No / Energy seems to be the world’s one, the only and the most important problem at the moment. To be specific it’s the production of energy in an ecological, economical and renewable manner, which is keeping the researchers very busy and up all night. Since more than half a century, researchers have been looking into ways of developing power with inexhaustible, replenishable and ecological means.To this end almost from the dawn of modern technology natural resources have been exploited. In the past nature was exploited in its modified state. That is by building dams and river wheels/turbine. Now though the emphasis on extracting energy from the nature while leaving it relatively unaffected. For having environmentally friendly renewable energy sources researchers have been looking to harness the power of the sun and the wind. There is a huge abundance of these two sources. However solar energy being available only a fraction of the time of the day, wind energy having chosen a suitable location can be continuous.Once a location for wind energy convertors or wind turbines has been chosen the research then turns to convert the energy efficiently, cheaply and safely. Also the use of offshore wind resources where the turbines are placed in the seas are studied. It is seen that offshore units have their advantages the most important of which is the freeing up of space on land for agriculture, industry and housing. Once offshore, why stop near the coast? Why not go into deeper waters and capture the energy available in open seas also. Hence wind energy extraction technology is ever developing to find exploitable areas.This PhD research work entitled “Identification and characterization of mechanical and structural properties under static damage and fatigue of a composite floating wind turbine blade” looks into the various aspects of the floating wind turbine blade design. Experimental and numerical techniques are developed to accelerate the design process and possible design optimization proposals are also given.

No / No

Heparin administration during extracorporeal procedures such as kidney dialysis and heart surgeries is a challenging problem, as under heparinisation leads to clotting and over heparinisation may cause excessive bleeding complications. Various reactor designs including the use of heparinase and poly-L-lysine.HBr hollow fiber have been proposed, however none of them have been clinically approved yet. This work presents the possibility of designing a packed bed reactor with poly-Llysine/ alginate beads. The poly-L-lysine/alginate beads have been used widely in fields of microencapsulation of cells and can be made using techniques such as the Initech encapsulation and layer by layer approach. In some cases ginipin has been used for microcapsule preparations to provide stronger cross linking. In this study, the poly-L-lysine beads are made using the encapsulation procedure patented by Chang18 (1992). Batch experiments, using saline, fetal calf serum and blood were performed to investigate the efficiency of the beads. The absorption of heparin was determined to be a first order absorption process and fits the Freundlich Isotherm. The beads were determined to be relatively safe in blood. The absorption of heparin was linked to the poly-L-lysine content in the membrane. Thus the rate of the amount of heparin absorbed could be increased by increasing the membrane thickness or by increasing the number of poly-L-lysine/alginate beads. The results were used to investigate the feasibility of using a packed bed reactor for the absorption process by adjusting the specifications of the reactor and analysing simple flow models.

Media ownership has remained an intriguing factor in understanding the news production process. Various studies have proven that ownership influence do affect how journalists cover stories. The said influence takes various forms including direct censorship and coercion of editorial staff. This study critically examines how media ownership patterns, shape content in the Kenyan media. The researcher employs the use of thematic content analysis and coding of raw data retrieved from the internet sites of two leading Kenyan newspapers as outlined in the research methodology and findings chapters. The data retrieved from the internet sites of the two newspapers is then analysed to prove how ownership patterns influence daily news coverage. Of note is also the use of two case studies – The Nation and The Standard newspapers to analyse 905 articles written during the 2002 multiparty Kenyan elections. It emerges that ownership indeed influenced news coverage in the 2002 Kenyan elections. The emerging winner in the elections was also the candidate with the most coverage in the two newspapers. Also emergent is the factor that the election was widely personality driven. The implications of the research findings is that objectivity though practiced in some instances, was widely affected by the editorial line of the said newspapers. The editorial line was largely pegged to ownership influences in most cases.

The dissertation is ccncemed with the values iasue in the South African context, a multicultural education situation. South Africa is a plu~Hstfc society. Being pluralistic, means that 1he country is rich in different cultures, belief· and value systems. Different cultures haw different value systems. If an Institution is practising multicultural education, the question is, which values are to be used? If we say Ule institution should use the values of the majority culture, wiU 1hat not disadvantage minority cultures? ff minority cultures are undennined by neglecting their cultures won't that cause conflict between minority cultures and the majority culture? Each society that Is implementing multicultural education should consider that there are common human values and partia.dar values. In multicultural education particular values are important because they show how a particulat group behaves and what its beliefs and culture are. Common values dewlap from particular values and teachers must emphasise common values without neglecting particular values, to encourage tolerance and acceptance between different groups.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Bibliography: l. 486-490.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-03-29T23:17:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-06-27 / Quality of work life is one of the administration great challenges and of the development of people in the contemporary companies. The action, the studies and the managerial practices in the quality direction of personal life come aligning itself with the administration new forms of people and processes. With the lifestyle renewal, with the evolution of the social conscience and of the right health, it built quality administration new models of life at work. Objectifying study and to analyze quality of work life influence in the ORG HEALTH of a company as study of case, it elaborated the present work, through the application of a quality of work life program, contemplating collaborators' participation and theirs parents, using the authors approach Huse & Cummings (1985). The research accomplished for data and information collection belonged to nature is quantitative and with approach of qualitative, content analysis, aiming establish the results comprehension and interrelation. It was applied questionnaire under census form in order to enable effective participation of the industrial collaborators of the company X, evaluate the ORG HELTH through some instruments that characterize a representation or a reality perception denominated of "climate research". The result of quality program application of life at work reflected in improvement of the mental, physical and psychological health of employees improving positive and instantly in the quality of your professional work in the study company object of case. / A qualidade de vida no trabalho é um dos grandes desafios da administração e do desenvolvimento de pessoas nas empresas contemporâneas. As ações, os estudos e as práticas gerenciais na direção da qualidade de vida pessoal vêm se alinhando com as novas formas de gestão de pessoas e processos. Com a renovação do estilo de vida, com a evolução da consciência social e do direito á saúde, construiu-se novos modelos de gestão de qualidade de vida no trabalho. Objetivando estudar e analisar a influência da qualidade de vida no trabalho no clima organizacional de uma empresa como estudo de caso, elaborou-se o presente trabalho, através da aplicação de um programa de qualidade de vida no trabalho, contemplando a participação dos colaboradores e dos familiares, com base no referencial teórico da abordagem dos autores Huse & Cummings (1985). A pesquisa realizada para coleta de dados e informações foi de natureza quantitativa e com abordagens qualitativas, visando estabelecer a compreensão e inter-relação dos resultados. Foi aplicado questionário sob forma de censo a fim de possibilitar a participação efetiva dos colaboradores da área industrial da empresa pesquisada, possibilitando avaliar o clima de uma organização através de alguns instrumentos que caracterizam uma representação ou uma percepção da realidade organizacional denominada de "pesquisa de clima". O resultado da aplicação do programa de qualidade de vida no trabalho refletiu em melhoria da saúde mental, física e psicológica dos funcionários, repercutindo positiva e instantaneamente na qualidade do seu trabalho profissional na empresa objeto do estudo de caso.

Uma tecnologia importante para reduzir a quantidade de poluentes atmosféricos lançados na atmosfera, é a utilização de catalisadores, que convertem os gases altamente poluentes como o NO, para outros gases inofensivos ao meio ambiente. Neste trabalho, os óxidos do tipo perovskitas La2CuO4, LaNiO3, LaMnO3, La1,4Sr0,6CuO4, La0,7Sr0,3NiO3 e La0,7Sr0,3MnO3 foram preparados através do método da co-precipitação, caracterizados por difração de raios-X, redução a temperatura programada, fisissorção de nitrogênio e análise química, e, posteriormente avaliados frente as reações de redução de NO com CO, e decomposição direta de NO. Ambas as reações foram testadas nas temperaturas de 400oC e 500oC e o tempo de reação foi de 7 à 10 horas. Através dos ensaios catalíticos verificou-se que o catalisador La2CuO4 apresentou a maior atividade para a reação de redução, e quando substituiu-se parcialmente o lantânio pelo estrôncio, houve uma melhora significativa para todos os catalisadores. As análises de DRX indicaram que, mesmo após os ensaios catalíticos, a estrutura cristalina dos catalisadores foi preservada. / A important technology to reduce the atmospheric pollution is the use of catalysts, to transform high pollutant as NO in other inoffensive gases to the environment. In this work, the perovskite oxides La2CuO4, LaNiO3, LaMnO3, La1,4Sr0,6CuO4, La0,7Sr0,3NiO3 e La0,7Sr0,3MnO3 were prepared through co-precipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction and temperature programmed reduction, nitrogen physsisorption and subsequent valued on the reduction of NO by CO and the direct decomposition of NO. These reaction were tested at 400oC and 500oC temperatures and times of reaction between 7 and 10 hours. Through the catalytic tests the La2CuO4 catalyst shown the best activity to the reduce reaction, and when the La is partially substituted by strontium all the catalyst showed a better significant for all the catalysts. The XRD analysis shown that the catalytic structure of the catalysts were preserved after the catalytic test yet.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-03-29T23:39:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-08-20 / This study aimed to investigate the meanings attributed to the quality of work life for healthcare professionals from a tertiary public hospital. It also sought to identify factors involved in satisfaction / dissatisfaction labor and describe the organization of work and how it interferes with the quality of work life. For that, he was elected a methodology of qualitative approach that consistently supported the achievement of the objectives of the survey, conducted by fieldwork according to a ethnographic approach. Ethnography enabled an approach to the process of working health professionals, to help identify the conditions, organization and labor relations in the daily lives of these professionals. Field observations have identified that the work organization in hospital is in the form of a precise division of duties, the intense exchange of knowledge operating in a network of interdependent connections with intense flows and complementary, which refers to the idea of belonging between subjects. The method of the Collective Subject Discourse - DSC as a tool for organizing and analyzing data, enabled us to identify the meaning of quality of life at work related to the balance between work and personal life, socio-professional relations, reducing overhead and occupational stress the organization of work and a satisfying way of life less accelerated. Data analysis was anchored in theoretical work psychodynamics, along with studies on the contemporary lifestyles and about the processes of healthcare work. The results led to a rapprochement with the concept that links the quality of work life intertwined with the relationship between the conditions, organization and labor relations, occupying a prominent role socio-professional relations that permeated transversely, speeches in all matters pooled. One may infer that the work is on action, light field technology / relational possibilities that reveal themselves more care production, rationale of the health work, diverse instance, the difference of tension and dispute, but also affections and meetings in which subjects produce themselves in the act of caring. Keywords: Work in Health, Quality of Work Life, Workplace Satisfaction, Work Psychodynamics. Health worker. / Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar os significados atribuídos à qualidade de vida no trabalho por profissionais de saúde de um hospital público terciário. Buscou-se também identificar os fatores intervenientes na satisfação/insatisfação laboral e descrever a organização do trabalho e a forma como esta interfere na qualidade de vida no trabalho. Para tanto, elegeu-se uma metodologia de abordagem qualitativa que de forma sistemática, sustentou o alcance dos objetivos da pesquisa, realizada mediante trabalho de campo segundo um enfoque etnográfico. A etnografia possibilitou uma aproximação com o processo de trabalho dos profissionais de saúde, ao permitir identificar as condições, a organização e as relações de trabalho presentes no cotidiano desses profissionais. As observações de campo permitiram identificar que a organização do trabalho na instituição hospitalar ocorre na forma de uma divisão precisa das atribuições, pela intensa troca de saberes que operam em uma rede de conexões interdependentes, com fluxos intensos e complementares, que remete à ideia de pertença entre os sujeitos. O método do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo - DSC, como ferramenta para organização e análise dos dados, possibilitou identificar o significado da qualidade de vida no trabalho relacionada ao equilíbrio entre trabalho e vida pessoal, às relações socioprofissionais, à redução da sobrecarga e do estresse ocupacional, a uma organização do trabalho satisfatória e a um modo de vida menos acelerado. A análise dos dados ancorou-se nos referenciais teóricos da psicodinâmica do trabalho, juntamente com os estudos sobre os modos de vida contemporâneos e acerca dos processos de trabalho em saúde. Os resultados permitiram fazer uma aproximação com o conceito que associa a qualidade de vida no trabalho com a imbricada relação entre as condições, a organização e as relações de trabalho, ocupando papel de destaque as relações socioprofissionais, que perpassaram, de forma transversal, os discursos em todas as questões reunidas. Pode-se inferir que é no trabalho vivo em ato, campo das tecnologias leves/relacionais que se revelam maiores possibilidades de produção do cuidado, razão de ser do trabalho em saúde, instância do diverso, da diferença, da tensão e da disputa, mas também dos afetos e encontros em que os sujeitos produzem a si mesmos no ato de cuidar. Palavras-chave: Trabalho em Saúde; Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho; Satisfação Laboral; Psicodinâmica do Trabalho. Saúde do trabalhador.

Clostridium difficile est un bacille à gram-positif anaérobie strict et sporulant. Cet entéropathogène est responsable de diarrhées post-antibiotiques et de colites pseudomembraneuses. Après germination des spores dans le petit intestin, les cellules végétatives de C. difficile vont être soumises à de nombreux stress comme des peptides antimicrobiens, des variations d’osmolarité et de pH ainsi qu’une faible tension d’O2 à proximité des cellules épithéliales du colon. De plus, la production des toxines va favoriser une forte inflammation responsable de la production de nombreux composés oxydants tels que les espèces réactives de l’oxygène (ERO), du NO et des espèces réactives de l’azote (ERN). La présence de ces différents stress suggère que C. difficile possède des mécanismes de détection, de protection et de détoxification. Chez les firmicutes, plusieurs de ces mécanismes sont contrôlés par le facteur sigma alternatif impliqué dans la réponse générale aux stress, SigB. De manière intéressante des gènes codant SigB et ses régulateurs (RsbV et RsbW) sont présents dans le génome de C. difficile, cependant aucunes données concernant l’existence ou le rôle d’une réponse générale aux stress ne sont présentes chez cette bactérie. Nous avons dans un premier temps construit un mutant sigB et nous avons montré que cette inactivation n’entraînait pas de défaut de croissance. Via une analyse globale de l’expression des gènes, nous avons montré que SigB contrôle 20% des gènes de C. difficile à l’entrée en phase stationnaire. SigB contrôle négativement la sporulation. SigB contrôle positivement plusieurs gènes codant des protéines associées à la surface et pouvant intervenir dans le processus d’adhésion aux cellules de l’hôte. SigB joue également un rôle crucial dans l’adaptation aux stress rencontrés lors de l’infection dans le tube digestif et dans la colonisation. En effet, un mutant sigB est plus sensible aux pH légèrement acides, à certains peptides antimicrobiens, aux ERO, à différents composés générant du NO ainsi qu’aux faibles tolérances en O2. L’étude de la voie de signalisation aboutissant à l’activation de SigB a également été étudiée au cours de ce projet de thèse. Le gène sigB est le dernier gène d’un opéron constitué de CD0007 et CD0008, codant des protéines aux fonctions inconnues, ainsi que de rsbV et rsbW, codant respectivement le facteur anti-anti-sigma et le facteur anti-sigma. De manière intéressante, l’expression de sigB ne semble pas autorégulée chez C. difficile, à l’inverse des autres firmicutes. Les interactions entre RsbV et RsbW ainsi que RsbW et SigB, impliquées dans l’activation de SigB sont présentes chez C. difficile. La délétion du gène rsbV entraîne une augmentation de la sensibilité aux composés générant du NO et une diminution de la tolérance à l’O2. Ces résultats sont en accord avec la diminution de l’expression des gènes cibles de SigB chez le mutant rsbV. La phosphatase impliquée dans le processus d’activation de SigB, en déphosphorylant vraisemblablement RsbV, a également été identifiée et inactivée. La délétion du gène codant cette phosphatase, CD2685 conduit à l’augmentation de la sensibilité aux composés générant du NO ainsi qu’à la diminution de la tolérance à l’O2, en accord avec son implication dans la voie d’activation deσB. L’activité de SigB augmente suite à une carence nutritive. En effet, l’expression des gènes cibles de SigB est induite de manière dépendante de SigB et de RsZ à l’entrée en phase stationnaire ou après exposition au CCCP, un composé réduisant le niveau intracellulaire d’ATP. Ces travaux de thèse permettent d’établir un rôle prépondérant de SigB et de sa voie d’activation au cours de l’infection notamment dans la protection et la détoxification de stress majeurs que C. difficile est susceptible de rencontrer dans le tube digestif / Clostridium difficile is a tram-positive, anaerobic, spore-forcing bacterium. This enteropathogen is a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and of pseudomembranous colitis, a potentially lethal disease. After germination, vegetative cells encounter different stresses such as pH variations and hyperosmolarity as well as antimicrobial peptides. Moreover, the production of toxins triggers an important inflammation process leading to the production of several antimicrobial compounds such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO) and reactive nitrogen species. The presence of these different stresses suggests that C. difficile has developed some mechanisms of detection, protection and detoxification. In the firmicutes, several of these mechanisms are controlled by the alternative sigma factor involved in the general stress response, SigB. Interestingly, genes encoding SigB and its regulators (RsbV and RsbW) are present in the genome of C. difficile, however less is known about the role of a general stress response in this bacterium. We constructed a sigB mutant and we showed that sigB inactivation does not lead to a growth defect. Using a transcriptomic analysis, we showed that SigB controls around 20% of the genes of C. difficile at the onset of the stationary phase. SigB negatively controls the sporulation process. SigB positively controls several genes encoding surface associated proteins likely involved in the adhesion to the host cells. SigB plays a crucial role in the stress management including several stresses C. difficile likely encounter during its infectious cycle. Indeed, the sigB mutant is more sentsitive to low pH, to some antimicrobial compounds, to ROS, to several NO-donor compounds as well as to low oxygen tension. The signaling pathway involved in the activation of SigB has been studied in the PhD project. The sigB gene is the last gene of an operon in which belong CD0007 and CD0008, encoding town unknown function proteins, as well as rsbV and rsbW, encoding the anti-anti-sigma factor and the anti-sigma factor of SigB, respectively. Interestingly, contrary to the other firmicutes, the expression of sigB does not seem to be auto-regulated. Protein interactions between RsbV and RsbW as well as RsbW and SigB, involved in the activation of SigB, are present in C. difficile. The disruption of rsbV leads to a higher sensitivity to NO-donor compounds as well as low oxygen tension. These results are in agreement with the decreased expression of several SigB target genes in the rsbV mutant. The phosphatase involved in the activation of SigB, likely by dephosphorylating RsbV, has been identified and disrupted. The disruption of CD2685, encoding this phosphatase, leads to a higher sensitivity to NO-donor compounds as well as a lower tolerance to low oxygen tension, in agreement with its involvement in the SigB activation pathway. The activity of SigB increased after an energetic starvation. Indeed, the expression of SigB target genes are increased in a SigB and CD2685 dependent manner at the onset of the stationary phase or after CCCP exposure, a compound decreasing the intracellular level of ATP. This work allows to show a crucial role of SigB and its activation pathway during the infection notably in the protection and the detoxification of the major stresses C. difficile is likely to encounter in the gut