The aim of this master thesis work was to investigate how the uncertainties in nuclear data for 238U affects the uncertainty of keff in criticality simulations for nuclear fuel storages. This was performed by using the Total Monte Carlo (TMC) method which allows propagation of nuclear data uncertainties from basic nuclear physics to reactor parameters, such as keff. The TMC approach relies on simulations with hundreds of calculations of keff with different random nuclear data libraries for 238U for each calculation. The result is a probability distribution for keff where the standard deviation for the distribution represents a spread in keff due to statistical and nuclear data uncertainties. Simulations were performed with MCNP for a nuclear fuel storage representing two different cases:  Normal Case and Worst Case. Normal Case represents a scenario during normal conditions and Worst Case represents accident conditions where optimal moderation occurs. In order to validate the MCNP calculations and the libraries produced with TMC, criticality benchmarks were used. The calculated mean value of keff for the criticality benchmark simulations with random libraries produced with TMC obtained a good agreement with the experimental keff for the benchmarks. This indicates that the libraries used in this this work were of good quality. The TMC method´s drawback is the long calculation time, therefore the new method, fast TMC, was tested.  Both fast TMC and original TMC were applied to the Normal Case. The two methods obtained similar results, indicating that fast TMC is a good option in order to reduce the computational time. The computer time using fast TMC was found to be significantly faster compared with original TMC in this work. The 238U nuclear data uncertainty was obtained to be 209 pcm for the Normal Case, both for original and fast TMC. For the Worst Case simulation the 238U nuclear data uncertainty was obtained to be 672 pcm with fast TMC. These results show the importance of handling uncertainties in nuclear data in order to improve the knowledge about the uncertainties for criticality calculations of keff. / Nukleära databibliotek innehåller all nödvändig information för att till exempel kunna simulera en reaktor eller en bränslebassäng för kärnbränsle. Dessa bibliotek är centrala vid beräkningar av olika reaktorparametrar som krävs för en säker kärnkraftsproduktion. En viktig reaktorparameter är multiplikationskonstanten (keff) som anger reaktiviteten för ett system. Ett kritiskt system (keff = 1) innebär att en kedjereaktion av kärnklyvningar kan upprätthållas. Detta tillstånd erfordras i en reaktor för att möjliggöra elproduktion. I en bränslebassäng där använt kärnbränsle förvaras är det viktigt att systemet är underkritiskt (keff < 1). Olika reaktorkoder används för att utföra dessa beräkningar av keff, vars resultat används i processen för att designa säkra bränsleförråd för kärnbränsle. Dagens nukleära databibliotek innehåller osäkerheter som i sin tur beror på osäkerheter i de modellparametrar som används vid framställningen av biblioteken.  Ofta är dessa nukleära data osäkerheter okända, vilket ger upphov till okända osäkerheter vid beräkning av keff. Vattenfall Nuclear Fuel AB undersöker idag möjligheten att öka anrikningen på bränslet för att minska antalet behövda bränsleknippen för en viss energimängd.  Varje bränsleknippe blir då mer reaktiv och i och med det minskar marginalen till kriticitet i bränslebassängen. Därmed är osäkerheterna för nukleära data viktiga i processen för att kunna beräkna den maximalt tillåtna anrikningen för bränslet. För att undersöka hur stora dessa osäkerheter är, användes en relativ ny metod TMC (Total Monte Carlo) som propagerar osäkerheter i nukleära data till olika reaktorparametrar (t.ex. keff) i en enda simuleringsprocess.  TMC metoden användes för att undersöka hur osäkerheterna i nukleära data för 238U påverkar beräkningar av keff för en bränslebassäng med använt kärnbränsle. Beräkningar utfördes för en bränslebassäng under normala driftförhållanden samt för en olyckshändelse då optimal moderering förekommer. Resultaten visade på att standardavvikelsen för nukleära data för 238U var 209 pcm vid normala driftförhållanden och 672 pcm för fallet med optimal moderering. Den ursprungliga TMC metoden är en tidskrävande metod och nyligen har en snabbare variant av TMC utvecklats. Denna nya metod applicerades också på bränslebassängen under normala driftförhållanden och resultaten jämfördes. Resultaten visade att båda metoderna beräknade samma nukleära dataosäkerhet för 238U och genom att använda den snabba TMC metoden, minskade beräkningstiden betydligt jämfört med att använda den ursprungliga TMC metoden.

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Eric J. Fitzsimmons / Each year maintenance and rehabilitation occur on interstates and highways to repair damage, improve rideability, and increase safety. To perform many of these activities a short or long-term work zone is required. However, short and long-term work zones can have significant impacts on traffic flow, especially during peak travel times. To mitigate the impact of work zones, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has developed a lane closure guide to assist KDOT personnel and contractors in determining times during the day that a lane can be closed to traffic. The existing lane closure guide was comprised of limited data sources and assumptions based on past traffic counts. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the existing guide and update it using a consistent data source that reflects current roadway conditions. During the evaluation of the existing lane closure guide, several inconsistencies with traffic counts, directional splits, and adjustment factors were found. To eliminate the consistencies, data from the Kansas City Traffic Management Center was used. During the procedure of updating the lane closure guide a repeatable data extraction process and a quality assurance/quality control process were utilized. In addition to updating the KDOT lane closure guide, sensor data verification was performed on one KC Scout sensor on K-10 using road tubes. The data from the road tubes was then compared to the data extracted from KC Scout during the same time interval. The comparison found the road tubes and KC Scout counted statistically the same number of cars for the chosen interval. However, the comparison found the road tube’s average speed for chosen interval to be on average 10 percent higher than KC Scout, which was statistically significant.

Class of 2013 Abstract / Specific Aims: The objective of this study was to describe the failure rate of activation of medications that employ the ADD-Vantage medication delivery system in one community hospital, Tucson Medical Center (TMC). Methods: A daily, hospital-wide summary was generated identifying all patients currently receiving ADD-Vantage medications using the TMC electronic medical record system, Epic. Data collection occurred on arbitrary days and times from July 2012 to March 2013. Direct observation of a failure or a success in activation occurred by entering a patient’s room after the ADD-Vantage medication was administered by the nurse. Important data collected included: medication, frequency of administration, nursing unit, time of administration, administering nurse, the shift during which the nurse was working and whether or not the medication was or was not properly activated. Main Results: All medications utilizing the ADD-Vantage medication delivery system at TMC were analyzed. The rate of failure across 347 total samples collected on various days and times was 6.92%. Night shift had a higher rate of failure at 11.43% versus 6.41% for day shift (χ2 = 1.23). The General Surgery and Cardiac units of the hospital had the highest rates of failure with 18.18% and 15.38% respectively. Zosyn was improperly activated with greatest frequency with 12 total failures. Conclusion: No statistically significant difference was found between the rates of activation failure for those samples collected during nursing day shift versus night shift. The overall rates of activation failure suggest a significant opportunity for nursing education to improve outcomes.

No description available.

Recentemente foi descoberto que diversos calcogenetos de metais de transição podem ter o estado charge density waves (CDW) suprimido a partir de pressão hidrostática e dopagens, e, por conseguinte, o estado supercondutor emerge. Nesse contexto, este trabalho apresenta um estudo sistemático de propriedades físicas de amostras poli e monocristalinas de dois compostos do sistema Nb-Te, NbTe2 e NbTe4. Com relação ao composto NbTe2, os resultados aqui apresentados demonstram que esse composto é mais um exemplo de material que exibe ambos os estados a pressão atmosférica e sem dopagens. No que tange as propriedades do NbTe4, este trabalho demonstra que amostras deficientes em telúrio tem a anomalia na curva de resistividade elétrica relacionada a formação do estado CDW amplificada e, a deficiência em telúrio é também capaz de fazer emergir supercondutividade em 5.5 K. Este trabalho também sugere algumas mudanças no diagrama de equilíbrio de fases Nb-Te publicado na base de dados da sociedade americana de metalurgia (ASM). As fases Nb5Te4 e Nb3Te4 foram identificadas como sendo fases de altas temperaturas que são formadas a partir de reações eutetóides. Além do mais, nossos resultados demonstram que a região entre as fases NbTe2 e NbTe4 consiste, na verdade, de uma região bifásica. Durante a realização deste trabalho, outro composto foi investigado, o NiTe2. Nesse composto, nossos resultados demonstram que a intercalação de Ti faz emergir um estado supercondutor em 4.5 K e cuja temperatura de transição parece insensível a pressão hidrostática. Cálculos de estrutura de bandas sugerem fortemente que o composto NiTe2 intercalado com Ti pode ser mais um exemplo de supercondutor com aspectos topológicos em sua superfície de Fermi. / Recently was demonstrated that it is possible to suppress the charge density waves (CDW) ground states while, simultaneously, a superconductor state emerges in several transition metal chalcogenides (TMC), by means of hydrostatic pressure or chemical doping. Within this context, this work presents a systematic study on physical properties of two Nb chalcogenides, NbTe2 and NbTe4. Our results demonstrate that NbTe2 is another example of a TMC which exhibit both stabilities at atmospheric pressure and without doping. Regarding the physical properties of NbTe4, we have demonstrated that Te deficiency increases significantly the anomaly in the electrical resistivity as function of temperature behavior related with the CDW formation. At the same time, Te deficiency can also cause a SC state to emerge at 5.5 K. This work also presents a review of the binary phase diagram, Nb-Te, and some changes are proposed. Nb5Te4 and Nb3Te4 were identified as high temperature phases originated from eutectoid reactions. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the region between the phases NbTe2 and NbTe4 are, in fact, a two-phase region, differently from what is proposed in the actual version of the phase diagram. Also, during this work, another chalcogenide was investigated, NiTe2. Our results demonstrate that Ti can be intercalted between the Van der Waals gaps of the structure and consequently a superconductor state emerges at 4.5 K. The critical temperature is found to be insensitive to hydrostatic pressure. Band structure strongly suggests that NiTe2 could be another example of a superconductor with topological aspects in its Fermi surface.

Recentemente foi descoberto que diversos calcogenetos de metais de transição podem ter o estado charge density waves (CDW) suprimido a partir de pressão hidrostática e dopagens, e, por conseguinte, o estado supercondutor emerge. Nesse contexto, este trabalho apresenta um estudo sistemático de propriedades físicas de amostras poli e monocristalinas de dois compostos do sistema Nb-Te, NbTe2 e NbTe4. Com relação ao composto NbTe2, os resultados aqui apresentados demonstram que esse composto é mais um exemplo de material que exibe ambos os estados a pressão atmosférica e sem dopagens. No que tange as propriedades do NbTe4, este trabalho demonstra que amostras deficientes em telúrio tem a anomalia na curva de resistividade elétrica relacionada a formação do estado CDW amplificada e, a deficiência em telúrio é também capaz de fazer emergir supercondutividade em 5.5 K. Este trabalho também sugere algumas mudanças no diagrama de equilíbrio de fases Nb-Te publicado na base de dados da sociedade americana de metalurgia (ASM). As fases Nb5Te4 e Nb3Te4 foram identificadas como sendo fases de altas temperaturas que são formadas a partir de reações eutetóides. Além do mais, nossos resultados demonstram que a região entre as fases NbTe2 e NbTe4 consiste, na verdade, de uma região bifásica. Durante a realização deste trabalho, outro composto foi investigado, o NiTe2. Nesse composto, nossos resultados demonstram que a intercalação de Ti faz emergir um estado supercondutor em 4.5 K e cuja temperatura de transição parece insensível a pressão hidrostática. Cálculos de estrutura de bandas sugerem fortemente que o composto NiTe2 intercalado com Ti pode ser mais um exemplo de supercondutor com aspectos topológicos em sua superfície de Fermi. / Recently was demonstrated that it is possible to suppress the charge density waves (CDW) ground states while, simultaneously, a superconductor state emerges in several transition metal chalcogenides (TMC), by means of hydrostatic pressure or chemical doping. Within this context, this work presents a systematic study on physical properties of two Nb chalcogenides, NbTe2 and NbTe4. Our results demonstrate that NbTe2 is another example of a TMC which exhibit both stabilities at atmospheric pressure and without doping. Regarding the physical properties of NbTe4, we have demonstrated that Te deficiency increases significantly the anomaly in the electrical resistivity as function of temperature behavior related with the CDW formation. At the same time, Te deficiency can also cause a SC state to emerge at 5.5 K. This work also presents a review of the binary phase diagram, Nb-Te, and some changes are proposed. Nb5Te4 and Nb3Te4 were identified as high temperature phases originated from eutectoid reactions. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the region between the phases NbTe2 and NbTe4 are, in fact, a two-phase region, differently from what is proposed in the actual version of the phase diagram. Also, during this work, another chalcogenide was investigated, NiTe2. Our results demonstrate that Ti can be intercalted between the Van der Waals gaps of the structure and consequently a superconductor state emerges at 4.5 K. The critical temperature is found to be insensitive to hydrostatic pressure. Band structure strongly suggests that NiTe2 could be another example of a superconductor with topological aspects in its Fermi surface.

Ce manuscrit expose différents développements méthodolgiques et leurs applications pour la synthèse de composés à visée anticancéreuse.Le premier chapitre décrit les travaux ciblant l’obtention d’analogues du TMC-95A, produit naturel inhibiteur du protéasome dont l’activité antitumorale a été démontrée. La formation de ces analogues passe par la synthèse d’intermédiaires tryptophanes hautement oxydés fonctionnalisés en position 7. Une première stratégie mettant en jeu une réaction d’insertion C-H nous a permis d’obtenir des oxindoles fluorés avec de bons rendements. Cependant, les difficultés rencontrées lors des étapes de déprotection et de réduction nous ont amenés à revoir notre approche synthétique. Une hétéroannulation de Larock a ensuite été envisagée pour la synthèse de tryptophanes fonctionnalisés, sans plus de succès. En revanche, nous avons été capables de mettre au point une réaction de fluoration oxydante régio- et chimiosélective du noyau indolique du tryptophane incorporé dans des tripeptides linéaires. Ainsi, des précurseurs avancés d’analogues du TMC-95A ont pu être obtenus.Dans un deuxième chapitre, nous nous sommes intéressés à la réactivité d’aziridines bicycliques dérivées de sulfamates, obtenues par aziridination intramoléculaire catalysée au cuivre en présence de réactifs de l’iode hypervalent. Nous avons ainsi pu montrer qu’il était possible d’en réaliser l’ouverture à l’aide de nucléophiles carbonés. Puis, les sulfamates cycliques à 7 chaînons obtenus peuvent également réagir avec des nucléophiles carbonés pour conduire à des amines polysubstituées. Enfin, des études préliminaires nous ont permis d’évaluer ces aziridines bicycliques comme précurseurs de dipoles-1,3 et ont conduit à la formation de composés à haute valeur ajoutée.Enfin, le dernier chapitre de ce manuscrit décrit les résultats obtenus pour la synthèse totale de produits naturels. Grâce à la méthodologie développée précédemment, nous avons pu synthétiser la spisulosine ES-285, produit naturel issu des palourdes comestibles de l’océan atlantique nord et dont l’activité antitumorale a été démontrée. La voie de synthèse mise au point permet de moduler la nature des nucléophiles introduits, permettant donc un accès rapide à de nouveaux composés, potentiellement plus actifs. Un analogue fluoré original de la spisulosine a ainsi pu être obtenu. Cette méthodologie a également été mise en œuvre pour la synthèse de molécules plus complexes, comme la monanchorine, un alcaloïde à guanidine polycyclique d’origine marine. Un précurseur avancé a ainsi pu être obtenu, mais il n’a malheureusement pas été possible de conclure la synthèse. / This manuscript exposes several synthetics methods and their applications for the preparation of new anti-cancer compounds.The first part describes our efforts toward the obtention of new analogs of TMC-95A, natural proteasome inhibitor, which antitumoral activity has already been shown. The formation of these compounds requires the synthesis of highly oxidized tryptophane substituted in position 7. An initial strategy involving a C-H insertion allowed us to obtain fluoro oxindoles in good yields. However, the encountered difficulties for the reduction and deprotection steps prompted us to rethink our strategy. A Larock heteroannulation has been considered for the synthesis of functionalized tryptophanes and was, unfortunately, unsuccessful. Nevertheless, we have been able to develop a regio- and chemoselctive oxidative fluoration of the trypthophane indolic core incorporated in tripeptides. Therefore, advanced precursors of TMC-95A analogs have been obtained.In the second part, the reactivity of bicyclic aziridines derived from sulfamates has been studied. These aziridines were obtained by copper catalyzed intramolecular aziridination in the presence of hypervalent iodine reagent. We were then able to demonstrate the possibility to perform nucleophilic ring opening of these bicyclic aziridines with carbon nucleophiles. The obtained 7 membered ring sulfamates were also submitted to nucleophilic ring opening with carbon nucleophiles to give acces to polysubstituted amines. Finally, preliminary studies allowed us to test these bicyclic aziridines as dipole-1,3 precursors and have led to the the formation of high value compounds.Finally, the last chapter describes the results we obtained for the total synthesis of natural products. Thanks to the methodology developed above, we were able to synthesize the spisulosine ES-285, natural product extracted from the north Atlantic clams and known to display antitumoral activity. The synthetic path allows us to change the nature of the nucleophile and gives rapidly access to new compounds, potentially more active. A new fluoro analog of the spisulosine has been obtained. This methodology has also been applied for the total synthesis more complex molecules, such as monachorin, a marine polycyclic guanidine alcaloïd. An advanced precursor has been synthesized, but we unfortunately weren’t able to finish the synthesis.

Over the past couple of years there has been rapid progress in the development and design of safe and effective delivery systems for the administration of protein and peptide drugs. The effective delivery of these type of drugs are not always as simple as one may think, due to various inherent characteristics of these compounds. Due to the hydrophilic nature and molecular size of peptide and protein drugs, such as recombinant human growth hormone, they are poorly absorbed across mucosal epithelia, both transcellularly and paracellularly. This problem can be overcome by the inclusion of absorption enhancers in peptide and protein drug formulations but this is not necessarily the best method to follow. This investigation focussed specifically on the evaluation of the ability of the PheroidTM carrier system to transport recombinant human growth hormone across mucosal epithelia especially when administered via the nasal cavity. The PheroidTM delivery system is a patented system consisting of a unique submicron emulsion type formulation. The PheroidTM delivery system, based on PheroidTM technology, will for ease of reading be called Pheroid(s) only throughout the rest of this dissertation. The Pheroid carrier system is a unique microcolloidal drug delivery system. A Pheroid is a stable structure within a novel therapeutic system which can be manipulated in terms of morphology, structure, size and function. Pheroids consist mainly of plant and essential fatty acids and can entrap, transport and deliver pharmacologically active compounds and other useful substances to the desired site of action. The specific objectives of this study can be summarised as follows: a literature study on Pheroid technology; a literature study on chitosan and N-trimethyl chitosan chloride; a literature study on recombinant human growth hormone (somatropin); a literature study on nasal drug administration; formulation of a suitable Pheroid carrier; entrapment of somatropin in the Pheroid carrier, and in vivo evaluation of nasal absorption of somatropin in Sprague-Dawley rats. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Pharmaceutics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Diploma thesis "Meaning and development of traffic information and its specifics " deals with function of media, interactivity, news genres and traffic information as a necessary part of nowadays society. It also looks at the media and their meaning in the process of distributing traffic information. The diploma thesis also charts the behaviour of subjects, that are professionally dealing with traffic information. It focuses on news systems and individual broadcasting, that are distributing information about traffic. It also evaluates process of distributing traffic information as a welfare service. The thesis prove that such information are helpful to the public. Timely inteligence and realistic information may help not just the individual drivers, but also to the society as the whole, to the environment and the economy of companies as well. The diploma thesis denotes the beginning of first local system, that collects, processes, distributes and keeps traffic news - Integrated system of traffic information, these information are available for everybody, who applies for them, service is free of charge. Mainly media use this system. I also try to bring closer some technical inovations in traffic broadcasting, that made milestones in this relatively new discipline of mass communication.

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Civil. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2010