Orientador: Samira Peduti Kahil / Banca: Adriana Maria Bernardes da Silva / Banca: Fabio Betiolo Contel / Resumo: O trabalho preocupa-se em compreender o uso do território pelo sistema financeiro. Para tanto, estabelecemos um debate com importantes autores que tratam da temática e procedemos a um levantamento de dados que consideramos elementos e variáveis importantes para demonstrarmos a constituição do espaço geográfico na sucessão e consecução da formação do território brasileiro. Tudo isso permitiu-nos uma periodização das transformações impostas ao território, pelos sistemas de atividades financeiras. Assim, num primeiro momento, tratamos de analisar a dispersão do sistema financeiro pelo território nacional, a redução do número de bancos e a concentração dos pontos de comando e, num segundo momento, quando a difusão de técnicas e normas possibilitam a reorganização do sistema financeiro e maior intervenção do sistema financeiro mundial. Diante da atual situação geográfica, procuramos entender a desigual distribuição do dinheiro, analisando os fluxos e os fixos relacionados ao sistema financeiro em território nacional e, por último, buscamos tratar de um processo recente - a financeirização de amplas camadas da população, incluindo as classes sociais de baixa renda e a conseqüente ampliação do consumo, bem como, entender quais as conseqüências dessa política para a sociedade e para o território brasileiro. / Abstract: The paper focuses on understanding the use of territory by the financial system. To do so, we debate with important authors that dealt with this theme and we searched data that we consider important elements and variables to demonstrate the formation of geographic space in the succession and achieving of the formation of Brazilian territory. All this enabled us to divide the changes that were imposed on the territory, by the system of financial activities, in periods. Thus, at first, we analyzed the dispersion of financial system over national territory, the reduction of number of banks and the concentration of command points and, secondly, when the diffusion of techniques and rules enabled the restructuring of the financial system and a stronger intervention of the global financial system. Facing the contemporary geographic reality, we focused on understanding the inequality of money distribution, analyzing the flows and fixed related to the financial system in national territory and, finally, we tried to treat of a recent process - the financialization of large layers of population, including the low-income social classes and the consequent rising of consumption as well as understanding the consequences of this policy to society and to territory. / Mestre

Interações positivas entre plantas têm sido demonstradas em várias comunidades em todo mundo, as quais desempenham papéis importantes na coexistência de espécies, produtividade e diversidade específica. Nesse estudo, avaliamos a influência de Bromelia balansae Mez sobre a riqueza específica, composição, abundância e diversidade de espécies lenhosas nos sub-bosques florestais e nas bordas externas de três afloramentos rochosos com cobertura herbácea presentes no Parque Estadual do Turvo, sul do Brasil. Estabelecemos 15 pares de unidades amostrais (u.a.) em cada afloramento rochoso e igual número na floresta, totalizando 180 u.a.. Consideramos as rosetas das bromélias como u.a. circulares e, como controle, instalamos u.a. correspondentes em áreas sem bromélias. Cada u.a. foi descrita pela abundância de indivíduos juvenis de espécies lenhosas. Para analisar o efeito de B. balansae sobre a riqueza, utilizamos curvas de rarefação baseados nas u.a.. Avaliamos também o efeito sobre a abundância de espécies no afloramento e na floresta utilizando ANOVAs com permutação. As curvas de rarefação revelaram uma diferença significativa da riqueza específica entre as u.a. nos afloramentos onde B. balansae está presente daquelas onde não está. Porém, na floresta, a riqueza de espécies entre u.a. com e sem B. balansae não apresentou diferença significativa. Nos campos rupestres, a presença de B. balansae influenciou positivamente a abundância de espécies em comparação às áreas controle. Na floresta, porém, não encontramos diferenças entre u.a. com e sem B. balansae. / Positive interactions among plants have been demonstrated in several communities around the world and play important roles in maintaining species coexistence, productivity and species diversity. In this study we evaluated the influence of Bromelia balansae Mez on species richness, composition, abundance and diversity of trees and shrubs in the forest understory and on the outer edge of rock outcrops present on Turvo State Park, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The sampling was done in three outcrop areas, which constituted replicas, to evaluate the influence of the presence of B. balansae on woody species. To analyze the effect on the richness of bromeliads, we used rarefaction curves based on sampling units (s.u.). We also evaluated the effect on the abundance of species in outcrop and forest with ANOVAs using permutation. Rarefaction curves showed a significant difference in species richness between s.u. of the outcrops where B. balansae was present and the those without the species. However, the s.u. in the forest, species richness between s.u. with and without B. balansae showed no significant difference. In rocky fields, the presence of B. balansae has positively influenced the abundance of species in comparison to the control areas. In the forest, however, no differences between s.u. with and without B. balansae.

En raison du développement croissant des MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems), l'étude des écoulements de liquide ou de gaz et des transferts thermiques dans des conduites, chauffées ou non, dont le diamètre hydraulique est de l'ordre de quelques microns, a suscité un nombre considérable de travaux au cours des vingt dernières années. À cette échelle, le nombre de Knudsen peut être important (Kn>0,01), ce qui donne naissance à des phénomènes de glissement, de saut de température et de pompage thermique qui s'ajoutent aux effets de compressibilité, telles que la puissance due aux forces de pression et à la puissance des contraintes visqueuses et aux variations des propriétés du fluide avec la température. Dans les modélisations de la littérature, ces phénomènes sont rarement pris en compte simultanément et sont souvent partiellement négligés, sans justification. Notre démarche consiste à proposer une modélisation des micro-écoulements gazeux se rapprochant au mieux de la réalité en prenant en compte tous les phénomènes et à étudier les effets de chacun d'entre eux. L'étude est, en premier lieu, menée en utilisant un code commercial, résolvant les équations de conservation par la méthode des volumes finis et adapté par le biais de sous-programmes développés au cours de cette thèse. Des validations ont été effectuées pour des problèmes allant des plus simples (incompressibles, non glissants) aux plus complexes (compressibles, glissants). Cette étude a permis de mettre en évidence les problèmes liés à la modélisation quand les nombres de Péclet des écoulements sont inférieurs à l'unité (Pe < 1). Dans ce cas, les effets de diffusion inverse sont dominants et l'utilisation d'extensions à l'amont de la conduite devient incontournable. Les effets de compressibilité qui se traduisent par des détentes du gaz près de la sortie de la conduite (accélération + refroidissement) ont été analysés. Enfin, des comparaisons ont été effectuées avec des solutions analytiques d'écoulements compressibles et glissants, supposés isothermes en imposant de faibles variations de pression. Nous avons pu montrer que ces solutions restent valables, même lorsque les variations de pression sont importantes parce que les détentes ne sont localisées que près de la sortie de la conduite et n'influencent donc pas les propriétés globales de l'écoulement. La suite du travail a été réalisée à l'aide d'un code de calcul développé au laboratoire et validé pour les écoulements à grandes échelles. Des conditions aux limites de glissement ont été introduites afin de l'adapter à la problématique de ce travail de thèse. Compte-tenu de ses performances (précision et rapidité des calculs en particulier), ce code a permis de réaliser une étude paramétrique sur une large gamme de pressions d'entrée et de sortie, de telle sorte à balayer tous les types d'écoulements : de peu à très compressibles et de peu à très glissants. Les résultats sont d'abord présentés pour des écoulements quasi-isothermes puis comparés aux solutions analytiques afin de tester ces dernières sur une plus large gamme de pression. Enfin, de nouveaux résultats ont été obtenus pour des écoulements chauffés. Des corrélations, en fonction des paramètres adimensionnels caractéristiques de ces écoulements, ont été obtenues pour les modèles complets à l'aide d'un logiciel de statistiques et de plans d'expériences. Des comparaisons à des modèles simplifiés ont été effectuées pour évaluer les erreurs commises lorsque certains termes sont négligés / These phenomena are rarely taken into account all at once, at least one of them is neglected and often without justification. Our approach is to get as close as possible to reality by taking into account all the phenomena that appear at once and then to study the effect of the phenomena most often overlooked. First, the study is conducted using a commercial code for solving the conservation equations by the finite volume method. Validations were performed for problems ranging from the simplest (incompressible, non-slip flow) to the more complex (compressible, slip flow). This study highlighted the problems associated with simulations when the flows Peclet numbers are less than unity (Pe <1). In this case, the inverse diffusion effects are dominant and the use of extensions at the upstream becomes unavoidable. In addition, compressibility effects were identified; they have resulted in expansions of the gas near the exit of the pipe (acceleration + cooling). Finally, comparisons were made with analytical solutions of compressible slip flows assumed isothermal by imposing small variations of pressure. We showed that these solutions remain valid even if the pressure variations are important because the detents are located only near the exit of the pipe. In this case, they do not affect the properties of the flow. Further works were carried out using an in-house computer code, previously developed and validated in the laboratory for flows with large scales and for which slipping limits conditions have been added so that it can properly resolve slip flows. In view of its accuracy and performances in terms of CPU-time, the code allowed us to achieve a parametric study on a wide range of input and output pressures, so as to sweep all runoff from few to very compressible and few to very slip flow. The results were first presented for quasi-isothermal flow, which subsequently were compared to analytical solutions to test these ones on a wider range of pressure. Finally, the results were made for heated flows. Correlations have been obtained for a complete model using a statistical based software and design of experiments. Comparisons to simplified models were performed to assess the inaccuracies linked to the omission of terms often overlooked in the literature

La forêt atlantique brésilienne est un des points sensibles de biodiversité avec une richesse spécifique et des risques d’extinction élevés. Cette forêt est située le long de la côte atlantique brésilienne, s’étendant jusqu’au Paraguay vers le Sud et à l’Argentine dans l’intérieur des terres. Du fait des gradients longitudinal et altitudinal, de la géologie complexe et de la diversité des sols, cette forêt comprend une diversité exceptionnelle de paysages et d’écosystèmes qui ont permis à cette riche biodiversité de se développer. Cependant, cette dernière encourt des risques extrêmes d’extinction du fait des densités et des tailles de populations humaines locales les plus élevées en Amérique du Sud. La forêt atlantique est ainsi aujourd’hui réduite à moins de 5% de sa surface originelle, répartie dans des fragments épars. En dépit de cette richesse spécifique reconnue, beaucoup reste à comprendre au sujet de plusieurs composantes de la biodiversité et de leur origine. Parmi les groupes encore mal connus figurent en particulier les insectes. Dans le but de combler cette lacune, j’ai étudié dans cette thèse un genre de blatte endémique de la forêt atlantique, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blattodea, Blaberinae). Je me suis focalisé sur sa taxonomie, sa phylogéographie et sur la contribution des données de collections d’histoire naturelle à la modélisation de l’aire de distribution. L’étude de la taxonomie a consisté à entreprendre la révision du genre avec la re-description des espèces espèces déjà connues et la description de nouvelles espèces. Les descriptions des espèces connues étaient fort anciennes et la description (et redescription) a donc inclus la définition de nouveaux caractères, ainsi qu’une étude des genitalia. Des problèmes nomenclaturaux anciens ont été également résolus, une clé d’identification des espèces ainsi qu’une clé d’identification des larves des genres de Blaberinae endémiques de la forêt atlantique ont été construites. La deuxième étude concernait l’analyse de la diversification et de la distribution du genre Monastria dans la forêt atlantique brésilienne. Cette analyse a indiqué l’importance des impacts différentiels des changements de température durant le dernier maximum glaciaire entre les parties Nord et Sud de la forêt atlantique, ceci résultant dans le patron de distribution présent. La troisième étude est une évaluation de l’intérêt des données disponibles dans les collections d’histoire naturelle concernant Monastria pour inférer son aire de répartition en se basant sur des modèles de niches écologiques (ENM), et en utilisant les données issues de l’échantillonnage de terrain ciblé sur Monastria pour valider les résultats. Nous montrons ici que le lot de données des collections est biaisé dans l’espace environmental. Le sur-échantillonnage dans une classe de climat conduit à construire des modèles d’aires favorables plus restreints que ceux de la distribution réelle de Monastria. Ces biais augmentent donc la spécificité des modèles et réduisent leur sensibilité. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons conçu deux sortes d’analyse de raréfaction et montré que la suppression aléatoire de points dans la classe climatique la plus biaisée augmente de manière très efficace la sensibilité du modèle de niche climatique. / The Brazilian Atlantic forest is one of the biodiversity hotspots with the richest species diversity and threat. It is located along the Brazilian Atlantic coast going south til Paraguay and Argentina in the interior of the continent. Due to its longitudinal and altitudinal gradients, complex geology and diversity of soils it harbors an enormous diversity of landscapes and ecosystems that gave rise to its rich biodiversity. However, this biodiversity is extremely threatened because this region is the one with the highest population size and density in south America. So, the Atlantic forest is now limited to less than 5% of its original surface and distributed in scattered fragments. Despite the recognized species richness, much remains to be known about several components of this biodiversity and their origin. Among the groups still poorly known are the insects. In order to contribute to bridge this gap, in this thesis I studied one genus of cockroach endemic from the Atlantic forest, Monastria Saussure, 1864 (Blaberidae, Blaberinae). I focused on the taxonomy, phylogeography and on the contribution of the data existing in natural history collections to model the distribution range. The study of the taxonomy consisted in the revision of the genus with the re-description of already known species and description of new ones. Since the known species were described very early, the description (and re-description) comprised the definition of new characters, and consideration paid to genitalia. In addition to that, old nomenclatural problems were solved, a key to species’ identification was provided, a key to the identification of nymphs of the genera of Blaberinae endemic to the Atlantic forest were provided. The second study was aimed to understand the diversification and distribution of the genus Monastria in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This analysis indicates the importance of differential impacts of shifts in temperature between the Southern and Northeastern part of the Atlantic forest in the Last Glacial Maximum for explaining the present pattern of distribution. The third study is an evaluation of the data concerning Monastria available in Natural History Collections for estimating its distribution range based on Ecological Niche Models (ENM), and using the data from the field work designed to assess the presence of Monastria to validate the results. Here we showed that the dataset is biased in the environmental space. This oversampling in a climate class leads to models with suitable areas much smaller than that of the real distribution of Monastria. These biases increase model’s specificity and reduced sensitivity. To overcome this problem, we designed two forms of rarefaction and showed deleting points at random in the most biased climate class is very powerful to increase the sensitivity of the ENM.

Premise of the Study: There is growing interest in understanding plant–plant interactions via pollen transfer at the community level. Studies on the structure and spatial variability of pollen transfer networks have been valuable to this understanding. However, there is high variability in the intensity of sampling used to characterize pollen transfer interactions, which could influence network structure. To date, there is no knowledge of how sampling effort influences the richness of pollen on stigmas and thereby transfer interactions observed, nor how this may vary across species and study sites. Methods: We use rarefaction curves on 16 species to characterize the relationship between sampling effort (number of stigmas analyzed) and the richness of pollen transfer interactions recorded. We further assess variability in this relationship among species, plant community types, and sites within a single plant community. Key Results: We show high among-species variation in the amount of sampling required to sufficiently characterize interspecific pollen transfer. We further reveal variability in the sampling effort-interaction richness relationship among different plant communities and even for the same species growing in different sites. Conclusions: The wide heterogeneity in the sampling effort required to accurately characterize pollen transfer interactions observed has the potential to influence the characterization of pollen transfer dynamics. Thus, sampling completeness should be considered in future studies to avoid overestimation of modularity and specialization in pollen transfer networks that may bias the predicted causes and expected consequences of such processes for plant–plant interactions.

It is becoming increasingly important to monitor biodiversity in the extensive Australian rangelands; currently however, there is no method capable of achieving this goal. There are two potential sources of relevant data that cover the Australian rangelands, and from which measures of biodiversity might be extracted: traditional field-based methods such as quadrat surveys have collected flora and fauna species data throughout the rangelands, but at fine scale; satellite remote sensing collects biologically relevant, spatially comprehensive data. The goal of this thesis was to provide the spatially comprehensive measure of biodiversity required for informed management of the Australian rangelands. The study specifically focused on the Stony Plains in the South Australian rangelands. To that end the thesis aimed to develop indices capable of measuring and/or monitoring biodiversity from vegetation quadrat survey data and remotely sensed data. The term biodiversity is so all-encompassing that direct measurement is not possible; therefore it is necessary to measure surrogates instead. Total perennial vegetation species richness (y-diversity) is a sound surrogate of biodiversity: the category of species is well defined, species richness is measurable, and there is evidence that vegetation species richness co-varies with the species richness of other taxonomic groups in relation to the same environmental variables. At least two broad scale conventional vegetation surveys are conducted in the study region; the Biological Survey of South Australia; and the South Australian Pastoral Lease Assessment. Prior to the extraction of biodiversity data the quality of the BSSA, the best biodiversity survey, was evaluated. Analysis revealed that false-negative errors were common, and that even highly detectable vegetation species had detection probabilities significantly less than one. Without some form of correction for detectability, the species diversity recorded by either vegetation survey must be treated with caution. Informed by the identification of false-negative errors, a method was developed to extract y-diversity of woody perennials from the survey data, and to remove the influence of sampling effort. Data were aggregated by biogeographic region, rarefaction was used to remove most of the influence of sampling effort, and additional correction removed the residual influence of sampling effort. Finally, additive partitioning of species diversity allowed extraction of indices of a-, β- and y-diversity free from the influence of sampling effort. However, this woody perennial vegetation y-diversity did not address the need for a spatially extensive, fine scale measure of biodiversity at the extent of the study region. The aggregation of point data to large regions, a necessary part of this index, produces spatially coarse results. To formulate and test remotely sensed surrogates of biodiversity, it is necessary to understand the determinants of and pressures on biodiversity in the Australian rangelands. The most compelling explanation for the distribution of biodiversity at the extensive scales of the Australian rangelands is the Productivity Theory, which reasons that the greater the amount and duration of primary productivity the greater the capacity to generate and support high biodiversity. The most significant pressure on biodiversity in the study area is grazing-induced degradation, or overgrazing. Two potential spatially comprehensive surrogates of pressure on biodiversity were identified. The first surrogate was based on the differential effect of overgrazing on waterenergy balance and net primary productivity: water-energy balance is a function of climatic variables, and therefore a measure of potential or expected primary productivity; net primary productivity is reduced by high grazing pressure. The second surrogate was based on the effect of grazing-induced degradation on the temporal variability of net primary productivity: overgrazing reduces mean net primary productivity and rainfall use efficiency, and increases variation in net primary productivity and rainfall use efficiency. The two surrogates of biodiversity stress were derived from the best available remotely sensed and climate data for the study area: actual evapotranspiration recorded by climate stations was considered an index of water-energy balance; net primary productivity was measured from NOAA AVHRR integrated NDVI; rainfall use efficiency (biomass per unit rainfall) was calculated from rainfall data collected at climate stations and the net primary productivity measure. Finally, the surrogates were evaluated against the index of woody perennial a-, β- and y-diversity, on the assumption that prolonged biodiversity stress would reduce vegetation species diversity. No link was found between Surrogate 1 and woody perennial a-, β- or y-diversity. The relationship of Surrogate 2 to woody perennial diversity was more complex. Only some of the results supported the hypothesis that overgrazing decreases y-diversity and average NPP and RUE. Importantly, none of the results supported the most important part of the hypothesis that the proposed indices of biodiversity pressure would co-vary with woody perennial a-diversity. Thus, the analysis did not reveal a convincing link between either surrogate and vegetation species diversity. However, the analysis was hampered to a large degree by the climate data, which is interpolated from a very sparse network of climate stations. This thesis has contributed significantly to the measurement and monitoring of biodiversity in the Australian rangelands. The identification of false-negative errors as a cause for concern will allow future analyses of the vegetation survey data to adopt methods to counteract these errors, and hence extract more robust information. The method for extracting sampling effort corrected indices of a-, β- and y-diversity allow for the examination and comparison of species diversity across regions, regardless of differences in sampling effort. These indices are not limited to rangelands, and can be extracted from any vegetation quadrat survey data obtained within a prescribed methodology. Therefore, these tools contribute to global biodiversity measurement and monitoring. Finally, the remotely sensed surrogates of biodiversity are theoretically sound and applicable in any rangeland where over-grazing is a significant source of degradation. However, because the evaluation of these surrogates in this thesis was hampered by available data, further testing is necessary. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1346544 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

Submitted by Johnny Rodrigues (johnnyrodrigues@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-10T18:01:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 KEYTT AMARAL DA SILVA - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGMAT 2015..pdf: 1966719 bytes, checksum: d55ff8700252c9540c54209c808e22a3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T18:01:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 KEYTT AMARAL DA SILVA - DISSERTAÇÃO PPGMAT 2015..pdf: 1966719 bytes, checksum: d55ff8700252c9540c54209c808e22a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08 / Neste trabalho apresentamos a construção detalhada da solução do Problema de Riemann associado à um sistema de leis de conservação de um problema não estritamente hiperbólico, proveniente da modelagem matemática de um escoamento unidimensional bifásico num meio poroso em que as fases são óleo e água com polímero dissolvido, para dados iniciais arbitrários no espaço de estados. A construção da solução do sistema é baseada na solução da equação de Buckley−Leverett para cada nível de concentração constante de polímero e nas curvas integrais de uma campo característico linearmente degenerado que dá origem as chamadas ondas de contato. / We present the detailed construction of the Riemann problem solution associate to a system of conservation laws of a non−strictly hyperbolic problem, from mathematical modeling of a one-dimensional two-flow in a porous medium filled by oil and water with dissolved polymer, for arbitrary initial data in the state space. The construction of the system solution is based on the solution Buckley−Leverett equation for each level constant polymer concentration and on the integral curves of a linearly degenerated field characteristic that gives rise to the so-called contact waves.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-09-10Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:56:44Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 scherma_ra_me_rcla.pdf: 857390 bytes, checksum: e4aad5b9ead75e670db2aa945d00698c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O trabalho preocupa-se em compreender o uso do território pelo sistema financeiro. Para tanto, estabelecemos um debate com importantes autores que tratam da temática e procedemos a um levantamento de dados que consideramos elementos e variáveis importantes para demonstrarmos a constituição do espaço geográfico na sucessão e consecução da formação do território brasileiro. Tudo isso permitiu-nos uma periodização das transformações impostas ao território, pelos sistemas de atividades financeiras. Assim, num primeiro momento, tratamos de analisar a dispersão do sistema financeiro pelo território nacional, a redução do número de bancos e a concentração dos pontos de comando e, num segundo momento, quando a difusão de técnicas e normas possibilitam a reorganização do sistema financeiro e maior intervenção do sistema financeiro mundial. Diante da atual situação geográfica, procuramos entender a desigual distribuição do dinheiro, analisando os fluxos e os fixos relacionados ao sistema financeiro em território nacional e, por último, buscamos tratar de um processo recente - a financeirização de amplas camadas da população, incluindo as classes sociais de baixa renda e a conseqüente ampliação do consumo, bem como, entender quais as conseqüências dessa política para a sociedade e para o território brasileiro. / The paper focuses on understanding the use of territory by the financial system. To do so, we debate with important authors that dealt with this theme and we searched data that we consider important elements and variables to demonstrate the formation of geographic space in the succession and achieving of the formation of Brazilian territory. All this enabled us to divide the changes that were imposed on the territory, by the system of financial activities, in periods. Thus, at first, we analyzed the dispersion of financial system over national territory, the reduction of number of banks and the concentration of command points and, secondly, when the diffusion of techniques and rules enabled the restructuring of the financial system and a stronger intervention of the global financial system. Facing the contemporary geographic reality, we focused on understanding the inequality of money distribution, analyzing the flows and fixed related to the financial system in national territory and, finally, we tried to treat of a recent process – the financialization of large layers of population, including the low-income social classes and the consequent rising of consumption as well as understanding the consequences of this policy to society and to territory.

It is emerging that the brain’s vasculature consists of a highly spatially heterogeneous network; however, information on how various vascular characteristics differ between brain regions is still lacking. Furthermore, aging studies rarely acknowledge regional differences in the changes of vascular features. The density of the capillary bed is one vascular feature that is important for the adequate delivery of nutrients to brain tissue. Additionally, capillary density may influence regional cerebral blood flow, a parameter that has been repeatedly correlated to cognitive-behavioural performance. Age-related decline in capillary density has been widely reported in various animal models, yet important questions remain concerning whether there are regional vulnerabilities and what mechanisms could account for these regional differences, if they exist. Here we used confocal microscopy combined with a fluorescent dye-filling approach to label the vasculature, and subsequently quantified vessel length, tortuosity and diameter in 15 brain regions in young adult and aged mice. Our data indicate that vessel loss was most pronounced in white matter followed by cortical, then subcortical gray matter regions, while some regions (visual cortex, amygdala, insular cortex) showed little decline with aging. Changes in capillary density are determined by a balance of pruning and sprouting events. Previous research showed that capillaries are naturally prone to plugging and prolonged obstructions often lead to vessel pruning without subsequent compensatory vessel sprouting. We therefore hypothesized that regional susceptibilities to plugging could help predict vessel loss. By mapping the distribution of microsphere-induced capillary obstructions, we discovered that regions with a higher density of persistent obstructions were more likely to show vessel loss with aging and vice versa. Although the relationship between obstruction density and vessel loss was strong, it was clear obstruction rates were insufficient to explain vessel loss on their own. For that reason, we subsequently used in vivo two-photon microscopy to track microsphere-induced capillary obstructions and vascular network changes over 24 days in two areas of cortex that showed different magnitudes of vessel loss and obstruction densities: visual and retrosplenial cortex. Surprisingly, we did not find evidence for differences in vessel pruning rates between areas, as we would have expected. Instead, we observed brain region-specific differences in recanalization times and rates of angiogenesis. These findings indicate that age-related vessel loss is region specific and that regional susceptibilities to capillary plugging and angiogenesis must be considered to explain these differences. Altogether, this work supports the overarching hypothesis that regional differences in vascular structure and function contribute to a regionally heterogeneous phenotype in the aging brain. / Graduate

Underwater explosions (UNDEX) and a ship's vulnerability to them are problems of interest in early-stage ship design. A series of events occur sequentially in an UNDEX scenario in both the fluid and structural domains and these events happen over a wide range of time and spatial scales. Because of the complexity of the physics involved, it is a common practice to separate the description of UNDEX into early-time and late-time, and far-field and near-field. The research described in this dissertation is focused on the simulation of near-field and early-time UNDEX. It assembles a hybrid framework of algorithms to provide results while maintaining computational efficiency. These algorithms include Runge-Kutta, Discontinuous Galerkin, Level Set, Direct Ghost Fluid and Embedded Boundary methods. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers are developed using this framework of algorithms to demonstrate the computational methods and their ability to effectively and efficiently solve UNDEX problems. Contributions, made in the process of satisfying the objective of this research include: the derivation of eigenvectors of flux Jacobians and their application to the implementation of the slope limiter in the fluid discretization; the three-dimensional extension of Direct Ghost Fluid Method and its application to the multi-fluid treatment in UNDEX flows; the enforcement of an improved non-reflecting boundary condition and its application to UNDEX simulations; and an improvement to the projection-based embedded boundary method and its application to fluid-structure interaction simulations of UNDEX problems. / Doctor of Philosophy / Underwater explosions (UNDEX) and a ship's vulnerability to them are problems of interest in early-stage ship design. A series of events occur sequentially in an UNDEX scenario in both the fluid and structural domains and these events happen over a wide range of time and spatial scales. Because of the complexity of the physics involved, it is a common practice to separate the description of UNDEX into early-time and late-time, and far-field and near-field. The research described in this dissertation is focused on the simulation of near-field and early-time UNDEX. It assembles a hybrid framework of algorithms to provide results while maintaining computational efficiency. These algorithms include Runge-Kutta, Discontinuous Galerkin, Level Set, Direct Ghost Fluid and Embedded Boundary methods. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers are developed using this framework of algorithms to demonstrate these computational methods and their ability to effectively and efficiently solve UNDEX problems.