Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία ασχολείται με την αποτύπωση των συστημάτων πυρασφάλειας και πυρόσβεσης του κτηρίου Μηχανολόγων Μηχανικών του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Η αποτύπωση θα γίνει μέσω ηλεκτρονικού υπολογιστή με χρήση του σχεδιαστικού προγράμματος AutoCAD. Στο Κεφάλαιο 1 γίνεται μια αναφορά σε βασικές έννοιες της πυρκαγιάς, του τρόπου που δημιουργείται, των μέσων κατάσβεσης και μια πρώτη αναφορά στην έννοια της πυροπροστασίας. Στο Κεφάλαιο 2 παρουσιάζεται και αναλύεται η παθητική πυροπροστασία. Στα Κεφάλαια 3-6 αναλύεται η ενεργητική πυροπροστασία και αναφέρονται οι τεχνικές περιγραφές και ο τρόπος εγκατάστασης των συστημάτων. Στο κεφάλαιο 7 γίνεται αναφορά στο σχεδιαστικό πρόγραμμα AutoCAD που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για την εκπόνηση της εργασίας. Στο κεφάλαιο 8 παρουσιάζεται η αποτύπωση των συστημάτων πυροπροστασίας και τα σχέδια του κτηρίου. / This diplomatic work deals with the stamping of fire and extinguishing systems of the building Mechanical Engineering of the university of Patras. The stamping will be done through computer use of program design AutoCAD. In Chapter 1 is a reference to a basic concepts of fire, the way in which created, of the instruments extinguishing and a first reference to the concept of fire. In Chapter 2 presented and analyzed the passive fire protection. In Chapters 3-6 analyzes the active fire protection and referred to in the technical descriptions and the way of systems installation. In Chapter 7 reference is made in the design program AutoCAD used for the work. In Chapter 8 presented the stamping of fire protection systems and plans of the building.

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This thesis describes investigations into Placental Protein 14 (PP14), a immunomodulator involved in human reproduction. The studies included the development of a purification procedure and an investigation of the activity of the protein. In addition the cDNA coding for the protein was cloned and expressed as a recombinant fusion protein and the molecular structure of the protein was predicted and analysed using computer-assisted modelling. Finally the clinical significance of the protein was studied in a range of patient groups. The purification scheme consisted of ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction and gel filtration chromatography, and the pure protein obtained was analysed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. The results demonstrate that the purification procedure is a suitable method to obtain PP14 in large quantity and with high purity. PP14 purified by this method retained its activity and was shown to suppress, in a dose-dependent manner, the uptake of 3H-Thymidine by peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with interleukin-2. Purified PP14 was also shown to suppress the uptake of 3H-Thymidine by the cell line U937, also in a dose-dependent manner. This suppression could be removed by the incubation of the PP14 sample with an immunoabsorbent gel linked to monoclonal antibodies against PP14, demonstrating that PP14 was the molecule responsible for the observed activity. Based on the suppression by PP14 of U937 cell growth a bioassay for PP14 was developed, this assay was used to express the specific activity of PPM in Units/ml. To obtain recombinant PP14, mRNA was purified from a tissue sample and reverse transcription used to prepare cDNA. Specific primers were used to amplify the portion of cDNA coding for PP14 which was then ligated into the plasmids pUC 18 and pGEX-KG. Recombinant PP14 was then expressed as a fusion protein with glutathione-S-transferase. The expression conditions were optimised and the fusion protein was purified using affinity chromatography. The structure of PPM was investigated using computer assisted modelling. PPM is a member of the lipocalin family of proteins which share the feature of binding small hydrophobic molecules. The X-ray coordinates of two lipocalins known to share sequence homology with PP14 were used as a basis to model a predicted structure for PP14. An analysis of the structural motifs of the protein was carried out, and it was established that PP14 shares many of the characteristic features of this family of proteins including the presence of a binding pocket. The model was then used to predict potential ligands for PP14.PP14 was measured by radioimmunoassay in uterine flushings from fertile women, women with unexplained infertility and women suffering from recurrent miscarriages, and in plasma samples from fertile and infertile women. The results from the uterine flushings from fertile women showed that PP14 levels rose during the second half of the menstrual cycle reaching ug/ml levels by the end of the cycle. These physiological concentrations are in the same range as the concentrations at which the immunomodulatory activity of PP14 was observed in vitro. The levels of PP14 measured in uterine flushings were lower in infertile women than in fertile women, indicating that a deficiency in PP14 may be associated with infertility. The levels measured in plasma samples from these two groups of women did not pick up this difference. These results suggests that the measurement of proteins such as PP14 in uterine flushings instead of plasma samples may be a more sensitive indicator of local uterine function. In women suffering from recurrent miscarriage a significant lack of secretion of PP14 was observed around the time of implantation. This may be conected with the failure of implantation in these patients. A correlation was observed between the PP14 levels measured in uterine flushings from recurrent miscarriage patients and the level of endometrial development.

Electrodepositable paints are used in the auto industry to provide the majority of the protection against corrosion to mild steel car body shells. They are generally epoxy/blocked isocyanate resins systems which are applied by action of an electropotential between the car and an anode. Upon heating to 175°C the blocked isocyanate deblocks, and crosslinking occurs predominantly via the formation of urethane and urea linkages. The aim of the project was to gain a better understanding of the factors which may affect the adhesion of the electrocoat resin polymer to a steel surface, to investigate possible replacements for the tin catalyst currently used, and to develop a quantitative mechanical test for paint adhesion. This was achieved by employing various analytical techniques including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and mechanical testing.

Intellectual property protection in the form of secured patents has played an integral role in the growth and advancement of the biotechnology industry. The protection of intellectual properties is considered very important asset in this evolving industry. As a result, patent disputes often end up in the courts with long lasting consequences. Here we examined two recent and highly publicized patent dispute cases, namely, Mayo Collaborative Services et al. v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (2012) and Association for Molecular Pathology et al. v. Myriad Genetics (2011), and wish to assess how the rulings will impact diagnostics and personalized medicine industries. In doing so, we learned that decisions involving patents are complex and interconnected, with previous court rulings influencing subsequent cases. It also became clear that in general, the biotechnology industry favored patent protection while healthcare providers and their patients favored less stringent patent protection. The case is made by the biotechnology industry that the current system has allowed both the diagnostics and personalized medicine industries to flourish. Patents are a crucial incentive that not only promotes but also protects innovation. Any disruption on the legal front with regards to patents will have a negative effect. On the other hand, healthcare providers and their patients voiced their concerns that the current system limits the affordability and accessibility of healthcare. Patent protected drugs are often expensive, making it difficult for some patients to afford. In addition, these drugs have no generic counterparts and are often without alternatives, limiting their accessibility. The providers and their patients argue that relaxing the current regulations is needed and that doing so will not impact innovation. It is believed that increased competition will have a two-fold effect—driving down prices and forcing innovation as a means of differentiation. In the end, the decisions themselves have provided little guidance regarding how the biotechnology industry should proceed, but this much is clear—a balance needs to be struck between the two opposing viewpoints for the biotech industry to survive and continue to grow.

In this thesis the electro-thermo-mechanical behaviour and withstand performance of constricted high-breaking capacity thin/thick film substrate fuse elements is examined. Three-dimensional time-varying non-linear CAD finite element modelling and simulation techniques were used to investigate the current-carrying capacity of a variety of single-layer and multilayer fuse geometries for DC and repetitive currents. The critical electro-thermally-induced stresses and strains were identified, and the techniques to achieve a reduction in the magnitude of these stresses & strains were investigated. Computational tools were developed to enable the prediction of the lifetime of thick-film substrate fuses subjected to cyclic-current loading conditions. The lifetime of a manufactured substrate fuse, subjected to a range of pulsed currents, was determined theoretically and correlated with the experimental findings. The onset of crack formation, conductive film de-bonding and lifting from the substrate and fatigue were studied computationally and experimentally. Photographic evidence of crack formation and propagation in the conductive film, film de-bonding from the substrate, metal dislocation and deformation in thin-thick film substrate fuse elements subjected to current pulses is presented.

Niobium is well known for its excellent corrosion resistance based on the formation of a stable passive oxide layer, which protects the metal against corrosion in most aqueous media and makes it an interesting candidate for corrosion resistant coating applications. However, deposition of Nb films is restricted to few technologies and difficulties arise from the toxic nature of the electrolytes employed in electrodeposition of Nb, the high reactivity of the metal with residual gases in vacuum plasma spraying and its high melting point (Tm = 2500 0C) in PVD deposition. The present thesis describes the development of corrosion resistant Nb coatings on stainless steel and brass substrates by the combined steered arc/unbalanced magnetron sputtering technique. Evaluation of the corrosion behaviour is performed by potentiodynamic polarisation measurements in 3% NaCl. It is shown that corrosion resistant Nb coatings, with passivation characteristics similar to that of bulk Nb, can be produced on stainless steel substrates by unbalanced magnetron sputtering at a low deposition temperature (T = 250 0C) under reduced ion bombardment. However, the ion etching pre-treatment of the substrate prior to deposition has a significant influence on the corrosion resistance of the coating/substrate system. The employed polarisation measurements reveal that a fully passive and protective behaviour could only be achieved if Nb ions from the cathodic arc source are chosen as the etching species. In contrast, coatings deposited after Cr ion etching from the arc source and inert Ar ion etching, utilising a glow discharge, exhibit localised breakdown and pitting of the substrate. Cross sectional TEM imaging and STEM-EDX analyses reveal that bombardment of the stainless steel substrate by the multiply charged Nb ions generates a compositionally intermixed, very fine crystalline or "amorphised" interface layer, with a thickness of ~3-8nm, depending on the Nb ion energy. It is proposed that this layer acts as an additional barrier against corrosion due to (i) the structural homogeneity achieved by amorphisation and (ii) chemical stabilisation due to the introduction of Nb in the near surface region. The energy of the bombarding Nb ions, i.e. the substrate bias voltage during the etching stage, was found to further influence the corrosion resistance. Best results are achieved with "medium" bias voltages in the range of -600V to -800V, which is believed to be due to an optimum combination of structural and chemical protection mechanisms. The fully passive corrosion behaviour could not be observed in the case of brass substrates. However, the PVD coating systems on brass and on stainless steel are superior, in the employed polarisation measurements, to commercially produced, electroplated Cr, Ni and Ni/Cr coatings on the same substrate materials. Other coating properties investigated in the present study include microstructure, hardness, crystallographic orientation and residual film stresses.

Magister Legum - LLM / Ireland and the United Kingdom are since 1993 in conflict about a Mox plant at Sellafield, on the Irish Sea. This plant is designed to recycle the plutonium which is produced during the reprocessing of nuclear fuel to reclaim the uranium contained in it. Ireland has tried to contest the British decision to build and operate the Mox plant through all the legal means available. An important request of Ireland was to be more and better informed in order to better contribute to the protection of the marine environment of the Irish Sea. Ireland and the United Kingdom are Member of two important treaties addressing the issue of environmental information: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention). Ireland has sought a remedy through the procedures of dispute settlement instituted by those two treaties. The Mox Plant Case is therefore very complex, each of these procedures being conducted within the textual confines of the treaties that govern them. In July 2003 the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the OSPAR Convention rejected Ireland’s request to have access to more information about the Mox plant. The procedure introduced by Ireland in October 2001 before an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the UNCLOS is still pending. In this context, waiting for the final decision of this Arbitral Tribunal, the ITLOS ordered in December 2001, as a provisional measure, that Ireland and the United Kingdom must cooperate and exchange information. In November 2003, the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the UNCLOS has suspended the proceedings, waiting for a decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Indeed the European Commission, backing up the position of the United Kingdom, initiated proceedings against Ireland before the ECJ in 2003. The Mox Plant Case illustrates and addresses several predominant matters in international environmental law. Firstly it illustrates the complexity of a system where several treaties between the same parties regulate the same issues. As a consequence in this case not less than four international jurisdictions have been and are still involved in the matter, leading to procedural difficulties. Secondly the Mox Plant Case illustrates the considerable difference of opinion which exists in the area of international environmental law with respect to the meaning and nature of the notion of ‘access to information’, and its relationship to other ancillary and concomitant notions, e. g. ‘collaboration’, ‘cooperation’, ‘participation’, etc., by and amongst states. The meaning of this concept, which is the cause of the dispute, differ depending on the context of treaty within which it is used. / South Africa

La protection de l'environnement joue un rôle croissant dans les opérations de coopération internationale publique menées en Tunisie. Son efficacité et ses limites ont été analysées au niveau de la coopération centralisée et décentralisée. La coopération centralisée s'établit entre États de façon bilatérale ou, entre un État et les institutions internationales, de façon multilatérale. La coopération internationale décentralisée, quant à elle, concerne les relations entre les collectivités territoriales nationales et les collectivités territoriales étrangères.La première partie de la thèse, consacrée à l'analyse de la coopération centralisée en Tunisie, souligne les modalités très variées de sa mise en oeuvre, qu'il s'agisse de la coopération bilatérale classique entre États, ou de la coopération multilatérale qui s'effectue à travers les organisations internationales ou régionales. Les deux coopérations bilatérales, celle qui s'est établie entre la France et la Tunisie, d'une part, et, entre l'Allemagne et la Tunisie, d'autre part, peuvent être considérées comme « dominantes ». Les secteurs de l'eau et de l'assainissement ainsi que celui de la maîtrise de l'énergie en constituent les domaines essentiels. Ces coopérations bilatérales sont gérées par des agences publiques : l'Agence française de développement (AFD) et la GIZ allemande. [...] La coopération décentralisée, qui permet aux collectivités territoriales de coopérer directement, notamment dans le cadre de la protection de l'environnement, est une forme relativement récente, puisqu'en France, elle n'a été autorisée qu'à partir de 1992 et véritablement établie, en garantissant une sécurité juridique aux collectivités territorialesfrançaises, qu'à partir de 2007 avec la loi Thiollière. [...] Afin de mieux comprendre le mécanisme de la coopération décentralisée, nous avons lancé une enquête auprès des collectivités territoriales françaises, régions, départements etcommunes. Nous avons pu confirmer certaines hypothèses que nous avions tirées de l'analyse statistique des relations de coopération décentralisée entre la France et la Tunisie. Les jumelages apparaissent comme un moyen efficace d'engager des actions de coopération décentralisée, qui pourront par la suite se renforcer, notamment dans le domaine de la protection de l'environnement. [...] Il est possible que cette coopération décentralisée puisse prendre une importance croissante dans l'avenir ; en effet, une nouvelle organisation des collectivités territoriales en Tunisie, laissant à ces dernières une plus grande liberté dedécision, ne pourrait que favoriser le développement de la coopération décentralisée en Tunisie. Les collectivités tunisiennes pourraient, sans doute, bénéficier, en effet, d'une « offre de coopération décentralisée » venant d'entités locales ou régionales étrangères, qui préfèrent mener des actions avec des collectivités partenaires, bénéficiant d?une certaine autonomie vis-à-vis du pouvoir central. / Unavailable

Les bouleversements en Europe à la fin des années 1980 n’ont pas épargné l’Afrique subsaharienne. Si au niveau mondial ces bouleversements ont conduit à la dislocation du bloc de l’Est et à la remise en cause des équilibres géostratégiques, en Afrique noire, ils ont permis la chute des régimes autoritaires et dictatoriaux. L’Afrique noire francophone qui fait l’objet de cette étude n’est pas restée en marge de cette évolution. C’est au niveau constitutionnel, plus précisément, dans le domaine de la protection des droits de l’homme que l’on constate le changement le plus significatif. Celui-ci est marqué par l’adoption de nouvelles constitutions à tendance libérale, la création des juridictions constitutionnelles autonomes et spécialisées, la reconnaissance des communautés ethnoculturelles qui constituent le substrat humain de l’État. Cette thèse qui porte sur « la protection constitutionnelle des droits de l’homme dans les États d’Afrique noire francophone » depuis 1990 veut justement montrer que la garantie des droits et libertés dans cette zone géographique vise le respect de la dignité humaine, que cette garantie relève en partie du droit positif à travers notamment la Constitution, la loi et les instruments juridiques auxquels les États africains souscrivent, ce qui semble conférer au système africain de protection des droits de l’homme une dimension universelle. Mais il s’agit aussi de convaincre dans cette étude que la norme juridique n’est pas le seul élément qui participe à la protection des droits de l’homme dans les États d’Afrique noire francophone : les us, les coutumes, la pratique, les usages et les traditions en vigueur dans la société participent aussi, à certains égards, à la protection des droits de l’homme. Pour cette raison, l’universalité des droits de l’homme qui apparaît dans le nouveau constitutionnalisme africain doit être relativisée à cause de la prégnance du droit traditionnel, et, surtout, de l’influence des facteurs anthropologiques (culture, religion, tradition…) dans la société. Le constituant africain semble de plus en plus tenir compte de cette influence. Depuis 1990, il intègre les règles traditionnelles dans la Constitution, ce qui confère au droit constitutionnel africain toute son originalité et un caractère dualiste. Ce dualisme se traduit particulièrement par la conciliation entre le droit moderne et le droit traditionnel. / Upheavals in Europe at the end of 1980s did not save (spare) sub-Saharan Africa. If at the world level these upheavals led (drove) to the dislocation of the east block and to the questioning of the geostrategic balances, in Black Africa, they allowed the fall of the authoritarian and dictatorial diets (regimes). French-speaking Black Africa which is the object of this study did not stay outside this evolution. It is at the constitutional level, more exactly, in the field of the protection of the human rights that we notice the most significant change. This one is marked by the adoption of new constitutions with liberal trend (tendency), the creation of the autonomous and specialized constitutional jurisdictions, the gratitude (recognition) of the ethnocultural communities which establish (constitute) the human substratum of the State.This thesis which carries (wears) “the constitutional protection of human rights in the States of French-speaking Black Africa” since 1990 exactly wants to show that the guarantee of the rights and the liberties in this geographical zone aims at the respect for the human dignity, that this guarantee is partially (is partially a matter) of the substantive law through in particular the Constitution, the law and the legal instruments to which the African States subscribe, what seems to confer on the African system of protection of human rights a universal dimensions.But it is also a question of convincing in this study that the legal rule is not the only element which participates in the protection of human rights in the States of French-speaking Black Africa : customs (US), customs, practice, uses (practices) and current traditions in the society participate so, in some respects, in the protection of human rights. For that reason, the universality of the human rights which appears in the new African constitutionalism must be put in perspective because of the prégnance of the traditional right (law), and, especially, the influence of the anthropological factors (culture, religion, tradition…) in the society.The African constituent seems more and more to take into account this influence. Since 1990, he integrates (joins) the traditional rules into the Constitution, what confers on the African constitutional law all its originality and a dualistic character. This dualism is particularly translated by the conciliation between the modern right (law) and the traditional right (law).