Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:13:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MiguelASF_DISSERT.pdf: 792186 bytes, checksum: d323fa6e666b8282771fcc51f7c2abcc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-07-11 / The aim of this work was to evaluate how an aqueous micellar system containing Amphotericin B (AmB) and sodium deoxycholate (DOC) can be rebuilt after heating treatment. Also a review of the literature about the new physicochemical and biological properties of this new system was carried out. Afterwards, heated (AmB-DOC-H) and unheated (AmB-DOC) micelles were subsequently diluted at four different concentrations (50mg.L-1, 5mg.L-1, 0.5mg.L-1 and 0.05mg.L-1) to perform the physicochemical study and, then, the pharmacotoxicity assay, in which two cell models were used for the in vitro experiments, Red Blood Cells (RBC) from human donors and Candida parapisilosis (Cp). While potassium (K+) and hemoglobin leakage from RBC were the used parameters to evaluate the acute and chronic toxicity, respectively, the efficacy of AmB-DOC and AmB-DOC-H were assessed by K+ leakage and cell survival rate from Cp. The spectral study revealed a slight change on the aggregate peak from 327nm to 323nm for AmB-DOC-H compared to AmB-DOC. Concerning the toxicity, although AmB-DOC and AmB-DOC-H presented different behavior for hemoglobin leakage, AmB-DOC produced higher leakage than AmB-DOC-H at high concentrations (from 5mg.L-1) with values tending to zero. However, concerning K+ leakage, both AmB-DOC and AmB-DOC-H, showed similar profile for both cell models, RBC and Cp (p<0,05). AmB-DOC-H and AmB-DOC also revealed similar profile of activity against Cp with equivalent survival rate. In short, the AmB-DOC-H showed much less toxicity than AmB-DOC, but remained as active as the late one against fungal cell. Therefore, the results highlight the importance of this new procedure as a simple, inexpensive and safe alternative to produce a new kind of micelle system for treatment of systemic fungal infections / A anfotericina B micelar (AmB) ? um importante agente antimicrobiano utilizado contra infec??es f?ngicas sist?micas. No entanto, seu uso ? limitado devido a sua alta toxicidade. Formula??es de anfotericina B em estruturas lip?dicas s?o menos t?xicas, por?m apresentam elevado custo. A AmB em solu??o aquosa possui formas monom?ricas e agregadas, estes ?ltimos s?o os respons?veis pelas rea??es adversas. Este trabalho avaliou a AmB desoxicolato de s?dio (AmB-DOC) e AmB aquecida (AmBDOC- H) em rela??o a sua toxicidade e atividade, bem como perfil de seu espectro em quatro concentra??es diferentes (50mg.L-1, 5mg.L-1, 0,5mg.L-1 e 0.05mg.L-1). O aquecimento controlado das solu??es AmB levou a altera??es no espectro de 327nm AmB (agregados) para 323nm (superagregados). Al?m disso, quando as amostras foram submetidas ao processo de dilui??o, apresentam o mesmo comportamento espectrofotom?trico: ambas as amostras diminuem o pico das formas auto-associadas at? apresentarem apenas mon?meros com pico em 409nm, o que sugere um processo de libera??o de mon?meros por concentra??o-dependente. No que diz respeito ? toxicidade, AmB-DOC e AmB-DOC-H apresentaram comportamentos distintos: a taxa de libera??o de hemoglobina de hem?cias para AmB-DOC, em altas concentra??es, foi muito superior a AmB-DOC-H, cujos valores tendem a zero (p <0,05). J? em rela??o ? libera??o de K+ ambas as amostras apresentaram perfil semelhante. Sobre a atividade, AmB-H mant?m o mesmo perfil da AmB-DOC. Em suma, a AmB-DOC-H ? muito menos t?xica do que AmB-DOC e mantendo a atividade. Sendo este procedimento uma alternativa simples, de baixo custo e segura para, em um o futuro pr?ximo, ser utilizada no tratamento de infec??es f?ngicas sist?micas

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-26T18:56:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Marcelo Pereira.pdf: 349288 bytes, checksum: 6b2f395df14ed97262b2fc0a8c2f9b2d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-27 / Sulfuric acid use has shown effectiveness in overcoming dormancy, even though its effective use carry some risks to the workers and environment. The work was carried out to study the sulfuric acid treatment effectiveness, recommended by the RAS, and ventilation with dry and heated air to overcome the dormancy and the germination performance of six seed lots Bracharia humidicola cv. Tully. The work performed comparisons between the physiological effects of heat treatments at 45, 55, 65 and 75 ºC, during 24 and 48 hours periods and chemical scarification (immersion in concentrated sulfuric acid) for 10 minutes, constituting eight treatments and two controls. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications. The seed germination, the germination velocity index, the tetrazolium test and seedling dry weight were evaluated. The use of controlled temperatures and of H2SO4 are mechanisms to overcome dormancy, but in greater vitality batches results were equal to conventional treatment with sulfuric acid, which can be considered as an alternative. Generally, the work did not indicate the best period (24 or 48 hours), for use with dry air ventilation, however a temperature of 60 °C for lots with high vitality (L1, L3 and L5) may be recommended. The H2SO4 use in lots with greater vitality was not statistically significant compared with the control, but for lots with less vitality physiological deterioration occurred in the seeds. / O ácido sulfúrico tem mostrado eficiência na superação da dormência em sementes, porém o uso do mesmo traz riscos efetivos aos trabalhadores e ao meio ambiente. O trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo estudar a efetividade do tratamento com ácido sulfúrico, preconizado pelas RAS, e o emprego de ventilação com ar seco e aquecido na superação da dormência e desempenho germinativo de sementes de seis lotes de capim Brachiaria humidicola cv. Tully. O trabalho realizou comparações entre os efeitos fisiológicos de tratamentos térmicos de 45, 55, 65 e 75ºC, com períodos de 24 e 48 horas e o químico (imersão em ácido sulfúrico concentrado) por 10 minutos, constituindo-se oito tratamentos e duas testemunhas. O experimento foi conduzido em delineamento inteiramente casualizado com quatro repetições. Foram avaliados a germinação das sementes, o índice de velocidade de germinação, o teste de tetrazólio e a massa seca das plântulas. O uso de temperaturas variadas e controladas e o uso convencional de H2SO4 são mecanismos de superação de dormência, porém em lotes com maior vitalidade ocorreram resultados iguais ao tratamento convencional com ácido sulfúrico, podendo ser considerado uma alternativa. De maneira geral, o trabalho não indicou o melhor período (24 ou 48h), para emprego da ventilação com ar seco, entretanto a temperatura de 60°C, para os lotes de maior vitalidade (L1, L3 e L5), pode ser recomendada. O H2SO4 nos lotes com maior vitalidade não mostrou significância estatística em relação à testemunha, porém para os lotes com menor vitalidade ocorreu deterioração fisiológica da semente.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-18T17:51:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Marcelo Pereira.pdf: 349288 bytes, checksum: 6b2f395df14ed97262b2fc0a8c2f9b2d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-27 / Sulfuric acid use has shown effectiveness in overcoming dormancy, even though its effective use carry some risks to the workers and environment. The work was carried out to study the sulfuric acid treatment effectiveness, recommended by the RAS, and ventilation with dry and heated air to overcome the dormancy and the germination performance of six seed lots Bracharia humidicola cv. Tully. The work performed comparisons between the physiological effects of heat treatments at 45, 55, 65 and 75 ºC, during 24 and 48 hours periods and chemical scarification (immersion in concentrated sulfuric acid) for 10 minutes, constituting eight treatments and two controls. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications. The seed germination, the germination velocity index, the tetrazolium test and seedling dry weight were evaluated. The use of controlled temperatures and of H2SO4 are mechanisms to overcome dormancy, but in greater vitality batches results were equal to conventional treatment with sulfuric acid, which can be considered as an alternative. Generally, the work did not indicate the best period (24 or 48 hours), for use with dry air ventilation, however a temperature of 60 °C for lots with high vitality (L1, L3 and L5) may be recommended. The H2SO4 use in lots with greater vitality was not statistically significant compared with the control, but for lots with less vitality physiological deterioration occurred in the seeds. / O ácido sulfúrico tem mostrado eficiência na superação da dormência em sementes, porém o uso do mesmo traz riscos efetivos aos trabalhadores e ao meio ambiente. O trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo estudar a efetividade do tratamento com ácido sulfúrico, preconizado pelas RAS, e o emprego de ventilação com ar seco e aquecido na superação da dormência e desempenho germinativo de sementes de seis lotes de capim Brachiaria humidicola cv. Tully. O trabalho realizou comparações entre os efeitos fisiológicos de tratamentos térmicos de 45, 55, 65 e 75ºC, com períodos de 24 e 48 horas e o químico (imersão em ácido sulfúrico concentrado) por 10 minutos, constituindo-se oito tratamentos e duas testemunhas. O experimento foi conduzido em delineamento inteiramente casualizado com quatro repetições. Foram avaliados a germinação das sementes, o índice de velocidade de germinação, o teste de tetrazólio e a massa seca das plântulas. O uso de temperaturas variadas e controladas e o uso convencional de H2SO4 são mecanismos de superação de dormência, porém em lotes com maior vitalidade ocorreram resultados iguais ao tratamento convencional com ácido sulfúrico, podendo ser considerado uma alternativa. De maneira geral, o trabalho não indicou o melhor período (24 ou 48h), para emprego da ventilação com ar seco, entretanto a temperatura de 60°C, para os lotes de maior vitalidade (L1, L3 e L5), pode ser recomendada. O H2SO4 nos lotes com maior vitalidade não mostrou significância estatística em relação à testemunha, porém para os lotes com menor vitalidade ocorreu deterioração fisiológica da semente.

No description available.

Kondens i icke-uppvärmda byggnader är ett välkänt problem, men hur dessa byggnader bör hanteras är mindre känt. I Vanadislundens vattenreservoar installerades en avfuktnings anläggning med förväntan att kondensen som funnits i byggnaden i 100 år ska försvinna. Problemet som istället uppstod var saltutfällningar och saltsprängningar på insida yttervägg. Detta examensarbete är baserat på att ge en beskrivning av hur salt-sprängningar och utfällningar sker. Samt vad som händer då denna typ av byggnad avfuktas samt hur denna typ av byggnader bör hanteras.  Detta arbete gjordes dels genom att göra en litteraturstudie om fenomenet saltutfällningar och sprängningar, hur dessa uppstår och varför. Samt genom beräkningsprogrammet WUFI där olika situationer simulerades för att besvara frågeställningarna. Vid fall 1, då den relativa fuktigheten (RF) sattes till 90% gavs slutsatsen att inga problem bör uppstå med saltutfällningar eller sprängningar. Vid fall 2 då den relativa fuktigheten sattes till 70%, torrt inneklimat, gavs slutsatsen att problem kan uppstå.  Den generella slutsatsen som detta arbete resulterade var att denna typ av byggnad bör hanteras med stor omtanke och att avfukta denna typ av byggnad kan leda till stora problem. / Condensation in unheated buildings is a well-known problem, but how these buildings should be handled is less known. A dehumidification plant was installed in Vanadislunden's water reservoir with the expectation that the condensation that had existed in the building for 100 years would disappear. The problem that arose instead was salt deposits and salt explosions on the inside of the outer wall. This thesis is based on giving a description of how salt explosions and precipitations occur. And what happens when this type of building is dehumidified and how this type of building should be handled.This work was done partly by doing a literature study on the phenomenon of salt precipitation and explosions, how these occur and why. And through the calculation program WUFI where different situations were simulated to answer the questions. In case 1, when the relative humidity (RH) was set to 90%, it was concluded that no problems should arise with salt precipitation or explosions. In case 2 when the relative humidity was set to 70%, dry indoor climate, it was concluded that problems may arise.The general conclusion that this work resulted in was that this type of building should be handled with great care and that dehumidifying this type of building can lead to major problems.

The supply of cooling has increased significantly in recent years, the trend shows that the increase will continue one reason is that the standard of living has increased, but EU has also set a requirement that energy consumption must be better at the same time. With “better” means more efficient and environmentally friendly. District cooling today uses either chillers or naturally available cold sources such as deep sea water, lake water or cold air. Cold air is, of course, only available when the seasons permit it and the cold air is not available when comfort cooling is needed for e.g. offices. The only alternative for areas that do not have a cold water source nearby is to use chillers. The most common chillers today are compressor chillers and absorption chillers. The most interesting chiller for the energy and environmental company HEM in Halmstad, is the absorption chiller which is driven by heat. HEM has, during the summer, surplus heat produced in Kristinehed plant which they want to use, they also have an increased inventory of waste during the summer which they get from the municipality of Halland. This heat is, of course, qualified to be used in the making of cold. Absorption chillers is today, however, not as common as compressor chillers which are capable of dealing with most cooling capacities, from small to large, and simultaneously works more or less flawlessly. Most of today’s absorption chillers are of a few hundred kW and upwards while there are no absorption chillers for the smaller effects, they are also very expensive and can have problems with crystallization of the absorbent if the operation is handled incorrectly. But it’s also expensive when it comes to piping of district cooling networks depending on where the pipes are desired, for example if it is the middle of town or over a grass field. A fictional project of the area Sannarp is used for a case study in this thesis where one investment alternative was to extend the existing district cooling pipes and another alternative was to invest in absorption chillers to meet the company's cooling demand. The results were obviously much affected by the area's layout and the distance to the first company starting from the existing pipe. The company's cooling demand also affected the results and the first alternatives investment cost could only be competitive with alternative 2 because the distance was just of the right length. If the distance to the company had been shorter, then the cooling demand for the same company has had to be less. The conclusion of the project was still in the end that and expansion of the current district cooling network to the company was the most feasible and economically advantageous.

Introduktion: Befuktning vid mekanisk ventilation är nödvändigt för att inte skador skall uppstå i luftvägarna. Luften kan befuktas aktivt eller passivt och då tekniken ständigt utvecklas kan tidigare riktlinjer för vilken metod som är bäst behöva revideras. Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka evidensen för användning av aktiv befuktning hos intuberade eller trakeostomerade patienter. Metod: I enlighet med Whittemore &amp; Knafls metod utfördes en integrerad litteraturstudie. Litteratursökning gjordes i databaserna PubMed, CINAHL och Cochrane. Även en manuell sökning i referenslistor utfördes och ledde till att totalt 14 artiklar valdes ut, varav 13 var kvantitativa och 1 kvalitativ. Resultat: Analysen av de 14 artiklarna resulterade i fyra huvudkategorier med efterföljande underrubriker: Aktiv befuktnings påverkan på nosokomiala infektioner: Infektionsincidens och Infektionstyp; Aktiv befuktnings påverkan på luftvägsproblem: Ocklusionsproblemoch Sekretviskositet/sekretmängd; Aktiv befuktnings påverkan på mekanisk ventilation: Vårdtid med mekanisk ventilation och Påverkan på andningsarbete;Upplevelse av aktiv befuktning: Upplevd påverkan på hälsa och Negativ påverkanpå vårdmiljön. Konklusion: Denna studie var att aktiv befuktning har en viktigfunktion att fylla hos vissa patienter, men borde inte användas slentrianmässigt.Sjuksköterskan har en viktig roll i att hitta de patienter som är mest hjälpta av det. / Introduction: Humidification during mechanical ventilation is necessary to avoid damage in the airways. The air can be humidified actively or passively and since thetechnique is constant developing the guidelines for which of the alternative that’sthe best may need to be revised. Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the evidence of using active humidification in intubated patients or in patients withtracheostomy. Method: An integrated literature review according to Whittemore &amp;Knafl was carried through. The literature search was done in the databases PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane. A manual search in reference lists was also made and resulted in a total of 14 articles whereof 13 were quantitative and one was qualitative. Result: The analysis of the 14 articles led to four main categories with the following subcategories: Active humidifications influence on nosocomial infections: Infectionincidence and Infection type; Active humidifications influence on airway problems: Occlusion problems and Mucus viscosity/mucus volume; Active humidifications influence on mechanical ventilation: Time on mechanical ventilation and Influenceon respiratory work; Experience of active humidification: Experienced influence on health and Negative impact on hospital environment. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study was that active humidification is the better choice among certain patientgroups but should not be used routinely. The nurse plays an important role in finding the patients who can benefit the most of it.

Estudos in vitro de absorção percutânea são uma importante ferramenta para avaliação de formulações semissólidas e transdérmicas. Embora haja um grande número de agências reguladoras preocupadas com a harmonização metodológica, em muitos parâmetros elas permanecem flexíveis e isto é possível verificar na ampla variedade e divergências encontradas na literatura. O objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar parâmetros ainda flexíveis a respeito dos estudos in vitro como modo de separação das camadas da pele, permeabilidade da pele congelada (tempo de armazenamento) e diferença de permeabilidade dos locais anatômicos. Os estudos foram conduzidos utilizando células de Franz, pele suína como membrana e formulações (comercializada e inovadora) contendo penciclovir. Inicialmente, nanoemulsões foram preparadas utilizando técnica de homogeneização a alta pressão, caracterizadas, incorporadas em gel de carbômero 940 e avaliadas quanto à liberação tópica em pele suína. Simultaneamente ao desenvolvimento da formulação foi desenvolvido e validado método analítico para quantificação do fármaco nas formulações e nas camadas da pele suína. As nanoemulsões apresentaram-se monodispersas com diâmetro de gotícula em torno de 180-200 nm, potencial zeta de -27 mV e teor de penciclovir de 98% mantendo sua estrutura após a incorporação em carbômero 940. A metodologia analítica demonstrou ter alta sensibilidade (LoQ 0,05 μg/mL), especificidade e uma adequada recuperação do fármaco a partir das matrizes biológicas (90 – 104%). Quanto aos estudos in vitro de comparação de metodologias, foi possível observar que, dependendo da solubilidade do fármaco em água e das características da formulação, o método clássico de separação das camadas da pele por imersão em água não é o mais indicado. Já para permeabilidade da pele suína congelada, os resultados obtidos indicam um aumento significativo na penetrabilidade e permeabilidade após um mês de congelamento. Dentre os locais anatômicos testados, não houve diferença entre abdômen e orelha suína desde que obtidos antes do procedimento de escaldo. / In vitro percutaneous absorption studies are an important tool for evaluation of semisolid and transdermal formulations. Although there are a large number of official guides concerned with methodological harmonization in many parameters they remain flexible and it is possible to see the wide variety and differences reported in the literature. The aim of study was to evaluate some parameters regarding the in vitro studies as the mode of skin layers separation, skin frozen stability and permeability difference of anatomical sites. These studies were conducted with porcine skin and formulations (conventional and novel) using penciclovir as model drug. Initially, nanoemulsions were prepared using high pressure homogenization, characterized and incorporated into carbomer 940 gel and evaluated for topical delivery using porcine skin. Simultaneously with the development of the formulation, analytical method for quantification of the drug in the formulations and porcine skin layers was developed and validated. The nanoemulsions presented themselves monodisperse with droplet diameter of 180-200 nm, zeta potential of about -27 mV and penciclovir content of 98% maintaining their structure after incorporation into carbomer 940. The analytical methodology was shown to have high sensitivity (LOQ 0.05 μg/mL), specificity and adequate recovery of drug from the biological matrices (90-104%). Regarding the in vitro comparison methodologies, it was observed that, depending on the solubility of the drug in water and the characteristics of the formulation, the classical separation is not the most suitable for separation of the skin layers. For the stability of frozen porcine skin, the results indicate a significant increase in permeability and penetrability after one month of freezing. Within the anatomical sites tested, there was no difference between the abdomen and ear porcine skin since obtained before the scald procedure.

Uranium-zirconium (U-Zr) alloys comprise a class of metallic nuclear fuel that is regularly considered for application in fast nuclear energy systems. The U-10wt%Zr alloy has been demonstrated to very high burnup without cladding breach in the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II). This was accomplished by successfully accommodating gaseous fission products with low smear density fuel and an enlarged cladding plenum. Fission gas swelling behavior of the fuel has been experimentally revealed to be significantly affected by the temperature gradient within a fuel pin and the multiple phase morphologies that exist across the fuel pin. However, the phase effects on swelling behavior have not been yet fully accounted for in existing fuel performance models which tend to assume the fuel exists as a homogeneous single phase medium across the entire fuel pin. Phase effects on gas bubble nucleation and growth in the alloy were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To achieve this end, a comprehensive examination of the alloy system was carried out. This included the fabrication of uranium alloys containing 0.1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt% zirconium by melt-casting. These alloys were characterized using electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Once the alloys were satisfactorily characterized, selected U-Zr alloys were irradiated with 140 keV He^(+) ions at fluences ranging from 1 × 10^(14) to 5 × 10^(16) ions/cm^(2). Metallographic and micro-chemical analysis of the alloys indicated that annealing at 600 °C equilibrates the alloys within 168 h to have stable α-U and δ-UZr_(2) phase morphologies. This was in contrast to some reported data that showed kinetically sluggish δ-UZr_(2) phase formation. Phase transformation temperatures and enthalpies were measured using DSC-TGA for each of the alloys. Measured temperatures from different time annealed alloys have shown consistent matches with most of the features in the current U-Zr phase diagram which further augmented the EPMA observed microstructural equilibrium. Nevertheless, quantitative transformation enthalpy analysis also suggests potential errors in the existing U-Zr binary phase diagram. More specifically, the (β-U, γ2) phase region does not appear to be present in Zr-rich (> 15 wt%) U-Zr alloys and so further investigation may be required. To prepare TEM specimens, characterized U-Zr alloys were mechanically thinned to a thickness of ~150 μm, and then electropolished using a 5% perchloric acid/95% methanol electrolyte. Uranium-rich phase was preferentially thinned in two phase alloys, giving saw-tooth shaped perforated boundaries; the alloy images were very clear and alloy characterization was accomplished. During in-situ heating U-10Zr and U-20Zr alloys up to 810 °C, selected area diffraction (SAD) patterns were observed as the structure evolved up to ~690 °C and the expected α-U → β-U phase transformation at 662 °C was never observed. For the temperature range of the (α-U, γ2) phase region, phase transformation driven diffusion was observed as uranium moved into Zr-rich phase matrix in U-20Zr alloy; this was noted as nonuniform bridging of adjacent phase lamellae in the alloy. From the irradiation tests, nano-scale voids were discovered to be evenly distributed over several micrometers in U-40Zr alloys. For the alloys irradiated at the fluences of 1 × 10^(16) and 5 × 10^(16) ions/cm^(2), estimated void densities were proportional to the irradiation doses, (250 ± 40) and (1460 ± 30) /μm^(2), while void sizes were fairly constant, (6.0 ± 1.5) and (5.2 ± 1.2) nm, respectively. Measured data could be foundational inputs to the further development of a semi-empirical metal fuel performance model.

No description available.