Anthropogenic use of waterways is reducing connectivity at a rate faster than any time in geological history, sometimes causing serious declines in fish populations. Free passage of fish throughout the watercourse is necessary for species utilising different habitats for e.g. residing, spawning and feeding. Fish passes are employed to mitigate for impoundments, but are historically biased in design towards upstream migrating salmonids. Driven partly by more holistic environmental legislation, there is now an increasing interest in other species and life-stages, requiring development of fish passage criteria for multiple species during up- and down-stream migrations. To address these knowledge gaps this research programme undertook laboratory experiments with upstream migrant river lamprey, Lampetra fluviatilis, and downstream migrating European eel, Anguilla anguilla, and brown trout, Salmo trutta. The use of a large open-channel flume allowed control of the motivational state of, and stimuli encountered by the fish. The fish responses to a variety of model weirs and screens placed in the flume were assessed, allowing attainment of species and life-stage specific swimming capability and behavioural information. This research demonstrated that using large flumes where volitional swimming allows natural compensatory behaviours to be undertaken, provides more realistic swimming capability information for fish pass criteria than some traditional methods (i.e. confined swim chambers). Dependent on species and direction of movement, all structures tested had some level of impediment to migration, with small gauging weirs almost completely impeding movement of upstream migrant river lamprey under the conditions presented. Downstream migrant anguilliforms were seen to demonstrate structure oriented, thigmotactic behaviour compared to salmonids which responded to flow fields. Under high velocities, this lack of reaction to hydraulic cues may result in a higher probability of damage and mortality at facilities traditionally designed to protect salmonids. The information provided by this research, e.g. accurate swimming speeds and fish response to associated hydraulic conditions, will aid the production of effective multi-species fish pass facilities

No description available.

The 1995 UNFSA creates a door for fishing entities’ participation in conservation and management regimes regarding straddling and highly migratory fish stocks through separate RFMOs. However, fishing entities are different from states, leading to some ambiguous circumstances in RFMOs, especially in high seas enforcements. This thesis reviews the concepts of fishing entities and considers fishing entities’ status in international law of the sea and the RFMOs. Then, it considers the role of fishing entity enforcement in high seas with being equivalent to a flag state and non-flag state. This thesis then considers the problems that fishing entities may encounter in high seas enforcement. Finally, it represents the practices of fishing entity enforcement in high seas with a special reference to the role of Taiwan in RFMOs.

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) have a large number of applications and the majority of them are in the sensor and actuator fields targeted to satisfy market needs. Recently, researchers have focused on optimizing and improving device functions, sensitivity, power consumption, etc. However, SAW actuators and sensors still cannot replace their conventional counterparts in some mechanical and biomedical areas, such as actuators for liquid pumping under microfluidic channels and sensors for real-time cell culture monitoring. The two objectives of this dissertation are to explore the potential of piezoelectric materials and surface acoustic waves for research on actuators and sensors in the mechanical pump and biosensor areas. Manipulation of liquids in microfluidic channels is important for many mechanical, chemical and biomedical applications. In this dissertation, we first introduced a novel integrated surface acoustic wave based pump for liquid delivery and precise manipulation within a microchannel. The device employed a hydrophobic surface coating (Cytop) in the device design to decrease the friction force and increase the bonding. Contrary to previous surface acoustic wave based pumps which were mostly based on the filling and sucking process, we demonstrated long distance media delivery (up to 8mm) and a high pumping velocity, which increased the device’s application space and mass production potential. Additionally, the device design didn’t need precise layers of water and glass between substrate and channel, which simplified the design significantly. In this study, we conducted extensive parametric studies to quantify the effects of the liquid volume pumped, microchannel size, and input applied power as well as the existence of hydrophobic surface coating on the pumping velocity and pump performance. Our results indicated that the pumping velocity for a constant liquid volume with the same applied input power could be increased by over 130% (2.31 mm/min vs 0.99 mm/min) by employing a hydrophobic surface coating (Cytop) in a thinner microchannel (250 µm vs 500 µm) design. This device could be used in circulation, dosing, metering and drug delivery applications which necessitated small-scale precise liquid control and delivery. This dissertation also introduced a novel SAW-based sensor designed and employed for detecting changes in cell concentration. Before conducting cell concentration experiments, preliminary experiments were conducted on weight concentration differentiation of microfluidic particles based on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel and surface acoustic wave resonator design. The results confirmed that our device exerted an ultra-stable status to detect liquid properties by monitoring continuous fluids. An improved design was carried out by depositing a 200 nm ZnO layer on top of the lithium tantalate substrate surface increased the sensitivity and enabled cell concentration detection in a microfluidic system. Comprehensive studies on cell viability were carried out to investigate the effect of shear horizontal (SH) SAWs on both a cancerous (A549 lung adenocarcinoma) and a non-cancerous (RAW264.7 macrophage) cell line. Two pairs of resonators consisting of interdigital transducers (IDTs) and reflecting fingers were used to quantify mass loading by the cells in suspension media as well as within a 3-dimensional cell culture model. In order to predict the characteristics and optimize the design of the SH-SAW biosensor, a 3D COMSOL model was built to simulate the mass loading response of the cell suspensions. These results were compared to experimental data generated by pipetting cell concentrations of 3.125K, 6.25K 12.5K, 25K and 50K cells per 100µL into the PDMS well and measuring to obtain the relative frequency shift from the two oscillatory circuit systems (one of which functioned as a control). Frequency shift measurements were also collected from A549 cells cultured on a 3D nanofiber scaffold produced by electrospinning to evaluate the device’s ability to detect changes in cell density as the cells proliferated in culture over the course of eight days. The device’s ability to detect changes in cell density over time in a 3D model along with its biocompatibility reveal great potential for this device to be incorporated into 3D in vitro cancer research applications.

Le vieillissement croissant de la population mondiale augmente les risques d’incidence de maladies dégénératives comme la maladie d’Alzheimer (AD). L’AD représente la forme de démence la plus commune. C’est plus de 40 millions de personnes qui sont affectés à l’échelle mondiale, créant ainsi un lourd fardeau économique annuel de plusieurs centaines de milliards de dollars. L’AD est une maladie dégénérative du cerveau qui se traduit par une perte graduelle de la mémoire et des fonctions cognitives. Cette dernière se caractérise par trois symptômes pathophysiologiques intimement reliés qui sont : (1) un système cholinergique défectueux, (2) une accumulation excessive de plaques séniles toxiques composées de peptides β–amyloïdes et (3) une hyperphosphorylation de la protéine Tau qui résulte en des enchevêtrements neurofibrillaires. Il n’existe à ce jour aucune cure contre l’AD et les traitements actuellement retrouvés sur le marché n’ont qu’un effet transitoire. En revanche, il y a de plus en plus d’indices qui suggèrent que l’utilisation de certains facteurs de croissance comme l’IGF-2, le bFGF et les neurotrophines pourraient agir à titre de traitement. Parmi ces derniers, la protéine morphogénétique osseuse 9 (BMP-9) a montré un fort potentiel thérapeutique. Cette dernière est toutefois coûteuse à produire en plus d’être volumineuse, ce qui limite fortement son acheminement au cerveau en raison de la barrière hématoencéphalique. Dans cette optique, nous avons développé deux peptides de 23 acides aminés dérivés de l’épitope knuckle de la BMP-9, pBMP-9 et SpBMP-9, 300 fois moins chers à produire. Les travaux de ce projet de doctorat portent sur le développement d’un système de libération du SpBMP-9, le plus efficace des deux peptides, comme stratégie de traitement contre l’AD. Tout d’abord, il a été montré que le SpBMP-9 permettait d’induire la différenciation neuronale de cellules humaines SH-SY5Y de façon plus efficace que la protéine native par la présence d’une croissance plus importante des neurites et l’expression de marqueurs de différenciation neuronaux. De plus, le SpBMP-9 pouvait agir sur au moins deux symptômes de l’AD en orientant la différenciation vers le phénotype cholinergique et en inactivant la GSK3β, une Tau kinase. Ensuite, un système de libération sous forme de nanoparticules à base de chitosane et d’alginate a été développé, puis caractérisé. Ce système de libération a permis d’encapsuler efficacement le SpBMP-9. Le suivi et la modélisation des cinétiques de libération à l’aide d’un modèle mathématique prenant en considération la distribution de taille des particules a permis d’identifier que la libération était principalement diffusive, mais qu’il existait de fortes interactions entre le peptide et l’alginate. Les tests de viabilité ont montré que les nanoparticules n’étaient pas toxiques sur des cellules SH-SY5Y. Enfin, le SpBMP-9 libéré à partir des nanoparticules était toujours bioactif et permettait une différentiation neuronale. Finalement, une étude exploratoire a permis de mettre en évidence que le SpBMP-9 pouvait agir en synergie avec le bFGF et le NGF. La combinaison du SpBMP-9 avec le bFGF ou le NGF a montré la présence d’une différenciation neuronale accrue mise en évidence par la présence d’une croissance de neurites supérieure, par l’expression de plusieurs marqueurs de différenciation ainsi que par un niveau de calcium intracellulaire plus important. Pour conclure, ces travaux de recherche suggèrent que le SpBMP-9 possède un fort potentiel thérapeutique dans le contexte de l’AD. Une étude plus approfondie de ses mécanismes d’action est requise ainsi que la validation de son effet in vivo sur modèle animal.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic mood disorder affecting ~1-2% of the global population, characterized by cycling moods of mania and depression. The exact pathogenesis of BD is unknown; however, it has been established that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress plays an important role. It is known that BD patients have abnormal activity and expression of ER stress proteins in several brain regions. There exists a need for a definitive diagnostic test for the early detection of BD as it is often misdiagnosed for other conditions including unipolar depression and schizophrenia. Understanding the underlying mechanisms and therapeutic targets being used by BD treatments will be helpful in establishing a diagnostic test. The current gold standard for BD treatment includes Lithium (LiCl) prescription, along with other mood stabilizers such as Valproic acid (VPA) and antipsychotics such as Olanzapine. Current therapies only relieve symptoms and are unable to stop disease progression. Neurotrophic factors (NTFs) are naturally occurring proteins that are responsible for the maintenance, differentiation, and survival of neurons. Cerebral dopamine NTF (CDNF) and Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived NTF (MANF) belong to a novel class of NTFs specific to dopaminergic neurons. This study investigated the role of CDNF and MANF as therapeutic targets for bipolar disorder in SH-SY5Y cells and Sprague Dawley rats, as well as determining the endogenous mRNA levels of CDNF and MANF in BD patients. We demonstrated that common BD mood stabilizers – LiCl and VPA – significantly increased the mRNA expression of MANF and CDNF in vitro. Additionally, we also established that these mood stabilizers alter the NTFs expression in different rat brain regions including pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and cortex. These findings suggest that BD drug treatments potentially act via NTFs in order to relieve symptoms. Thus it highlights the importance of further investigating the interaction between neurotrophic factors and bipolar disorder. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

A poluição atmosférica já é considerada um caso de saúde pública nos grandes centros urbanos. Freqüentemente as emissões veiculares são as principais causas dessa poluição, principalmente as provenientes dos motores diesel, os quais, além da produção de material particulado (MP), em cuja superfície são adsorvidas substâncias carcinogênicas e mutagênicas, produzem poluentes como os hidrocarbonetos policíclicos aromáticos (HPAs). Contudo não existe uma avaliação direta dos riscos dessas emissões nos seres vivos. Plantas bioindicadoras podem dar idéia desses riscos. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o potencial de risco mutagênico da exaustão proveniente de um motor diesel, utilizando o bioensaio Trad-SH (clone KU-20) como bioindicador da poluição do ar. Nos experimentos, a exaustão do motor diesel aspirado de 2.0 L de deslocamento volumétrico foi diluído com ar atmosférico de modo a atingir concentrações de uma atmosfera pesadamente poluída (aproximadamente 50, 100 e 150 ppm de CO). Obtidos estes níveis de diluição, as inflorescências foram expostas a esta mistura de poluentes por duas horas (doses agudas). A concentração de CO foi monitorada continuamente por meio de um analisador de gases Horiba Enda utilizando o princípio de absorção seletiva no infravermelho. Para se avaliar o efeito mutagênico foi feita uma comparação entre as inflorescências não expostas aos poluentes (grupo 1) e as inflorescências expostas (grupos 2, 3 e 4) com aproximadamente 50, 100 e 150 ppm de CO respectivamente. Os dados obtidos foram analisados estatisticamente observando-se que, a freqüência média das mutações no grupo 1 (controle), foi significativamente mais baixa do que aquela dos grupos 3 e 4, porém foi similar à do grupo 2. Por sua vez, não houve diferenças significativas nas freqüências de mutações entre os grupos 3 e 4. Os resultados indicam que a exaustão do motor a diesel teve um papel significativo no desenvolvimento de mutações, mas somente quando diluída para concentrações de CO acima de 100 ppm. / Air pollution caused by vehicle emission has been considered as a major public health concern in the urban centers. Emission from diesel engine powered vehicles, in particular, are highly toxic, since carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds can adsorb on the expelled particles leading to the formation of the so-called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH\'s). A detailed investigation on the risks of those compounds on the living beings using the methodology applied in the work has not been carried out so far. This work is aimed at evaluating the mutagenic potential of the emission from a diesel engine using the Tradescantia stamen hair assay (TSH), by monitoring the stamen hair mutation in the clone KU-20. Experimentally, the inflorescence of the KU-20 clones was kept for 2 h under a simulated urban heavily polluted atmosphere, obtained by mixing the emission from a diesel engine and atmospheric air. The CO concentration in the atmosphere was monitored using a Horiba-Enda gas analyzer. The mutagenic effects of the atmosphere were analyzed by comparing a group of non-exposed control inflorescence (group 1) to inflorescences kept under polluted atmospheres containing 50, 100 and 150 ppm of CO, assigned to as groups 2, 3 and 4. The experimental data were analyzed using statistical methods. The frequency of mutations observed in the inflorescences from group 2 was slightly higher than that observed in the group 1. In the groups 3 and 4, however, the frequency of mutations was significantly higher than that exhibited by the control group. The latter suggests that the emission from a diesel engine plays an important role in the development of plants mutation, specially for atmospheres containing more than 100 ppm of CO.

As emissões veiculares constituem-se em uma das mais graves ameaças a qualidade de vida da população, principalmente nos grandes centros urbanos. Poluentes de origem veicular podem induzir alterações no material genético de organismos a eles expostos, pois nessas emissões, destacam-se entre outros, os hidrocarbonetos policíclicos aromáticos (HPAs), que são substâncias consideradas carcinogênicas e mutagênicas. A utilização de indicadores sensíveis a ação de agentes genotóxicos serve para avaliar a presença destes compostos no ambiente. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar comparativamente o risco mutagênico das emissões provenientes da combustão dos combustíveis fósseis (gasolina e diesel) e renováveis (álcool e biodiesel), utilizando o bioensaio Trad-SH. Os ensaios foram realizados utilizando veículos do ciclo Diesel (Citröen JUMPER 2.8 L, 2006) e do ciclo Otto (VW FOX 1.6 Flex, 2005 sem o conversor catalítico), em um dinamômetro de chassi, submetidos a um ciclo de condução urbano padronizado (FTP-75) modificado, para a coleta dos gases de escapamento. Os gases foram misturados com o ar ambiente e homogeneizados para simular o que ocorre no trânsito urbano. As inflorescências do clone KU-20 de Tradescantia foram expostas a mistura de poluentes, provenientes dos veículos, dentro de uma câmara de fumigação, por duas horas. Para a avaliação do efeito mutagênico foi feita uma comparação entre as inflorescências não expostas aos poluentes (grupo 1) e as inflorescências expostas as emissões do álcool (grupo 2), do biodiesel (grupo 3), da gasolina (grupo 4) e do diesel (grupo 5). Os dados obtidos dos experimentos foram analisados estatisticamente onde se observou que a freqüência média das mutações no grupo 1 (controle), foi significativamente mais baixa do que aquela dos grupos 2, 3, 4, e 5. Os resultados indicam que as emissões dos veículos abastecidos com combustíveis fósseis (gasolina e diesel), são mais mutagênicas do que as emissões provenientes da combustão dos combustíveis renováveis (álcool e biodiesel). / The vehicle emissions constitute a major serious threat to the population\'s quality of life, especially in the large urban areas. Pollutants from vehicle origin may lead to changes concerning the genetic material of some organisms that have been exposed to them, and within these emissions it is stood out among others the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH\'s), which are carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds. The use of sensitive indicators to the action of genotoxic agents is useful to prevent and to evaluate the presence of these compounds in the environment. Therefore, this work is aimed at evaluating comparatively the mutagenic risk of emissions from the burning of fossil fuel (gasoline and diesel) and renewable ones (ethanol and biodiesel) by the use of Trad-SH bioassay. The assays were carried out using vehicles from the diesel cycle (Citröen JUMPER 2.8 L, 2006) and the Otto cycle (VW FOX 1.6 Flex, 2005, without a catalytic converter), in a chassis dynamometer, submitled to a standard urban driving cycle (FTP-75) in order to collect the gases of exhaust. The gases were mixed up to the atmosphere air and homogenized to simulate what happens in urban traffic. The inflorescences of KU-20 clone of Tradescantia were exposed to a mixture of pollutants from vehicles, in a fumigation chamber for two hours. To evaluate the mutagenic effect it was necessary to establish a comparison between the inflorescences which were not exposed to pollutants (group 1) and inflorescences exposed to emissions of alcohol (group 2), biodiesel (group 3), gasoline (group 4) and diesel (group 5). Data obtained from experiments were statistically analyzed in which appears that the average frequency of mutations in group 1 (control) was significantly lower than that of groups 2, 3, 4 and 5. The results indicate that emissions from vehicles fueled by fossil fuels (petrol and diesel) are more mutagenic than emissions from the combustion of renewable fuels (ethanol and biodiesel).

Estudos demonstram que a indução do estresse oxidativo pelo peptídeo beta amiloide (A?) exerce um importante papel no desencadeamento da excitotoxicidade neuronal o que pode resultar no desenvolvimento de doenças neurodegenerativas. A formação do peptídeo A? se deve a alterações na proteína precursora de amiloide (APP) que é clivada para a formação do peptídeo A?. Por sua vez, os mecanismos de ação do A? no S.N.C. ocorrem através da sinalização do receptor NMDA (N-metil D-aspartato) receptor este que quando ativado pelo glutamato exerce importante papel fisiológico no S.N.C., visto que apresenta atividade ionotrópica que permite o influxo de Na+ e Ca2+ para as células neuronais, auxiliando nos processos de formação da memória e aprendizagem. Entretanto, apesar do seu papel fisiológico, a ativação excessiva do receptor NMDA é fortemente correlacionada com lesões no S.N.C. decorrente da excessiva permeabilidade do íon Ca2+ para o citosol das células neuronais. Com isso as concentrações de glutamato na fenda sináptica são estritamente controladas para que não haja ativação excessiva dos receptores com atividade glutamatérgica, como o receptor NMDA. Estudos indicam que o transporte de glutamina/glutamato através da barreira hematoencefálica é menor do que de outros aminoácidos, sendo que cerca de 25% a 30% do transporte de aminoácidos dos vasos sanguíneos para o cérebro através da barreira hematoencefálica é ocupado pelo aminoácido leucina, sendo este um grande responsável pela síntese de glutamato/glutamina no S.N.C. Com isso, estudos tem demonstrado que dietas enriquecidas com aminoácidos de cadeia ramificada, dentre eles a leucina, é responsável por alterar o metabolismo do glutamato e aumentar a susceptibilidade à excitotoxicidade de células neurais. A fim de testar esta hipótese utilizamos um modelo de cultura de células de neuroblastoma humano e realizamos o tratamento com diferentes concentrações de aminoácido leucina associado com o tratamento de peptídeo beta-amilóide. Realizamos as analises de citotoxicidade (LDH), viabilidade celular (MTT) e apoptose celular por citometria de fluxo (marcação com PE Anexina V e 7-AAD). Nossos resultados indicam que houve diferenças apenas entre o controle em relação aos demais grupos de tratamento / Studies demonstrate that induction of oxidative stress by beta amyloid peptide (A?) plays an important role in triggering neuronal excitotoxicity which can result in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. The formation of A? peptide are due to changes in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) which is cleaved to form the peptide A?. On the other hand, the mechanisms of action of A? in the C.N.S. occur through signaling of the NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor that when activated by glutamate plays an important physiological role in the C.N.S., as has inotropic activity that allows the influx of Na+ and Ca2+ into the neuronal cells, assisting in procedures of memory formation and learning. However, despite its physiological role, the excessive activation of the NMDA receptor is strongly correlated with C.N.S. lesions due to excess permeability of Ca2+ ions into the cytosol of neuronal cells. Thus the concentrations of glutamate in the synaptic cleft are strictly controlled so that there is excessive activation of receptors with glutamatergic activity, as the NMDA receptor. Studies indicate that the transport of glutamine/glutamate across the blood brain barrier is lower than that of other amino acids, of which about 25% to 30% of the amino acid transport blood vessels to the brain through the blood brain barrier is occupied by leucine this being one largely responsible for the synthesis of glutamate/glutamine in the C.N.S. Thus, studies have shown that diets enriched in branched chain amino acids, including leucine, are responsible for altering the metabolism of glutamate and excitotoxic increase susceptibility to neural cells. To test this hypothesis we used a cell culture model of human neuroblastoma and carry out the treatment with different concentrations of leucine associated with the processing of amyloid-beta peptide. We performed analysis of cytotoxicity (LDH), cell viability (MTT assay) and apoptosis using flow cytometry (Annexin V staining with PE and 7-AAD). Our results indicate that there were differences only between the control compared to the other treatment groups

Denna rapport redogör produktionsprocessen för en re- design av ett karriärforum vid namn SH Karriär som funnits sedan hösten 2011. I dagsläget upplever SH Karriär att studenterna på Södertörns högskola inte återkommer till karriärforumet, därför inleddes produktionsprocessen med en användarstudie för att tangera problemet. Målet var att producera ett designförslag som presenterar karriärforumet på ett representativt sätt. Re- designen ska möjliggöra att användarna får en klarare överblick kring de innehåll som presenteras på karriärforumet och även skapa ett intresse som får dem att återkomma efter att ha registrerat sig på SH Karriär. Rapporten beskriver mitt tillvägagångssätt genom en enkätundersökning och användartester. Metoderna har lett till att jag fått en grund för produktionen av designförslaget. Designförslaget skapades i programmet Adobe Photoshop CS5. Resultatet blev ett strukturerat karriärforum som visar användarna vad SH Karriär har att erbjuda på ett färggrannare sätt. / This report describes the implementation for re-designing a career forum called SH Karriär, that has been working since fall 2011.  SH Karriär has in the current state experienced that students at Södertörn University don’t return to the career forum, which initiated a user study to evaluate the issue. The goal was to produce a design proposal for the career forum that presents their range of services in a representative manner.  The re- design allows users to get a clearer view of the content presented on the career forum and creates an interest in revisiting after registering at SH Karriär. The report describes my methodology through a questionnaire survey and usability testing. These methods have given me a foundation for the production of the design proposal that was created in Adobe Photoshop CS5. The result of the design proposal presents a more structured career forum that elucidates SH Karriär’s services with a new colorful approach.