En la presente tesis denominado “optimización de la fragmentación de las rocas con la aplicación de la doble iniciación electrónica en la explotación de mina de cobre porfirítico a cielo abierto”, se ha realizado estudios e investigaciones para poder demostrar la importancia y necesidad de colocar un iniciador con detonador electrónico más y así poder lograr optimizar la fragmentación de la roca en zona de mineral; posteriormente se realizó varias pruebas de voladura con doble iniciación electrónica, a la vez se ha modificado algunos parámetros ya establecido como el diseño de malla, el diseño de carga, y los tiempos de secuencia de salida del disparo, realizando una mejora, para lograr nuestro objetivo principal que es optimizar la fragmentación en zona de mineral usando la doble iniciación electrónica. Después de haber disparado diferentes proyectos se procedió hacer sus respectivos análisis y comparaciones, en donde se demuestra buenos resultados, al obtener una buena fragmentación sin perjudicar la estabilidad del talud y sin contaminar el medio ambiente, y sin tener presencia de fly rock. En las pruebas de voladura con doble iniciación electrónica se obtuvo una reducción hasta un 36 % en el P80 según los análisis realizados, además de obtener una reducción en tiempo de carguío de la pala hasta un 31 %, y también obteniendo un incremento de costos debido al incremento en accesorios, de mezcla explosiva, de cantidad de taladros pero a cambio se recibe una mejor fragmentación de las rocas en la zona de Mineral, cuyos beneficios se aprecian en todo su alcance en el chancado y molienda. En resumen obtenemos un incremento en la producción en mineral diaria para el chancado de la planta en un 21%, además de reducir el work index (kw-hr/t) en un 6%, demostrando así, que aplicando la doble iniciación electrónica, se obtiene buenos resultados en la fragmentación de la roca y por lo tanto conseguimos ser más eficientes y eficaces en el proceso minero metalúrgico.

Leishmania development in their vectors is closely connected with bloodmeal digestion. This thesis focuses on factors affecting bloodmeal digestion, egg development and Leishmania infection within the sand fly gut. First, we compared the effect of mammalian (rabbit) and avian (chicken) blood on digestion and eggs development in Phlebotomus duboscqi. Sand flies fed on chickens had twice lower protein concentrations in the midgut and significantly lower trypsin activity compared to those fed on rabbits. The highest differences in the trypsin activity were observed during first 24 hours post bloodmeal. In addition, females fed on chickens had slower eggs development and their eggs were 10 % smaller compared to those fed on rabbits. In the second part of the thesis we tested the effect of mosquito hormone TMOF on the trypsin activity and eggs development of Lutzomyia longipalpis. Rabbit blood with TMOF (28 mg/ml) was presented to the females via a membrane feeding system. Sand flies fed on blood with TMOF had 15 - 35 % less trypsin activity than control females fed on only rabbit blood. In addition, females fed on blood with TMOF had developed 30 % less eggs and their eggs were 12 - 24 % smaller compared to control group. However the effect of TMOF we observed was lower than that described previously...

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / eaders and governments using mechanisms to maintain national interest, power, and security. One such instrument is the use of coercive force or compellence. Compellence is a strategy of control designed to impose change, using limited military or non-military methods, upon an opponent. The United States implements compellence policy through a mixture of key actors who portray powerful images to the rest of the world. Its leaders reinforce these images internally (with self, local, regional, cultural ties) and externally (with others based, foreign perception on a larger international scope). As U.S.-led forces in Iraq affect America's image throughout the Middle East and the world, its image of Iraq remains opaque due to U.S. perception and misperception. Is compellence policy conducive to future U.S.-Iraqi relations? How effective is it? And why did U.S. compellence policy in Iraq succeed on some levels and not on others? This thesis examines the effectiveness of U.S. compellence policy as a viable method in U.S.-Iraqi relations from 1990 to 2003. Key operations and players will be evaluated and an analysis will explore political, social and economic levels of effectiveness of compellence policy in Iraq. / Civilian, Department of Navy

This work includes two different areas of research. Both areas are related to the combustion of the binder-enhanced densified refuse derived fuel (bdRDF) with high sulfur coal and examining trace elements. The first area of this work involved studying the trace metals in the combustion gas of bdRDF/coal blend and the effect of the binder, CA(OH)2, on reducing the trace elements emissions. The second area of work involved studying the trace elements in the fly ash and the effect of the dRDF and the binder of trace metals.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Entomology / Ludek Zurek / Stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans L.) are blood-feeding insects with a great negative impact on livestock resulting in annual losses around $2 billion in the USA alone. One of the main reasons for such an impact is because stable fly management is very difficult. Stable fly larvae develop primarily in animal manure and live bacteria were shown to be essential for stable fly development. I hypothesized that the microbial community of horse manure changes over time and plays an important role in stable fly fitness. Two-choice bioassays were conducted using 2 week old horse manure (control) and aging horse manure (fresh to 5 week old) to evaluate the effect of manure age on stable fly oviposition. The results showed that fresh manure did not stimulate oviposition and that the attractiveness increased as manure aged but started to decline after 3 weeks. Stable fly eggs artificially placed on 1, 2, and 3 week old manure resulted in significantly higher survival and heavier adults comparing to those developing in fresh, 4, and 5 week old manure. Analysis of the bacterial community of aging horse manure by 454-pyrosequencing of 16S rDNA revealed a major shift from strict anaerobes (e.g. Clostridium, Eubacterium, Prevotella, Bacteroidales) in fresh manure to facultative anaerobes and strict aerobes (e.g. Rhizobium, Devosia, Brevundimonas, Sphingopyxis, Comamonas, Pseudomonas) in 1-5 week old manure. Identified volatile compounds emitted from 2 and 3 week old horse manure included phenol, indole, p-cresol, and m-cresol. However, none of them stimulated stable fly oviposition in two-choice assays. In conclusion, the microbial community of 2 and 3 week old horse manure stimulates stable fly oviposition and provides a suitable habitat for stable fly development. Manure at this stage should be the main target for disrupting the stable fly life cycle. Volatile compounds acting as oviposition stimulants/attractants and their specific bacterial origin remain to be determined. Better understanding of stable fly microbial ecology is critical for development of novel management strategies based on alteration of the microbial community of stable fly habitat to generate a substrate that is non-conducive to fly oviposition and/or larval development.

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Kyle Riding / The relationship between in-place concrete strength and permeability with concrete cylinder strength and permeability with time is of interest - especially when supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are used. A joint research project between The University of Kansas was undergone to quantify these relationships. The permeability of concrete is directly tied to its ability to mitigate certain failure mechanisms such as corrosion and sulfate attack. The three concrete mixtures being tested by Kansas State University (KSU) vary in cementitious content as follows: (1) 100% ordinary portland cement (OPC), (2) 25% Class F fly ash (F-ash) and 75% OPC, (3) 25% Class C fly ash (C-Ash) and 75% OPC. The mixtures were also placed in three different seasons to present differing curing environmental effects. The summer slabs were cast during July and August. The fall slabs were cast in October and November. The final set of slabs were cast in March and April. Three sets of concrete specimens (lab cured, field cured and in-situ core specimens) were tested at 28, 56, 90, 180, and 360 days for strength and permeability properties. The permeability performance tests being utilized are ASTM C1202 and ASTM C642. The results have shown very desirable permeability and strength data for the mixes using blended fly ash cements. The F-ash exhibited the best high early strength and low permeability data for the summer placement season and slower strength and permeability performance at cold weather. The C-ash performed the best overall for all seasons and had the least environmental effects. The OPC performed the worst in regards to permeability and did not reach as high long term strength.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. 2015. / SNAMA, the protein of interest in this thesis is found in the common model organism Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the fruit fly it is also found in all eukaryotic organisms but not in prokaryotes. SNAMA is a 1231 amino acid protein that belongs to the RbBP6 superfamily. Members of this family are characterized by a zinc finger motif, a DWNN domain (domain with no name) and a RING finger motif. The human RbBP6 contains the Rb-binding and p53-binding domains in addition. The mammalian RbBP6 hence interacts with p53 and Rb and it is important for the development and tumorigenesis as a negative regulator of p53. Bioinformatics studies show that transcription of the Snama gene is driven by a single TATA-less promoter which give rise to a single 3.9 kb transcript. However, experimental evidence confirming the promoter region has not being published. The main aim of this study was to examine the regulation of Snama by identifying the maximal promoter sequence that shows promoter activity in mammalian cell line. This was achieved by using specifically designed primers to amplify the putative Snama promoters, ligating promoters in reporter vector (pGL3 basic). The recombinant products used to transfect eukaryotic cells (Cos7, African green monkey cells) and determining the maximal promoter sequence that expresses luciferase activity. The promoter sequences were labelled with biotin attached to the primers and Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) was conducted to confirm binding of proteins on the putative promoter fragments. The segment designated promoter 6 has maximal positive activity and many proteins in the cell extract bind to it shown by EMSA. Interestingly the longer fragment designated promoter 7 has less promoter activity. This may suggest that this fragment also contains some repressive elements.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering (Metallurgy and Materials Engineering), May 2016 / The solvent extraction of iron and titanium from solution generated by the two-step sulphuric acid leaching of coal fly ash by Primene JMT was investigated. The influence of hydrogen ion concentration, Primene JMT concentration, aqueous to organic volume phase ratio and temperature on the extraction of iron and titanium was determined by the use of Design of Experiments. Hydrogen ion concentration and the interaction between the aqueous to organic volume phase ratio with Primene JMT concentration had a significant effect on the extraction of iron while temperature did not. Hydrogen ion concentration and temperature did not have a significant effect on the extraction of titanium, while the interaction between Primene JMT concentration and aqueous to organic volume phase ratio had a significant effect. Extraction improvement tests showed that at a hydrogen ion concentration of 0.28M, 88% iron and 99% extraction of titanium from coal-fly ash leach solution could be achieved. Construction of a McCabe-Thiele diagram showed that a four-stage solvent extraction system with Primene JMT could reduce the iron and titanium concentration in the coal fly ash leach solutions to below 0.05g/L / GS2016

Sand flies serve as the vectors of leishmaniasis and their saliva was shown to affect the outcome of Leishmania infection by immunomodulation of the host. On the other hand, sand fly saliva contains a large scale of farmacologically active proteins that are strongly immunogenous for bitten hosts and specific anti-saliva immunity initiated by repeated sand fly feeding provides protection against Leishmania infection. Specific cell-mediated immunity was shown to be the core of the protectivity; however, our data suggests that the protective immunity has certain limitations. In mice bitten by sand flies for prolonged periods, we observed the desenzitization in term of abrogation of the protective immunity. Thus, we can speculate that the protective effect of immunity is linked solely with the short-term exposure. Nevertheless, our experiments showed that this aspect is also conditioned by the immediate infection after the protective short-term immunization. Taken together, it seems that these limitations may explain the circulation of leishmaniasis in endemic areas, even though humans and animals are frequently immunized by bites of uninfected sand flies. Repeated sand fly feeding on various hosts also promotes production of anti-saliva antibodies that reflect the intensity of exposure. We...

Geopolymer concrete (GC) is a sustainable construction material and a great alternative to regular concrete. GC is a zero-cement material made from a combination of aluminate, silicate and an activator to produce a binder-like substance. This investigation focused on the effects of wet and dry cycles on the strength and durability of fly ash-based recycled aggregate geopolymer concrete (RAGC). The wet-dry cycles were performed approximately according to ASTM D559 standards. RAGC specimens with nearly 70% recycled materials (recycled aggregate and fly ash) achieved a compressive strength of approximately 3600 psi, after 7 days of heat curing at 60ºC. Although the recycled aggregate is prone to high water absorption, the compressive strength decreased by only 4% after exposure to 21 wet-dry cycles, compared to control specimens that were not exposed to the same conditions. Accordingly, the RAGC material developed in this study can be considered as a promising environmentally friendly alternative to cement-based regular concrete. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection