O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho da remoção de cistos deGiardia spp. e oocistos de Cryptosporidium parvum, em águas de abastecimento com turbidez elevada, em experimentos em escala de bancada (coagulação, floculação, decantação e filtração). Para tanto, empregou-se o coagulante cloreto de polialumínio – PAC. O método de filtração em membranas foi adotado para a concentração de protozoários, seguido ou não da etapa de purificação por separação imunomagnética – IMS. Os métodos foram avaliados em experimentos de controle de qualidade analítica e o método sem IMS apresentou as seguintes porcentagens de recuperação, 80% ±16,32% para cistos de Giardia spp. e 5% ±10,00% para oocistos de C. parvum. O método com IMS apresentou 31,5%±7,55% de recuperação para cistos de Giardia spp. e 5,75%±3,20% de recuperação para oocistos de C. parvum. Os experimentos demonstraram que não houve melhora na remoção de ambos os protozoários na condição de maior dosagem de coagulante (65 mg.L-1 de PAC e pH 7,29). A condição de menor dosagem de coagulante (25 mg.L-1 de PAC e pH 6,76) apresentou um desempenho melhor, ao contrário de uma expectativa de que a maior dosagem de coagulante pudesse favorecer a remoção destes microrganismos. A condição de menor dosagem apresentou, na água filtrada, 50 e 75% de ausência de identificação de cistos de Giardia e oocistos de C. parvum, respectivamente. A condição de maior dosagem apresentou (oo)cistos na água filtrada de todas amostras analisadas. Estes resultados indicam a importância do controle da coagulação na remoção de protozoários. / The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Giardia spp. cysts and Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts removal in a bench scale experiment. The coagulant polyaluminium chloride – PACl was used in this research. The protozoa concentration tests were performed by applying the Membrane Filtration method, with and without Immunomagnetic Separation assay-IMS. The methods were evaluated using control experiments and the method without IMS had the following percentage recovery, 80% ± 16.32% and 5% ±10.00% for Giardia cysts and C. parvum oocysts, respectively. The method with IMS presented 31.5% ± 7.55% and 5.75% ± 3.20% of percentage recovery for Giardia cysts and C. parvum oocysts, respectively. Bench scale experimental results have clearly shown that there was no improvement in protozoa removal using the superior dosage of coagulant. The inferior dosage condition (25 mg.L-1 of PACl and pH 6,76) performed better, which was contrary to what was expected in which a superior dosage of coagulant could favour when removing microorganisms. The inferior dosage condition presented 50% and 75% of absence of Giardia cysts and C. parvum oocysts in the final water, respectively. The second coagulation condition (65 mg.L-1 of PACl and pH 7,29) presented protozoa (oo)cysts in the final water of all the samples examined. These results indicate the importance of coagulation control in protozoa removal.

Lignocellulosic biomass (e.g., non food-based agricultural resides and forestry wastes) has recently been promoted for use as a source of bioethanol instead of food-based materials (e.g., corn and sugar cane), however to fully realize these benefits an improved understanding of lignocellulosic recalcitrance must be developed. The primary goal of this thesis is to gain fundamental knowledge about the surface of the plant cell wall, which is to be integrated into understanding biomass recalcitrance. Imaging mass spectrometry by TOF-SIMS and MALDI-IMS is applied to understand detailed spatial and lateral changes of major components in the surface of biomass under submicron scale. Using TOF-SIMS analysis, we have demonstrated a dilute acid pretreated poplar stem represented chemical differences between surface and bulk compositions. Especially, abundance of xylan was observed on the surface while sugar profile data showed most xylan (ca. 90%) removed from the bulk composition. Water only flowthrough pretreated poplar also represented difference chemistry between surface and bulk, which more cellulose revealed on the surface compared to bulk composition. In order to gain the spatial chemical distribution of biomass, 3-dimensional (3D) analysis of biomass using TOF-SIMS has been firstly introduced in the specific application of understanding recalcitrance. MALDI-IMS was also applied to visualize different molecular weight (e.g., DP) of cellulose oligomers on the surface of biomass.

Les réseaux de télécommunications deviennent de plus en plus complexes, notamment de par la multiplicité des technologies mises en œuvre, leur couverture géographique grandissante, la croissance du trafic en quantité et en variété, mais aussi de par l'évolution des services fournis par les opérateurs. Tout ceci contribue à rendre la gestion de ces réseaux de plus en plus lourde, complexe, génératrice d'erreurs et donc coûteuse pour les opérateurs. On place derrière le terme " réseaux autonome " l'ensemble des solutions visant à rendre la gestion de ce réseau plus autonome. L'objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer à la réalisation de certaines fonctions autonomiques dans les réseaux de télécommunications. Nous proposons une stratégie pour automatiser la gestion des pannes tout en couvrant les différents segments du réseau et les services de bout en bout déployés au-dessus. Il s'agit d'une approche basée modèle qui adresse les deux difficultés du diagnostic basé modèle à savoir : a) la façon d'obtenir un tel modèle, adapté à un réseau donné à un moment donné, en particulier si l'on souhaite capturer plusieurs couches réseau et segments et b) comment raisonner sur un modèle potentiellement énorme, si l'on veut gérer un réseau national par exemple. Pour répondre à la première difficulté, nous proposons un nouveau concept : l'auto-modélisation qui consiste d'abord à construire les différentes familles de modèles génériques, puis à identifier à la volée les instances de ces modèles qui sont déployées dans le réseau géré. La seconde difficulté est adressée grâce à un moteur d'auto-diagnostic actif, basé sur le formalisme des réseaux Bayésiens et qui consiste à raisonner sur un fragment du modèle du réseau qui est augmenté progressivement en utilisant la capacité d'auto-modélisation: des observations sont collectées et des tests réalisés jusqu'à ce que les fautes soient localisées avec une certitude suffisante. Cette approche de diagnostic actif a été expérimentée pour réaliser une gestion multi-couches et multi-segments des alarmes dans un réseau IMS.

Ce travail de thèse s'intéresse au sujet de la normalisation dans le champ de la formation à distance. Parmi les multiples propositions de normalisation, notre intérêt porte plus particulièrement sur l'enrichissement du dernier standard de fait IMS-LD. Nous souhaitons de ce fait introduire la notion de pertinence de la normalisation qui signifie la capacité d'IMS-LD de prescrire des scénarios pédagogiques qui répondent réellement à certains principes pédagogiques. Pour notre recherche, nous nous sommes intéressés à une des composantes essentielles de l'apprentissage (Leontiev, 1981), il s'agit de la motivation à apprendre. Ce travail nous a permis d'obtenir trois principaux résultats qui ont été validés en effectuant des études de cas: il s'agit d'abord d'une démarche de scénarisation à posteriori fondée sur les théories de l'activité ; Elle décrit, à partir des traces, le déroulement effectif d'une activité d'apprentissage. Le deuxième résultat est une taxonomie fondée sur la théorie des actes de langage ; Elle permet de traduire quelques composantes de la motivation en un ensemble d'actes de langage observables dans une trace de discussion par " Chat ". Quant au troisième résultat, il s'agit d'un modèle descriptif de la motivation qui rend compte, à partir des traces, des perceptions et ses origines. Ce modèle se sert de notre taxonomie et repose sur le concept des paires adjacentes issu de l'analyse conversationnelle. Enfin, nos conclusions exposent de plus des résultats secondaires et ouvrent des perspectives pour la poursuite de notre question sur la pertinence des normes.

Aquesta tesi està constituïda per diverses activitats de recerca, entre les quals trobam principalment articles i capítols publicats. Es descriu el disseny d'una joguina robòtica que facilita la metacognició dels nens. Es detallen els nous mètodes de disseny participatiu desenvolupats per donar suport a aquest procés, com també els resultats de les experiències dins l'aula que varen validar la seva eficàcia. Aquestes experiències varen fer servir l'especificació Unit of Practice d'Apple, la qual posibilita la descripció normalitzada de de les activitats pedagògiques amb els recursos d'ensenyament tecnològics. L'enfocament de la investigació llavors se centra en les especificacions de IMS, que representen recursos i activitats pedagògiques en un format que els ordinadors poden processar. S'analitzen les eines necessàries per treballar amb aquestes especificacions. Es fa una distinció entre processos de disseny en móns tancats (dirigits a grups limitats d'usuaris) i oberts (dirigits a un grup obert o universal). Es descriuen els processos participatius de disseny en ambdós casos. Es tenen especialment en consideració les eines necessàries per treballar amb l'especificació IMS LD, i es desenvolupen models conceptuals per clarificar la tipologia de les eines i els seus usos.Es proposa la participació en les comunitats de pràctica com una metodologia per avaluar les necessitats, les eines, i l'ús de l'especificació. / This thesis is composed of a number of related research activities, which are principally represented by means of published papers. The design of a robotic toy to provide support for children's meta-cognition is described. The new participatory design methods developed to support this process are detailed, together with the results of field trials which validated its effectiveness. These trials make use of Apple's Unit of Practice specification for the consistent description of pedagogic activities with technological teaching resources. The investigation of IMS' machine readable representations of pedagogy, their use, and the tooling they require, then becomes the focus for the inquiry. A distinction is drawn between closed world design processes, addressed at a circumscribed user group, and open world design addressing a wide or universal user group. Participatory design processes in both contexts are described. A particular focus is tooling for the IMS LD specification, and conceptual models are developed to clarify its tooling and use. Engagement with communities of practice is proposed as a means of addressing open world design challenges, and this methodology is used to assess user needs, tooling and use of the specification.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-07-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:29:48Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 nadae_j_me_bauru.pdf: 1907066 bytes, checksum: 69205ceeb00e7293526059a8928551b6 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O objetivo desta pesquisa é propor um método para introdução de práticas integradas de gestão da qualidade, meio ambiente e segurança e saúde no trabalho a ser implantado coletivamente pelas PMEs pertencentes a clusters industriais. Este método foi desenvolvido com base em uma revisão bibliográfica e uma pesquisa de campo, que ajudou a conhecer o ambiente e o comportamento das PMEs em um cluster. Para consecução do proposto, selecionou-se o cluster industrial metal-mecânico localizado na cidade de Sertãozinho-SP como base para uma pesquisa exploratória, visando contribuir com a formulação do método. Os instrumentos utilizados para a coleta de dados foram a entrevista semi-estruturada com o agente de governança e o questionário aplicado em uma amostra de 20 empresas do aglomerado. Com base no referencial teórico, elaborou-se um método para introdução de práticas integradas de gestão. este método está dividido em três macroetapas: (i) preparação/planejamento, (ii) implantação e (iii) avaliação e manutenção. Cada uma das etapas é composta por ações que devem ser desenvolvidas pelas empresas e pela governança. A implantação deste método requer acompanhamento constante do agente de governança do cluster, além de ser um processo que busca a melhoria contínua / The objective of this research is to propose a practical method for introducing integrated quality management, environment, safety and health at work to be implemented collectively by SMEs belonging to industrial clusters. This method was development based on a literature review and field research, which helped to understand the environment and the behavior or SMEs in a cluster. To achieve the proposed selected to the metal-mechanic industrial cluster located in the town of Sertaozinho-SP as a basis for exploratory research, to contribute to the formulation of the method. The instruments used for data collection were semi-structured interview with the agent of governance and the questionnaire in a sample of 20 companies of the custer. Based on the theoretical framework, developed a method for introduction of integrated management practices. This method is divided into three macroetapas: (i) preparation/planning, (ii) deployment and (iii) evaluation and maintenance. Each stage consists of actions that should be developed by business and governance. The implementation of this method requires constant monitoring of the agent's governance cluster, besides being a process that seeks continuous improvement

The research presented in this thesis started with the idea to study alcohols as modifiers and dopants in differential ion mobility spectrometry (d-IMS) to produce complicated chemical signatures to explore a concept of chemical labels for product security application. D-IMS is a gas phase atmospheric pressure separation and detection technique which distinguishes compounds based on differences in their ions mobility as their travel under a low and high electric field. The hypothesis was that alcohols will form typical d-IMS products such as protonated monomers and proton bound cluster ions. However, the very first experiments revealed unexpected phenomena which included changes in the mobility of ions over a narrow range of concentrations that could not be explained by existing theory. Another observation was the apparent regeneration of reactant ions. It became evident that the observed phenomena had not been described in the open literature and that addressing the research-questions that were being raised would be essential for the determination of alcohols by d-IMS and its use in medical applications for toxicity screening and monitoring of alcohols. The above discovery shifted the research objective towards a fundamental and comprehensive study on the behaviour of alcohols in d-IMS. This thesis describes designed experiments and constructed systems allowing the efficient study of effect of concentration, electric field and temperature on the d-IMS responses of alcohols. The results of those studies demonstate: extensive fragmentation of alcohols, including previously undescribed fragmentation patterns with regeneration of the hydrated proton; new phenomena of adduct ion formation within the d-IMS drift tube, observed in the case of methanol within a narrow range of concentration; and self-modification of the alpha function of alcohols. This knowledge was exploited by developing an non-invasive analytical method for recovery, separation and detection of toxins from human saliva (including alcohols, diols and GHB) using TD-GC-d-IMS (thermal desorption - gas chromatography d-IMS) within a full range of toxicological concentration levels.

Individuals in modern Western societies are experiencing increasing sedentary lifestyles, overindulgence of high fat, high-sugar diets, and extremely sterilized conditions, putting immense pressure on researchers and clinicians alike to come up with viable treatments for conditions implicated with an aging society. Emerging research have published the benefits of IMS and metabolic switching in a variety of neuroprotective, cellular stress resistance, and neuroplasticity pathways in animal models and clinical results from randomized trials of IMS regimens with susceptible human populations are soon to be published. The application of genome editing and next-generation sequencing (NGS) strategies to clinical and neurodegenerative research continues to elucidate the relationship between a patient’s specific genetic background and modern environmental stressors towards disease pathology. This study attempts to utilize novel CRISPR/Cas9 strategies to introduce targeted gene edits and explores the role of reduced ketone-body synthesis/metabolism with 3-hydroxymethyl-3-methylglutaryl-CoA lyase HMGCL KO, in the therapeutic and neuroprotective potential of intermittent metabolic switching in 3xTg mice, genetically predisposed for Alzheimer pathology. IMS-mediated attenuation of hippocampal spatial memory deficits was confirmed in 5-month-old 3xTg mice using Morris Water Maze and Aβ1-40, Aβ1-42, total tau and p-tau levels were calculated accordingly. Mice receiving time-restricted feeding (TRF) and caloric restriction (CR) regardless of KO performed better in the hippocampal-dependent spatial memory test and ELISA analysis of CSF revealed reduced p-tau levels of 3xTg WT TRF + CR mice relative to WT control or the two experimental groups. Overall, genetic modifications of key metabolic enzymes highlight the variable therapeutic results of the glucose to ketone metabolic switch on cognitive deficits depending on an organism’s genetic background.

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is the next generation of telecommunication systems. The system is based on an IP network and uses technologies from the Internet. The IMS system is designed to evolve from a telephone system into a general information and communication system. It is meant to include television, Video on Demand (VoD), interactive services etc, etc. It is designed to simplify the implementation of newservices in telecom networks. This report investigates security aspects of VoD services when merging an IP Television (IPTV) system with IMS. The investigation covers security functions in IMS, transitionsolutions for authentication of the Set-Top-Box (STB) in IMS, and identifies problems inthe integration of IPTV and IMS. The report concludes that IMS has good solid Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) functions that will provide security and billing functionality. One problemis found in the media control between the STB and the streaming server. This interface lacked specification at the time of investigation, and some problems have been identified. These problems have to be solved before a system can be brought into service and beregarded as secure.

The demand for network resources (e.g. forwarding capacity, buffer space) by increasingly used real-time multimedia applications is growing. Moreover, their stringent performance requirements (e.g. delay and jitter bounds) pose challenges on network resource management (RM). RM determines how available resources are modeled and distributed to achieve a performance goal such as assuring forwarding quality to real-time multimedia applications. Improvements to existing RM mechanisms can avoid performance limitations of networks by facilitating more efficient use of scarce resources. For example, in a vehicular to infrastructure (V2I) communication scenario that uses IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) lacking RM support for multicast, the 3G downlink quickly becomes a bottleneck although some information is addressed to multiple receivers. The main goal of this thesis is to develop RM algorithms and protocols that improve forwarding capacity utilization and remove performance bottlenecks. An additional goal is to improve the scalability of existing RM mechanisms. Three architectural paradigms are covered to demonstrate the advantages of efficient and systematic network RM: open access networks (OAN), next generation networks (NGN), and heterogeneous access networks (HAN). For OAN, a cross-layer signaling technique called parameter injection was developed. It reduces the signaling overhead and update time for real-time multimedia sessions over Wi-Fi while autonomously selecting the format and CODEC that best match the current resource settings. Within NGN, a resource management protocol is proposed for extending unicast signaling in IMS with multicast capabilities. The contribution uses adaptive and dynamic group size selection to improve resource utilization on the 3G downlink for the signaling and data planes. For HAN, an algorithm is proposed that predicts the best access network for achieving the highest QoE of a real-time multimedia session with the available QoS resources based on regression and statistical learning. In all three paradigms, the provided core contributions serve the common goal of achieving a performance edge in terms of efficiency and systematic operation with a limited amount of network resources. / <p>Godkänd; 2011; 20110207 (ysko); DISPUTATION Nedanstående person kommer att disputera för avläggande av teknologie doktorsexamen. Namn: Muslim Elkotob Ämnesområde: Mobila system/Mobile Systems Avhandling: Efficient and Systematic Network Resource Management Opponent: Professor Anna Brunström, Institutionen för datavetenskap, Karlstads universitet Ordförande: Docent Christer Åhlund, Institutionen för system- och rymdteknik, Luleå tekniska universitet Tid: Fredag den 18 mars 2011, kl 10.00 Plats: A1514, Luleå tekniska universitet</p>