas: apical, região de roscas (topos, flancos e vales) e região cervical por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) e topo do ápice em microscopia de força atômica (MFA). RESULTADOS: as superfícies dos implantes NanoTite®, SLA® e Xive® TG plus, no MEV, são semelhantes pelo seu aspecto de lacunas, diferindo no plano superficial; a superfície do implantes TiUnite® apresenta características coraliformes/vulcanoides, enquanto a do implante Exopro® apresenta estrias em formas de pequenos sulcos. A rugosidade média (Ra) à MFA, apresentou-se maior no implante TiUnite®, seguido pelos implantes Xive®TG plus, NanoTite®, Exopro® e SLA®. A área analisada se restringe a pequenos pontos (nanométricos), que não possibilita uma visão panorâmica de todas as estruturas (micrométricas), e consequentemente não permite uma real comparação da rugosidade. CONCLUSÕES: a metodologia ideal para análise das superfícies com o objetivo de compreender como as células às colonizam e se aderem deve ser em escala micrométrica, destacando-se à MEV em detrimento da MFA. As duas metodologias, MEV e MFA, são fundamentais na análise de superfície de implantes dentários, porém devem ser conjuntamente e/ou simultaneamente empregadas. A MFA parece ser a mais adequada para estudos que visem a interação da superfície dos implantes com estrutura de nível molecular e à MEV, no nível celular. Cada tratamento de superfície promove um tipo específico de topografia, cujos benefícios moleculares, teciduais e clínicos devem ser estudados caso a caso. / Introduction: Bone-implant interface quality may be influenced by surface roughness and determines how cells interact, cling to and fix to, therefore can enhance and shorten the time for osseointegration. This study aims to analyze qualitatively the topography and architecture of different dental implants surfaces, to compare and describe them. MATERIALS AND METHODS: five implants with different surface treatments were evaluated in three different areas: apical, region of threads (tops, sides and valleys) and cervical region by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), correlating the possible molecular and cellular initials events of osseointegration. RESULTS: the surfaces of the implants NanoTite®, SLA® and ® Xive® TG plus, in the SEM, are similar by their appearance of gaps, although they differ in surface plane; the surface of TiUnite® implants have features such as corals and/or volcanos, while the implant Exopro ® has stretch marks in form of small grooves. The average roughness (Ra) to the AFM, appeared higher in TiUnite ® implant, followed by Xive® TG plus NanoTite®, Exopro® and SLA® implants. The area analyzed in the AFM, is restricted to small points (nanometrics), and do not allow denote a panoramic view of all structures (micrometrics), not allowing a real comparison of surface roughness. CONCLUSIONS: the optimal methodology for surfaces analysis with the objective of understanding how the cells colonize and fix to dental implants should be in the micrometer scale, highlighting the SEM over AFM. The AFM seems to be most suitable for studies aiming the interaction of the implant surface with molecular-level and SEM at the cellular level. Each treatment promotes a specific surface topography whose benefits molecular, tissue, and clinical should be studied separately.

Plasticozoic excavates humanity’s relationship to nature and to ourselves through plastic artifacts of consumer culture, which were recovered from oceans and beaches by the artist, or sent to her from around the world. Through created specimens and collected fragments of the Anthropocene, it considers the precariousness of our place in time, where misperceptions of reality and the collective impact of our every day lives can have global effects. "Future geologists will be able to precisely mark our era as the Plasticozoic, the place in the sands of time in which bits of plastic first appeared." -Oceanographer A. Sylvia Earle, The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One

This paper begins by looking at the MFA as a worker within the context of the contemporary university and from there attempts to situate that position in relationship to capitalism by charting out how the university uses workers for its own ends much like any capitalist business would, which results in the over-producing MFAs. From here, we can look toward the broader consequences of this large production of cultural producers and their becoming-professional. The consequences of this becoming-professional, I argue, are much more problematic than they initially appear, which further destabilizes our ability to act as anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian cultural producers without further strengthening the forces we seek to oppose. Finally, I'll try and develop Stefano Harney and Fred Moten's concept of the criminal as well as Deleuze & Guattari's thinking on smooth spaces and a socio-political shifting toward that of the control society. Last I look at the various ways of thinking about fleeing or evacuating to help us chart escape routes by moving past traditional artistic notions of institutional critique and other professionalizing discourses learned within the spaces of MFA production.

My artistic process as an actor is ever changing--always in flux and adjusting to the needs and dominant rhythms of the character and imaginary world of the play. While there may be some overlap, every role is different from the next role and therefore the artistic process serves to help the actor find a way into the life of the character. Actor training in movement, voice, and acting technique provides me with a variety of tools to choose from when developing a character for performance. My artistic process is the exploration and play that goes into picking and choosing which tools suit me best to approach the development of a character. It is my work to use these tools to discover the many connections and themes between the character and the imaginary world of the play as well as how they interact with each other. A significant part of this exploration is doing the character research to answer specific questions such as: Is my character's interaction with others mostly negative or positive? What want, need, or desire lures my character from the beginning of the play through to the end? What is my characters internal rhythm...heavy and lethargic or light and erratic? Moreover, the artistic process is crucial to giving me the freedom to release into the character so that I can successfully make the jump from playing at a character to truly embodying the character.

The purpose of this research study aimed to critically examine personal and professional issues related to a small group of visual arts MFA graduate students and myself as we participated in a semester-long course entitled, “Issues of Relevance and Character in the Fine Arts,” at a large public university in the United States. In the form of a colloquium series, the course aimed to explore a graduate student’s developing sense of self and its impact on the different roles he or she often embodies while pursuing an MFA in a School of Art. These roles include those of an individual, a student, an artist, a teaching assistant, and a future professional in the field of the visual arts. Employing a participatory action research methodology, I was also a participant in the study. I regularly documented the oral, written, and visual data that emerged from the participants’ considerations of their immediate circumstances both inside and outside the School of Art as well as their interactions with the reflexive pedagogies utilized in the colloquium sessions. This dissertation also reviewed research studies conducted on graduate student development, students in visual arts MFA programs, the historical development of the MFA degree, as well as faculty members in MFA programs and their curricular and pedagogical practices. Findings indicated the following: First, strong convictions seemed to be intrinsic to the participants’ pursuit of their MFA degrees. They appeared eager to learn about becoming a professional in the field, and each participant expressed interest in teaching the visual arts as instructors in higher education. Second, participating in a course such as “Issues of Relevance and Character in the Fine Arts,” seemed to offer the participants a receptive and reflective platform to convey the voices of the “characters” they embodied as MFA students. For example, the participants appeared to clarify intra- and interpersonal priorities, educational goals and artistic aspirations. Their personal and professional development was influenced by the complex relationships they shared with others in their MFA programs. The MFA participants grappled with the connections and disconnections that appeared to exist between their professors, peers, and themselves. A third theme addressed the impact of my participation within the study. With an established background in both teaching and taking courses in the studio arts and Art and Visual Culture Education, the findings suggest that I was able to empathize with the three other participants on several fronts. Fourth, the findings also address the curricular and pedagogical strengths and limitations of the course. The implications of this research study suggest the need for (a) more action research studies of MFA graduate students, as the methodology seemed to enhance the reflexive and exploratory nature of self-inquiry; (b) a series of required courses within MFA curricula that help graduates to systematically reflect upon their roles as graduate students in terms of their immediate goals, as well as their aspirations for the future; (c) research and professional development opportunities for faculty members so that they might become more aware of the ways that their MFA curricula and instructional practices influence a graduate student's sense of self both positively and negatively; and (d) research on how art and visual culture educators can be involved in assisting MFA graduate students and faculty members develop new perspectives related to their instructional and mentoring practices.

No description available.

After the Paris climate agreement, the requirements were raised on the district heating sector in Sweden to eliminate the fossil fuels from the production. This concerns mainly the peak load production during cold season when the fossil boilers are needed the most. To get rid of the peak load production of fossil fuels, it is necessary to find an alternative way of producing the heat that still fulfill the requirements on the boilers. You often need to have a flexible load control and a quick startup of the boiler. It is possible to convert a fossil boiler to be able to use bio oil or bio diesel, more or less keeping the same properties of the boiler. The requirements on the system in such a conversion is dependent on the fuel and its properties. In this study the definition of fossil free district heating refers to only the fuel used for production. "Falu Energi och Vatten" (FEV) is a district heating company in a town called Falun in Sweden. They use approximately 3 % fossil fuel (liquefied petroleum gas and heating oil 1) of the energy used for district heat production and have the ambition to be fossil free. The district heating grid in Falun has been studied to examine the economic consequences of a conversion of fossil boiler for peak load production. The technical requirements that leads to economic consequences have also been studied. By studying literature and contacting some technology providers, fuel providers and other heat producers the costs that will be affected by the conversion has been obtained. Three different fuel choices in a boiler conversion have been studied; MFA, RME and HVO. To evaluate the economic consequences, a Life cycle cost analysis (LCC) has been used. Apart from the three different choices of fuel, an LCC has also been calculated for a scenario where you keep using fossil fuels. A sensitive analysis has also been made where different energy demands, prices for energy and the cost of capital have been studied. The results show that all the different choices of bio fuels studied for a conversion is more expensive than keep on using the fossil fuels for FEV. MFA has the lowest LCC, but the largest investment. The price for HVO and the taxes when used for heating makes it substantially more expensive than the other fuels. The sensitive analysis shows that the price of energy and energy demand in the future is crucial for the economic consequences. These must change substantially if the investments are to be considered profitable during the calculation period of 10 years. MFA has a lower LCC the greater the energy demand is for FEV in the future. RME has a lower LCC the lesser the energy demand is. It has emerged that the necessary measures and costs for a conversion of boilers differs a lot depending on local pre-conditions of the boilers and the storage of fuels. The calculations are based on several assumptions making the results uncertain and should be handled with caution. The results are also specific to the conditions of FEV which should be considered before the results can be applied under other circumstances. / Klimatavtalen i Paris 2015 gav upphov till högre krav i fjärrvärmebranschen i Sverige för att bli av med den fossila användningen av bränsle, vilket främst påverkar spetslastproduktionen under kallare perioder då de fossila pannorna används mest. För att kunna bli fossilfri är det nödvändigt att hitta alternativa sätt att producera värme som kan uppfylla samma funktion som de fossila pannorna. För att behålla flexibiliteten i lastreglering och en snabb uppstart är det möjligt att konvertera de befintliga pannorna till att elda med bioolja/biodiesel. Beroende på valet av bränsle och dess egenskaper kan de ställa olika krav på systemet. I denna studie avses fossilfri fjärrvärme endast bränslet som används till förbränning för värmeproduktion. Falu Energi och Vatten (FEV) använder cirka 3 % fossilt bränsle (gasol och eldningsolja 1) av sin totala användning av bränsle för fjärrvärme och har ambitioner att bli helt fossilfria i sin produktion. FEV:s fjärrvärmenät har studerats i syfte att ta reda på ekonomiska konsekvenser av en konvertering av fossila spetslastpannor till bioolja eller biodiesel. Tekniska konsekvenser som ger upphov till kostnader vid och efter en konvertering har också studerats. Genom att studera tidigare litteratur, kontakt med några teknikleverantörer, värmeproducenter och bränsleleverantörer har kostnader som bedöms påverkas vid en konvertering tagits fram. Tre olika bränsleval vid konvertering har studerats; MFA, RME och HVO. För att undersöka ekonomiska konsekvenser av konverteringarna har Livscykelkostnaden (LCC) beräknats enligt nuvärdesmetoden. Dessa har sedan jämförts med en LCC för en fortsatt användning av fossila bränslen. En känslighetsanalys har gjorts där ett ändrat energibehov, energipris och kalkylränta studerats. Resultaten visar att alla tre konverteringar till biobränslen blir dyrare än att fortsätta använda de fossila. MFA får enligt kalkylen den lägsta LCC, men har också den största investeringen. HVO blir betydligt dyrare än de övriga alternativen på grund av högt pris för bränslet och höga punktskatter vid värmeproduktion. Känslighetsanalysen visar att energipriset och energibehovet i framtiden är helt avgörande för de ekonomiska konsekvenserna. Dessa måste förändras väsentligt om LCC ska bedömas lönsam under kalkylperioden 10 år. MFA får en lägre LCC ju högre energibehov som krävs i framtiden och LCC för RME blir lägre ju lägre energibehovet blir. Det har framkommit under studien att åtgärder, investeringar och kostnader skiljer sig mycket mellan olika förutsättningar för både pannor och lagring av bränslen vid en konvertering. Dessutom bygger flera delar av kalkylen på antaganden. Detta gör att resultaten bör hanteras med försiktighet. Resultaten är också specifika för förutsättningar hos FEV vilket bör beaktas innan resultaten kan appliceras under andra förutsättningar.

This dissertation studies the effects of external integration and internal liberalization on the economic geography within a country when regions within the country have different access to the world market. The first paper introduces internal geography into the Melitz (2003) model to examine how external and internal liberalizations affect the economic geography within a country. By dividing a country into a coastal region and an inland region, the model shows that trade leads the coastal region have a higher than proportional share of industry, and causes firms in the coastal region to be larger and more productive than firms in the inland region. Both external and internal liberalizations encourage industry agglomeration in the coastal region. However, external trade liberalization leads to firm divergence, and internal liberalization leads to firm convergence, between coastal and inland regions. This allows me to test the relative importance of internal and external liberalization. Using Chinese data from 1998 to 2007, I find that the manufacturing sector grew faster in the coastal region than in the inland region after the WTO accession in 2001. Firms also converged between coastal and inland regions, indicating that internal liberalization had stronger effects during this period. In the second paper, I document large economic discontinuities across the east/non-east provincial borders in China and argue that the border effects are largely due to preferential policies that give the east advantages in international trade and economic development. Using counties contiguous to the borders of 4 plain provinces, I find that manufacturing activities (output, employment, and export) increase abruptly from the west to the east of the borders. The counties in the east also have a lower share of agricultural population and a higher share of output by foreign firms. The economic discontinuities are larger for non-state sectors than for the state sector and are stronger in non-mountain regions than in mountain regions. The large economic discontinuities are unlikely to be explained by geographic and cultural differences across the borders, and can be accounted for by the policy differences between east and non-east provinces. I find that the openness level and the index of market liberalization can account for a large part of the east/non-east divide. In the third paper, I use the ending of the Multi-fiber Arrangement (MFA) to study the effects of an external trade liberalization on Chinese textile and clothing industry. After the Multi-fiber Arrangement ended in 2005, Chinese textile and clothing exports in products that faced quotas before experienced significant boom. The effects are stronger in the coastal region than in the inland region. Using distance to the seaport as a measure of world-market access, I show that the external trade liberalization (the quota removal) had larger effects on regions with better access to the world market. A further analysis of firm entry shows that the large adjustment of export after the expiration of the MFA was largely due to destination and product expansions by existing firms.