Cloud-native is a new computing paradigm that takes advantage of key characteristics of cloud computing, where applications are packaged as containers. The lifecycle of containerized applications is typically managed by container orchestration tools such as Kubernetes, the most popular container orchestration system that automates the containers’ deployment, maintenance, and scaling. Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestrators in the cloud-native era. Meanwhile, with the increasing demand for High-Performance Computing (HPC) over the past years, containerization is being adopted by the HPC community and various processors and special-purpose hardware are utilized to accelerate HPC applications. The architecture of cloud systems has been gradually shifting from homogeneous to heterogeneous with different processors and hardware accelerators, which raises a new challenge: how to exploit different computing resources efficiently? Much effort has been devoted to improving the use efficiency of computing resources in heterogeneous systems from the perspective of task scheduling, which aims to match different types of tasks to optimal computing devices for execution. Existing proposals do not take into account the variation in I/O performance between heterogeneous nodes when scheduling tasks. However, I/O performance is an important but often overlooked factor that can be a potential performance bottleneck for HPC tasks. This thesis proposes an I/O-aware scheduler named cmio-scheduler for containerized data-intensive HPC tasks in Kubernetes-based heterogeneous clusters, which is aware of the I/O throughput of compute nodes when making task placement decisions. In principle, cmio-scheduler assigns data-intensive HPC tasks to the node that fulfills the tasks’ requirements for CPU, memory, and GPU and has the highest I/O throughput. The experimental results demonstrate that cmio-scheduler reduces the execution time by 19.32% for the overall workflow and 15.125% for parallelizable tasks on average. / Cloud-native är ett nytt dataparadigm som drar nytta av de viktigaste egenskaperna hos molntjänster, där applikationer paketeras som behållare. Livscykeln för applikationer i containrar hanteras vanligtvis av verktyg för containerorkestrering, t.ex. Kubernetes, det mest populära systemet för containerorkestrering, som automatiserar installation, underhåll och skalning av containrar. Kubernetes har blivit de facto-standard för containerorkestrar i den molnnativa eran. Med den ökande efterfrågan på högpresterande beräkningar (HPC) under de senaste åren har containerisering antagits av HPC-samhället och olika processorer och specialhårdvara används för att påskynda HPC-tillämpningar. Arkitekturen för molnsystem har gradvis skiftat från homogen till heterogen med olika processorer och hårdvaruacceleratorer, vilket ger upphov till en ny utmaning: hur kan man utnyttja olika datorresurser på ett effektivt sätt? Mycket arbete har ägnats åt att förbättra utnyttjandet av datorresurser i heterogena system ur perspektivet för uppgiftsfördelning, som syftar till att matcha olika typer av uppgifter till optimala datorutrustning för utförande. Befintliga förslag tar inte hänsyn till variationen i I/O-prestanda mellan heterogena noder vid schemaläggning av uppgifter. I/O-prestanda är dock en viktig men ofta förbisedd faktor som kan vara en potentiell flaskhals för HPC-uppgifter. I den här avhandlingen föreslås en I/O-medveten schemaläggare vid namn cmio-scheduler för containeriserade dataintensiva HPC-uppdrag i Kubernetes-baserade heterogena kluster, som är medveten om beräkningsnodernas I/O-genomströmning när den fattar beslut om placering av uppdrag. I princip tilldelar cmio-scheduler dataintensiva HPC-uppgifter till den nod som uppfyller uppgifternas krav på CPU, minne och GPU och som har den högsta I/O-genomströmningen. De experimentella resultaten visar att cmio-scheduler i genomsnitt minskar exekveringstiden med 19,32 % för det totala arbetsflödet och med 15,125 % för parallelliserbara uppgifter.

Detta arbete kommer att fokusera på att ta fram och utforma en monterbar behållare för drönare så att de ska kunna användas för att leverera matvaror snabbt vid behov och med hänsyn till befintliga drönares kapacitet. I framtagningsprocessen så kommer de karaktäristiska punkterna för en strukturerad och faktabaserad utformning av en produkt att tillämpas vilket innefattar en identifiering av mål utifrån ett behov som produkten ska uppfylla och en faktainsamling av behovets karaktär och befintliga tekniska lösningar på liknande problem. Med den informationen som underlag så kan senare grundläggande konceptskisser utformas vilka i sin tur kan förädlas till färdiga 3D ritningar och renderingar av en slutgiltig produkt. För att ganska produktens effektivitet i förhållande till ändamålet så används därefter simuleringsverktyg för att genomföra termiska och luftflödesanalyser. Slutligen diskuteras även passande tillverkningsmetoder och produktens hållbarhet, potentiella problem med hela leveransmetoden, förslag till djupare studier och en utvärdering av framtagningsprocessens genomförande. / Technical advancements in fields like battery technology, software engineering and remote-control technology has made commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or “drones” cheaper while also allowing for longer flight times, higher payload capacities and longer effective ranges. This combined with the growing market trend of home delivery services within the restaurant and food industries paves the way for studies on how this relatively new means of transportation can be used to deliver food to customers within range. This paper will focus on developing and designing a third party mountable container from a mechanical engineering perspective that will allow commercially available quadcopter drones to deliver food items from one point to another. This means that the design process will be dictated by a set of identified core needs that the container is meant to satisfy while results from relevant calculations such as load simulations are taken into account. Further information and discussion like proposed manufacturing methods, sustainability and the prospects of further studies will also be brought up as it pertains to the containers design process.

Software orchestrators like Kubernetes are growing in popularity with computer engineers for deploying and running complex software systems. Interestingly, there are now new technical standards being proposed for the telecom industry to begin utilizing software orchestration for the software that runs inside cellular networks. The telecom industry is currently transitioning from 4G to 5G technology. One of the central pieces of this development work is implementing a software orchestrator for 5G networks. This raises some questions about how and why the telecom industry will use software orchestration in their cellular networks. Software orchestration is a complex technology and it is challenging to develop an implementation of a software orchestrator. Some important questions that this thesis addresses are: What do network operators need from this technology? Furthermore, telecom vendors, like Ericsson and Huawei, have developed their own versions of a 5G software orchestrator, which orchestrator should the network operators choose? Furthermore, we investigate what 5G is, why the telecom industry is developing software orchestrators for the 5G roll-out, and importantly, we determine the design requirements that the telecom industry has for these "5G orchestration systems". We interpret and break down technical whitepapers from the industry, and we build a picture of the IT stack of upcoming 5G networks. In our research, we find that software orchestration is being used to deploy and maintain complex software stacks such as software-defined networking (SDN) system that is central to 5G networks. We uncover some of the specializations needed in a software orchestrator for the telecom industry, such as modularity, high-availability, and specialized system integration. With this information, we make feature and design recommendations for 5G orchestrators, and we compile a list of criteria that network operators can use to assess and compare different 5G orchestrators. / Orkestreringsprogramvaror som Kubernetes växer i popularitet med IT ingenjörer för att installera och köra komplexa mjukvarasystem. På grund av pågående transitionen från 4G till 5G, används orkestreringsprogramvaror nu också i mobilnäten. I den här uppsatsen undersöks vad är 5G, varför telekombranschen använder orkestreringsprogramvaror för nya 5G nätverk, och vad krav har telekombranschen på denna "5G orkestreringsprogramvaror". Denna undersökning utförs genom en litteraturstudie. Genom den här undersökningen, det visar sig att orkestreringsprogramvaror används för att installera och köra komplexa mjukvarasystem som är centralt till 5G nätverk. Specialiseringskrav för orkestreringsprogramvaror i telekombranschen upptäcks, som modularitet, hög tillgänglighet, och specialiserad API-hookar. Rekommendationer görs för 5G orkestreringsprogramvarors funktioner, och en lista sammanställas av kriterier som telekomoperatör kan använda för att bedöma och jämföra 5G orkestreringsprogramvaror.

Die Einbrennsilikonisierung wird schon lange verwendet, um spezielle Eigenschaften bei pharmazeutischen Glasbehältnissen zu erzielen. Üblicherweise werden Silikonöle verwendet um Gleitfilme auf den Oberflächen vorgefüllter Glasspritzen zu erzeugen oder die Glaswand zu hydrophobieren damit wäßrige Inhalte sauber ablaufen können. Weiterhin kann durch die hydrophobe Deaktivierung der Glaswände eine Reduktion der Adsorption von Wirk- und Hilfsstoffen sowie eine Erhöhung der hydrolytischen Resistenz erreicht werden. Wegen des parenteralen Verwendungszweckes werden meistens Gläser der Glasart 1 entsprechend dem europäischen Arzneibuch eingesetzt. Die Silikonölfilme (Trimethylsiloxy-endgeblockte Polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) werden aus verdünnter wäßriger Emulsion auf der inneren Behältnisoberfläche gespreitet und anschließend bei Temperaturen oberhalb von 300°C für ca. 10-30 min hitzebehandelt. Neben der Sterilisation und Entpyrogenisierung wird der Silikonfilm durch das Einbrennen verändert. In der Literatur wurde dieser Prozeß bisher als Hitzefixierung oder -härtung bezeichnet in der Annahme, daß das Silikonöl durch Glasbindung oder Quervernetzung immobilisiert wird. Es wurden weitere Effekte wie Verdampfung oder Zersetzungsreaktionen als Folge der Hitzebehandlung angenommen. Die Dissertation hatte daher zum Ziel diese Vorstellungen analytisch zu belegen. Die Eigenschaften einbrennsilikonisierter Gläser lassen sich durch einfache Experimente beschreiben. Durch organische Extraktion der Gläser (z.B. Toluol, Dichlormethan) läßt sich der überwiegende Silikonanteil (ca. 80%) wiederfinden. Nach erschöpfender Extraktion zeigt sich eine beständige Hydrophobie z.B. durch die Ausbildung hoher Randwinkel von Wasser oder das veränderte Ablaufverhalten von Flüssigkeiten in diesen Behältnissen festgestellt werden. Basierend auf diesen Beobachtungen wurde die Anwesenheit einer gebundenen neben einer löslichen Silikonölfraktion nach dem Einbrennen angenommen. Alle analytischen Studien wurden an dieser zwei Lagen Theorie orientiert und durchgeführt. Dazu wurden einige oberflächensensitive Techniken wie z.B. die kombinierte Röntgenphotoelektronen- und Augerelektronenspektroskopie (XPS/AES) und die Flugzeit-Sekundärionenmassenspektroskopie (TOF-SIMS) eingesetzt. Durch chemische Zustandsdiagramme und massenspektroskopische Strukturanalyse konnte die Ausbildung von Bindungen zwischen Glas und Silikon detektiert werden. Kontaktwinkelmessungen zeigten, daß das gebundene Silikon bis ca. 400°C thermostabil ist und oberhalb von 450°C pyrolysiert wird. Die extrahierbare Silikonfraktion wurde ebenfalls mit einigen analytischen Techniken im Vergleich mit den jeweiligen unbehandelten Ausgangsmaterialien untersucht. Chromatographische Studien mittels Größenausschluß- und Hochtemperatur-Gaschromatographie (SEC,GC) zeigten signifikante Unterschiede in der polymeren Zusammensetzung des PDMS. Die Molekulargewichtsmittel stiegen als Folge von Verlusten von niedermolekularen Siloxanen einer Größe zwischen 0-100 Siloxaneinheiten (SU) an. Diese Defizite können auf Verdampfungs- (0-50 SU) und Zersetzungsreaktionen (50-100 SU) zurückgeführt werden. Die Untersuchung des extrahierbaren eingebrannten Silikonöls mit der Fourier Transform Infrarot Spektroskopie (FTIR) zeigte keine strukturelle Veränderung der PDMS Moleküle, z.B. durch Hydrolyse, Oxidation oder Verzweigung an. Die Emulgatoren werden durch das Einbrennen zerstört. Dies wurde durch die 1H-Kernresonanz Spektroskopie (1H-NMR) nachgewiesen. Die Thermostabilität des PDMS wird durch katalytische Effekte der Emulsionshilfsstoffe und durch die Anwesenheit von Sauerstoff erniedrigt, wie aus thermogravimetrische Analysen (TGA) mit kommerziellen Silikonölen und Ölemulsionen modellhaft abgeleitet wurde. Um die Migration von Silikonölspuren in Arzneimittel in silikonisierten Glasbehältnissen zu bewerten wurde eine Atom Absorptions spektroskopische (AAS) Methode entwickelt und entsprechend den ICH-Richtlinien validiert (Bestimmungsgrenze in Liquida 10 mg/L). Die Schlußfolgerung aus den Analysen ist, daß nach der Einbrennsilikonisierung zwei differenzierbare Silikonfraktionen an der Glasoberfläche anwesend sind. Die kovalent gebundene Dünnschicht ist unlöslich und verliert ihren Ölcharakter, ist aber für die Hydrophobisierung ausreichend. In der löslichen Fraktion, werden die mittleren Molekulargewichte durch den Verlust von niedermolekularen Anteilen erhöht. Der Anteil dieser Schicht hängt von der eingesetzten Ausgangsmenge an Silikonöl ab. Durch die Entfernung der niedermolekularen Anteile und die Zerstörung der Emulgatoren können toxikologische Bedenken zurückgestellt werden. / Heat Curing Siliconization of Pharmaceutical Glass Containers The heat curing siliconization has long since been used to introduce special properties to pharmaceutical glass containers. Silicone oils are usually applied to the containers to form lubricating films on the inner surface of prefilled syringes or to gain hydrophobic container walls for clear draining aqueous solutions, e.g. in injection vials. Furthermore the deactivation of the glass wall reduces adsorption of hydrophilic drug compounds and increases the hydrolytic stability of the glass surface. Due to the parenteral targeting the glass containers are made from glass type 1 according to the European Pharmacopoeia. The silicone oil films (= trimethylsiloxy endcapped polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) are spread from diluted aqueous silicone oil emulsions on the inner surface and successively heat treated above 300°C for 10-30 minutes. Apart from sterilization and depyrogenation, the silicone layer is changed by the burning-in treatment. In literature the process has previously been designated as heat fixing or heat curing assuming that silicone oil is immobilized by bonding to the glass or branching. Further effects such as vaporization or degradation were suggested along with the heating. Proving these suggestions analytically was therefore the aim of the dissertation. The properties of siliconized glass containers can be characterized by simple experiments. Extraction of the glasses with suitable organic solvents (e.g. toluene, dichloromethane) recovers most of the silicone (approximately 80%) after a typical heat curing process. Still, after exhaustive solvent extraction there are persisting hydrophobic properties of the glasses evidenced by high contact angles of water and changed draining behaviour of fluids in the containers. From this observations it was assumed that a bound and a soluble silicone species is present after the heat curing siliconization. All analytical studies were based on the two-layer hypothesis and thus divided in two parts. Several surface analysis techniques were employed to detect and characterize the fixed silicone layer among them the combined X-ray photoelectron and augerelectron spectroscopy (XPS/AES) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS). The formation of new bonds between silicone and glass was evidenced by chemical state plots and mass spectroscopic structural analysis. Contact angle measurements showed that the bound silicone was thermostable up to 400°C and pyrolyzed at temperatures above 450°C. The extractable silicone was also studied with several analytical techniques in comparison with the respective uncured starting materials. Chromatographic studies using size exclusion (SEC) and high temperature gas chromatography (GC) revealed significant changes in the composition of the silicone polymer. The molecular weight averages increase because low molecular weight siloxanes (LMWS) with 0-100 dimethylsiloxane units are removed through the heat curing process. These deficits can be related to vaporization (molecules from 0-50 units) and degradation (molecules from 0-100 units) effects. A Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) investigation of the molecular structure of the extractable PDMS after heat treatment showed no chemical changes e.g. by hydrolysis, branching or oxidation. The emulsifiers are destroyed in the heating process which was proved by a proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) study. The thermostability of the silicones is decreased by katalytic effects of auxiliary substances in the emulsions and the presence of oxygen. This was concluded from model thermogravimetric studies (TGA) with commercial medical grade silicone oils and emulsions. To evaluate migration of silicone traces to drug formulations in siliconized glass containers a trace analytical method by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) was developed and validated according to the ICH guidelines. In liquid formulations levels of 10µg/L can be properly quantified. It was concluded that two main species of silicone can be differentiated on the glass surface after heat curing siliconization. The bonded thin layer is insoluble and sufficient for hydrophobic deactivation. The oil properties are lost. The extractable fraction is altered by removal of LMWS which increases molecular weight and viscosity and determines the lubricating properties. Its amount depends on the used silicone mass. No toxicological concern has to be made about LMWS and emulsifiers in the drug product due to their removal in the curing step.

Inom nätverkstekniken och datakommunikationen råder idag en tro på tekniken nätverkscache som kan spara data för att senare kunna hämta hem det snabbare. Tekniken har genom åren visat att den effektivt kan skicka den önskade data till sina klienter. Det finns flera cache-tjänster som använder tekniken för Windows-uppdateringar. Bland dessa finns Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) och LanCache. På uppdrag från företaget TNS Gaming AB jämförs dessa tjänster med varandra under examensarbetet. Nätverkscache är ett intressant forskningsområde för framtida kommunikationssystem och nätverk tack vare sina fördelar. Likaså är uppgiften om att jämföra cache-tjänsterna WSUS och LanCache intressant i och med det öppnar upp insikt om vilken tjänst är bättre för företaget eller andra intressenter. Både forskningsområdet och uppgiften är viktiga och intressanta när användare vill effektivisera användningen av internetanslutningen och bespara nätverksresurser. Därmed kan tekniken minska nedladdningstiden. Till det här arbetet besvaras frågor om vilken nätverksprestanda, resursanvändning och administrationstid respektive cache-tjänst har, och vilken cache-tjänst som lämpar sig bättre för företagets behov. I arbetet genomförs experiment, som omfattar tre huvudmättningar, och följs av en enfallstudie. Syftet med arbetet är att med hjälp av experimentets mätningar få en jämförelse mellan WSUS och LanCache. Resultatet av arbetet utgör sedan ett underlag för det framtida lösningsvalet. Resultaten består av två delar. Den första visar att båda cache-tjänsterna bidrar till kortare nedladdningstider. Den andra är att LanCache är bättre än WSUS när det gäller nätverksprestanda och resursanvändning, samt mindre administrationstid jämfört med WSUS. Givet resultat dras slutsatsen att LanCache är cache-tjänsten som är mest lämpad i det här fallet. / In the field of network technology and data communication, there is a current belief in the technology of network caching, which can store data to later retrieve it more quickly. Over the years, this technology has proven its ability to efficiently deliver the desired data to its clients. There are several caching services that utilize this technology for Windows updates, among them are Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and LanCache. On behalf of the company TNS Gaming AB, these services are compared to each other in this thesis. Network caching is an interesting area of research for future communication systems and networks due to its benefits. Likewise, the task of comparing the cache services WSUS and LanCache is interesting as it provides insights into which service is better suited for the company or other stakeholders. Both the research area and the task are important and intriguing when users seek to streamline the use of their internet connection and conserve network resources. Thus, the technology can reduce download times. For this work, questions about the network performance, resource usage, and administration time of each cache service are answered, as well as which cache service that is better suited to the company's needs. The work involves conducting experiments, including three main measurements, followed by a single case study. The purpose of the work is to compare WSUS and LanCache using the measurements from the experiment. The outcome of the work then forms a basis for future solution choice. The results consist of two parts. The first shows that both cache services contribute to shorter download times. The second is that LanCache outperforms WSUS in terms of network performance and resource usage, and also requires less administration time than WSUS. Given the results, the conclusion is drawn that LanCache is the most suitable caching service in this case.

Food is one of the main routes by which xenobiotic (synthetic) chemicals enter the body of man and wildlife. The routes could be from wrappers in which the foods are presented with possible transfer of the compounds to consumers, hence need for regular screening. The research work is aimed at investigating possible prevalence of phthalate esters in selected foods (cheese, polony and vienna) and their plastic wrappers from commercial stores in Tshwane metropolis. Food samples were purchased from selected stores, taken to the laboratory and stored at 4oC until analysed. Analysis was done by soxhlet extraction while determination and quantification of phthalates was carried out using Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID). Quality assurance of the process was by standard addition of the phthalate ester standards. Results obtained revealed good chromatographic separation of the analysed esters which ranged from 5.55 min for Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) to 8.96 min for Benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP). Instrumental detection limit of the esters varied from 0.03 - 0.05 μg/kg. The percentage recovery of the phthalate esters ranged from 75 – 90% from spiked cheese samples; 33 – 66% from spiked polony samples and 69 – 99% from spiked vienna samples. These recoveries are quite acceptable and applicable to the analysis and quantification of the compounds in the samples with the exception of Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) (33%); DMP (34%) and BBP (46 %) in polony samples. Results from chromatographic quantification revealed the absence of or non-detection of most of the analysed phthalate esters in the selected food samples. However, level of 0.031 μg/kg of BBP - 0.816 μg/kg of DMP were obtained in some of the analysed samples. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Science)

Cette recherche concerne l’agitation comportementale de neuf enfants à l’école et utilise la médiation projective du Scéno-Test.En référence au concept de Moi-peau, la pratique clinique intersubjective des contenants de pensée dans l’institution fonde un regard sur la psychopathologie face à la Loi de février 2005 qui considère l’enfant agité comme handicapé. A l’intérieur de ces contenants en partie réducteurs sont analysés les trajets émotionnels des familles des enfants rencontrées, capables, à partir d’un groupe de professionnels au travail, de transformation psychique des dits contenants.En référence à la théorie des enveloppes psychiques, cette recherche propose, dans le cadre de l’examen psychologique, un dispositif consistant en la passation de 4 séances de Scéno-Test pour chaque enfant qui tient compte d’une pensée du "hors" significative de sa potentielle éjection de l’école.Dès lors, l’expression des procédés hors-jeu au Scéno-test relance par le moyen d’un jeu permis le psychisme de l’enfant.Au regard du concept de retournement, c’est la notion de fil projectif élaborée à partir d’une pensée du blanc du couvercle de jeu et la notion du négatif utilisée par le clinicien chercheur qui permettent de penser l’élaboration des réponses. Au sein d’enveloppes projectives, tel l’écran du rêve dans la dialectique de la veille et du sommeil, telle l’hallucination négative dans la dialectique de l’absence et de la présence, l’enfant reconstruit une scène d’origine traumatique.L’ensemble des données recueillies montre que l’enfant instable est en danger, même à l’école. Sa capacité au Scéno-Test à figurer, malgré les angoisses impensables, les secrets et/ou les dénis familiaux, lui permet de réaménager au sein de ces enveloppes projectives un espace interne suffisamment sécurisant pour être réinvesti.Ces premiers résultats permettent d’établir que le Scéno-Test, épreuve thématique, peut aussi être utilisé comme une épreuve structurale paradoxale. / This research concerns the behavioral excitement of nine school children and uses the Scéno-Test projective mediation.In reference to the "Ego-skin" concept, the intersubjective clinical practice of thought containers in the institution a glance on the psychopathology in front of Act of February 2005 considering the restless child as an handicapped person. Inside these partially reducing containers are analyzed the emotional families axes encountered who, from a group of professionals in the work, can transform these containers.In reference to the psychic envelopes theory, this research proposes, as part of the psychological examination, a device consisting of the signing of 4 sessions of Scéno-Test for every child who takes into account a thought of "except" significant of his potential ejection of the school.From then on, the expression of the offside processes in Scéno-test stimulus by means of an allowed game helped the psyche of the child.Towards the concept of reversal, it’s the notion of thread projectif elaborated from a thought of the blank cover game and the notion of the negative used by the clinician researcher that allow to think of the elaboration of the answers. Within projectives envelopes, such as dream screen in the dialectic of waking and sleep, such as the negative hallucination in the dialectic of the absence and the presence, the child reconstructs a scene of traumatic origin.The overall results show that unstable child is in danger, even at school. Its ability to appear and represent capacity in Scéno-Test, despite the unthinkable fears and the family secrets and/or denials, allows him to reorganize within these projectives envelopes an internal space enough reassuring to be reinvested.

nÃo hà / O dengue permanece como problema de saÃde pÃblica no Brasil. No nordeste brasileiro, os grandes depÃsitos domiciliares utilizados para acumular Ãgua sÃo importantes criadouros para reproduÃÃo do Aedes aegypti, o principal transmissor do dengue. O uso de alternativas ao controle quÃmico desse vetor vem sendo incentivado. Os objetivos desse trabalho foram avaliar se a presenÃa de peixes larvÃfagos altera o padrÃo de postura do A. aegypti, identificar a sobrevivÃncia de peixes larvÃfagos ao cloro e descrever a eficÃcia do peixe Betta splendens em condiÃÃes de campo. O padrÃo de postura foi avaliado em uma gaiola com 6 m3. Os peixes avaliados foram Poecilia reticulata e B. splendens. Na gaiola foram inseridos oito depÃsitos, sendo quatro com peixes, quatro sem peixes (controle) e 100 mosquitos. Em cada depÃsito tinha Ãgua e uma palheta de eucatex para postura dos ovos. Ao final de cada semana os ovos postos nessas palhetas foram contados. Os ensaios foram replicados por sete semanas consecutivas para cada espÃcie. A sobrevivÃncia do B. splendens e P. reticulata, ao cloro, foi avaliada para trÃs concentraÃÃes (1,0; 1,5 e 2,0 mg/L) utilizando tambores com 35 litros de Ãgua. Foram utilizados 105, 140 e 175 peixes para cada concentraÃÃo testada, na proporÃÃo de 6 depÃsitos com cloro para cada controle (sem cloro). A eficÃcia foi avaliada a partir de dados gerados pelo Programa Municipal de Controle do Dengue, na cidade de Fortaleza. Foi avaliada a permanÃncia dos peixes em depÃsitos domiciliares e a infestaÃÃo nesses depÃsitos com B. splendens e o larvicida Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. A presenÃa do B. splendens inibiu a postura de ovos pelas fÃmeas de Aedes aegypti com um Ãndice de Atividade de OviposiÃÃo (IAO) de -0,627. O nÃmero mÃdio de ovos postos em depÃsitos com B. splendens (32,5/semana) foi menor que nos depÃsitos com o P. reticulata (200,5/semana) e os controles (186,5/semana; p < 0,0001). Todos os B. splendens sobreviveram a concentraÃÃo de cloro de 1,0 mg/L; 72,5 e 39,3% sobreviveram as concentraÃÃes de 1,5 e 2,0 mg/L. Por outro lado, apenas 4,4% do P. reticulata sobreviveram a concentraÃÃo mÃnima de 1,0 mg/L. Em campo foram encontrados trÃs depÃsitos com a presenÃa do B. splendens e larvas de mosquitos (1,6%), infestaÃÃo significativamente menor que nos depÃsitos com o Bti, onde essa infestaÃÃo foi de 10,9% (p < 0,001). Nos depÃsitos onde o peixe nÃo permaneceu a infestaÃÃo foi de 27,8%, maior que nos depÃsitos com Bti (p < 0,010). Nos depÃsitos onde o peixe permaneceu ele foi 85% mais eficaz que o larvicida. A permanÃncia dos peixes foi maior nos tanques de alvenaria (48,5%), localizados no peridomicÃlio (47,5%) e ao nÃvel do solo (53,3%). ConcluÃmos que o B. splendens pode ser apropriado para controle biolÃgico de larvas de Ae. aegypti em grandes reservatÃrios domiciliares, desde que possa ser atestada sua permanÃncia nesses depÃsitos. / Dengue fever remains an important public health problem in northeast Brazil. Large domestic containers used to store water are important breeding sites of Aedes aegypti, the main vector. The use of alternatives to chemical vector control has increased in the last years. The objectives of this study were: to evaluate the inhibition of oviposition by female Ae. aegypti in domestic containers with larvivorous fish; to describe the survival of larvivorous fish to different chlorine concentrations; and to describe the efficacy of Betta splendens fish under field conditions. Oviposition was assessed in a cage of 6 m3 of size. The fish species Poecilia reticulata and B. splendens were used in the laboratory assays. In the cage, eight water containers were placed - four with fish, four without fish (control), and 100 mosquitoes. In each container with 15 l water eucatex strips were placed to facilitate oviposition. At the end of each week, eggs laid on these strips were counted. For each species, the assays were repeated for seven consecutive weeks. Survival of B. splendens and P. reticulata to different concentrations of chlorine (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg / L) was assessed in drums with 35 liters of water. We used 105, 140 and 175 fish for each concentration: six test containers with chlorine for each control without chlorine. Secondary data of the Municipal Dengue Control Program of the city of Fortaleza were analyzed to assess the efficacy of B. splendens under field conditions. The presence of fish in household containers was verified after several weeks. Infestation of containers with mosquito larvae was compared to containers with the larvicide Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. The presence of B. splendens inhibited oviposition by Ae. aegypti with an activity oviposition index of -0.627. The mean number of eggs laid in deposits with B. splendens (32.5 / week) was lower than in deposits with P. reticulata (200.5 / week) and controls (186.5 / week, p <0.0001). All B. splendens specimens survived a chlorine concentration of 1.0 mg / L, and 72.5% and 39.3% survived concentrations of 1.5 and 2.0 mg / L, respectively. On the other hand, only 4.4% of P. reticulata survived a concentration of 1.0 mg / L. Under field conditions, three containers were encountered with B. splendens and mosquito larvae (1.6%), significantly less than infested deposits with Bti (10.9%; p <0.001). In containers where the fish died or disappeared, infestation was 27.8% higher than in deposits with Bti (p <0.010). In deposits where the fish remained, efficacy was 85% better than Bti. The permanence of fish was higher in concrete tanks (48.5%), located outside the house (47.5%) and at ground level (53.3%). We conclude that B. splendens may be suitable for biological control of Ae. aegypti larvae in large domestic water containers.

The work in this thesis is separated into two parts. The first part deals with the load planning and sequencing problem for double-stack intermodal railcars, an operational problem found at many rail container terminals. In this problem, containers must be assigned to a platform on which the container will be loaded, and the loading order must be determined. These decisions are made with the objective of minimizing the costs associated with handling the containers, as well as minimizing the cost of containers left behind. The deterministic version of the problem can be cast as a shortest path problem on an ordered graph. This problem is challenging to solve because of the large size of the graph. We propose a two-stage heuristic based on the Iterative Deepening A* algorithm to compute solutions to the load planning and sequencing problem within a five-minute time budget. Next, we also illustrate how a Deep Q-learning algorithm can be used to heuristically solve the same problem.The second part of this thesis considers sequential models in deep learning. A recent strategy to circumvent the exploding and vanishing gradient problem in recurrent neural networks (RNNs) is to enforce recurrent weight matrices to be orthogonal or unitary. While this ensures stable dynamics during training, it comes at the cost of reduced expressivity due to the limited variety of orthogonal transformations. We propose a parameterization of RNNs, based on the Schur decomposition, that mitigates the exploding and vanishing gradient problem, while allowing for non-orthogonal recurrent weight matrices in the model. / Le travail de cette thèse est divisé en deux parties. La première partie traite du problème de planification et de séquencement des chargements de conteneurs sur des wagons, un problème opérationnel rencontré dans de nombreux terminaux ferroviaires intermodaux. Dans ce problème, les conteneurs doivent être affectés à une plate-forme sur laquelle un ou deux conteneurs seront chargés et l'ordre de chargement doit être déterminé. Ces décisions sont prises dans le but de minimiser les coûts associés à la manutention des conteneurs, ainsi que de minimiser le coût des conteneurs non chargés. La version déterministe du problème peut être formulé comme un problème de plus court chemin sur un graphe ordonné. Ce problème est difficile à résoudre en raison de la grande taille du graphe. Nous proposons une heuristique en deux étapes basée sur l'algorithme Iterative Deepening A* pour calculer des solutions au problème de planification et de séquencement de la charge dans un budget de cinq minutes. Ensuite, nous illustrons également comment un algorithme d'apprentissage Deep Q peut être utilisé pour résoudre heuristiquement le même problème. La deuxième partie de cette thèse examine les modèles séquentiels en apprentissage profond. Une stratégie récente pour contourner le problème de gradient qui explose et disparaît dans les réseaux de neurones récurrents (RNN) consiste à imposer des matrices de poids récurrentes orthogonales ou unitaires. Bien que cela assure une dynamique stable pendant l'entraînement, cela se fait au prix d'une expressivité réduite en raison de la variété limitée des transformations orthogonales. Nous proposons une paramétrisation des RNN, basée sur la décomposition de Schur, qui atténue les problèmes de gradient, tout en permettant des matrices de poids récurrentes non orthogonales dans le modèle.

Food is one of the main routes by which xenobiotic (synthetic) chemicals enter the body of man and wildlife. The routes could be from wrappers in which the foods are presented with possible transfer of the compounds to consumers, hence need for regular screening. The research work is aimed at investigating possible prevalence of phthalate esters in selected foods (cheese, polony and vienna) and their plastic wrappers from commercial stores in Tshwane metropolis. Food samples were purchased from selected stores, taken to the laboratory and stored at 4oC until analysed. Analysis was done by soxhlet extraction while determination and quantification of phthalates was carried out using Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID). Quality assurance of the process was by standard addition of the phthalate ester standards. Results obtained revealed good chromatographic separation of the analysed esters which ranged from 5.55 min for Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) to 8.96 min for Benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP). Instrumental detection limit of the esters varied from 0.03 - 0.05 μg/kg. The percentage recovery of the phthalate esters ranged from 75 – 90% from spiked cheese samples; 33 – 66% from spiked polony samples and 69 – 99% from spiked vienna samples. These recoveries are quite acceptable and applicable to the analysis and quantification of the compounds in the samples with the exception of Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) (33%); DMP (34%) and BBP (46 %) in polony samples. Results from chromatographic quantification revealed the absence of or non-detection of most of the analysed phthalate esters in the selected food samples. However, level of 0.031 μg/kg of BBP - 0.816 μg/kg of DMP were obtained in some of the analysed samples. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)