Thesis (Ph.D) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1996. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2891. Typescript. Abstract precedes second title page as preliminary pages 2-3. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 28-31).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-456) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 443-456).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Accompanied by .pdf, .jpg and .bmp files. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-127).

This thesis explores aspects of Melville’s presentation of both the whale and the human bodies in Moby-Dick and human bodies in other important novels. It argues that Melville uses his presentation of bodies to explore some of the versions of confinement those bodies experience, and by doing so, analyses the psychology which subtends that confinement. Throughout Melville’s works bodies are confined, both within literal spatial limits and by the psychology which creates and/or accepts these spatial limits. The thesis argues that perhaps the most important version of bodily confinement Melville addresses is the impulse to conquer bodies, both that of the other and one’s own. It adopts a largely psychoanalytic approach to interpreting bodies and their impulse to conquer, so that the body is seen to figure both in its actions and its external appearance the operations of the inner psyche. The figure of the body is equally prevalent in Melville’s exploration of nationalist conquest, where, as with Manifest Destiny and antebellum expansionism, the psychological and physical lack experienced by characters can be read as motivating factors in the ideology of conquest. A final important strand of the thesis is its argument in favour of a gradual shift in Melville’s interpretation of the value and possibility of genuine communion between human beings and between humans and the whale. One may read Typee as an attempt by Melville to explore the possibility of a this-worldly utopia in which human beings can return to a version of primitive interconnectedness. This exploration may be seen to be extended in Moby-Dick, particularly in Ishmael’s attempts to find communion with others and in some moments of encounter with the whales. The thesis uses phenomenology as a theory to interpret what Melville is trying to suggest in these moments of encounter. However, it argues, finally, that such encounter, or ‘intersubjectivity’ is eventually jettisoned, especially in the works after Moby-Dick. By the end of Melville’s life and work, any hope of an intersubjective utopia he may have harboured as a younger man have been removed in favour of a refusal actually to assert any final ‘truth’ about social, political or even religious experience. Billy Budd, his last body, is hanged, and his final word is silence.

The human gut microbiota is considered to be a highly specialized organ providing nourishment, regulating epithelial cell development, modulating innate immune responses and colonization resistances, and it significantly impacts human health and disease. Dispite of being extensively studied for several decades, the functionality of the microbiota colonization in the human gastrointestinal tract and the mechanisms of the interactions between the host and bacteria are still poorly understood. This research follows a novel and unique approach, which combines the complementary strengths of in vitro experiment, in vivo study and mathematical modelling. The work undertaken has three emphases: 1) probiotic strains and their impact on human health; 2) the development of gut microbiota in infants; 3) quantification of human gut microbial ecosystem at both the species level and the system level. In the first part of this research, a versatile anaerobic continuous culture platform was implemented following a novel and unique design, which allows easy and continuous sampling and monitoring of microbial growth. A number of carefully planned in vitro experiments have been conducted to investigate the growth and competition of probiotic strains under different culture conditions. These in vitro experiments improve the understanding for the growth behaviour of the specific probiotic strains. The second part of this project analyzed 50 faecal samples collected from 9 healthy infants with administration of probiotic strains and placebo. The analysis is based on the 454-pyrosequencing technology, which reveals the complete profiles of gut microbiota in these infants and confirmed the modulation effect of the specific probiotic strains. The last part of this research focused on the development of mathematical and computational models of human gut microbial ecosystem. The outcome from this part of the research includes: a) a new bacterial growth model that overcomes the parodox of competitative exclusion caused by previous models; b) a versatile computational framework to simulate in vitro fermentation experiments; and c) a comprehensive mathematical model for human gut and gut microbiota that is the first model for its nature.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-08-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:48:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 amaral_mep_me_bauru.pdf: 1033929 bytes, checksum: 32587b46e9b4802faf091dececc8d880 (MD5) / O corpo se torna um discurso cultural dialogando com as referências no tempo e no espaço. Essa pesquisa pretende analisar as formas de representação do corpo masculino em veículos homoeróticos. Para isso, a intenção foi de fazer o recorte em dois momentos da história dessa categoria de veículos: o jornal Lampião da Esquina e a revista Junior. Por se encontrarem em momentos diferentes no tempo, a representação do corpo também se modificou. As ideologias de cada veículo são distintas e acompanharam os movimentos de ordem social e cultural, tornando-se, também uma base para a composição do discurso midiático. Para isso foram escolhidas quatro fotografias de capas de cada veículo para perceber as mudanças ocasionadas e percebê-las segundo análise de fotografia e também na perspectiva da representação social e referência de cultura, identidade e midiatização / The body becomes a cultural discourse in dialogue with the references in time and space. This research aims to analyze the forms of representation of the male body in homoerotic vehicles. For this, the intention was to make the cut in two moments in the history of this category of vechicles: Lampião da Esquina Press and Junior magazine. These vehicles are in different moments in time, so the representation of the male body has also changed. The ideologies of each vehicle are distinct and followed the movements of social and cultural order, making it also base for compositing the media discourse. Se four photographs of covers each vehicle are chosen to realize the changes caused and perceive them according to the analysis of photography and also in terms of social representation and referrals culture, identity and media