Foram realizados dois experimentos visando avaliar diferentes estratégias de vedação para silos do tipo trincheira. No experimento I, objetivou-se avaliar as características fermentativas, composição química e perdas de matéria seca e de matéria orgânica em silagens de milho vedadas com diferentes tipos de filmes plásticos e com ou sem a adição de camada de bagaço de cana. Os tratamentos utilizados foram: ETNC: filme dupla face de polietileno com 200 ?m de espessura; ETC: filme dupla face de polietileno com 200 ?m de espessura recoberto com camada de 10 cm de bagaço de cana e ET+ADNC: filme co-extrusado dupla face de poliamida e polietileno, com 120 ?m de espessura. O delineamento experimental foi de blocos casualizados. Os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância e suas médias foram comparadas pelo teste Tukey, a 5% de signigicância. A quantidade de silagem deteriorada foi menor para o tratamento ETC, enquanto que os demais tratamentos foram semelhantes entre si. Não foi observada diferença significativa entre os tratamentos para a composição bromatológica, entretanto, observou-se diferença para entre os diferentes pontos amostrados (TL: topo lateral, TC: topo central e C: centro) para as variáveis MS, FDA, amido, hemicelulose e DVIVMO, sendo que os piores resultados foram encontrados nas regiões periféricas (TL e TC) dos silo. Os tratamentos não influenciaram na contagem de microrganismo (BAL: bactérias ácido láticas, FF: fungos filamentosos e LEV: leveduras), porém, com relação ao local de coleta houve diferença para BAL e FF. Como esperado, a população de FF foi maior na periferia dos silos, enquanto que a de BAL foi maior no centro. A contagem de leveduras não sofreu influência do tratamento e local de amostragem. No experimento II, objetivou-se avaliar o desempenho animal em função da estratégia de vedação de silagens de milho. Foram utilizadas 15 vacas distribuídas aleatoriamente em cinco quadrados latinos 3x3, com períodos de 21 dias. Os animais foram mantidos em sistema de confinamento Tie-Stall com baias individuais e alimentadas duas vezes ao dia. Os tratamentos foram definidos de acordo com o método de vedação: ETNC, ETC e ET+ADNC. As dietas foram formuladas para serem isoproteicas, com 53% de silagem de milho (% MS). As porções deterioradas das silagens foram descartadas diariamente, as rações foram preparadas utilizando apenas silagem não deteriorada. O consumo de matéria seca, a produção e composição do leite foram determinados entre os dias 15 e 21 de cada período experimental. Os dados foram analisados utilizando o Proc Mixed, do software estatístico SAS. Os tratamentos ET+ADNC e ETC apresentaram maior eficiência energética enquanto que os tratamentos ET+ADNC e ETNC tiveram tendência de maior produção de leite corrigido para 3,5% de gordura e excreção de energia no leite; da mesma forma, a excreção de proteína no leite também foi aumentada. O tratamento ETC não promoveu melhoras no valor nutritivo das silagens, enquanto que os tratamentos ET+ADNC e ETNC apresentaram tendência em maximizar o desempenho das vacas. / Two experiments were conducted to evaluate different strategies to cover silos. The experiment I evaluate the chemical fermentation profile, chemical composition and losses of dry matter and organic matter in corn silage covered with different types of plastic film and with or without the added layer of sugarcane bagasse. The treatments were: ETNC: 200?m black-on-white polyethylene film; ETC: black-on-white polyethylene film plus sugarcane bagasse over the film and ET+ADNC: 125?m polyamide/polyethylene coextruded film. The experimental design was randomized blocks. The data were subjected to analysis of variance and their means were compared by Tukey test at 5% significance. The amount of spoiled silage was lower for treatment ETC, while the other treatments were similar. There was no significant difference between treatments for the chemical composition, although differences were observed between different sampling sites (TL: side wall, TC: top center and C: bottom) for the variables DM, ADF, starch, hemicellulose and IVOMD, while the worst results were found in the peripheral regions (TL and TC) of the silo. Treatments did not affect the count of microorganisms (BAL: lactic acid bacteria, FF: filamentous fungi: LEV: yeasts), however the FF acount was greater in the TL and TC, while BAL was higher in the C. The yeast count was not influenced by treatment or sampling site. In the experiment II was evaluated performance of dairy cows fed corn silage covered with different sealing strategies. Fifteen lactating cows were randomly assigned to 5 replicated 3×3 Latin square design with 21-d periods. Animals were housed in sand-bedded tie-stall barn and individually fed ad libitum to achieve approximately 10% refusals twice daily. Treatments were defined according to the method of sealing: ETNC, ETC and ET+ADNC. Diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous with 53% corn silage (DM%) to meet the nutrient requirements of a dairy cow producing 35 kg×d-1 of milk. The deteriorated inedible silage was discarded every day and only edible silage was used to prepare the total mixed rations. Dry matter intake (DMI) and milk yield were recorded from d-15 to d-21 in each period, as well milk composition. Data were analyzed using the Mixed procedure of SAS. Treatments ET+ADNC and ETC showed higher energy efficiency while treatments ET+ADNC and ETNC tended to higher milk yield and energy excretion in milk, as well the excretion of protein in the milk was also increased. Contrary to expected, the ETC treatment did not improve the nutritive value of silages. In conclusion, treatments ET+ADNC and ETNC tended to maximize the performance of dairy cows.

The topic of the thesis is multi objective condition assessment of water supply systems. The state of the art of condition assessment of water supply systems and the state of the art of multi objective optimization methods are presented within the thesis. Based on these recherches, the uniform methodology of condition assessment of water supply systems and its 7 modules was designed. The thesis deals with the selected modules to condition assessment of water pumping stations, water networks and pipe sections. The output of the methodology is the assignment of a category of the technical condition to the rated object. The proposed methodology was tested on real water facilities and proves the ability of a fair presentation of the technical condition of the object.

This work solves the problems with taking care of capital goods in the firm DT-Výhybkárna a strojírna, a.s. The work is elaborated from the analysis of present situation in the firm, the heed is oriented to the most important areas, especially the organisation and maintenance activity and taking care of assets. The result of the performed analysis is identification of bad spots. Proposal is submitted in the second part of the work in order to solve the problems found by performing the work. At the end economical evaluation of the proposal and statement of assumptions of the extended work result to firm use is performed.

En la ciudad del Cusco, la vialidad urbana está enmarcada en una grave problemática de ausencia total de acciones periódicas dirigidas al mantenimiento de vías pavimentadas, produciendo como resultado el deterioro acelerado de los pavimentos hasta casi su destrucción, por lo que, las vías urbanas pavimentadas de la ciudad del Cusco exigen una nueva manera de enfrentar la gestión vial. Para ello primeramente se realizó un análisis y diagnóstico situacional de los procesos de mantenimiento vial utilizados por la entidad responsable. Y luego como resultado de la investigación se presenta una propuesta de implementación del sistema de gestión de mantenimiento vial para las vías urbanas de la ciudad del Cusco. Asimismo como caso de estudió se presenta la gestión del pavimento de una vía de primer orden de la ciudad del Cusco, la Av. de la Cultura, cuyo pavimento fue construido el año 1972, en su ciclo de vida se realizaron actividades de mantenimiento a partir del año 1984, el año 1,999 se realizó la primera evaluación funcional y estructural, cuyos resultados exigieron que se realice un mantenimiento periódico. El año 2012-2013 se realizó una nueva evaluación funcional y estructural del pavimento, para predecir su modelo de comportamiento cuyos resultados indican que máximo el año 2020 debe realizarse un segundo mantenimiento periódico. Con los resultados obtenidos se realizó el análisis del estado de deterioro del ciclo de vida del pavimento y el análisis del costo del ciclo de vida para un periodo de 50 años en dos escenarios: escenario 1 considerando las actividades de mantenimiento rutinario y periódicos; escenario 2 sin considerar mantenimiento. En el análisis del estado de deterioro, análisis determinístico y grafico encontramos en el escenario 2 un VPN de S/.1, 003,829 más que el escenario 1. Lo que demuestra que la aplicación de actividades de mantenimiento rutinario y sobre todo periódico en la Av. De La Cultura (escenario 1), ha tenido resultados desde el punto de vista económico mucho más ventajosos que el no haber aplicado actividades de mantenimiento periódico y esto aumenta más si sumamos la mejora de la calidad de servicio y seguridad a los usuarios. / In the city of Cusco, the urban road is framed in a serious problem of total absence of periodic actions directed to the maintenance of paved roads, resulting in the accelerated deterioration of the pavements until almost their destruction, so, urban paved roads of the city of Cusco demand a new way of dealing with road management. Firstly, a situational analysis and diagnosis of the road maintenance processes used by the responsible entity was carried out. And then as a result of the investigation, a proposal for the implementation of the road maintenance management system for the urban roads of the city of Cusco is presented. Also as a case study is presented the management of the pavement of a road of the first order of the city of Cusco, the Av. de la Cultura, whose pavement was built in 1972, in its life cycle maintenance activities were carried out from from the year 1984, the year 1,999, the first functional and structural evaluation was carried out, the results of which required periodic maintenance. In 2012-2013, a new functional and structural assessment of the pavement was carried out to predict its behavior model, the results of which indicate that a second periodic maintenance should be carried out in the year 2020. With the results obtained, the analysis of the deterioration state of the life cycle of the pavement and the analysis of the life cycle cost for a period of 50 years was carried out in two scenarios: scenario 1 considering routine and periodic maintenance activities; Scenario 2 without considering maintenance. In the analysis of the state of deterioration, deterministic analysis and graph we find in scenario 2 a VPN of S/. 1, 003,829 more than scenario 1. This shows that the application of routine maintenance activities and especially newspaper in the Av. de la Cultura (scenario 1), has had results from the economic point of view much more advantageous than not having applied periodic maintenance activities and this increases more if we add the improvement of service quality and safety to users. / Trabajo de investigación

L'objectif de cette thèse est de développer de nouveaux matériaux isolants bio-sourcés pour le bâtiment qui contribuent à réduire leurs impacts environnementaux. Les matériaux développés doivent avoir une faible énergie grise et une faible empreinte carbone. Ils doivent également contribuer à réduire les besoins énergétiques des bâtiments tout en assurant un confort hygrothermique élevé des utilisateurs. Tout d'abord, des matières premières d'origine agricole (chènevottes, anas de lin, paille de blé, paille de colza et rafles de maïs) sont caractérisées d'un point de vue chimique, physique, hygrothermique et mécanique, dans la perspective de développer des composites bio-sourcés destinés à l’isolation des bâtiments. Leur composition chimique se révèle intéressante pour le développement d'un liant vert. Une étude visant à évaluer cette aptitude est donc réalisée. A l'issue de cette dernière, deux liants correspondants à des extractions réalisées sur les rafles de maïs et sur les fines de lin sont retenus. D'autres liants provenant de l’industrie sont également sélectionnés pour la confection de composites. Puis des composites sont fabriqués pour étudier l'influence des granulats, du liant, de la granulométrie des granulats, de la réalisation d'un pré-traitement alcalins des granulats et de la pression de compaction appliquée lors de la mise en œuvre des composites sur leurs performances hygrothermiques ainsi que leurs propriétés mécaniques. Enfin, la résistance à l'immersion accidentelle et à l'humidité ainsi que la réaction au feu des formulations les plus prometteuses sont étudiées. / The aim of this thesis is to develop new bio-based building insulating materials which contribute to reduce their environmental impacts. The developed materials shall have low embodied energy and low carbon footprint. They shall contribute to reduce energy needs of buildings and to ensure high hygrothermal comfort of users. First, raw materials from agricultural resources (hemp shiv, flax shiv, wheat straw, rape straw and corn cobs) are characterized from a chemical, physical, hygrothermal and mechanical point of view, with a aim of developing bio-based composites for the thermal insulation of buildings. Their chemical composition is interesting for the development of green binder. A study to assess this ability is carried out. At the end of the study, two binders corresponding to extractions performed on corn cobs and flax fines are developped. Other binders from industry are also selected for composite production. Then, composites are produced to study the influence of aggregates, binder, granulometry of aggregates, alkaline pre-treatment of aggregates and compaction pressure applied during the processing of composites on their hygrothermal performances and mechanical properties. Finally, the resistance to accidental immersion and humidity and the reaction to fire of the most promising formulations are studied.

This dissertation investigates the level of acid‐resistance of concrete degradation. Concrete specimens obtained from four mixtures (M1, M2, M3 and M4) were prepared with calcareous, siliceous and a blend of calcareous and silica sand; and then, tested in low (30 g/l) and highly (200 g/l) concentrated sulphuric acid solutions. To this end, an architecture of artificial neural networks (ANNs) was implemented to predict the performance of concrete specimens due to sulphuric acid solutions. Neural networks were composed with one hidden layer for one input and output layer. Nine input parameters were: cement composition, proportions of coarse and fine aggregates, water content, and compressive strength, weight loss of concrete, time impacting corrosion, acid concentration and sulphur concentration. Thickness expansion and concrete conductivity are used as output targets to evaluate the degree of deterioration. In this study, the learning through ANNs from training data sets have been proved to be better than measured data. Excellent results were found with a coefficient of determination (R2 ) of 0.9989, 0.9999, 0.9989 and 0.9998, respectively for the four mixtures M1, M2, M3 and M4 using siliceous aggregate. Also, the results show that two ANN models performed with both the thickness (expansion) and the electrical conductivity can successfully learn the prediction of concrete corrosion. In both low and highly concentrated sulphuric acid condition, the model thickness was more accurate in predicting concrete corrosion compared to the model conductivity. The lowest error in neural networks was provided by the mixture (M2) for the concrete using siliceous aggregate. For this purpose, the root mean squared error (RMSE) and the average absolute error (AAE) were of 0.0049 and 0.0048 % respectively. / College of Engineering, Science and Technology / M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering)

No description available.

Large areas within alpine and subalpine tundra have been x disturbed by mining during this century. The most promising method for retarding deterioration of these areas is revegetation with native species through both seeding and transplants. One natural process of revegetation which occurs on portions of many existing disturbances seems to be the establishment of a few species that expand with time to form matts of plants. At the McLaren Mine, located at 3000 m elevation in the Beartooth Mountains, Montana, active succession is occurring and is dominated by Carex species. Seed viability and successional patterns studies were conducted on the mine. The objectives included: 1) determinations of seed viability on the spoils, 2) determine to what extent the Carex communities enhanced seedling survival, 3) to quantify the vegetation characteristics within the Carex communities and adjacent mine spoil, and 4) determine the effect that Carex communities have on microenvironmental factors. Greenhouse tests were used to determine seed viability in soil samples taken from the mine. Paired observations in field studies were used to compare vegetational and microenvironmental differences between Carex communities and adjacent bare areas. Statistical analyses of the data collected showed that there was an adequate source of viable seeds of various species in the spoils to encourage natural revegetation if they could become established. Seedling mortality was reduced in Carex communities, apparently by decreasing soil disruption caused by frost action. Carex communities altered the microenvironment by reducing soil temperatures, wind speed, and radiation flux, and by providing a richer source of nitrogen and potassium than did the bare areas. Carex communities did not alter ?oil pH, phosphorus or soil water. Measurement of microenvironmental factors varied between the center and edge locations within the Carex communities. Species diversity and percent litter cover increased with increase in community size.

Derivatives of 3-methyl-1-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone were formed from the oxidation products of three oxidized unsaturated fatty acids. Aeration with oxygen and heat (65C) was used as a means of accelerating deterioration of lipid samples. Formaldehyde was recovered from oxidized pure standards of oleic, linoleic and linolenic acid methyl esters , and identified using gas chromatography. Formaldehyde was also recovered from oxidized lipid extracts of mechanic ally deboned turkey meat and turkey cluster fat. Gas chromatography was used to measure concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids during the oxidation of extracted lipids. Linoleic and linolenic fatty acids significantly decreased (p < .005) in oxidized lipid extracts from turkey cluster fat stored frozen for six months. Measurement of the amounts of formaldehyde which accumulates as a result of the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, may be the most reliable method of assessing the extent of oxidative deterioration in foods.

Patient-focused research systems have been developed to monitor and inform therapists of patients' treatment progress in psychotherapy as a method to enhance patient outcome. The current study examined the effects of providing treatment progress information and problem-solving tools to both patients and therapists during the course of psychotherapy. Three hundred seventy patients at a hospital-based outpatient psychotherapy clinic were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: treatment-as-usual, or an experimental condition based on the use of patient/therapist feedback and clinical decision-support tools. Patients in the feedback condition were significantly more improved at termination than the patients in the treatment as usual condition. These findings are consistent with past research on these approaches although the effect size was smaller in this study. Treatment effects were not a consequence of different amounts of psychotherapy received by experimental and control clients. Not all therapists were aided by the feedback intervention.