The thesis acquaints the reader with issues of manipulators based on parallel kinematic structures. It includes also the description of the construction procedure of chosen mechanism. Introductory search part specifies selected terms relating to building elements and describes their requirements. Alternatives of construction and used types of manipulators are shown in the illustrative images with labels. Next chapters deal with projects of selected parallel mechanism and methodologies of constructions. These chapters describe the design of all devised construction nodes. The construction and testing of the produced prototype is properly documented, indicating the resulting knowledge.

Dans les années 90 Garsia et Haiman ont introduit le $mathfrak S_n$-module des emph{harmoniques diagonales}, c'est à dire les co-invariants de l'action diagonale du groupe symétrique $mathfrak S_n$ sur les polynômes à deux ensembles de $n$ variables. Ils ont proposé la conjecture selon laquelle le caractère de Frobenius bi-gradué de leur module est $abla e_n$, où $abla$ est un opérateur sur l'anneau des fonction symétriques. En 2002, Haiman prouva cette conjecture. Quelques années plus tard, Haglund, Haiman, Loehr, Remmel et Ulyanov proposèrent une formule combinatoire pour la fonction symétrique $abla e_n$, qu'ils appelèrent la emph{conjecture shuffle}. Les objets combinatoires qui y figurent sont les chemins de Dyck étiquetés. Un raffinement emph{compositionnel} de cette formule fut ensuite proposé par Haglund, Morse et Zabrocki. C'était ce raffinement que Carlsson et Mellit réussirent enfin à montrer en 2018, établissant ainsi le emph{théorème shuffle}. La emph{conjecture Delta} est une paire de formules combinatoires pour la fonction symétrique $Delta'_{e_{n-k-1}}e_n$ en termes des chemins de Dyck étiquetés et décorés, qui généralise le théorème shuffle. Elle fut proposée par Hagund, Remmel et Wilson en 2015 est reste aujourd'hui un problème ouvert. Dans la même publication les auteurs proposèrent une formule pour $Delta_{h_m}Delta'_{e_{n-k-1}}e_n$ en termes de chemins de Dyck partiellement étiquetés et décorés, appelé emph{conjecture Delta généralisée}. Nous proposons un raffinement compositionnel de la conjecture Delta en utilisant des nouveaux opérateurs de fonctions symétriques: les opérateurs Theta. Nous généralisons les arguments combinatoires que Carlsson et Mellit utilisèrent pour la preuve du théorème shuffle au contexte de la conjecture Delta. Nous prouvons également la formule pour $Delta_{h_m} abla e_n$ en termes de chemins de Dyck partiellement étiqueté, c'est à dire le cas $k=0$ de la conjecture Delta généralisée. En 2006, Can et Loehr proposèrent la emph{conjecture carré}, exprimant la fonction symétrique $(-1)^{n-1}abla p_n$ en termes de chemins carrés étiquetés. Sergel montra que le théorème shuffle implique la conjecture carré. Nous généralisons le résultat de Sergel en montrant que une des formules de la conjecture Delta généralisée implique une formule combinatoire de la fonction $(-1)^{n-k}Delta_{h_m}Theta_kp_{n-k}$ e / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Heřmanský–Pudlák syndrome (HPS), a rare autosomal recessive disorder, manifests with oculocutaneous albinism and a bleeding diathesis. However, severity of disease can be variable and is typically related to the genetic subtype of HPS; HPS type 6 (HPS-6) is an uncommon subtype generally associated with mild disease. A Caucasian adult female presented with a history of severe bleeding; ophthalmologic examination indicated occult oculocutaneous albinism. The patient was diagnosed with a platelet storage pool disorder, and platelet whole mount electron microscopy demonstrated absent delta granules. Genome-wide SNP analysis showed regions of homozygosity that included the HPS1 and HPS6 genes. Full length HPS1 transcript was amplified by PCR of genomic DNA. Targeted next-generation sequencing identified a novel homozygous missense variant in HPS6 (c.383 T > C; p.V128A); this was associated with significantly reduced HPS6 mRNA and protein expression in the patient's fibroblasts compared to control cells. These findings highlight the variable severity of disease manifestations in patients with HPS, and illustrate that HPS can be diagnosed in patients with excessive bleeding and occult oculocutaneous albinism. Genetic analysis and platelet electron microscopy are useful diagnostic tests in evaluating patients with suspected HPS. Clinical Trial registration:. Registrar: ClinicalTrials.gov. Website: www.clinicaltrials.gov. Registration Numbers: NCT00001456 and NCT00084305.

Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) In the Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, 2019. / This study critically explores, in comparative terms, the socio-economic dimension (drivers and effects) of Niger Delta Militancy and Boko Haram insurgency, within the ongoing debate on the nexus between security and development. Using the mix of Root Cause and Rational Choice theories (2RCs), the study through qualitative methods, demonstrates the relative implication of socio-economic causes and effects of both insurgencies, based on evidence from interviews, available video documentaries and literatures. Acknowledging the weak, however irrefutable, connection between security and development, the study underscores that the social and economic dimension of both insurgencies must be factored into a long-term recovery plan, despite the seeming religious façade of Boko Haram. The study demonstrates that while poverty, for instance, is necessary but insufficient in explaining conflict, its persistence amidst affluence and economic growth suggest that it significantly determines the hopelessness, angst and lack of trust in the system that often nudges some citizens to seek alternative means of redress. Such means may be ethnonationalism or religion as suggestive of the Niger Delta militancy or Boko Haram insurgency respectively. In addition, both insecurities have been hijacked by certain individuals for self-benefiting ends. This hijack is somewhat driven by personal rational calculus and oiled by the pan-Nigeria “socio-economic neediness” among the masses. In this regard, while the masterminds manipulate this ‘socio-economic neediness’, the lower ranks (of these insurgencies) derive immediate economic or political benefits from participation through criminality. Meanwhile, the study found that socio-economic causes are more easily identifiable in the Niger Delta insurgencies as compared to Boko Haram’s, especially from the standpoint of legitimate grievances. For the Boko Haram insurgency, the socio-economic underdevelopment in the northern region are ideologically manipulated to mobilise wide support for the insurgency through monetary inducement, leveraging on the vulnerability of the populace. This is especially compounded by the lower level of education among it ranks of foot soldiers and general level of human underdevelopment across the region. The implication of Nigeria’s mono-cultural economy for the country’s development trajectory and the current instabilities are explored to illuminate what, why, and how the resultant socio-economic underdevelopment could be related to both insurgencies. Accordingly, the popular criticism of the socio-economic dimension that often allude to the relatively higher level of vii poverty in other parts of the north compared to Borno is critically revisited. This is done by demonstrating that Boko Haram is hardly a Borno or North-east phenomenon exclusively. Indeed, the historical and ideological resonance of Islamic extremism of Boko Haram, across the entire northern region, strongly reinforces this view. The study further demonstrates how the protracted insurgencies, among other agitations in the country continue to inhibit Nigeria’s overall development, creating an endless circle of conflict. Hence, in contributing to the attainment of a durable and sustainable resolution, this study advocates that adequate and improved redress of the socio-economic dimension, among the other notable undeniable dimensions must take place. In this regard, the study critically engages the mix of defence, diplomacy and development (the 3D) as used in other conflict regions in the world, to decipher possible ways forward. Minding context dependence of such policy frameworks and the difficulty with transferability however, the study ultimately seeks only to draw adaptable lessons, especially its accents on inter-agency cooperation (human and material resource) in comparable insurgencies. Herein lies the security-development nexus in Nigeria, given the deepening human insecurity and underdevelopment spawned by both insurgencies

Despite abundant oil resources, the residents of the Niger Delta endure extreme poverty, polluted environments, poor infrastructure, and high unemployment. In the early 1990s, these problems led to a violent uprising against oil exploration. In 2009 the government of Nigeria attempted to end the uprising by implementing an amnesty program for the militants that was designed to address the region's problems. The amnesty program resulted in suspending the violence but so far has not resolved the region's problems. If these problems are not addressed, the uprising may resume. Although the Urhobo people comprised the largest number of militants from the Western Niger Delta, there has been no research on whether there are aspects of the Urhobo culture that may be helpful for strengthening the amnesty program and preventing a return to violence by Urhobo ex-militants. Benet's polarities of democracy model served as the theoretical framework for this ethnographic study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observations of 20 Urhobo ex-militants to learn what might prevent their return to violence. Content analysis was used to identify significant themes. Findings indicated that aspects of the Urhobo culture, such as communal obligations, respect for elders, and commitment to social justice and equality, may contribute to strengthening the amnesty program and preventing a return to violence. Recommendations include incorporating meaningful participation of Urhobo elders in the further development and implementation of the amnesty program. Implications for social change include informing policy makers of the importance the Urhobo culture may play in strengthening the amnesty program.

Of the potential feedstocks for biofuels, microalgae is the most promising, and raceway ponds are the most cost-effective method for growing mircoalgal biomass. Nevertheless, biofuel production from algae must be more efficient to be competitive with traditional fuels. Previous studies using arrays of airfoils, triangles, and squares at high angles of attack show an increase in mixing in raceways and can improve productivity by up to a factor of 2.2. Some researchers say increasing mixing increases growth due to the flashing light effect while others claim it is the decrease in the fluid boundary layer of the cells that increases mass transfer. Whatever the reason, increasing growth by increasing mixing is a repeatable effect that is desirable to both reduce operation costs and increase production. An experimental raceway is constructed to test the effect of a delta wing (DW) on raceway hydraulics in the laboratory using fresh-water. The DW is an isosceles triangle made of plate material that is placed at a high angle of attack in the circulating raceway flow. Results from this investigation can be scaled to larger growth facilities use arrays of DWs. Two vortices are found downstream of the DW when used in this way and create significant vertical fluid circulation. Stereo particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to quantify and optimize the use of delta wings as a means to increase fluid mixing. Stereo PIV gives three components of velocity in a measurement plane at an instant. Three studies are performed to determine the optimal paddle-wheel speed, angle of attack, and DW spacing in the raceway based on mixing. Two new mixing quantities are defined. The first is the Vertical Mixing Index (VMI) that is based on the vertical velocity magnitude, and the second is the Cycle Time required for an algal cell to complete a cycle from the bottom to the top and back again in the raceway. The power required to circulate the flow is considered in all results. The Paddle-wheel Speed Study shows that the VMI is not a function of streamwise velocity, which makes it very useful for comparison. The Cycle Time decreases quickly with streamwise velocity then levels out, revealing a practical speed for operation that is lower than typically used and consumes only half the power. The angle of 40° is optimal from the results of the Angle of Attack Study for both VMI and Cycle Time. The third study is the Vortex Dissipation Study and is used to measure the distance downstream before the vortices dissipate. This information is used to optimize the DW spacing for profit considering the additional costs of adding DWs.

Open channel raceway bioreactors are a low-cost system used to grow algae for biofuel production. Microalgae have many promises when it comes to renewable energy applications, but many economic hurdles must be overcome to achieve an economic fuel source that is competitive with petroleum-based fuels. One way to make algae more competitive is to improve vertical mixing in algae raceway bioreactors. Previous studies show that mixing may be increased by the addition of mechanisms such as airfoils. The circulation created helps move the algae from the bottom to top surface for necessary photosynthetic exchange. This improvement in light utilization allowed a certain study to achieve 2.2-2.4 times the amount of biomass relative to bioreactors without airfoils. This idea of increasing mixing in open channel raceways has been the focus of the Utah State University (USU) raceway hydraulics group. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Acoustic Doppler Velocimetry (ADV), and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) are all methods used at USU to computationally and experimentally quantify mixing in an open channel raceway. They have also been used to observe the effects of using delta wings (DW) in increasing vertical mixing in the raceway. These efforts showed great potential in the DW in increasing vertical mixing in the open channel bioreactor. However, this research begged the question, does the DW help increase algae growth? Three algae growth experiments comparing growth in a raceway with and without DW were completed. These experiments were successful, yielding an average 27.1% increase in the biomass. The DW appears to be a promising method of increasing algae biomass production. The next important step was to quantify vertical mixing and understand flow patterns due to two DWs side-by-side. Raceway channels are wider as they increase in size; and arrays of DWs will need to be installed to achieve quality mixing throughout the bioreactor. Quality mixing was attained for several paddle wheel (PW) speeds. Also, an optimal spacing between the DWs in an array was found to be the width of the DW. This optimal spacing allows for the best increase in vertical mixing along the width of the channel. Dimensional analysis was performed using experimental data to estimate vertical mixing index (VMI) results for data obtained by larger scale DW experiments. This rough analysis showed that the VMI may be estimated from small to large scale within 26.6% and 26.5% when equating Reynolds and Froude numbers, respectively. These results suggest that quality mixing would still be present at a larger DW scale.

Delta Wadi El-Arish, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, forms one of the most important parts of Egypt for industrial and agricultural expansion projects. This study focuses on the hydrogeology and the hydrochemistry of the Quaternary aquifer in the delta Wadi El-Arish area. Accurate information about the groundwater characteristics of the Quaternary aquifer will allow implementation of a sound water management policy for the Wadi El-Arish area. The objectives of this study include: 1) determining the relationships between groundwater extraction and water levels and water quality using water-level measurements, total extraction of the wells, and chemical analyses of water samples; 2) determining the direction of groundwater flow using water-level measurements; 3) calculating the hydraulic parameters of the Quaternary aquifer using pumping test data; and 4) determining the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater in the Quaternary aquifer. The results of this study indicate that: 1. Potentiometric surface elevations have decreased by an average of about 0.5 m. 2. Potentiometric surface elevations have decreased in response to an increase in extraction rates. 3. The transmissivity of the lower Pleistocene calcareous sandstone (kurkar) unit is higher than the transmissivity of the upper Pleistocene sand and gravel alluvial deposits. 4. Groundwater in the upper Pleistocene sand and gravel aquifer is augmented with groundwater leaking from the overlying Holocene sand deposits through the intervening sandy clay aquitard. 5. Total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations have been increased by an average of about 1,500 ppm. 6. An increase in sea water intrusion in the northern part of the study area has occurred. 7. Groundwater in the calcareous sandstone kurkar is of lower quality than groundwater in the alluvium sand and gravel. Management of the groundwater resources should include the following recommendations: 1. No new pumping wells should be drilled in the area. 2. Accurate estimates for the total recharge should be determined using a more detailed water budget for the delta Wadi El-Arish area. 4. The operation of wells should be managed by an automatic control system.

Turbulent mixing plays an important role in the distribution of sunlight, carbon dioxide, and nutrients for algae in the raceway ponds. For large-scale raceway ponds the choice of mixing technology still needs to be evaluated in order to prevent algae sedimentation and to enhance light utilization efficiency. In open ponds, mixing the algae culture is of great significance in terms of input energy costs and particularly productivity. A very small amount of research has been performed previously using different vortex generators in the algal raceway ponds, but the quantification of mixing depth relationships is not defined well. By accepting the premise from the literature review that mixing increases algal production, delta wings were selected to study mixing characteristics in the raceway. The main objective of this research was to study algae-raceway hydrodynamics with an emphasis on increasing vertical mixing. A clear acrylic raceway was designed and constructed for flow visualization studies. Experimental investigations were performed to quantify the vertical mixing with and without delta wings in a lab-scale raceway at approximately the same power input to the paddle wheel. Velocity vector profiles and turbulence parameters were measured using an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) at various locations along the entire length of the raceway. The results indicated that the addition of delta wings increases the vertical mixing intensity or circulation of algae cells over the raceway depth. Vortices were observed in the raceway up to a distance of around 3 m downstream of the delta wing. This sort of systematic vertical mixing plays an important role to produce the flashing light effect (light-dark cycles) on algae mass culture. In addition, turbulence dissipation rates were evaluated to compare them with the published literature and to estimate the microscales using the Kolmogorov hypothesis. Also, an energy model was developed to operate the paddlewheel-driven raceway with the delta wing.

The Red Pine Shale (RPS; ~1120m), uppermost formation of the Neoproterozoic Uinta Mountain Group, Utah, is an organic-rich sedimentary succession that represents marine deltaic systems delivering mature sediment from the east and immature sediment from the north. Multiple data sets suggest regional climate and sea-level changes associated with changing organic carbon burial rates. Six facies identified represent wave-, tidal-, and river-influenced parts of the distal prodelta to delta front. The shale facies is interpreted as distal prodeltaic deposition in a marine environment. The concretion facies is interpreted as prodeltaic deposition to distal prodelta. The shale-sandstone facies represents suspension settling with dilute density currents in a proximal prodelta to delta front environment. The slump fold facies was deposited on the proximal prodelta or delta front. The sandstone facies represents deposition on the delta front and shows marine- and river- influences. The pebbly sandstone facies is representative of a delta front environment. C-isotope values from this shale range from -29.46 / to -16.91 / PDB and TOC from 0.04% to 5.91%. Combined H/C, TOC, and local-regional isotopic correlations suggest that these values are representative of C-isotope composition of Neoproterozoic seawater. The composite C-isotope curve for the RPS is less negative values near the base, followed by a long decline to a thick interval of homogeneous lower values. Petrographic analyses reveal immature arkosic sandstone and mature quartz arenite populations. Detrital zircon data show an Archean population from the Wyoming Craton to the north and a mixed Proterozoic/Archean population from the east-southeast. Measured sections show north to south delta progradation with a proximal source to the north and a mature sediment source to the east. The composite section shows one low-order regressive cycle and ~11 high-order cycles. There is a relationship between C-isotope values, shale geochemistry, and lithostratigraphy. Less negative C-isotope values correspond with increased kaolinite and facies indicating higher sea-level. These relationships are seen in the correlative Chuar Group, Arizona, and a similar model is suggested for their origin: humid climate, high organic carbon burial rates, and high sea-level. This paper meets the requirements to revise the RPS as a formalized unit in accordance with the Stratigraphic Code guidelines.