"November 1967." / Includes bibliographical references / 2 v. : ill., plates ; 1967 / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1968

Biological membranes mainly constituent lipid molecules along with some proteins and steroles. The properties of the pure lipid bilayers as well as in the presence of other constituents (in case of two or three component systems) are very important to be studied carefully to model these systems and compare them with the realistic systems. Molecular dynamic simulations provide a good opportunity to model such systems and to study them at microscopic level where experiments fail to do. In this thesis we study the structural and dynamic properties of the pure phospholipid bilayers and the phase behavior of phospholipid bilayers when other constituents are present in them. Material and structural properties like area per lipid and area compressibility of the phospholipids show a big scatter in experiments. These properties are studied for different system sizes and it was found that the increasing undulations in large systems effect these properties. A correction was applied to area per lipid and area compressibility using the Helfrich theory in Fourier space. Other structural properties like order of the lipid chains, electron density and radial distribution functions are calculated which give the structure of the lipid bilayer along the normal and in the lateral direction. These properties are compared to the X-ray and neutron scattering experiments after Fourier transform. Thermodynamic properties like heat capacity and heat of melting are also calculated from derivatives of energies available in molecular dynamics. Heat capacity on the other hand include quantum effect and are corrected for that by applying quantum correction using normal mode analysis for a simple as well as ambiguous system like water. Here it is done for SPC/E water model. The purpose of this study is to further apply the quantum corrections on macromolecules like lipids by using this technique. Furthermore the phase behavior of two component systems (phospholipids/cholesterol) is also studied. Phase transition in these systems is observed at different cholesterol concentrations as a function of temperature by looking at different quantities (as an order parameter) like the order of chains, area per molecule and partial specific area. Radial distribution functions are used to look at the in plane structure for different phases having a different lateral or positional order. Adding more cholesterol orders the lipid chains changing a liquid disordered system into a liquid ordered one and turning a solid ordered system into a liquid ordered one. Further more the free energy of domain formation is calculated to investigate the two phasecoexistence in binary systems. Free energy contains two terms. One is bulk freeenergy which was calculated by the chemical potential of cholesterol moleculein a homogeneous system which is favorable for segregation. Second is thefree energy of having an interface which is calculated from the line tension of the interface of two systems with different cholesterol concentration which in unfavorable for domain formation. The size of the domains calculated from these two contributions to the free energy gives the domains of a few nm in size. Though we could not find any such domains by directly looking at our simulations. / <p>QC 20120913</p>

No description available.

Geotechnical engineers are always faced with uncertainties and spatial variations in material parameters. In this work, we propose to develop a framework able to account for different types of uncertainties in a formal and logical manner, to incorporate all available sources of information, and to integrate the uncertainty in an estimate of the probability. In geotechnical engineering, current soil classification charts based on CPT data may not provide an accurate prediction of soil type, even though soil classification is an essential component in the design process. As a cheaper and faster alternative to sample retrieval and testing, field methods such as the cone penetration test (CPT) can be used. A probabilistic soil classification approach is proposed here to improve soil classification based on CPT. The proposed approach provides a simple and straightforward tool that allows updating the soil classification charts based on sitespecific data. In general, settlements can be the result of surface loads or variable soil deposits. In current practice, the analysis to determine settlements is deterministic. It assumes that the soil profile at a site is uniform from location to location, and only allows limited consideration of the variations of the material properties and initial conditions within soil layers in spite of the wide range of compositions, gradations, and water contents in natural soils. A Bayesian methodology is used to develop an unbiased probabilistic model that accurately predicts the settlements and accounts for all the prevailing uncertainties. The proposed probabilistic model is used to estimate the settlements of the foundation of a structure in the Venice Lagoon, Italy. The conditional probability (fragility) of exceeding a specified settlement threshold for a given vertical pressure is estimated. A predictive fragility and confidence intervals are developed with special attention given to the treatment and quantification of aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. Sensitivity and importance measures are computed to identify the key parameters and random variables in the model.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1968. / "November 1967." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Co-Chair: Dr. S. Mostafa Ghiaasiaan; Committee Co-Chair: Dr. S.I. Abdel-Khalik; Committee Member: Dr. Sheldon M. Jeter.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1963.

Tailings are a rest product from the extraction of metals and minerals, and is therefore produced in large volumes by all mining companies. One common way to store tailings material is to deposit it as a hydraulic slurry on a tailings impoundment, where the tailings are held in place by tailings dams. Deposit and discharge of tailings, often conducted along the dams, causes a particle segregation which creates different fines contents (percentage of particles smaller than 0,063 mm in the tailings) in the impoundment at various distances from the discharge. Another effect from the discharge is that different densities are created in the deposited layers. Since some tailings dams are constructed on top of old deposited tailings, and if possible with tailings as a construction material, the fines content and density effects on the tailings behaviour are important factors for dam stability. In this thesis, tailings material with different fines contents and different densities have been studied with the purpose to see how the behaviour in strength, compressibility and permeability varies. After an initial case study of sampled tailings from a specific impoundment, the fines content for the three tested materials were determined to be 10, 50 respectively 90%. The behaviour in strength was tested in both triaxial and simple shear tests. Only drained strength was studied for three consolidation stresses in both apparatuses. The result from both tests showed that the strength is increasing with decreasing fines content, and thus evaluated friction angles increases with decreasing fines content. Evaluated friction angles from the simple shear test are though significantly smaller than those from the triaxial tests. Friction angles from triaxial tests are seen as most reliable, since the principal stresses are controlled during the whole test. The difference in friction angles from simple shear and triaxial test is however not a new discovery, it has been found by others before. The results from the triaxial tests indicates that a transitional fines content must exist somewhere between 10 – 50 %, where the behaviour in strength switches from sand dominated to silt dominated. Oedometer tests were conducted to study the compressibility of the three materials. The results showed that the compressibility increased with increasing fines content and with decreased density. In agreement with that conclusion, evaluated oedometer modulus from the normal consolidation curve tended to increase with increasing density and to a smaller extent increase with decreasing fines content. Determination of characteristics in permeability were done by evaluating the hydraulic conductivity from constant head tests. Results from this showed that the hydraulic conductivity increases with decreasing fines content. Furthermore, with increasing density the hydraulic conductivity decreases. Results of both the compressibility and the hydraulic conductivity are of course expected. To develop the relations in compressibility and permeability is considered as hard, since the behaviours are both dependent of fines content and density. However, the results indicate that with different combinations of fines contents and densities similar behaviour in compressibility and permeability can be obtained for different materials. / Anrikningssand (eng. tailings) är en restprodukt från utvinningen av metaller och mineraler. Alla gruvföretag producerar varje år stora volymer anrikningssand som måste förvaras på något sätt. Detta görs ofta genom att anrikningssanden deponeras som en slurry med processvatten på magasin. Anrikningssanden hålls sedan på plats av dammar och ibland i kombination med naturlig topografi. Deponeringen sker ofta från utsläppspunkter längs dammen, vilket resulterar i en sortering av kornstorlekar i magasinet som i sin tur skapar olika finjordshalter (procent av partiklar mindre än 0,063mm) på olika avstånd från utsläppspunkten. Deponeringen skapar också olika lager, som också får olika densiteter. Eftersom en del typer av gruvdammar byggs inåt och grundläggs på tidigare deponerad anrikningssand, samt eftersom anrikningssand ibland används som byggmaterial vid höjningar, är finjordshalten och densitetens effekt på materialbeteendet intressant ur stabilitetssynpunkt för dammarna. I det här arbetet har anrikningssand med olika finjordshalter och densiteter undersökts i laboratorieförsök för att bestämma hållfasthets-, kompressions- och permeabilitetsegenskaper. Först gjordes en case study, med provtagning och klassificering av anrikningssand från en specifik anläggning. Därefter bestämdes att tre stycken material med finjordshalter på 10, 50 och 90 % skulle undersökas. Hållfasthetsegenskaper har undersökts i både triaxial och direkta skjuvförsök. Endast dränerad hållfasthet har studerats för tre stycken konsolideringsspänningar för varje material i både triaxial och direkta skjuvförsök. Resultaten från både triaxialförsök och direkta skjuvförsök visar att hållfastheten ökar med minskad finjordshalt och därför ökar även värdet på utvärderade friktionsvinklar med minskad finjordshalt. Utvärderade friktionsvinklar från direkta skjuvförsök är dock betydligt lägre än friktionsvinklar från triaxialförsök. Friktionsvinklarna från triaxialförsöken är mer trovärdiga eftersom man under hela testet har koll på huvudspänningsriktningarna. Skillnaden i resultatet mellan direkta skjuvförsök och triaxialförsök är inte en ny upptäckt, utan har hittats av andra tidigare. Från resultatet av triaxialförsöken i det här arbetet kan man antyda att det finns ett ”transitional fines content” (TFC) mellan 10 och 50 %, där materialet övergår från sand dominerat beteende till silt dominerat beteende under skjuvning. Ödometerförsök utfördes för att studera kompressionen hos de tre materialen. Resultaten visar att kompressibiliteten ökar med ökad finjordshalt och med lägre densitet. Utvärderade ödometer moduler från normalkonsolideringskurvorna visar att styvheten ökar med ökad densitet, samt en aning till tendens mellan ökad styvhet och minskad finjordshalt. Permeabilitetsegenskaper har studerats genom utvärdering av hydraulisk konduktivitet från constant head test. Det observerades att den hydrauliska konduktiviteten ökar med minskad finjordshalt. Gällande densitetens effekt visar resultaten att med ökad densitet så minskar den hydrauliska konduktiviteten. Både resultat i kompressionsegenskaper och hydraulisk konduktivitet är förstås väntade. Att utveckla sambanden kring kompressions- och permeabilitetsegenskaper anses svårt, eftersom det är beroende av både finjordshalt och densitet. Resultaten indikerar att det med olika kombinationer av finjordshalt och densitet går att uppnå liknande beteende för olika material i både kompression och permeabilitet.

Orientador: Vicente Luiz Scalon / Banca: Geraldo Luiz Palma / Banca: José Ricardo Figueiredo / Resumo: O desenvolvimento de modelos numéricos para simulação de escoamentos tem se dado em diversos aspectos: desde os métodos de acoplamento entre pressões e velocidades até as técnicas de estabilização da solução. Neste contexto, este trabalho se propõe a implementar e avaliar o comportamento de um destes algoritmos, o CBS, utilizando-o na simulação de um escoamento isotérmico de fluido incompressível. Para tanto, foram utilizados variantes do esquema de solução com relação à discretização no tempo, com os métodos explícito e semi-implícito, além de algumas outras alterações na discretização no espaço e nos termos de estabilização. A discretização geral do problema foi feita com o método dos elementos finitos utilizando-se uma malha formada por elementos bilineares. O algoritmo e suas variações foram avaliados através de uma série de resultados, para diversos valores do número de Reynolds, de um problema clássico: a cavidade recirculante. Desta forma, foi possível mostrar que todas as variações da solução usando a malha estabelecida apresentaram concordância satisfatória com os resultados da literatura. Além disto, verificou-se que a omissão do termo característico não apresentou diferenças significativas nos resultados para os valores de número de Reynolds testados. Os resultados mostraram também que o método semi-implícito converge com um menor número de incrementos de tempo que o método explícito. / Abstract: The development of numerical models for fluid flow simulation occurred at many aspects: since coupling methods between pressures and velocities until stabilization techniques. In this context, this work intends to implement and evaluate one algorithm behavior, the CBS, used in a simulation of incompressible and isothermal flows. This work also uses the explicit and semi-implicit methods of the time discretization scheme and some others changes in space discretization and stabilization terms for tests with algorithm. The discretization technique used is the finite element method with the mesh formed by bilinear elements. The algorithm's changes were evaluated using results for several Reynold's number in a classic problem: the lid-driven cavity. All the changes in solution algorithm with the used mesh show good agreement with other results from bibliography. It was verified too, that the omission of characteristics term didn't present significant differences in results with Reynold's number tested. It was observed yet that the solution code using the semi-implicit method converges with less time steps than the explicit one. / Mestre

This study’s main objective is to examine if there is acorrelation between readability and compressibility of Java code. The code readability is important to softwaremaintainability and the comprehension of the code, and thiscan be verified and tested with a range of different metricssuch as B&amp;W, Scalabrino and Dorn’s readability metric.Should there exist a correlation, compressibility could proveto be a simple yet useful readability metric.Data compression is when code or data is encoded usingfewer bits that its original size. There are several algorithmsto do this, and this study works with some of the mostpopular methods. To examine the correlation, we first testedthe different compression algorithms against each other tosee if there was a major difference in size of the resulting file.After that we compared the compressibility between twodifferent types of written code, with previously establisheddifferences in readability.All in all, the source code from a total of 20 popular GitHubprojects were tested with 3 compression algorithms tocompare the differences between the algorithms. For thecompressibility comparisons between code as relating toreadability, a combined total of 104 code snippets weretested, 52 of each compared coding paradigm.Result: For the first test we concluded that there was nosignificant difference between the compression rates of thealgorithms, ending up roughly within 4% or less of eachother on average.The second result reveals a small difference incompressibility between sets of code using reactive Java andobject-oriented Java. These two paradigms are showing adifference in readability according to earlier research, thoughthe difference in compressibility was so small that it wasconsidered negligible. This is due to a lack of variety ofsnippets tested and the difference can largely be attributed tothe small file sizes of some snippets. The smaller filesincreased in size due to the compression adding an“overhead” when a file is compressed. This is morenoticeable on smaller files which this study tested a lot of.In conclusion, the study was unable to indicate a clearconnection between source code readability andcompressibility. Thus, it does not indicate that compressibility is a suitable proxy for readability as of now.This study does however start a conversation on a topicpreviously untouched, and we hope that this study can pointother studies in the right direction. The scope of this researchis too big to be fully explored in this study alone, and westrongly suggest future research on the topic.