Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T14:31:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_gizele_lima_de_sa.pdf: 488608 bytes, checksum: fe16f7b595024fb9112b8c23f5da90ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-14 / Neosporosis is considered a disease of worldwide distribution. It is caused by the apicomplexa protozoan Neospora caninum, responsible for neuromuscular disorders in dogs and abortions in bovines, which makes it an important pathogen in cattle breeding. The diagnosis of this disease can be accomplished by identifying the parasites by histological sections or by detection of specific antibodies. However, serological methods can be hampered by cross-reactivity with other apicomplexa parasites, such as Toxoplasma gondii. Parasite-specific antigens used for detection of antibodies or in the production of antiserum for the detection of tachyzoites can improve the specificity and sensitivity of diagnostic tests and studies of the biology of the parasite. Among specific antigens of Neospora genus, NcSRS2 (Nc-p43) which is an immunodominant surface protein stands out. It is present in tachyzoites as well as bradyzoites. In this study, Nc-p43 protein was produced in its recombinant form (rNcp43), by inserting the gene NcSRS2 in the cloning vector pET100/DTOPO, which was used to transform Escherichia coli BL21 Star. rNc-p43 protein was evaluated for reactivity with immune sera from naturally infected bovine, ovine and canine species, and used to immunize BALB/c mice for the production of a polyclonal antibody (pAb). rNc-p43 (pAb/rNc-p43) antibody was conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and the reactivity with the native protein on the surface of the parasite was evaluated by immunofluorescence. rNc-p43 protein was recognized by anti N. caninum present in immune sera by ELISA and dot blot and it was able to generate antibodies against the p43 antigen. The pAb/rNc-p43 reacted with the rNc-p43 protein in indirect ELISA and Western blotting, detecting N. caninum tachyzoites in direct and indirect immunofluorescence, with a fluorescence pattern only in the apical complex of the parasite, maintaining affinity even after conjugation with FITC. pAb/rNc-p43 showed no cross-reactivity with T. gondii. The results of this study suggest that the rNc-p43 obtained and the pAb produced can be useful in developing diagnostic tests based on the detection of specific antibodies and the antigen present on the surface of the parasite. / A neosporose é considerada uma doença de distribuição mundial, causada pelo protozoário apicomplexa Neospora caninum, causador de desordens neuromusculares em cães e abortos em bovinos, o que o torna um patógeno de relevância na bovinocultura. O diagnóstico desta enfermidade pode ser realizado através da identificação do parasito em cortes histológicos ou pela detecção de anticorpos específicos. No entanto, os métodos sorológicos aplicados podem ser dificultados por reações cruzadas com outros parasitos apicomplexas, como Toxoplasma gondii. Antígenos específicos do parasito utilizados para detecção de anticorpos ou na produção de insumos biológicos para a detecção de taquizoítos podem melhorar a especificidade e a sensibilidade dos testes de diagnóstico e de estudos da biologia do parasito. Entre os antígenos específicos de Neospora, destaca-se a proteína de superfície imunodominante NcSRS2 (Nc-p43), presente tanto em taquizoítos quanto em bradizoítos. Neste estudo, a proteína Nc-p43 foi produzida em sua forma recombinante (rNc-p43), através da inserção do gene NcSRS2 no vetor de clonagem pET100/DTOPO, o qual foi utilizado para transformar a bactéria Escherichia coli BL21 Star. A proteína rNc-p43 foi avaliada quanto a reatividade com soros imunes de animais naturalmente infectados das espécies bovina, ovina e canina; e utilizada para imunizar camundongos da linhagem BALB/c para a produção de um anticorpo policlonal (pAb). O anticorpo anti rNc-p43 (pAb/rNc-p43) foi conjugado com isotiocianato de fluoresceína (FITC) e avaliado quanto a reação com a proteína nativa na superfície do parasito por imunofluorescência. A proteína rNc-p43 foi reconhecida por anticorpos anti N. caninum presente nos soros imunes, através de ELISA e Dot blot e foi capaz de gerar anticorpos contra o antígeno rNc-p43. O pAb/rNc-p43 reagiu com a proteína rNc-p43 em ELISA indireto e Western blotting, detectou taquizoítos de N. caninum em imunofluorescência indireta e direta, apresentando um padrão de fluorescência somente no complexo apical do parasito, mantendo sua afinidade mesmo após sua conjugação com FITC. O pAb/rNc-p43 não apresentou reação cruzada com T. gondii. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que a rNc-p43 obtida e o pAb gerado podem ser úteis no desenvolvimento de testes de diagnóstico baseados na detecção de anticorpos específicos e do antígeno presente na superfície do parasito.

<p>A current trend in the information society is that traditionally fixed computing resources are made available to mobile users. Most of the existing techniques for communication have been developed for stationary computing, and they must be adapted to the different connection properties of the mobile environment. One of the emerging mobile computing environments is the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS. This system places demands on the quality of service that is provided to data flows, which requires resource management in the connection network. The most scarce resources in this system is the radio resources. The easiest way to conduct research in new and adapted techniques for communication is to perform simulations. Management of resources places restrictions on connections, and to get reliable results during simulations it must be included in the simulated environment. The thesis discusses and builds a basis for development of UMTS radio resource management in the network simulator ns-2. A limited version of UMTS radio resource management is added to ns-2 and evaluated.</p>

A current trend in the information society is that traditionally fixed computing resources are made available to mobile users. Most of the existing techniques for communication have been developed for stationary computing, and they must be adapted to the different connection properties of the mobile environment. One of the emerging mobile computing environments is the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS. This system places demands on the quality of service that is provided to data flows, which requires resource management in the connection network. The most scarce resources in this system is the radio resources. The easiest way to conduct research in new and adapted techniques for communication is to perform simulations. Management of resources places restrictions on connections, and to get reliable results during simulations it must be included in the simulated environment. The thesis discusses and builds a basis for development of UMTS radio resource management in the network simulator ns-2. A limited version of UMTS radio resource management is added to ns-2 and evaluated.

<p>In this thesis we investigate, implement and evaluate a solution for introducing the TransmissionControl Protocol (TCP) into the software of a load generator. The load generator is a simulator usedfor simulating end-user generated activities in the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System(UMTS) network. The purpose of simulating traffic on the network is in this case to verify thefunctionality and robustness of the Radio Network Controller (RNC) node within the UMTSnetwork.TCP is a protocol that provides reliable data transfer over unreliable underlying networkprotocols. It is used as the main transport protocol of the Internet, thus it is also used in the UMTSnetwork in order to provide connectivity for user equipment, such as 3G mobile phones, to servicesover the Internet. For the load generator to be able to produce more realistic traffic scenarios is itdesirable to give it the ability to use TCP.This thesis presents a solution of the problem where an open-source implementation of the TCPfunctionality was chosen, ported to the running platform of the load generator and then tested in asimulated test environment. The choice of the open source implementation of TCP was made byperforming an investigation of available options. In the investigation an open source TCP/IP stackcalled lwIP was chosen. lwIP was then ported to the running platform of the load generator bywrapping and modify the source code. The tests of the ported TCP implementation were made in asimulated test environment with focus on testing basic TCP functionality. The tests showed that theTCP implementation produced provided the basic functionality that was asked for.</p>

In this thesis we investigate, implement and evaluate a solution for introducing the TransmissionControl Protocol (TCP) into the software of a load generator. The load generator is a simulator usedfor simulating end-user generated activities in the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System(UMTS) network. The purpose of simulating traffic on the network is in this case to verify thefunctionality and robustness of the Radio Network Controller (RNC) node within the UMTSnetwork.TCP is a protocol that provides reliable data transfer over unreliable underlying networkprotocols. It is used as the main transport protocol of the Internet, thus it is also used in the UMTSnetwork in order to provide connectivity for user equipment, such as 3G mobile phones, to servicesover the Internet. For the load generator to be able to produce more realistic traffic scenarios is itdesirable to give it the ability to use TCP.This thesis presents a solution of the problem where an open-source implementation of the TCPfunctionality was chosen, ported to the running platform of the load generator and then tested in asimulated test environment. The choice of the open source implementation of TCP was made byperforming an investigation of available options. In the investigation an open source TCP/IP stackcalled lwIP was chosen. lwIP was then ported to the running platform of the load generator bywrapping and modify the source code. The tests of the ported TCP implementation were made in asimulated test environment with focus on testing basic TCP functionality. The tests showed that theTCP implementation produced provided the basic functionality that was asked for.

Basado en la idea de reducir la demanda sísmica en lugar de aumentar la capacidad resistente de las estructuras, el aislamiento sísmico es un método simple para mitigar o reducir los posibles daños producidos por los terremotos. La correcta aplicación de esta tecnología conduce a un mejor comportamiento de las estructuras, que sigue siendo esencialmente elástico durante los terremotos de gran magnitud. El núcleo de esta tecnología es el aislador. La mayoría de los aisladores sísmicos disponibles en la actualidad siguen teniendo limitaciones prácticas que impiden que funcionen según lo previsto e imponen restricciones a su uso efectivo y al nivel de protección proporcionado. En esta Tesis, se presenta un aislador sísmico avanzado llamado "roll-n-cage (RNC)". Se propone investigar su eficiencia a través de simulación numérica, en un intento de crear un sistema de aislamiento sísmico práctico, efectivo y económico, que tiene por objeto resolver los principales inconvenientes de los actuales sistemas de aislamiento sísmico, manteniendo sus principales ventajas. Este aislador incorpora aislamiento, disipación de energía, amortiguamiento y capacidad de fuerza recuperadora en una sola unidad. Además, ofrece una resistencia al viento significativa y una amplia gama de flexibilidad horizontal, por lo que es adecuado para proteger las estructuras de masa ligera, moderada y grande, así como para proteger equipos sensibles, hardware y / o antigüedades alojados en edificios. Por otra parte, las cuestiones relativas a la viabilidad, los costes de construcción y la disponibilidad de materiales, reducción o prevención de las respuestas de torsión y la resistencia a la elevación son abordados a fondo durante el diseño del aislador RNC. El aislador RNC propuesto es descrito en profundidad y sus principios de funcionamiento son presentados en detalle. La caracterización mecánica del dispositivo se ha llevado a cabo por medio de un código computacional sofisticado que simula la respuesta de los dispositivos como si estuvieran sujetos a una máquina de pruebas reales. A través de este esquema, se consigue analizar numéricamente el comportamiento del aislador RNC bajo el efecto simultáneo de cargas horizontales y verticales, como se da típicamente en situaciones prácticas. Además, se presenta una descripción matemática de las principales características asociadas a la rodadura de los aisladores RNC. Asimismo se obtiene un modelo matemático para describir en una forma razonable y manejable la relación fuerza desplazamiento exhibida por el aislador de RNC. Para evaluar la viabilidad del aislador RNC y para comprobar su capacidad para proteger los sistemas estructurales y no estructurales de los riesgos sísmicos, el dispositivo se implementa numéricamente en una variedad de estructuras con masas ligeras y grandes, además de en equipos sensibles alojados en los pisos superiores de dichas estructuras. Para extraer conclusiones de carácter relativamente general sobre el funcionamiento del aislador RNC, se estudia una amplia gama de terremotos y de características y propiedades de los aisladores y de las estructuras.Los resultados numéricos revelan que el aislador RNC propuesto puede reducir la respuesta sísmica frente a un amplio rango de excitaciones sísmicas, mientras que exhibe un rendimiento robusto para una gran variedad de estructuras. La Tesis incluye como apéndice un estudio en profundidad sobre el modelo de histéresis de Bouc-Wen. El estudio contiene una revisión de los primeros y últimos avances y aplicaciones de este modelo, que es ampliamente utilizado en la descripción de fenómenos de histéresis en las estructuras. / Based on the concept of reducing seismic demand rather than increasing the earthquake resistant capacity of structures, seismic isolation is a surprisingly simple approach to mitigate or reduce earthquake damage potential. Proper application of this complex technology leads to better performing structures that will remain essentially elastic during large earthquakes. The core of this technology is the isolator. Most currently available seismic isolators still have practical limitations causing them not to function as anticipated and impose restrictions to their proper use and to the provided protection level. In this dissertation, an advanced rolling-based seismic isolator, named roll-n-cage (RNC) isolator, is proposed and investigated via numerical simulation as an attempt to create a practical, effective, and economic seismic isolation system that aims to fix the main drawbacks of the current seismic isolation systems while keeping their main advantages. This isolator incorporates isolation, energy dissipation, buffer and restoring force mechanisms in a single unit. Further, it offers a significant wind resistance and a great range of horizontal flexibility making it ideal to protect light, moderate and heavy mass structures as well as precious housed motion-sensitive equipment, hardware and/or antiquities. Moreover, issues related to practicality, construction costs and material availability, reducing or preventing torsional responses and uplift resistance are thoroughly addressed during the RNC bearing design.The proposed RNC isolator is deeply described and its principles of operation are extensively highlighted. The mechanical characterization of the device has been carried out by means of a sophisticated computer code in a machine-like environment, which accurately simulates the response of the device subjected to a real testing machine. Through this machine-like environment, a general scheme is followed to numerically examine the behavior of the RNC isolator under simultaneous horizontal and vertical loads as in typical practical situations. Further, a mathematical description of the main features associated to rolling of the RNC isolator is presented. An input-output mathematical model is obtained to describe in a reasonable and manageable form the force-displacement relationship exhibited by the RNC isolator.To assess the feasibility of the RNC isolator and to check its ability to protect structural and nonstructural systems from seismic hazards, it is numerically implemented to a variety of structures having light to heavy masses, in addition to motion-sensitive equipment housed in upper building floors. Further, and to draw relatively general conclusions about the performance of the RNC isolator, a wide range of ground motions, isolator characteristics and structural properties is considered. The numerical results reveal that the proposed RNC isolation bearing can mitigate the seismic responses under a variety of ground motion excitations while exhibiting robust performance for a wide range of structures. The dissertation is appended with an in-depth survey, that contains a review of the past, recent developments and implementations of the versatile Bouc-Wen model of smooth hysteresis, which is used extensively in modeling the hysteresis phenomenon in the dynamically excited nonlinear structures. This survey is the first of its kind about the model since its origination more than 30 years ago. The objective is to present some of the popular approaches that have utilized and/or developed that model to capture the hysteretic behavior offered by a variety of nonlinear systems. Then, the evaluation of their results and contributions (if any) is carried out to highlight their assets and limitations and to identify future directions in this research area.

The 3G and 4G networks have drastically improved availability and quality in data transmission for bandwidth hungry services such as video streaming and location-based services. As 3G networks are very widely deployed, there exists increased capacity requirement and transport channel allocation to simultaneous users under a particular cell. Due to this reason, adequate resources are not available, which in turn degrades both service quality and user experienced quality. This research aims at understanding the characteristics of buffer filling during dedicated channel (DCH) transmission under fixed bit-rate assumptions on a per-user level taking different services into consideration. Furthermore, the resource utilisation in terms of empty buffer durations and user throughput achieved during dedicated channel transmission are also analysed for different data services existing in the mobile networks. The traces are collected from a real network and characteristics of the traffic are analysed prior to understanding its buffer filling in Radio Network Controller (RNC) during downlink data transmission. Furthermore, the buffer is modelled with some series of assumptions on channel bit-rates and simulations are performed taking single user scenario into consideration, for different services with the help of obtained traces as input to the buffer. This research is helpful in understanding the RNC buffer filling for different services, in turn yielding possible understanding on the existing transport channel switching scenario. With the help of analysing the buffer filling for different services and transport channel utilisation, we learn that most of the data services show low DCH utilisation of approximately around 20% and also found to have 80% of the total DCH session duration with empty buffer, causing sub-optimal radio resource utilization.

No description available.

O jornalismo transnacional (in. cross border journalism; es. periodismo transfronteirizo; din. journalistik over grænser) ganhou visibilidade nos anos 2010 a partir de séries como o OffshoreLeaks e o SwissLeaks, por estabelecer uma rede de investigação colaborativa entre equipes de diferentes países em torno de temas de relevância continental ou mundial, que normalmente envolvem estratagemas nas finanças internacionais com fins ilícitos. Tais séries jornalísticas são o ponto de partida desta tese, sendo contextualizadas com a renovação dos marcos do jornalismo profissional, que inclui o jornalismo pós-industrial (ANDERSON, BELL&SHIRKY, 2013), o qual coincide com uma \"improvável época de ouro do jornalismo investigativo\" (LEWIS, 2009). Procura-se, na presente pesquisa, mapear um território de pioneiros dessa prática de imprensa, que atrai jornalistas veteranos e interessa até às redações clássicas. A partir das constatações do crescimento dessa prática, esta tese procura refletir sobre essa tendência e identificar nela fundamentos de um método, ainda que não plenamente consolidado. E de tal método extrair elementos para um conceito, cuja prática expõe as assimetrias da globalização e se projeta numa \"sociedade civil global\" (IANNI, 1996; KALDOR, 2003). Praticado por jornalistas investigativos como David Kaplan e jornalistas-pesquisadoras como a dinamarquesa Brigitte Alfter (2015) e a chilena Florencia Melgar Hourcade (2015), o jornalismo transnacional se beneficia do saber acumulado pelo \"jornalismo de dados\" e pelo \"jornalismo sem fins lucrativos\", o que estimula uma cultura não competitiva entre redações, fortalece empreendimentos não corporativos e dá abertura a uma estimulante discussão sobre identidade profissional. No campo teórico, esta tese investiga se essa nova fronteira profissional da imprensa subsidia de fato a emergência de uma opinião pública global de caráter generalista na medida em que abre um horizonte multifacetado e plural para o conceito de objetividade jornalística (agora entendida como transparência), e na medida em que incorpora valores de uma \"ética de jornalismo global\" (WARD, 2005, 2008, 2010). / The cross border journalism (es. periodismo transfronteirizo; din. journalistik over grænser; pt. jornalismo transnacional) gained visibility in the years 2010 from series like OffshoreLeaks and SwissLeaks, by establishing a network of collaborative reporting between teams from different countries around issues of continental or global relevance, which usually involves stratagems in international finances for illicit purposes. These journalistic series are the starting point of this thesis, and they are contextualized with the renovation of the milestones of professional journalism, including the post-industrial journalism (ANDERSON, BELL & SHIRKY, 2013) and its coincidence with an \"unlikely golden era of investigative journalism\" (LEWIS, 2009). The research tries to report this territory of pioneers of this new practice from press, which attracts veteran journalists and interests even the classic newsrooms. From the factual findings, this thesis aims to reflect on this trend identifying foundations of a method, although not fully consolidated, and tries to extract therefrom the elements of a concept, and relating its practice to an emergent \"global civil society\" (IANNI, 1996; KALDOR, 2003) and exposing the asymmetries of globalization. Practiced by investigative journalists like David Kaplan and journalists-researchers as the Danish Brigitte Alfter (2015) and the Chilean Florencia Melgar Hourcade (2015), the transnational method takes benefit from the accumulated knowledge by the \"data journalism\" and the \"nonprofit journalism\" and can stimulates a non-competitive culture among newsrooms. This journalism strengthens non-corporate enterprises and gives opening to a stimulating discussion about professional identity. In theory, this thesis investigates if this new professional frontier of press subsidizes indeed the emergence of a global public opinion in a \"generalist\" character as it opens to journalistic field a multifaceted and plural horizon to objectivity (now understood as transparency), and as it incorporates values from a \"global journalism ethics\" (WARD, 2005, 2008, 2010).

No description available.