A graph G is diameter 2-critical if its diameter is 2, and the deletion of any edge increases the diameter. Murty and Simon conjectured that the number of edges in a diameter 2-critical graph of order n is at most n24 and that the extremal graphs are complete bipartite graphs with equal size partite sets. We use an important association with total domination to prove the conjecture for the graphs whose complements are claw-free.

April 6, 2007 I submitted the first draft of this final project to Sabina Murray’s workshop in the fall of 2004. I was mainly concerned with narrative then. I wanted the story to move. I wasn’t interested in writing as much as providing a framework. I told myself, there’ll be time enough for writing, the creative kind—keep the flourishes to a minimum for now. The result was an outline with flimsy characters sifted in. Workshop feedback suggested the same. (Sabina also caught a malapropism I’ve not been allowed to forget: I described a character’s long legs as like those of a gelding. I meant yearling, I think. We all had a laugh. In a draft before this final project version Sabina snagged another one: ‘braying’ used when ‘rearing’ was intended. For a lobster.) I didn’t work much on that first draft for the next year, focused as I was on short stories. (During that time I planned on submitting a collection as my final project. I had six or seven that I thought were pretty fit and worth more work.) In the spring of 2006 I went at the novel more consistently. By the summer I was working on it daily, which has more or less been the case since. The basic narrative of the second attempt was the same: guy leaves corporate job to work on lobster boat on Cape Cod, meets many characters in that insular world, one of whom may be hauling other lobstermen’s pots. Guy also has love interest. Through that narrative I meant to explore the development of D.L., who saw himself as a lost, alienated 30-year-old with potential but unable to fit in anywhere. His journey from New York, the site of his two most recent failures, to Orleans would yield new and different perceptions. I like the idea that a protagonist continues to do what he/she’s always done until circumstances of the narrative prompt change. D.L. was meant to see that many of his problems existed only in his head. I read Dostoyevsky’s The Double in David Lenson’s Individualism and its Discontents course (spring 2005). It got me thinking again about self consciousness. I didn’t intend for D.L. to descend into paranoid madness like Golyadkin but The Double served as an example of how I might explore D.L. more than I had on the first go round. Changing perception was the broad theme to work through the narrative. I would fill D.L. out more, lend him more introspection. The challenge seemed to be in gauging when and how much the story should be in his head. I started doing an end around. I thought I could introduce new perceptions through other characters. Hence Jack’s early talk of cliffs moving. In previous iterations, D.L. ruminated more on that non sequitur. He was talking to himself and it seemed too obvious: Was Jack saying my problems were in my head? Another concern is that D.L.’s thoughts often felt and still do at times feel like commentary. The scene in Wellfleet, which is mostly dialogue between D.L. and Suzie, is an example. Dreamlike moments—the cliffs, high tide flowing as a river down Jack’s street, D.L.’s faux dream, Jack’s real dream, even H. erectus walking among us—are attempts to create more of D.L.’s world, to create more of a feeling. To whatever extent those moments are effective, I think there should be more. My biggest concern with this effort is that there’s still too much dialogue. I don’t know if I’ve lost some creative vigor or if the paucity of literary prose is a result of the process, particularly the initial narrative concern of wanting to keep the story moving. Or something else. But I’ve felt less natural, less like myself as a writer throughout much of the process of writing this novel. I handed over a new draft to committee this past winter. Feedback included concerns over the dialogue itself, that the characters weren’t moving while talking, weren’t described enough; missing connective tissue between chapters; problems with moving around in time rather than taking a more linear approach; and too much in the way of lobstering details. These are the areas I’ve focused on since. Switching to linear time has made a big difference, I think. I’ve worked on movement and dialogue but there are still long chunks in which characters are talking more than doing (as related to above creative concerns). Lobstering details have been a concern from the start as I didn’t want this to be Lobstering 101, but also because it can clog the narrative. I’ve often struggled with feeling the need to include information that isn’t necessary and gets in the way. It’s a tough habit to break for me but I think I’ve gotten better in that regard in my years in the program, particularly with short stories, in which more concision is a requirement because of space. The pages that follow are a considerable improvement from that first draft of 2004. I see this as the first half of the novel. I imagine the second half will be about as long. I’m not crazy about the title but I have a scene in mind at or near the end that makes sense of it. ‘Thin water’ is clear water, not turbid. - Jeremy Church

In the recent years, environmental regulations enforced by federal,state, and local agencies have increasingly addressed water quality issues through progressively more stringent regulations. These regulations have raised concerns in the blue crab industry because processors are now subject to regulations under which new processors are unable to meet the effluent limitations with current processing techniques. This study focuses on the mechanized processing of crab claws. Currently, processors use a brine bath, referred to as the Harris Claw machine, to separate crab claw meat and shell, nd this process yields a waste water which is significantly high in pollutant strength, and is untreatable by biological methods due to the toxicity associated with the high chloride concentrations found in the waste stream. Several alternative crab claw processing systems were developed and evaluated in terms of the meat product yield, the meat product quality, and the wastewater characterization. Two alternatives involved the use of dense media, a 22.5% Staley 1300 corn syrup solution with 5.0% salt and a 30.0% Staley 1300 corn syrup solution, to separate the crab claw meat and shell. These methods, in full scale tests, produced meat yields comparable to that of the brine solution and improved the overall taste of the meat product. However, the effluents had significantly higher BOD5 concentrations. Another alternative to the Harris Claw machine, involved the design, characterization, and testing of a hydraulic separator system (HSS). The HSS was tested on a small scale, but was found to have a meat yield comparable to the Harris Claw machine. The HSS significantly improved the flavor of a final meat product, although the HSS meat product had a significantly lower shelf life than the Harris Claw machine meat product. The waste water quality was improved, because the HSS eliminates the problems associated with a high chloride ion concentration and potentially reduces overall water consumption. / Master of Science

A dermatite digital (DD) é uma das principais doenças podais que acomete bovinos leiteiros, destacando-se negativamente pela queda na produção o volume de leite produzido e pelo seu oneroso tratamento. Como alternativa ao uso de antibióticos, a terapia fotodinâmica (PDT) se apresenta como uma opção interessante no tratamento de infecções cutâneas em animais de produção, evitando a seleção de micro-organimos resistentes. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar o uso da PDT para tratar a DD em bovinos leiteiros. Para compor os grupos experimentais, 20 lesões de DD, localizadas nos membros pélvicos de 16 animais, foram tratadas com PDT (350mW/Led; = 660nm ± 10nm; A = 13,20 cm2; I = 120mW/cm2) associado à aplicação tópica do fotossenbilizador azul de metileno (300µM; apresentação em gel; com 5 min de tempo de pré-irradiação) ou com aplicação tópica de oxitetraciclina (500 mg em solução à 20%). Cada lesão foi tratada duas vezes com intervalo de 14 dias entre elas. A caracterização macroscópica das lesões foi realizada no momento inicial, e fotografias digitais foram realizadas semanalmente para análise da redução da área das lesões. Além disto, foram coletadas biópsias de cada lesão nos dias 1, 7, 21 e 28, sendo posteriormente analisadas para diferentes colorações histológicas, as quais objetivaram a detecção de micro-organismos e a análise comparativa do processo de cicatrização. Ainda, biópsias de pele realizadas na região dos bulbos dos talões de 10 animais que não apresentavam lesões foram usadas como controle histológico. Em ambos os tratamentos houve redução da área da lesão, sendo que não houve diferença significante entre os tratamentos. Apesar da regressão significante ao longo do período, no último dia de avaliação, três animais tratados com oxitetraciclina ainda apresentavam pequenas lesões, algo que não foi observado nos animais tratados com PDT. Adicionalmente, o tratamento com oxitetraciclina resultou em leve aumento de colágeno do tipo III e diminuição de colágeno do tipo I, enquanto a PDT promoveu aumento significante da área total de colágeno, em especial do tipo I, em relação ao momento inicial. Espiroquetas foram observadas em todas as lesões, no momento que antecedeu os tratamentos, entretanto não foram visualizadas na pele dos animais saudáveis. Ao término do período de avaliação, cinco lesões tratadas com oxitetraciclina ainda apresentavam espiroquetas, enquanto no grupo tratado com PDT não foi possível evidenciar estes micro-organismos em nenhuma das lesões. Portanto, a PDT mostrou ser uma opção mais eficaz do que a oxitetraciclina no tratamento da DD. / Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) stands out as one of the most important diseases that affect dairy cows, being responsible for negative economic implications. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an interesting therapeutic option to treat superficial infections on livestock animals, avoiding the overuse of antibiotics, and consequently, the selection of multidrug-resistant pathogens. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of PDT to treat BDD. Twenty BDD lesions located in the pelvic limbs of 16 animals were treated by PDT (350mW / Led; = 660nm ± 10nm; A = 13, 20 cm2, I = 120mW/cm2) associated with topical application of methylene blue photosensitizer (300µM; gel presentation; 5 min of pre-irradiation time) or topical application of oxytetracycline (500 mg in 20% solution). Each lesion was treated twice with an interval of 14 days. Lesions were individually classified, and digital photographs were weekly performed to evaluate the reduction of lesions. Additionally, biopsies of each lesion were collected on days 1, 7, 21 and 28; and different histological stains were used to detect microorganisms and compare the healing process after treatmens. Yet, skin biopsies from 10 healthy animals, colleted in the area between heel bulbs, were used as controls. In both treatments, we observed the reduction of lesions area, but there were no significant difference between them. At the last day, three animals treated by topical oxytetracycline still presented small lesions, whereas no lesions were evidenced in the group treated by PDT. The treatment with oxytetracycline resulted in a slight increase in type III collagen and decreased type I collagen levels, while PDT treatment led to a significant increase in the total area of both collagen (mostly type I). Spirochetes were observed in all lesions before treatments but were not detected in the skin of healthy animals. At the end of evaluation period, five lesions treated by topical oxytetracycline still presented spirochetes, whereas in PDT group no spirochetes were evidenced. Therefore, PDT was shown to be a more effective option for BDD when it was compared to topical oxytetracycline treatment.

A Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), popularmente conhecida como \"Unha-de-gato\", é uma planta medicinal nativa das Américas, mundialmente empregada devido às suas atividades anti-inflamatórias e imunomodulatórias. O consumo desta planta ocorre não apenas na forma in natura, mas principalmente como fitoterápico, sendo muitas vezes utilizada de forma indiscriminada pela população. Apesar de vários estudos revelarem as propriedades terapêuticas da U. tomentosa, poucos são os trabalhos que empregam protocolos estabelecidos por agências regulamentadoras internacionais, para a avaliação dos possíveis efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos deste fitoterápico. Assim, o propósito do presente estudo foi verificar se a administração de um extrato seco de U. tomentosa, comercialmente disponível no mercado, poderia ocasionar efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos em ratos após 90 dias de tratamento. Para isso, 40 ratos Wistars machos foram tratados oralmente com as doses de 15, 75 ou 150 mg/kg de extrato seco de U. tomentosa comercialmente disponível no mercado, contendo teores de alcaloides de acordo com aqueles valores preconizados em literatura. No final do período experimental, os animais foram submetidos à eutanásia para realização de avaliações bioquímicas, hematológicas, histopatológicas, análise de órgãos linfoides e não-linfoides, avaliação das respostas imunes inata, inflamatória e humoral, bem como teste para determinação de reação de hipersensibilidade do tipo IV. Os resultados revelaram aumento nos níveis de ALT dos animais tratados com a dose de 75 mg/kg, e redução nos índices glicêmicos de ratos tratados com 75 e 150 mg/kg de U. tomentosa. Entretanto, somente os ratos tratados com a maior dose exibiram discreta vacuolização centro-lobular hepática; assim, somente os dados de ALT não são sugestivos de efeitos hepáticos adversos da U. tomentosa após um longo período de tratamento. A redução nos índices sanguíneos de glicose dos ratos, após tratamento com a U. tomentosa, podem representar importante risco para seres humanos diabéticos, susceptíveis ao desenvolvimento de hipoglicemia e que fazem uso da U. tomentosa para outros propósitos. Em conclusão, estes estudos demonstraram que, apesar de a U. tomentosa não promover efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos, o uso prolongado da mesma, a altas doses, pode promover redução dos índices glicêmicos. / Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), commonly known as \"Cat\'s claw\", is a native medicinal plant from America, it is employed worldwide for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. The consumption of this plant occurs not only in natura, but mainly as a phytotherapic, used indiscriminately by the population. Although many researchers revealed the therapeutic properties of U. tomentosa, few studies employing established protocols by international regulatory agencies for the evaluation of the possible toxic and immunotoxic effects of this herbal medicine. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to verify if the dry extract of U. tomentosa could promote toxic and/or immunotoxic effects in rats following 90 days of treatment. For this, forty male rats were orally treated with 15, 75 or 150mg/kg of dry extract of U. tomentosa, commercially available, containing levels of alkaloids according to those values recommended in the literature. At the end of experimental period, the rats were killed for the evaluation of the biochemistry, haematology, histopathology, status of the lymphoid and non-lymphoid organs, evaluation of innate, inflammatory and humoral immune responses, as well as a test to determine the delayed type hypersensitivity. The results revealed an increase in the levels of ALT in the animals treated with 75mg/kg and a reduction in the glycaemic levels of rats treated with 75 and 150mg/kg of U. tomentosa. However, only rats treated with the higher dose showed a slight centrilobular hepatic vacuolation; thus, ALT data alone are not suggestive of a hepatic adverse effect of U. tomentosa following long-term treatment. The reduction in blood glucose levels of the rats, could represent an important risk for diabetic humans, who are susceptible to the development of hypoglycaemia and who might use U. tomentosa for purposes other than anti-diabetes. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that, while U. tomentosa has no immunotoxic effect, long-term U. tomentosa treatment at high doses can promote reduction in glycemic levels.

A Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), popularmente conhecida como \"Unha-de-gato\", é uma planta medicinal nativa das Américas, mundialmente empregada devido às suas atividades anti-inflamatórias e imunomodulatórias. O consumo desta planta ocorre não apenas na forma in natura, mas principalmente como fitoterápico, sendo muitas vezes utilizada de forma indiscriminada pela população. Apesar de vários estudos revelarem as propriedades terapêuticas da U. tomentosa, poucos são os trabalhos que empregam protocolos estabelecidos por agências regulamentadoras internacionais, para a avaliação dos possíveis efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos deste fitoterápico. Assim, o propósito do presente estudo foi verificar se a administração de um extrato seco de U. tomentosa, comercialmente disponível no mercado, poderia ocasionar efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos em ratos após 90 dias de tratamento. Para isso, 40 ratos Wistars machos foram tratados oralmente com as doses de 15, 75 ou 150 mg/kg de extrato seco de U. tomentosa comercialmente disponível no mercado, contendo teores de alcaloides de acordo com aqueles valores preconizados em literatura. No final do período experimental, os animais foram submetidos à eutanásia para realização de avaliações bioquímicas, hematológicas, histopatológicas, análise de órgãos linfoides e não-linfoides, avaliação das respostas imunes inata, inflamatória e humoral, bem como teste para determinação de reação de hipersensibilidade do tipo IV. Os resultados revelaram aumento nos níveis de ALT dos animais tratados com a dose de 75 mg/kg, e redução nos índices glicêmicos de ratos tratados com 75 e 150 mg/kg de U. tomentosa. Entretanto, somente os ratos tratados com a maior dose exibiram discreta vacuolização centro-lobular hepática; assim, somente os dados de ALT não são sugestivos de efeitos hepáticos adversos da U. tomentosa após um longo período de tratamento. A redução nos índices sanguíneos de glicose dos ratos, após tratamento com a U. tomentosa, podem representar importante risco para seres humanos diabéticos, susceptíveis ao desenvolvimento de hipoglicemia e que fazem uso da U. tomentosa para outros propósitos. Em conclusão, estes estudos demonstraram que, apesar de a U. tomentosa não promover efeitos tóxicos e imunotóxicos, o uso prolongado da mesma, a altas doses, pode promover redução dos índices glicêmicos. / Uncaria tomentosa (U. tomentosa), commonly known as \"Cat\'s claw\", is a native medicinal plant from America, it is employed worldwide for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. The consumption of this plant occurs not only in natura, but mainly as a phytotherapic, used indiscriminately by the population. Although many researchers revealed the therapeutic properties of U. tomentosa, few studies employing established protocols by international regulatory agencies for the evaluation of the possible toxic and immunotoxic effects of this herbal medicine. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to verify if the dry extract of U. tomentosa could promote toxic and/or immunotoxic effects in rats following 90 days of treatment. For this, forty male rats were orally treated with 15, 75 or 150mg/kg of dry extract of U. tomentosa, commercially available, containing levels of alkaloids according to those values recommended in the literature. At the end of experimental period, the rats were killed for the evaluation of the biochemistry, haematology, histopathology, status of the lymphoid and non-lymphoid organs, evaluation of innate, inflammatory and humoral immune responses, as well as a test to determine the delayed type hypersensitivity. The results revealed an increase in the levels of ALT in the animals treated with 75mg/kg and a reduction in the glycaemic levels of rats treated with 75 and 150mg/kg of U. tomentosa. However, only rats treated with the higher dose showed a slight centrilobular hepatic vacuolation; thus, ALT data alone are not suggestive of a hepatic adverse effect of U. tomentosa following long-term treatment. The reduction in blood glucose levels of the rats, could represent an important risk for diabetic humans, who are susceptible to the development of hypoglycaemia and who might use U. tomentosa for purposes other than anti-diabetes. In conclusion, these studies demonstrated that, while U. tomentosa has no immunotoxic effect, long-term U. tomentosa treatment at high doses can promote reduction in glycemic levels.

The requirements on vehicle industry are constantly getting stricter, especially when it comes to emissions. At the same time cars, trucks and buses are needed for our way of living. This have forced companies to be as ecient as possible in their way of using fossil fuels for travelling and transport. To increase the eciency companies investigate all possible fuel savings to decrease their carbon footprint as much as possible. One area of savings that is not that obvious to many people is the alternator. Several percent of the total energy used by a vehicle are needed to operate the alternator. With a typical alternator eciency of 70% considerable savings can be achieved. This thesis that concern alternator eciency was carried out at Scania in Södertälje, Sweden. The goal of the thesis is to construct a mathematical model of an alternator. The model is supposed to consider all losses in the alternator and together with the output power give an eciency model of the alternator at different speeds and loads. A great part of the project has been dealing with the magnetic losses. The magnetic losses have been modeled as an equivalent circuit with the load angle as a central piece. The equivalent circuit is built up by the fact that the alternator used in the vehicles is a salient pole alternator. The equivalent circuit describes a voltage equation where the voltage drop over the magnetic inductance is described. From that relations between the signals in the alternator and output signals can be written. The alternator model is then used together with data recorded from different buses all over the world, this to be able to investigate how the alternator contributes to the fuel consump- tion depending on the way that the buses are driven. The result of this thesis is a mathematical model that describes the losses in the alternator for different load cases and speeds.

This work presents development system LabVIEW and the possibility to create virtual measuring devices. Particular realization of virtual measuring device within the frame of this work is applied on measurement of basic characteristics of claw-pole alternator. The structure and the principle of function of this alternator is described in brief. Created virtual measurement device is described in detail. The entire block scheme, that is the source code for LaBVIEW development system, is attached only in electronic form. The printed version contains front panel of the device and almost all the structures of block scheme.

A total dominating set in a graph G is a set S of vertices of G such that every vertex in G is adjacent to a vertex of S. We study cubic graphs whose vertex set can be partitioned into two total dominating sets. There are infinitely many examples of connected cubic graphs that do not have such a vertex partition. In this paper, we show that the class of claw-free cubic graphs has such a partition. For an integer k at least 3, a graph is k-chordal if it does not have an induced cycle of length more than k. Chordal graphs coincide with 3-chordal graphs. We observe that for k≥6, not every graph in the class of k-chordal, connected, cubic graphs has two vertex disjoint total dominating sets. We prove that the vertex set of every 5-chordal, connected, cubic graph can be partitioned into two total dominating sets. As a consequence of this result, we observe that this property also holds for a connected, cubic graph that is chordal or 4-chordal. We also prove that cubic graphs containing a diamond as a subgraph can be partitioned into two total dominating sets.

No description available.