Recycled material produced during three months from packing polyethylene foils coming from three suppliers was analysed together with one recycled material under complaint from the point of melt flow index (MFI), composition and mechanical properties. The addition of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) into the recycled material was studied as well. It was measured melt flow index (MFI), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) together with Thermogravimetry methods were used to determine composition. Selected materials were pressed to obtain films with the thickness of 1 mm to determine tensile properties. Recycled materials contained 40–65% LLDPE, small amount of polypropylene as well as chalk. The content of LDPE and LLDPE varied within one supplier and thus mechanical properties did. The results showed the difference in quality of PE films separation among all suppliers. The problems with workability of material under complaint were caused by the material composition – the amount of LLDPE predominated. The addition of LLDPE into the recycled material in the range of 5–20 % increased MFI by 13-78%. Mechanical properties of blends rich in LLDPE were similar to those of clear LLDPE. The presence of LDPE influenced more markedly only the strength to break. The blends of LDPE and LLDPE were evaluated as immiscible but with high affinity of the components with increasing contend of LLDPE. No material was chemically degraded. The methods commonly performed in manufacture, especially MFI, are not able to differentiate LDPE form LLDPE – recommended is DSC.

Lightweight cellular concrete (LCC) is mainly a mixture of water, cement, and foam bubbles. LCC generally has a cast density between 20-60 pcf and an air content between 49-84%. LCC is often used as a fill material because it has a low unit weight which reduces settlement. LCC is increasingly being considered as a backfill behind Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls and embankments. Although engineers are using LCC in MSE walls or free face walls (MSE wall without the concrete panels or reinforcements), there is presently a lack of information regarding the performance and behavior of LCC to guide them. This research attempts to answer questions on the design of MSE walls backfilled with LCC and free face LCC walls by providing a well-documented case history and evaluating if LCC can be modeled as a c-ϕ material. A steel frame test box (10 ft wide x 12 ft long x 10 ft high) with a MSE wall on one side was constructed for the research. The box was filled with four lifts of LCC with steel ribbed-strip reinforcements extending into the LCC behind the MSE wall panels at the center of each lift. After the LCC was cured, two static load tests were performed by applying a surcharge load to the surface of the LCC. In one test, surcharge pressure was applied adjacent to the MSE wall to produce failure of the wall system. In a second test, the surcharge pressure was placed adjacent to a free face of the LCC to produce failure. String potentiometers (string pots), load cells, pressure plates, and strain gages were used to measure the behavior of the MSE wall and free face wall during testing. These two tests provided a comparison between LCC behavior with a MSE wall relative to a LCC free face. Failure of the free face wall with unreinforced LCC backfill in this test can be predicted using Rankine’s lateral force equation using a c-ϕ model. Failure angle at the base of the free face wall was between 51-63° which corresponds with an average friction angle (ϕ) of 24° and cohesion (c) of 1575 psf with an upper bound ϕ = 34° and a c = 1285 psf. The presence of reinforcements in the LCC backfill behind the MSE wall increased the capacity of the wall to hold a surcharge load. The presence of reinforcements in the LCC behind MSE walls also led to a much more ductile surcharge pressure vs. lateral deflection curve for the MSE wall compared to the free face wall.

Thesis (MSc (Chemistry and Polymer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / In this study linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), a copolymer consisting of ethylene and 1-butene, was fractionated by the use of temperature rising elution fractionation (TREF). These fractions were then analyzed by crystallisation analysis fractionation, 13C NMR, high temperature size exclusion chromatography and DSC. The molecular distribution of the polymer was investigated. It was found that the polymer had a very broad distribution in its chemical composition. From these results it was also clear that the catalysts used for the polymerisation consist out of different active sites, producing chains with different molecular architecture. Subsequently the polymer was fractionated again by TREF and certain fractions were removed and the remaining material recombined. The removed fractions and recombined material were analyzed by 13C NMR, high temperature size exclusion chromatography, DSC and DMA. The results were compared with the bulk material and from this we could conclude the influence of the fractions removed on the material properties. This gave us more information on the influence of the chemical structure of the polymer on its mechanical properties. It was clear that by removing certain fractions with a certain chemical composition, the properties of the polymer are significantly influenced.

published_or_final_version / Pathology / Master / Master of Philosophy

The field of proteomics studies the structure and function of proteins in a large scale and high throughput manner. My work in the field of proteomics focuses on identifying interactions between proteins and discovering novel interactions. The identification of these interactions provides new information on metabolic and disease pathways and the working proteome of a cell. Cells are lysed and purified using antibody based affinity purification followed by digestion and identification using an HPLC coupled to a mass spectrometer. In my studies, I looked at the interaction networks of several AD related genes (Apolipoprotein E, Clusterin variant 1 and 2, Low-density lipoprotein receptor, Phosphatidylinositol binding clathrin assembly protein, Alpha-synuclein and Platelet-activating factor receptor) and an endosomal recycling pathway involved in cholesterol metabolism (Eps15 homology domain 1,2 and 4, Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 and Low-density lipoprotein receptor). Several novel and existing interactors were identified and these interactions were validated using co-immunopurification, which could be the basis for future research.

Current coherent optical transmission systems focus on single carrier solutions for 400Gb/s serial transmission to support traffic growth in fiber-optics communications, together with a few subcarriers multiplexed solutions for the 1 Tb/s serial data rates and beyond. With the advancement of analog-to-digital converter technologies, high order modulation formats up to 64-QAM with symbol rate up to 72Gbaud have been demonstrated experimentally with Raman amplification. To enable such high serial data rates, it is highly desirable to implement in hardware low complexity digital signal processing schemes and advanced forward error correction coding with powerful error correction capability. In this dissertation, to enable high-speed optical communications, we first proposed an efficient FPGA architecture of high-performance binary and non-binary LDPC engines that can support throughputs of multiple Gb/s, which have low power consumption, providing high net coding gains at a target bit-error rate of 10-15. Further, we implement a generalized LDPC coding based rate adaptive binary LDPC coding scheme and puncturing based rate adaptive non-binary LDPC coding scheme, where large number of parameters can be reconfigured in order to cope with the time-varying optical channel conditions and service requirements. Based on comprehensive analysis on complexity, latency, and power consumption we demonstrate that the proposed efficient implementation represents a feasible solution for the next generation optical communication networks. Additionally, we investigate the FPGA implementation of rate adaptive regular LDPC coding combined with up to six high-order modulation formats and demonstrate high net coding gain performance and demonstrated a bit loading algorithm for irregular LDPC coding. Lastly, we present the real-time implementation of a direct detection OFDM transceiver with multi Giga symbols/s symbol rates in a back-to-back configuration.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) the most common acute leukemia in adults is characterized by various cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities. However, the genetic etiology of the disease is not yet fully understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small single- stranded noncoding RNAs that are negative regulators of gene expression. miRNAs influence processes of proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Deregulation of miRNAs expression can contribute to human disease. Circulating miRNAs are emerging biomarkers in many diseases and cancers such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer. However, defining a plasma miRNA signature in AML that could serve as a biomarker for diagnosis has been conducted only once. We studied miRNA expression in plasma of 8 AML patients in first detection of the disease and repeatedly after achieving remission using TaqMan miRNA microarray for 750 human miRNA. The plasma expression level of 25 miRNA was down-regulated whilst that of 20 miRNA was up-regulated in the AML group at diagnosis when compared to healthy controls. The plasma expression level of 21 miRNA was down-regulated whilst that of 13 miRNA was up-regulated in the AML group in remission compared to healthy controls. Keywords acute myeloid leukemia (AML), biomarker, microRNA (miRNA), plasma, TaqMan Low...

Temperamento em bovinos é definido como a reação dos animais em resposta ao contato com o ser humano, geralmente atribuído ao medo ocasionado no manejo. Animais agitados são mais difíceis de manejar nas fazendas. Estudos na literatura mostram que características de temperamento influenciam o desempenho produtivo dos rebanhos, devido à sua correlação com outras características dentre elas, ganho de peso diário, taxa de prenhez, qualidade e rendimento de carcaça. Todavia, estudos visando o melhor entendimento dos mecanismos biológicos, e da arquitetura genética destas características são escassos. Com a evolução das tecnologias de genotipagem em alta densidade com marcadores de polimorfismo único (SNP), observou-se um aumento de pesquisas nas áreas de seleção genômica (GS) e associação genômica (GWAS). Entretanto, devido ao alto custo que a genotipagem em larga escala apresenta, torna-se inviável a genotipagem para todos os animais candidatos à seleção. Porém, existe a possibilidade de utilizar painéis de baixa densidade de SNP e inferir estes genótipos desconhecidos para painéis de alta densidade. Neste contexto foram desenvolvidos dois estudos. No primeiro, o objetivo foi identificar regiões cromossômicas associadas com características de temperamento em animais da raça Nelore. As características avaliadas foram: velocidade de saída (VS) e mediana do escore composto (EC_mediana), em que 599 e 575 animais foram utilizados, respectivamente. Todos os animais foram genotipados com Illumina BovineHD BeadChip (800K), e para o GWAS dois modelos estatísticos foram aplicados. O primeiro modelo utilizado foi genômico de única etapa (ssGBLUP), em que os efeitos dos SNP são derivados da predição dos valores genéticos genômicos dos animais. O segundo modelo foi linear misto, similar ao modelo anterior, porém várias análises, SNP por SNP (regressão simples) foram realizadas. Nos dois modelos foram incluídos os efeitos de grupo de contemporâneo como fixo, idade do animal como covariável e efeito poligênico do animal e ambiente permanente como aleatórios. Os componentes de variância foram estimados pelo método de máxima verossimilhança restrita. Os coeficientes de herdabilidade apresentaram baixa magnitude com estimativas de 0,02 e 0,05 para VS e EC_mediana, respectivamente. Diferentes regiões cromossômicas foram associados com as características estudadas nesta população, de acordo com os modelos utilizados, contribuindo para o entendimento da arquitetura genética dessas características. No segundo, o objetivo foi avaliar a acurácia de imputação também nesta população, usando dois painéis de baixa densidade (3K e 6K) e um de média densidade (50K) imputados para o painel de alta densidade (800K). Os animais genotipados com 800K foram divididos em população de validação e população de referência. Na população de validação, os animais tiveram seus genótipos mascarados para os chips Illumina 3K, 6K e 50K. A imputação de 3K, 6K e 50K para 800K foi realizada utilizando os softwares de imputação fastPHASE e Beagle. O software fastPHASE apresentou maiores valores de acurácia de imputação em comparação ao Beagle. O painéis 6K e 50K apresentaram maiores valores de acurácia. / Temperament in cattle is generally defined as the reaction of an animal in response to contact with human, usually attributed to the fear. Animals agitated are harder to manage in farms. Studies in the literature reported that temperamental traits have been found to influence the productive performance of herds, due to its correlation with other traits such as carcass quality, daily gains, pregnancy rate and feed efficiency. However, almost nothing is known regarding the genetic landscape controlling temperamental animal variation in cattle. With the advances in genotyping technologies for high density genotyping platforms to markers of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), there was an increase in research in the areas of genomic selection (GS) and genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, genotyping many animals with a high-density marker panel can be expensive and economically unfeasible. An alternative in this context is to use a lower density marker panel on a larger number of animals, and impute the missing genotypes. In this context two studies were developed. In the first study, the objective was to identify chromosomal regions associated with temperament traits in Nellore cattle. The temperamental traits evaluated in this study were: exit velocity (VS) and the median score temperament (EC_mediana) assessed in 599 and 575 animals, respectively. All animals were genotyped with Illumina BeadChip BovineHD (800K), and two GWAS statistical models were applied. The first model used was genomic single step (ssGBLUP) in which the effects of SNP are derived from the genomic prediction values of the animals. The second was linear mixed model, similar to the previous model, but a series of models, one for each SNP (single regression), were performed. In both models were included the effects of contemporary group as fixed, the animal\'s age as a covariate effect and polygenic animal and permanent environment as random effect. Variance components were estimated by restricted maximum likelihood. The heritability coefficients showed low magnitude estimative of 0.02 and 0.05 for VS and EC_mediana, respectively. Different chromosomal regions were associated with the traits studied in this population, according with the models used, and moreover to contribute in the understanding of the genetic architecture of these traits. In the second study, the objective was to evaluate the accuracy of imputation in a same population, using two panels of low-density (3K and 6K) and one medium-density (50K) panel markers imputed up to higher density of 800K. The animals genotyped with 800K markers panel were split into a reference population and validation population. The validation population the animals had markers masked to Illumina chip 3K, 6K e 50K. Imputation from 3K, 6K and 50K up to 770K markers was performed using fastPHASE and Beagle. The software fastPHASE had higher imputation accuracy compared to Beagle. The 6K and 50K panels showed higher accuracy.

As fibras naturais estao ganhando espaco no mercado como materia-prima por apresentarem caracteristicas desejaveis para aplicacoes industriais, por ser um material renovavel, biodegradavel e de baixo custo. Neste sentido, a exploracao da celulose vem crescendo, inclusive no estudo de compositos polimericos reforcados com fibras naturais. Este trabalho visa primeiramente a obtencao de hibridos celulose/oxido de niobio hidratado a partir do tratamento e modificacao do bagaco de cana-de-acucar, e posteriormente a geracao de compositos de matriz de polietileno de baixa densidade (PEBD) e carga de celulose modificada. O Nb2O5.nH2O foi gerado pelo metodo da precipitacao convencional, partindo-se de niobio metalico. Os hibridos foram produzidos nas proporcoes de 10, 20, 30 e 40% de oxido e caracterizados utilizando-se as seguintes tecnicas: difracao de raios X (DRX), espectroscopia de absorcao no infravermelho com transformada de Fourier (FTIR), termogravimetria (TG), calorimetria exploratoria diferencial (DSC) e microscopia eletronica de varredura (MEV). Os resultados indicam que houve boa interacao entre a fibra de celulose e o oxido de niobio hidratado em todas as proporcoes estudadas. Pelas curvas DSC em atmosfera oxidativa pode-se observar que o Nb2O5.nH2O agiu como um agente retardante a chamas. A proporcao do hibrido definida para a geracao dos compositos foi 90Cel/10Nb2O5.nH2O. Inicialmente foram fabricados os compositos reforcados apenas com celulose branqueada, (x)PEBD/(100-x)Cel, com x = 5, 10, 15 e 20, e realizado o estudo de suas propriedades fisico-quimicas: FTIR, TG, DSC, MEV; e dos testes mecanicos. A partir dos dados obtidos definiu-se a proporcao 5% de reforco para a geracao dos compositos reforcados com o hibrido, 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O, e tambem com a adicao do agente compatibilizante: polietileno modificado com anidrido maleico (PE-g-AM), 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O+5PE-g-AM. A insercao das fibras de celulose a matriz polimerica gera um material mais resistente e rigido e com menor deformacao, assim como a presenca do Nb2O5.nH2O. O PE-g-AM aumenta o valor do modulo elastico. A utilizacao de uma menor granulometria de carga promove uma maior dispersao e uniformidade da celulose da matriz. A dispersao das fibras na matriz dificulta o processo migracao das cadeias moleculares do PEBD, diminuindo o grau de cristalinidade. Os valores de ?Hf mostram que a adicao do inorganico enfraquece a interacao interfacial da matriz com o reforco, diminuindo a ?Hf e a XC. A presenca do Nb2O5.nH2O nos compositos gera um aumento da Tf. / Natural fibers are in prominent position in the researches as raw material for presenting characteristics desirable for industrial applications; it is a renewable material, biodegradable and low cost. Thus, the exploration of cellulose has been growing, including the study of polymer composites reinforced with natural fibers. This study primarily aims to obtain hybrids cellulose/hydrous niobium oxide from the treatment and modification of sugarcane bagasse, and subsequently the generation of composites with matrix of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and modified cellulose as reinforcement. The Nb2O5.nH2O was generated by the conventional precipitation method, starting from niobium metal. The hybrids were produced in proportions of 10, 20, 30 and 40% of oxide and characterized using the following techniques: x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated good interaction between the cellulose fiber and niobium oxide hydrate in all ratios studied. For the DSC curves in oxidative atmosphere can be observed that the Nb2O5.nH2O acted as an agent flame retardant. The proportion of the hybrid set for the generation of composites was 90Cel/10Nb2O5.nH2O. Initially were manufactured composites reinforced only with bleached cellulose, (x)LDPE/(100-x)Cel, with x = 5, 10, 15 and 20, and was conducted the study the physicochemical properties: FTIR, TGA, DSC, SEM; and mechanical properties by the tensile tests. According to this results was defined the percentage of 5% for the generation of composites reinforced with hybrid 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O, and also with the addition of compatibilizing, polyethylene modified with maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), 95PEBD:5Cel/Nb2O5.nH2O+5PE-g-MA. The inclusion of cellulose fibers to the polymer matrix creates a material more resistant and rigid and with a smaller deformation, as well as the presence of Nb2O5.nH2O. The PE-g-MA increases the value of elastic modulus. The use of a smaller particle size of load promotes greater uniformity and dispersion of the cellulose in the matrix. The dispersion of fibers in the matrix hinders the migration process of the molecular chains of LDPE, reducing the degree of crystallinity. ZHf values show that the addition of inorganic weakens the interaction at the matrix with the reinforcement, decreasing ZHf and XC. The presence of the Nb2O5.nH2O in composites generates an increase in Tf.

Les codes correcteurs d’erreurs Non-Binaires Low Density Parity Check (NB-LDPC) sont connus pour avoir de meilleure performance que les codes LDPC binaires. Toutefois, la complexité de décodage des codes non-binaires est bien supérieure à celle des codes binaires. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer de nouveaux algorithmes et de nouvelles architectures matérielles de code NB-LDPC pour le décodage des NBLDPC. La première contribution de cette thèse consiste à réduire la complexité du nœud de parité en triant en amont ses messages d’entrées. Ce tri initial permet de rendre certains états très improbables et le matériel requis pour les traiter peut tout simplement être supprimé. Cette suppression se traduit directement par une réduction de la complexité du décodeur NB-LDPC, et ce, sans affecter significativement les performances de décodage. Un modèle d’architecture, appelée "architecture hybride" qui combine deux algorithmes de l’état de l’art ("l’Extended Min Sum" et le "Syndrome Based") a été proposé afin d’exploiter au maximum le pré-tri. La thèse propose aussi de nouvelles méthodes pour traiter les nœuds de variable dans le contexte d’une architecture pré-tri. Différents exemples d’implémentations sont donnés pour des codes NB-LDPC sur GF(64) et GF(256). En particulier, une architecture très efficace de décodeur pour un code de rendement 5/6 sur GF(64) est présentée. Cette architecture se caractérise par une architecture de check node nœud de parité entièrement parallèle. Enfin, une problématique récurrente dans les architectures NB-LDPC, qui est la recherche des P minimums parmi une liste de taille Ns, est abordée. La thèse propose une architecture originale appelée first-then-second minimum pour une implantation efficace de cette tâche. / The Non-Binary Low Density Parity Check (NB-LDPC) codes constitutes an interesting category of error correction codes, and are well known to outperform their binary counterparts. However, their non-binary nature makes their decoding process of higher complexity. This PhD thesis aims at proposing new decoding algorithms for NB-LDPC codes that will be shaping the resultant hardware architectures expected to be of low complexity and high throughput rate. The first contribution of this thesis is to reduce the complexity of the Check Node (CN) by minimizing the number of messages being processed. This is done thanks to a pre-sorting process that sorts the messages intending to enter the CN based on their reliability values, where the less likely messages will be omitted and consequently their dedicated hardware part will be simply removed. This reliability-based sorting enabling the processing of only the highly reliable messages induces a high reduction of the hardware complexity of the NB-LDPC decoder. Clearly, this hardware reduction must come at no significant performance degradation. A new Hybrid architectural CN model (H-CN) combining two state-of-the-art algorithms - Forward-Backward CN (FB-CN) and Syndrome Based CN (SB-CN) - has been proposed. This hybrid model permits to effectively exploit the advantages of pre-sorting. This thesis proposes also new methods to perform the Variable Node (VN) processing in the context of pre-sorting-based architecture. Different examples of implementation of NB-LDPC codes defined over GF(64) and GF(256) are presented. For decoder to run faster, it must become parallel. From this perspective, we have proposed a new efficient parallel decoder architecture for a 5/6 rate NB-LDPC code defined over GF(64). This architecture is characterized by its fully parallel CN architecture receiving all the input messages in only one clock cycle. The proposed new methodology of parallel implementation of NB-LDPC decoders constitutes a new vein in the hardware conception of ultra-high throughput rate decoders. Finally, since the NB-LDPC decoders requires the implementation of a sorting function to extract P minimum values among a list of size Ns, a chapter is dedicated to this problematic where an original architecture called First-Then-Second-Extrema-Selection (FTSES) has been proposed.