Afin de diminuer les consommations énergétiques, plusieurs pays Européens, y compris la France, ont mis au point de nouvelles normes permettant d'optimiser les performances énergétiques de l'enveloppe du bâtiment. Ceci peut entraîner l'augmentation de l'humidité relative, ce qui peut nuire à la santé des occupants et dégrader la structure du bâtiment. Utiliser des éco-matériaux tel que le béton de chanvre est une solution prometteuse permettant d'assurer le confort à l'intérieur du bâtiment, en régulant l'humidité relative. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est d'élaborer, optimiser et caractériser un agromatériau à base de la chènevottes défibrée avec un liant d'amidon de blé. La formulation du chanvre-amidon est étudiée en variant le rapport massique amidon/chanvre et son impact sur les propriétés mécaniques. Le coefficient d'absorption acoustique est mesuré pour la composition optimale. Pour améliorer les propriétés d'adhésion à l'interface chanvre/amidon, un traitement de surface à base d'hydroxyde de sodium NaOH suivi par un agent de couplage (3-glycidyloxypropyl) triméthoxysilane ont été effectués. L‘influence du traitement de surface sur les fibres de chanvre a été analysée au microscope électronique à balayage (MEB), par la calorimétrie différentielle à balayage (DSC), l'analyse thermographique (ATG) et par la spectroscopie infrarouge à transformée de Fourier (FTIR). Les propriétés hygrothermiques du matériau chanvre-amidon avec et sans traitement de fibres sont également étudiées. Ces propriétés comprennent la courbe d'isotherme de sorption, la perméabilité à la vapeur d'eau, la conductivité thermique et la capacité tampon hydrique du matériau. / In order to control energy consumption, several European countries including France, adopted regulations to optimize the energy performance of the building envelope. This fact could increase the level of indoor relative humidity which can affect the health of the occupants and causes material damage. Using eco-friendly materials such as hemp concrete which can buffer indoor moisture levels might contribute to maintain high indoor comfort.The main purpose of this thesis is to optimise and characterize a construction material made of hemp hurds and wheat starch binder.The formulation of the hemp-starch is studied by varying starch/hemp ratio and its impact on mechanical properties. Sound absorption coefficient is measured for optimal composition. To improve the adhesion between hemp fibers and starch matrix, alkali treatment with sodium hydroxide was performed to solubilize hemicelluloses and lignin seal surrounding the cellulose bundle in the first step and then a silane coupling agent (3-glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxylsilane was used to provide a stable bond between hemp fibres and starch matrix. The influence of the treatments were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy (ATR). After the treatments, mechanical properties of hemp-starch material were studied.Hygrothermal properties of hemp-starch material with and without fibre treatment were also measured. These properties include sorption isotherm curve, water vapour permeability, thermal conductivity and moisture buffering value.

Due to the short period that some photovoltaic technologies have taken part on the solar energy market, it is crucial to evaluate the long term stability of solar cells belonging to those technologies in order to ensure a minimum lifetime of their performance. Accelerated degradation tests are thus carried out to achieve such goals. The present study analyzes the encapsulation effects on co-evaporated manufactured Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) solar cells under damp heat conditions, consisting in 85 °C and 85 % relative humidity, during an approximated period of 1000 hours. The experimental procedure has been carried out at Solliance Solar Research facilities. Since the encapsulation packages play a critical role as a protection to achieve long term stability of the solar cells and modules, several packaging structures and materials has been taken into study. Thus, eighteen types of mini modules were manufactured including different combinations of encapsulants, front sheet foils, thin film protective barriers and CIGS cells from different manufacturers. The design of these mini modules and the manufacturing process to obtain them is also presented in this work. Various characterization techniques were carried out in order to acquire the required information about the solar cells and encapsulants performance along the damp heat degradation process. The results exposed that encapsulation packages including thin film barriers between the encapsulant and the front sheet foil allowed a longer solar cell lifetime due to their remarkable protection against moisture ingress. Moreover, the degradation of the molybdenum layer included in the CIGS cells was found as principal cause of efficiency decrement and end of performance of solar cells protected by regular encapsulant and front sheet foils. Some other findings in relation with the evaluated components are shown along the present study.

Les maisons individuelles reposant sur une formation argileuse considérée à moyen risque vis-à-vis des phénomènes de réhydratation et dessiccation des sols argileux, ont été particulièrement touchées par les tassements différentiels provoqués par le phénomène depuis les sécheresses de 2003 et 2005 en Gironde (33). Une première partie de la thèse a été de mener une étude sur le comportement gonflant et rétractant de la formation argileuse de Brach d’âge Plio-quaternaire, responsable de centaines de sinistres sur habitations à l’échelle d’un quartier puis à celle de la parcelle, à l’aide des paramètres géotechniques et mécaniques. Elle a mis en évidence l’hétérogénéité des faciès argileux et l’influence des passées sableuses à l’échelle de la formation argileuse. L’autre intérêt de ce travail est la compréhension des mécanismes et des cinétiques d’hydratation et de dessiccation des sols argileux jusqu’à 3 m de profondeur, sur un cycle annuel. L’étude est basée sur une méthode associant les données géophysiques aux valeurs des paramètres géotechniques obtenus in situ et en laboratoire. Ce couplage repose sur une instrumentation géotechnique et géophysique continue sur un site expérimental de la commune de Pessac (Gironde). L’intérêt de cette instrumentation est d’établir des corrélations entre les sollicitations mécaniques enregistrées par le sol (déplacements verticaux) en fonction de l’évolution de la teneur en eau volumique des sols jusqu’à 3 m de profondeur, reliée aux variations de résistivités électriques. Les travaux présentent les premiers résultats comparés entre les données géotechniques et les données géophysiques issues d’un dispositif de tomographie de résistivité électrique installé à demeure, aboutissant à l’obtention de gammes de résistivité électriques variables corrélées aux faciès rencontrés et à la teneur en eau des sols. / Homes built on sensitive clayey soils, considered as medium risk, are showing cracks evidencing differential movements occurring in their foundations after drought periods of 2003 and 2005. To address this problem in a first part of the thesis, the swell-shrinkage behaviour has been investigated specifically to the Plio-quaternary clayey formation of Brach, both at the scale of a district and a small land. The results reveal the variability of the clay behaviour when sandy lenses occurred inside the formation. The present work aims to assess geotechnical and compressibility parameters to analyse the variability of the swelling-shrinkage parameters inside a same clayey formation. The aim of a second part of this study is to identify the seasonal soil moisture variations occurring between wet period and dry summer down to 3 meter depth, using a new method integrating geophysical and geotechnical data obtained in situ and in laboratory. This research is based on the setting of an experimental site on Pessac town (Gironde) in order to monitor clayey behavior, to establish correlations between geotechnical properties, water content variations and electrical resistivity on soils over time and every month. The purpose is to survey and evaluate kinetics of soil water content evolution, temperature and vertical displacements down to 3 m depth. This work presents the first results which compare geotechnical, volumetric and electrical resistivity data by combining the field and laboratory measurements.

Ma thèse de doctorat doit contribuer à la diminution du gaspillage des ressources naturelles (en particuliers les sables naturels) en étendant leur acceptabilité dans les enrobés bitumineux. La compréhension de l’effet des particules nocives, notamment la fraction argileuse contenue dans les sables, sur le comportement des mélanges bitumineux est visé. Pour évaluer le niveau de nocivité des particules fines, le test d'adsorption du bleu de méthylène noté MB (EN13043, NF EN 933-9) est appliqué, mais un tel test a été modifié à quatre reprises au cours des 22 dernières années tandis que la valeur de bleu limite, utilisée pour déterminer la conformité ou non du sable, n’a pas été modifiée. Le projet de thèse vise à modifier cette valeur limite pour étendre la gamme de sable utilisable. Cet objectif sera atteint grâce à l’identification de la composition minéralogique des sables, une recherche sur la meilleure manière de quantifier les phases qui composent les sables et une meilleure compréhension du rôle de la fraction fine sur la durabilité et les pathologies des mélanges bitumineux. Le travail de thèse est organisé en différentes tâches : 1. Tester le protocole de mesure de la valeur de bleu. Nous voulons comprendre l'effet de différents facteurs (tels que l'échantillonnage, la cinétique des additions de bleu, la température de séchage du sable avant l’essai ...) sur la mesure de la valeur de bleu. Le développement d'un appareil automatique ou d'une nouvelle méthode (qui sera validée par comparaison avec les résultats obtenus à partir de la méthode standardisée) est prévu.2. Établir une corrélation entre la valeur de bleu (ou d'autres paramètres à trouver) et la quantité de phases minérales présentes dans les sables. Un jeu de données a d’ores et déjà été établi au cours de mon stage de master. Pour atteindre cet objectif, les différentes méthodes de quantification (utilisant en particuliers la diffraction de rayons X) doivent être testées et comparées.3. Corréler la valeur de bleu couplée à la nature minéralogique des particules fines avec le comportement mécanique des mélanges sable/bitume. Nous allons étudier la dégradation en présence d’eau des propriétés du matériau bitumineux (par exemple l'adhésion du liant bitumineux sur granulat) et le rôle de la couche de particules fines qui entourent les grains de sable sur les propriétés mécaniques de ce matériau. Nous espérons comprendre en particulier l'effet de la présence d’argile gonflante dans les matériaux constitutifs de la chaussée bitumineuse.4. Améliorer le comportement des granulats non conformes par l’application d’un traitement. Après l'identification de l'origine des pathologies (nous faisons l'hypothèse que les argiles gonflantes jouent un rôle majeur), nous proposons d'appliquer un traitement en ajoutant de la chaux (ou de traiter en ajoutant des déchets qui contiendraient des substances actives comme la chaux), et de tester également l’utilisation de polymères ou du greffage avec des composés organiques des argiles comme traitement / Siliceous fines (clays) in fine aggregates used for AC pavement stimulate the moisture entering the bitumen-aggregates interface in AC mixture and create channels for water penetration. MB adsorption for qualifying fine aggregates is in accordance with the layer charge and the accessibility of consisted mineralogy in fine aggregates. However, the correlation between MB qualification for fine aggregates and fine aggregates triggering moisture susceptibility of AC mixture has not ever been addressed; moreover, the questions from MB adsorption still remain to be solved. In order to evaluate the stripping and to clarify MB adsorption on fine aggregates from a mineralogical perspective, the most common clays in natural aggregates, kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite, were extracted from their clay rocks, and used to prepare thin clay film, artificial fine aggregates and asphalt concrete mixtures consist of artificial fine aggregates. Moreover, the 5 blinded fine aggregates received from quarries without any given information were applied as the blinded experiments to confirm the practicability with mineralogical diversity. The mineralogical analysis was identifying and quantifying the mineral phases in extracted clay and fine aggregates by using X-Ray diffraction, and the quantitative results were judged by complementary test. MB adsorption was studied using drop method, UV-Photometer method and cation exchange capacity from clays and aggregates. Water-bitumen-clay interaction was studied using the sessile drop and the Oliensis spot tests on those thin clay films. The water intrusion routes in AC mixture was investigated immersing AC mixture in solution with chemical probe, whereas Duriez tests allowed measuring the moisture susceptibility of AC mixtures containing varied clay mineralogy in fine aggregates. The results show that clay mineralogy is in relation to water-bitumen-clay interaction, and it is agreed by moisture susceptibility of AC mixture indicated by Duriez test. With the dispersive nature bitumen used in this study, cohesive failure is in the light of kaolinite-AC mixture in the presence of water, whereas swelling property is responsible for the stripping in illite- and montmorillonite- AC mixture. In order to exclude the physical interferences on MB adsorption, the vale of 100% of MB adsorption on fine aggregates referred to CEC value is necessary to apply, and MB value measured from drop method efficiently excludes the significant impacts from layer charge, pH value and exchangeable cations. Although MB adsorption is in relation to clay mineralogy, this test does not sufficiently indicate the stripping of AC mixture occurred by clay in fine aggregates. There are still rooms to use the non-qualified fine aggregates for the use of AC pavement. As Rietveld method from X-Ray diffraction derives the most reasonable quantitative results, the X-Ray powder diffraction and the X-Ray orientated EG treated K-saturated clay diffraction are proposed for analyzing clay mineralogy and its swelling property for judging the use of non-qualified fine aggregates for AC mixture.MB2 and Duriez0.8 surfaces can be established on clay mineralogical map since we discovered MB adsorption and moisture susceptibility are related to clay mineralogy in fine aggregates. The fine aggregates which is not qualified by MB adsorption is going to confirm the possibility for the use of AC pavement by the mineralogical analysis through X-Ray diffraction. By adopting the quantitative results of clay on mineralogical map with Duriez0.8 surface and the swelling property of clays in fine aggregates, the use of fine aggregates for AC pavement can be properly judged according to water-bitumen-aggregates interaction and stripping which has been proved in this study

Advanced composite materials have enabled the conventional aircraft structures to reduce weight, improve fuel efficiency and offer superior mechanical properties. In the past, materials such as aluminum, steel or titanium have been used to manufacture aircraft structures for support of heavy loads. Within the last decade or so, demand for advanced composite materials have been emerging that offer significant advantages over the traditional metallic materials. Of particular interest in the recent years, there has been an upsurge in scientific significance in the usage of adhesively bonded composite joints (ABCJ’s). ABCJ’s negate the introduction of stress risers that are associated with riveting or other classical techniques. In today’s aircraft transportation market, there is a push to increase structural efficiency by promoting adhesive bonding to primary joining of aircraft structures. This research is focused on the issues associated with the durability and related failures in bonded composite joints that continue to be a critical hindrance to the universal acceptance of ABCJ’s. Of particular interest are the short term strength, contamination and long term durability of ABCJ’s. One of the factors that influence bond performance is contamination and in this study the influence of contamination on composite-adhesive bond quality was investigated through the development of a repeatable and scalable surface contamination procedure. Results showed an increase in the contaminant coverage area decreases the overall bond strength significantly. A direct correlation between the contaminant coverage area and the fracture toughness of the bonded joint was established. Another factor that influences bond performance during an aircraft’s service life is its long term strength upon exposure to harsh environmental conditions or when subjected to severe mechanical loading. A test procedure was successfully developed in order to evaluate durability of ABCJ’s comprising severe environmental conditioning, fatiguing in ambient air and a combination of both. The bonds produced were durable enough to sustain the tests cases mentioned above when conditioned for 8 weeks and did not experience any loss in strength. Specimens that were aged for 80 weeks showed a degradation of 10% in their fracture toughness when compared to their baseline datasets. The effect of various exposure times needs to be further evaluated to establish the relationship of durability that is associated with the fracture toughness of ABCJ’s.

In the pharmaceutical industry, it is always important to have reproducible processes and raw materials of high quality to ensure good quality products. AstraZeneca, that is a leading manufacturer of different pharmaceuticals, works according to GMP to make sure that their processes deliver products of the same quality every time. A problem that has occurred at AstraZeneca is when a raw material is not properly understood and variations in the raw material affects the final product. Variations in drug release in one of AstraZeneca´s products, Product X, has been linked to the cushioning excipient Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). Variations in drug release has been noticed during change from one batch of MCC to another. The aim of this study was to investigate which material attributes of MCC that contributes to variations in the final product. Particle size and moisture content were identified as critical material attributes (CMA´s) and were therefore chosen to be investigated more thoroughly. By variating particle size and moisture content during manufacturing of Product X, the influence of these attributes could be investigated using Design of Experiment (DoE). An additional experiment that compared two MCC batches from different suppliers was also performed during this study. The results from these experiments showed that the particle size and moisture content of MCC does affect the drug release. Large particles and high moisture content gave rise to a faster drug release compared to small particles and low moisture content that gave rise to a slower drug release. It is however hard to draw conclusions regarding how small differences in particle size and moisture content could affect the drug release.

The effects of a non-zero background state on atmospheric dynamics is explored through simple models and observations. Firstly, we examine the effects of moisture gradients on the stability and propagation of Rossby waves in a mid-latitude -plane. We begin by a consistent derivation of the forced quasi-geostrophic equations on a -plane to understand the constraints placed by geostrophy on the time scale of condensation. We see that the presence of meridional gradients of moisture results in a slowdown of the waves. On the introduction of zonal gradients of moisture, the waves become unstable, and for certain parameters which are representative of the real atmosphere, they propagate eastward and mature on an intra-seasonal timescale. The mechanism of the in hence of moisture on waves is understood by thinking of condensation as providing an \equivalent" potential vorticity (PV) gradient which opposes the dynamical PV gradient. Secondly, we look at the effects of a mean background ow on the Matsuno-Gill response in the spherical shallow water system. The mean ow is prescribed to resemble the climatological upper tropospheric zonal wind structure in the atmosphere. As the strength of the ow increases, the equatorially trapped Matsuno-Gill response rst transforms into a poleward propagating Rossby wavetrain. As the strength of the mean ow reaches values similar to that observed in the atmosphere, the stationary wave response becomes a zonally oriented quadrupole structure. This structure bears a striking resemblance to the observed upper level structure of the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO). The time evolution of this quadrupole structure is quick enough to be relevant on MJO timescales, and the structure is quite robust across a range of values for the drag coefficient. Finally, we look at the role played by low frequency variability in the Pacific in the recent expansion of the Hadley cell. We find that the dominant effect of the low frequency variability is a stationary dispersive Rossby wavetrain extending from the tropical Paci. We further find that most of the observed expansion of the Hadley cell can be accounted for by this low frequency variability. We nd that large scale changes such as the changes in the equator-pole temperature gradient or midlatitude static stability need not be invoked to understand the observed expansion.

La durabilité des structures en béton armé ainsi que leur durée de vie sont étroitement liées à la mise en œuvre simultanée de nombreux phénomènes physiques et chimiques. Ceux-ci sont de diverses natures mais restent, en général, fonction des propriétés hydriques des matériaux étudiés. Ainsi, la prédiction des dégradations potentielles d'un matériau cimentaire requiert l'étude du transport de l'eau liquide et des phases gazeuses à travers ce dernier, considéré comme un milieu poreux. En milieu naturel, les structures subissent des variations périodiques de l'humidité relative extérieure (HR). Cependant, la plupart des modèles de transfert hydrique préexistants dans la littérature, s'intéresse uniquement au processus de séchage. Il existe peu de modèles décrivant à la fois l'humidification et le séchage du matériau (ces deux phénomènes se produisent dans le matériau en condition naturelle d'humidité relative (HR)). Tenir compte des phénomènes d'hystérésis dans les transferts hydriques réduit à nouveau le nombre de modèles à disposition. Ainsi, cette thèse s'attache à proposer une meilleure compréhension de l'état hydrique du béton en fonction des variations d'humidité relative extérieure, sur la base d'une nouvelle campagne expérimentale et de modélisations numériques. Un soin sera apporté afin de tenir compte dans les modèles numériques des effets d'hystérésis. Dans ce travail, nous détaillerons, tout d'abord, un modèle multi-phasiques complet. Un modèle simplifié est obtenu, sur la base de considérations théoriques et de vérifications expérimentales dans le cas où la perméabilité intrinsèque à l'eau liquide reste très inférieure à la perméabilité intrinsèque au gaz. Une étude comparative des modèles d'hystérésis couramment utilisés permet d'obtenir un jeu de modèles proposant les meilleures prédictions d'isothermes de sorption d'eau et de leurs hystérésis. Par la suite, le modèle de transport simplifié est couplé avec les modèles d'hystérésis sélectionnés afin de simuler les transferts hydriques dans des bétons soumis à des cycles d'humidification-séchage. La comparaison avec des données expérimentales révèle que la prise en compte de l'hystérésis de l'isotherme de sorption d'eau ne peut pas être négligé. De plus, il est montré que les prédictions obtenues avec des modèles d'hystérésis théoriques, sont les plus cohérentes avec les résultats expérimentaux, en particulier, pour des chemins secondaires d'hystérésis. Plusieurs scénarios (conditions environnementales, bétons différents) sont également simulés. Les résultats obtenus pointent à nouveau la nécessité de tenir compte de l'hystérésis lors de la modélisation des transferts hydriques à travers des matériaux cimentaires soumis à des variations d'humidité relative. La définition d'une profondeur pour laquelle le profil hydrique du béton est modifié par les variations périodiques d'humidité relative permet de mieux comprendre comment la modélisation de la pénétration des espèces ioniques est influencée par les cycles d'humidification-séchage. Par ailleurs, notre analyse révèle qu'il est pertinent de considérer l'effet de Knudsen pour la diffusion de la vapeur afin d'améliorer la prédiction de la diffusivité apparente / The durability of reinforced concrete structures and their service life are closely related to the simultaneous occurrence of many physical and chemical phenomena. These phenomena are diverse in nature, but in common they are dependent on the moisture properties of the material. Therefore, the prediction of the potential degradation of cementitious materials requires the study of the movement of liquid-water and gas-phase transport in the material which is considered as a porous medium. In natural environment, structures are always affected by periodic variations of external relative humidity (RH). However, most moisture transport models in the literature only focus on the drying process. There are few researches considering both drying and wetting, although these conditions represent natural RH variations. Even few studies take into account hysteresis in moisture transport. Thus, this work is devoted to better understand how the moisture behaviour within cementitious materials responds to the ambient RH changes through both experimental investigations and numerical modelling. In particular, hysteretic effects will be included in numerical modelling. In this thesis, we first recalled a complicate multi-phase continuum model. By theoretical analysis and experimental verification, a simplified model can be obtained for the case of that the intrinsic permeability to liquid-water is smaller than the intrinsic permeability to gas-phase. The review of commonly-used hysteresis models enabled to conclude a set of best models for the prediction of water vapour sorption isotherms and their hysteresis. After that, the simplified model was coupled with selected hysteresis models to simulate moisture transport under drying and wetting cycles. Compared with experimental data, numerical simulations revealed that modelling with hysteretic effects can provide much better results than non-hysteresis modelling. Among different hysteresis models, results showed that the use of the conceptual hysteresis model, which presents closed form scanning loops, can provide more accuracy predictions. Further simulations for different scenarios were also performed. All comparisons and investigations enhanced the necessity of considering hysteresis to model moisture transport for varying relative humidity at the boundary. The investigation of moisture penetration depth could provide a better understanding of how deep moisture as well as ions can move into the material. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the consideration of Knudsen effects for diffusion of vapour can improve the prediction of the apparent diffusivity

Morphological and anatomical studies demonstrated the root formation characteristics of sweet potato. The presence and importance of preformed root primordia is recorded for the first time. On the vines root primordia are present in sets of four to ten adjacent to the leaf bases. These roots originate from the procambium on both sides of the leaf gap. Macroscopically the root tips of preformed root primordia protruding through the cortex and epidermis of the stems are prominent. The preformed root primordia produce adventitious roots, with pentarch, hexarch or septarch steles. Storage roots will under normal circumstances only originate from undamaged root primordia on the nodes of cuttings, or on nodes of newly formed vines, or from wound roots originating from the cut ends of the stem or leaf cuttings. Lateral roots originating from damaged root primordia, or directly from the adventitious roots, exhibit tetrarch steles and develop into fibrous roots without the potential to develop into storage roots. This understanding of the origin, anatomy and morphology of sweet potato roots should improve production practices, which will contribute to improved crop establishment and increased yield. Differences in the contribution of individual subterranean nodes to storage root yield were studied. On average cuttings with three subterranean nodes produced 3.7 storage roots, with 33.2% on subterranean node 1, 30.0% on node 2 and 36.8% on node3. However, in terms of fresh mass of the storage roots node 1 contributed 45.4%, node 2 contributed 27.1% and node 3 contributed 27.4%. The effect of temperature (20, 24, 28 and 32oC constant), orientation of cuttings (vertical vs. horizontal) and size of cuttings (1 or 3 nodes) on the development of adventitious roots was observed in plant growth chambers. Twenty-one days after planting, the longest total root length of 4m per plant was recorded from the 24oC growth chamber. The effect of soil moisture content on early root development was investigated by wetting and equilibrating sandy soil to 100, 80, 60 and 40% of field capacity. Although the 80% of field capacity treatment resulted in the best root development, differences among treatments were small, demonstrating the capacity of cuttings to successfully establish under a range of soil moisture contents. Changes in dry mass of storage roots, stems, and leaves of three sweet potato cultivars (Awasa-83, Bareda and Falaha) were studied at Awasa and Melkassa. At the final sampling the early maturing cultivar Falaha had diverted a higher proportion of the total dry mass into storage roots at Melkassa because of the early initiation and growth of storage roots. The late maturing cultivar Awasa-83 had a smaller proportion of the total dry mass diverted into the storage roots at both locations because of late root initiation and growth. The high yielding cultivars Bareda at Melkassa, and Awasa-83 at Awasa, had higher crop growth rates and higher net assimilation rates than the other cultivars. The effects of cultivar (Kudadie, Bareda and Awasa-83), planting position (horizontal and vertical), type of planting material (terminal cuttings with and without leaves) and cutting length (20, 25 and 30 cm) on the number and yield of storage roots were quantified in field trials at Awasa and Melkassa. Cultivar Kudadie produced the highest storage root yield at both locations. Horizontal planting of cuttings resulted in the highest total storage root yield at both locations. Cutting length did not affect storage root number and yield. The effect of population density (50,000, 55,555, 75,000, and 100,000 cuttings per hectare) on the performance of the three Ethiopian sweet potato cultivars was studied at Awasa. The highest planting density consistently produced the best root yield, indicating the potential to increase yields with plant populations much higher than normally used. Early maturing cultivar Falaha produced more small and medium storage roots per plant, while the intermediate cultivar Bareda produced more large storage roots. Copyright 2003, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Belehu, T 2003, Agronomical and physiological factors affecting growth, development and yield of sweet potato in Ethiopia, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07262004-141704 / > / Thesis (PhD (Plant Production and Soil Science))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

Orientador: José Antonio Siqueira Dias / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T06:29:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roque_Wellington_D.pdf: 36135434 bytes, checksum: 2e9ca0be59b1286da36d45ebc67dfd0d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: A aplicação de sensores de umidade do solo vem aumentando devido à necessidade do uso eficiente da água para irrigação. Uma das técnicas amplamente utilizadas para o desenvolvimento desses sensores é a de dissipação de calor. Nesta técnica, um elemento aquecedor é usado para aplicar um pulso de calor no solo, gerando um aumento de temperatura, o qual é mensurado e relacionado com a umidade do solo. Porém, um dos principais problemas desse tipo de sensor é sua baixa sensibilidade. Buscando resolver esse problema, foi desenvolvido um sensor que utiliza um transistor bipolar como único elemento aquecedor e transdutor de temperatura. Uma energia aplicada causa aquecimento no transistor e consequentemente provoca uma variação na tensão da junção base-emissor. Com isso, realizamos um estudo, a fim de determinar qual o valor ideal de energia aplicada que proporcionaria a máxima sensibilidade na medida da variação da temperatura. Para isso foram utilizados para fabricação dos sensores 16 transistores com encapsulamento metálico (TO - 18). Os sensores foram inseridos em amostras de solo deformadas, que foram saturadas para realização da medida da umidade do solo, através do método gravimétrico. Foram realizados com cada sensor curvas de calibração relacionando a umidade do solo com a com o valor de ?T, para os diferentes valores de energias fornecidos no sensor. Após análise dos dados, foram escolhidos dois sensores que apresentaram maior variação entre suas curvas de calibração para serem inseridos em uma solução de Agar Agar e no Ar, realizando várias medidas nos sensores, sempre com os mesmos valores de energia, para verificar a repetibilidade dos mesmos. Os resultados mostraram que, em relação à energia aplicada no sensor, àquela que proporcionou uma maior sensibilidade em função da umidade do solo foi de 1:5J (25 V, 6,3 mA, 10 s). Foi constatado que a sensibilidade do sensor melhora com o aumento da potência, sendo que esta melhora é relativamente independente da energia fornecida. Em relação às medidas realizadas no Agar Agar, observamos uma melhora considerável do erro em função das medidas realizadas no solo, de 10% para o solo, para 4% no Agar Agar. Para as medidas realizadas no Ar, o valor do erro diminui para 1%. Para as medidas realizadas no solo, na solução de Agar Agar e no Ar, chegamos à conclusão que a diminuição do erro das medidas realizadas em cada um deles, ocorre devido à mudança do contato do sensor com o solo durante as medidas, visto que o solo, quando começa perder umidade ele altera o seu volume, levando a uma diminuição da superfície de contato do mesmo com o sensor. Esse erro pode ser também em função da variação da densidade do solo que ocorre durante a realização dos ensaios, causando uma diferença no valor das medidas, já citadas em outras literaturas. Observamos também que para a melhor utilização do sensor em diferentes faixas de umidade do solo, há a necessidade de alterar a energia aplicada, devido à sensibilidade de o sensor ser maior para umidades mais baixas (abaixo de 30%), necessitando de um acréscimo do valor da energia aplicada para se obter uma melhor sensibilidade para umidades altas (acima de 30%) / Abstract: The use of soil moisture sensors is increasing due to the need for efficient use of water for irrigation. One technique widely used for the development of these sensors is the heat dissipation. In this technique, a heater element is used for applying a pulse of heat into the soil, causing a rise in temperature, which is measured and related to the soil moisture. However, a major problem of this type of sensor is its low sensitivity. To solve this problem, we developed a sensor that uses a bipolar transistor as a single element heater and temperature transducer. Energy applied to the transistor causes its heating, which in turn causes a variation on the voltage of the base-emitter junction. So we conducted a study to determine the optimal value of energy applied to provide maximum sensitivity in the measurement of temperature variation. To do this, 16 metal case TO-18 package transistors were used in the fabrication of the sensors. The sensors were inserted in deformed soil samples, which were water-saturated to perform the measurement of soil moisture using the gravimetric method. With each sensor we obtained calibration curves relating the soil moisture to the value of temperature for the different values of energy supplied to the sensor. After analyzing the data, two sensors that showed greater temperature variation in their calibration curves were chosen to be inserted into a solution of Agar Agar and in the air, in order to perform multiple measurements with the sensors at the same energy values to check their repeatability. The results showed that the energy which provided a greater sensitivity as a function of soil moisture was 1,5 J (25 V, 6,3 mA 10 s). We have found that the sensor sensitivity improves with increasing dissipated power and this improvement is relatively independent of the energy supplied. Regarding the measurements performed in Agar Agar, we observed a significantly lower error compared to the measurements taken in the soil: from 10% for the soil measurements to 4% in the Agar Agar. For the measurements made in air, the error decreased to 1%. For the measurements made in soil, in solution of Agar Agar and in air, we concluded that the decrease of the measurements errors performed in each of them occurs due to a changing in the contact between the sensor and the media during the measurements, because the soil changes its volume when it begins to lose moisture, leading to a decreased surface contact with the sensor. This error can also be due to the variation of soil density that occurs during the tests. We also observed that for the best use of this sensor in different ranges of soil moisture there is a need to change the applied power due to the higher sensitivity of the sensor for moisture content below 30%, needing an increase in the amount of this power to obtain a better sensitivity to humidity above 30% / Doutorado / Eletrônica, Microeletrônica e Optoeletrônica / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica