Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „UBHC”

Paresis in the upper limb is a condition that leaves the users with flail or severely weakened arms, prohibiting them from being able to perform common everyday tasks such as reaching and grasping objects, eating, drinking, cooking, performing personal hygiene, etc. The UBC Powered Upper Limb Orthosis (UBC-PULO) is a wearable, highly-functional assistive device that supports and restores the functions necessary to one entire arm, enabling users to perform high-priority daily living tasks. Previous work towards achieving this goal has included: developing user specifications, identifying desired tasks and arm motions required to perform them, establishing design specifications and evaluation criteria, developing a control strategy along with hardware and software for the device, and completing the construction of an orthosis prototype with user control interfaces. Recently, a virtual reality simulation environment (VRSE) has been developed for the UBC-PULO which models the control system and electro-mechanical exoskeleton. The VRSE is a tool that can be used for optimization of the control system and testing current or new exoskeleton designs, and has the potential for screening and training of potential users but only if it properly mimics the real physical orthosis device. Therefore, the final objective of this research is to validate the VRSE against the physical prototype. The steps needed to achieve this final objective in the UBC-PULO project include reviewing the state of the current prototype, performing work to commission the device and interfaces, development and implementation of an experimental setup to allow for validation, development of representative control input parameters for proper simulation of the physical device, and testing to validate the VRSE against the physical prototype. The research work described in this thesis responds to these needs by performing a review of the current electrical and mechanical state of the prototype, proposing and implementing a range of design improvements necessary for commissioning the prototype system, development and implementation of a completely new electronic platform along with the necessary software, and performing tests to validate the VRSE.

Slender and lighter footbridges are becoming more and more popular to meet the transportation demand and the aesthetical requirements of the modern society. The widespread presence of such particular structures has become possible thanks to the availability of new, lightweight and still capable of carrying heavy loads material . Therefore, these kind of structure, are particularly sensitive to vibration serviceability problems, especially induced by human activities. As a consequence, it has been imperative to study the dynamic behaviour of such slender pedestrian bridges in order to define their modal characteristics. As an alternative to a Finite Element Analysis to find natural frequencies, damping and mode shape, a so-called Operational Modal Analysis is a valid tool to obtain these parameters through an ambient vibration test. This work provides a useful insight into the Operational Modal Analysis technique and It reports the investigation of the CEME Skywalk, a pedestrian bridge located at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. Furthermore, human-induced vibration tests have been performed and the dynamic characteristics derived with these tests have been compared with the ones from the ambient vibration tests. The effect of the dynamic properties of the two buildings supporting the CEME Skywalk on the dynamic behaviour of the bridge has been also investigated.

The UBC CS Science Education Initiative (CSSEI) has resulted in a number of research projects. New teaching methods and student assessment instruments are introduced to engage student learning and evaluations of their understanding. In this paper, we report four of these recent initiatives and their initial findings.

There is a pharmacist shortage in British Columbia that is considered particularly acute in rural and remote locations. As a result, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia has increased enrolment from certain geographic areas, assuming that students will return to these areas on graduation. The main objectives of this study are to determine where pharmacy graduates take their first jobs and the factors that influence their selection of job location. Survey methodology was used, with a written questionnaire being administered to the Class of 2007 after a validation process involving volunteers from the Class of 2006. Mean values of responses on rating scales were compared to assess for statistically significant (p≤O.O5) effects of location size and the demographic variables of age, sex, marital status, and ethnicity. Of 93 respondents who reported both a primary home town and ajob location, only 33(35%) planned to take jobs where they grew up and only 42 (45%) were taking jobs in the same area of the province. The most common migration patterns were from smaller to larger communities and from all over the province into Metro Vancouver. Those who grew up in Metro Vancouver did not leave. However, the majority of those who did take jobs in other areas of the province had lived there previously. The strongest influences on job location were familiarity with the location, ability to get an enjoyable job, pace of life, proximity to significant others, and career and relationship plans. Smaller community size, ability to practice in the manner desired, and pace of work were more important, and access to cultural, entertainment, and/or social activities were less important to those taking jobs in rural rather than urban areas. There were no findings of practical significance associated with the demographic variables examined. The selective admission into 12 specially funded seats in the program of students from geographic areas other than the province’s one large urban centre is modestly effective in ensuring a supply of pharmacists for these areas. However, the use of geography as a criterion for all seats and an increase in the total number of seats would ensure that the student body is more representative of the provincial population and would address both supply and demand aspects of the pharmacist shortage.

An orthosis, an assistive device to be worn by the user, has been proposed as an option for regaining arm function necessary for performing high priority daily living tasks. Since the 1960s, researchers and engineers have been developing assistive devices in a variety of different forms to help people with weak or flail arms. The goal of the UBC Powered Upper Limb Orthosis (PULO) is to design a highly functional orthotic device to support and restore arm function to one entire arm of a person who has severe weakness or paralysis in both upper limbs. A significant quantity of research work was conducted previously by researchers and students under the supervision of Dr. Douglas Romilly. Currently, a prototype exists, but requires further optimization in both the mechanical and control systems. The objective of this research is to model, test and optimize the current UBC PULO control system via the development of a virtual simulator. To accomplish this goal, required tasks include software selection, Simulink-based modeling of the current control system, physical modeling of the mechanical component and creation of a virtual scene. The developed simulator allows the user to provide input commands through the newly developed user interface devices, with the output motion of the prototype orthosis displayed in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. The specifically designed simulation has indicated a high level of potential suitability of using the virtual simulator for testing and optimizing the current control system, screening and training of potential users for the UBC PULO.

Within museological studies, the changing relations between anthropology museums and their differentiated publics, which intensified in the second half of the twentieth century, are typically apprehended through material cultures, through objects, collections and exhibitions. From a different perspective, this thesis argues that the shifting politics and relations–engaging anthropology museums, source communities and the broader sphere of cultural production–are equally, if not more, pronounced in performance culture. Such collaborative frictions are concentrated, enacted and iterated in ‘museum acts,’ which frame and centre human actors, rather than objects. Based on a critical and diachronic ethnography of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) (1976–2008), this analysis focuses on a diverse range of museum acts covering: artists’ residencies, exhibition openings, unveilings, cultural performances, memorial services and symposia. It demonstrates that, despite their ephemerality, such acts or intangible representational practices are crucial indices and constituents of museum space, discourses and histories. Central to this argument is the theory of performative acts, which is drawn from the disciplinary folds of linguistics and philosophy. Like their linguistic counterparts, it is argued, museum acts are intersubjective media that possess a dual agency; an illocutionary force that enables them concurrently to signify and constitute social ‘realities.’ Or to be more specific, as the case studies illustrate: through their intersubjectivity and “performative parallax” (Hastrup 1995, 97–8), museum acts operate to index and iterate relations and identities; to enact and validate artefacts and memories; to mediate and assert or alternatively contest and reclaim cultural knowledge and knowledge of culture. In this way, museum acts are central to the production of the anthropology museum as highly textured and sedimented, hybridized and indigenized, political and contested monumental space.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:33:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-08-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:05:14Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 nascimentoepontes_mg_dr_botfm.pdf: 553102 bytes, checksum: 6f4ebc00fc0583f012e1a99ab95ffefe (MD5)
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)
Toxicam
Urinary bladder carcinomas (UBC) frequently recur. During the intervals “free‐ofneoplasia”, between the initially diagnosed tumor and its recurrences, there are not undisputable histological alterations in the mucosa, although some studies have reported DNA damage in urothelial cells. In order to understand developmental characteristics of UBC, primary tumors and their recurrences were cytogenetically evaluated for their genomic expression by High Resolution Comparative Genomic Hybridization (HR‐CGH). Tumors and their respective recurrences, six low‐grade (LG) and five high‐grade (HG) cases, provided 20 tissue samples that were submitted to laser microdissection capture followed by HR‐CGH. HR‐CGH profiles had two different analyses – all tumors altogether or classified according to their respective histological grades. Both comparisons showed high frequency (80%) of gains in 11p12 and losses in 16p12, in agreement with the literature that indicate alterations of 11p and 16p in UBC recurrences. These findings suggest that those chromosome regions contain putative oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes critical for urinary bladder carcinogenesis. Within a same patient genomic profile showed high agreement between tumors and their respective recurrences, i.e., tumors from the same patient showed a large number of common losses and gains. The high similarities of genomic alterations in successive tumors from the same patient suggest that a stable genomic profile was established in UBCs and their recurrences. Besides, during the “free‐of‐neoplasia” intervals, negative urinary bladder washes were submitted to Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH) to detect quantitative alterations in centromeres 7 (n=21 samples), 17 (n= 21) and 9p21 (n=36). No numerical alterations... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: João Lauro Viana de Camargo
Coorientador: Silvia Regina Rogatto
Banca: Claudia Aparecida Rainho
Banca: Mônica Vannucci Nunes Lipay
Banca: Carlos Márcio Nóbrega de Jesus
Banca: Leopoldo Alves Ribeiro Filho
Resumo: Não disponível
Abstract: Urinary bladder carcinomas (UBC) frequently recur. During the intervals "free‐ofneoplasia", between the initially diagnosed tumor and its recurrences, there are not undisputable histological alterations in the mucosa, although some studies have reported DNA damage in urothelial cells. In order to understand developmental characteristics of UBC, primary tumors and their recurrences were cytogenetically evaluated for their genomic expression by High Resolution Comparative Genomic Hybridization (HR‐CGH). Tumors and their respective recurrences, six low‐grade (LG) and five high‐grade (HG) cases, provided 20 tissue samples that were submitted to laser microdissection capture followed by HR‐CGH. HR‐CGH profiles had two different analyses - all tumors altogether or classified according to their respective histological grades. Both comparisons showed high frequency (80%) of gains in 11p12 and losses in 16p12, in agreement with the literature that indicate alterations of 11p and 16p in UBC recurrences. These findings suggest that those chromosome regions contain putative oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes critical for urinary bladder carcinogenesis. Within a same patient genomic profile showed high agreement between tumors and their respective recurrences, i.e., tumors from the same patient showed a large number of common losses and gains. The high similarities of genomic alterations in successive tumors from the same patient suggest that a stable genomic profile was established in UBCs and their recurrences. Besides, during the "free‐of‐neoplasia" intervals, negative urinary bladder washes were submitted to Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH) to detect quantitative alterations in centromeres 7 (n=21 samples), 17 (n= 21) and 9p21 (n=36). No numerical alterations... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
Doutor

One of the many challenges faced by recent graduates is finding a job. The problem becomes increasingly difficult in small and medium sized cities (cities possessing a population of fewer than 700,000 people). This study focuses on the challenges and barriers students who have recently graduated face in both one of Canada's most expensive housing markets and a city where there is an aging demographic. In addition, this study explores possible incentives for keeping the younger educated demographic in Kelowna following graduation. Data for this study were obtained from questionnaire surveys administered to both final-year students (those that graduated in June 2011 from the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus) and all past students (alumni that graduated from the UBC Okanagan Campus from 2006 to 2010) in which 48 final-year students and 42 alumni participated. The questionnaire surveys focussed on the respondents' desire to either remain in or leave Kelowna following graduation and what factors encouraged these decisions. Supplementary data were acquired from 10 structured key informant interviews in Kelowna which assessed the aging population of the city and programs aimed to assist recent graduates or youth. Results from the case study indicate the majority of graduates from the UBC Okanagan Campus do leave Kelowna after graduation. Graduates had a variety of reasons for leaving Kelowna, and the majority cited a severe lack of jobs within their chosen career field. Respondents sought opportunities in other cities to gain workplace experience, well-paid jobs and have the affordable housing that Kelowna does not possess. This study expands on existing literature by emphasizing the importance of young adults in a growing city and the need for a population mix. This case study reveals that students who have recently graduated experience a multitude of factors when determining where to reside and work following graduation. Recommendations from this study suggest a need for increased social assistance in career services offered by the UBC Okanagan Campus, more affordable housing, and the need for a mixed population and more culturally diverse community.

Aspects of the indoor environment that directly influence the occupants are ventilation, indoor-air quality (IAQ), acoustic and thermal condi¬tions, as well as lighting. All five aspects were studied to investigate the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in a sustainable building (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver campus. Physical measurements were made in several selected spaces (mainly offices and meeting rooms) to monitor indoor parameters such as background noise level, reverberation time, VOC and CO₂ concentrations, ambient temperature, relative humidity, indoor illuminance level, etc. Building performance was analyzed by comparing the measurement results to standard criteria, and to the design goals of CIRS. Several selected spaces in CIRS were found unsatisfactory in some aspects of IEQ – e.g. the mechanical ventilation system was unable to remove 80% of outdoor ultrafine particles; more than 20% of the measured spaces exceeded the maximum recommended background noise level; 100% of the noise isolations between offices and their surroundings were inadequate; speech privacy between adjacent private offices was poor; rooms in the South wing suffered from very high illuminance levels, etc. Building features and management details that influenced IEQ were discussed to analyze the relationships between building design/operation and performance. Several room features were discussed, such as air change rate, furnishing material, ventilation types, acoustical characteristics, etc. Several conclusions were drawn – e.g. ventilation conditions of rooms were highly affected by the door/windows statuses; rooms with the lowest air change rates had the highest UFP concentrations; crowd noises in the atrium caused high background noise levels; inadequate noise isolations were caused by indoor light-weight partitions, etc.

Mass-timber has gained popularity in the construction of mid-rise buildings in the last decade. The innovation of constructing tall buildings with mass-timber can be seen in the student residence at Brock Commons built in 2016 at the University of British Columbia. It is the world’s tallest timber hybrid building with 18 stories and 53 meters’ height above the ground level. The building has 17 stories of mass-timber superstructure resting on a concrete podium with two concrete cores that act as a lateral force resisting system for earthquake and wind forces. The mass-timber superstructure of 17 stories took ten weeks whereas the concrete cores were built in fourteen weeks. There could have been a substantial reduction in the project timeline leading to cost savings, if mass-timber was used for the cores. The motivation for concrete cores was driven by the sole purpose of easier approval procedure. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the possibility to design the Brock Commons building using mass-timber cores. First, the procedure for the approvals for tall timber buildings by understanding the code compliance for Brock Commons is discussed. Then, the actual building with concrete cores is modeled, with the model being calibrated with the results from the structural engineers of record. These concrete cores are then replaced by the same configuration using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) cores to investigate the structural feasibility of Brock Commons with a mass-timber core. The results presented herein show that Brock Commons with CLT core having the same dimensions and configuration is unstable under seismic loading for Vancouver, BC, as specified by National Building of Canada 2015. However, when the configuration and thickness of CLT cores are changed, the structure can meet the seismic performance criteria as per the code.
Applied Science, Faculty of
Civil Engineering, Department of
Graduate

Broadening our Classroom is organized into two parts. Part One deals with a theoretical discussion about the meaning and motivations of planning education in contemporary societies and times. From here, planning education can be both contextualized and understood within the wider discourse of what planning education should be in the 21st century. This study then works to illuminates areas of planning education that must be critiqued and challenged based on the way they are currently taught and engaged. Here, the ideas of ‘skills’ and ‘competencies’ are teased in an attempt to fruitfully grapple with planning education from the standpoint of its students. This points towards the need for 21st century planners to observe values, utilize skills and employ took-kits which include the ability to work in cross-cultural settings effectively (at home and abroad), an area of planning education which is to an extent lacking in practice. The merger of planning education and cross-cultural learning experience is proposed as a mechanism to address some of the challenges associated with this endeavor. Part Two transports the theoretical discussion into practice through an evaluation of the Naga City Studio Course offered by the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia (SCARP UBC). In May and June 2007, 20 UBC students participated in a ‘Planning Studio’ course in Naga City, Philippines. The Naga City Studio course serves as a case study in operationalizing a direction for planning education. The course is evaluated and analyzed primarily through participant’s experiences and reflections on the course. It becomes clear that the Naga City Studio Course serves as a creative and ultimately profound example of new directions in planning education, providing students the opportunity to gain cross-cultural exposure and to better understand and enhance their planning related skills within a cross-cultural context. The opportunity for students to both develop and better understand the (cultural) competencies necessary as practicing professionals is a key outcome of the course and serves as the key finding of Broadening our Classroom.

Any group that creates challenging goals for the future also requires a strategy to achieve them. In the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) case, the goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 33% below 2007 levels by 2015, 66% by 2020, and 100% by 2050 (UBC 2010c). The strategy was to develop the University Sustainability Initiative and the Campus as a Living Lab to assign authority and responsibility to help manage this endeavor. The Campus as a Living Lab at UBC provides a process for simultaneously meeting increasing infrastructure capacity requirements while achieving sustainability goals. The Campus as Living Lab accomplishes this by collaborating with industry partners, operations, and researchers to utilize the campus as a test bed for commercialization of sustainable technologies. This thesis explores the Campus as a Living Lab program at UBC and the replicability of it as a tool to expedite the adoption of sustainable technologies for campus and municipal infrastructure. Part of this exploration involved developing and amalgamating business process models for current practices at UBC, and conducting a 16-month long ethnographic study to extract key transferable characteristics for replicability. The research culminates in a series of comprehensive and generic business process models that illustrate what is required to develop and maintain a Campus as a Living Lab program.

The common modern concept of the human identity – an individual, integrated ego perception – is no longer adequate to the world of today and tomorrow as it is frayed and changes in a crazy speed. The sure knowledge of the cognizable world, clear apprehension of self confines, roots and being of environment looses it‘s background. The lost of the vital apprehension of the self and the world is the base of the talk on the identity crisis which can have global subsequence as the humanity have lost the old self apprehension and still does not have a new one. This paper analyzes few problems. The first is the concept of the identity. The notice is taken to the identity treat in the psychological, sociological literature and the causes as well as the outcomes of identity crisis specified in it. The concept and the problem of the postmodern are concurrent: it is negotiable if the postmodern is the cause of identity crisis as well as the possibility of identity crisis being the premise of the postmodern. For the long time science fiction was and still is the margin of mainstream literature. The postmodern pays a serious attention to the periphery, no account if it is margins of society or culture, or the direct expression of them in the literature. The lively interest in the science fiction is growing as it is treated as the concentrated self-expression of the human. It is quite often compared with the cyber culture as they both conceal human crisis, manias and phobias under the... [to full text]

Elderly residents of long-term care facilities (LTC) have difficulty accessing dental services. Aiming to improve access for this population, the Geriatric Dental Program (GDP) was established by the UBC Faculty of Dentistry in 2002. Within the GDP, elderly LTC residents receive fee-for-service dental treatment. The objective of this research is to explore whether having access to the GDP services had an impact on the life of the patients’ relatives (family members). This research hopes to better understand how quality of health in relation to dental health extends to relatives who are responsible for the frail elderly patients who receive the dental care. Such understanding will contribute to our recognition of a more holistic and widespread impact of dental care access to all segments of our society. Methods: Data was collected through semi-structured, face-to-face, audio-recorded interviews with family members of elderly patients from the UBC-GDP. A purposive criterion sampling method was used to select the family members to participate in this study. The final number of participants was determined according to saturation procedures. Interview transcription and data coding procedures were conducted following Saldaña1. All interviews were transcribed verbatim. In a second step, NVivo software was used to code and organize the transcripts into different categories to develop themes. The analysis of the data followed a qualitative, interpretive Thematic Analysis. Results: Final analysis shows that family members are worried about their relatives’ oral health; they believe that it is difficult to find private dentists with geriatric expertise and to make appointments for their family members outside of UBC, and that the UBC program helped them in fulfilling this task. Moreover, the UBC-GDP made their life less stressful and relieved the burden of setting up appointments for their relatives making their life easier. Thus, the UBC GD program positively affected the life of relatives by improving access to dental care services for the growing geriatric segment of our Canadian society. Furthermore, this study shows that the UBC GD program not only improved the perceived oral health but also impacted the relatives’ life in a positive way.
Dentistry, Faculty of
Graduate

Once a struggling regional university publisher on the brink of demise, UBC Press is now one of North America’s most venerable university presses and has played a key role in disseminating leading social sciences research. After nearly 40 years in the publishing industry, UBC Press’s retired Associate Director, Editorial, Jean Wilson reflects on her 20-year career at the Press and the critical importance of scholarly publishing to the academic community.

Meiosis is a highly regulated process, partly due to the need to break and then repair DNA as part of the meiotic program. In this thesis, mechanisms of meiotic regulation are investigated, including the post-translational modification termed SUMOylation, and a potential novel negative regulator of error-prone DNA repair pathways. Post-translational modifications are widely used during meiotic events to regulate steps such as protein complex formation, checkpoint activation, and protein attenuation. In this thesis, we investigate how proteins that are obligatory components of the SUMO pathway, one such post-translational modification, affect the C. elegans germline. We show that UBC-9, the E2 conjugation enzyme, and the C. elegans homolog of SUMO, SMO-1, localized to germline nuclei throughout prophase I. Mutant analysis of smo-1 and ubc-9 revealed increased recombination intermediates throughout the germline, originating during the mitotic divisions. SUMOylation mutants also showed late meiotic defects including defects in the restructuring of oocyte bivalents and endomitotic oocytes (EMO). Increased rates of non-interfering crossovers (COs) were observed in ubc-9 heterozygotes, even though interfering COs were unaffected. We have also identified a physical interaction between UBC-9 and DNA repair protein MRE-11. ubc-9 and mre-11 null mutants exhibited similar phenotypes at germline mitotic nuclei and were synthetically sick. These phenotypes and genetic interactions were specific to MRE-11 null mutants as opposed to RAD-50 or resection-defective MRE-11. We propose that the SUMOylation pathway acts redundantly with MRE-11, and in this process MRE-11 likely plays a structural role. We also found a candidate negative regulator of non-homologous end joining through an RNAi screen using the mre-11(iow1) resection-defective mutant. Mutant analysis did not rescue the resection-defective phenotype when multiple CRISPR-generated nhr-2 deletion alleles were generated. Therefore, nhr-2 does not appear to be directly involved in DNA repair.

This work is a hydrodynamic study of a displacement vessel using numerical and experimental methods to improve efficiency. A new hullform is developed that will have significantly reduced wave resistance, lower power requirements and reduced fuel consumption. This process is termed waterline parabolization and can reduce the wave resistance of a parallel mid-bodied displacement vessel by increasing the overall beam of the ship, through the addition of parabolic amidships bulbs. Two approaches have been taken: a “constant displacement” design producing a new hullform with shallower entrance and exit angles, and a “retro-fit” design where amidships bulbs are added to a parent hullform increasing the displacement. Optimal shapes for the amidships bulbs are developed numerically using a potential flow code based on Dawson’s method coupled with a Matlab optimization routine. Tow-tank tests at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) confirmed that amidships bulbs could reduce the effective power (PE) by 15%. Given the improved powering with parabolization, this thesis also compares the seakeeping characteristics of the parent, “constant displacement”, and “retro-fit” hullforms at high sea state conditions. A strip theory program called SHIPMO PC is used to compare the three different hullforms. Added resistance in waves, roll motions, pitch motions, heave motions and acceleration levels are quantified. There is no significant change in the seakeeping performance except for the roll motions, where there is a shift in the natural frequency of response. This shift is indicative of increased roll stiffness for parabolized hullforms with constant KG’s and increased GM’s as independent variables. Limited tow-tank tests were completed at ITU and they confirm numerical added resistance predictions in head seas between parent and “retro-fit” hullforms. Finally, a route specific cost benefit analysis of a “retro-fit” amidships bulb for the UBC-Ferry is done. Benefits include a variable fuel savings of 44000 L/year and a reduction in capital costs of installed power of 59,500$. The capital construction costs of the “retro-fit” would be 23,900 $/Tonne, and the payback period would be 18 years. Other then cost, the “retro-fit” would have an improved EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) rating and reduced impacts on the environment.

In the past few years, the study of critical infrastructures and the interdependencies amongst them in the context of an emergency situation has become a priority for many countries, including Canada. Governments, universities, and private companies all over the world are spending vast amounts of money and effort trying to better understand how infrastructures and humans react in the time stages before, during, and after a disruptive event. Analyzing complex systems such as those formed by infrastructure networks and decision makers is not a simple task and requires a multidisciplinary holistic approach. The field of research in infrastructure interdependencies is fairly new, and lies in the intersection of areas of knowledge such as emergency management, geography, simulation modeling, planning, and safety engineering. Analyzing interdependencies between infrastructure networks is not only a complex problem in terms of its formalization, but also in terms of the intricacy required to test and validate that formalization. Furthermore, identifying and having access to the data necessary to validate the formal system is probably an even more complicated issue to resolve. It is, however, only through the study of these interdependencies that certain failures or weaknesses in the systems can be discovered; weaknesses that could not be studied through the analysis of a single isolated system. Not only is it a challenging task to analyze the interconnections between infrastructure systems, but studying these at moments of stress, when the interdependencies become dynamic, is even more difficult. In this thesis I explore the intersection between three main themes: Critical infrastructure interdependencies, Emergency Management, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Furthermore, I analyze the different types of interdependencies between infrastructure systems, I describe some of the challenges that have to be dealt with when modeling interdependencies, and I explore the possibility of modeling and visualizing some of these interdependencies by constructing an Infrastructure Geographical Information System of the UBC campus.

Geologically-constrained inversion of geophysical data is a powerful method for predicting geology beneath cover. The process seeks 3D physical property models that are consistent with the geology and explain measured geophysical responses. The recovered models can guide mineral explorers to prospective host rocks, structures, alteration and mineralisation. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of how the University of British Columbia Geophysical Inversion Facility (UBC–GIF) gravity and magnetic inversions can be applied to subsurface mapping and exploration by demonstrating the necessary approach, data types, and typical results. The non-uniqueness of inversion demands that geological information be included. Commonly available geological data, including structural and physical property measurements, mapping, drilling, and 3D interpretations, can be translated into appropriate inversion constraints using tools developed herein. Surface information provides the greatest improvement in the reliability of recovered models; drilling information enhances resolution at depth. The process used to prepare inversions is as important as the geological constraints themselves. Use of a systematic workflow, as developed in this study, minimises any introduced ambiguity. Key steps include defining the problem, preparing the data, setting inversion parameters and developing geological constraints. Once reliable physical property models are recovered they must be interpreted in a geological context. Where alteration and mineralisation occupy significant volumes, the mineralogy associated with the physical properties can be identified; otherwise a lithological classification of the properties can be applied. This approach is used to develop predictive 3D lithological maps from geologically-constrained gravity and magnetic inversions at several scales in the Agnew-Wiluna greenstone belt in Australia’s Yilgarn Craton. These maps indicate a spatial correlation between thick mafic-ultramafic rock packages and gold deposit locations, suggesting a shared structural control. The maps also identify structural geometries and relationships consistent with the published regional tectonic framework. Geophysical inversion provides a framework into which geological and geophysical data sets can be integrated to produce a holistic prediction of the subsurface. The best possible result is one that cannot be dismissed as inconsistent with some piece of geological knowledge. Such a model can only be recovered by including all available geological knowledge using a consistent workflow process.

The goals of museum collaboration are several, as are its intended beneficiaries. Assuming the success of the practice, local communities can gain the opportunity for self-representation and self-determination, museums can contribute to the creation and dissemination of new kinds of knowledge, and visitors can take home better understandings of cultural difference. While these are the ideals of collaboration, they frequently go unrealized, in large part because, as research indicates, the visiting public fails to recognize the active involvement of communities at museums. This raises the question as to whether, in the absence of this audience awareness, museum collaboration can fully contribute to the realization of the tolerant society that it purports to support. The purpose of this research is to examine the role of museum visitors in achieving the goals of museum collaboration, as well as to consider why this public has difficulty recognizing community involvement at museums and how this may be remedied. “A Partnership of Peoples” is an extensive renewal project underway at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia (UBC), designed to facilitate collaborative research at the museum. It also serves as a case study for my consideration of the relationship between museums and the visiting public as a part of the collaborative process. By speaking with both MOA staff and visitors, I gained insight into the intended goals of the renewal project with respect to the museum’s relationship with communities and the general public, as well as visitor understandings of collaboration. With this fieldwork, in addition to a literature review, I found that the significance of collaboration rests in the personal interactions that occur between individuals. As the majority of visitors do not benefit from these interactions during their time at the museum, they are at a disadvantage when it comes to recognizing the engagement of others in the creation of displays or the facilitation of research. The task for museums, then, is to make contemporary peoples visible and audible, connecting objects to communities and increasing opportunities for visitors to experience these personal meanings.

The basic pharmaceutical sciences have played an integral role in the scientific foundations of pharmacy education in Canada for 70 years although their role has shifted as programs have become more clinically-focused. Less reliance on the basic pharmaceutical sciences has prompted concerns regarding the scientific foundations of contemporary curricula and to what extent they are adequate for preparing today’s pharmacists. Addressing these concerns, this study inquired into the role and status of the basic pharmaceutical sciences in UBC’s current BSc(Pharm) program. Employing qualitative case study methodology and learning-centered approaches to post-secondary education, a combination of document, interview, and classroom observation analyses were used to establish: 1) the history of the basic pharmaceutical sciences in UBC pharmacy programs; 2) faculty perspectives on their role and status in the current program, and; 3) the curriculum and pedagogical practices of basic pharmaceutical scientists. Results from document analyses examining the history of pharmacy education in British Columbia since Confederation show that the basic pharmaceutical sciences have played a dominant role in UBC pharmacy programs for four decades; emphasis has decreased from 40% in the heavily science-based curricula of the 1980s to 25% of today’s clinically-focused program. Regarding the role and status of the basic pharmaceutical sciences in the current program, interview analyses suggest perspectives of scientists and practitioners are deeply polarized. While there is agreement that the basic pharmaceutical sciences have a role in preparing students for practice, science and practice solitudes confound curriculum decisions regarding optimal levels, importance, and status. Interview and classroom observation analyses suggest the curriculum and pedagogical practices of basic pharmaceutical scientists are predominantly teaching-centered. Although committed educators, discipline-based practices and a legacy of privilege may be exacerbating the science and practice solitudes, the lack of agreement amongst scientists and practitioners about role and status, and existing tensions regarding curriculum optimization. To address confounding factors, scholarly approaches and interdisciplinary curriculum development teams are suggested for on-going curriculum reforms. In addition, faculty development programs connecting basic pharmaceutical scientists with practice and developing learning-centered teaching approaches are proposed. The role of Faculty leadership and policies in curriculum reform efforts is also described.

Ultra-low carbon (ULC) steels exhibit low yield strength and excellent formability. Plasma Assisted Physical Vapor Deposition (PAPVD) could be a coating method for enhancing mechanical, corrosion and wear resistances of low strength materials (MATTHEWS, 1995). However, when deposited onto low mechanical resistance alloys PAPVD coatings may undergo premature failure if the substrate plastically deforms under heavy load. Extra load support is usually required for hard coatings to perform satisfactorily. Combined treatments involving plasma nitriding and PAPVD coating have been used to improve the load-bearing capacity of hard films (AVELARBATISTA, 2005; MANCOSU, 2005; SANTOS, 2009). Present work focuses the characterization, corrosion behavior and micro abrasive wear resistance of Ti-stabilized Ultra-Low Carbon (ULC) steel after surface modification by D.C Triode Plasma Nitriding (DC-TPN) and sequential coating with Cr-Al-N by Electron Beam Plasma Assisted Physical Vapor Deposition (EB-PAPVD). Manufacturing processes are described. The ULC steel substrate, the nitrided steel and the corresponding Cr-Al-N duplex were studied. Results from corrosion tests of plasma-modified systems were compared to those from uncoated, electro-galvanized and galvannealed ULC steel sheets. Open Circuit Potential (OCP) tests were performed. The corrosion properties were evaluated via electrochemical potentiodynamic tests in aerated chloride-containing solution (3.5% NaCl). Polarization curves were investigated from -2.5 V to +1.5 V, beyond the pitting potential for Cr-Al-N coatings which lies between 0.6 V and 0.8 V depending on the Al/Cr ratio (DING, 2008). Corrosion parameters were measured and compared: EOCP (V); Icorr; (A/cm2); Ecorr (V); Rp (W*cm2) and relative efficiency of protection against corrosion _c (%). SEM post-corrosion studies were conducted and the corrosion modes - from general corrosion in uncoated steel to pitting in coated systems are discussed. Characterization of chemical composition, microstructure, phases, and surface roughness were conducted. Coating thickness for the coated systems was measured by calotest based on the inner and outer diameter of the wear scars. Under the experimental conditions of the present study, the results for corrosion resistance could be correlated to the differences in morphology and composition of the surfaces. For example, galvannealed samples showed Zn-Fe phases _ _ - _ - _1 - _- aFe varying from surface to substrate, while the duplex system goes from cfc-Cr-Al-N coating on top of a g´-Fe4N nitrided layer to an aFe substrate with N in solid solution. Results indicate that it is feasible to manufacture duplex Ti-ULC steel via DC-TPN and EB-PAPVD with actual improvement of the corrosion resistance. Potentiodynamic curves clearly showed a shift to higher corrosion potentials and lower corrosion current intensity from the untreated ULC substrate to the duplex system. The micro-abrasive wear behavior was also studied for the different systems under investigation. Micro-abrasive wear tests were performed in fixed-ball configuration up to 1350 revolutions using SiC abrasive slurry and a 25mm diameter AISI 52100 steel ball. Additional characterization was performed via micro-hardness and instrumented indentation hardness measurements, as well as stylus profilometry on both initial and worn surfaces of the samples. SEM and EDS analyses were conducted over the worn samples; the micro-abrasion mechanisms are presented and discussed. Nitrided steel and duplex system were, respectively, 2.5 and 3.4 times harder than the untreated Ti-ULC steel. The wear coefficient of nitrided steel was 36 % lower than that of the parent Ti- ULC steel. Regression analyses were used to calculate substrate (ks) and coating (kc) wear coefficients for the duplex system, the latter being 6.6 times lower than that of the nitrided steel. Results indicate that it is feasible to manufacture duplex Ti-ULC steel via PAPVD, as significant improvements in wear resistance were recorded for both nitrided and duplex-treated steels. Duplex treatment clearly was the most effective method to enhance the wear resistance of ULC steels. These results suggest a wider range for applicability of the ULC steels, where high drawability and high superficial mechanical resistance may be necessary
Os aços Ultra Baixo Carbono (UBC) têm baixo limite de escoamento e excelente conformabilidade. A Deposição Física de Vapor Assistida por Plasma (PAPVD) pode ser um método de recobrimento para melhorar as propriedades superficiais de resistência mecânica, à corrosão e ao desgaste de ligas de baixa resistência (MATTHEWS, 1995). Porém, quando depositados sobre substratos de baixa resistência mecânica os recobrimentos duros PAPVD podem sofrer falha prematura se o substrato deformar sob carga. Um substrato com suficiente capacidade de suporte de carga é usualmente necessário para que os recobrimentos duros tenham um desempenho adequado. Tratamentos combinados de nitretação e recobrimento PAPVD têm sido utilizados para melhorar a capacidade de carga de recobrimentos duros (AVELARBATISTA, 2005; MANCOSU, 2005; SANTOS, 2009). O presente trabalho investiga a caracterização, o comportamento à corrosão e a resistência ao desgaste microabrasivo de aços UBC estabilizados com Ti, após modificação superficial por DC-TPN (Nitretação a Plasma em Configuração Triodo com Corrente Contínua) e recobrimento seqüencial com Cr-Al-N por EB-PAPVD (Deposição Física de Vapor Assistida por Plasma com Evaporação por Feixe de Elétrons). Os processos de fabricação a plasma utilizados foram descritos. Os sistemas substrato, aço nitretado e dúplex com Cr-Al-N foram investigados. Os resultados dos ensaios de resistência à corrosão dos sistemas modificados a plasma foram comparados com aqueles obtidos para o substrato não modificado, com o mesmo aço após galvanização por imersão e com tratamento térmico (galvannealed), e com o mesmo aço após eletrogalvanização. Ensaios de Potencial de Circuito Aberto (OCP, Open Circuit Potential) foram realizados. O comportamento à corrosão foi avaliado com ensaios potenciodinâmicos. Todos os ensaios eletroquímicos foram realizados em solução aquosa de NaCl (3.5%) aerada. As curvas de polarização foram investigadas entre -2.5V e + 1.5V, além do potencial de pitting para recobrimentos Cr-Al-N que oscila entre 0.6V e 0.8V dependendo da relação Al/Cr (DING, 2008). Os parâmetros de corrosão foram medidos e comparados: EOCP (V); Icorr; (A/cm2); Ecorr (V); Rp (W*cm2) e a eficiência relativa de proteção contra a corrosão _c (%). Estudos MEV foram conduzidos após os ensaios, e os modos de corrosão variando de corrosão generalizada no substrato não recoberto até pitting nos sistemas recobertos foram discutidos. Caracterização de composição química, microestrutura, fases, e rugosidade superficial foram realizadas. A espessura do recobrimento foi medida através de ensaios de calotest, com base nos diâmetros interno e externo das calotas de desgaste. Sob as condições experimentais dadas, os resultados de corrosão podem ser correlacionados com as diferenças em morfologia e composição das superfícies dos diversos sistemas. Por exemplo, as amostras galvanizadas com tratamento térmico mostraram uma seqüência de fases _ _ - _ - _1 - _- aFe no sentido da superfície ao substrato, enquanto o sistema dúplex mostra recobrimento cfc-(Cr-Al-N) sobre uma camada nitretada com g´-Fe4N sobre uma camada de difusão de matriz ferrítica (aFe) com N em solução sólida. Os resultados indicam que é viável fabricar sistemas dúplex de aço Ti-UBC via DC-TPN e EB-PAPVD com melhoria na resistência à corrosão. As curvas potenciodinâmicas mostraram um claro deslocamento para maiores potenciais de corrosão e menores correntes de corrosão desde o aço não tratado até o aço dúplex. O comportamento ao desgaste microabrasivo também foi estudado para os diferentes sistemas. Os ensaios de desgaste microabrasivo foram realizados em configuração esfera fixa até 1350rev utilizando lama abrasiva de SiC e uma esfera de aço AISI 52100 com diâmetro 25mm. Caracterização adicional foi realizada com medidas de microdureza Vickers (HV) e dureza por penetração instrumentada, bem como análises de perfilometria das superfícies antes e após os ensaios de desgaste. Análises em MEV com EDS foram realizadas sobre as calotas de desgaste; os mecanismos de desgaste microabrasivo são apresentados e discutidos. Os sistemas nitretado e dúplex foram, respectivamente, 2.5 e 3.4 vezes mais duros que o aço não tratado. O coeficiente de desgaste do aço nitretado foi 36% menor que o do substrato. Análises por regressão foram utilizadas para calcular o coeficiente de desgaste do substrato (ks) e do recobrimento (kc) no sistema dúplex, sendo este último 6.6 vezes menor que o do aço nitretado a plasma. Os resultados indicam que é possível processar o aço Ti-UBC via PAPVD, visto que uma melhoria significativa da resistência ao desgaste microabrasivo foi registrada tanto para o sistema nitretado quanto para o dúplex. O tratamento dúplex foi claramente o método mais efetivo para melhorar a resistência ao desgaste do aço UBC. Estes resultados sugerem uma extensão na aplicabilidade de aços UBC, onde alta estampabilidade e alta resistência mecânica superficial sejam necessárias

Model organisms and gene-editing strategies are fundamental to address a variety of scientific questions from basic science to biomedical research. Here, we reinforced the use of two powerful tools, the experimental system Caenorhabditis elegans and the CRISPR/Cas gene-editing technology, to model cancer-related mutations and investigate cisplatin-based chemoresistance. We have established a model to study BAP1 cancer predisposition syndrome-related mutations in the BAP1 ortholog ubh-4. By exploring distinct ubh-4 alleles, we have discovered a synthetic interaction between ubh-4 and rpn-9, an essential regulatory subunit involved in proteasome assembly. Moreover, we suggest a cooperating role between these genes in the ubiquitin-mediated proteostasis at meiotic prophase. In addition, we have exploited C. elegans to study the toxicity of cisplatin-based therapies in different ways. First, by studying the impact of glucose and lipid metabolism on cisplatin toxicity. Then, we have described the harmful effect of cisplatin in mitochondrial functions. Finally, we have established a method to investigate the cisplatin-induced neurotoxicity by using an automated worm tracking system and discovered a protective role of dopamine.
Los organismos modelo y las estrategias de edición genética son fundamentales para desentrañar incógnitas en ciencias de la vida, desde la investigación básica hasta investigación aplicada a la biomedicina. En este estudio, reafirmamos la importancia del uso de dos potentes herramientas, el sistema experimental Caenorhabditis elegans y la tecnología de edición genética CRISPR/Cas, para modelar mutaciones relacionadas con cáncer e investigar la quimiorresistencia al cisplatino. Hemos modelado mutaciones asociadas al síndrome de predisposición tumoral BAP1, en ubh-4/BAP1. Explorando el efecto de distintos alelos mutantes de ubh-4, hemos descubierto una interacción sintética entre ubh-4 y rpn-9, el cual codifica para una subunidad reguladora esencial para el ensamblaje del proteasoma. Además, proponemos que la cooperación funcional de dichos genes está implicada en la degradación de proteínas mediada por el sistema ubiquitina-proteasoma durante la profase meiótica. También hemos investigado la respuesta generada por la terapia con cisplatino en C. elegans. Por una parte, hemos demostrado que la toxicidad inducida por el cisplatino puede modularse alterando el metabolismo glucídico y lipídico. Por otro lado, hemos observado que esta droga genera disfunción mitocondrial. Finalmente, mediante un sistema automatizado, hemos puesto a punto un método para evaluar el efecto neurotóxico del cisplatino en el nemátodo y hemos encontrado que la dopamina posee un efecto protector.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:21:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLFR.pdf: 1075822 bytes, checksum: f9dc443682a3269a2f32e2a5579089a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-06-10
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
The ubiquitin system represents a selective mechanism for intracellular proteolysis in eukaryotic cells that involves the sequential activity of three enzymes, E1 (Ubiquitin activating enzyme), E2 (Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3 (Ubiquitin-protein ligase). The identification of these proteins and their targets as well as structural data is essential to understand their function in the eukaryotic cell. In the present study the open reading frame of human Ubiquitin- conjugating enzyme UBE2G2 was isolated from a human brain cDNA panel, cloned into pET28 vector and expressed in Escherichia coli. His-tagged protein was then purified by nickel-affinity chromatography and subjected to structural and functional studies using circular dichroism (CD) and an in vitro ubiquitin-binding assay, respectively. The affinity chromatography assay rendered approximately the 27 mg of the soluble recombinant HisUBE2G2 after expressed in bacteria at low amounts of IPTG (0,1mM) in 3 hours of induction. The CD spectra of recombinant pure protein showed a secondary structure content according with the expected for a member of the E2 family (Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), with 35 % of α-Helix, 21 % of β sheets and 23 % of turns. Moreover, purified protein was able to bind ubiquitin molecules when mixed with a HeLa cell extract during the pull-down assay. Taken together the results presented in this work allow inferring that HisUBE2G2 was expressed in their active form.
O Sistema de Ubiquitinação representa o mecanismo de degradação protéica intracelular mais importantes em todos nas células eucarióticas e envolve a atividade seqüencial de três enzimas conhecidas como E1, enzima ativadora de ubiquitina, a E2 enzima conjugante de ubiquitina e a E3 enzima ligante de ubiquitina. A identificação destas proteínas e seus alvos protéicos, assim como as obtenções de dados estruturais são essenciais para entender a função deste sistema dentro da célula eucariótica. No presente trabalho, a fase de leitura aberta (ORF) do gene humano ube2g2 foi isolado de um painel de cDNA de cérebro humano, foi clonado no vetor pET28a e expressado em bactérias Escherichia coli. A proteína de 18,5 kDa em fusão com uma cauda de histidinas foi posteriormente purificada por cromatografia de afinidade e submetido a ensaios estruturais e funcionais a traves do medição do CD e a traves do ensaio de pull-down, respectivamente. A cromatografia de afinidade rendeu 27 mg de proteína solúvel, logo após de tê-la expressado heterologamente a baixas concentrações de indutor IPTG 0,1 mM em três horas de indução. O espectro de CD da proteína purificada mostrou o conteúdo de estrutura secundaria de acordo ao esperado para um membro típico da família de enzimas E2, apresentando um 35 % de hélices α, 21 % de folhas β e 23 % de giros. Alem do mais, a proteína purificada foi capaz de ligar molécula de ubiquitina quando misturada com um extrato de células HeLa, durante o ensaio de pull-down. Desta maneira e com esses resultados apresentados aqui pode se inferir que a proteína humana UBE2G2 foi expressa na sua forma ativa.