<p dir="ltr">The construction industry is one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions, abiotic depletion of natural resources, and waste generation due to the vast quantity of concrete produced. Concrete’s main components have a significant environmental impact. The manufacturing of cement is responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions. In 2019, over 45 billion tons of aggregates were produced. Furthermore, the production of concrete generated over 600,000 tons of concrete waste in 2018.</p><p dir="ltr">Conversely, vegetation consumes 30% of the global carbon dioxide emissions. Recent studies indicated that cryptogamic species, and in particular moss, present a CO₂ uptake of 6.43 billion metric tons more than bare soil. Cryptogamic covers, such as moss and other CO₂ sequestering organisms, are key for the global cycles of carbon and nitrogen. By promoting the growth of living cryptogamic organisms in concrete building facades and roofs, the carbon footprint of concrete can greatly decrease, potentially achieving sub-zero carbon footprint. To attain this solution, cementitious composites must be designed to have an improved bio-receptivity, defined as a material's ability to be colonized by living organisms, or as a substrate to grow living organisms.</p><p dir="ltr">Previous studies show that the bio-receptivity of cementitious composites depends on a material’s acidity and ability to capture and retain water. Yet, the inter-relationship between these properties and bio-receptivity is currently not well understood. Additionally, existing methods to achieve enhanced bio-receptivity in cementitious composites in terms of are often either expensive or counterproductive in terms of sustainability.</p><p dir="ltr">This thesis aims to investigate and develop new methods to create ultra-sustainable composites with enhanced bio-receptivity and low abiotic depletion of natural resources. Additionally, this thesis aims to understand the importance, inter-relationship, and influence of the acidity and water storage properties of cementitious composites on their bio-receptivity.</p><p dir="ltr">The first portion of this thesis is focused on proposing a new method to enhance bio-receptivity of precast cementitious composites elements through accelerated CO₂ exposure treatment and elucidating the function of recycled concrete aggregate use to create ultra-sustainable composites with enhanced bio-receptivity and low abiotic depletion of natural resources. Thus, this study simultaneously tackles the reduction of waste generation and abiotic depletion of natural resources, as well as the promotion of bio-receptivity while reducing the net carbon footprint of the cementitious composites. Results suggested that the proposed accelerated CO₂ exposure treatment enhanced the bio-receptivity of mortars, especially in mortars with RCFA. The combined effect of the RCFA’s high porosity plus the effect of accelerated CO₂ exposures decrease on pH drastically enhanced the ability of promoting moss growth on mortars, enabling the production of low carbon bio-receptive cementitious material with a sub-zero abiotic depletion of natural resources.</p><p dir="ltr">The purpose of the second portion of this thesis was focused on understanding of the inter-related role of the mortar’s porosity, water absorption, and surface pH on the bio-receptivity of cementitious composites. This portion of this thesis also focused on creating a predictive model of bio-receptivity of mortars as a function of water storage properties and surface pH. By conducting this study, the extent of importance of the water storage properties and surface pH on bio-receptivity can be determined. Results suggested that w/c ratio heavily influences the bio-receptivity of mortar, in which a higher w/c ratio increases bulk porosity, water absorption, and decreases the average surface pH. The use of accelerated CO₂ exposure improved bio-receptivity due to and decrease in average surface pH. Additionally, the combined effects of high w/c ratio and accelerated exposure CO₂ exhibited even greater improvements in bio-receptivity. Furthermore, the increase in w/c ratio resulted in the mitigation of accelerated CO₂ exposure adverse effects on bulk porosity and absorption. The developed bio-receptive predictive model successfully predicts the bio-receptivity of mortars as a function of the average surface pH and water absorption. This bio-receptivity prediction model provides us with an instrument to assist in engineering concretes with a target bio-receptivity. The results of this study also show that, while previous literature indicated a maximum pH of 5.0-5.5 to produce a bio-receptive cementitious composite, the pH threshold to obtain a bio-receptive cementitious composite depends on other factors such as porosity of the material, and it is possible to create bio-receptive concretes with a surface pH of 6.2-8.3.</p><p dir="ltr">This research will contribute to creating target-by-design living-engineered concrete facades that can capture CO₂ while reducing the consumption of natural resources.</p>

<p>The stability and the receptivity of three-dimensional flat plate boundary layers is studied employing parabolised stability equations. These allow for computationally efficient parametric studies. Two different sets of equations are used. The stability of modal disturbances in the form of crossflow vortices is studied by means of the well-known classical parabolised stability equations (PSE). A new method is developed which is applicable to more general vortical-type disturbances. It is based on a modified version of the classical PSE and describes both modal and non-modal growth in three-dimensional boundary layers. This modified PSE approach is used in conjunction with a Lagrange multiplier technique to compute spatial optimal disturbances in three-dimensional boundary layers. These take the form of streamwise oriented tilted vortices initially and develop into streaks further downstream. When entering the domain where modal disturbances become unstable optimal disturbances smoothly evolve into crossflow modes. It is found that non-modal growth is of significant magnitude in three-dimensional boundary layers. Both the lift-up and the Orr mechanism are identified as the physical mechanisms behind non-modal growth. Furthermore, the modified PSE are used to determine the response of three-dimensional boundary layers to vortical free-stream disturbances. By comparing to results from direct numerical simulations it is shown that the response, including initial transient behaviour, is described very accurately. Extensive parametric studies are performed where effects of free-stream turbulence are modelled by filtering with an energy spectrum characteristic for homogeneous isotropic turbulence. It is found that a quantitative prediction of the boundary layer response to free-stream turbulence requires detailed information about the incoming turbulent flow field. Finally, the adjoint of the classical PSE is used to determine the receptivity of modal disturbances with respect to localised surface roughness. It is shown that the adjoint approach yields perfect agreement with results from Finite-Reynold-Number Theory (FRNT) if the boundary layer is assumed to be locally parallel.  Receptivity is attenuated if nonlocal and non-parallel effects are accounted for. Comparisons to direct numerical simulations and extended parametric studies are presented.</p>

Angiogenesis is thought to play a pivotal role in the cycling endometrium. Coordinated by oestrogen and progesterone, endometrial blood vessel development is primarily mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), which promotes endothelial cell (EC) proliferation and protects ECs from induced apoptosis. Studying changes at transcript level in human endometrial endothelial cells (HEECs) in response to mitogenic and inhibitory stimuli is one way towards understanding the regulation of physiological endometrial angiogenesis. Endometriosis, the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity, is a common gynaecological disorder in women of reproductive age, often causing pelvic pain and reduced fertility. Chronic inflammation in the peritoneal environment and defective endometrial protein expression are some of the contributors to the complex pathophysiology of endometriosis. The aim of this work was to study the changes in the transcriptome induced by VEGF-A and partial serum deprivation in primary HEECs, and to investigate biochemical factors associated with subfertility and chronic pelvic pain in endometriosis patients. Exposing primary HEECs to VEGF-A, and serum withdrawal was found to regulate transcripts associated with survival, migration, apoptosis and progression through the cell cycle, when assessed using microarray technology and bioinformatic tools. A subset of 88 transcripts was reciprocally regulated under the two experimental conditions; thus probably important in HEEC biology. Higher endometrial epithelial staining scores of oestrogen receptor-α and reduced staining of progesterone receptors were seen in subfertile endometriosis patients. Lower levels of the receptivity biomarker leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and its receptor, as well as signs of dysregulated αB-crystallin expression and increased peritoneal fluid concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1α and IL-6 were associated with reduced pregnancy rates. Endometriosis patients with chronic pelvic pain had higher levels of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in eutopic endometria and in endometriotic lesions compared with patients without chronic pain. The presence of chronic pelvic pain was also associated with increased concentrations of VIP and IL-6 in peritoneal fluid. The present results may constitute a basis for further investigation of regulatory pathways in endometrial angiogenesis as well as for studies of endometrial receptivity and pain in women with endometriosis.

Em vacas de corte, folículos pré-ovulatórios (FPO) maiores, maiores concentrações de estradiol (E2) no proestro/estro e progesterona (P4) no diestro favorecem o crescimento do concepto e a fertilidade. Porém, os mecanismos mediados pelos esteroides femininos que influenciam a receptividade uterina ao embrião precisam ser esclarecidos. Os aminoácidos (AA) são componentes das secreções uterinas que são cruciais para a sobrevivência do embrião antes da implantação. A hipótese deste trabalho é que o tamanho do FPO e as concentrações de E2 e P4 modulam a abundância de transcritos relacionados ao transporte e metabolismo de AA no endométrio e afetam a concentração luminal de AA. Para isso, o crescimento folicular de vacas Nelore foi manipulado com o objetivo de formar dois grupos: FPO grande e CL grande (FG-CLG) e FPO pequeno e CL pequeno (FP-CLP). No Dia 4 (D4; Exp 1) e Dia 7 (D7; Exp 2) após a injeção de GnRH para indução da ovulação, foram coletados tecido endometrial e lavado uterino post-mortem. A abundância de transcritos foi avaliada por qRT-PCR e as concentrações de AA nos lavados foram quantificadas por HPLC. No Exp 1, o tamanho do FPO, concentrações plasmáticas de E2 no D-1 e de P4 no D4 foram 15,70mm&#177;0,43 vs. 11,31mm&#177;0,23 (p&lt;0,01), 2,44pg/ml&#177;0,19 vs. 0,65pg/ml (p&lt;0,01) e 1,40ng/ml&#177;0,23 vs. 0,80ng/ml&#177;0,10 (p&lt;0,01) para os grupos FG-CLG vs. FP-CLP, respectivamente. No Exp 2, o tamanho do FPO, concentrações plasmáticas de E2 no D-1 e de P4 no D7 foram 13,18mm&#177;0,44 vs. 10,63mm&#177;0,30 (p&lt;0,01), 2,30pg/ml&#177;0,57 vs. 0,50pg/ml&#177;0,13 (p&lt;0,01) e 3,68ng/ml&#177;0,38 vs. 2,49ng/ml&#177;0,43 (p=0,04) para os grupos FG-CLG vs. FP-CLP, respectivamente. No D4 a abundância de SLC1A4, SLC38A1, SLC6A6, SLC7A4 e SLCY e no D7, SLC1A4, SLC6A1, SLC6A14, SLC7A4, SLC7A8, SLC38A1, SLC38A7, SLC43A2 e DDO foi maior no endométrio dos animais do grupo FG-CLG (p&lt;0,05). No D4, maiores concentrações de taurina, alanina e ácido &#945;-aminobutírico foram observadas no grupo FP-CLP (p&lt;0,05). Em contraste, menores concentrações de valina e cistationina foram encontradas nos lavados uterinos do D7 dos animais do grupo FP-CLP (p&lt;0,05). No D4, os animais do grupo FG-CLG, associado a maior fertilidade, apresentaram menor quantidade de AA nas secreções uterinas, porém, a abundância dos transportadores de AA foi compatível com maior transporte em comparação aos animais do grupo FP-CLP. Esses resultados sugerem que antes do embrião se mover do oviduto ao útero, o transporte e metabolismo dos AA prioriza a preparação das células endometriais para receber o embrião e não o acúmulo nas secreções uterinas. Porém, no D7, quando o embrião está em contato direto com as secreções uterinas, os genes relacionados ao transporte de AA no endométrio e a concentração de AA no histotrofo são estimulados nas vacas do grupo FG-CLG. Portanto o metabolismo e transporte de AA no sentido das células endometriais ou das secreções uterinas pode ser um mecanismo importante para a receptividade materna. / In beef cattle, a large size of the pre-ovulatory follicle (POF) and resulting elevated proestrus/estrus estradiol (E2) and diestrus progesterone (P4) concentrations positively affect conceptus growth and fertility. However, sex-steroid-mediated mechanisms that influence uterine receptivity to the embryo need to be elucidated. Amino acids are important components of maternally-derived secretions that are crucial for embryo survival before implantation. The hypothesis is that the size of the POF, E2 and P4 concentrations modulate endometrial abundance of solute carrier proteins (SLC) transcripts related to AA transport and metabolism and subsequently affect lumenal amino acids concentrations. Therefore, follicle growth of Nelore cows was manipulated to produce two experimental groups: large POF and CL (LF-LCL group) and small POF and CL (SF-SCL group). On Day 4 (D4; Experiment 1) and Day 7 (D7; Experiment 2) post GnRH injection to induce ovulation, endometrial tissue and uterine washings were collected post-mortem. Transcript abundance was evaluated by qRT-PCR and amino acid concentrations were quantified in washings by HPLC. On Experiment 1, POF size, plasma E2 concentration on D-1, and plasma concentration of P4 on D4 were 15.70mm&#177;0.43 vs. 11.31mm&#177;0.23 (p&lt;0.01), 2.44pg/ml&#177;0.19 vs. 0.65pg/ml (p&lt;0.01) and 1.40ng/ml&#177;0.23 vs. 0.80ng/ml&#177;0.10 (p&lt;0.01) for the LF-LCL vs. SF-SCL groups, respectively. For Experiment 2, POF size, plasma E2 concentration on D-1 and plasma P4 concentration on D7 were 13.18mm&#177;0.44 vs. 10.63mm&#177;0.30 (p&lt;0.01), 2.30pg/ml&#177;0.57 vs. 0.50pg/ml&#177;0.13 (p&lt;0.01) and 3.68ng/ml&#177;0.38 vs. 2.49ng/ml&#177;0.43 (p=0.04) for the LF-LCL vs. SF-SCL groups, respectively. On D4, abundance of SLC6A6, SLC7A4, SLC17A5, SLC38A1, SLC38A7 and SLCY and on D7, SLC1A4, SLC6A1, SLC6A14, SLC7A4, SLC7A7, SLC7A8, SLC17A5, SLC38A1, SLC38A7, SLC43A2 and DDO was greater in the endometrium of cows from the LF-LCL group (p&lt;0.05). On D4, higher concentrations of taurine, alanine and &#945;-aminobutiric acid were observed in SF-SCL (p&lt;0.05). In contrast, lower concentrations of valine and cystathionine were quantified in D7 uterine washings from SF-SCL cows (p&lt;0.05). On D4, animals from LF-LCL group, associated with greater fertility, presented less amino acid content in uterine secretion but abundance of transporters was compatible to greater transport in comparison to animals from SF-SCL group. This suggests that before embryo moves from oviduct to uterus, amino acids transport and metabolism pathways prioritizes endometrium cells preparation for receiving the embryo but not accumulation in uterine secretions. However, on D7, when the embryo is in direct contact with uterine secretions, genes related to amino acids transport in endometrium and amino acids concentration in histotroph are up-regulated in LF-LCL cows. The latter insights indicate that amino acids metabolism and transport, towards endometrial cells or uterine secretions, might be mechanisms contributing to maternal receptivity.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-04-04T13:22:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruna Lopes Fernandes Dugnani.pdf: 12069471 bytes, checksum: 4be5769711ef28a46679ef166d39deea (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-04T13:22:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruna Lopes Fernandes Dugnani.pdf: 12069471 bytes, checksum: 4be5769711ef28a46679ef166d39deea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This doctoral dissertation is based on the hypothesis that the forms for reporting speeches of and about immigrants used by the Brazilian press and the relationship between what is stated in these reported speeches and the discourses that have been part of Brazil’s historicization show that the discourse of Brazilian receptivity has been produced by a dialogic tension among the different values attributed to immigrants. Therefore, we aim to comprehend how the images of contemporary immigrants can be perceived in the Brazilian press and how they impact the Brazilian self-description as a receptive people. We adopted the following criteria for the corpus selection, comprised of journalistic texts: they were about contemporary immigration in Brazil; they were published in 2012 by Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Época, and Veja; they allowed the identification of discursive images of immigrants; and they presented different forms to represent foreigners. We established those criteria due to the hypothesis put forward in this dissertation, the media companies’ reach and great influence in forming public opinion, and the coincidence there was between the publication date of those texts and the outset of the preparation of a new national policy on immigration by a team of staff members of SAE [Bureau for Strategic Issues of the President of the Republic]. This way we collected 9 journalistic texts. In order to achieve the objective of this research, we draw on the Bakhtinian theoretical and methodological perspective and, more specifically, on the concepts of identity and alterity. We also discussed national identity, otherness in immigration, peculiarities of the journalistic sphere and the news report genre, the concept of object memory and forms of reported speech. For the purpose of guiding the development of this study, we addressed the following questions: 1) How does immigration memory in the press take part in Brazil’s historicization? How does the contemporary press modify this memory by employing different forms to report speeches of and about immigrants? and, 3) What is the impact of this memory and its modification on the discourse of Brazilian receptivity? As a result, we noticed that the journalistic texts published between the years of 1808 and 1939 (period that includes the Brazilian press establishment and the major migratory flows to Brazil) enunciated discourses related to civilization, anti-Portugueseness, nationalism, assimilationism, miscegenation, and racial whitening. Such discourses produced different discursive images of immigrants, which contributed to deconstruct and resonate the national myth of Brazilian receptivity as they praised their receptivity, omitted the violence and prejudice towards foreigners, singularized the negative events and drew on common sense regarding what was considered undesirable by anyone at the time. We also observed that the different forms used by the Brazilian contemporary press to report the discourses about and of contemporary immigrants fostered different ways to integrate the reported speech into the journalistic texts, thus implicating images of immigrants not only as adapted, non-adapted, (un)desirable people, but also as overload social budgets, lawbreakers and commodities. On the one hand, these discursive images echoed the conceptions of the ideal immigrant as someone who is in accordance and integrated to the Brazilian society, a worker and a person who brings benefits to the Brazilian society and economy. On the other hand, they also produced adjustments to the past discourses as they resignified the concept of “adapted,” changing it to globalized, broadening the understanding of what a good worker is in order to include new positions that are needed in the country and recontextualizing the discourses about the expenses that the immigrants can represent by taking into consideration the new Brazilian social assistance programs. These discourse echoes and actualizations showed the dialogic tensions that are inherent to the discourse of Brazilian receptivity. We believe that this study might contribute to demystify the discourse that Brazilian people are receptive and to understand the images attributed to immigrants in Brazil. Thus, it might provide a better understanding of an issue that has been standing out and influencing the outset of new laws and national policies and the social and international affairs involving Brazil / Nesta tese, tecemos a hipótese de que as formas como as falas dos e sobre os imigrantes são citadas pela mídia impressa brasileira e a relação das afirmações contidas nessas formas de citação com os discursos que participaram e participam da historicização do Brasil revelam que o discurso da receptividade do povo brasileiro engendra e é engendrado pela tensão dialógica entre os variados valores atribuídos aos imigrantes. Dessa forma, objetivamos compreender como as imagens de imigrantes contemporâneos podem ser percebidas na mídia impressa brasileira e como estas impactam a autodescrição do brasileiro enquanto receptivo. Definimos como critérios de seleção do corpus que as matérias jornalísticas: tratassem da imigração contemporânea no Brasil; tivessem sido publicadas pela Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo, Época e Veja no ano de 2012; permitissem a identificação de imagens discursivas de imigrantes; e, apresentassem distintas formas de construir as representações de estrangeiros. Tais critérios foram estabelecidos devido à hipótese desta pesquisa, à abrangência e à influência na formação da opinião pública desses veículos e à coincidência do período de publicação com o início da elaboração de uma política nacional imigratória por uma equipe da Secretaria de Assuntos Estratégicos da Presidência da República (SAE). Dessa forma, chegamos a 9 matérias jornalísticas. Para atingir o objetivo traçado, apresentamos a perspectiva teórico-metodológica bakhtiniana, considerando os conceitos de identidade e alteridade, e discorremos sobre a concepção de identidade nacional, sobre as relações alteritárias em imigração, as características da esfera jornalística e do gênero reportagem, o conceito de memória do objeto e as variantes do discurso citado. Para nortear o desenvolvimento da pesquisa, formulamos as seguintes questões: 1) como a memória da imigração na imprensa participa da historicização do Brasil?; 2) como a imprensa hoje altera essa memória nas formas empregadas para citar o discurso dos e sobre os imigrantes? e 3) qual o impacto dessa memória e sua alteração para o discurso de receptividade do povo brasileiro? Assim, notamos que as publicações jornalísticas de 1808 a 1939, período de estabelecimento da imprensa brasileira e de maior intensidade de fluxos imigratórios para o Brasil, ao enunciar discursos civilizatórios, antilusitanos, nacionalistas, assimilacionistas, de caldeamento racial e branqueamento populacional, materializaram distintas imagens discursivas de imigrantes, contribuindo tanto para desconstrução do mito de receptividade dos brasileiros quanto para ressoá-lo, mediante o enaltecimento e o ocultamento das violências e preconceitos sofridos pelos estrangeiros, sua particularização enquanto eventos específicos e caracterizações concebidas amplamente pela sociedade da época como negativas para quaisquer pessoas. Observamos ainda que as diferentes formas de citar o discurso sobre e dos imigrantes contemporâneos empregadas pela mídia impressa nacional contemporânea, ao propiciar distintas maneiras de integração do discurso citante no discurso citado, implicaram imagens de imigrantes enquanto adaptado, não adaptado, (in)desejável, sobrecarga ao Estado, contraventor e mercadoria. Essas imagens tanto retransmitiram as concepções do bom migrante internacional, como aquele que é adequado e integrado à sociedade brasileira, mão-de-obra, benéfico à sociedade e à economia, quanto promoveram atualizações, ressignificando a concepção de “adaptado” para globalizado, expandindo a compreensão do bom trabalhador para novas funções necessárias para o país e, diante de novos programas sociais implementados no Brasil, recontextualizando os discursos sobre os custos que os imigrantes podem representar. Essas retransmissões e atualizações demonstraram tensões dialógicas inerentes ao discurso de receptividade do povo brasileiro. Acreditamos que este estudo pode contribuir para a desmitificação do discurso de que o brasileiro é receptivo e para a compreensão das imagens de imigrante no Brasil. Dessa forma, poderá auxiliar no entendimento de uma temática que vem se destacando e exercendo influência na formulação de leis, políticas públicas e nas relações sociais e internacionais brasileiras

Em vacas de corte, folículos pré-ovulatórios (FPO) maiores, maiores concentrações de estradiol (E2) no proestro/estro e progesterona (P4) no diestro favorecem o crescimento do concepto e a fertilidade. Porém, os mecanismos mediados pelos esteroides femininos que influenciam a receptividade uterina ao embrião precisam ser esclarecidos. Os aminoácidos (AA) são componentes das secreções uterinas que são cruciais para a sobrevivência do embrião antes da implantação. A hipótese deste trabalho é que o tamanho do FPO e as concentrações de E2 e P4 modulam a abundância de transcritos relacionados ao transporte e metabolismo de AA no endométrio e afetam a concentração luminal de AA. Para isso, o crescimento folicular de vacas Nelore foi manipulado com o objetivo de formar dois grupos: FPO grande e CL grande (FG-CLG) e FPO pequeno e CL pequeno (FP-CLP). No Dia 4 (D4; Exp 1) e Dia 7 (D7; Exp 2) após a injeção de GnRH para indução da ovulação, foram coletados tecido endometrial e lavado uterino post-mortem. A abundância de transcritos foi avaliada por qRT-PCR e as concentrações de AA nos lavados foram quantificadas por HPLC. No Exp 1, o tamanho do FPO, concentrações plasmáticas de E2 no D-1 e de P4 no D4 foram 15,70mm&#177;0,43 vs. 11,31mm&#177;0,23 (p&lt;0,01), 2,44pg/ml&#177;0,19 vs. 0,65pg/ml (p&lt;0,01) e 1,40ng/ml&#177;0,23 vs. 0,80ng/ml&#177;0,10 (p&lt;0,01) para os grupos FG-CLG vs. FP-CLP, respectivamente. No Exp 2, o tamanho do FPO, concentrações plasmáticas de E2 no D-1 e de P4 no D7 foram 13,18mm&#177;0,44 vs. 10,63mm&#177;0,30 (p&lt;0,01), 2,30pg/ml&#177;0,57 vs. 0,50pg/ml&#177;0,13 (p&lt;0,01) e 3,68ng/ml&#177;0,38 vs. 2,49ng/ml&#177;0,43 (p=0,04) para os grupos FG-CLG vs. FP-CLP, respectivamente. No D4 a abundância de SLC1A4, SLC38A1, SLC6A6, SLC7A4 e SLCY e no D7, SLC1A4, SLC6A1, SLC6A14, SLC7A4, SLC7A8, SLC38A1, SLC38A7, SLC43A2 e DDO foi maior no endométrio dos animais do grupo FG-CLG (p&lt;0,05). No D4, maiores concentrações de taurina, alanina e ácido &#945;-aminobutírico foram observadas no grupo FP-CLP (p&lt;0,05). Em contraste, menores concentrações de valina e cistationina foram encontradas nos lavados uterinos do D7 dos animais do grupo FP-CLP (p&lt;0,05). No D4, os animais do grupo FG-CLG, associado a maior fertilidade, apresentaram menor quantidade de AA nas secreções uterinas, porém, a abundância dos transportadores de AA foi compatível com maior transporte em comparação aos animais do grupo FP-CLP. Esses resultados sugerem que antes do embrião se mover do oviduto ao útero, o transporte e metabolismo dos AA prioriza a preparação das células endometriais para receber o embrião e não o acúmulo nas secreções uterinas. Porém, no D7, quando o embrião está em contato direto com as secreções uterinas, os genes relacionados ao transporte de AA no endométrio e a concentração de AA no histotrofo são estimulados nas vacas do grupo FG-CLG. Portanto o metabolismo e transporte de AA no sentido das células endometriais ou das secreções uterinas pode ser um mecanismo importante para a receptividade materna. / In beef cattle, a large size of the pre-ovulatory follicle (POF) and resulting elevated proestrus/estrus estradiol (E2) and diestrus progesterone (P4) concentrations positively affect conceptus growth and fertility. However, sex-steroid-mediated mechanisms that influence uterine receptivity to the embryo need to be elucidated. Amino acids are important components of maternally-derived secretions that are crucial for embryo survival before implantation. The hypothesis is that the size of the POF, E2 and P4 concentrations modulate endometrial abundance of solute carrier proteins (SLC) transcripts related to AA transport and metabolism and subsequently affect lumenal amino acids concentrations. Therefore, follicle growth of Nelore cows was manipulated to produce two experimental groups: large POF and CL (LF-LCL group) and small POF and CL (SF-SCL group). On Day 4 (D4; Experiment 1) and Day 7 (D7; Experiment 2) post GnRH injection to induce ovulation, endometrial tissue and uterine washings were collected post-mortem. Transcript abundance was evaluated by qRT-PCR and amino acid concentrations were quantified in washings by HPLC. On Experiment 1, POF size, plasma E2 concentration on D-1, and plasma concentration of P4 on D4 were 15.70mm&#177;0.43 vs. 11.31mm&#177;0.23 (p&lt;0.01), 2.44pg/ml&#177;0.19 vs. 0.65pg/ml (p&lt;0.01) and 1.40ng/ml&#177;0.23 vs. 0.80ng/ml&#177;0.10 (p&lt;0.01) for the LF-LCL vs. SF-SCL groups, respectively. For Experiment 2, POF size, plasma E2 concentration on D-1 and plasma P4 concentration on D7 were 13.18mm&#177;0.44 vs. 10.63mm&#177;0.30 (p&lt;0.01), 2.30pg/ml&#177;0.57 vs. 0.50pg/ml&#177;0.13 (p&lt;0.01) and 3.68ng/ml&#177;0.38 vs. 2.49ng/ml&#177;0.43 (p=0.04) for the LF-LCL vs. SF-SCL groups, respectively. On D4, abundance of SLC6A6, SLC7A4, SLC17A5, SLC38A1, SLC38A7 and SLCY and on D7, SLC1A4, SLC6A1, SLC6A14, SLC7A4, SLC7A7, SLC7A8, SLC17A5, SLC38A1, SLC38A7, SLC43A2 and DDO was greater in the endometrium of cows from the LF-LCL group (p&lt;0.05). On D4, higher concentrations of taurine, alanine and &#945;-aminobutiric acid were observed in SF-SCL (p&lt;0.05). In contrast, lower concentrations of valine and cystathionine were quantified in D7 uterine washings from SF-SCL cows (p&lt;0.05). On D4, animals from LF-LCL group, associated with greater fertility, presented less amino acid content in uterine secretion but abundance of transporters was compatible to greater transport in comparison to animals from SF-SCL group. This suggests that before embryo moves from oviduct to uterus, amino acids transport and metabolism pathways prioritizes endometrium cells preparation for receiving the embryo but not accumulation in uterine secretions. However, on D7, when the embryo is in direct contact with uterine secretions, genes related to amino acids transport in endometrium and amino acids concentration in histotroph are up-regulated in LF-LCL cows. The latter insights indicate that amino acids metabolism and transport, towards endometrial cells or uterine secretions, might be mechanisms contributing to maternal receptivity.

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>A defect implantation process is the major reason for unexplained infertility. Estrogen andprogesterone are steroid hormones preparing the endometrium for implantation. They mediatetheir effect through their receptors: estrogen receptor alpha and beta and progesteronereceptor A and B, respectively. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), which is also important forimplantation, mediates its effect through LIF receptor and the coreceptor, gp130, and is downregulated by suppressors of cytokine signaling 1. The aim of the study was to compare thelevels of the steroid hormone receptors and LIF related factors in the endometrium of twogroups of women with the diagnosis unexplained infertility: one that became pregnant afterassisted reproduction and one that did not become pregnant. Before treatment of thesewomen, endometrial mRNA was collected during the window of implantation in themenstrual cycle. The levels of specific mRNAs were measured with real-time PCR. Womenwho had become pregnant had a significantly higher level of steroid hormone receptors. Thus,these proteins seem to be important for a pregnancy and may be suitable as receptivitymarkers.</p>

A lot has changed since that day on December 17, 1903 when the Wright brothers made the first powered manned flight. Even though the concepts behind flying are unaltered, appearance of stat-of-the-art modern aircrafts has undergone a massive evolution. This is mainly owed to our deeper understanding of how to harness and optimize the interaction between fluid flows and aircraft bodies. Flow passing over wings and different junctions on an aircraft faces numerous local features, for instance, acceleration or deceleration, laminar or turbulent state, and interacting boundary layers. In our study we aim to characterize some of these flow features and their physical roles. Primarily, stability characteristics of flow over a wing subject to a negative pressure gradient are studied. This is a common condition for flows over swept wings. Part of the current numerical study conforms to existing experimental studies where a passive control mechanism has been tested to delay laminarturbulent transition. The same flow type has also been considered to study the receptivity of three-dimensional boundary layers to freestream turbulence. The work entails investigation of effects of low-level freestream turbulence on crossflow instability, as well as interaction with micron-sized surface roughness elements. Another common three-dimensional flow feature arises as a resultof stream-lines passing through a junction, the so-calledcorner-flow. For instance, thisflow can be formed in the junction between the wing and fuselage on aplane.A series of direct numerical simulations using linear Navier-Stokes equationshave been performed to determine the optimal initial perturbation. Optimalrefers to perturbations which can gain the maximum energy from the flow overa period of time. In other words this method seeks to determine theworst-casescenario in terms of perturbation growth. Here, power-iterationtechnique hasbeen applied to the Navier-Stokes equations and their adjoint to determine theoptimal initial perturbation. Recent advances in super-computers have enabled advance computational methods to increasingly contribute to design of aircrafts, in particular for turbulent flows with regions of separation. In this work we investigate theturbulentflow on an infinite wing at a moderate chord Reynolds number of Re= 400,000 using a well resolved direct numerical simulation. A conventional NACA4412 has been chosen for this work. The turbulent flow is characterizedusing statistical analysis and following time history data in regions with interesting flow features. In the later part of this work, direct numerical simulation has been chosen as a tool to mainly investigate the effect of freestream turbulence on the transition mechanism of flow from laminar to turbulent around a turbine blade. / <p>QC 20151125</p>

ABSTRACT A defect implantation process is the major reason for unexplained infertility. Estrogen andprogesterone are steroid hormones preparing the endometrium for implantation. They mediatetheir effect through their receptors: estrogen receptor alpha and beta and progesteronereceptor A and B, respectively. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), which is also important forimplantation, mediates its effect through LIF receptor and the coreceptor, gp130, and is downregulated by suppressors of cytokine signaling 1. The aim of the study was to compare thelevels of the steroid hormone receptors and LIF related factors in the endometrium of twogroups of women with the diagnosis unexplained infertility: one that became pregnant afterassisted reproduction and one that did not become pregnant. Before treatment of thesewomen, endometrial mRNA was collected during the window of implantation in themenstrual cycle. The levels of specific mRNAs were measured with real-time PCR. Womenwho had become pregnant had a significantly higher level of steroid hormone receptors. Thus,these proteins seem to be important for a pregnancy and may be suitable as receptivitymarkers.

The stability and the receptivity of three-dimensional flat plate boundary layers is studied employing parabolised stability equations. These allow for computationally efficient parametric studies. Two different sets of equations are used. The stability of modal disturbances in the form of crossflow vortices is studied by means of the well-known classical parabolised stability equations (PSE). A new method is developed which is applicable to more general vortical-type disturbances. It is based on a modified version of the classical PSE and describes both modal and non-modal growth in three-dimensional boundary layers. This modified PSE approach is used in conjunction with a Lagrange multiplier technique to compute spatial optimal disturbances in three-dimensional boundary layers. These take the form of streamwise oriented tilted vortices initially and develop into streaks further downstream. When entering the domain where modal disturbances become unstable optimal disturbances smoothly evolve into crossflow modes. It is found that non-modal growth is of significant magnitude in three-dimensional boundary layers. Both the lift-up and the Orr mechanism are identified as the physical mechanisms behind non-modal growth. Furthermore, the modified PSE are used to determine the response of three-dimensional boundary layers to vortical free-stream disturbances. By comparing to results from direct numerical simulations it is shown that the response, including initial transient behaviour, is described very accurately. Extensive parametric studies are performed where effects of free-stream turbulence are modelled by filtering with an energy spectrum characteristic for homogeneous isotropic turbulence. It is found that a quantitative prediction of the boundary layer response to free-stream turbulence requires detailed information about the incoming turbulent flow field. Finally, the adjoint of the classical PSE is used to determine the receptivity of modal disturbances with respect to localised surface roughness. It is shown that the adjoint approach yields perfect agreement with results from Finite-Reynold-Number Theory (FRNT) if the boundary layer is assumed to be locally parallel.  Receptivity is attenuated if nonlocal and non-parallel effects are accounted for. Comparisons to direct numerical simulations and extended parametric studies are presented.