As transformações sociais advindas da popularização de Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TICs) como a Internet são flagrantes. E a regulamentação destas novas práticas deve ser condizente com as peculiaridades das relações jurídicas desenvolvidas neste âmbito. Este trabalho visa analisar o problema da responsabilidade civil por danos à pessoa humana sofridos no âmbito dos sites de redes sociais pela criação e uso de perfis falsos. Assim, primeiramente, faz-se uma análise introdutória do fenômeno da Internet e das visões sobre as possíveis formas de regulamentação jurídica das condutas praticadas por meio da Rede. Posteriormente, adstringe-se à temática dos danos morais, buscando-se conceituá-los sob a ótica civil constitucional, como danos à pessoa humana. Finalmente, chega-se ao estudo dos perfis falsos, enfrentando-se a problemática dos danos morais sofridos por seu manejo. São desdobradas em três subproblemas: se são ou não capazes civilmente os usuários, chegando-se ao estudo dos perfis de menores de idade; se existem ou não as pessoas representadas nos perfis, subdividindo-se a análise nas hipóteses de perfis criados em roubo de identidade e perfis que representem criações intelectuais e; se estão ou não vivas as pessoas descritas nos perfis, trazendo-se à baila a hipótese dos perfis de pessoas falecidas. / The popularization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) like Internet brought undeniable changes for many. The legal regulation of these new habits must be harmonized with the quirks of such legal relations. This work aims to analyze the problem of the civil liability for moral injuries due to the creation and use fake profiles on the online social network websites. First, it studies some preliminary notions about the Internet and some legal opinions about its governance. After, the issue is restricted to the study of moral injuries at the civil constitutional legal doctrine measure as a damage to the human dignity of person. Finally, the work arrives at the fake profiles and the moral injuries caused by it. Then comes three sub-problems: if the user is legal incapable or not, taking to the study of profiles children and adolescent; if the person represented at the online profile really exists or not, taking to the problems about identity theft and intellectual property violations, and; if the person is alive or not, taking to the topic of deceased persons profiles.

Eco-efficiency improvements in manufacturing is a controversial subject for researchers, practitioners as well as policy makers. The widely accepted definition of "doing more with less" is not accurate enough to guide the design of improvements that can deliver products in a sustainable way. The outcome of these challenges is evident through significant environmental performance variations across various levels of manufacturing operations. The study is driven by the complexity of manufacturing systems and sought to offer design support for practitioners that aim to improve eco-efficiency. A maturity model has been developed in this work that simulates the influence of manufacturing practices on eco-efficiency. The model takes the form of a maturity grid (PMGE) that overlooks practices at process, management systems and top-management levels and incorporates 15 dimensions of performance overall. Evidence shows that practices tend to evolve from reactive to proactive as manufacturing systems mature and embrace eco- efficiency as a systemic property. It was also found that mature companies achieve improvements in energy and resources by relying on existing internal capabilities. Tools to facilitate research and intervene with practitioners in real-life problems were developed and tested. The researcher combined research findings and tools into a maturity-based method (PMGEM) for eco-efficiency improvements. The method intends to help practitioners plan and design eco- efficiency improvements aligned to existing internal capabilities and adopt a more proactive behaviour to environmental challenges. PMGEM was ultimately applied in two case studies with ultimate goal to help practitioners resolve real-life challenges. The applications were positively commented and encourage further work in this field. The researcher envisages that methods such as PMGEM are deeply needed in manufacturing to support practitioners approach complex concepts such as eco-efficiency. Simplification and decomposition techniques with a clear intended use can facilitate the implementation of ambitious improvement strategies for sustainable development.

Childhood sexual abuse among males has been associated with many negative psychological outcomes. Studies have attempted to identify which sexual abuse characteristics (e.g., duration, age of onset) are associated with mental health difficulties. While informative, this research has been mostly limited to variable-centered analyses, which do not capture the heterogeneity in males’ abuse experiences and psychological presentations. This two-part dissertation advances our understanding of how best to measure childhood sexual abuse and how to account for the diversity of sexual abuse experiences and outcomes among men using a person-centered approach. Given that there are few validated measures of childhood sexual abuse, the first study examined the psychometric properties of a commonly-used measure in the sexual abuse literature, the Sexual Victimization Survey (SVS; Finkelhor, 1979). Once the validity and reliability of the SVS were established, the SVS was used to generate profiles on the basis of abuse characteristics (Study 2). Data for both studies were drawn from a sample of 302 males (85% Caucasian) aged 18 to 65 years seeking support for childhood sexual abuse. Participants completed a modified version of the SVS as well as the sexual abuse subscale of the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire-Short Form (CEVQ-SF; Tanaka et al., 2012). Twenty-one males completed the SVS again one week later for test-retest purposes. The SVS showed high inter-rater reliability on sexual abuse status and sexual abuse characteristics. Most males (85%) who endorsed sexual abuse on the SVS did so on the CEVQ-SF, resulting in fair concurrent validity. The SVS showed perfect one-week test-retest reliability on abuse status, as well as good to excellent agreement on sexual abuse characteristics between the initial and one week time points. Given the strong psychometric properties of the modified SVS, it was then used to generate childhood sexual abuse profiles in Study 2. Once participants with significant missing data were deleted, 215 men remained and were included in the generation of profiles. Latent profile analyses revealed three distinct profiles which varied in the severity of abuse experiences. The Severe profile (n = 56, 26%) depicted sexual abuse which began in mid-childhood and consisted of a one or two time fondling by an unfamiliar extrafamilial perpetrator. Men in the More Severe profile (n = 71, 33%) also experienced abuse in mid-childhood by an extrafamilial perpetrator, but experienced more severe sexual acts that spanned several months to several years. Men in this profile were emotionally closer to their perpetrators prior to abuse onset than males in the Severe profile. The Most Severe profile (n = 88, 41%) depicted abuse which began in early childhood and consisted of very severe sexual acts by trusted individuals both within and outside of the family. Men in the Most Severe were significantly more likely to concurrently have experienced child emotional and physical abuse as well as a greater number of non-victimization adversities, compared with men in the other two profiles. Profiles varied with respect to psychological outcomes. Males in the More Severe and Most Severe profiles reported significantly more internalizing problems than men in the Severe profile, and men in the Most Severe profile reported significantly more trauma symptoms than men in the Severe profile. Certain contextual variables were also associated with greater psychological difficulties, namely greater present-day use of avoidant coping predicted more internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as greater trauma symptoms. Worse childhood family functioning was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems, and disclosure of the abuse (compared to non-disclosure) was associated with more externalizing problems and trauma symptoms. These results have several research and clinical implications, including tailoring assessment and treatment to meet the individual needs of male survivors.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Various formulations of the popular South African medicinal plant, Sutherlandia frutescens,are commercially available, with no documented specifications for quality assessment. With plans already underway for a clinical trial to assess its efficacy in HIV patients, there is a need for scientifically validated tests for the quality control of products of this plant. Chemical constituents of the plant are many and varied but it is still unclear which might be the most appropriate ones to monitor for activity or to describe the quality of the plant’s products. For quality control and regulatory purposes, the content and dissolution of flavonoids in the plant products can be assessed. However, these compounds are not monitored for regulation and there are as yet no HPLC or dissolution methods that can be employed for quality control of herbals like S. frutescens. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to assess the suitability of its flavonoid constituents as quality control (QC) marker compounds, and the suitability of content levels and dissolution tests of flavonoids as QC tools for S. frutescens products. To realise the afore-mentioned objectives, non-commercially available flavonoid compounds (sutherlandins) that could be used as marker compounds were isolated from S. frutescens. An HPLC assay was developed and validated for determination of flavonoid content in solution. Five S. frutescens materials viz leaf powder (LP), spray-dried aqueous extract (SDAE) and freeze-dried aqueous extracts (FDAE) were analysed for flavonoid content and dissolution. Dissolution tests were conducted for different S. frutescens materials and dissolution profiles of flavonoids in capsules containing these materials were compared using Q-release values, the similarity factor (f2) and mathematical models. To predict in vivo bioavailability of the flavonoids, in silico assessment of in vivo bioavailability of flavonoids (glycosides and aglycones) that may be contained in different S. frutescens materials was conducted. Sutherlandins A, B, C and D were successfully isolated (percentage purity approximately99 % for sutherlandins A, C and D, and 90 % for sutherlandin B) and identified, and used, along with other flavonoid compounds, for the development of a simple and robust HPLC method. Content of sutherlandins A, B, C and D, quercetin and kaempferol in different plant materials were 0.4 ± 0.3, 0.8 ± 0.2, 1.3 ± 0.2, 0.6 ± 0.1, 0.01 ± 0.02 and 0.08 ±0.1 %,respectively, and differed significantly (p < 0.001). In vitro dissolution showed faster dissolution of flavoniod glycosides compared to aglycones. The flavonoids from the LP and SDAE materials showed characteristics of immediate release with Q75 in ≤ 45 minutes, and delayed release from the FDAE material, i.e. Q75 > 45 minutes. The dissolution profiles of each flavonoid compared from different S. frutescens materials were different as signified by their f2 values which were all below 50. The mathematical models describing release were also different for each flavonoid from the different S. frutescens materials. For in vivo bioavailability modelling and prediction studies, the flavonoid aglycones met the conditions for oral bioavailability while the flavonoid glycosides did not. In conclusion, the sutherlandins isolated from S. frutescens proved to be good markers for HPLC assay and dissolution tests of S. frutescens materials. The HPLC method was suitable for assessing flavonoid levels in S. frutescens materials, and also showed differences in flavonoid content in these materials. The dissolution method was simple and reproducible, and Q-release values, the f2 and mathematical models proved to be good tools for differentiating between S. frutescens materials. In silico modelling showed that the flavonoid glycosides and aglycones differed in oral bioavailability. Although not presently required by the Medicines Control Council (MCC), quantification, release and dissolution studies and specifications may be employed as tools for routine analysis and for quality control of herbal drug formulations containing S. frutescens.

Seismic wave testing has become increasingly popular in site investigation. This is due to the fact that the principles involved are becoming more accepted and that the equipment are becoming more available and reliable. This dissertation presents the required theory behind one seismic test in particular, the Continuous Surface Wave (CSW) method of seismic testing. The attributes of seismic testing are presented along with a summary of various testing methods. The dissertation also demonstrates that the author developed his own system for completing this test and demonstrated that he successfully used it to measure the stiffness of two soil profiles. The author compared the stiffness as measured using the CSW method with the strength as measured using the Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) for two soil profiles, and the in situ profile was compared to a compacted profile. The author demonstrated that the in situ profile had a higher stiffness than the same soil after it was thoroughly compacted and that the DCP results concur. This was caused by the in situ profile being structured and the compacted profile not. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Civil Engineering / MSc / Unrestricted

Unlike most other fruits that accumulate oil in seed tissues, avocado stores large amounts of oil in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG) in its mesocarp tissue. The regulation of TAG biosynthetic pathways in such nonseed tissues is poorly understood. RNA-Seq was used to identify the transcriptional networks underlying TAG biosynthesis in developing mesocarp of avocado. Deep transcriptional profiling studies revealed that several transcripts were differentially represented between the early and late developmental stages of mesocarp. The temporal expression pattern of transcripts associated with fatty acid biosynthesis in plastid coincided with increasing oil content. Furthermore, except for the transcripts that likely encode enzymes involved in the terminal step in TAG synthesis, others involved in TAG assembly in the endoplasmic reticulum were poorly expressed. This pattern of higher expression for genes involved in fatty acid synthesis but not TAG assembly was similar to previously observed pattern in other seed and nonseed tissues. Comparative analysis of transcript levels for about 1500 transcription factors, across different species and oil-storing tissues, also revealed that WRINKLED1 may be highly conserved across species but transcriptional regulation of oil biosynthesis, includes distinct tissue-specific features. In conclusion, while the biochemical pathways for oil biosynthesis in nonseed tissue are highly similar to that of seed tissues, certain distinctive modes of regulation of fatty acid biosynthesis and TAG assembly likely occur in oil-rich nonseed tissues.

Within a gas turbine engine, the turbine nozzle guide vanes are subjected to very harsh conditions from the highly turbulent and hot gases exiting the combustor. The temperature and pressure fields exiting combustors are highly nonuniform and dictate the heat transfer and aero losses that occur in the turbine passages. To better understand these effects, the goal of this work was to develop an adjustable combustor exit profile simulator for the Turbine Research Facility (TRF) at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The TRF is a high temperature, high pressure, short duration blow-down test facility that is capable of matching several aerodynamic and thermal nondimensional engine parameters including Reynolds number, Mach number, pressure ratio, corrected mass flow, gas to metal temperature ratio, and corrected speed. The primary research objective was to design, install, and verify a non-reacting simulator device that can provide representative combustor exit total pressure and temperature profiles to the inlet of the TRF turbine test section. This required the upstream section of the facility to be redesigned into multiple concentric annuli that serve the purpose of injecting high momentum dilution jets and low momentum film cooling jets into a central annular chamber, similar to a turbine engine combustor. The design of the section allows for variations in injection levels to generate different pressure profiles with elevated turbulence. The dilution and film cooling temperatures can also be varied to create a variety of exit temperature profiles similar to real combustors. The impact of the generated temperature and pressure profiles on turbine heat transfer and secondary flow development was ultimately investigated. Proposed optimal inlet conditions for the turbine tested in this research effort were determined based on the measured data corresponding to the combustor simulator exit profiles that minimized vane heat transfer and total pressure loss. / Ph. D.

Drug-induced gene expression profiles are rich information sources that can help to measure the effect of a drug on the transcriptional state of cells. However, the available experimental data only covers a limited set of conditions such as treatment time, dosages, and cell lines. This poses a challenge for neural network models to learn embeddings that can be generalized to new experimental conditions. In this project, we focus on the cell line as the confounder variable and train an Adversarial Neural Network to extract transcriptional effects that are conserved across multiple cell lines, and can thus be more confidently generalized to the biological setting of interest. Additionally, we investigate several methods to test whether our approach can simultaneously learn biologically valid embeddings and deconfound the effect of cell lines on the data distribution

Building energy simulation has become a useful tool for predicting cooling, heating and electrical loads for facilities. Simulation models have been validated throughout the years by comparing simulation results to actual measured values. The simulations have become more accurate as approaches were changed to be more comprehensive in their ability to model building features. These simulation models tend to require considerable experience in determining input parameters and large amounts of time to construct the models. As a result of the large number of man-hours required, simplified models have been sought and used. Simplified models are particularly useful for conducting preliminary assessments of energy conservation measures. These simplified models often use linear relationships in order to estimate conditions such as infiltration, energy usage, and temperature gradients. Studies have been performed in order to validate popular models such as ASHRAE's Bin or Modified Bin methods. A useful measure would be to determine the accuracy of a simplified model to establish error bounds. Having a simplified model and establishing its error bounds, technical estimations from such models could be used in selected applications with more confidence. The error bound relative to DOE-2 predictions, for a proposed simplified model denoted IEC, for estimating a commercial building's cooling load are presented along with two actual-building test cases for validation purposes. The sensitivity of the error to various building parameters such as minimum make-up air, cooling capacity oversize, and internal equipment load was investigated. The error bound was determined to be within ±15 per cent for both cases and almost all variations. / Master of Science

Polarization has been detected at early times for all types of supernovae (SNe), indicating that all such systems result from or quickly develop some form of asymmetry. In addition, the detection of strong line polarization in SNe is suggestive of chemical inhomogeneities ("clumps") in the layers above the photosphere, which may reflect hydrodynamical instabilities during the explosion. We have developed a fast, flexible, approximate semi-analytic code for modeling polarized line radiative transfer within three-dimensional inhomogeneous rapidly expanding atmospheres. Given a range of model parameters, the code generates random sets of clumps in the expanding ejecta and calculates the emergent line profile and Stokes parameters for each configuration. The ensemble of these configurations represents the effects both of various host geometries and of different viewing angles. We present results for the first part of our survey of model geometries, specifically the effects of the number and size of clumps (and the related effect of filling factor) on the emergent spectrum and Stokes parameters. Our simulations show that random clumpiness can produce line polarization in the range observed in SNe Ia, as well as the Q-U loops that are frequently seen in all SNe. We have also developed a method to connect the results of our simulations to robust observational parameters such as maximum polarization and polarized equivalent width in the line. Our models, in connection with spectropolarimetric observations, can constrain the three-dimensional structure of SN ejecta and offer important insight into the SN explosion physics and the nature of their progenitor systems.