Westland petrels Procellaria westlandica breed only near Punakaiki on the West Coast of New Zealand. About 80 km offshore from their breeding colony, New Zealand's largest commercial fishery (for hoki Macruronus novaezelandiae) operates from mid June to early September, coinciding with the Westland petrel's breeding season. It has been assumed that Westland petrels feed extensively on fisheries waste and that this habit has been at least partly responsible for the increase in the Westland petrel population. Some seabird biologists have expressed concern that if a species comes to depend on scavenging at fishing vessels, such a species could experience a food crisis if fishing operations changed in a way that reduced the quantity of waste discharged. The aim of this research was to assess how dependent Westland petrels have become on fisheries waste for food. Diet studies showed that during the hoki fishing season, waste accounts for more than half by weight of the solid food Westland petrels bring back to the colony to feed their chicks. After the hoki season, waste contributes only about a quarter of their diet as birds switch to more natural prey and scavenge a wider variety of fish species presumably from smaller, inshore fishing vessels. Much of the fisheries waste eaten by Westland petrels was flesh which could not be identified using traditional techniques. The electrophoretic technique iso-electric focusing increased the number of fish samples that could be identified and consequently the diet was interpreted differently than it would have been had only traditional diet analysis been used. The survey of Westland petrel distribution off the west coast of the South Island, found that although hoki fishing vessels influence the distribution of Westland petrels, only a small proportion of the Westland petrel population appears to utilise this food resource at any one time. Westland petrels were tracked at sea by VHF radio telemetry and then by satellite tracking. Satellite tracking showed that there is considerable variation in the amount of time Westland petrels spend in the vicinity of fishing vessels. On average, satellite tracked birds spent one third of their time near vessels, but they foraged over much larger areas than that occupied by the West Coast South Island hoki fishing fleet. Although fisheries waste is an important component of the Westland petrel diet, it appears that the situation is one of opportunistic use of a readily available resource, rather than one of dependence. Several features of the Westland petrel's breeding biology and foraging ecology suggest that Westland petrels could compensate for a reduction in waste from the hoki fishery by switching to other sources of waste and increasing their consumption of natural prey. Nevertheless, much remains unanswered concerning the role of fisheries waste in the Westland petrel's diet. In particular, quantifying the waste available to seabirds, and the success of Westland petrels in acquiring that waste compared to other scavenging species, is needed in order to better predict the effect of a reduction in fisheries waste on Westland petrel population size.

Both experimental and numerical investigations of converging shock waves have been performed. In the experiments, a shock tube was used to create and study converging shock waves of various geometrical shapes. Two methods were used to create polygonally shaped shocks. In the first method, the geometry of the outer boundary of the test section of the shock tube was varied. Four different exchangeable shapes of the outer boundary were considered: a circle, a smooth pentagon, a heptagon, and an octagon. In the second method, an initially cylindrical shock wave was perturbed by metal cylinders placed in various patterns and positions inside the test section. For three or more regularly spaced cylinders, the resulting diffracted shock fronts formed polygonal shaped patterns near the point of focus. Regular reflection was observed for the case with three cylinders and Mach refection was observed for cases with four or more cylinders. When the shock wave is close to the center of convergence, light emission is observed. An experimental investigation of the light emission was conducted and results show that the shape of the shock wave close to the center of convergence has a large influence on the amount of emitted light. It was found that a symmetrical polygonal shock front produced more light than an asymmetrical shape. The shock wave focusing was also studied numerically using the Euler equations for a gas obeying the ideal gas law with constant specific heats. Two problems were analyzed; an axisymmetric model of the shock tube used in the experiments and a cylindrical shock wave diffracted by cylinders in a two dimensional test section. The results showed good agreement with the experiments. The temperature field from the numerical simulations was investigated and shows that the triple points behind the shock front are hot spots that increase the temperature at the center as they arrive there. As a practical example of shock wave focusing, converging shocks in an electrohydraulic lithotripter were simulated. The maximum radius of a gas bubble subjected to the pressure field obtained from the lithotripter was calculated and compared for various geometrical shapes and materials of the reflector. Results showed that the shape had a large impact while the material did not influence the maximum radius of the gas bubble. / QC 20100706

Analytical solutions for the linear and nonlinear shallow-water wave equations are developed for evolution and runup of tsunamis &ndash / long waves&ndash / over one- and two-dimensional bathymetries. In one-dimensional case, the nonlinear equations are solved for a plane beach using the hodograph transformation with eigenfunction expansion or integral transform methods under different initial conditions, i.e., earthquake-generated waves, wind set-down relaxation, and landslide-generated waves. In two-dimensional case, the linear shallow-water wave equation is solved for a flat ocean bottom for initial waves having finite-crest length. Analytical verification of source focusing is presented. The role of focusing in unexpectedly high tsunami runup observations for the 17 July 1998 Papua New Guinea and 17 July 2006 Java Island, Indonesia tsunamis are investigated. Analytical models developed here can serve as benchmark solutions for numerical studies.

Electroporation is the critical step in an electric field mediated drug or gene delivery protocol. Electroporation based protocols have been successfully demonstrated in cancer clinical trials, however, its impact in other applications is still under investigation. A significant roadblock to long term functioning of implantable biosensors in vivo is the tissue reaction in the form of fibrous encapsulation that results in reduced transport to the sensing element of the biosensor. In vivo gene electroporation has a great potential as a means to modify the transport properties of tissues in the proximity of the sensing element of implantable biosensors. This dissertation examines two postulated electroporation based strategies to modify tissue for enhanced performance of an implantable biosensor. In the first, the implantation protocol is modified to accommodate in vivo electroporation. In the second strategy, the the modification is applied post implantation. This post-implantation in vivo electroporation application requires that electric energy be delivered at the site of electroporation close to the biosensor while minimizing effects far from such site. A novel method, focusing electric fields, developed for this purpose is presented. A theoretical framework as well as in vitro and in vivo experiments are provided as the introduction to the method and in support of its potential as the basis of a viable technology.

Non-spherical particles are present all around us, in biological, industrial and environmental processes. Making predictions of their impact on us and systems in our vicinity can make life better for everyone here on earth. For example, the ash particles from a volcano eruption are non-spherical and their spreading in the atmosphere can hugely impact the air traffic, as was also proven in 2010. Furthermore, the orientation of the wood fibres in a paper sheet influences the final properties of the paper, and the cause of a specific fibre orientation can be traced back to the fluid flows during the manufacturing process of the paper. In this thesis, experimental and numerical work is presented with the goal to understand and utilize the behavior of elongated particles in fluid flows. Two different experimental setups are used. The first one, a turbulent half channel flow, aims at increasing the understanding of how particles with non-zero inertia behave in turbulence. The second setup is an attempt to design a flow field with the purpose to align nanofibrils and create high performance cellulose filaments. Experiments were performed in a turbulent half channel flow at different flow set- tings with dilute suspensions of cellulose acetate fibres having three different aspect ratios (length to width ratio). The two main results were firstly that the fibres agglom- erated in streamwise streaks, believed to be due to the turbulent velocity structures in the flow. Secondly, the orientation of the fibres was observed to be determined by the aspect ratio and the mean shear, not the turbulence. Short fibres were oriented in the spanwise direction while long fibres were oriented in the streamwise direction. In order to utilize the impressive properties (stiffness comparable to Kevlar) of the cellulose nanofibril in a macroscopic material, the alignment of the fibrils must be controlled. Here, a flow focusing device (resulting in an extensional flow), designed to align the fibrils, is used to create a cellulose filament with aligned fibrils. The principle is based on a separation of the alignment and the assembly of the fibrils, i.e. first align the fibrils and then lock the aligned structure. With this process, continuous filaments were created, with properties similar to that of the wood fibre at the same fibril alignment. However, the highest alignment (lowest angle) of the fibrils in a filament created was only 31o from the filament axis, and the next step is to increase the alignment. This thesis includes modeling of the alignment process with the Smoluchowski equation and a rotary diffusion. Finding a model that correctly describes the alignment process should in the end make it possible to create a filament with fully aligned fibrils. / <p>QC 20140908</p>

The present thesis is devoted to the investigation of certain aspects of the large time behavior of the solutions of two nonlinear Schrödinger equations in dimension three in some suitable perturbative regimes. The first model consist in a Schrödinger equation with a concentrated nonlinearity obtained considering a {point} (or contact) interaction with strength $alpha$, which consists of a singular perturbation of the Laplacian described by a self adjoint operator $H_{alpha}$, and letting the strength $alpha$ depend on the wave function: $ifrac{du}{dt}= H_alpha u$, $alpha=alpha(u)$.It is well-known that the elements of the domain of a point interaction in three dimensions can be written as the sum of a regular function and a function that exhibits a singularity proportional to $|x - x_0|^{-1}$, where $x_0$is the location of the point interaction. If $q$ is the so-called charge of the domain element $u$, i.e. the coefficient of itssingular part, then, in order to introduce a nonlinearity, we let the strength $alpha$ depend on $u$ according to the law $alpha=-nu|q|^sigma$, with $nu > 0$. This characterizes the model as a focusing NLS with concentrated nonlinearity of power type. In particular, we study orbital and asymptotic stability of standing waves for such a model. We prove the existence of standing waves of the form $u (t)=e^{iomega t}Phi_{omega}$, which are orbitally stable in the range $sigma in (0,1)$, and orbitally unstable for $sigma geq 1.$ Moreover, we show that for $sigma in(0,frac{1}{sqrt 2}) cup left(frac{1}{sqrt{2}}, frac{sqrt{3} +1}{2sqrt{2}} right)$ every standing wave is asymptotically stable, in the following sense. Choosing an initial data close to the stationary state in the energy norm, and belonging to a natural weighted $L^p$ space which allows dispersive stimates, the following resolution holds: $u(t) =e^{iomega_{infty} t +il(t)} Phi_{omega_{infty}}+U_t*psi_{infty} +r_{infty}$, where $U_t$ is the free Schrödinger propagator,$omega_{infty} > 0$ and $psi_{infty}$, $r_{infty} inL^2(R^3)$ with $| r_{infty} |_{L^2} = O(t^{-p}) quadtextrm{as} ;; t right arrow +infty$, $p = frac{5}{4}$,$frac{1}{4}$ depending on $sigma in (0, 1/sqrt{2})$, $sigma in (1/sqrt{2}, 1)$, respectively, and finally $l(t)$ is a logarithmic increasing function that appears when $sigma in (frac{1}{sqrt{2}},sigma^*)$, for a certain $sigma^* in left(frac{1}{sqrt{2}}, frac{sqrt{3} +1}{2sqrt{2}} right]$. Notice that in the present model the admitted nonlinearities for which asymptotic stability of solitons is proved, are subcritical in the sense that it does not give rise to blow up, regardless of the chosen initial data. The second model is the energy critical focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation $i frac{du}{dt}=-Delta u-|u|^4 u$. In this case we prove, for any $nu$ and $alpha_0$ sufficiently small, the existence of radial finite energy solutions of the form$u(t,x)=e^{ialpha(t)}lambda^{1/2}(t)W(lambda(t)x)+e^{iDeltat}zeta^*+o_{dot H^1} (1)$ as $tright arrow +infty$, where$alpha(t)=alpha_0ln t$, $lambda(t)=t^{nu}$,$W(x)=(1+frac13|x|^2)^{-1/2}$ is the ground state and $zeta^*$is arbitrarily small in $dot H^1$

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O direito à educação de pessoas com deficiência tem provocado e instigado inúmeras discussões, de caráter político e acadêmico, de forma intensa desde os anos 90. Tais discussões transitam pela defesa do acesso à educação, pela busca de novas formas de se compreender e analisar as situações de deficiências, pela constituição de políticas sociais não assistencialistas, pela discussão da relação público e privado na promoção de serviços de atenção às especificidades das deficiências, e, ainda, pelo financiamento necessário para uma atenção de qualidade. Esses campos se desdobram em seus interiores em tantos outros, mas todos terão como diretriz de suas proposições a garantia de um tratamento igualitário, sob as premissas dos direitos humanos. A proposição da pesquisa, desenvolvida nessa dissertação, centrou-se especificamente no campo da educação e na análise da Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva Inclusiva (PNEE), considerando-se que tal documento buscou interpretar e direcionar as transformações necessárias no direito à educação das pessoas com deficiência, como uma resposta, ao conjunto de discussões. O papel da educação especial e a correlação com a educação inclusiva também serão abordados buscando compreender as relações e as consequências destas aproximações na política educacional. Dessa forma, a partir do fundamento, talvez principal na escrita desse documento, de que a reconfiguração dessa área primava pela atenção aos direitos humanos, definiu-se como objetivo primeiro e basal, inclusive como procedimento metodológico, retomar o estabelecimento da educação como um direito humano, no conjunto dos direitos sociais, e a implicação dessa diretriz na formulação das políticas públicas. Apresentou-se, complementar à análise, a necessária discussão sobre o universal e o focalizado na elaboração das políticas públicas, além da necessidade de se diferenciar, no interior das ações específicas direcionadas a grupos também específicos, as ações direcionadas de atenção e aquelas formuladas sob a égide da focalização no interior de uma política de Estado mínimo. Outro objetivo estabelecido, temática também muito cara no interior do objeto de estudo proposto para análise, foi compreender como perpassa ao debate a discussão sobre a experiência humana da deficiência, proposta por diferentes modelos e abordagens, e que tem consequências diretas na formulação das políticas sociais, seja na forma de atenção direcionada ou focalizada. Tomou-se como pressuposto para a análise as discussões do modelo social de compreensão da deficiência, pois esse é o modelo de maior aderência, até o presente momento, nos debates das políticas públicas de atenção à pessoa com deficiência no cenário nacional. Por fim, retomo o documento da PNEE buscando realizar análise do conteúdo, aí presente, das interpretações do direito à educação, a partir das perspectivas construídas nas discussões propostas anteriormente nessa dissertação. Não se colocou como objetivo nesse ponto analisar os contextos de influência que resultaram na elaboração, no entanto, ainda que se apresente como expressão discursiva de uma hegemonia do pensamento nacional, as brechas e contradições se apresentam. / The right to education of persons with disabilities has provoked and instigated numerous discussions of political and academic character, intensely since the 1990s. Such discussions transit through the defense of access to education, seeking new ways to understand and analyse situations of disability, by the constitution of nonassistentialist social policies, the discussion of public and private relations in the promotion of attention services to the specificities of disabilities, and also by the financing needed for quality attention. These fields unfold in their interiors and in so many others, but all of them will have as guideline of their propositions the guarantee of an equal treatment, under the premises of human rights. The research proposition, developed in this dissertation, focused specifically on the field of education and analysis of the National Policy on Special Education in the Inclusive Perspective (PNEE), considering that such document sought to interpret and direct the necessary transformations in the right to education of persons with disabilities, as an answer to the set of discussions. The role of special education and the correlation with inclusive education will also be addressed aiming to understand the relationships and consequences of these approaches in educational policy. Thus, from the foundation, perhaps main in the writing of this document, that the reconfiguration of this area highlighted by the attention to human rights, it was defined as a first and basal objective, including as a methodological procedure, to retake the establishment of education as a human right, in the social rights as a whole, and the implication of this guideline in the formulation of public policies. The necessary discussion about the universal and the focused on the elaboration of public policies was presented, complementary to the analysis. It was also considered necessary to differentiate the specific actions also directed to specific groups, the targeted actions of attention and those formulated under the support of focusing inside a minimal state policy. Another established objective, which is also thematically important within the study object proposed for analysis, is to understand the discussion about the human experience of disability, proposed by different models and approaches and which have direct consequences on the formulation of social policies, either in the targeted or focused attention way. The discussion of the social model of understanding disability was taken as the presupposition for this analysis, since this is the greater adherence model, up to the present moment, in the debates of the public policies of attention to the persons with disability, in the national scenario. Finally, I return to the PNEE (National Policy on Special Education in the Inclusive Perspective) document aiming to content analysis of the present discourse of the interpretations of the right to education, from the built up perspectives earlier proposed in this dissertation. It was not aimed at this point to analyse the contexts of influence that resulted in the elaboration, however, even if it presents itself as a discursive expression of a hegemony of national thought, the breaches and contradictions are present.

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