Knots are usually regarded as defects when grading lumber. In order to evaluate a member under out-of-plane loading, shear strength is one of the major mechanical properties, specifically, rolling shear (RS) strength is one of the critical mechanical properties of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), which determines the flexural strength of CLT under short-span bending loads. Lower grade lumber with a higher percentage of knots is recommended to be utilized for the cross-layer laminations which are mainly responsible for resisting shear stresses. Firstly, shear tests were performed in order to evaluate the effect of knots on longitudinal shear strength using shear blocks. After that, the effect of knots on the RS strength of 3-ply southern yellow pine CLT were investigated by experimental tests and an analytical model. Center-point bending tests with a span-to-depth ratio of 6 and two-plate shear tests with a loading angle of 14° were conducted on six CLT configurations composed of different types of cross layer laminations: clear flatsawn lumber with/without pith, lumber with sound knots with/without pith, and lumber with decayed knots with/without pith. The shear analogy method was implemented to evaluate the RS strength values from the bending test results, which were also compared against the results from the two-plate shear tests. It was found that: (1) The shear blocks containing sound knots had higher shear strength than matched clear shear blocks, the shear blocks containing unsound knots had lower shear strength than the matched clear shear blocks. (2) CLT specimens with cross-layer laminations with either sound knots or decayed knots had higher RS strength. (3) In general, the shear analogy method underestimated the RS strength of CLT specimens containing knots and pith.

No description available.

<p>This project aims to give an overview of knots, orderability of knot groups, and to construct knots for which the knot groups enjoy some nice properties.</p> <p>To accomplish this, we first present some preliminary results concerning knots and knot groups. We then introduce the Alexander polynomial, and explain the idea of a special polynomial originally introduced by Linnell, Rhemtulla and Rolfsen. By investigating the conditions on a special polynomial, we classify all the special Alexander polynomial of fibred knots of degree less than 10. Finally we construct examples of fibred knots which have a special Alexander polynomial.</p> / Master of Science (MS)

Cette thèse porte sur l'analyse bayésienne de données fonctionnelles dans un contexte hydrologique. L'objectif principal est de modéliser des données d'écoulements d'eau d'une manière parcimonieuse tout en reproduisant adéquatement les caractéristiques statistiques de celles-ci. L'analyse de données fonctionnelles nous amène à considérer les séries chronologiques d'écoulements d'eau comme des fonctions à modéliser avec une méthode non paramétrique. Dans un premier temps, les fonctions sont rendues plus homogènes en les synchronisant. Ensuite, disposant d'un échantillon de courbes homogènes, nous procédons à la modélisation de leurs caractéristiques statistiques en faisant appel aux splines de régression bayésiennes dans un cadre probabiliste assez général. Plus spécifiquement, nous étudions une famille de distributions continues, qui inclut celles de la famille exponentielle, de laquelle les observations peuvent provenir. De plus, afin d'avoir un outil de modélisation non paramétrique flexible, nous traitons les noeuds intérieurs, qui définissent les éléments de la base des splines de régression, comme des quantités aléatoires. Nous utilisons alors le MCMC avec sauts réversibles afin d'explorer la distribution a posteriori des noeuds intérieurs. Afin de simplifier cette procédure dans notre contexte général de modélisation, nous considérons des approximations de la distribution marginale des observations, nommément une approximation basée sur le critère d'information de Schwarz et une autre qui fait appel à l'approximation de Laplace. En plus de modéliser la tendance centrale d'un échantillon de courbes, nous proposons aussi une méthodologie pour modéliser simultanément la tendance centrale et la dispersion de ces courbes, et ce dans notre cadre probabiliste général. Finalement, puisque nous étudions une diversité de distributions statistiques au niveau des observations, nous mettons de l'avant une approche afin de déterminer les distributions les plus adéquates pour un échantillon de courbes donné. / This thesis is about Bayesian functional data analysis in hydrology. The main objective is to model water flow data in a parsimonious fashion while still reproducing the statistical features of the data. Functional data analysis leads us to consider the water flow time series as functions to be modelled with a nonparametric method. First, the functions are registered in order to make them more homogeneous. With a more homogeneous sample of curves, we proceed to model their statistical features by relying on Bayesian regression splines in a fairly broad probabilistic framework. More specifically, we study a family of continuous distributions, which include those of the exponential family, from which the data might have arisen. Furthermore, to have a flexible nonparametric modeling tool, we treat the interior knots, which define the basis elements of the regression splines, as random quantities. We then use MCMC with reversible jumps in order to explore the posterior distribution of the interior knots. In order to simplify the procedure in our general modeling context, we consider some approximations for the marginal distribution of the observations, namely one based on the Schwarz information criterion and another which relies on Laplace's approximation. In addition to modeling the central tendency of a sample of curves, we also propose a methodology to simultaneously model the central tendency and the dispersion of the curves in our general probabilistic framework. Finally, since we study several statistical distributions for the observations, we put forward an approach to determine the most adequate distributions for a given sample of curves.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:30:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ricardo Monteiro Guedes de Almeida.pdf: 1030437 bytes, checksum: e943a7acef73b1cea5048cbc522e57a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-17 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The goal of this present research is to bring to the discussion what contribution the sinthome joyciano represented to psychoanalysis, as regards psychotic stabilizations. In the context of mental health, the unique solutions that the psychotic subjects present us requires clinic theoretical understanding of psychoses that go beyond a clinic of the metaphor, without necessarily abandon it, but including a notion of substitution that is not restricted to the delusional metaphor. To this end, we review the major stabilisation strategies addressed by Lacan, giving emphasis to the sinthome and the paradigmatic case of Joyce. This research will be a theoretical Job that is not intended to create a literary reflection of the work of the Irish writer, James Joyce. Although we approach the writing of Joyce, with their puzzles and their unusual epiphanies, our focus will continue to be the sinthome joyciano as an example of Scripture that makes, sustaining, so node Borromean knot, the Union of the three registers: the real, the symbolic and the imaginary. On our journey, we came to the conclusion that the sinthome joyciano, represents a solution of his paternal failure, a natural necessity of his foraclusão in fact in an earlier period to trigger psychotic himself. Represented in the clinic of psychosis, and still represents an alternate example, that although exercise the same function of the name-of-the-father, does not concern the significant Parent-name, as well as undeniable evidence of that, beyond the metaphor would be delusional a multiplicity of natural solutions that the psychotic subject could present / O objetivo da presente pesquisa é trazer à discussão a contribuição que o sinthoma joyciano representou para a psicanálise, no que diz respeito às estabilizações psicóticas. No contexto da saúde mental, as soluções singulares que os sujeitos psicóticos nos apresentam exigem uma compreensão teórica da clínica das psicoses que vão além de uma clínica da metáfora, sem necessariamente abandoná-la, mas incluindo uma noção de suplência que não esteja restrita à metáfora delirante. Para tal efeito, revisamos as principais estratégias de estabilização abordadas por Lacan, dando ênfase ao sinthoma e ao caso paradigmático de Joyce. Esta pesquisa constituir-se-á em um trabalho teórico que não visa uma reflexão literária da obra do escritor irlandês, James Joyce. Apesar de abordarmos a escrita de Joyce, com seus enigmas e suas inusitadas epifanias, nosso foco continuará sendo o sinthoma joyciano como um exemplo de escritura que faz nó borromeano, sustentando, assim, a união dos três registros: o real, o simbólico e o imaginário. Em nosso percurso, chegamos à conclusão de que o sinthoma joyciano, representa uma solução de sua falha paterna, uma suplência singular de sua forclusão de fato em um período anterior ao próprio desencadeamento psicótico. O que representava na clínica da psicose, e ainda representa um exemplo de suplência, que apesar de exercer a mesma função do Nome-do-Pai, não diz respeito ao significante do Nome-do-Pai, assim como, uma prova incontestável de que para além da metáfora delirante haveria uma multiplicidade de soluções singulares que o sujeito psicótico poderia apresentar

Grâce au théorème d'hyperbolisation, nous savons précisément quand une variété de dimension trois compacte admet une métrique hyperbolique. Par ailleurs, d'après le théorème de rigidité de Mostow, cette structure géométrique est unique. Cependant, trouver des liens pratiques entre la géométrie et la topologie est un problème difficile. La plupart des résultats décrits dans cette thèse visent à concrétiser ces liens. Toute géodésique fermée orientée dans une surface hyperbolique admet un relèvement canonique dans le fibré tangent unitaire de la surface, et on peut donc le voir comme un nœud dans une variété de dimension trois. Les extérieurs des nœuds ainsi construits admettent une structure hyperbolique. Cette thèse a pour objet d'estimer le volume des extérieurs des relèvements canoniques. Pour toute surface hyperbolique on construit une suite de géodésique sur la surface, tel que les extérieurs associées ne sont pas homéomorphes entre elles et dont la suite des volumes respectifs est bornée. Aussi on minore le volume de l'extérieur à l'aide d'un réel explicite qui décrit une relation entre la géodésique et une décomposition en pantalons de la surface. Ceci donne une méthode pour construire une suite de géodésiques dont les volumes des extérieurs associées sont minorées en termes de la longueur de la géodésique correspondant. Dans le cas particulier de la surface modulaire, on obtient des estimations du volume de l'extérieur en termes de la période de la fraction continue associée à la géodésique. / Due to the Hyperbolization Theorem, we know precisely when does a given compact three dimensional manifold admits a hyperbolic metric. Moreover, by the Mostow's Rigidity Theorem this geometric structure is unique. However, finding effective and computable connections between the geometry and topology is a challenging problem. Most of the results on this thesis fit into the theme of making the connections more concrete. To every oriented closed geodesic on a hyperbolic surface has a canonical lift on the unit tangent bundle of the surface, and we can see it as a knot in a three dimensional manifold. The knot complement given in this way has a hyperbolic structure. The objective of this thesis is to estimate the volume of the canonical lift complement. For every hyperbolic surface we give a sequence of geodesics on the surface, such that the knot complements associated are not homeomorphic with each other and the sequence of the corresponding volumes is bounded. We also give a lower bound of the volume of the canonical lift complement by an explicit real number which describes a relation between the geodesic and a pants decomposition of the surface. This give us a method to construct a sequence of geodesics where the volume of the associated knot complements is bounded from below in terms of the length of the corresponding geodesic. For the particular case of the modular surface, we obtain estimations for the volume of the canonical lift complement in terms of the period of the continuous fraction expansion of the corresponding geodesic.

PA1b (Pea Albumin 1 sous-unité b), une knottine toxique de 37 acides aminés, présente un grand intérêt dans la lutte contre les charançons des céréales (Sitophilus spp.), principaux ravageurs des céréales stockées.<br />Afin de mieux connaître la nouvelle famille peptidique de PA1b, sa variabilité tant structurale que d'activité biologique a été étudiée au sein des Légumineuses. Après avoir validé notre approche sur 4 espèces végétales "test", nous avons caractérisé 24 gènes homologues chez 18 espèces de Papilionoideae. De plus, l'activité insecticide d'extraits de graines de 60 espèces des trois sous-familles de Légumineuses a été déterminée sur charançons de souche sensible et résistante à PA1b. Afin de relier variations de structure et d'activité, une approche par mutagenèse dirigée a été envisagée. Un système d'expression bactérienne et de purification de PA1b a été mis au point. Bien que de masse conforme (cystéines oxydées), le peptide recombinant ne présente pas d'activité biologique.

<p>This thesis investigates aspects of field theories and soliton solutions with nontrivial topology. In particular we explore the following effective models: a limited sector of the scalar Electroweak theory called extended Abelian Higgs model, and a classical mechanics model derived from the low energy SU(2) Yang-Mills theory.</p><p>The extended Abelian Higgs model applied on two-component plasma of charged particles is studied numerically. We find evidence that the model admits straight twisted line vortices. The result is described by an energy function that acquires a minimum value for a non-trivial twist. In addition to the twisted line vortices the result also suggests that stable torus shaped solitons are solutions of the theory. </p><p>Furthermore we construct a classical mechanics model exhibiting some of the key properties of the low-energy Yang-Mills theory. The dynamics of the model is studied numerically. We find that its classical equations of motion support stable periodic orbits. In a three dimensional projection these trajectories are self-linked in a topologically non-trivial manner suggesting the existence of knotted configurations in low energy SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. </p><p>We calculate the one-loop effective action for the Abelian Higgs model with extended Higgs sector. The resulting first order quantum corrected model shows close resemblance to a modified model where texture stabilizing term has been added to the system. In the limit where the gauge field can be entirely expressed by the scalar fields, the both models become identical suggesting that the theories are closely connected. This implies that quantum corrections have stabilising effect on the soliton solutions. </p><p>These studies have contributed to a better understanding of the dynamics of non-linear low energy systems, and brought us a step closer to exploring full scale physically realistic models.</p>

This thesis investigates aspects of field theories and soliton solutions with nontrivial topology. In particular we explore the following effective models: a limited sector of the scalar Electroweak theory called extended Abelian Higgs model, and a classical mechanics model derived from the low energy SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. The extended Abelian Higgs model applied on two-component plasma of charged particles is studied numerically. We find evidence that the model admits straight twisted line vortices. The result is described by an energy function that acquires a minimum value for a non-trivial twist. In addition to the twisted line vortices the result also suggests that stable torus shaped solitons are solutions of the theory. Furthermore we construct a classical mechanics model exhibiting some of the key properties of the low-energy Yang-Mills theory. The dynamics of the model is studied numerically. We find that its classical equations of motion support stable periodic orbits. In a three dimensional projection these trajectories are self-linked in a topologically non-trivial manner suggesting the existence of knotted configurations in low energy SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. We calculate the one-loop effective action for the Abelian Higgs model with extended Higgs sector. The resulting first order quantum corrected model shows close resemblance to a modified model where texture stabilizing term has been added to the system. In the limit where the gauge field can be entirely expressed by the scalar fields, the both models become identical suggesting that the theories are closely connected. This implies that quantum corrections have stabilising effect on the soliton solutions. These studies have contributed to a better understanding of the dynamics of non-linear low energy systems, and brought us a step closer to exploring full scale physically realistic models.

Cyclotides are small cyclic plant proteins, and this thesis addresses their cytotoxic structure-activity properties and their mode of action on human cancer cell lines. Cyclotides were isolated from Viola odorata and Viola tricolor; three novel cyclotide sequences and two known sequences, but of new origin, were identified using mass spectrometry, amino acid analysis, and Edman degradation. The cyclotide structure includes three disulphide bonds in a knotted arrangement, which forces hydrophobic amino acid residues to be exposed on the surface of the molecule; 3-D homology models of cyclotides have revealed an amphipathic surface and charged residues located at similar positions in the molecules. The charged amino acid residues were shown to play a key role in the cytotoxicity of the cyclotide cycloviolacinO2 on a human lymphoma cell line. Methylation of Glu caused a dramatic change in cytotoxicity, lowering the potency 48 times, whereas concealing the charge of Arg with 1,2-cyclohexanedione caused virtually no change in potency. Acetylation of the two Lys caused a 3-fold reduction in potency, and masking all positive charges caused a 7-fold reduction. Additionally, disturbing the amphipathic structure by reducing and alkylating the disulphide bonds abolished the cytotoxicity. The time dependency of cytotoxicity and cell gross morphology after cyclotide exposure were investigated on the lymphoma cell line. Cells exposed to 4 µM of cycloviolacinO2 showed necrotic characteristics, such as membrane disintegration, within 5 min; a membrane disruptive effect of cycloviolacinO2 was also observed in a functional assay based on liposomes at a peptide-to-lipid molar ratio of 6.5. The anti-tumour properties of cycloviolacinO2 were evaluated on three human cancer cell lines using the hollow fibre assay in vitro and in vivo. The cyclotide exhibited potent anti-tumour activity in the micro-molar concentration range on all cell lines in vitro, but no effect on tumour growth could be established in vivo.