Qu’il s’agisse d’une signature monochrome ("tag"), de lettres rondes à deux couleurs ("throw-up") ou d’un enchevêtrement calligraphique multicolore ("piece"), les formes caractéristiques du graffiti hip-hop font aujourd’hui partie du paysage urbain des grandes villes du monde. Né aux États-Unis dans les années 1960 et diffusé à l’extérieur des frontières américaines dans les années 1980, le graffiti hip-hop peut être perçu comme un exemple à la fois de l’américanisation et de l’homogénéisation des pratiques culturelles des jeunes à travers le monde. À partir d'une comparaison entre des graffiteurs francophones de Montréal et des graffiteurs lusophones de São Paulo, cette thèse décrit le processus d'appropriation d'un mouvement culturel d’origine américaine et montre les similitudes et les différences retrouvées au niveau local de cette forme d'expression mondialisée. L’étude de l’appropriation culturelle proposée dans cette thèse se compose de deux niveaux d’analyse. Le premier – qualifié de micro – touche le domaine personnel et se penche sur le processus de production de graffitis de style hip-hop (type de graffitis d’origine new-yorkaise basé sur l’écriture de pseudonymes). Ce niveau d’analyse me permet de démontrer comment les mécanismes de l’imitation et de la transformation se mélangent et renvoient aux processus de l’apprentissage et de l’inventivité individuels. Pour l’analyse du second niveau – qualifié de macro –, je tiens compte de l’ensemble des forces qui, au plan de la collectivité, forge l’appropriation. Ceci me permet de tracer des liens causaux entre les particularités locales du graffiti hip-hop et certains paramètres relevant du politique, de l’économique, de l’histoire et du culturel. / I propose to examine the local appropriation of hip-hop graffiti, a transnational youth expression, that originated in the East-Coast of the United States, through a micro and a macro perspective applied to a multi-site ethnography of hip-hop graffiti in two cities of the Americas, Montreal (Canada) and São Paulo (Brazil), among, respectively, French and Portuguese speaking graffiti artists. The micro level analysis will focus on the creative process by which graffiti artists combine imitation and transformation; and the macro perspective will bring into relief the complex ensemble of dimensions which influences the appropriation process in a given locality. Based on this double-leveled analysis, I shall 1) describe the similarities and differences between the hip-hop graffiti scene in Montreal and São Paulo; 2) identify key elements of the process of cultural appropriation; and 3) reexamine the notion that globalization results in cultural homogenization.

The objective of this work is to study the urban climate, mainly by focusing on urban temperature trends. The specific focus is to understand the reasons of increase in minimum temperature through observational and modelling techniques. For this purpose, the temperatures data from 1950 to 2004 measured on several meteorological stations of Pakistan is studied and analyzed. Daily averaged annual and seasonal minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) temperature data of 37 meteorological observatories of Pakistan (17 urban, 7 town and 13 rural) from 1950 to 2004 is first homogenized and then analyzed. The results show that after 1980s Tmin and Tmax increase faster than the period before 1980s at urban areas. During 1980-2004, the increase in Tmin at major urban stations is observed higher than the smaller towns and rural stations. To understand, the effect of the size of the city, changing land use and the building height on the evolution of minimum and maximum temperatures in urban areas has been studied by using the FVM (Finite Volume Model) model and the simulations are run for three days starting at 00:00 (GMT) on 19th day of each month and ending at 00:00 (GMT) on 22nd day of each month. For each month, 48 possible combinations of simulation scenarios are run (4*4*3) and in total, 576 simulations (48*12) are run for a year. The main results show that Tmin and Tmax increase when urban fraction u, city size r and building height h increase. But it is noticed that Tmax increases more than the Tmin when u increases, Tmin increases more than the Tmax when r increases and Tmin increases more than the Tmax when h increases. Among all urban factors (urban fraction u, city size r and building's height h), city size is the major factor that mainly contributes to increase the minimum temperature more than the maximum temperature in urban areas.

In this dissertation we will address two types of homogenization problems. The first one is a spectral problem in the realm of lower dimensional theories, whose physical motivation is the study of waves propagation in a domain of very small thickness and where it is introduced a very thin net of heterogeneities. Precisely, we consider an elliptic operator with "ε-periodic coefficients and the corresponding Dirichlet spectral problem in a three-dimensional bounded domain of small thickness δ. We study the asymptotic behavior of the spectrum as ε and δ tend to zero. This asymptotic behavior depends crucially on whether ε and δ are of the same order (δ ≈ ε), or ε is of order smaller than that of δ (δ = ετ , τ < 1), or ε is of order greater than that of δ (δ = ετ , τ > 1). We consider all three cases. The second problem concerns the study of multiscale homogenization problems with linear growth, aimed at the identification of effective energies for composite materials in the presence of fracture or cracks. Precisely, we characterize (n+1)-scale limit pairs (u,U) of sequences {(uεLN⌊Ω,Duε⌊Ω)}ε>0 ⊂ M(Ω;ℝd) × M(Ω;ℝd×N) whenever {uε}ε>0 is a bounded sequence in BV (Ω;ℝd). Using this characterization, we study the asymptotic behavior of periodically oscillating functionals with linear growth, defined in the space BV of functions of bounded variation and described by n ∈ ℕ microscales

Middle Ordovician carbonates in the Lake Simcoe area, south-central Ontario were examined to determine if: (1) The δ18O values of early-stage calcite cement in hardgrounds are useful proxies for Ordovician seawater δ18O values; (2) a regional hydrothermal event affected middle Ordovician strata in the Lake Simcoe area. Whole rock samples of middle Ordovician hardgrounds and immediately overlying limestones containing early calcite cement have δ13C values ranging from -1.7 to +2.9‰ (PDB) and δ18O values ranging from -6.9 to -2.9‰ (PDB). Hardground δ18O values and the similarity of the isotopic composition between the hardgrounds and overlying limestones are consistent with diagenetic alteration during shallow burial, which indicates the hardgrounds are not useful proxies. Late-stage calcite cements have δ13C values from -8.4 to +2.9‰ (PDB) and δ18O values from -11.4 to -6.0‰ (PDB). Late-stage microcrystalline dolomites have δ13C values from -3.9 to +0.4‰ and δ18O values from -10.7 to -7.6‰. Late-stage saddle dolomites have δ13C values from -1.7 to 1.9‰ and δ18O values from -13.8 to -8.5‰. The late-stage carbonate δ18O values are more negative than the early-stage carbonate δ18O values and are interpreted to reflect progressively deeper burial diagenesis. Four types of fluid inclusions were identified in late-stage calcite, saddle dolomite, barite, and quartz. Type 1 inclusions are aqueous liquid-rich with very consistent low to very low vapour-liquid ratios and are of primary, secondary pseudosecondary and indeterminate origins. Type 2 inclusions are aqueous liquid-only and are of primary and secondary origins. Type 3 inclusions are oil-bearing, liquid-rich with low to medium vapor-liquid ratios and are of secondary origin. Type 4 inclusions are vapour-only and are of indeterminate origin. The type 4 inclusions analyzed did not yield any microthermometric data suggesting they are empty cavities that have lost all their fluid. Fluid inclusions of primary, secondary and pseudosecondary origins in calcite, dolomite and quartz have overlapping homogenization temperatures ranging from 43 to 188°C. Fluid inclusions of indeterminate origin in calcite and barite have homogenization temperatures from 80 to greater than 200°C. Petrographic and microthermometric evidence indicates that fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures greater than 150°C most likely are caused by stretching or leaking; therefore, are discounted. Fluid inclusion types 1 and 2 represent two fluid inclusion assemblages (FIA) based on final ice melting temperatures. The high salinity (10 to 30 wt%CaCl2) inclusions in FIA 1 are of primary, secondary, pseudosecondary and indeterminate origin in calcite, dolomite, barite and quartz. Fluid inclusions in FIA 1 are interpreted as reflecting saline basin brines from which the host minerals precipitated during burial diagenesis. The low salinity (0 to 2.7 wt%CaCl2) inclusions in FIA 2 are of secondary and indeterminate origin in calcite. Fluid inclusions in FIA 2 may reflect a meteoric origin such as in a vadose or phreatic environment based on inclusions containing different phases and variable vapor-liquid ratios. Alternatively the low salinity inclusions may reflect alteration from an influx of meteoric fluids that migrated through basement faults and fractures during periods of uplift and erosion. Early and late-stage carbonates from this study precipitated from 18O-depleted pore fluids and/or at progressively higher temperatures accompanying deeper burial. The FIA 1 homogenization temperatures support burial diagenesis at 66 to 80°C if it is assumed the rocks were buried 2 km, the surface temperature was 20°C and the geothermal gradient was between 23 to 30°C/km. An alternative interpretation is mineral precipitation during a regional hydrothermal event. Burial diagenesis does not explain the fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures of 90°C and greater unless geothermal gradients are higher than 35°C/km or burial depth is increased to 3 km or more. However, thermal maturity of organic matter in the Michigan Basin suggests Ordovician strata were never buried more than 2 km. Four models for regional hydrothermal fluid migration are: (1) gravity-driven flow; (2) ‘squeegee-type’ fluid flow; (3) convection cell fluid flow; and (4) structurally-controlled fluid flow. The gravity-driven model relies on continental heat flow and an influx of meteoric water from basin catchment areas. For the ‘squeegee, convection cell and structurally controlled models, hot fluids could have entered the region from several conduits concurrently during episodic reactivation of basement faults and fracture systems in response to intracratonic stresses created by the continuous interaction of tectonic plates. Determining which of the models best explains regional hydrothermal fluid flow in the Michigan Basin is difficult for several reasons; (1) surface temperatures and maximum burial temperatures at the time of mineral precipitation in the Michigan Basin during the Ordovician are unknown; (2) the timing of mineral precipitation in relation to tectonic pulses is undetermined; (3) there is as yet no known deep-seated heat sources in the Michigan Basin for convection to occur; and (4) it is unknown whether advection is a major process in the Michigan Basin. A collaborative multi-disciplinary research project covering geology, geophysics and hydrogeology would provide much more integrated data than is currently available from stable isotopes, fluid inclusions and organic matter.

This study is concerned with the numerical solution of certain stochastic models of chemical reactions. Such descriptions have been shown to be useful tools when studying biochemical processes inside living cells where classical deterministic rate equations fail to reproduce actual behavior. The main contribution of this thesis lies in its theoretical and practical investigation of different methods for obtaining numerical solutions to such descriptions. In a preliminary study, a simple but often quite effective approach to the moment closure problem is examined. A more advanced program is then developed for obtaining a consistent representation of the high dimensional probability density of the solution. The proposed method gains efficiency by utilizing a rapidly converging representation of certain functions defined over the semi-infinite integer lattice. Another contribution of this study, where the focus instead is on the spatially distributed case, is a suggestion for how to obtain a consistent stochastic reaction-diffusion model over an unstructured grid. Here it is also shown how to efficiently collect samples from the resulting model by making use of a hybrid method. In a final study, a time-parallel stochastic simulation algorithm is suggested and analyzed. Efficiency is here achieved by moving parts of the solution phase into the deterministic regime given that a parallel architecture is available. Necessary background material is developed in three chapters in this summary. An introductory chapter on an accessible level motivates the purpose of considering stochastic models in applied physics. In a second chapter the actual stochastic models considered are developed in a multi-faceted way. Finally, the current state-of-the-art in numerical solution methods is summarized and commented upon.

The issue of establishing the status of nonlinear elasticity theory for rubber with respect to the point of view of polymer physics is at the heart of this manuscript. Our aim is to develop mathematical methods to describe, understand, and solve this multiscale problem. At the level of the polymer chains, rubber can be described as a network whose nodes represent the cross-links between the polymer chains. This network can be considered as the realization of some stochastic process. Given the free energy of the polymer network, we'd like to derive a continuum model as the characteristic length of the polymer chains vanishes. In mathematical terms, this process can be viewed as a hydrodynamic limit or as a discrete homogenization, depending on the nature of the free energy of the network. In view of the works by Treloar, by Flory, and by Rubinstein and Colby on polymer physics, and in view of the stochastic nature of the network, stochastic discrete homogenization seems to be the right tool for the analysis. Hence, in order to complete our program we need to understand the stochastic homogenization of discrete systems. Two features make the analysis rich and challenging from a mathematical perspective: the randomness and the nonlinearity of the problem. The achievement of this manuscript is twofold: - a complete and sharp quantitative theory for the approximation of homogenized coefficients in stochastic homogenization of discrete linear elliptic equations; - the first rigorous and global picture on the status of nonlinear elasticity theory with respect to polymer physics, which partially answers the question raised by Ball in his review paper on open problems in elasticity. Although the emphasis of this manuscript is put on discrete models for rubber, and more generally on the homogenization of discrete elliptic equations, we have also extended most of the results to the case of elliptic partial differential equations --- some of the results being even more striking in that case.

La prédiction du comportement à long terme des matériaux cimentaires est un enjeu majeur pour contribuer à l'étude de la durabilité des structures précontraintes. Le présent travail porte sur l'utilisation de la méthode de l'inclusion équivalente, approche d'homogénéisation multi-échelle simplifiée, pour la prédiction du fluage dans ces matériaux. Le fluage est modélisé par la viscoélasticité linéaire sans vieillissement. La méthode de l'inclusion équivalente permet de contourner certaines difficultés et limitations que présentent les approches classiques. Pour les matériaux cimentaires, fortement hétérogènes, les approches multiéchelles classiques sont ou bien numériquement lourdes et très complexes à mettre en œuvre, ou bien pas suffisamment détaillées pour prendre en compte les spécificités d'une microstructure. La méthode de l'inclusion équivalente présente un juste-milieu et permet de calculer des microstructures simplifiées de type matrice-inclusions et de fournir des estimations ou des bornes sur le comportement homogénéisé. Sous sa forme variationnelle, la méthode de l'inclusion équivalente n'a jusqu'alors été mise en œuvre que pour des inclusions de forme sphérique. Le présent travail propose d'étendre cette méthode à des inclusions de forme ellipsoïdale dont la variation de l'élancement permet de modéliser de nouveaux éléments asphériques tels que les fissures, les fibres et les cristaux de portlandite. Cette complexification de la géométrie a un impact sur le temps de calcul, qui est amplifié dans le cadre du fluage. Le second volet du travail porte alors sur l'extension de la méthode de l'inclusion équivalente à la viscoélasticité linéaire sans vieillissement par l'intermédiaire de la transformée de Laplace-Carson. Une méthodologie efficace (tant du point de vue de la précision que de celui du temps de calcul) est finalement proposée pour effectuer l'inversion numérique de cette transformée / The prediction of long-term behaviour of cementitious materials is a major concern which contributs to the study of the durability of prestressed structures. This work focuses on the use of the equivalent inclusion method, simplified multi-scale homogenization approach, for the prediction of creep in these materials. Creep is modelled by the non-ageing linear viscoelasticity. The equivalent inclusion method overcomes certain difficulties and limitations posed by conventional approaches. For cementitious materials (highly heterogeneous), conventional multi-scale approaches are, either digitally heavy and complex to implement, or not sufficiently detailed to take into account the specificities of a microstructure. The equivalent inclusion method presents a middle way and allows the calculation of simplified matrix-inclusion type microstructures and to provide estimates or bounds on the homogenized behaviour.Under its variational form, the equivalent inclusion method has, up to now, been implemented only for spherical inclusions. This work proposes to extend this method to ellipsoidal inclusions whose variation of slenderness allows the modelling of new aspheric elements such as cracks, fibers and portlandite crystals. Such enrichment of the geometry has an impact on the computation time, that is amplified in the context of creep. The second aspect of the work then applies to the extension of the equivalent inclusion method to the non-ageing linear viscoelasticity by means of the Laplace-Carson transform. An effective methodology (both from the viewpoint of precision and calculation time) is finally proposed to perform the numerical inversion of this transform

Ce travail tente de développer des outils numériques efficaces pour une approche plus rationnelle et moins empirique du dimensionnement à la ruine des ouvrages de génie civil. Contrairement aux approches traditionnelles reposant sur une combinaison de calculs élastiques, l'adoption de coefficients de sécurité et une vérification locale des sections critiques, la théorie du calcul à la rupture nous semble être un outil prometteur pour une évaluation plus rigoureuse de la sécurité des ouvrages. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons de mettre en œuvre numériquement les approches statique par l'intérieur et cinématique par l'extérieur du calcul à la rupture à l'aide d'éléments finis dédiés pour des structures de plaque en flexion et de coque en interaction membrane-flexion. Le problème d'optimisation correspondant est ensuite résolu à l'aide du développement, relativement récents, de solveurs de programmation conique particulièrement efficaces. Les outils développés sont également étendus au contexte de l'homogénéisation périodique en calcul à la rupture, qui constitue un moyen performant de traiter le cas des structures présentant une forte hétérogénéité de matériaux. Des procédures numériques sont spécifiquement développées afin de déterminer puis d'utiliser dans un calcul de structure des critères de résistance homogènes équivalents. Enfin, les potentialités de l'approche par le calcul à la rupture sont illustrées sur deux exemples complexes d'ingénierie : l'étude de la stabilité au feu de panneaux en béton armé de grande hauteur ainsi que le calcul de la marquise de la gare d'Austerlitz / This work aims at developping efficient numerical tools for a more rational and less empirical assessment of civil engineering structures yield design. As opposed to traditionnal methodologies relying on combinations of elastic computations, safety coefficients and local checking of critical members, the yield design theory seems to be a very promising tool for a more rigourous evaluation of structural safety. Lower bound static and upper bound kinematic approaches of the yield design theory are performed numerically using dedicated finite elements for plates in bending and shells in membrane-bending interaction. Corresponding optimization problems are then solved using very efficient conic programming solvers. The proposed tools are also extended to the framework of periodic homogenization in yield design, which enables to tackle the case of strong material heterogeneities. Numerical procedures are specifically tailored to compute equivalent homogeneous strength criteria and to use them, in a second step, in a computation at the structural level. Finally, the potentialities of the yield design approach are illustrated on two complex engineering problems : the stability assessment of high-rise reinforced concrete panels in fire conditions and the computation of the Paris-Austerlitz railway station canopy

Cette thèse est consacrée à l'étude mathématique des effets de désordre dans divers systèmes physiques. On commence par trois problèmes d'homogénéisation stochastique en lien avec des questions statiques de physique classique. Premièrement, en vue de la déduction rigoureuse de l'élasticité non linéaire à partir de la physique statistique de réseaux de chaînes de polymères, on établit l'existence de propriétés effectives pour des matériaux hyperélastiques hétérogènes aléatoires sous des hypothèses générales de croissance. Deuxièmement, dans un cadre linéarisé simplifié, on étudie les formules de Clausius-Mossotti pour les propriétés effectives d'alliages binaires dilués: on donne la première preuve générale et rigoureuse de ces formules, ainsi qu'une extension aux ordres supérieurs. Troisièmement, encore pour des systèmes linéarisés, on propose d'étudier les déviations par rapport aux propriétés effectives et on établit la première théorie générale des fluctuations en homogénéisation stochastique. Dans la seconde partie de cette thèse, on se focalise sur la compétition entre désordre et interactions, et on étudie plus particulièrement la dynamique des vortex de Ginzburg-Landau dans des supraconducteurs 2D de type II en présence d'impuretés. Bien que la compréhension mathématique des propriétés vitreuses complexes de ces systèmes semble hors de portée, on établit rigoureusement la limite de champ moyen pour la dynamique d'un grand nombre de vortex, et on étudie l'homogénéisation de ces équations limites et leurs propriétés. / This thesis is devoted to the mathematical study of effects of disorder in various physical systems. We start with three stochastic homogenization problems in connection with static classical physics questions. First, motivated by the rigorous derivation of nonlinear elasticity from the statistical physics of polymer-chain networks, we establish the existence of effective properties for randomly heterogeneous hyperelastic materials under general growth assumptions. Second, in the simplest linearized setting, we investigate the so-called Clausius-Mossotti formulas for the effective properties of dilute two-phase dispersed media: we provide the first general and rigorous proof of these formulas, as well as an extension to higher orders. Third, again for linearized models, we propose to study deviations with respect to effective properties and we establish the first general theory of fluctuations in stochastic homogenization. In the second part of this thesis, the focus is on the interplay between disorder and interactions, and more precisely we study the dynamics of Ginzburg-Landau vortices in 2D type-II superconductors in the presence of several impurities. Although a complete mathematical understanding of the complex glassy properties of such systems seems out of reach, we rigorously establish the mean-field dynamics of a large number of vortices, and we investigate the homogenization of the fluid-like mean-field equations and their stick-slip properties.

Dans ce travail de thèse, une modélisation multi-échelle est mise en place à partir du concept d’homogénéisation périodique pour étudier le comportement cyclique et dépendant du temps des composites tissés à matrice thermoplastique. Avec l’approche proposée, le comportement macroscopique du composite est déterminé à partir d’une simulation éléments finis effectuée sur une cellule unitaire représentative de la microstructure périodique, où les lois de comportement des constituants sont directement intégrées, à savoir: la matrice et les torons. La réponse locale de la matrice est décrite par une loi de comportement phénoménologique multi-mécanismes intégrant viscoélasticité, viscoplasticité et endommagement ductile. Pour les torons, une loi de comportement hybride micromécanique-phénoménologique est considérée. Cette dernière prend en compte l’endommagement anisotrope et l’anélasticité induite par la présence d’un réseau diffus de microfissures à travers une description micromécanique d’un volume élémentaire représentatif contenant des microfissures. Les capacités du modèle multi-échelles sont validées en comparant les prédictions numériques aux essais expérimentaux. Les capacités du modèle sont également illustrées à travers plusieurs exemples où le composite subit des déformations dépendantes du temps lors de chargements monotones, de chargements à amplitude constante ou cyclique et encore lors de chargement multiaxiaux non proportionnels. En outre, le modèle multi-échelle est aussi utilisé pour analyser l’influence des mécanismes de déformation locaux sur la réponse macroscopique du composite. / In this thesis, a multi-scale model established from the concept of periodic homogenization is utilized to study the cyclic and time-dependent response of thermoplastic-based woven composites. With the proposed approach, the macroscopic behaviour of the composite is determined from a finite element simulation of the representative unit cell of the periodic microstructure, where the local constitutive behaviours of the components are directly integrated, namely: the matrix and the yarns. The local response of the thermoplastic matrix is described by a phenomenological multi-mechanisms constitutive model accounting for viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity and ductile damage. For the yarns, a hybrid micromechanical-phenomenological constitutive model is considered. The latter accounts for anisotropic damage and anelasticity induced by the presence of a diffuse micro-crack network through the micromechanical description of a micro-cracked representative volume element. The capabilities of the multi-scale model are validated by comparing the numerical prediction with experimental data. The capabilities of the model are also illustrated through several examples where the composite undergoes time-dependent deformations under monotonic loading, constant or cyclic stress levels and non-proportional multi-axial loading. Furthermore, the multi-scale model is also employed to analyse the influence of the local deformation processes on the macroscopic response of the composite.