Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:19:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MaisyMF_DISSERT.pdf: 1608819 bytes, checksum: a0eb38caacba9b7d135075612c3f864e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-09 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Cette recherche vise ? r?fl?chir sur la culture vers le point de vue de l'art. ? partir de la pens?e d'Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), qui nos invite ? penser la culture tel comme une ramification de la vie. Le th??tre, la sc?ne pour ses nombreuses cr?ations, il se d?place dans l'espace, une fois qu'Artaud vas essayer de vivre leurs exp?riences sc?niques a partir de son propre th??tre, le Th??tre de la Cruaut?, avec des actions vecue, en nient alors la repr?sentation. Ainsi Artaud a fait de votre existence une oeuvre d'art, il transporte ? sa propre vie l'esth?tique de la cruaut?, tel comme il l'a compris. Cette ?tude pr?sente le concept de la cruaut? artaudienne, l'attachant ? la culture, donnant lieu a ce qu'on appelle la Culture de la Cruaut? / A presente pesquisa objetiva refletir acerca da cultura pelo vi?s da arte. A partir do pensamento de Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), que nos convida a pensar a cultura como um desdobramento da vida. O teatro, palco para suas in?meras cria??es, desloca-se no espa?o, uma vez que Artaud ir? experimentar viver suas experi?ncias c?nicas a partir de seu pr?prio teatro, o Teatro da Crueldade, com a??es vividas, negando ent?o a representa??o. Dessa forma Artaud fez de sua exist?ncia uma obra de arte, transportando para a pr?pria vida a est?tica da crueldade, como a entendeu. Este estudo apresenta o conceito de crueldade artaudiano, atrelando-o ? cultura, o que deu origem ao que chamamos de Cultura da Crueldade

O objetivo dessa tese foi avaliar a expressão de citocinas Th1 (IL-12 e INF), citocinas Th2 (IL-4, IL-6 e IL-10) e das citocinas pró-inflamatórias IL-18, IL-1 e TNF no fluido gengival de pacientes com periodontite crônica portadores da doença de Crohn (DC), de retocolite ulcerativa idiopática (RCUI) e em indivíduos saudáveis (o grupo controle, GC). Como objetivo secundário, avaliamos a função dos neutrófilos no fluido gengival desses pacientes através da mensuração das metaloproteinases da matriz -8, -9 (MMP-8 e MMP-9) e da atividade da elastase. Quinze pacientes com DC (idade média 38.2 11.4 anos), 15 pacientes com RCUI (idade média 45.0 10.5 anos) e 15 pacientes saudáveis (idade média 42.1 7.8 anos) participaram desse estudo. Todos os dentes presentes, com exceção dos terceiros molares, foram examinados. Profundidade de bolsa (PB), nível de inserção clínica (NI), presença de placa e de sangramento a sondagem foram avaliados em seis sítios por dente. Em cada paciente, o fluido de 4 sítios com periodontite (PB  5 mm e NI 3mm) e de 4 sítios com gengivite (PB 3 mm e NI  1 mm) foram coletados através de pontas de papel absorvente pré-fabricadas. O sistema LUMINEX foi utilizado na mensuração das IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, TNF, INF, MMP-8 e MMP-9. A IL-18 foi analisada através do ensaio ELISA e a atividade de elastase através de uma reação enzimática. O soro desses pacientes também foi analisado e o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson foi utilizado na análise da correlação entre as citocinas no soro e no fluido gengival. Nos sítios com gengivite, a quantidade total de IL-4 foi significativamente menor no grupo RCUI do que no grupo GC (p=0.016). Nos sítios com periodontite, a quantidade total de IL-4 foi significativamente menor no grupo DC do que no grupo GC (p=0.029). A quantidade total da IL-6 (p=0.028) assim como sua concentração (p=0.044) foram significativamente maiores no grupo RCUI do que no grupo GC. No soro, os níveis da IL-18 foram significativamente mais altos nos grupos DC (p=0.011) e RCUI (p=0.019) do que no grupo GC. No grupo RCUI, a IL-18 do soro se correlacionou positivamente com a IL-1 do fluido gengival (r=0. 667, p=0.01). Concluindo, nos pacientes com doença inflamatória intestinal, os níveis da IL-4 estavam mais baixos no fluido gengival e os níveis da IL-18 estavam aumentados no soro quando comparados aos controles. A função dos neutrófilos foi similar entre os pacientes com doença inflamatória intestinal e os controles. Com exceção da correlação positiva entre a IL-18 sérica e a IL-1 no fluido gengival dos pacientes com retocolite ulcerativa idiopática, não houve correlação entre as diversas citocinas mensuradas no soro e as citocinas mensuradas no fluido gengival nos controles nem nos pacientes com doença inflamatória intestinal. Não houve a caracterização de um padrão de resposta Th1 ou Th2 no fluido gengival dos pacientes com doença inflamatória intestinal. / The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the expression of Th1 cytokines (IL-12 and INF-γ), Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10) and the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-18, IL-1 and TNF-α in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) from Crohns disease (CD) patients, ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and healthy individuals (control group, CG) who had chronic periodontitis. Besides, we measured elastase activity, matrix metalloproteinase -8 and -9 (MMP-8 and -9) to address the neutrophil function in the GCF. Fifteen CD patients (mean age 38.2  11.4 years), 15 UC patients (mean age 45.0  10.5 years) and 15 systemically healthy controls (mean age 42.1  7.8 years) were enrolled in this study. All the present teeth, except for the third molars were examined. Probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), presence of plaque and presence of bleeding on probing were assessed in six sites per tooth. In every subject, GCF from 4 gingivitis sites (PPD  3mm and CAL  1mm) and from 4 periodontitis sites (PPD  5mm and CAL 3mm) were collected with filter strips. The data were reported as total amount and concentration. IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, TNFα, INFγ, MMP-8 and MMP-9 were analyzed by the Luminex analyzer. IL-18 was analyzed using a commercially available ELISA assay and the elastase activity by an enzymatic reaction. The serum was also analysed and the correlations between the cytokines in the GCF and in the serum were calculated by Pearson correlation analysis. In gingivitis sites, the total amount of IL-4 was significantly lower in the UC group than in the CG group (p=0.016). In periodontitis sites, the total amount of IL-4 was significantly lower in CD group than in the CG group (p=0.029). The total amount of IL-4 was lower in UC group than in CD group (p=0.077). Similarly, IL-4 concentrations in both CD (p=0.096) and UC (p=0.064) groups were lower than in CG group. IL-6 total amount (p=0.028) and IL-6 concentration (p=0.044) were significantly higher in the UC group than in the CG group. In the serum, IL-18 levels were significantly higher in CD (p=0.011) and UC (p=0.019) groups than in the CG group. In UC group, there was a positive correlation between serum IL-18 levels and IL-1 in the GCF (r=0. 667, p=0.01). In conclusion, IBD patients had lower IL-4 levels in the GCF and higher IL-18 levels in the serum than healthy controls. The neutrophil function in IBD patients is similar to controls. Except for the positive correlation between IL-18 in the serum and IL-1 in the GCF, there was no correlation between the cytokines in serum and in the GCF either in IBD patients or in controls. There was not a Th1 or Th2 polarization in the GCF from IBD patients.

L'inflammasome est complexe protéique intracellulaire de l'immunité innée permettant la reconnaissance de pathogènes intracellulaires. NLRC4, un Nod-like récepteur permettant l'activation de l'inflammasome est impliqué dans la reconnaissance du flagelle ainsi que du système de sécrétion de type 3 (SST3) de Pseudomonas aeruginosa, une bactérie majoritairement extracellulaire. Nous avons donc déterminer l'impact de la reconnaissance de P. aeruginosa par le NLRC4-inflammasome in vivo dans un modèle murin de pneumonie aiguë. De façon surprenante, l'activation du NLRC4-inflammasome par le SST3 de P. aeruginosa contribue à diminuer la survie de l'hôte en diminuant la clairance bactérienne pulmonaire et en augmentant la lésion pulmonaire induite. En effet, la perte de l'activation de l'inflammasome chez les souris NLRC4/- permet d'une part, une réponse précoce méfiée par l'IL-17A. Cette réponse dépendant de l'IL-17A conduit à une expression majeure de peptides antimicrobiens par l'épithélium pulmonaire et diminue la lésion pulmonaire en diminuant le recrutement des cellules immunitaires inflammatoires. L'administration d'IL-18 recombinante murine ou l'inhibition de cette voie par un anticorps anti-IL-17A inhibe cette réponse IL-17A dépendante. Ces résultats mettent en évidence un nouveau rôle du SST3 de P. aeruginosa, qui en plus de son effet cytotoxique et de la translocation d'exotoxines, permet d'activer l'inflammasome pour échapper à la réponse immunitaire innée de l'hôte en inhibant une voie IL-17 dépendante. / The inflammasome is thought to function as a cytosolic surveillance system against intracellular pathogens. However, we report that Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an extracellular pathogen responsible for acute lung infection, relies upon inflammasome activation to persist and worsen disease. Specifically, we show that loss of either NLRC4 expression or type-3 secretion system (T3SS)-driven activation of NLRC4, surprisingly, resulted in a robust Th-17-like immune response that enhanced bacterial clearance and attenuated virulence independently of exotoxins. This Th-17-like response correlated with marked upregulation of antimicrobial peptides and was suppressed by either neutralization of IL-17A or exogenous IL-18 administration in vivo. Together, these results unveil an adaptation mechanism through which the problem pathogen manages to evade Th17-mediated immunity and invade the lung, providing a potential mechanism for infectious complications of anti-IL17 therapy in inflammatory diseases. The T3SS exploitation of NLRC4-coupled inflammasome response may therefore represent a novel gene-for-gene model of pathogen evolution alongside host immunity.

The central idea behind the newly developed toxicity model is the use of the Local Equivalence Ratio (LER). The species yields as functions of the Global Equivalence Ratio (GER) and temperature are input parameters of this model. Correlations for most building materials are available from small-scale fire experiments. Similar approaches to this method are also developed using the CO/CO2 and H2/H2O mole ratios. The LER methodology is further refined by an approach which divides the computational domain for the calculation of toxic gases into two parts, a control region in which the toxic gases are dependent on the LER and temperature, and a transport region in which the toxic gas concentrations are dependent on the mixing of hot gases with fresh air. The toxicity model is then extended to two-fuel cases. In the two-fuel model, the LER is a function of the two mixture fractions, which are used to represent the mixture of the two different fuels, oxygen and combustion products. This model is useful in simulating residential fires, in which wood lining of sidewalls or ceilings is the second fuel. Finally, the transportation of HCI within fire compartments is considered. A mathematical model is developed to simulate the exchange of HCI between gas boundary and wall surfaces and the reaction of HCI with walls. All the toxicity models developed in this study can be integrated into the practical volumetric heat source approach and the Eddy Break-up (EBU) combustion model typically used in practical engineering analysis.

Exhumed faults record the temperatures produced by earthquakes. We show that transient elevated fault surface temperatures preserved in the rock record are quantifiable through microtextural analysis, fault-rock thermochronometry, and thermomechanical modeling. We apply this approach to a network of mirrored, minor, hematite-coated fault surfaces in the exhumed, seismogenic Wasatch fault zone, UT, USA. Polygonal and lobate hematite crystal morphologies, coupled with hematite (U-Th)/He data patterns from these surfaces and host rock apatite (U-Th)The data, are best explained by friction-generated heat at slip interface geometric asperities. These observations inform thermomechanical simulations of flash heating at frictional contacts and resulting fractional He loss over generated fault surface time temperature histories. Temperatures of >similar to 700-1200 degrees C, depending on asperity size, are sufficient to induce 85-100% He loss from hematite within 200 pm of the fault surface. Spatially-isolated, high temperature microtextures imply spatially -variable heat generation and decay. Our results reveal that flash heating of asperities and associated frictional weakening likely promote small earthquakes (M-w approximate to -3 to 3) on Wasatch hematite fault mirrors. We suggest that similar thermal processes and resultant dynamic weakening may facilitate larger earthquakes. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The isotopes 238 U, 234 U and 230 Th, as members of the uranium-radium decay chain, are fractionated in the environment by changes of geochemical conditions, and they can be used for dating of recent or past geochemical processes in the Quaternary. Samples of water with uranium and of water-activated solids were taken of radioactive mineral water springs at two study sites in the area of Krkonoše-Jizera crystalline complex: Svatý Vojtěch (St. Adalbert) in Horní Malá Úpa, and Bukový Pramen in the Těsný důl valley in Janské Lázně. Uranium was co-precipitated in field conditions with hydroxides of FeIII+ in 50-liter water samples of the radioactive springs. In the lab, uranium and thorium were separated from water precipitates, as well as from solid samples after their chemical decomposition, using chromatographic extraction agent UTEVA. All the three isotopes of interest emit alpha particles, and so their activities were measured by alpha spectrometry and expressed as 234 U/238 U and 230 Th/234 U ratios. As an internal standard, 232 U/228 Th was used. The resulting 234 U/238 U activity ratios of four water samples measured ranged from 1.0747 to 1.423. In twelve samples of solid phases activity ratios 234 U/238 U from 0.861 to 1.129 were determined. The 230 Th/234 U activity ratios form two distinct...

This is a detailed study of learning in the context of dry stone walling. It examines what happens in the learning situation. The aim of this work was: 'To understand the nature of expertise in dry stone walling, how it is understood by those practising the craft, and how it is transmitted to others'. The main research questions were, therefore: What happens when dry stone wallers are learning their craft? How do they acquire expertise in dry stone walling? How is this learning communicated? This process necessitated developing a way of engaging with the practitioners, eliciting descriptive data about what they were doing, and why they were doing it, through interviews (or conversations) with both individuals and groups, whilst they practiced their skill. Twenty three wailers were interviewed as they worked, building walls. The material obtained was analysed under seven different themes: 'Knowing how' The use of tacit knowledge or intuition 'Flow' Constant decision making, reflection and learning from mistakes Individual and subjective variations and experiences The relevance of emotion The use of 'rules of thumb' or maxims. Learning walling does not fit simply into any of the seven themes. It is contextualised, complex and individual. It demonstrates tacit knowledge and intuition. It involves emotion, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. It involves memory, problem solving, and learning from mistakes, and reflection. Maxims or 'rules of thumb' were a key element in the learning process at all stages. Linear stages of learning were not evidenced. Deep understanding of the practice is evidenced, and the wider learning and teaching implications are explored.

The High Arctic has been a complex region of collisional and extensional tectonism through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Svalbard, the sub-aerial exposure of the northwestern Barents Shelf, is an excellent natural laboratory investigating for High Arctic tectonism. Using apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He low-temperature thermochronometry combined with geological constraints, we resolve Cretaceous through Paleogene time-temperature histories for four regions of the Southwestern Province. Our results indicate a temperature gradient from south to north of ~185°C to >200°C, respectively, as a consequence of sedimentary burial and elevated geothermal gradient ( 45°C/km) from High Arctic Large Igneous Province activity. Late Cretaceous cooling affected all regions during regional exhumation related to initial rifting in the Eurasian Basin. During Eurekan tectonism: 1) our models indicate a heating event (55-47 Ma) characterized by overthrusting and a lack of erosion of the West Spitsbergen Fold-and-Thrust Belt, with Central Basin sediments derived from northern Greenland, followed by 2) a subsequent cooling event (47-34 Ma) corresponding to a shift in tectonic regime from compression to dextral strike-slip kinematics; exhumation of the WSFTB coincided with strikeslip tectonics.

This diploma thesis deals with the prospect of introducing the euro in the Czech Republic under the actual circumstances. The process of entering the Economic and Monetary Union is described, as well as the criteria comparison of nominal and real convergence and the hitherto development of fulfilment of conditions for introducing the euro in the Czech Republic. The other part of the diploma work compares, according to some chosen data, the development of Czech and Slovak Economies in 2004-2008, when both countries had their national currencies, and in 2009 when euro was introduced in the Slovak Republic. The aim of the analysis is to show, whether it is more beneficial for the economy to introduce euro in the current economic crisis and the prospects of euro introduction in the Czech Republic.

This thesis presents a new concept in steel-concrete-steel sandwich construction in which a bi-directional corrugated-strip core is proposed as an alternative inclined shear connector. The focus is on the feasibility study of fabrication techniques and the theoretical study of the structural responses of both unfilled and concrete-filled steel-concrete-steel sandwich beams under static flexural loading using numerical and analytical methods. Two possible fabrication techniques to create the proposed bi-directional corrugatedstrip core are presented. The unfilled sandwich beam is studied using a finite element method and three analytical methods referred to as the modified stiffness matrix, the braced frame analogy, and the discrete beam methods The finite element method is used to investigate the stiffness and strength behaviour of the unfilled sandwich beam. The modified stiffness matrix method provides good correlation with the finite element method. The other two analytical methods are less accurate. The assessment of the effect of geometrical parameters defining the bi-directional corrugated-strip core is carried out. The responses of the strength and stiffness, especially the transverse shear stiffness, are examined and discussed. The optimum configuration of the core is found at the angle of the inclined part of the corrugation is about 45o. The concrete-filled sandwich beam is studied using the fnite element method. The finite element method is used to investigate the transverse shear strength and the crack development of a four-point loaded concrete-filled sandwich beam. The assessment of the effect of geometrical parameters defining the inclined shear connectors is carried out. The responses of the concrete-filled sandwich beam are examined and discussed. The optimum advantage of the transverse shear strength of the concrete-filled sandwich beam is also found when the inclined shear connectors align at an angle 45o. It is found that creating the proposed core with a 45o pattern provides a great advantage in transverse shear stiffness and strength in both the unfilled and concrete-filled sandwich beams.