An experimental characterisation of a pre-commercial spiral wound permeate gap membrane distillation module was carried out to test its performance at different operating conditions for the purpose of seawater desalination. The experimental setup consisted of a flat plate solar collector field indirectly coupled to the permeate gap membrane distillation module via an inertia tank. The operating parameters varied were the condenser inlet temperature (from 20 °C to 30 °C), evaporator inlet temperature (from 60 °C to 80 °C) and seawater feed flow rate (from 200 l/h to 400 l/h). Within this operational boundary, it was found that the maximum permeate/distillate flux was 4.135 l/(h∙m2) which equates to a distillate production/flow rate of close to 21.3 l/h. The maximum potential distillate production rate is expected to be significantly higher than this value though as the maximum manufacturer specified feed flow rate is 700 l/h and the maximum evaporator inlet temperature is rated at 90 °C. Both these parameters are positively related to the distillate production rate. The minimum specific thermal energy consumption was found to be 180 kWh/m3. A mathematical model of the overall system was developed, and experimentally validated, to mathematically describe the coupling of the membrane distillation module with a solar collector field. The effectiveness of internal heat recovery of the membrane distillation module was found to be an accurate and simple tool to evaluate the thermal energy demand of the distillation process at a given set of operation parameters. The mathematical model was used to further investigate the experimental findings and provide insights into the operational dynamics of the membrane distillation module. It was also used to determine some external conditions required for steady state operation, at a given distillation operating point, such as the minimum solar irradiation required for operation and the auxiliary cooling required in the solar collector loop for maintaining steady state conditions. Finally, general guidelines are provided toward better operational practices to improve the coupling of a solar thermal collector unit/field with a membrane distillation system using a storage tank or inertia tank.

abstract: Magnetic Resonance Imaging using spiral trajectories has many advantages in speed, efficiency in data-acquistion and robustness to motion and flow related artifacts. The increase in sampling speed, however, requires high performance of the gradient system. Hardware inaccuracies from system delays and eddy currents can cause spatial and temporal distortions in the encoding gradient waveforms. This causes sampling discrepancies between the actual and the ideal k-space trajectory. Reconstruction assuming an ideal trajectory can result in shading and blurring artifacts in spiral images. Current methods to estimate such hardware errors require many modifications to the pulse sequence, phantom measurements or specialized hardware. This work presents a new method to estimate time-varying system delays for spiral-based trajectories. It requires a minor modification of a conventional stack-of-spirals sequence and analyzes data collected on three orthogonal cylinders. The method is fast, robust to off-resonance effects, requires no phantom measurements or specialized hardware and estimate variable system delays for the three gradient channels over the data-sampling period. The initial results are presented for acquired phantom and in-vivo data, which show a substantial reduction in the artifacts and improvement in the image quality. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Bioengineering 2013

Suivant le fil conducteur sous-jacent à la pensée de Jean Baudrillard, la présente recherche s’attache à explorer les premiers travaux de l’auteur afin de saisir sa conception de la nature du langage, du signe et du sens. Notre démarche s’inscrit dans une tentative de rendre compte à la fois des changements de paradigmes théoriques et d’explorer la vision du langage de Baudrillard dans le contexte des sciences humaines françaises. La théorie du langage de Baudrillard repose sur une double spirale à deux chaines que sont la sémiotique et le symbolique. Ces deux mouvements s’opposent au même objet critique qu’est le sens figé et passent, pour ce faire, par des approches largement diversifiées, voire contradictoires. La dimension symbolique, qui assure le vide ou le néant du sens, la consommation de la valeur ainsi que l’anéantissement du code, s’oppose ainsi à la dimension sémiotique dont l’objet est précisément orienté sur l’indétermination et les incertitudes du sens, sur la production de la valeur ainsi que sur l’hégémonie du code. La complexification de ces postulats au sein de la double spirale de Baudrillard est incontestable dans le champ des sciences humaines françaises. C'est dans l’espace entre le sémiotique et le symbolique – la double spirale visant à subvertir et à déconstruire la pensée moderne – que Baudrillard confère au symbolique le pouvoir mystérieux de renier les civilisations modernes, son engagement envers le statut originel du langage accompagné du rejet de la signification et de la communication suscitant une vision tant radicale qu’impossible. / Jean Baudrillard is regarded as one of the most important figures in contemporary French thought. His theoretical studies and cultural perspectives provide important insights into academic subjects. This dissertation probes Baudrillard’s early works to explore his view on language within the context of French Human Science. Baudrillard’s discussion about consumer objects, his critique of Semiology, his concept of simulation, and his debate over poetic language are closely examined to clarify the theoretical transitions and conflicts of his insights into the nature of language, sign and meaning.Baudrillard’s theorizing of language presents a ‘double spiral’ consisting of two chains: the semiotic and the symbolic. A thorough examination of such a spiral is the foundation for interpreting his view on language.The semiotic chain of the double spiral embodies sign and code. Baudrillard begins with the structuralist approach to the meaning of consumer goods, proceeding with a post-structuralist shift towards the critique of Semiology and the theory of simulation. These moves give insights into language and sign, which privilege the signifier as the principle of circulation and game. Baudrillard illustrates how the structure of the sign is dismantled, arguing that what is signified is merely an effect determined by the primacy of the signifier. In essence the signified is a structural play of the signifier under the manipulation of code.The symbolic chain is Baudrillard’s deepening investigation of primitive cultures as cultures of the symbolic exchange, to the discipline of which converge Mauss’s notion of gift, Bataille’s notion of expenditure and Saussure’s anagrams. Baudrillard claims that the poetic, as the terrain of the symbolic exchange in language, has brought out the antagonistic character of a non-expressive language, and has decentered the primacy of the signifier and the dominancy of code. The signifier in the poetic is dismembered into scattered phonemes, and the doubling up of phoneme and counter-phoneme is conceived as a cyclical cancellation. For Baudrillard, the exact poetic operation is equivalent to the signifier’s death and annihilation, a force proper to the destruction of the final signified or the signified in process, and proper to the extermination of code. Interpreted as a pure expenditure of language and a break with the logic of production, the poetic resolves the signifier, the distinction between the signifier and the signified, and accordingly the mechanism of language activity.Baudrillard’s double spiral, the coexistence and contest between these two chains, aims to reject the definite meaning and seeks to dismantle the structure of the sign and to explode all metaphysical binary oppositions. In spite of spiraling around the same critical object, the semiotic and the symbolic are showing widely divergent approaches. The semiotic chain implodes the unity of the signifier and the signified in the structural play of the signifier. The symbolic puts an end to the structure of the sign and thereby that of code, operating in a realm beyond all distinctions assigned by code. According to Baudrillard, the symbolic stands for the void or nothingness of meaning, the consumption of value and the extermination of code, as an antagonist force against the indetermination or incertitude of meaning, the production of value and the domination of code.There are inevitably positions of a more complex pattern that Baudrillard’s double spiral presents in the field of language studies in French Human Science. Baudrillard adhered to certain features and suppositions of the semiological tradition even as he struggled against it in the institutional settings of structural interpretation. / 鲍德里亚是法国思想界重要的标杆性人物之一，其理论研究和文化视角对当代社会理论和文化研究产生了广泛而深远的影响。本文试图厘清鲍德里亚思想语言维度的双重线索，从他对消费品的探讨、对符号学的批判、对拟真的研究以及对诗学语言的极端推崇来考察其对待语言符号以及意义问题的观点和立场转变，并阐释这些转变的理论根基和内在承接关系，以期在法国人文科学语境下对其思想的语言维度作出深入探索。从坚持意义结构观的消费品符号学到批判符号学的拟真理论，再转向推崇象征性交换的诗学研究，鲍德里亚思想的语言维度呈现出双链螺旋的趋势——符号化和象征性。就符号化螺旋而言，鲍德里亚思想的基点在于符号和符码，他从借鉴现代符号学思想起步，对物品和消费社会进行结构分析，然后以向后结构主义的转变来完成对符号学的批判和拟真理论的建构，这反映出他对现实社会符号、符码以及语言游戏的深度思考。语言的符号化螺旋凸显了能指优势和能指的结构游戏：能指和所指完全断裂，由二者构成的符号不再是一个稳固确定的结构；能指对于游离的所指来说具有压倒性的优势地位，所指意义是符码结构操作下的能指效果和能指游戏；作为符号联结的规则系统，符码结构是构造和生产意义的母体。就象征性螺旋而言，鲍德里亚把莫斯和巴塔耶对原始社会曾经存在的象征性交换方式奉为革命性手段，同时把索绪尔的易位书写笔记融入其中，寄希望于象征性交换方式对抗符号和符码操控下各种权力和价值的积累、生产和再生产。语言的象征性螺旋锁定在诗学语言对能指优势和符码霸权的去除：诗学语言通过易位书写方式把语词分解成零散的能指碎片，通过配对方式对这些能指进行重复，音素和音素的副本（即反音素）之间相互抵消，这种能指返回自身并作用于自身的象征性交换相当于能指的死亡和毁灭。能指的耗费相当于所指的耗费，诗学语言在摧毁能指的同时也摧毁了终极的先验所指以及过程中延异的所指。象征性交换消解了能指，消解了能指和所指的区分，同时也消解了这种区分对立背后的语言活动机制——操控意义生产和再生产的符码。双链螺旋语言研究形成了既共生又对抗的纠缠关系，其核心目标是否定意义确定论，其直接的批判对象是结构主义符号学的符号结构，而深层的批判对象则是形而上学赖以依存的二元对立思维模式。尽管双链螺旋围绕着共同的批判根基而盘旋上升，但不可否认双链螺旋在意义问题上呈现出大相径庭的批判进路。在拆解结构问题上，符号化螺旋是在语言符号学内部批判意义生产的结构，让能指和所指的符号二元结构内爆，突出由符码结构主导的能指游戏；而象征性螺旋则是在语言符号学外部超越意义生产的结构，诗学的象征性交换不仅要驱逐符号结构甚至要把等级二元的根基——符码结构也彻底终结。鲍德里亚视象征性螺旋为消灭能指的物质性和符号学符码规律的革命手段，以意义的空无、价值的耗费和符码的根除来对抗符号化螺旋之意义的不确定、价值的生产和符码的霸权。双链螺旋在法国当代人文科学语言研究的大背景下呈现出微妙的两面性。鲍德里亚虽然批判了结构主义符号学的形而上学但不可否认他还是坚守了结构主义的某些预设和准则；他似乎想靠近后结构主义阵营来反对结构主义，但是又想与后结构主义保持距离凸显个性，这种微妙的态度决定了他的语言研究游走于符号化和象征性之间。鲍德里亚一方面承认意义产生于语言游戏，尤其依赖于符号与符号之间的符码关系结构；另一方面，他孜孜不倦地试图摆脱符号和符码的控制，让语言回到非表意的声音或线条的原初状态，拒绝所有言说和意义。尽管双链螺旋顺应了西方人文科学语境中推翻意义、理性和主体等先验中心的大趋势，但是鲍德里亚在象征性螺旋中所秉持的观点极大地暴露了其思想的极端性和消极性，把象征性交换的耗费抬高为否定一切社会历史文明进步的超然力量，让已经具有了意指和交流功能的语言符号回复到非表意的混沌状态，不足以成为解决现实问题的办法。

O presente trabalho é um estudo comparativo entre a modelagem de motores de indução bifásicos simétricos com o uso da transformação dq0, que é uma modelagem matemática clássica na análise dos motores de indução bifásicos e a modelagem através da teoria do vetor espiral, proposta na década de 80 para os motores de indução trifásicos. A modelagem clássica é apresentada detalhadamente, bem como a modelagem por vetores espirais. Foram realizadas simulações para comparar os resultados entre as diferentes abordagens. / This work is a comparative study between the classic modeling using dq0 transformation and the spiral vector theory applied to study symmetrical two-phase induction machine. The spiral vector theory was proposed by Dr. Sakae Yamamura to study electrical machines in the middle of 1980s. To compare both types of modeling, simulations were performed to solve differential equations.

As galáxias espirais continuam desafiando as teorias que buscam explicar como o universo se tornou o que observamos hoje. Em especial, no contexto hierárquico de formação de estruturas, é difícil entender como as galáxias podem ser tão parecidas entre si, obedecendo a relações de escala tão estritas, apesar de suas diferentes histórias evolutivas. A fim de esclarecer algumas dessas perguntas, o projeto GHASP observou 203 galáxias na linha H-alfa, através de interferometria Fabry-Perot, construindo uma base de dados homogênea e de alta qualidade para estudos cinemáticos do universo local. Neste trabalho, buscamos complementar os resultados consolidados do GHASP, apresentando um estudo fotométrico para 173 destas galáxias na banda Rc. Os dados, provenientes de observações no telescópio de 1,2m do Observatório de Haute-Provence ou do projeto SDSS, foram cuidadosamente tratados com ferramentas de redução IRAF adaptados para a automação dos processos. Através do ajuste de elipses sobre as galáxias, foram obtidos perfis de brilho calibrados e magnitudes totais para as galáxias da amostra. A decomposição da luz destes perfis foi estudada através de um modelo exponencial para o disco e uma função de Sérsic para o bojo. Os resultados da decomposição bojo-disco foram utilizados para o estudo de relações de escala e correlações entre os diversos parâmetros medidos. Algumas das mais significativas correlações são detalhadas, como a relação entre os parâmetros de escala de bojo e disco, que reforçam o cenário de evolução secular das galáxias disco. Finalmente, com o auxílio dos resultados cinemáticos da literatura, apresentamos, pela primeira vez, a relação Tully-Fisher para a amostra do GHASP, na banda Rc. / The spiral galaxies still challenge the theories that try to explain how the universe has turned into what we see today. In particular, in the context of the hierarchical structure formation, it is difficult to understand how galaxies can be so similar, obeying such strict scaling relations, in spite of their distinct evolutionary histories. In order to clarify some of these questions, the GHASP project has observed 203 galaxies in the H-alpha line, through Fabry-Perot interferometry, and has built a homogeneous and high quality database for kinematical studies in the local universe. In the present work, we seek to supplement the GHASP project results, presenting a photometric study for 173 of those galaxies in the Rc band. The data, taken with the 1.2m telescope at Haute-Provence Observatory or extracted from the SDSS database, was carefully treated with customized IRAF routines for the automation of most of the jobs. By fitting ellipses over the galaxies, calibrated surface brightness profiles and total magnitudes were obtained for galaxies in the sample. Then, galaxy light decomposition techniques were employed using an exponential model for the disk and a Sérsic function for the bulge. The results of the bulge-disk decomposition were used for the study of scaling relations and correlations among the several measured parameters. A few of the most significant correlations were described, such as the relation between bulge and disc scale lengths, reinforcing the galaxy-disk secular evolutionary scenario. Finally, with the aid of kinematic results from the literature, we present, for the first time, the Tully-Fisher relation for the GHASP sample, in the Rc-band.

Introdução: A hipoxemia é uma complicação frequente no pós-operatório de cirurgia de revascularização miocárdica (RM) com circulação extracorpórea (CEC), normalmente decorrente da formação de atelectasia pulmonar. O presente estudo visa investigar o papel do coração na perda de aeração dos lobos pulmonares inferiores. Métodos: Dezessete pacientes sem disfunção cardíaca foram submetidos a tomografia computadorizada (TC) pré e pósoperatória em apnéia após expiração normal. A massa cardíaca, a pressão exercida pelas protrusões cardíacas direita e esquerda sobre os segmentos pulmonares subjacentes a elas e a fração de tecido pulmonar atelectasiado dos mesmos segmentos e dos segmentos não subjacentes foram avaliados nos cortes tomográficos 1 cm acima do diafragma. Resultados: A massa cardíaca sofreu um aumento de 32% (117 ± 31g vs. 155 ± 35g; p < 0,001) no pós-operatório, levando a um aumento nas pressões exercidas pelas protrusões cardíacas direita (2,2 ± 0,6 g.cm-2 vs 3,2 ± 1,2 g.cm-2; p < 0,05) e esquerda (2,4 ± 0,7 g.cm-2 vs. 4,2 ± 1,8 g.cm-2; p < 0,001) sobre os segmentos pulmonares subjacentes. A fração média de tecido atelectasiado direita e esquerda abaixo das protrusões aumentou substancialmente no pós-operatório (6,7% para 32,9% e 6,2% para 29%, respectivamente; p < 0,001). Este aumento foi menos pronunciado nas áreas não subjacentes (direito: 0,7% para 10,8%, esquerdo 1,5% para 12,6%; p < 0,001). Conclusão: A pressão exercida pelo coração sobre os pulmões aumentou no período pós-operatório, contribuindo de forma importante para a formação de atelectasias nos segmentos pulmonares subjacentes / Introduction: Atelectasis is a major cause of hypoxemia after onpump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). General anesthesia, use of high inspiratory oxygen concentration and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) are implicated in the genesis of atelectasis. However, the contribution of pressure exerted by the heart to collapse the underlying lung is unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of heart-induced pulmonary compression after on-pump CABG. Methods: Seventeen patients without cardiac dysfunction underwent pre and postoperative thoracic computed tomography (CT) in apnea conditions after a normal expiration. The cardiac mass, the pressure exerted on the lungs by the right and left heart segments and the collapsed lung fraction of lower lobe segments below and outside of the heart limits were evaluated in a CT section 1 cm above the diaphragm. Results: Cardiac mass increased by 32% (117 ± 31g vs. 155 ± 35g; p <0.001) postoperatively, leading to an increase in the pressures exerted by right (2.2 ± 0.6 g.cm-2 vs. 3.2 ± 1.2 g.cm-2; p <0.05) and left heart segments (2.4 ± 0.7 g.cm-2 vs. 4.2 ± 1.8 g.cm-2; p <0.001) on the lungs. The median fraction of collapsed right (6.7% to 32.9%; p <0.001) and left (6.2% to 29%; p <0.001) lung parenchyma segments beneath the heart greatly increased postoperatively, while it was less important outside of the heart limits, (right: 0.7% to 10.8; p<0,001 and left: 1.5% to 12.6%; p<0,001). Conclusion: The pressure exerted by the heart on the lungs increased postoperatively, importantly contributing to collapse the subjacent pulmonary segments

O presente trabalho trata de uma modelagem eletromagneticamente acoplada e fracamente acoplada ao problema mecânico do processo de conformação eletromagnética (EMF). Este usa bobina espiral plana, aplicada na deformação de chapas finas e planas para obter geometrias finais rasas. Um método de solução numérica é usado para o problema eletromagnético, o qual foi desenvolvido no software Matlab e utiliza o software Abaqus/Explicit para verificação da geometria deformada após a aplicação da força transiente de origem eletromagnética. O método foca especificamente no cálculo da densidade de fluxo magnético em pontos específicos usando a lei de Biot-Savart e análise do circuito que modela o processo de conformação eletromagnética, sendo que as indutâncias deste circuito são calculadas e fazem o acoplamento entre os fenômenos elétricos e magnéticos. Os cálculos das correntes de descarga e induzidas e perfil da força de origem eletromagnética são realizados para o instante inicial, sem considerar o movimento da chapa. O perfil da força de origem eletromagnética ao longo da chapa é calculado para diversos instantes, sendo este um dos dados de entrada no software Abaqus/Explicit através de uma sub-rotina acessível ao usuário (VDLOAD) obtendo-se a geometria da chapa deformada. A rotina de cálculo discretiza o problema eletromagnético como um sistema de equações diferenciais ordinárias (ODE) para calcular a corrente de descarga da bobina atuadora e as induzidas na chapa metálica. Experimentos, sem chapa acoplada, e com chapa fixa ou deformando foram realizados com a aquisição da corrente de descarga, medição da densidade de fluxo magnético, velocidade de deformação e geometria da chapa deformada, demonstrando uma boa correlação com o método de cálculo proposto. O presente trabalho fornece importantes informações para o projeto de sistemas de conformação eletromagnética sem a necessidade de uma função da corrente de descarga como dado de entrada para solução do problema eletromagnético. / This thesis deals with modeling and numerical simulation electromagnetically coupled and loosely-coupled to the mechanical problem for process of the electromagnetic forming. This uses flat spiral coil, applied to the deformation of thin and flat sheet metal to obtain shallow end geometries. This method uses a numerical solution to the electromagnetic problem, which was developed in the software Matlab and uses the software Abaqus/Explicit for verification of the deformed geometry after applying of the transient force of origin electromagnetic. The method focuses specifically on the calculation of the magnetic flux density at specific points using the Biot-Savart law and circuit analysis that modeling of electromagnetic forming process and the inductances of this circuit are calculated and couple the electric and magnetic phenomena. Calculations of discharge and induced currents, profile force of origin electromagnetic are performed for the initial time, without considering the motion of the sheet metal. The profiles force of origin electromagnetic along the sheet metal is calculated for several instants, which are input data in software Abaqus/Explicit using a user-routine (VDLOAD) obtaining the deformed geometry of the sheet metal. The calculation routine discretizes the electromagnetic problem as a system of ordinary differential equations (ODE) to calculate the discharge current of the actuator coil and induced currents in the metal sheet. Experiments without coupled sheet metal, and fixed or deforming sheet metal were performed with the acquisition of the discharge current, measurement of magnetic flux density, velocity of movement and deformation geometry of the sheet metal, demonstrating a good correlation with the proposed method of calculation. This study provides important information for the design of the electromagnetic forming systems without the need for a function of discharge current as input for solution of the electromagnetic problem.

Submitted by Juliana Correa (juliana.correa@unioeste.br) on 2017-09-06T12:02:46Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Alcidir M. Zanco2017.pdf: 1232380 bytes, checksum: 66456b1f7e4c28ea912e603888db1368 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-06T12:02:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Alcidir M. Zanco2017.pdf: 1232380 bytes, checksum: 66456b1f7e4c28ea912e603888db1368 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-02 / The cooperativism is based in its strategies of social and organizational development on cooperatives principles. This reason is founded for several prevailing doctrinal, mainly in the principle education, formation and information, developed with members, directors and employees, principle that guides the forms of cooperation, empower social and legitimizes self-management. In the face the importance of the principle and the challenges involved in its implementation, in the essay was verified how PECSOL- Programa Nacional de Educação do Cooperativismo Solidário/ National Education Program of Solidary Cooperativismcontributed in learning of the directors as multipliers of knowledge in the Cooperatives of Family Agriculture and Solidary Economy registered in the UNICAFES System. The essay was based on qualitative and quantitative description, with a longitudinal cut referring to the years 2013 and 2014. The instrument for the date was based in the activities of the program and on the conversion modes presents in the Spiral Knowledge of Nonaka and Takeuchi(1997), with the questionnaire organized through of Likert scale. The population searched was 1443 directors of cooperatives distributed in 20 states of Brazil. The essay verified the PECSOL contributed for learning and multiplication of knowledge, pointed out the needs of qualification of strategies for externalization, combination and mainly for the internalization of knowledge in the people and cooperatives. / O Cooperativismo fundamenta suas estratégias de desenvolvimento social e organizacional nos princípios cooperativistas. Esta fundamentação é alicerçada por diversas frentes doutrinárias, sobretudo no princípio de educação, formação e informação, desenvolvido junto aos associados, diretores e funcionários, princípio que orienta as formas de cooperação, fortalece a participação social e legitima a autogestão. Diante da importância do princípio e dos desafios presentes na sua execução, o estudo verificou o quanto o Programa Nacional de Educação do Cooperativismo Solidário (PECSOL) contribuiu para a aprendizagem dos diretores como multiplicadores do conhecimento nas Cooperativas da Agricultura Familiar e Economia Solidária registradas no Sistema UNICAFES. O estudo foi descritivo de cunho quali-quantitativo com corte longitudinal referente aos anos de 2013 e 2014. O instrumento de coleta de dados baseou-se nas atividades do programa e nos modos de conversão presentes na Espiral do Conhecimento de Nonaka e Takeuchi (1997), com um questionário organizado através da escala Likert. A população pesquisada foi de 1443 diretores de Cooperativas, distribuídos em 20 estados do Brasil. A pesquisa verificou que o PECSOL contribuiu para aprendizagem e multiplicação do conhecimento, apontando para a necessidade de qualificar as estratégias de externalização, combinação e principalmente de internalização do conhecimento nas pessoas e nas cooperativas.

Durante a gravidez o sistema respiratório sofre modificações. Além da elevação do diafragma, provavelmente secundária ao aumento do volume uterino, estudos indicaram que, com a progressão da gestação algumas mudanças em volumes e capacidades pulmonares ocorrem como redução na capacidade residual funcional, volume de reserva expiratório, volume corrente e da capacidade inspiratória. Uma das hipóteses para explicar esses achados é que a elevação do diafragma pode causar colapso pulmonar, que pode ser pior em mulheres que realizaram parto cesariana (PC), quando comparadas as que tiveram parto vaginal (PV). Este estudo avaliou 20 mulheres, 2 a 5 horas após o parto em um Hospital Universitário. Após a obtenção do consentimento livre e esclarecido, 20 mulheres saudáveis, não-fumantes, onde 10 mulheres haviam realizado PV e 10 haviam realizado PC, após o parto foram submetidos à tomografia computadorizada torácica. A imagem foi analisada por um sistema de software (Osíris). A média de atenuação de cada fatia foi expresso em unidades Hounsfield (UH) e medido o percentual da área de colapso pulmonar (em g%). No grupo PV a média foi de -841,90 UH e 3,95 g%, enquanto que no grupo PC a média foi de -765,95 UH e 14,1g%. Estes resultados sugerem que as mulheres submetidas ao PC têm maior área de colapso pulmonar comparado com mulheres submetidas ao PV / During pregnancy the respiratory system undergoes several modifications. Besides the elevation of diaphragm, probably secondary to the increase in uterine volume, studies indicated that with the progression of the gestation some changes in pulmonary volumes and capacities occur, as a reduction in Functional Residual Capacity, Expiratory Reserve Volume, Tidal Volume and Inspiratory Capacity. One of the hypotheses to explain these findings is that the elevation of diaphragm may cause pulmonary collapse, which may be worse in women who underwent a cesarean section when compared to those who had vaginal delivery. This paper evaluates 20 women, 2 to 5 hours after delivery in a University Hospital. After getting informed consent, 20 healthy non-smoking women, 10 who underwent vaginal delivery (VD) and 10 who underwent a cesarean section (CS), were submitted to a chest computed tomography. The images of two different basal lung levels were analyzed by means of a software system (Osiris). The mean attenuation value of each slice in Hounsfield Units (UH) were measured and the percentage area of collapsed lung (in g%) was calculated. In the VD group the mean attenuation was - 841.90 UH and the collapsed area was 3.95 g%, while in the CS group the mean attenuation was -765.95 UH and the collapsed area was 14.1 g%. These results suggested that women who underwent a cesarean section have more collapse at basal lung levels than women who had a vaginal delivery

Natural mortality is a poorly known aspect of fisheries biology, despite its importance in stock assessments and population analysis. Of the many potential sources of mortality and morbidity in fishes, the effect of internal parasites is perhaps the least studied. Intestinal parasites may inhibit nutrient uptake as well as stimulate an inflammatory response in fish. Intestinal parasites of several tropical pelagic elasmobranchs, including silky and night sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis and C. signatus), the pelagic stingray (Pteroplatytrygon violacea), and mesopelagic fishes including sailfin lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox), oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus), snake mackerel (Gempylus serpens), escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum), and Atlantic pomfret (Brama brama) are described from the South Atlantic Bight in the western North Atlantic. Parasites recovered include cestodes, trematodes, acanthocephalans and nematodes. Total gastrointestinal parasite loads were compared against the size (both length and weight) of the host, showing no correlation in pelagic elasmobranchs and a small correlation in mesopelagic teleosts. Sex and parasite loads were also compared for elasmobranchs showing a weak correlation. Capture seasons were also compared, and other results of this research showed that the parasites in this study are not host-species specific. The observed parasite classes and total helminth loads are the first described for these five mesopelagic fishes and will serve as a baseline for further studies. Future research is suggested to ascertain if commercially valuable, co-occurring, co-existing pelagic fishes may also be at risk for similar intestinal parasite fauna and burdens.