As biotécnicas da reprodução na espécie equina avançaram na última década, tanto em conhecimento agregado por pesquisas como também pela demanda do mercado. No entanto, na espécie equina machos com subfertilidade são diagnosticados frequentemente com elevado número de espermatozoides com alterações morfológica e/ou imóveis. A utilização apenas de células viáveis para realizar o processo de resfriamento busca evitar perda de material (diluente) e produção de metabólitos tóxicos aos espermatozoides viáveis. O objetivo deste estudo foi utilizar a separação espermática (lã de vidro e centrifugação com Androcoll®) pré-resfriamento para incrementar a viabilidade do sêmen de garanhões pôneis refrigerados a 5ºC durante 48h. Os parâmetros motilidade, funcionalidade de membrana (HOST), viabilidade espermática (CFDA/PI), atividade mitocondrial e morfologia espermática foram avaliados no sêmen fresco e refrigerado (24 e 48h). A utilização da filtração por lã de vidro ou Androcoll® pré-resfriamento do sêmen equino selecionou espermatozoides com maior motilidade, funcionalidade de membrana, viabilidade espermática e atividade mitocondrial. Adicionalmente, a filtração por lã de vidro proporcionou refrigerar sêmen com elevado número de células morfologicamente normais sem perdas significativas de espermatozoides pelo processo de filtração. Tanto a técnica de lã de vidro como a centrifugação com Androcoll® mostraram-se eficientes em separar ejaculados com maior viabilidade para o resfriamento. Já a técnica de lã de vidro apresenta-se como uma técnica de baixo custo e de fácil execução para ser aplicada tanto para pequenos, ou grandes volumes de sêmen. / The reproduction biotechnologies in equine species have advanced in the last decade both in aggregate knowledge by research as well as the market demand. However, it in the equine species often with male subfertility where the ejaculate has a high number of sperm with morphological and / or property changes. The use of only viable cells to perform the cooling process seeks to avoid loss of material (diluent) and production of toxic metabolites to viable sperm. The aim of this study was to use the sperm separation (glass and spin wool with Androcoll®) pre-cooling to increase the viability of semen chilled ponies stallions at 5 ° C for 48 hours. We evaluated the motility parameters, membrane functionality (HOST), sperm viability (CFDA / PI), mitochondrial activity and morphology in fresh and chilled semen (24 and 48h). The use of filtration glass wool or Androcoll® pre-cooling of equine semen selected sperm with higher motility, functionality membrane, sperm viability and mitochondrial activity. In addition to filtration through glass wool afforded cooling semen with a high number of morphologically normal cells without significant losses of spermatozoids the filtration process. Both glass wool technique as centrifugation with Androcoll® were efficient in separating ejaculated more viability for cooling. Already glass wool technique presents itself as a low cost and simple technique to be applied to both small or large volumes of semen.

This research developed new creative opportunities for textile design by investigating CO2 laser processing technology to achieve surface design and three-dimensional effects. A practice based and interdisciplinary textile design methodology was employed, integrating scientific and technical approaches with a reflective craft practice. It was found that the synthesis of design and science was imperative to achieving the research goal of evolving techniques that have opened new design opportunities for textile design whilst being viable and communicable for industrial and commercial application. Four distinct Laser Textile Design techniques were developed in this research including: a laser enhanced dyeing technique for wool and wool blends; Peri-Dyeing, a laser dye fixation technique; a laser moulding technique; and a laser fading linen technique.

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'observer l'impact des coups de couteaux sur différents tissus en aramide et d'analyser les facteurs influents. On peut se défendre d'une attaque mais une blessure ne peut être complètement évitée. L'objectif est d'absorber un maximum d'énergie, de façon à réduire le risque de blessure. Les mécanismes de perforation par une lame sont complexes. L'étude a révélé une demande dans ce domaine, car la plupart des solutions proposent des armures lourdes contenant du textile. Cet assemblage de matériaux a des inconvénients, comme le poids trop élevé et le manque de souplesse. D'autres chercheurs recommandent des solutions textiles parce qu'elles sont souples et déjà utilisées dans le domaine balistique. Les recherches menées pour cette thèse ont pour but de contribuer au développement de types de textile résistant aux coups de couteaux. C'est la raison pour laquelle, non seulement les propriétés de la matière textile doivent être analysées, mais aussi l'attaque au couteau en elle-même, pour développer une meilleure protection. Il a été démontré que beaucoup de facteurs influent sur le niveau de protection et rendent sa perception difficile. Des recherches ont été réalisées pour évaluer les paramètres de test, qui sont définis dans le test standard, mais aussi pour ceux qui n'y sont pas définis. / The research goal of this thesis is to examine various aramid fabrics with regard to their stabbing behaviour and to find influencing factors to this. An attack can only be inhibited, but an injury cannot be completely prevented. The goal is always to absorb as much energy as possible, so that the penetration is thus reduced and the risk of injury decreases. The stab mechanism is a complex and variable process. The review showed the demand on research in this area, because the most solutions involve hard body armour parts in combination with fibrous materials. This material combinations show many disadvantages with regards to the high weight and the missing flexibility. Other researchers also recommend textile solutions, because they are flexible and in the field of ballistic panels they are already used. The investigations carried out within this thesis are done to contribute to the development of pure textile stab-resistant panels. Therefore the interdependencies between the physical properties of the material but also the mechanism during a stab attack have to be recognized, to developed higher protection levels. It was shown, that the multitude of factors causes the problem to define a level of protection. General investigations were done to analyse the test parameters, which are defined in the test standard but also this one, which are missing.

The research for this thesis "Options for Developing a New Mid Micron Value Proposition for Consumers", is a part of a larger "New Mid Micron Products" project initiated by Mid Micron New Zealand Inc with the key goal of turning the Mid Micron Sector into a more vibrant and profitable one. The motivation for the project can be found in the dramatic fall in demand for New Zealand Mid Micron wool over the past decade. Two dominant causes for the fall in demand for Mid Micron wool were identified: the substandard skin comfort of final products made from Mid Micron wool, and a problem with the structure of the Mid Micron Sector. These problems are addressed in the "New Mid Micron Products" project that combines new product development and new marketing initiatives. Product development involved the use of new spinning technology to improve skin comfort quality and develop new products that are softer and prickle free. The aim is to extract more value for woolgrowers by having the wool converted into a higher value product. The new marketing initiatives, which were identified in this thesis research, Focusing On New Market Segments via E-Commerce and Reconfiguring The Value Chain, and concentrate on the operational issues of capturing the value from the newly developed Mid Micron products. Taking into account the nature of the overall Mid Micron Project and type of developed products, this research identified the Operational Excellence and Product Leadership models as alternative routes to develop a new Mid Micron Value Proposition for consumers. Operational Excellence, and the associated Cost Leadership strategy, is a low capital investment option, while Product Leadership and the associated Differentiation strategy is a high capital investment option. The models' principles and their elements, products, price and delivery to market, are evaluated in the context of the Mid Micron Business.

In order to reach the Swedish environmental quality objectives, the Environmental ProtectionAgency has expressed a desire that consumption must be highlighted. The difficulty of assessingthe environmental impact of consumption lays in various calculation approaches, but one way toillustrate consumption is life cycle assessment (LCA). IVL, Swedish Environmental ResearchInstitute (IVL) has an ongoing project together with Chalmers about Urban Metabolism, wheredifferent branches of consumption are highlighted. In the current situation, the textile industryaccounts for approximately 2-10% of Europe's environmental impacts and until now, no complete LCA model over the Swedish textile consumption has been developed. The main goal of this thesis was to develop a LCA model for the Swedish textile consumption and to study the environmental impact that the consumption entails. Using data from StatisticsSweden, net consumption between 2000 and 2013 was analysed. The results showed thatclothing and household textiles account for the largest proportion of consumed textiles (68%) and cotton, wool, viscose, polyester and nylon are the most common fibres. With the GaBi software a general life cycle model for the years 2000, 2007 and 2013 wasdeveloped. The model included 25 different clothing and household articles. For each article, themodel covers raw material extraction, product manufacturing, use phase and waste management.The environmental impact categories; Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication Potential(EP), Global Warming Potential (GWP), Human Toxicity Potential (HTP), TerrestrialEcotoxicity Potential (TETP) as well as energy and water use were analysed. The model showedthat the production phase (including raw material production) has a great influence on theenvironmental impacts, but the use phase was equally important in certain impact categories.The major processes affecting the life cycle were energy use in manufacturing of the fabric,production of natural fibres, detergent as well as energy consumption in tumble dryers. Withconscious decisions the consumer has great opportunities to influence the overall environmentalimpacts. In addition, increased recycling and reuse can potentially decrease the environmentalimpacts from the production stage. The model is considered good enough for the results to be reliable and useful in order to predictthe environmental impacts of the Swedish textile consumption. The results are also validatedwith results from other studies which increases credibility. / Det står idag klart att endast två av Sveriges 16 miljömål kommer att nås till 2020. För attSverige ska uppnå sina miljömål har Naturvårdsverket uttryckt en önskan om att konsumtionmåste belysas. Svårigheten med konsumtionens miljöpåverkan är att den inte kan mätas direktmen ett sätt att angripa problemet är att studera konsumtion genom livscykelanalys.IVL, Svenska Miljöinstitutet (IVL), har tillsammans med Chalmers ett pågående projekt omUrban Metabolism där olika typer av konsumtion nu belyses. Textilier är en typ av konsumtionoch i Europa står den marknaden för 2-10 % av den totala miljöpåverkan. Då textilkonsumtionenär relativt stor i Europa är det därför intressant att studera hur den svenska textilkonsumtionenser ut. Denna studie ämnade att skapa en modell för svensk textilkonsumtion och studera dessmiljöeffekter. Med data från Statistiska centralbyrån kunde nettokonsumtionen mellan 2000-2013 beskrivas. Statistiken visade att kläder och hushållstextilier står för den största delenkonsumerade textilier (68 %) och att bomull, ull, viskos, polyester och nylon är de fibrer somanvänds mest. Med programvaran GaBi gjordes en generell livscykelanalysmodell för åren 2000, 2007 och2013. 25 olika kläder och hushållsartiklar ingick och processerna råvaruframställning,tillverkning av produkt, användning och avfallshantering studerades.Miljöpåverkanskategorierna försurning, övergödning, global uppvärmning, humantoxicitet,ekotoxicitet samt energi-och vattenanvändning analyserades och resultatet visade attproduktionsfasen (inklusive råvaruframställning) har stor påverkan på resultatet. I vissakategorier var även användningsfasen en betydande faktor. De processer som påverkadelivscykelanalysen mest var energianvändningen i tygtillverkningen och naturfibrerna samttvättmedlet och energianvändningen hos torktumlaren i användningsfasen. Med medvetna valhar konsumenten stor möjlighet att påverka de övergripande miljöeffekterna och med en ökadåtervinning och återanvändning kan miljöeffekterna i produktionsfasen minska. Modellen som togs fram är inte fulländad och vissa processer kan förbättras för att utvecklamodellen vidare. Däremot antas modellen vara tillräckligt bra för att resultatet ska vara trovärdigtoch användbart i syfte att studera den svenska textilkonsumtionens miljöeffekter. Resultaten kandessutom styrkas med resultat från andra studier vilket ökar trovärdigheten.

In the study of the economic and labour history of the West Coast Native people of British Columbia most research has centered on activities such as fishing, farming and forestry. This thesis turns the attention from what was primarily men's work in the dominant society to the Coast Salish wool working industry where women worked with the help of their children and husbands. I examine the significant economic and cultural contribution Coast Salish woolworkers had on West Coast society, the meeting place woolworkers' sweaters provided between the Coast Salish and the newcomers and the changes which took place in the industry during the last century. This story includes many voices most of which are recorded in newspapers, correspondence and journals, and in the memories of those that lived and worked in the industry.

The degradation of wool keratin under conditions relevant to those of wool dyeing was investigated using the techniques of gel permeation chromatography (GPC), ion exchange gel chromatography, and amino acid analysis. Physical testing of the treated and untreated wool was also carried out to determine the physical changes occurring, parameters used being percentage elongation at the break, and the breaking strain of the fibre. Samples of wool keratin were immersed in various aqueous solutions at 1000C for 24 hours and the filtered, aqueous, oxidised extracts were analysed* The solutions used varied only in the dye, or dye intermediate present in the treatment solution. All treatment baths contained 10% owf 1.02 x 10 -2 MSulphuric VI acid; 10%owf 7.04x 10 -3 MSodium sulphate VI ; A 100 :1 liquor ratio was used in each case. Some of the dye intermediates showed a marked catalytic effect, particularly in their effect on breaking strain, a decrease of 40% in some cases. The GPC profiles of the extracted proteins were examined in detail and compared against previous workers' results. An explanation of the behaviour of the dyes and intermediates was proposed. The amino acid composition data of the extracted and fractionated proteins were compared against various morphological components extracted by other workers, as was the total gelatin obtained from each treatment.

A candidate gene approach was used to identify potential genetic markers associated with wool quality traits including mean fibre diameter (MFD), fibre diameter standard deviation (FDSD), coefficient of variation of fibre diameter (CVD), prickle factor, curvature, yellowness, brightness, staple strength, staple length, yield, greasy fleece weight (GFW) and clean fleece weight (CFW). Inheritance of potential genetic markers was studied in two half-sib Merino families and assessed for association with the wool quality traits. The sire for one of the half-sib families is referred to as MV144-58-00, and wool measurements from its progeny were taken at 12 (n = 131), 24 (n =128) and 36 (n = 37) months of age. The sire for the second half-sib family is referred to as Stoneyhurst, and wool measurements from its progeny (n = 35) were taken at 12 months of age. Genes that code for the keratin intermediate-filament proteins (KRTs) (KRT1.2, KRT2.10) and the keratin intermediate-filament-associated proteins (KAPs) (KAPl.1, KAPl.3, KAP3.2, KAP6.1, KAP 7, KAP8) were targeted for this investigation, along with the beta 3-adrenergic receptor (ADRB3) gene and microsatellites BfMS and OarFCB193. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify specific DNA fragments from each locus and PCR- single strand conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis was used to detect polymorphism within the half-sib families for all the loci, except for the KAP1.1 gene, where length polymorphism was detected using agarose gel electrophoresis. Only the loci that were heterozygous for the sire (KAP1.1, KAP1.3, KRT1.2, ADRB3, KAP8) and hence were informative, were genotyped in the progeny. The total number of alleles observed at the KAP1.1, KAP1.3, KRT1.2, KAP8 and the ADRB3 loci were four, ten, six, five and six, respectively. Analysis of each of the informative loci revealed allelic associations with various wool traits. In the MV144-58-00 (genotypes KAP1.1 AB; KAP1.3 BD; KRT1.2 AB; ADRB3 CE) half-sib, inheritance of the KAP1.1 A allele was associated with a higher yield at 24 months of age (P = 0.037). This trend also observed at 36 months of age (P = 0.078). At 12 months of age, the KAP1.1 A allele tended to be associated with increased staple length (P = 0.08). At 36 months of age, the inheritance of the KAP1.1 B allele tended towards being associated with whiter wool (P = 0.080). The MV144-58-00 KAP1.3 D allele tended to be associated with increased yield at 24 and 36 months of age (P = 0.091 and 0.059, respectively), and with lower FDSD at 12 months of age (P = 0.055). The sire KAP1.3 B allele was associated with whiter wool colour at 36 months of age (P = 0.045). The inheritance of the MV144-58-00 KR T1.2 B allele was associated with or tended to be associated with a smaller FDSD (P = 0.040), an increase in staple strength (P = 0.025) and an increase in GFW (P = 0.069) at 12 months of age. At 24 months of age, the KR T1.2 B allele tended to be associated with increased yield (P = 0.057). At 36 months of age, the KRTl.2 A allele was associated with whiter wool (P = 0.019) and tended to be associated with increased crimp within the wool fibre (P = 0.089). In the Stoneyhurst (genotypes KAP1.1 BC; KAP1.3 CJ; KRT1.2 DE; ADRB3 CE) half-sib, inheritance of the KAP1.1 B allele was associated with longer staple length (P = 0.018) and a decrease in wool brightness (P = 0.039). In contrast, KAP1.1 C allele was associated with lowest staple length (P = 0.018) and brighter wool colour (P = 0.039). Associations observed with the inheritance of Stoneyhurst KAP 1.1 alleles were similar to the inheritance ofKAPl.3 alleles. Stoneyhurst KAP1.3 J allele was associated with longer staple length (P = 0.017) and a decrease in wool brightness (P = 0.010). In contrast, KAP1.3 C allele was associated with lowest staple length (P = 0.017) and brighter wool colour (P = 0.010). The Stoneyhurst KRT12 D allele was associated with longer staple length and a decrease in wool brightness (P = 0.033). In contrast, KRT1.2 E allele was associated with lowest staple length (P = 0.033) and brighter wool colour (P = 0.022). Sire alleles at the ADRB3 gene locus were associated with variation in staple strength (P = 0.025) for MV144-58-00's progeny, and with variation in yield (P = 0.023) for Stoneyhurst's progeny. The results obtained in this thesis are consistent with KAP1.1, KAP1.3 and KRT1.2 being clustered on one chromosome because both sires in this study passed on two major KAP1.1-KAP1.3-KRT1.2 haplotypes to their progeny, and the associations with wool traits were very similar for all the three loci. The major sire derived KAP1.1 – KAP1.3 - KRT1.2 haplotypes observed within the MV144-58-00 half-sib were: BBA (frequency of 43.4%; n = 43) and ADB (frequency of 44.4%; n = 44). Other minor haplotypes observed were: ADA (frequency of 4.0%; n = 4); BDA (frequency of 2.0%; n = 2); BBB (frequency of 3.0%; n = 3) and BDB (frequency of 3.0%; n = 3). In the Stoneyhurst half-sib, major sire-derived KAP 1.1 - KAP 1.3 - KR Tl.2 haplotypes observed were CCE (frequency of 53.1 %; n = 17) and BJD (frequency of 40.6%; n = 13). The minor haplotype BJE (frequency of 6.3%; n = 2) was also observed. Statistical analyses within the MVI44-58-00 half-sib showed that KAP1.1 AKAP1.3 D - KRT1.2 B haplotype was associated with increased yield (P = 0.023) and tended towards whiter wool colour (P = 0.059), smaller FDSD (P = 0.081) and stronger staple strength (P = 0.092). In the Stoneyhurst half-sib, the KAP1.1 B - KAP1.3 J - KRT1.2 D haplotype was associated with longer staple length (P = 0.010), while the KAP1.1 C - KAP1.3 C - KRT1.2 E haplotype showed a strong trend with increased wool brightness (P = 0.096). Result from this study indicated that the keratin genes on chromosome 11 are recombining relatively frequently at recombination "hotspots". A high rate of recombination among loci that impact on wool traits would make breeding for consistent wool quality very difficult. The results presented in this thesis suggest that genes coding for the KRTs and KAPs have the potential to impact on wool quality. KAP1.1, KAP1.3 and KRT1.2 could potentially be exploited in gene marker-assisted selection programmes within the wool industry to select for animals with increased staple length, 'increased staple strength, higher yield and brighter wool. This study was however limited to two half-sib families, and further investigation is required.

It has been observed that in certain cases the exposure of dyed fibres to aging techniques results in the strengthening of fibres. This thesis explores the hypothesis that the strengthening is due to radical cross-coupling reactions that could be initiated through metal ion mediated photodecarboxylation. The approaches taken in this research include kinetic experiments (using flash photolysis), examination of possible cross-coupling experiments (using species of opposite charge), and the design and examination of small molecule model systems. A flash photolysis system was developed and used in attempts to determine the rates of photochemical product formation for cobalt(III) amino acid complexes. Lower limits have been established for the rate of product formation in these systems. The lower limits are: 2 x 10⁷ s⁻¹ for [Co(bpy)2(gly)]²⁺; 2 x 10⁷ s⁻¹ for [Co(tpa)(gly)]²⁺; and 5 x 10⁶ s⁻¹ for [Co(tpa)(aib)]²⁺, where bpy is 2,2'-bipyridine; gly is glycinate; tpa is tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine; and aib is aminoisobutyrate. In past studies, the rates of a series of cobalt(III) amino acid complexes were reported as being the same, and much slower. It is thought that in these cases it may not be the rate of the formation of product that was being measured, but rather the response time of the electronics that was being observed. In this thesis the results obtained for the rate for the aib complex were somewhat lower than those of the gly complexes. This may imply, for the aib complex at least, the rate of the formation of the metallocycle is being observed (and not the response times of the electronics or other limitations of the instrumentation), but the data is poor and there is considerable doubt about this. The steady state photolysis of opposite charged species [Co(bpy)2(gly)]²⁺ and [Co(EDTA)]⁻ is reported. The reactions were carried out on a small scale in deuterated solvent for NMR spectrometry analysis and also on a large scale for the possible isolation and characterisation of the products. Evidence was found for a different reaction occurring when both complexes were present. The exact nature of the product remains elusive. A model system was designed in which a dinuclear ligand would bind to two metal centres and a fibre mimic would be later added. Eight ligands are discussed that could potentially bind two octahedral metal centres. They all had a xylene spacing group linking the two polydentate sites together. Five of the ligands have two bidentate binding sites. The other three had two tridentate sites. The binding sites in three of the bis(bidentate) ligands were based on ethane-1,2- diamine (en). Two of these ligands produced hypodentate monocobalt and sundentate dicobalt complexes. The other two bidentate ligands were based on 2- aminomethylpyridine (ampy). Both of these ligands degraded in the complexation reaction conditions. The binding sites in the tridentate ligands were all based on tacn. Once again, the principal products isolated were hypodentate systems in which only one metal ion was coordinated by the ligands. There is a distinct pattern observed in the xylene spaced ligands to form hypodentate complexes with cobalt(III) metal centred complexes. There is evidence of the di-nuclear species from a reaction with a charcoal catalyst in the bis(bidentate) system. ¹H NMR spectrometry, ¹³C NMR spectrometry, elemental analysis, X-ray crystallography and UV-vis spectroscopy were used to study and characterise the complexes and ligands that were prepared in this project.

In the study of the economic and labour history of the West Coast Native people of British Columbia most research has centered on activities such as fishing, farming and forestry. This thesis turns the attention from what was primarily men's work in the dominant society to the Coast Salish wool working industry where women worked with the help of their children and husbands. I examine the significant economic and cultural contribution Coast Salish woolworkers had on West Coast society, the meeting place woolworkers' sweaters provided between the Coast Salish and the newcomers and the changes which took place in the industry during the last century. This story includes many voices most of which are recorded in newspapers, correspondence and journals, and in the memories of those that lived and worked in the industry.