<p>This thesis, Earth satellites and detection of air andground based activities by Ulf Ekblad of the Physics departmentat the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), addresses theproblem of detecting military activities in imagery. Examplesof various techniques are presented. In particular, problemsassociated with "novelties" and "changes" in an image arediscussed and various algorithms presented. The imagery usedincludes satellite imagery, aircraft imagery, and photos offlying aircraft.</p><p>The timely delivery of satellite imagery is limited by thelaws of celestial mechanics. This and other information aspectsof imagery are treated. It is e.g. shown that dozens ofsatellites may be needed if daily observations of a specificsite on Earth are to be conducted from low Earth orbit.</p><p>New findings from bioinformatics and studies of small mammalvisual systems are used. The Intersecting Cortical Model (ICM),which is a reduced variant of the Pulse-Coupled Neural Network(PCNN), is used on various problems among which are changedetection. Still much more could be learnt from biologicalsystems with respect to pre- and post-processing as well asintermediate processing stages.</p><p>Simulated satellite imagery is used for determining theresolution limit for detection of tanks. The necessary pixelsize is shown to be around 6 m under the conditions of thissimulation.</p><p>Difference techniques are also tested on Landsat satelliteimagery with the purpose of detecting underground nuclearexplosions. In particular, it is shown that this can easily bedone with 30 m resolution images, at least in the case studied.Satellite imagery from SPOT is used for detecting undergroundnuclear explosions prior to the detonations, i.e. under certainconditions 10 m resolution images can be used to detectpreparations of underground nuclear explosions. This type ofinformation is important for ensuring the compliance of nucleartest ban treaties. Furthermore, the necessity for havingcomplementary information in order to be able to interpretimages is also shown.</p><p>Keywords: Remote sensing, reconnaissance, sensor,information acquisition, satellite imagery, image processing,image analysis, change detection, pixel difference, neuronnetwork, cortex model, PCNN, ICM, entanglement, Earthobservation, nuclear explosion, SPOT, Landsat, verification,orbit.</p>

Cette thèse porte sur l'étude des ondes stationnaires d'équations dispersives non linéaires, en particulier l'équation de Schrödinger, mais aussi celle de Klein-Gordon. Les travaux présentés s'articulent autour de deux questions principales : l'existence et la stabilité orbitale de ces ondes stationnaires. <br /><br />L'existence est étudiée par des méthodes essentiellement variationnelles. En plus de la simple existence, on met en évidence différentes caractérisations variationnelles des ondes stationnaires, par exemple en tant que points critiques d'une certaine fonctionnelle au niveau du col ou au niveau de moindre énergie, ou encore en tant que minimiseurs d'une fonctionnelle sur différentes contraintes.<br /><br />Selon la puissance de la non-linéarité et la forme de la dépendance en espace, on démontre que les ondes stationnaires sont stables ou instables. Lorsqu'elles sont instables, on met en évidence que dans certaines situations l'instabilité se manifeste par explosion, tandis que dans d'autres les solutions sont globalement bien posées. En plus des différentes caractérisations variationnelles des <br />ondes stationnaires, les preuves des résultats de stabilité et d'instabilité nécessitent de dériver des informations de nature spectrale. En particulier, dans la première partie de cette thèse, on prouve un résultat de non-dégénérescence du linéarisé pour un problème limite. Dans la deuxième partie, on localise la deuxième valeur propre du linéarisé par la combinaison d'une méthode perturbative et d'arguments de continuation.

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The three main components of wood, namely, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, can be used in various areas. However, since lignin covalently crosslinks with wood polysaccharides creating networks that is an obstacle for extraction, direct extraction of different wood components in high yield is not an easy matter. One potential approach to overcome such obstacles is to treat the wood with specific enzymes that degrade the networks by specific catalysis. However, the structure of wood is so compact that the penetration of the wood fibers by large enzyme molecules is hindered. Thus, the pretreatment of wood prior to the application of enzymes is necessary, for “opening” the structure. One pretreatment method that was performed in this thesis is based on kraft pulping, which is a well-established and industrialized technique. For untreated wood, the wood fibers cannot be attacked by the enzymes. A relatively mild pretreatment was sufficient for wood polysaccharides hydrolyzed by a culture filtrate. A methanol-alkali mixture extraction was subsequently applied to the samples that were pretreated with two types of hemicellulases, Gamanase and Pulpzyme HC, respectively. The extraction yield increased after enzymatic treatment, and the polymers that were extracted from monocomponent enzyme-treated wood had a higher degree of polymerization. Experiments with in vitro prepared lignin polysaccharide networks suggested that the increased extraction was due to the enzymatic untying. However, the relatively large loss of hemicellulose, particularly including (galacto)glucomannan (GGM), represents a problem with this technique. To improve the carbohydrate yield, sodium borohydride (NaBH4), polysulfide and anthraquinone were used, which increased the yields from 76.6% to 89.6%, 81.3% and 80.0%, respectively, after extended impregnation (EI). The additives also increased the extraction yield from approximately 9 to 12% w/w wood. Gamanase treatment prior to the extraction increased the extraction yield to 14% w/w wood. Sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4) is an alternative reducing agent for the preservation of hemicelluloses because it is less expensive than metal hydrides and only contains sodium and sulfur, which will not introduce new elements to the recovery system. Moreover, Na2S2O4has the potential to be generated from black liquor. Na2S2O4 has some preservation effect on hemicelluloses, and the presence of Na2S2O4 also contributed to delignification. The extraction yield increased to approximately 15% w/w wood. Furthermore, Na2S2O4 has been applied in the kraft pulping process of spruce. The yield and viscosity increased, while the Klason lignin content and kappa number decreased, which represents a beneficial characteristic for kraft pulp. The brightness and tensile strength of the resulting sheets also improved. However, the direct addition of Na2S2O4 to white liquor led to greater reject content. This problem was solved by pre-impregnation with Na2S2O4 and/or mild steam explosion (STEX) prior to the kraft pulping process. Following Na2S2O4 pre-impregnation and mild STEX, the obtained kraft pulp had substantially better properties compared with the properties exhibited after direct addition of Na2S2O4 to the white liquor. The wood structure opening efficiency of mild STEX alone was also tested. The accessibility of the wood structure to enzymes was obtained even at very modest STEX conditions, according to a reducing sugar analysis, and was not observed in untreated wood chips, which were used as a reference. The mechanical effect of STEX appears to be of great importance at lower temperatures, and both chemical and mechanical effects occur at higher STEX temperatures. / <p>QC 20140903</p>

Ce travail consiste en l'optimisation des conditions de dépôt par ablation laser à température ambiante du carbone et de l'alumine. Il se divise en huit parties principales. Le premier chapitre est une présentation du contexte de l'émergence des couches de carbone et d'alumine par ablation laser. le deuxième chapitre décrit les dispositifs expérimentaux et modes opératoires mis en œuvre, qu'ils concernent l'élaboration des films aussi bien que la détermination de leurs propriétés. Les deux chapitres suivants s'intéressent à résoudre les principaux défauts de l'ablation laser à savoir : La projection de particules solides lors du dépôt (chapitre 3) L'inhomogénéité en épaisseur des couches réalisées sur sustrat fixe (chapitre 4) le cinquième chapitre est consacré à l'étude des propriétés structurelles, électriques et mécaniques des couches de ta-C en fonction des conditiond de dépôt. Ce travail s'appuie sur une étude de l'énergie des ions dans le panache plasma (spectroscopie, imagerie résolue temporellement et spectralement) et leur rôle dans la croissance des films de ta-C (analyses Raman, XPS, MET...). le sixième chapitre reprend une étude similaire à ce qui a été présenté dans le chapitre précédent en l'applicant aux couches minces d'alumine par ablation laser. Enfin le dernier chapitre est consacré à l'intégration, dans les composants MEMS RF, des films d'alumine et de ta-C déposés par ablation laser. Ce chapitre rapporte les résultats de la collaboration menée avec l'IRCOM pour réaliser des composants fonctionnels (microcommutateurs RF, filtres accordables ...) à base de couches minces déposées par ablation laser.

L'explosion de la plateforme de forage « Deepwater Horizon » dans le Golfe du Mexique en avril 2010 a provoqué le déversement d'un grand volume de pétrole brut dans les eaux de la région ce qui a conduit à des répercussions importantes sur la faune locale. Les impacts d'une telle catastrophe à long terme sur les oiseaux de mer ont peu été étudiés par la communauté scientifique. Pourtant, les effets délétères induits par l'action des hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques (HAPs) contenus dans le pétrole brut représentent la principale source d'inquiétude d'une exposition chronique sous-létale. L'île Bonaventure, situé dans le parc national de l'île-Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Percé, accueil l'une des plus grandes colonies de fous de bassan (Morus bassanus) au monde. Environ un quart de cette colonie migre dans le Golfe du Mexique une fois la saison de reproduction terminée, courant ainsi le risque d'être exposé au pétrole déversé soit directement (ingestion et absorption dermique) ou indirectement (consommation de proies contaminées). Une contamination au pétrole peut engendrer une détérioration de la condition physiologique des oiseaux exposés et altérer, entre autres, le fonctionnement du système endocrinien. Ainsi, il est justifié de craindre une portée sur la santé de ces oiseaux et donc, ultimement sur la dynamique de population de cette colonie (taux de survie, succès de reproduction, etc.). Cette étude avait pour but d'évaluer les effets potentiels de l'exposition aux HAPs, provenant du pétrole déversé dans le Golfe du Mexique, sur la santé de 34 fous de bassan de l'île Bonaventure lors de la période d'incubation à l'été 2011. Le premier objectif spécifique était de déterminer le lieu d'hivernage des fous de bassan à l'étude, soit le Golfe du Mexique ou la côte Atlantique, à l'aide de consignateurs d'intensité lumineuse afin de cibler les oiseaux potentiellement exposés au pétrole. Le second objectif consistait à déterminer le profil de contamination (HAPs) des oiseaux ainsi que de doser les concentrations hormonales (prolactine et corticostérone) circulant chez ces oiseaux. Finalement, il était question de mettre en relation le lieu d'hivernage, le profil de contamination et les concentrations hormonales des oiseaux en fonction du temps dans l'incubation (tôt ou tard). Il était attendu que les oiseaux ayant fréquenté le Golfe du Mexique aient des concentrations d'HAPs supérieures aux oiseaux de la côte Atlantique et que leurs concentrations en corticostérone et prolactine en soient affectés ce qui diminuerait leur succès de reproduction. Les concentrations sanguines en HAPs se sont révélées être sous les limites de détection de l'instrument analytique (HPLC). De plus, les concentrations hormonales ne semblaient pas différer selon le lieu de migration des oiseaux, ni le temps dans l'incubation. Leur succès de reproduction ne semblait pas affecté à l'été 2011. Toutefois, l'absence d'effets visibles au niveau de la reproduction de ces oiseaux n'implique pas nécessairement une absence d'impact physiologique. Finalement, cette étude a permis de démontrer l'utilité de la géolocation dans un contexte d'étude d'impact lors de déversement pétrolier, ce qui n'avait encore jamais été fait. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : prolactine, corticostérone, HAPs, Golfe du Mexique, Sulidae, oiseaux de mer

Free-electron lasers provide high intensity pulses with femtosecond duration and are ideal tools in the investigation of ultrafast processes in materials. Illumination of any material with such pulses creates extreme conditions that drive the sample far from equilibrium and rapidly convert it into high temperature plasma. The dynamics of this transition is not fully understood and the main goal of this thesis is to further our knowledge in this area. We exposed a variety of materials to X-ray pulses of intensities from 1013 to above 1017 W/cm2. We found that the temporal evolution of the resulting plasmas depends strongly on the wavelength and pulse intensity, as well as on material related parameters, such as size, density, and composition. In experiments on atomic and molecular clusters, we find that cluster size and sample composition influence the destruction pathway. In small clusters a rapid Coulomb explosion takes place while larger clusters undergo a hydrodynamic expansion. We have characterized this transition in methane clusters and discovered a strong isotope effect that promotes the acceleration of deuterium ions relative to hydrogen. Our results also show that ions escaping from exploding xenon clusters are accelerated to several keV energies. Virus particles represent a transition between hetero-nuclear clusters and complex biological materials. We injected single mimivirus particles into the pulse train of an X-ray laser, and recorded coherent diffraction images simultaneously with the fragmentation patterns of the individual particles. We used these results to test theoretical damage models. Correlation between the diffraction patterns and sample fragmentation shows how damage develops after the intense pulse has left the sample. Moving from sub-micron objects to bulk materials gave rise to new phenomena. Our experiments with high-intensity X-ray pulses on bulk, metallic samples show the development of a transient X-ray transparency. We also describe the saturation of photoabsorption during ablation of vanadium and niobium samples. Photon science with extremely strong X-ray pulses is in its infancy today and will require much more effort to gain more knowledge. The work described in this thesis represents some of the first results in this area.

Les caractéristiques d’un nuage de poussières avant l’activation de la source d’inflammation ont une grande influence sur la sensibilité et la sévérité de son explosion. Pour cette raison, le procédé de dispersion d’une poussière combustible qui se développe à l’intérieur des chambres d’explosion standardisés telles que le tube de Hartmann modifié et la sphère 20 L a été décrit par deux approches complémentaires. Dans un premier temps, une caractérisation expérimentale de l’évolution du nuage de poussière a identifié les niveaux de turbulence de l’écoulement de gaz, ainsi que les principales variations de la distribution de la taille des particules combustibles. Ces résultats ont été complétés par l’identification des niveaux de ségrégation de la poudre dispersée à l’intérieur des chambres d’explosion. Par la suite, une série de simulations CFD basée sur une approche Euler-Lagrange a été développée pour prédire le comportement du nuage. Cette étude a été réalisée grâce à la caractérisation des principaux mécanismes d’interaction tels que le transfert de quantité de mouvement (couplage bidirectionnel) et le phénomène de fragmentation des poudres. Deux types de particules microniques ont été spécifiquement étudiés : une poussière métallique, l’aluminium et un composé organique, l’amidon de blé. Ces résultats ont démontré qu’il est possible de définir ab initio, par simulation numérique, les conditions de tests les plus pertinentes (les plus réalistes ou les plus pénalisantes) en vue de la quantification de ces risques majeurs / The pre-ignition stage of an explosibility test determines the ignitability of a dust cloud as well as the main characteristics of the flame propagation. For this reason, the dispersion process of a combustible dust that develops inside the explosion chambers of the modified Hartmann tube and the 20 L sphere has been described by two complementary approaches. Initially, an experimental characterization of the evolution of the dust cloud identified the evolution of the turbulence levels of the gas flow along with the main variations of the particle size distribution of the combustible dust. These results were complemented by the identification of the segregation levels of the dispersed powder inside the explosion chambers. Thereafter, a set of CFD simulations based on the Euler-Lagrange formulation was developed to predict the behavior of the combustible dust cloud. This study was accomplished through the characterization of the main interaction mechanisms such as the momentum exchange (two-way coupling) and the dust fragmentation phenomenon. In this manner, the research work constituted for this thesis allowed determining the most appropriate conditions to ignite a dust cloud formed by a metallic (Aluminum micro-Al 42) or organic powders (wheat starch) in a case study. Thus, this research work presents a methodology that can be extended for the analyses of combustible dusts and the further development of the standard test methods

Blast injury is a very serious lesion caused by the shock wave resulting from an explosion. Further secondary injuries can arise from burying under debris, pieces of shards from the explosive cover, at burning, poisonous gases created by chemical reactions during detonation. The injuries often happen to be fatal and the percentage of people who survive it depends on the fact how far from the epicentre they were situated. If the individual is very close, there is almost no chance to survive, if, however, the individual is situated further from the epicentre, a few tens of meters, the chance is higher. It is so called mass disaster, which includes more injured people at an explosion. Therefore it is necessary for nurses and the hospital staff to know what the procedures are at this incident and how to take medical and nursing care of higher number of such patients suffering from blast injury. The care itself is extremely demanding, since the injured are often in critical condition. The aim of this diploma thesis, the topic of which is multidisciplinary cooperation and the role of a nurse when taking care of the patients suffering from blast injury, was to find out the information based on the latest Czech and foreign literature and create a compact overview of the knowledge of this issue, for it is necessary to have this knowledge to carry out nursing care of such patients. The second aim of this diploma thesis was to map the role of a nurse in details when taking care of a patient suffering from blast injury. This aim was stated for the reason of the demanding character and complexity of nursing care at urgent reception and anaesthesiology and resuscitation unit because the nurses at these units are placed demands on high qualification and requirements. This diploma thesis was purely elaborated as theoretical thesis based on Czech and foreign sources. The given pieces of information were obtained from a great deal of professional and scientific publications, monographs, professional journals and internet sources for each chapter. The first part of the thesis was dedicated to the description of the given issue, pre-hospital care and classifying algorithms that are used at mass health losses in such way so that the injured people have a higher chance to survive. The crisis management at hospitals, the reception of the injured, the care at the urgent unit and finally the follow-up care at the anaesthesiology and resuscitation unit are worked out in the following part. Thereafter the theoretical part focuses on nursing care at the critical care department where the nursing care of a patient suffering from blast injury is described as well as the duties of a nurse. The needed competences of a nurse working at the urgent unit, anaesthesiology and resuscitation unit are also defined in this chapter. According to the valid Czech legislation, only specially trained nurses for intensive care should take care of the patients with blast injury because the extent of their competence for intensive care is many times higher than general nurses have. The last chapter deals with team and multidisciplinary cooperation among the doctors and hospital staff as well as the cooperation concerning the pre-hospital care of the emergency services at emergency incident, for their active and quality communication are the keys for good and well done work with the least consequences.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-10-01Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:09:12Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 pinto_top_me_sjrp.pdf: 1417990 bytes, checksum: 1ff62a60751622fd662850c2a8565eba (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O aproveitamento de resíduos agrícolas e agro-industriais como fonte de energia pode se tornar uma alternativa viável. O alvo principal para esta empreitada, pela sua disponibilidade e proximidade das indústrias fermentativas é o bagaço de cana, que ainda retém 2/3 da energia presente na cana, é largamente disponível no Brasil e hoje é parcialmente rejeitado ou subaproveitado. Uma forma de aproveitamento que tem se mostrado bastante promissora refere-se ao uso dessa biomassa na produção do bioetanol. No presente trabalho, avaliou-se o perfil de produção enzimática dos fungos Thermoascus aurantiacus CBMAI 756, Thermomyces lanuginosus, Penicillium viridicatum RFC3 e Trichoderma reesei QM9414, através de fermentação em estado sólido em meio com bagaço de cana e farelo de trigo. Aplicou-se esses extratos enzimáticos na hidrólise de bagaço de cana submetido a diferentes pré-tratamentos térmicos: água quente, explosão a vapor, e água quente em combinação com HCl, H2SO4, H3PO4, H2O2 ou NaOH. Determinou-se os principais inibidores (furfural e 5-hidroximetilfurfural) e açúcares redutores (glicose, xilose, arabinose, galactose, xilobiose e celobiose) gerados no processo. O fungo T. aurantiacus foi o melhor produtor de enzimas celulolíticas (536,3 U/g de CMCase) e hemicelulolíticas (3419,2 U/g de xilanase), apresentando juntamente com o extrato enzimático de T. reesei os melhores rendimentos na sacarificação do bagaço. Os extratos enzimáticos foram mais eficientes na hidrólise do bagaço pré-tratado com NaOH e explosão a vapor com rendimentos de 3,87 e 1,21 mg/mL de açúcares redutores, respectivamente. A mistura dos extratos enzimáticos de T. aurantiacus e T. reesei aumentou em 31,4% a eficiência da hidrolise com o bagaço pré-tratado com explosão a vapor. A concentração dos extratos por precipitação por etanol foi eficiente para a maioria... / The utilization of agricultural and agro-industrial residues as energy source can become a viable alternative. The main target for this venture, for its availability and proximity to fermentation industries is the sugarcane bagasse, which still retains two thirds of the energy present in the cane, is widely available in Brazil and today is partly rejected or underused. One form of exploitation that has shown promising refers to the use of biomass in the production of bioethanol. In this study, we evaluated the profile of enzymatic production of fungi Thermoascus aurantiacus CBMAI 756, Thermomyces lanuginosus, Penicillium viridicatum RFC3 and Trichoderma reesei QM9414 through solid state fermentation in a medium with sugar cane bagasse and wheat bran. These enzymatic extracts were applied on the hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse under different thermic pre-treatments: hot water, steam explosion, and hot water in combination with HCl, H2SO4, H3PO4, NaOH or H2O2. The main inhibitors (furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) and reducing sugars (glucose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, xilobiose and cellobiose) generated in the process were determined. The fungus T. aurantiacus was the best producer of cellulolytic (536.3 U/g CMCase) and hemicellulolytic enzymes (3419.2 U/g xylanase), exhibiting along the enzymatic extract from T. reesei the best yields in the saccharification of bagasse. The enzymatic extracts were more efficient in the hydrolysis of bagasse pretreated with NaOH and steam explosion with a yield of 3.87 and 1.21 mg/mL of reducing sugars, respectively. The mixture of enzyme extract of T. aurantiacus and T. reesei increased 31.4% the efficiency of hydrolysis with bagasse pre-treated with steam explosion. The concentration of the extracts by precipitation with ethanol was effective for most enzymatic activities and resulted in an increase of approximately 50% of hydrolysis... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)