Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:30:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Alves de Almeida.pdf: 7139786 bytes, checksum: b365e33d6f01ddf33abf0b47ace1a5bf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Slavery was officially abolished in Brazil on May 13, 1888. However, in practice it remains and today has elements of the present and the past. As in Brazil, slavery labor in the contemporary world is a reality that affects at least 27 million people, according to Kevin Bales. In our country this phenomenon can be seen in urban and rural life. In this latter, it can be found in all Brazilian states in different agricultural crops and economic sectors, such as livestock, charcoal, culture of soybean, apple, mate, orange, sugar cane etc. According to Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the alcohol sector in recent years has been the leader in the number of workers freed in Brazil. In São Paulo, the richest state in this federation, has also been reported as a state of over-exploitation and slavery labor. These workers are mostly migrants (miners and Northeast people). They leave their homeland due to lack of minimum conditions of survival and go to São Paulo to "earn a living and send money to their families. There is an "invisible" world in the middle of sugarcane plantations. In these fields, workers have to cut around fifteen tons of cane in a day, under very high temperatures and still suffering from burns when placing cane fires, cuts in upper and lower limbs and poisonous animal bites. Many workers die from overwork called the death tired". Others acquire diseases like cancer and herniated disc. Useless to work, they are discarded by the owners and have to live their lives with their relatives or friends. Many of these workers are still coerced in the "new slave quarters , shacks and slums in the suburbs, which are usually overcrowded and without the minimal conditions of hygiene and safety. In this context of precarious employment and human dignity, these workers have just the support of governmental agencies and civil society. In this latter, we highlight the CPT and the Migrants Pastoral Services (SPM). This research aims to bring to light the actions of these two Catholic Church groups from the sugar cane cutters in the state of Sao Paulo. The work of the CPT and the SPM is extremely important to the sugar cane workers to live their lives with more dignity. These institutions help to coin the term slavery labor and they act with the workers bringing them conscious about their directs and encouraging them to fight for their rights. Also, executes a variety of complaints always relying on national and international legislation / A escravidão foi abolida oficialmente no Brasil no dia 13 de maio de 1888. Todavia, na prática ela se manteve, embora tenha se transformado e, na atualidade apresenta elementos do velho e do novo. Assim como no Brasil, o trabalho escravo contemporâneo no mundo é uma realidade que atinge no mínimo 27 milhões de pessoas, segundo Kevin Bales. Em nosso país, se constata este fenômeno no meio urbano e rural. Neste último, ele é encontrado em todos os estados brasileiros em diferentes culturas agrícolas e setores da economia, como na agropecuária, na carvoaria, na cultura da soja, da maçã, da erva mate, da laranja, da cana-de-açúcar etc. Segundo dados da Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT), o setor sucroalcooleiro nos últimos anos tem sido campeão no número de trabalhadores libertados no Brasil. Em São Paulo, o estado mais rico da federação, também se constata casos de superexploração e de trabalho escravo. Estes trabalhadores são em grande parte migrantes (mineiros e nordestinos). Eles deixam sua terra natal por falta de condições mínimas de sobrevivência e vão para as terras paulistas ganhar a vida e enviar recursos financeiros para a manutenção de suas respectivas famílias. Há um mundo invisível no meio dos canaviais. No eito, os trabalhadores têm que cortar em torno de quinze toneladas de cana ao dia, sob temperaturas altíssimas e ainda sofrem acidentes como queimaduras ao colocarem fogo na cana, cortes nos membros superiores e inferiores e picadas de animais peçonhentos. Muitos deles chegam a morrer por excesso de trabalho a morte cansada . Outros adquirem doenças como câncer e hérnia de disco. Imprestáveis ao trabalho, este canavieiros são descartados pelos usineiros e passam a viver de favor com parentes ou amigos. Muitos deles ainda são violentados nas novas senzalas , barracos e cortiços na periferia das cidades, superlotados e sem condições mínimas de higiene e segurança. Nesse quadro de precarização do trabalho e da dignidade humana, esses trabalhadores contam com o apoio de órgãos governamentais e da sociedade civil. Nesta última, destacam-se a CPT e o Serviço Pastoral dos Migrantes (SPM). Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo trazer à luz a atuação destas duas pastorais da Igreja Católica junto aos cortadores e cortadoras de cana no estado de São Paulo. O trabalho da CPT e do SPM é fundamental para os canavieiros viverem com mais dignidade. Estas pastorais ajudam a cunhar o conceito trabalho escravo e atuam junto aos trabalhadores, conscientizando-os dos seus direitos e incentivando-os em suas lutas. Ademais, realizam diversas denúncias, apoiando-se sempre na legislação nacional e internacional

This project combines oncolytic Vaccinia virus (VV) with irinotecan (CPT-11) for the treatment of cancer. VV can infect, replicate in and destroy cancer cells, yet leave healthy cells relatively unaffected. CPT-11 is a chemotherapeutic of which ~5% is converted to the more active chemotherapeutic SN-38 by endogenous carboxylesterase (CE) enzymes. SN-38 is a topoisomerase I inhibitor that induces DNA double strand breaks, leading to growth arrest and apoptosis. Consequently, VV has been engineered to express a more effective isoform of the CE enzyme. The virus’ tumour tropism should restrict enhanced conversion of CPT-11 to the tumour. Neither CPT-11 nor SN-38 interfered with VV replication or spread. Engineered recombinants expressed CE enzyme which, when combined with CPT-11, produced DNA double strand breaks and cancer cell death. In vitro, the combination of CE-virus and CPT-11 killed more K-562 cancer cells than its non-CE counterpart and CPT-11.

This project combines oncolytic Vaccinia virus (VV) with irinotecan (CPT-11) for the treatment of cancer. VV can infect, replicate in and destroy cancer cells, yet leave healthy cells relatively unaffected. CPT-11 is a chemotherapeutic of which ~5% is converted to the more active chemotherapeutic SN-38 by endogenous carboxylesterase (CE) enzymes. SN-38 is a topoisomerase I inhibitor that induces DNA double strand breaks, leading to growth arrest and apoptosis. Consequently, VV has been engineered to express a more effective isoform of the CE enzyme. The virus’ tumour tropism should restrict enhanced conversion of CPT-11 to the tumour. Neither CPT-11 nor SN-38 interfered with VV replication or spread. Engineered recombinants expressed CE enzyme which, when combined with CPT-11, produced DNA double strand breaks and cancer cell death. In vitro, the combination of CE-virus and CPT-11 killed more K-562 cancer cells than its non-CE counterpart and CPT-11.

Les aciers inoxydables duplex (DSS) sont caractérisés par une structure biphasée comprenant un mélange de ferrite et d’austénite. La proportion entre les deux phases est d'habitude environ 50 %. Ils sont de plus en plus employés dans les industries chimiques, pétrochimiques, nucléaires, marines et de papier, principalement en raison de leurs excellentes propriétés mécaniques couplées à une bonne résistance à la corrosion par piqûre (basse teneur en nickel et molybdène). L’austénite ayant une composition chimique différente de celle de la ferrite, un film hétérogène se forme à la surface des aciers inoxydable duplex. Par ailleurs, les deux phases métalliques ayant des propriétés mécaniques différentes, un champ de contrainte hétérogène est généré dans les grains. Sous certaines conditions, l’existence de gradients de contraintes peut conduire à des hétérogénéités du film passif. Dans ce travail , on étudie l’effet des éléments d’alliages sur les propriétés physico-chimiques du film passif et le comportement en corrosion par piqures avant et après vieillissement en milieu chlorurés, pour une surface de référence respectant certains critères à savoir une surface lisse exempt de tout défauts (pas de couche écrouie, rugosité faible..). Les propriétés physico- chimiques du film sont étudiés à l’aide des analyses Auger et XPS à l’échelle locale et globale. Le comportement en corrosion des alliages duplex a été ensuite déterminé à partir d’essais TCP (détermination de la température critique de piqûration). Les résultats avant vieillissement ont montré que le film passif est homogène à l’échelle macroscopique et que l’amorçage des piqûres semblent être liée à la taille des grains et à la texture cristallographique décrit par le GOS. Après vieillissement de longue durée en milieu représentatif, les analyses de surface montrent un renforcement de la passivité par un épaississement du film passif, une augmentation significative du rapport Cr/Fe ce qui ont pour effet d’améliorer le comportement en corrosion par piqures des alliages. Des critères métallurgiques ont été proposés pour expliquer l’amorçage de piqûres pour ces alliages. / Duplex stainless steels (DSS) are characterized by a two-phase structure comprising a mixture of ferrite and austenite. The proportion between the two phases is usually about 50%. They are increasingly used in the chemical, petrochemical, nuclear, marine and paper, mainly because of their excellent mechanical properties coupled with good resistance to pitting corrosion (low grade nickel and molybdenum). The austenite having a different chemical composition than the ferrite, a heterogeneous film is formed on the surface of duplex stainless steels. Furthermore, the two metallic phases having different mechanical properties, a field of heterogeneous stress is generated in the grains. Under certain conditions, these differences may also yield formation of a heterogeneous passive film. In this work, we study the effect of alloying elements on the physico-chemical properties of the passive film and behavior pitting corrosion before and after ageing in chloride media for a reference surface that meet certain criteria ie a smooth surface free from any defects (no hardened layer .. low roughness). The physicochemical properties of the film are studied using Auger and XPS analysis at the microscale. The corrosion behavior of duplex alloys was then determined from CPT tests (determination of the Critical Pitting Temperature). The results before ageing have shown that the passive film is homogeneous on a macroscopic scale and that pitting corrosion appear to be related to the grain size and crystallographic texture described by GOS. After ageing, surface analysis shows a strengthening of passivity by thickening of the passive film and the ratio Cr/Fe are significantly increased which has the effect of improving behavior pitting alloys. Metallurgical criteria for pitting were proposed.

This project combines oncolytic Vaccinia virus (VV) with irinotecan (CPT-11) for the treatment of cancer. VV can infect, replicate in and destroy cancer cells, yet leave healthy cells relatively unaffected. CPT-11 is a chemotherapeutic of which ~5% is converted to the more active chemotherapeutic SN-38 by endogenous carboxylesterase (CE) enzymes. SN-38 is a topoisomerase I inhibitor that induces DNA double strand breaks, leading to growth arrest and apoptosis. Consequently, VV has been engineered to express a more effective isoform of the CE enzyme. The virus’ tumour tropism should restrict enhanced conversion of CPT-11 to the tumour. Neither CPT-11 nor SN-38 interfered with VV replication or spread. Engineered recombinants expressed CE enzyme which, when combined with CPT-11, produced DNA double strand breaks and cancer cell death. In vitro, the combination of CE-virus and CPT-11 killed more K-562 cancer cells than its non-CE counterpart and CPT-11.

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related mortality. There are three types of treatment available to patients, either individually or in combination. Treatments are radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. In a Phase II clinical trial at IUSM, a multimodality approach was chosen. The patients with locally advanced rectal cancer received preoperative treatment with capecitabine and irinotecan (CPT-11) combination followed by chemoradiation with capecitabine and finally surgery to improve response and decrease local recurrence. Irinotecan and Capecitabine are both prodrugs activated in vivo to SN-38 and 5-FU, respectively. Identification of the molecular markers for 5-FU and Irinotecan efficacy and toxicity is important for the development of more efficient and less toxic treatment strategies for patients with colorectal cancer. The goal of this study was to determine the expression levels of the genes involved in activation and metabolism of capecitabine and irinotecan in pre and post treatment specimens from these patients. The genes quantitated by real-time PCR were carboxylesterase 1 and 2 (CES1 and CES2), thymidylate synthase (TS), β-glucoronidase (β-GUS), thymidine phosphorylase (TP), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) and topoisomerase I (Topo I). The UGT1A1*28 polymorphism in UDP glucuronosyltransferase 1 is associated with SN-38 toxicity. Therefore, the UGT1A1*28 polymorphism status in patients was determined by PCR-sequencing. Correlative analysis of gene expression and UGT1A1*28 mutation with clinical outcome in this Phase II study was completed.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to overtake the conventional production of pipe systems of stainless steel grade 316L intended for bioprocessing applications by utilising powder bed fusion laser beam (PBF-LB) technologies. However, challenges such as high surface roughness need to be overcome and corrosion properties improved to meet industry standards. This can be done by applying surface post-treatments to the printed parts. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to investigate the ability of different post-treatments of PBF-LB 316L samples, including tumbling, electropolishing, chemical milling, Hirtisation®, and DryLyte®, to reduce the surface roughness. One set of samples was left untreated, as-built set, and used as reference. The second aim was to try to correlate the surface roughness with the corrosion properties of the various post-treated samples. Analytical techniques used included needle profilometry, light optical microscopy (LOM), critical pitting temperature (CPT), cyclic potentiodynamic polarisation (CPDP) and immersion in 1M NaCl and 1M NaOH for two different durations for each solution. While some results were expected, others were surprising. Even though tumbled samples resulted in the lowest surface roughness, the results for immersion and CPDP curves tests indicated the lowest corrosion resistance compared to the other post-treatments. On the other hand, electropolishing resulted in the lowest surface roughness reduction among the post-treated samples. However, these samples had comparatively high corrosion resistance in the CPT and CPDP tests. The DryLyte® samples were tested using two DryLyte® medias where one of them resulted in the second lowest surface roughness and showed highest corrosion resistance in all three corrosion tests even though the process parameters are still to be developed. The results for samples post-treated by Hirtisation® and chemical milling were inconsistent and need further investigations. The reference as-built set showed high corrosion resistance in its untreated state, indicating post-treatments having minor impact on its performance from a corrosion perspective. / Additiv tillverkning (AM) har möjlighet att konkurrera ut konventionell produktion av rörsystem i rostfritt stål typ 316L avsett för bioprocessapplikationer genom att använda pulverbäddsinfusionslaserstråleteknik (PBF-LB). För tekniken kvarstår dock utmaningar för att uppfylla branschstandarder då tillverkningen medför material med hög ytråhet och sämre korrosionsegenskaper än traditionella metoder. Detta kan åstadkommas genom olika typer av efterbearbetning av de printade ytorna. Ett syfte med denna studie var att utvärdera hur olika typer av efterbehandling av PBF-LB 316L (trumling, elektropolering, kemisk etsning, Hirtisation® och DryLyte®) påverkar ytråheten. Som referensmaterial användes obearbetade printade ytor. Studiens andra huvudmål var att undersöka möjligheten för korrelation mellan ytråhet efter behandling och korrosionsegenskaperna. Analyser gjordes med hjälp av nålprofilometri, ljusoptisk mikroskopi (LOM), bestämning av kritisk gropfrätningstemperatur (CPT), framtagning av cykliska potentiodynamiska polarisationskurvor (CPDP) samt nedsänkning i 1M NaCl och 1M NaOH under två olika tidsperioder per lösning. Resultaten var delvis väntade och delvis överraskande. Trots att de trumlade proverna resulterade i lägst ytråhet, visade de elektrokemiska studierna (CPDP) i de olika lösningarna på att lägre korrosionsbeständighet jämfört med övriga efterbehandlingar. Å andra sidan resulterade elektropolering resulterade i den lägsta minskningen i ytråhet bland de efterbehandlade proverna. Dessa prover visade dock på en jämförelsevis hög korrosionsbeständighet i både CPT och CPDP testerna. DryLyte®-proverna studerades med två olika DryLyte®-medier, varav en av dem gav näst lägst ytråhet samt visade högst korrosionsbeständighet i samtliga korrosionstester trots att processparametrarna inte ännu är optimerade för denna nya teknik. Resultaten för prover som efterbehandlats med Hirtisation® och kemisk etsning var tvetydiga och behöver studeras vidare. De obehandlade referensproverna indikerade hög korrosionsbeständighet, vilket tyder på att efterbehandlingar hade minimal påverkan ur ett korrosionsperspektiv.

Site characterization is an important task in Geotechnical Engineering. In situ tests based on standard penetration test (SPT), cone penetration test (CPT) and shear wave velocity survey are popular among geotechnical engineers. Site characterization using any of these properties based on finite number of in-situ test data is an imperative task in probabilistic site characterization. These methods have been used to design future soil sampling programs for the site and to specify the soil stratification. It is never possible to know the geotechnical properties at every location beneath an actual site because, in order to do so, one would need to sample and/or test the entire subsurface profile. Therefore, the main objective of site characterization models is to predict the subsurface soil properties with minimum in-situ test data. The prediction of soil property is a difficult task due to the uncertainities. Spatial variability, measurement ‘noise’, measurement and model bias, and statistical error due to limited measurements are the sources of uncertainities. Liquefaction in soil is one of the other major problems in geotechnical earthquake engineering. It is defined as the transformation of a granular material from a solid to a liquefied state as a consequence of increased pore-water pressure and reduced effective stress. The generation of excess pore pressure under undrained loading conditions is a hallmark of all liquefaction phenomena. This phenomena was brought to the attention of engineers more so after Niigata(1964) and Alaska(1964) earthquakes. Liquefaction will cause building settlement or tipping, sand boils, ground cracks, landslides, dam instability, highway embankment failures, or other hazards. Such damages are generally of great concern to public safety and are of economic significance. Site-spefific evaluation of liquefaction susceptibility of sandy and silty soils is a first step in liquefaction hazard assessment. Many methods (intelligent models and simple methods as suggested by Seed and Idriss, 1971) have been suggested to evaluate liquefaction susceptibility based on the large data from the sites where soil has been liquefied / not liquefied. The rapid advance in information processing systems in recent decades directed engineering research towards the development of intelligent models that can model natural phenomena automatically. In intelligent model, a process of training is used to build up a model of the particular system, from which it is hoped to deduce responses of the system for situations that have yet to be observed. Intelligent models learn the input output relationship from the data itself. The quantity and quality of the data govern the performance of intelligent model. The objective of this study is to develop intelligent models [geostatistic, artificial neural network(ANN) and support vector machine(SVM)] to estimate corrected standard penetration test (SPT) value, Nc, in the three dimensional (3D) subsurface of Bangalore. The database consists of 766 boreholes spread over a 220 sq km area, with several SPT N values (uncorrected blow counts) in each of them. There are total 3015 N values in the 3D subsurface of Bangalore. To get the corrected blow counts, Nc, various corrections such as for overburden stress, size of borehole, type of sampler, hammer energy and length of connecting rod have been applied on the raw N values. Using a large database of Nc values in the 3D subsurface of Bangalore, three geostatistical models (simple kriging, ordinary kriging and disjunctive kriging) have been developed. Simple and ordinary kriging produces linear estimator whereas, disjunctive kriging produces nonlinear estimator. The knowledge of the semivariogram of the Nc data is used in the kriging theory to estimate the values at points in the subsurface of Bangalore where field measurements are not available. The capability of disjunctive kriging to be a nonlinear estimator and an estimator of the conditional probability is explored. A cross validation (Q1 and Q2) analysis is also done for the developed simple, ordinary and disjunctive kriging model. The result indicates that the performance of the disjunctive kriging model is better than simple as well as ordinary kriging model. This study also describes two ANN modelling techniques applied to predict Nc data at any point in the 3D subsurface of Bangalore. The first technique uses four layered feed-forward backpropagation (BP) model to approximate the function, Nc=f(x, y, z) where x, y, z are the coordinates of the 3D subsurface of Bangalore. The second technique uses generalized regression neural network (GRNN) that is trained with suitable spread(s) to approximate the function, Nc=f(x, y, z). In this BP model, the transfer function used in first and second hidden layer is tansig and logsig respectively. The logsig transfer function is used in the output layer. The maximum epoch has been set to 30000. A Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm has been used for BP model. The performance of the models obtained using both techniques is assessed in terms of prediction accuracy. BP ANN model outperforms GRNN model and all kriging models. SVM model, which is firmly based on the theory of statistical learning theory, uses regression technique by introducing -insensitive loss function has been also adopted to predict Nc data at any point in 3D subsurface of Bangalore. The SVM implements the structural risk minimization principle (SRMP), which has been shown to be superior to the more traditional empirical risk minimization principle (ERMP) employed by many of the other modelling techniques. The present study also highlights the capability of SVM over the developed geostatistic models (simple kriging, ordinary kriging and disjunctive kriging) and ANN models. Further in this thesis, Liquefaction susceptibility is evaluated from SPT, CPT and Vs data using BP-ANN and SVM. Intelligent models (based on ANN and SVM) are developed for prediction of liquefaction susceptibility using SPT data from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan. Two models (MODEL I and MODEL II) are developed. The SPT data from the work of Hwang and Yang (2001) has been used for this purpose. In MODEL I, cyclic stress ratio (CSR) and corrected SPT values (N1)60 have been used for prediction of liquefaction susceptibility. In MODEL II, only peak ground acceleration (PGA) and (N1)60 have been used for prediction of liquefaction susceptibility. Further, the generalization capability of the MODEL II has been examined using different case histories available globally (global SPT data) from the work of Goh (1994). This study also examines the capabilities of ANN and SVM to predict the liquefaction susceptibility of soils from CPT data obtained from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan. For determination of liquefaction susceptibility, both ANN and SVM use the classification technique. The CPT data has been taken from the work of Ku et al.(2004). In MODEL I, cone tip resistance (qc) and CSR values have been used for prediction of liquefaction susceptibility (using both ANN and SVM). In MODEL II, only PGA and qc have been used for prediction of liquefaction susceptibility. Further, developed MODEL II has been also applied to different case histories available globally (global CPT data) from the work of Goh (1996). Intelligent models (ANN and SVM) have been also adopted for liquefaction susceptibility prediction based on shear wave velocity (Vs). The Vs data has been collected from the work of Andrus and Stokoe (1997). The same procedures (as in SPT and CPT) have been applied for Vs also. SVM outperforms ANN model for all three models based on SPT, CPT and Vs data. CPT method gives better result than SPT and Vs for both ANN and SVM models. For CPT and SPT, two input parameters {PGA and qc or (N1)60} are sufficient input parameters to determine the liquefaction susceptibility using SVM model. In this study, an attempt has also been made to evaluate geotechnical site characterization by carrying out in situ tests using different in situ techniques such as CPT, SPT and multi channel analysis of surface wave (MASW) techniques. For this purpose a typical site was selected wherein a man made homogeneous embankment and as well natural ground has been met. For this typical site, in situ tests (SPT, CPT and MASW) have been carried out in different ground conditions and the obtained test results are compared. Three CPT continuous test profiles, fifty-four SPT tests and nine MASW test profiles with depth have been carried out for the selected site covering both homogeneous embankment and natural ground. Relationships have been developed between Vs, (N1)60 and qc values for this specific site. From the limited test results, it was found that there is a good correlation between qc and Vs. Liquefaction susceptibility is evaluated using the in situ test data from (N1)60, qc and Vs using ANN and SVM models. It has been shown to compare well with “Idriss and Boulanger, 2004” approach based on SPT test data. SVM model has been also adopted to determine over consolidation ratio (OCR) based on piezocone data. Sensitivity analysis has been performed to investigate the relative importance of each of the input parameters. SVM model outperforms all the available methods for OCR prediction.

In this thesis, quantum cluster methods are used to calculate electronic properties of correlated-electron systems. A special focus lies in the determination of the ground state properties of a 3/4 filled triangular lattice within the one-band Hubbard model. At this filling, the electronic density of states exhibits a so-called van Hove singularity and the Fermi surface becomes perfectly nested, causing an instability towards a variety of spin-density-wave (SDW) and superconducting states. While chiral d+id-wave superconductivity has been proposed as the ground state in the weak coupling limit, the situation towards strong interactions is unclear. Additionally, quantum cluster methods are used here to investigate the interplay of Coulomb interactions and symmetry-breaking mechanisms within the nematic phase of iron-pnictide superconductors. The transition from a tetragonal to an orthorhombic phase is accompanied by a significant change in electronic properties, while long-range magnetic order is not established yet. The driving force of this transition may not only be phonons but also magnetic or orbital fluctuations. The signatures of these scenarios are studied with quantum cluster methods to identify the most important effects. Here, cluster perturbation theory (CPT) and its variational extention, the variational cluster approach (VCA) are used to treat the respective systems on a level beyond mean-field theory. Short-range correlations are incorporated numerically exactly by exact diagonalization (ED). In the VCA, long-range interactions are included by variational optimization of a fictitious symmetry-breaking field based on a self-energy functional approach. Due to limitations of ED, cluster sizes are limited to a small number of degrees of freedom. For the 3/4 filled triangular lattice, the VCA is performed for different cluster symmetries. A strong symmetry dependence and finite-size effects make a comparison of the results from different clusters difficult. The ground state in the weak-coupling limit is superconducting with chiral d+id-wave symmetry, in accordance to previous renormalization group approaches. In the regime of strong interactions SDW states are preferred over superconductivity and a collinaer SDW state with nonuniform spin moments on a quadrupled unit cell has the lowest grand potential. At strong coupling, inclusion of short-range quantum fluctuations turns out to favor this collinear state over the chiral phase predicted by mean-field theory. At intermediate interactions, no robust conclusion can be drawn from the results. Symmetry-breaking mechanisms within the nematic phase of the iron-pnictides are studied using a three-band model for the iron planes on a 4-site cluster. CPT allows a local breaking of the symmetry within the cluster without imposing long-range magnetic order. This is a crucial step beyond mean-field approaches to the magnetically ordered state, where such a nematic phase cannot easily be investigated. Three mechanisms are included to break the fourfold lattice symmetry down to a twofold symmetry. The effects of anisotropic magnetic couplings are compared to an orbital ordering field and anisotropic hoppings. All three mechanisms lead to similar features in the spectral density. Since the anisotropy of the hopping parameters has to be very large to obtain similar results as observed in ARPES, a phonon-driven transition is unlikely.