Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, has captured readers' imaginations for almost three hundred years, spawning countless adaptations over several different mediums. As different means of communicating and transforming art have been invented, these adaptations have grown to fill the new mediums and make use of the various possibilities each form has created. Film in particular has created an enormous opportunity to re-imagine Gulliver's Travels, since it can directly show the audience the fictional foreign locations in which Gulliver finds himself. In this study, I examine seven screen adaptations of Swift's novel to determine what our current culture views as the core of the work, or what we see as the important pieces to pass on to current and future audiences. The seven chosen adaptations were selected based on how well they have survived over the last century; adaptations which are no longer available for commercial purchase and/or viewing were excluded from the study. I have also only included works which maintain a resemblance to the original story in structure, even if merely loosely, and have excluded works which bear only a thematic tie; I based my choices on the works which make an overt claim to be interpretations of the original text. This study examines only the works which seek to directly represent the original novel. By looking at Swift's work through the lens of adaptation, this study will show how Swift's work is currently perceived, and examines what that may mean for the future of Swift's legacy. As cultural views and connotations of language have changed, the directors of the adaptations have used different means to achieve sometimes similar, sometimes different messages. Gulliver's Travels was originally a satiric work that addressed social problems of eighteenth-century England. Popular views on society have changed, however, as have the politicians holding office. Certain events in Gulliver's Travels, such as the reading of Gulliver's offences in Lilliput, no longer have nearly the same relevance. Therefore, it is important to examine how the directors address these changes to determine what will retain relevance over time.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women and represents a serious health problem around the world. Despite of the progression in cancer research, there is a few biomarker validated to be used in clinical routine. Thus, this work aimed to investigate the levels of four serum proteins related with the mostly earlier events of breast cancer. For this purpose, serum levels of EGFR1, HER-2, TSP-1 and RANKL were investigated in twenty-eight patients with breast cancer in the early and advanced stage by ELISA method. Nineteen volunteers with no breast cancer were included in this study as controls. The results showed that serum EGFR1 (sEGFR1) levels decrease with disease progression. The mean sEGFR1 concentration in control group was 61.7 ng/mL, 38.0 ng/mL in initial breast cancer and 34.2 ng/mL in metastatic breast cancer. The best cutoff value was 46.85 ng/mL, it was able to distinguish volunteers and breast cancer patients with 75% sensitivity, and 94.7% specificity. Regarding sHER-2, its levels were found to increase with disease progression. Serum HER-2 (sHER-2) median in control group was 5.13 ng/mL, and in initial breast, and metastatic breast cancer women the mean was 5.99 ng/mL and 6.18 ng/mL, respectively. A cutoff value of 5.38 ng/mL of HER-2 was able to distinguish healthy and breast cancer individuals with 81.5% of sensitivity and 78.9% of specificity. Regarding TSP-1, women with metastatic breast cancer had significantly lower levels than control group and initial breast cancer. Besides although initial patients tend to have a higher concentration than control group, no statistical difference was observed. Concerning serum RANKL no differences was observed between the groups. In conclusion, our results bring evidence that sEGFR1 and sHER-2 should be investigated in a large clinical trial in an attempt to validate these proteins as potentials biomarkers for earlier detection of breast cancer. / O câncer de mama é a neoplasia maligna mais comum entre as mulheres e representa um sério problema de saúde pública em todo o mundo. Apesar dos avanços em pesquisas na área de cancerologia, há poucos biomarcadores validados para uso na rotina clínica. Assim, este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar os níveis de quatro proteínas do soro relacionadas com os eventos em sua maioria anteriores do câncer de mama. Para este efeito, os níveis séricos de EGFR1, HER-2, TSP-1 e RANKL foram investigados em vinte e oito pacientes com câncer de mama em estádio inicial e avançado, pelo método de ELISA. Dezenove voluntárias sem câncer de mama foram incluídas neste estudo como grupo controle. Os resultados mostraram que os níveis séricos de EGFR1 (sEGFR1) diminui com a progressão da doença. A concentração média de sEGFR1 no grupo controle foi de 61,7 ng/mL, 38,0 ng/mL no câncer de mama inicial e 34,2 ng/mL no câncer de mama metastático. O melhor valor de cutoff foi 46,85 ng/mL, com sensibilidade de 75% e 94,7% de especificidade para distinguir entre pacientes com câncer de mama e grupo controle. Com relação ao sHER-2, as concentrações foram encontradas para aumentar com a progressão da doença. A concentração mediana de sHER-2 no grupo de controle foi de 5,13 ng/mL, e em pacientes com a neoplasia em sua fase inicial e com câncer de mama metastático a mediana foi de 5,99 ng/mL e 6,18 ng/mL, respectivamente. Um valor de cutoff de 5,38 ng/mL de HER-2 foi capaz de distinguir indivíduos saudáveis e de câncer de mama, com 81,5% de sensibilidade e 78,9% de especificidade. Quanto à sTSP-1, mulheres com câncer de mama metastático têm níveis mais baixos do que o grupo controle e pacientes com câncer inicial. Além disso, embora as pacientes iniciais tendessem a ter uma concentração mais elevada do que o grupo controle, não houve diferença estatística. Quanto ao sRANKL nenhuma diferença foi observada entre os grupos. Por último, os nossos resultados trazem evidências de que os níveis de sEGFR1 e sHER-2 devem ser investigados em ensaios clínicos com tamanho amostral significativo na tentativa de se validar estas proteínas como potenciais biomarcadores para a detecção precoce do câncer de mama. / Mestre em Imunologia e Parasitologia Aplicadas

Diploma thesis deals with glass fiber surface modification using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition in order to prepare functional interface that enhances the properties of polymer composites. The effect of deposition conditions on shear strength was observed with respect to the chemical composition of the deposited film. Thin films were deposited on planar substrates and fibers using monomer tetravinylsilane in a mixture with oxygen at selected power of plasma discharge. Chemical composition of prepared material was analyzed by infrared spectroscopy. Planar substrate film adhesion was measured using the scratch test. The composite sample was prepared by embedding the surface modified fibers in unsaturated polyester resin, followed by the curing process. The cured composite sample underwent the short beam shear test.

Underneath the romance, comedy and exoticism, South Pacific is a story that questioned core American values, exploring issues of race and power at a time when these topics were intensely relevant-the original opened just four years post WWII, on the heels of Roosevelt's aggressive expansionist response to domestic instabilities. Much has been written about the depiction of war and racial prejudice in South Pacific. However, examining such topics in the context of their cultural and political moment (both in 1949 and 2008) and through the lens of Terry Eagleton's unique take on morality, is not only a fascinating study, but an intensely relevant and unchartered endeavor. This work concerns the evolution of an American code of ethics as it has been reflected and constructed in both Broadway productions of Roger and Hammerstein's South Pacific (c.1949, 2008). Specifically, it examines the depiction of WWII, America's imperialistic foreign policy, and the function of American patriotism in light of Terry Eagleton's theories surrounding an evolving code of ethics in 20th/21st century America. By so doing, this thesis uncovers answers to the following questions: What were the cultural and political forces at work at the time South Pacific was created (both in 1949 and 2008), and how did these forces influence the contrasting depictions of war, imperialism and patriotism in each version of the musical? In what ways were these productions reflective of a code of ethics that evolved from what Eagleton would classify as moral realism (prescriptive of behavior) to moral nihilism (reflective of behavior)? How did the use of this increasingly reflexive moral code make this politically controversial musical more palatable, and therefore commercially viable during the contrasting political climates of WWII and the recent war on Iraq? Determining answers to questions such as these enables us as a society to look back on our history-on our mistakes and triumphs-and recognize our tendency to find pragmatic justification for our actions rather than acknowledging the possibility of the existence of objective truth, which remains unchanged through time and circumstance.