Background and objectives This research explores the trend of skin-lightening in Senegal from an experiential and health systems perspective. Skin-lightening - a practice mostly done by women consisting of topically applying lightening products - is a widespread trend in Senegal, a country still grappling with a colonial legacy of racism and colorism. Although there is growing research on the health impacts of this practice, the impact of widespread skin-lightening practices from a health system perspective remains scarcely explored. Approach The main research question is, “what are the health system impacts of skin-lightening trends among Senegalese women?” Three sub-questions were addressed: 1. What are the key health and health care implications of the use of skin-lightening products as identified in the literature? 2. How do these health and health care implications influence the skin-lightening practices of Senegalese women? 3. How can this knowledge inform health care decision-makers in Senegal? A multi-phased approach consisted first of a scoping review on the topic and second, in-depth interviews with 13 Senegalese women to gather insights on skin-lightening practices and their health system implications. Results The findings from the two methodological approaches addressed three main themes: motivations, practices, and effects. Negative and positive motivations for the practice of skin-lightening emerged with some overlapping and nuanced factors which highlighted the complex reality of skin-lightening trends. Skin-lightening practices included two influences: community practices and personal practices of women interviewed. It appears that skin-lightening in sub-Saharan Africa can often be associated with age as it seems to greatly affect younger women. Finally, insights on the effects of skin-lightening highlighted many dermatological problems. Other health concerns were also mentioned including some mental health problems which emphasized dissatisfaction with the practice for long-term users of skin-lightening products. Conclusion The knowledge generated from this research highlights existing misconceptions regarding skin-lightening trends in the community. It can support a more informed health system response to the utilization of skin-lightening products and help develop evidence-informed guidance for all relevant actors in this practice

Electromagnetic effects of lightning currents during a direct hit to tall communication towers, other instrumented towers and chimneys can be hazardous to associated cables, as well as, electrical and electronics systems. The standard practice in telecommunication and other related fields is to bond the cable sheath to the tower and ground connection is made before it enters the base station. However, in some specific cases when power, signal and data logging cables are to be supported on the same tower, isolation of power cables is demanded. In a totally different situation, attempts are also made to have a dedicated isolated down conductor. A critical review of the situation demanded a more quantitative answer to the following questions: (i) whether it is possible to electrically isolate a dedicated down conductor, (ii) is it possible to electrically isolate the cables and their terminal equipment both mounted on towers serving as down conductor and if so, what will be the nature of current induced in the cables and (iii) as per the standard practice, if the cable sheaths are connected to the tower/structure, what will be the nature of the current shared by them. Addressing these important issues formed the scope of the present work. For the tall structures considered in this work, for the critical time periods, wave nature of the current dominates. This called for electromagnetic modeling covering Transverse Magnetic (TM) mode of the wave propagation. Owing to the complex geometrical features involved with the problem, both experiments on electromagnetically scaled laboratory models, as well as, theoretical simulation is attempted. An electromagnetically scaled laboratory model is employed for the time domain experimental investigation. This approach, which has been validated earlier, is further scrutinized to ensure its adequacy. In order to achieve generality and noting the fact that the associated parameters are rather difficult to be varied in the experimentation, theoretical investigation is also employed. For this, both NEC-2, as well as, an in-house thin wire time domain code developed for this work is employed. NEC-2 could handle multi-wire multi-radius junctions, while in-house time domain code could handle proximity and non-cylindrical shapes encountered with tower lattice elements. The investigation of induction to isolated cables on simple down conductors and towers is considered first. The induced current is shown to be bipolar oscillatory with the period of oscillation governed by the length of the cable. It is shown that the level of induction for good earth termination is below 5 – 10 % while that with moderate inductance in the earth termination can enhance the induction to higher levels. The level of induction is shown to be not critically dependent on the length of the cable, gap between cable and down conductor/tower. When multiple cables are mounted, they seem to influence each other and individually carry currents of lower amplitude. Also, the effect of shape and proximity of the tower lattice elements on induction is investigated. If the cable is housed inside a metallic tray, the amplitude of induced current is shown to be quite small. Subsequently, the evaluation of electrical stress between the isolated down conductor on tower and simplified representation of the structure is considered. A suitable definition of the electric stress for the wave regime is evolved and then it is shown that, at present, the voltage difference defined by the path integral of electric field across shortest path between the two entities is the best indicator for the stress. The electrical stress in the case of isolated down conductor on tower, as well as, down conductor with isolated cable is shown to reach very dangerous levels. On the other hand, the stress on the isolated cables on towers also serving as down conductors is shown to be relatively moderate. Interestingly, it is shown that the electrical stress and the voltage difference is dependent on the gap and for the critical time period, can be much lower than that calculated as a product of equivalent tower surge impedance and the stroke current, even before the arrival of ground end reflections. Finally, the current shared by cables connected to the down conductor is investigated. For the case of simple cylindrical down conductor with cable connected to it at the top, it is shown that the amount of current shared by the cable is not dependent on its length and the relative radii (cross section) have only a weak influence. For the case with down conductor formed by L and + angles, it is shown that the placement of cable at their interior corner can reduce the initial current shared by the cable. In order to model best possible situation with towers, experiments are conducted with cable inside an aluminum pipe. Even in this case, cable current builds up with successive reflections to become comparable with the current through the pipe itself. Subsequent investigation with 1:40 and 1:20 tower models lead to several interesting observations. Cables running along leg/face of the tower whether placed inside or outside the tower, always shares good amount of current. Further, frequent bonding of the sheath to the tower increases the current shared by the cable. Cable when housed in a metallic tray shares less than 50% of the current shared without the tray. Even though a complete quantification is not to be achieved in this work, it has made a good beginning with some significant contribution towards lightning protection issues pertaining to tall towers and structures.

Distúrbios em redes elétricas podem causar danos materiais e/ou operacionais em equipamentos eletrônicos sensíveis, em particular, sistemas em microcomputadores. Com o objetivo de registrar esses distúrbios, um monitor para redes elétricas foi desenvolvido. O equipamento desenvolvido é controlado por um microprocessador 80C86-2. Os seguintes distúrbios podem ser monitorados: desvios da freqüência nominal da rede, interferências de rádio freqüência, subtensão, sobretensão e surtos de tensão. Para minimizar o gargalo de Von Neumann, os circuitos foram projetados de forma que a maior parte das leituras é solicitada via interrupção. O equipamento foi testado a nível de laboratório e os resultados são apresentados. / Power line disturbances can adversely affect electronic sensitive equipment, particularly microcomputer based systems. In order to register these disturbances a power line monitor has been developed. The developed instrument is microprocessor based using a 80C86-2 as the main CPU. The following electrical disturbances can be monitored: nominal frequency deviations, radio-frequency interference, under and overvoltages, transient over voltages. Attempting to minimize Von Neumann´s bottle neck, the hardware was designed in such a way that most of the readings were requested through interrupts. The equipment was tested through a series of disturbance simulations, and the results are presented.

Magister Artium - MA / Advertising and media imagery shape attitudes about race and ethnicity, which means that advertising media play an influential part in constructing the frame through which individuals perceive racial differences and negotiate norms and ideas around ethnicity. Physical signifiers such as skin colour and hair are not only considered to be the most important facets in global beauty culture but are also seen as two principal phenotypes for racial classification (Mercer, 1987). These two attributes are also deeply situated within Black Feminist Discourse Studies and are therefore, culturally and socially significant (Erasmus, 1997; Hunter, 2002). As Dyer (1997:539) states: “every decision about a person’s worth is based on what they look like, what they speak, and where they came from.” Hence, body and hair politics point to power struggles which stem from historical discourses. As part of a capitalist environment, magazines such as True Love are also perceived as cultural commodities which occupy an important role in creating, transmitting and disseminating cultural meaning and in this regard, advertised texts are rich in cultural meaning and embedded with hidden ideologies. As a vehicle of social communication, True Love professes to be a mouth piece and a representative of the liberal, modern Black South African woman and portrays itself as a guiding companion and expert on womanhood (Laden, 2001). In this capacity, the magazine also creates and transmits messages about ideal feminine beauty. Following a multi-semiotic approach, by incorporating multimodality and social semiotics as proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), Van Leeuwen (2006; 2008) and O’Halloran (2011, in press), beauty advertisements are scrutinized in terms of the different semiotic principles which afford for different meaning-making opportunities and interpretation. Critical discourse analysis suggested by Fairclough (1992) and Wodak (1995) renders a supportive function to this social semiotic multimodal framework, in order to critically explore how the notion of ideal feminine beauty is constructed in True Love and to establish how inter-semiotic relations are created, reinforced and function to sustain hegemonic ideas in present-day beauty advertisements. The findings suggest that socio-cultural meanings attached to phenotypic traits such as skin and hair remain significant in contemporary society as a result of the repeated themes in media, especially advertising. Moreover, the consequential emphasis on beauty culture and the omnipresence of idealised imagery in mainstream media are responsible for composing and sustaining the belief that Whiteness is the only valid prototype of beauty. The whitewashing of Black models show how idealised preferences in media prevail. Advertisements display how the message of White superiority and supremacy is constructed visually and verbally, ultimately producing an overall ‘visual language of Whiteness’ which leads to devaluing and erasing forms of Black identity, while enhancing forms of White representation. This paper exposes existing dominant cultural narratives in the True Love advertising discourse that simultaneously produce and inflate an idealised Eurocentric version of feminine beauty. The hegemonic standard of feminine beauty dictates that women conform to a specific ideal which involves engaging in practices such as skin lightening, hair straightening or wearing weaves. This dissertation concludes that digital alteration techniques and photographic manipulation are predominantly used in mass media to portray advertised images resembling ideals closer, which means that it effectively enhances rather than detracts from the norm. Thus, White women look Whiter, thinner, richer and blonder. Caucasian models in advertised texts all have light hair and are seldom portrayed with dark hair. Light-skinned Black women portray Western mediated standards through physical appearances which seem to emulate those of their White counterparts, which Hunter (2011) describes as the ‘illusion of inclusion’. Although this marketing strategy operates under the premise of fostering ethnic diversity and to include women from all racial backgrounds, it reinforces the belief that Anglo-Saxon beauty norms are the only valorised signifiers of idealised beauty. Essentially, having a light skin colour is associated with sophistication, social mobility, success and the resulting financial and economic well-being. Based on this, the magazine appears to promote and celebrate feminine beauty based on a Eurocentric ideal.

This study explores how changes in skin tone surveillance predicted by: (a) skin tone satisfaction, (b) preference for lighter skin tone, (c) internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness, and (d) use of skin-lightening products among Asian Indian women. Exploratory analyses with demographic variables such as age, education, and marital status were also examined. Cross-cultural issues in conducting research with Asian Indian women using U.S. American standardized measures of skin tone related variables were explored. Participants were 169 Asian Indian women over the age of 18 from New Delhi, Mumbai, and other major cities in India and proficiency in English. The data were collected via an Internet-based survey with measures including the Skin Tone Specific Surveillance Subscale of the Objectification Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS, McKinley & Hyde, 1996); the Skin Color Satisfaction Scale (SCSS, Bond & Cash, 1992); Internalization subscale from the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire -3 (SATAQ-3, Thompson, van den Berg, Gurada, & Heinberg, 2004), and a questionnaire about skin tone preference and use of skin lightening products (Hamed, Tayyem, Nimer, & Alkhatib, 2010). Results of the study indicate that an increase in skin tone surveillance was significantly predicted by decreasing skin tone satisfaction, increased preference for lighter skin tone, internalization of cultural standards of beauty and increased use of skin lightening products among the participants. Implications of this study include illuminating the role of skin tone related attitudes and beliefs among Asian Indian women in the persistence of objectification experiences among Asian Indian women to advance feminist scholarship on objectification.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-07-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:57:30Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 vieira_bs_me_jabo.pdf: 210260 bytes, checksum: d3afaa3f53192340812b4ef7563a72a4 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Com o objetivo de avaliar a real eficácia do condicionamento térmico precoce em condições de campo, bem como elucidar as respostas adaptativas relacionadas à maior tolerância ao calor, 600 pintainhos de corte machos, da linhagem Cobb-500® , foram distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial 2X2, sendo os fatores processo de adaptação ao calor (controle e condicionamento térmico) e programa de luz (contínuo e intermitente). Aves condicionadas ao calor ou expostas à luminosidade intermitente ingeriram maior quantidade de água durante todo período de desafio térmico; no entanto, somente o programa de fornecimento intermitente de luz foi eficiente em reduzir a mortalidade final das aves. De fato, frangos submetidos à luminosidade intermitente apresentaram menor relação heterófilo: linfócito ao final do período de criação e ainda concentração plasmática de T4 e temperatura interna menores no início do período de estresse térmico. Frangos condicionados ao calor não apresentaram alteração na composição química da carcaça; porém, a deposição protéica das aves submetidas ao programa de fornecimento intermitente de luminosidade foi reduzida. Tais resultados evidenciam aparente ineficácia do processo de condicionamento térmico precoce em reverter os efeitos deletérios da exposição crônica e cíclica ao calor na fase final de criação. Entretanto, a adoção de um programa de fornecimento intermitente de luminosidade mostrou-se benéfica à maximização da tolerância das aves ao calor. / In order to evaluate the real efficacy of early age thermal conditioning in field conditions and clarify the physiological responses related to greater heat tolerance, 600 male broiler chicks were distributed in a 2X2 factorial design, with the factors - heat adaptation (control and heat conditioning) and light schedule (continuous and intermittent). Heat-conditioned and intermittent-lightexposed broilers drank more water during the final week of experiment; however, only the intermittent light program reduced flock mortality level significantly. In fact, intermittent-light-exposed broilers showed lower T4 plasmatic concentration and body temperature at the beginning of the heat-stress period and reduced heterophil to linfocyte ratio at the end of thermal challenge. Their carcass protein deposition at 42 days was decreased too. These results allow concluding that early age thermal conditioning seems to be inefficient on reducing the impact of chronic and cyclical heat exposure at marketing age. However, intermittent light program improve broiler heat tolerance.

Orientador: Renato Luis Furlan / Banca: Daniel Emygdio de Faria Filho / Banca: Otto Mack Junqueira / Resumo: Com o objetivo de avaliar a real eficácia do condicionamento térmico precoce em condições de campo, bem como elucidar as respostas adaptativas relacionadas à maior tolerância ao calor, 600 pintainhos de corte machos, da linhagem Cobb-500® , foram distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial 2X2, sendo os fatores processo de adaptação ao calor (controle e condicionamento térmico) e programa de luz (contínuo e intermitente). Aves condicionadas ao calor ou expostas à luminosidade intermitente ingeriram maior quantidade de água durante todo período de desafio térmico; no entanto, somente o programa de fornecimento intermitente de luz foi eficiente em reduzir a mortalidade final das aves. De fato, frangos submetidos à luminosidade intermitente apresentaram menor relação heterófilo: linfócito ao final do período de criação e ainda concentração plasmática de T4 e temperatura interna menores no início do período de estresse térmico. Frangos condicionados ao calor não apresentaram alteração na composição química da carcaça; porém, a deposição protéica das aves submetidas ao programa de fornecimento intermitente de luminosidade foi reduzida. Tais resultados evidenciam aparente ineficácia do processo de condicionamento térmico precoce em reverter os efeitos deletérios da exposição crônica e cíclica ao calor na fase final de criação. Entretanto, a adoção de um programa de fornecimento intermitente de luminosidade mostrou-se benéfica à maximização da tolerância das aves ao calor. / Abstract: In order to evaluate the real efficacy of early age thermal conditioning in field conditions and clarify the physiological responses related to greater heat tolerance, 600 male broiler chicks were distributed in a 2X2 factorial design, with the factors - heat adaptation (control and heat conditioning) and light schedule (continuous and intermittent). Heat-conditioned and intermittent-lightexposed broilers drank more water during the final week of experiment; however, only the intermittent light program reduced flock mortality level significantly. In fact, intermittent-light-exposed broilers showed lower T4 plasmatic concentration and body temperature at the beginning of the heat-stress period and reduced heterophil to linfocyte ratio at the end of thermal challenge. Their carcass protein deposition at 42 days was decreased too. These results allow concluding that early age thermal conditioning seems to be inefficient on reducing the impact of chronic and cyclical heat exposure at marketing age. However, intermittent light program improve broiler heat tolerance. / Mestre

Distúrbios em redes elétricas podem causar danos materiais e/ou operacionais em equipamentos eletrônicos sensíveis, em particular, sistemas em microcomputadores. Com o objetivo de registrar esses distúrbios, um monitor para redes elétricas foi desenvolvido. O equipamento desenvolvido é controlado por um microprocessador 80C86-2. Os seguintes distúrbios podem ser monitorados: desvios da freqüência nominal da rede, interferências de rádio freqüência, subtensão, sobretensão e surtos de tensão. Para minimizar o gargalo de Von Neumann, os circuitos foram projetados de forma que a maior parte das leituras é solicitada via interrupção. O equipamento foi testado a nível de laboratório e os resultados são apresentados. / Power line disturbances can adversely affect electronic sensitive equipment, particularly microcomputer based systems. In order to register these disturbances a power line monitor has been developed. The developed instrument is microprocessor based using a 80C86-2 as the main CPU. The following electrical disturbances can be monitored: nominal frequency deviations, radio-frequency interference, under and overvoltages, transient over voltages. Attempting to minimize Von Neumann´s bottle neck, the hardware was designed in such a way that most of the readings were requested through interrupts. The equipment was tested through a series of disturbance simulations, and the results are presented.

Cette thèse porte sur l’étude des ouvertures architecturées et de leurs fonctions, leurs rapports avec l’éclairage et les types d’édifices étudiés, qu’ils soient publics ou religieux, dans le monde grec égéen. En effet, il n’y a eu que très peu d’études générales sur les fenêtres et autres modes d’éclairage, dont l’importance se voit à travers la multitude de formes employées, et les prouesses architecturales qui ont permis de réaliser certaines d’entre elles. Cette thèse s’attache à démontrer qu’au-delà de l’éclairage, de nombreuses fonctions et dimensions supplémentaires peuvent être accordées aux ouvertures architecturées, et tente de déterminer quelle place a la lumière naturelle – par rapport à l’éclairage artificiel lorsque cela est possible – et surtout si l’éclairage prédomine sur l’architecture, ou inversement. Pour cela, la forme et la fonction des édifices sont mises en corrélation avec cette dualité fenêtre/éclairage. Cette analyse globale s’effectue également au niveau géographique et chronologique, afin de discerner ou non des particularités régionales et des modes ou influences, la période s’étalant de l’époque archaïque à la naissance de l’Empire romain, et le cadre géographique se bornant à la Grèce égéenne. Les disciplines concernées sont variées : l’architecture bien sûr, mais également l’épigraphie, les comptes et inventaires permettant de faire un bon recensement des ouvertures, les fenêtres étant considérées comme du mobilier, au même titre que les portes. Ainsi les montants de ces fenêtres, ainsi que les charpentes dans le cas d’ouvertures zénithales, sont nommés. Les textes relatant une construction ou des réfections sont également très importants. Quant aux auteurs antiques, ils nous donnent parfois quelques indications, notamment lorsqu’ils relatent un culte ou une visite de monuments, en particulier Pausanias, même si les détails manquent souvent. Les représentations artistiques, notamment peintures sur céramique ou peintures murales, ainsi que les monnaies, sont également de bons indicateurs et permettent une vision globale de la notion d’éclairage et de son importance dans des édifices aussi divers que des temples ou des portiques. / This PhD is about the study of the architectural openings and their functions, their relations with the lightening and the types of the studied monuments, publics, half-private or religious, in the Aegean Greek world. Indeed, there are few general studies based on the windows and other lightening way, which the importance is visible with the great quantity of different employed forms, and the architectural feats that allowed realizing some of there. This thesis wants to show that beyond the lightening, a lot of others functions and dimensions can be accorded to the architectural openings, and try to determine what is the place of the natural light - in comparison of the artificial lightening when it is possible - and above all if the lightening predominates on the architecture, or inversely. For that, form and function of the buildings are in correlation with this duality window/lightening. Moreover, this global analysis occurs at a chronological and geographical level, in order to find or not regional particularities and trends or influences. The study period runs until archaic period to the born of the Roman Empire, the geographical setting concerns the Aegean Greece. The concerned disciplines are varied: the architecture of course, but also epigraphy, counts and inventories helping to do a good census report of the openings like doors. Thus, uprights of these windows, as well as frameworks for zenithal openings, are named. Texts relating constructions or repairing are very important too. As for the ancient authors, they sometimes give some indications, notably when they write about a cult or a building visit, in particular Pausanias, even details often lack. Furthermore, the artistic representations, as paint on pottery or on walls, and coins, are good indicators. We can have with them a global vision of the lightening notion and its importance in very different types of buildings like temples or porticoes.

This diploma thesis deals with the burnout of organic substances in the brick body using different types of lightener for different types of soils. The theoretical part summarizes the different ways of lightening and a descri-ption of burnable organic substances. The practical part contains the results of various experiments and individual graphs with the course of temperature increase during firing using various burnable substances.