Uma criança, para um desenvolvimento emocional saudável, necessita de um ambiente acolhedor, que possa atender a suas necessidades básicas, sem provocar invasões nesse processo, ambiente este denominado por Winnicott de suficientemente bom. Pode-se refletir que uma criança que sofreu maus-tratos experienciou momentos de invasão no seu processo de integração que poderiam prejudicar seu desenvolvimento posterior e que seria de grande importância uma psicoterapia como possibilidade de elaboração de suas vivências e sustentação de seu crescimento. Partindo deste pressuposto, o presente trabalho objetivou realizar um diálogo entre teoria e prática, prática esta advinda de um processo psicoterapêutico de uma criança que sofreu abuso físico por parte de sua mãe, retirada de seu lar e abrigada em uma instituição, baseando-se em uma perspectiva winnicottiana do desenvolvimento emocional. As sessões eram realizadas na própria instituição onde a criança se encontrava abrigada, tendo sido realizadas 106 sessões de ludoterapia de orientação psicanalítica, com freqüência semanal de três vezes por semana, no período de Novembro de 2001 a Fevereiro de 2003. Pôde-se perceber que, através da ludoterapia, a criança pôde desenvolver-se emocionalmente, elaborando vivências traumáticas e experienciando um ambiente não intrusivo e acolhedor, podendo trabalhar aspectos relativos a sua identidade, casa e família. O atendimento continua até o presente momento, através da inserção de uma nova psicoterapeuta. / A child, for a healthy emotional development, needs a welcoming environment, named by Winnicott as a good enough environment, which can take care of the child’s basic necessities without invading him in his process. It can be though that a maltreated child has experienced moments of invasion in his integration process that could prejudice his ulterior development and a psychotherapy would have a great importance as a possibility of traumatic experience’s elaboration and of a holding for his growth. Taking this view in to consideration, the present work has aimed a dialogue between theory and practical work based in a Winnicott’s perspective of the emotional development. The practical work comes from a psychotherapeutic process of a child who has suffered physical abuse perpetrated by his mother and was living in an institution for maltreated children. The total of 106 sessions occurred in the institution where the child used to live, in a frequency of three sessions per week, from November of 2001 to February of 2003. It was possible to notice that, through the play therapy, the child could develop himself emotionally, elaborate traumatic experiences and experiment a supporting and non-intrusive environment. It was possible to work psychological aspects related to his identity, home and family. The play therapy continues until the present moment through the insertion of a new therapist.

Este trabalho visa discutir como a relação mãe-bebê influencia a formação da imagem corporal em crianças com paralisia cerebral. São apresentadas inicialmente algumas ideias de Freud e Ferenczi, o fundador da Psicanálise e um de seus primeiros seguidores, para então chegar às ideias de Winnicott, também psicanalista, mas com uma visão revolucionária do desenvolvimento. São discutidas então estas três questões e sua inter-relação: a imagem corporal, a paralisia cerebral e o papel da mãe. São apresentados então conceitos winnicottianos como o holding, o handling, a personalização, o self e o papel do rosto da mãe como precursor do espelho. O objetivo é discutir esse assunto para compreender melhor as crianças com este tipo de deficiência, para que se possa trabalhar melhor com elas, com suas mães, e com aqueles que já chegam a nós adultos, mas com um sofrimento que parece ter relação com o desenvolvimento e com sua relação com o próprio corpo. Sabe-se (seguindo a linha de pensamento winnicottiana) que a relação com a mãe é essencial na própria capacidade de existir e viver criativamente, de habitar o próprio corpo, de todas as pessoas. Nas crianças com paralisia cerebral, há este outro aspecto (as sequelas trazidas pela PC) que influencia a relação mãe-bebê, tornando o processo de crescimento, da relação com o próprio corpo, mais complexa. No entanto, isso não significa que a criança não pode desenvolver-se a alcançar este viver criativo e a formação de uma imagem corporal que permitam uma boa relação com o mundo. Felizmente, a criança com paralisia cerebral pode encontrar este sentido e viver criativamente e feliz, desde que sua mãe seja capaz de fornecer o ambiente de que esta criança precisa, apesar da e com a paralisia cerebral. O método utilizado foi a pesquisa bibliográfica, em fontes de pesquisa como BVS-PSI, que direciona para o Scielo, o Lilacs e o Pubmed, dentre trabalhos publicados nos últimos dez anos. Não foi encontrado nenhum trabalho que relacionasse a paralisia cerebral, a imagem corporal e a relação mãe-bebê, como proposto neste trabalho, o que confirmou a relevância da presente dissertação / This work wishes to discuss how the mother-baby relationship affects the development of body image in children with cerebral palsy. First of all some ideas of Freud and Ferenczi, the founder of Psychoanalisis and one of his first followers, are presented, to arrive to Winnicott´s ideas, also a psychanalist, but with a revolucionary vision of child development. This three aspects: body image, cerebral palsy and the role of the mother, are discussed, with their relation to each other. Next, concepts from Winnicott are presented, such as holding, handling, personalization, self and the role of the mother´s face as a precursor of the mirror. The objective is to discuss this subject to understand better the children with this kind of disability, so we can work better with them, their mothers, and those who arrive adults to our clinic, who show a suffering that seems to be related to their growing and their relationship with their own bodies. It´s well known (following Winnicott´s trail of thought) that the interaction with the mother is essential for the capacity of existing and living with creativity, of living in your own body, within all people. Between children with cerebral palsy, there is this other aspect (sequels brought by cerebral palsy) that affects motherbaby interactions, making the growing process, the relation with their own bodies, more complex. However, this doesn´t mean that the child can´t develop and reach this creative living and the development of a body image that allow a good relation with the world. Gladly, the child with cerebral palsy can find this meaning and live happy and with creativity, despite and with the cerebral palsy. The methodology used was a research in the literature, in databases like BVS-PSI, which directs the research to Scielo, Lilacs and Pubmed, amongst papers published in the last ten years. No work was found that studied the relations between cerebral palsy, body image and mother-baby interaction, as proposed in the present work, which confirmed the relevance of the present dissertation

A experiência vincular, entre o cuidador primário (mãe) e o bebê, no início da vida pós-natal, constitui o contexto da neurogênese, de acordo com os estudos realizados pela Neurociência do Desenvolvimento; e o fundamento do desenvolvimento emocional segundo a teoria do psicanalista Donald W. Winnicott. O objetivo desta pesquisa é aproximar as construções teóricas de autores que estudam diferentes aspectos de uma mesma realidade: as implicações da experiência vincular entre o bebê e o cuidador primário (mãe), que acontecem nas etapas iniciais do desenvolvimento humano, no processo de inter-relação psique-soma considerada a base do desenvolvimento emocional do ser humano. Essas construções pertencem a uma linha de pesquisa em neurociência do desenvolvimento e outra em psicanálise, representada pela teoria de Donald W. Winnicott, sobre os primórdios do desenvolvimento. Considerando-se que o presente trabalho é um estudo teórico-reflexivo, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica. As conclusões têm o objetivo de fundamentar um conhecimento que possa ampliar a compreensão dos fatores que interferem no desenvolvimento do ser humano, no início da vida pós-natal, que podem ser responsáveis pelo aparecimento de psicopatologias em etapas futuras do ciclo vital. Enfatizam a necessidade do desenvolvimento de estratégias de intervenção precoce na relação mãe-bebê, em programas de assistência à infância, reforçando a importância da psicologia preventiva na proteção do desenvolvimento humano. / The bonding experience between the primary carer (Mother) and the baby, at the start of the post-natal life, forms the context of neurogenesis, according to studies carried out by Developmental Neuroscience; and is also the basis of emotional development, according to the theory of psychoanalyst Donald W. Winnicott. The objective of this study is to investigate the technical constructions of authors who study different aspects of the same reality: the implications of the bonding experience between the baby and the primary carer (mother), which take place in the initial stages of human development, in the process of the interrelation between psyche and soma, which is considered to be the basis for the emotional development the human being. These constructions belong to a line of research in developmental neuroscience, and another in psychoanalysis, represented by the theory of Donald W. Winnicott on the beginnings of development. Considering that this work is a theoretical-reflective study, a bibliographic review was carried out. The conclusions seek to support a knowledge that can further understanding of the factors which influence human development, at the start of the post-natal life, and which may be responsible for the appearance of psychopathologies in future stages of the vital cycle. They also emphasize the need for the development of strategies of early intervention in the relationship between mother and baby, in infant care programs, reinforcing the importance of preventative psychology in the protection of human development.

Orientador: Ana Archangelo / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T13:37:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luz_TagianeMariadaRocha_D.pdf: 1836562 bytes, checksum: d1f197e61aef5cf1285d6a0b6b4a5c19 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Este trabalho refere-se à investigação sobre o efeito de um momento para brincar em classes do primeiro ciclo do ensino fundamental de uma escola pública, do município de Campinas. A pesquisa contou com um grupo composto de dez bolsistas do Programa Interinstitucional de Bolsas de Iniciação à Docência - PIBID/Capes. No espaço e tempo para brincar, alunos do primeiro ciclo do Ensino Fundamental experimentaram uma área que teve como objetivo fornecer as provisões ambientais teorizadas por Winnicott que são favoráveis ao desenvolvimento emocional, a saber, holding, handling e apresentação de objeto, as quais facilitam a integração egoica. Os bolsistas foram, tanto quanto possível, o "outro" suficientemente bom no vínculo com os alunos durante 'o brincar', e procuraram registrar a dinâmica das crianças na construção e no desenvolvimento do brincar, com especial ênfase naquelas crianças que não brincam, as quais são as que apresentam maior dificuldade na aprendizagem de conteúdos escolares e/ou no relacionamento com os pares. Com esse propósito, procurando compreender a inibição e/ou a recusa a brincar, bem como as mudanças ocorridas nesse domínio, ao longo do tempo, a pesquisa buscou: 1- contribuir para a compreensão de crianças com dificuldades tanto para relacionar-se em sala de aula quanto para fazer uso dos símbolos ali construídos e utilizados; e 2- analisar o potencial transformador dessa intervenção no que diz respeito à superação das dificuldades enfrentadas por essas crianças nas atividades rotineiras de sala de aula. A metodologia envolveu o acompanhamento direto e indireto de momentos para 'o brincar' mediante a observação e/ou leitura de relatórios semanais dos bolsistas responsáveis pela intervenção, além da observação de aulas e entrevistas com professores. Os bolsistas realizaram o "momento para o brincar" durante o período de aulas uma vez por semana, por uma hora, em dez salas de 1º a 5º anos. Cada classe foi acompanhada por um bolsista. O tempo para brincar possibilitou aos professores e aos bolsistas maior dedicação e atenção a crianças com dificuldades de aprendizagem e de relacionamento, pois as que não apresentam grandes problemas brincam tranquilas, sozinhas ou acompanhadas por outras crianças. O momento de brincar constituiu-se progressivamente em um espaço potencial, em que, uma vez instaurado, os professores da escola passaram a relatar que o momento para brincar ocasionou a melhora no relacionamento que os alunos estabelecem entre si e no vínculo entre aluno e professor, algo que ampliou a possibilidade do aluno de usufruir, de modo enriquecedor, do seu ambiente escolar. Neste trabalho, serão apresentados seis casos que ilustram o processo que culminou na conquista, pelos referidos alunos, da integração psíquica necessária para habitar espaços potenciais, ou seja, para usufruir e contribuir na construção de símbolos, e assim estabelecer comunicações criativas com a realidade externa. Três dos seis casos ilustram o acompanhamento das crianças por um período de três anos e seis meses. O fato de bolsistas e professores terem procurado testemunhar experiências, significar gestos espontaneos e brincar com as crianças que não brincavam propiciou a emergência do impulso criativo e da capacidade de brincar, algo que contribuiu de modo significativo na conquista crescente dos alunos de compartilhar das experiências que a instituição escolar oferece / Abstract: This study sets out to investigate the effects of providing "a moment for playing" in classrooms in a government-run school in the municipality of Campinas. The research included a group of 10 undergraduates holding trainee scholarships awarded by the Inter-institutional Program of Trainee Scholarships for Teaching Undergraduates' Pibid/Capes. In the space and time provided for playing, children in primary school education occupied an area designed to provide the environmental conditions envisioned by Winnicot as being favorable for emotional development, namely: holding, handling and presenting the object, all of which facilitate egoic integration. As far as possible the undergraduate trainees represented the "sufficiently good other" with their presence among the children during the "playing" and sought to register the dynamics of the children in their construction and development of play, with special attention paid to observing children that do not play as they are the ones that have the greatest difficulties in learning school study contents and/or in their relations with their peers. With the aim of gaining an understanding of their refusal or inhibition in regard to playing as well as detecting any changes in this domain over a period of time this research sought to: 1- contribute towards understanding children that find it difficult to relate to their peers in the classroom and to make use of the symbols that are constructed and used in it.; and 2- analyze this intervention's potential for transformation in regard to overcoming the difficulties such children face in the routine activities of the classroom. The methodology involved direct and indirect accompaniment of the "moments for playing" through direct observation and/or reviewing the trainees' weekly reports as well as observing classes and interviewing teachers. The trainees operated a one hour long "moment for playing" during class time, once a week with one trainee allocated to each class of children in school years one to five. The time allowed for play made it possible for teachers and trainees to dedicate special attention to children with learning and relational problems because those that do not have such problems play happily on their own or with other children. The moment for playing progressively became a potential space and, once it had been established, the teachers reported that the "moment for playing" was bringing about improvements in the relations children establish among one another and in the bonding between teacher and child, and that was something that enhanced the possibilitis of the child¿s reaping the benefits of the school environment in an enriching manner. This work will present seven cases that illustrate the process that culminated in the students in question achieving the psychic integration they needed to be able to make full use of potential spaces, that is. to enjoy the benefits and to contribute towards the construction of symbols and in that way establish creative communication with their external reality. Three of the cases illustrate the accompaniment of the child involved for a period of three and a half years. The fact that researchers and teachers sought to play with those children that did not play, witness to their experiences and signify their spontaneous gestures led to the gradual emergence, in them, of the creative impulse and the ability to play, something that contributed significantly to increasing the ability of such children to share and take part in the experiences the school institution has to offer / Doutorado / Psicologia Educacional / Doutora em Educação

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2005. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references. / The goals of this thesis were to quantify the behavior of gastropod larvae (mud snails Ilyanassa obsoleta) in turbulence, and to investigate how that behavior affects larval supply in a turbulent coastal inlet. Gastropod larvae retract their velums and sink rapidly in strong turbulence. Turbulence-induced sinking would be an adaptive behavior if it resulted in increased larval supply and enhanced settlement in suitable coastal habitats. In laboratory experiments, mud snail larvae were found to have three behavioral modes: swimming, hovering, and sinking. The proportion of sinking larvae increased exponentially with the turbulence dissipation rate over a range comparable to turbulence in a tidal inlet, and the mean larval vertical velocity shifted from upward to downward in turbulence resembling energetic nearshore areas. The larval response to turbulence was incorporated in a vertical advection-diffusion model to characterize the effects of this behavior on larval supply and settlement in a tidal channel. Compared to passive larvae, larvae that sink in turbulence have higher near-bed concentrations throughout flood and ebb tides. / (cont.) This high larval supply enables behaving larvae to settle more successfully than passive larvae in strong currents characteristic of turbulent tidal inlets. A study was conducted at Barnstable Harbor, MA to estimate the responses of larvae to turbulence in the field. Gastropod larvae from different coastal environments had genus-specific responses to turbulence, suggesting that larvae use turbulence for large-scale habitat selection. On ebb tides, mud snail larvae had a similar response to turbulence as in the laboratory, with greater sinking velocities in strong turbulence. Behavior estimates differed for flood and ebb tides, indicating that additional physical cues influence behavior. Turbulence-induced sinking behavior would enhance retention and promote settlement of mud snail larvae in habitats like Barnstable Harbor. / by Heidi L. Fuchs. / Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-261). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2007. / In this thesis, a numerically effcient three-dimensional propagation and scattering model is developed based on the three-dimensional coupled mode theory for axisymmetric bathymetry. The three-dimensional coupled mode approach applied in this thesis is fundamentally identical to the one applied in earlier models, such as the one presented by Taroudakis [20]. Thus, it is based on a Fourier expansion of the acoustic field around a seamount, with each azimuthal expansion coefficient being represented by a two-way coupled mode formulation. However, earlier formulations were severely limited in terms of frequency, size and geometry of the seamount, the seabed composition, and the distance between the source and the seamount, and are totally inadequate for modeling high-frequency, large-scale seamount problems. By introducing a number of changes in the numerical formulation and using a standard normal mode model (C-SNAP) for determining the fundamental modal solutions and coupling coefficients, orders of magnitude improvement in efficiency and fidelity has been achieved, allowing for realistic propagation and scattering scenarios to be modeled, including effects of seamount roughness and realistic sedimentary structure. / (cont.) Also, by the simple superposition principle, the computational requirements are made independent of the distance between the seamount and the source and receivers, and dependent only on the geometry of the seamount and the frequency of the source. First, this thesis investigates the scattering from a cylindrical island, which is the simplest case of a conical seamount problem. Our model, using the superposition method, can solve the cylindrical problem in Athanassoulis and Prospathopoulos's paper [3] with the same accuracy while saving about 4/5 computational effort. Second, this thesis demonstrates the spectral coupled mode approach, which includes a two-way coupled mode model and a superposition representation of the field. Third, this thesis applies the three-dimensional model to investigate some physics issues of three-dimensional seamount scattering. As a result of the investigation, we learn that the Nx2D model is a poor approximation of the true three-dimensional model when the three-dimensional effects are significant, though it is a good approximation of the three-dimensional model otherwise. The convergence of the model in terms of the seamount discretization is also discussed and demonstrated. / (cont.) Finally, our three-dimensional spectral coupled mode model is tested by the application of the Kermit Seamount problem with realistic ocean environmental data from the 2004 BASSEX experiment. / by Wenyu Luo. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. / Surfzone wave height transformation and wave-breaking-driven increases in the mean sea level (setup) are examined on alongshore-uniform beaches with alongshore homogeneous and inhomogeneous wave forcing. While previously derived models predict wave heights adequately (root-mean-square errors typically less than 20%), the models can be improved by tuning a free parameter or by using a new parameterization based on the deep-water wave height. Based on a sensitivity analysis of the cross-shore momentum balance used to predict setup, a one-dimensional (1-D) model is developed that includes wave rollers and bottom stress owing to the mean offshore-directed flow. The model predicts setup accurately at three alongshore homogeneous field sites, as well as at a site where the incident wave field is alongshore non-uniform, suggesting that setup is driven primarily by the cross-shore (1-D) forcing. Furthermore, alongshore gradients of setup can be important to driving alongshore flows in the surfzone, and the 1-D setup model predicts these gradients accurately enough to simulate the observed flows. / by Alex Apotsos. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-284). / This research presents a parallel hypothesis method for autonomous underwater vehicle navigation that enables a vehicle to expand the operating envelope of existing long baseline acoustic navigation systems by incorporating information that is not normally used. The parallel hypothesis method allows the in-situ identification of acoustic multipath time-of-flight measurements between a vehicle and an external transponder and uses them in real-time to augment the navigation algorithm during periods when direct-path time-of-flight measurements are not available. A proof of concept was conducted using real-world data obtained by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Deep Submergence Lab's Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE) and Sentry autonomous underwater vehicles during operations on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. This algorithm uses a nested architecture to break the navigation solution down into basic building blocks for each type of available external information. The algorithm classifies external information as either line of position or gridded observations. For any line of position observation, the algorithm generates a multi-modal block of parallel position estimate hypotheses. The multimodal hypotheses are input into an arbiter which produces a single unimodal output. If a priori maps of gridded information are available, they are used within the arbiter structure to aid in the elimination of false hypotheses. / (cont.) For the proof of concept, this research uses ranges from a single external acoustic transponder in the hypothesis generation process and grids of low-resolution bathymetric data from a ship-based multibeam sonar in the arbitration process. The major contributions of this research include the in-situ identification of acoustic multipath time-of-flight measurements, the multiscale utilization of a priori low resolution bathymetric data in a high-resolution navigation algorithm, and the design of a navigation algorithm with a flexible architecture. This flexible architecture allows the incorporation of multimodal beliefs without requiring a complex mechanism for real-time hypothesis generation and culling, and it allows the real-time incorporation of multiple types of external information as they become available in situ into the overall navigation solution. / by Cara Elizabeth Grupe LaPointe. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2008. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-83). / Oceanographic applications of robotics are as varied as the undersea environment itself. As underwater robotics moves toward the study of dynamic processes with multiple vehicles, there is an increasing need to distill large volumes of data from underwater vehicles and deliver it quickly to human operators. While tethered robots are able to communicate data to surface observers instantly, communicating discoveries is more difficult for untethered vehicles. The ocean imposes severe limitations on wireless communications; light is quickly absorbed by seawater, and tradeoffs between frequency, bitrate and environmental effects result in data rates for acoustic modems that are routinely as low as tens of bits per second. These data rates usually limit telemetry to state and health information, to the exclusion of mission-specific science data. In this thesis, I present a system designed for communicating and presenting science telemetry from untethered underwater vehicles to surface observers. The system's goals are threefold: to aid human operators in understanding oceanographic processes, to enable human operators to play a role in adaptively responding to mission-specific data, and to accelerate mission planning from one vehicle dive to the next. The system uses standard lossy compression techniques to lower required data rates to those supported by commercially available acoustic modems (O(10) - O(100) bits per second). / (cont.) As part of the system, a method for compressing time-series science data based upon the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is explained, a number of low-bitrate image compression techniques are compared, and a novel user interface for reviewing transmitted telemetry is presented. Each component is motivated by science data from a variety of actual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) missions performed in the last year. / by Christopher Alden Murphy. / S.M.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Halogenated 1'-methyl-1,2'-bipyrroles (MBPs) are a distinctive class of marine organic compounds. They are naturally produced, they have a unique carbon structure, they are highly halogenated, and they bioaccumulate in upper trophic levels. MBPs share many characteristics with persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and may prove to be useful natural analogues for these anthropogenic compounds. Further, their unique structure suggests that their biosynthetic organism(s) may have new genes to add to current knowledge of biosynthetic chemistry. The objectives of this dissertation were to further clarify the environmental distribution of MBPs, to examine whether MBPs biomagnify, and to investigate possible origins of these compounds through their stable nitrogen isotopic signatures. Results from these investigations have shown that over 40 highly brominated MBP congeners are present in marine mammals, fish, and squid from the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean. The most abundant MBPs do appear to biomagnify through the food web to reach the concentrations observed in marine mammals. This additional evidence affords greater confidence in the use of MBPs as natural analogues for POPs. However, differences in the environmental chemistry of MBPs and anthropogenic compounds are also evident, and may be due to these compounds' different origins, or to the capacity of degradative enzymes to act upon them. / (cont.) Finally, compound-specific nitrogen isotope analyses on MBPs isolated from dolphin blubber show that these compounds are dramatically enriched in 15N relative to other biosynthetic organic compounds. This enrichment is likely a signal imparted during biosynthesis, and may assist in elucidating the organism(s) and mechanism(s) responsible for the biosynthesis of MBPs. / by Kristin C. Pangallo. / Ph.D.