Le catalyseur quatre voies est destiné à diminuer simultanément les émissions d’hydrocarbures, de monoxyde de carbone, d’oxydes d’azote et de suies par l’intermédiaire d’un seul monolithe catalytique. Plusieurs études sur ce type de catalyseur ont montré que la présence d’oxydes d’azote entraîne une diminution de la température d’oxydation des suies. Cependant, l’effet de la présence d’eau sur l’adsorption des oxydes d’azote n’est pas encore clair, surtout en présence de suies. Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit ont pour but de mettre en évidence l’influence de la présence d’eau et/ou de suies sur le fonctionnement de catalyseur «piège à NOx». Les résultats obtenus montrent que la présence d’eau entraîne une inhibition de la fonction oxydante du catalyseur, une diminution de la quantité de stockage des oxydes d’azote, et une inhibition de la formation des espèces adsorbées de surface. Ces phénomènes ont été attribués à la voix réactionnelle spécifique en présence d’eau associée à l’adsorption des oxydes d’azote. Les résultats obtenus sur le mélange noir de carbone et catalyseur montrent que la présence de noir de carbone induit une diminution de stockage des oxydes d’azote. De plus, cet effet se trouve plus important en contact fort. Les expériences réalisées sur l’adsorption des oxydes d’azote en présence simultanée de noir de carbone et d’eau ont montré un effet non cumulé de l’eau et du noir de carbone. Ce phénomène a été attribué à une compétition entre l’action de l’eau qui favorise la formation de nitrate de cœur à partir des nitrates faiblement liés et l’action du noir de carbone qui tend à déstabiliser les nitrates faiblement liés pour former les carbonates. / The four ways catalyst is used to decrease the emissions of hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and soot by a monolithic catalyst. Several researches on this type of catalyst have shown that the presence of nitrogen oxides involves a decrease of the soot oxidation temperature. However, the effect of the presence of water on the nitrogen oxides adsorption is not clear yet, especially with the presence of soot. The works presented in this manuscript are intended to study the influence of the presence of water or/and soot on the performance of the catalyst NOx trap. The results showed that the presence of water involves an inhibition of the oxidation function of catalyst, a decrease of the capacity of the NOx storage, and an inhibition of the formation of the surface adsorbed species. It is attributed to a special reactive way in the presence of water linked to the adsorption of nitrogen oxides. The results obtained on the mix of carbon black and catalyst showed that the presence of carbon black induce a decrease of the NOx storage capacity of catalyst. Besides, this effect was more important with a tight contact between carbon black and catalyst. The experiments realized on the adsorption of nitrogen oxides with the presence of carbon black and water simultaneously showed an effect not accumulated of the water and the carbon black. This phenomenon is attributed to a competition between the action of water which favors the formation of the bulk nitrate from the weak-linked nitrates and the action of carbon black which tend to destabilize the weak-linked nitrates to form the carbonates.

This diploma thesis deals with the issue of debt of people in the age category 18-26 years. The object of the diploma thesis is to map the reasons for the indebtedness persons in the age of 18 - 26. To accomplish main object were set two sub-objectives: 1. Identify the reasons that lead to indebtedness. 2. Identify competencies whose absence may lead to indebtedness. The thesis is divided into theoretical and empirical part. The theoretical part includes description of the term dept problematic, definition of commitments, characteristics of indebtedness and overindebtedness, the reasons of debts, social counseling, the klient of social counseling and last but not least, debt counseling as a social counseling activity. In the empirical part is described the research itself, which includes objectives, research questions, methodics and results of research and last but not least discusion and result of whole research.The research was used qualitative strategies, method of questioning and semi-structured interview technique. The basic sample for this thesis were formed by clients of social counseling in Příbram. The research results into the fact that people in the chosen age group are most often indebted because of the lack of financial literacy, which leads them to falling into a debt trap, which then deepens, mainly because of their indiscretion. The main cause of debts in such young peoples is the separation from the family and the searching for adequate housing. The research also proved that this group of people is located on the brink of society and will find it difficult to deal with this situation, as they know the solutions but rarely know where they can find advice or help. The consequences of their actions then have a bad effect on their psyche and subsequently worsen their health. The results of thesis can be used as educative material for wide public. The thesis can be also publicated in the local peridiocals in terms of the actual topic in connection with the amendment of insolvency act. It can be also used in social work with the chosen age group. For social workers can served as insight into this problematic.

No description available.

In rural inland, south-eastern Australia, allergy to the fungus Alternaria is prevalent and an important risk factor for asthma. The aim of the thesis was to investigate the distribution and factors influencing allergens of Alternaria in the air. As airborne allergenic spores were thought to arise from harvesting of nearby crops, two towns with different agricultural practices were studied. Moree has two crop harvesting periods in summer and autumn whilst Wagga Wagga has one harvesting period in summer. Over two years, air was sampled daily in Wagga Wagga and Moree using Burkard traps. The reliability of measurements from a single site to represent the distribution of airborne concentrations of spores across each town was examined using data from three traps simultaneously, sited 2.0 to 4.9 km apart, over four weeks. Substantial intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were observed between the three sampling sites across both towns (ICC=0.52, 95% CI 0.30-0.71 to 0.76, 95% CI 0.61-0.87) when counts of Alternaria spores were relatively high. The correlation was poor when counts were low. Of more than 365 trap tapes examined, the two microscopic traverses strongly correlated for counts of Alternaria spores (ICC=0.95, 95% CI 0.94-0.96). Alternaria was detected in both towns throughout the two year period with peaks in spore concentrations reflecting the season of crop harvesting in each region. Individual exposure to spores was examined. Thirty three subjects (adults and children from nine families) wore nasal air samplers and personal air samplers both inside and outside their homes. The effects of activity, location, age on the inhalation of Alternaria spores and variation between individuals in the same environment were determined. Every subject inhaled Alternaria spores. Personal exposure to Alternaria in the home environment varied substantially between subjects. Levels of fungal spores inhaled were higher during periods of activity than during rest, and higher while subjects were outdoors than indoors. During outdoor activity, the number of Alternaria spores inhaled ranged from 4 to 794 (median 11) spores/hr. Sources of airborne spores was investigated by sampling air above wheat and cotton crops near the towns during harvesting and non-harvesting periods, in a grain and cotton seed storage shed, and a cotton gin. Substantially higher concentrations were detected above crops during harvesting periods compared to non-harvesting periods. Peaks were associated with harvesting and other activities where plants were manipulated. By regression analysis spore concentrations in both towns were modelled against those detected above crops and with weather variables. Only one crop sampling period (cotton harvest) independently correlated with concentrations in town. Analysis combining all data showed concentrations of spores above crops correlated with spore concentrations in the town when lagged by one day. Variables of rainfall and maximum temperature influenced concentrations in both towns, and wind direction in Wagga Wagga alone. Parents of asthmatic children were asked by questionnaire in which locations symptoms were provoked. Asthma was reported to be exacerbated at grain farms and with disturbance of local vegetation in town and home gardens. Nasal sampling confirmed that activities that disturbed dust or vegetation increased the inhalation of spores. The factors that release allergen from spores were determined in a modified Halogen immunoassay. Approximately 60% of spores released allergen, and the proportion was influenced by isolate, nutrient availability, viability, and not influenced by sunlight or culture age up to 21 days. Germinating the spores significantly increased the proportion that released total allergen and Alt a 1 (p<0.0001). Alt a 1 appears to be a minor contributor to the total allergen released from spores except when spores have germinated. Conclusions: People living in inland rural regions of Australia are exposed to substantial quantities of allergenic spores of Alternaria. Exposure is a highly personal event and is largely determined by disturbance of local vegetation releasing spores such as from nearby crops by wind, harvesting, slashing, transport and processing of produce, and from within town and home gardens. Most spores inhaled are likely to be allergenic, with potency potentially increasing with viability.

This work presents detailed numerical calculations of the dielectrophoretic force in octupolar traps designed for single-cell trapping. A trap with eight planar electrodes is studied for spherical and ellipsoidal particles using an indirect implementation of the boundary element method (BEM). Multipolar approximations of orders one to three are compared with the full Maxwell stress tensor (MST) calculation of the electrical force on spherical particles. Ellipsoidal particles are also studied, but in their case only the dipolar approximation is available for comparison with the MST solution. The results show that the full MST calculation is only required in the study of non-spherical particles. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Im Bereich der medizinischen Diagnostik spielen DNA-Chips eine immer wichtigere Rolle. Dabei werden Glas- oder Silikon-Oberflächen mit Tausenden von einzelsträngigen DNA-Fragmenten, sog. Sonden, bestückt, die mit den passenden DNA-Fragmenten in der zugefügten Patientenprobe verschmelzen. Die Auswertung solcher Messungen liefert die Diagnose für Krankheiten wie z.B. Krebs, Alzheimer oder für den Nachweis pathogener Erreger. Durch fortschreitende Miniaturisierung dieser Meßsysteme können bis zu 40.000 Genfragmente des Menschen in einer einzigen Messung analysiert werden. Neben den DNA-Fragmenten können Bio-Chips auch für andere biologische Komponenten wie Antikörper und Proteine eingesetzt werden, wobei bei letzteren neben der Bindung auch die Aktivität ein wichtiger Diagnoseparamter ist. <br /> <br /> Am Fraunhofer-Institut für medizinische Technik und am Lehrstuhl für Analytische Biochemie der Universität Potsdam wurden im Rahmen einer Doktorarbeit Methoden entwickelt, die es ermöglichen auf nukleinsäuremodifizierten Sensoroberflächen die Aktivität von Proteinen zu messen. Es wurden Nukleinsäuren auf Oberflächen optischer Sensoren verankert. Diese fungierten als Rezeptor für die Proteine sowie auch als Substrat für Restriktionsenzyme, die Nukleinsäuren schneiden und Polymerasen, die Nukleinsäuren synthetisieren und verlängern können.<br /> <br /> Seine Anwendung fand diese Messmethode in der Messung der Aktivität des Proteins Telomerase, das in 90% aller Tumore erhöhte Aktivität gegenüber gesunden Zellen aufweist. Die Vorteile dieses neuen Assays gegenüber älteren Methoden liegt im Verzicht auf radioaktiv-markierten Komponenten und einer deutlich verkürzten Analysezeit. Die Arbeit schliesst mit einem funktionsfähigen Nachweis der Telomeraseaktivität im Zellextrakt von gesunden und kranken Zellen. Der direkte Einfluß von Hemmstoffen auf die Aktivität konnte sichtbar gemacht werden, und steht daher bei der Entwicklung neuer Tumor-Diagnostika und Therapeutika zur Verfügung. / In the field of medical diagnostic the importance of DNA chips is growing continuously. On silica surfaces hundreds of single stranded DNA fragments are immobilised which finally detect the complementary sequences in samples of patients by hybridisation. These methods enable the detection of serious diseases as cancer, Alzheimer's disease or infection by pathogens. Biomolecules as nucleic acids, antibodies and proteins can be used as receptors on the solid surfaces whereas in case of proteins not only the binding but also the activity are of high interest for medical diagnosis.<br /> <br /> In this thesis a biosensoric approach has been developed to determine the activity of nucleic-acid modifying enzymes. Optical sensors as, e.g., the grating coupler, were used to monitor the association and dissociation of unlabeled compounds on the sensor surface in real time, by virtue of evanescent-field. Furthermore sensors based on total internal reflection fluorescence measured the activity of restriction enzymes and polymerases. The general approach included the immobilisation of oligonucleotides which acted as the receptor for the enzymes as well as the substrate for the enzymatic reaction. Enzymes as EcoRI and Klenow were used to establish a model system to measure the activity of DNA-modifying enzymes on optical surfaces. As most nucleic acid detection systems use amplification steps such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to increase the amount of the probe the new optical systems facilitated the analysis of the enzymatic activity by measuring the DNA-synthesis or restriction directly.<br /> <br /> These systems were finally used to detect the activity of the telomerase, an enzymatic marker for the cancerous development of cells. In 90% of cancer cells the activity of telomerase is higher than in normal cells. Additionally the increase of the telomerase activity in cells induced by carcinogenic substances was detected. Furthermore no purification steps of the samples were required as all measurements were performed with crude cell extract.<br /> <br /> Also the effect of inhibitors of the telomerase could be shown in real time measurements underlining the potential of this assay for further developments of new cancer therapeutics.

This thesis describes the final precision mass measurements with SMILETRAP I, where a relative precision of &lt; 1 ppb (10-9) was reached routinely, and the development of SMILETRAP II, aiming for measurements with &lt; 0.1 ppb relative precision. The emphasis of the thesis is on the implementation of new techniques for achieving this precision improvement with SMILETRAP II. The Ramsey multiple-pulse excitation technique was tested at SMILETRAP I, and a reduction of the statistical uncertainty by factor three could by verified. The technique was applied in the last measurement with SMILETRAP I on H2+ and D+ ions. From these measurements the proton mass was deduced with a relative error of 0.18 ppb. It was found that temperature dependent magnetic field oscillations limited us from reducing the uncertainties further. A technical achievement of reducing the peak to peak temperature oscillation in the trapping region of SMILETRAP II by a factor four is presented, which should give an extended observation time and likewise improved precision. The new SMILETRAP II super-conducting magnet, with a slightly stronger field of 5.8 T compared with the previous of 4.7 T, was installed and adjusted.  A careful field alignment and reduction of inhomogeneities was done for minimizing the disturbances of the cyclotron frequency for improved precision. In that attempt, the localization and control of the trapped ion motion is also important. Thus a new cooling trap was set up. In the spring of 2009 coherent axial motion of a confined ion cloud was discovered in the cooling trap. By observation of the axial oscillations we can see the effects of evaporative cooling in the reduction of the axial energy distribution. Storing the ions up to 1 s in the cooling trap reduces the energy distribution by a factor of five. Other remarkable results of the ion oscillations are also reported. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: In progress. Paper 3: Submitted.

Solid phase microextraction (SPME), needle trap device (NTD), and membrane extraction with a sorbent interface (MESI) are solvent-free sample preparation techniques that were developed to perform the rapid routine analysis of organic compounds (VOCs) in various environmental matrices by integrating sampling, extraction, preconcentration and sample introduction procedures into one step. A portable ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) analyzer has some advantages, such as small size, light weight, operability under ambient pressure, air as carrier gas, and sensitivity, all of which make IMS suitable for on-site monitoring for low concentration of analytes. The aforementioned sampling and preconcentration techniques were coupled with a portable IMS analyzer, as well as a thermal desorption unit that can accommodate SPME, NTD and MESI, which was modified and combined with IMS for on-site monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from human breath and plant emissions. Experimental results demonstrated that low detection limits were achievable for gaseous analytes, (25 ng/L for acetone (SPME-IMS), 43 ng/mL (NTD-IMS) and 2.3 ng/mL (MESI-IMS) for α-pinene). These three analytical systems were applied for on-site rapid determination of acetone in human breath and α-pinene from plant emissions respectively. The salient features of these systems that make them suitable for on-site monitoring of volatile organic compounds in different sources are: small size, simple operation, fast and/or on-line sampling, rapid analysis.

Solid phase microextraction (SPME), needle trap device (NTD), and membrane extraction with a sorbent interface (MESI) are solvent-free sample preparation techniques that were developed to perform the rapid routine analysis of organic compounds (VOCs) in various environmental matrices by integrating sampling, extraction, preconcentration and sample introduction procedures into one step. A portable ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) analyzer has some advantages, such as small size, light weight, operability under ambient pressure, air as carrier gas, and sensitivity, all of which make IMS suitable for on-site monitoring for low concentration of analytes. The aforementioned sampling and preconcentration techniques were coupled with a portable IMS analyzer, as well as a thermal desorption unit that can accommodate SPME, NTD and MESI, which was modified and combined with IMS for on-site monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from human breath and plant emissions. Experimental results demonstrated that low detection limits were achievable for gaseous analytes, (25 ng/L for acetone (SPME-IMS), 43 ng/mL (NTD-IMS) and 2.3 ng/mL (MESI-IMS) for α-pinene). These three analytical systems were applied for on-site rapid determination of acetone in human breath and α-pinene from plant emissions respectively. The salient features of these systems that make them suitable for on-site monitoring of volatile organic compounds in different sources are: small size, simple operation, fast and/or on-line sampling, rapid analysis.

<p>This research presents the development of a phase-based lithographic system for three-dimensional micropatterning and manipulation. The system uses a spatial light modulator (SLM) to display specially designed phase holograms. The use of holograms with the SLM provides a novel approach to photolithography that offers the unique ability to operate in both serial and single-shot modes. In addition to the lithographic applications, the optical system also possesses the capability to optically trap microparticles. New advances include the ability to rapidly modify pattern templates for both serial and single-shot lithography, individually control three-dimensional structural properties, and manipulate Janus particles with five degrees of freedom.</p><p>A number of separate research investigations were required to develop the optical system and patterning method. The processes for designing a custom optical system, integrating a computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) platform, and constructing series of phase holograms are presented. The resulting instrument was used primarily for the photonic excitation of both photopolymers and proteins and, in addition, for the manipulation of Janus particles. Defining research focused on the automated fabrication of complex three-dimensional microscale structures based on the virtual designs provided by a custom CAD/CAM interface. Parametric studies were conducted to access the patterning transfer rate and resolution of the system.</p><p>The research presented here documents the creation of an optical system that is capable of the accurate reproduction of pre-designed microstructures and optical paths, applicable to many current and future research applications, and useable by anyone interested in researching on the microscale.</p> / Dissertation