The role of individual soil microorganisms changes over the course of a plant's life - microorganisms that have no discernable role at one developmental stage may affect the plant later in its growth. Traditional analysis of the soil microbiome, which has focused principally on the relative abundances (RA) of individual organisms, may be incomplete, as underlying differences in population size cannot be addressed. We conducted a metagenomic analysis of soil microorganisms from various maize (Zea mays L.) fields at two depths, accompanied by crop yield components, to provide insight into influences of edaphic microbes on maize productivity under commercial maize production systems in Missouri. This study assesses the influence of fungi and bacteria, not only in terms of RA, but also in their estimated absolute abundances (EAA), derived by combining the results of Illumina HiSeq sequencing data and phospholipid fatty acid abundance data. Significant interactions were identified between maize yield components and soil microbes at critical developmental states. Most interactions between fungi and yield components were negative, with notable exceptions. Bacterial interactions were more complex, with most interactions during early ear development identified as positive, and most interactions during tasseling identified as negative. In addition to the effects that microbial populations have on yield, plant populations reciprocally changed the microbial community. Plant developmental state was the greatest predictor of bacteria, with the microbial communities present during the active growing season being most similar to each other, whereas the preplant microbiome and post-reproductive microbiome being most similar to each other. Fungal communities were primarily dependent on location.

When entering a planet’s atmosphere, spacecraft induce a strong compression shock and must be protected from the resulting extreme heat flux by a thermal protection system made of either reusable or ablative materials. To characterise these materials, the harsh flow conditions of atmospheric entry are reproduced in plasma wind tunnels, where a jet of gas heated up to ionisation is directed at material samples for prolonged testing. Unfortunately, heated jets exhibit complex dynamic behaviours, resulting in oscillations that increase the uncertainties in the experiments.At sufficient Reynolds numbers, the dynamic behaviour of heated jets shifts from an amplifier to a self-sustained oscillator type via a Hopf bifurcation, if the centreline-to-ambient density ratio falls below a given threshold. This change is known in the literature to be related to the onset of absolute instabilities in the flow. However, this type of instability is usually studied for a simplified description of the gas, which is not suitable for the case of a plasma wind tunnel.This doctoral work investigates the nature of the instabilities responsible for the oscillations observed in a plasma jet, similar to the one in the VKI Plasmatron facility. The analysis is carried out by comparing results from different numerical methods, including linear stability analyses (both local and global) and direct numerical simulations. The thesis first describes the effect of high-temperature gas models on the stability of synthetic jets found in the literature, before analysing the case of Plasmatron.The analysis of synthetic jets with real-gas effects shows that the onset of the first dissociation reactions in the flow has a strong influence on the prevailing type of instability. Furthermore, if a sufficiently long region of absolute instability is present in the jet, the flow bifurcates to a periodic limit cycle, and steady state solutions become inadequate to describe the flow and its dynamic behaviour. In this case, a stability analysis of the time-averaged state can accurately reproduce the results of direct numerical simulations. In the case of Plasmatron, a large region of absolute instability is revealed in the plasma jet, suggesting that the observed oscillations are caused (in part) by a global non-linear mode and that the flow has entered a limit cycle. Trends of the absolute instability frequency with respect to the driving parameters of Plasmatron are in agreement with experimental observations.The present work confirms that global stability features of heated jet flows are very sensitive to subtle changes of the undisturbed or time-averaged state, which results from technological constraints in the case of Plasmatron. Furthermore, this thesis has shown the relevance of including high-temperature gas effects in the stability analysis of high-enthalpy jets. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第23546号 / 情博第776号 / 新制||情||132(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科数理工学専攻 / (主査)教授 山下 信雄, 教授 太田 快人, 教授 永持 仁 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

Det är välkänt att högreflekterande ytor är svåra att skanna med ett bra resultat. Detta är ett särskilt stort problem vid användning av detaljskannrar, eftersom de ofta används för att digitalisera objekt av metall eller andra material med hög reflektans. Konsekvensen blir att osäkerhet och avvikelser i skanningsresultatet ökar, eller att skanningen inte ger något resultat alls. Därför är det viktigt att känna till hur stor inverkan ytor med hög reflektans har på skanningen. Målsättningen med detta examensarbete har varit att undersöka hur avvikelsen varierar vid skanning av högreflekterande ytor. Genom att veta mer om hur olika osäkerhetskällor inverkar vid skanning med ett specifikt instrument, blir det lättare att välja rätt instrument och att använda rätt arbetsmetod. Studien har gjorts genom skanning och probning av objekt med olika form och reflekterande egenskaper. Den handhållna linjeskannern Romer Absolute Arm med integrerad skanner har använts till all skanning och mätning. Analysen av mätdatat har gjorts i Polyworks som är den rekommenderade programvaran för skannern. Resultatet från studien visar att skanning av högreflekterande ytor ger ett sämre resultat än skanning av ytor med lägre reflektans. Resultatet kan dock förbättras genom att användaren lär sig använda skannern på rätt sätt och tar hänsyn till ytans karaktär och skannerns inställningar. Slutsatsen är att den handhållna skannern är ett flexibelt och användarvänligt instrument, men att det behövs träning för att användaren ska kunna utnyttja dess fulla potential. / Laser scanning is known not to give good results with highly reflective surfaces. The issue is particularly visible when scanning with a close-range laser scanner, as the instrument is often used to digitalize objects of polished metal or other highly reflective material. In this case, it causes a significant increase of uncertainties and deviations. In some cases, it is not even possible to get data to work with. It is thus important to know how high reflectivity influences the results of laser scanning. The aim of this work was to investigate how deviations vary when scanning highly reflective surfaces. By knowing more about how influential different sources of uncertainties are on the use of a particular instrument, it is easier to decide on the right instrument and the right method for a particular project. The study was conducted by scanning and probing objects of different forms and reflectivities. The handheld line scanner Romer Absolute Arm with integrated scanner was used for scanning and probing. The data analysis was operated in Polyworks, which is the recommended software for the scanner. The results from the study show that scanning highly reflective surfaces gives poorer results than scanning surfaces with low reflectivity. However, the results can be improved by learning to use the scanner appropriately, and take into account the surface characteristics and the scanner’s settings. The conclusion is that the handheld scanner is a flexible and user-friendly instrument, but needs training and experience to be used at its full potential.

Thesis advisor: Lillie R. Albert / This study developed and then utilized an anti-colonial mathematics curriculum evaluation framework based on Grande’s (2015) conceptualization of colonialist consciousness. This was done in an effort to both: a) illuminate the presence of colonial logics within mathematics curricular texts and b) re-conceptualize criticalmathematics for the purpose of addressing our intertwined ecological (e.g., climate change) and human crises (e.g. systemic racism). Rather than conceptualizing mathematics as a socio-politically neutral and/or a culture-free discipline this study offers a literature review of the genealogy of Western mathematics’ development in relation to British imperialism and Anglo-American settler colonialism. Working from these historical, linguistic, and philosophical perspectives the anti-colonial mathematics curriculum evaluation framework was constructed, piloted with a Common-Core-aligned 6th grade Eureka Math unit, and then refined. From there, two absolute criterial curriculum evaluations (Kemmis & Stake, 1988), one using the anti-colonial evaluation framework and the other using a criticalmathematics evaluation framework, were completed in relation to a 7th grade Eureka Math unit. Resulting from this process, this study offers two key findings. First, Grande’s (2015) conceptualization of colonialist consciousness can be specified to identify concrete manifestations of colonialist consciousness, which can be meaningfully organized in relation to aspects of curriculum (i.e., goals/objectives, pedagogy, and assessments) and curricular components (e.g., exit tickets). Second, aspects of criticalmathematics theorizations of justice may be fruitfully reconsidered to support the disruption of mathematics educations’ (and its curricular texts’) roles in the propagation of the metaphysical and epistemological assumptions of coloniality. Implications of this study are presented generatively as actionable suggestions for textbook developers, teacher educators, and theory-driven evaluators interested in supporting the teaching and learning mathematics from an anti-colonial stance. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The diploma thesis deals with creation of software support for the robotic device used for absolute GNSS antenna calibration, which is developed by Institute of Geodesy at Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology. In the beginning of this thesis, there is in general discussed issue of absolute GNSS antenna calibration. Then the text continues by description of calibration device itself together with summary of testing performed so far. Next sections are focused on its main content. There is mentioned testing calibration process, followed by all of every single steps, which leads the procedure towards gaining calibration parameters for removing errors arising due to instability of antenna´s phase center position.

This work deals with possibilities of use of linear Hall sensors which are made as integrated circuit for construction of absolute sensors of position and rotary position. Hall sensors with permanent magnets allow a smaller construction. In this work there is described a design and solution of absolute linear sensor of position for linear drive of Stewart's platform and absolute sensors of rotary position for robotic manipulator Mini-swing. Use of these sensors adds many advantages, primary minimal size and high resolution.

Family Poaceae is one of the most derived groups of monocots. Major mechanisms of grasses evolution and particularly of tribe Triticeae and genus Elymus are polyploidisation and hybridisation. Presented diploma thesis assessed frequency and direction of hybridisation between Elymus hispidus and E. repens in Central Europe. Thesis also evaluated evolutionary importance (significantly higher ratio of hybridisation and polyploidisation) of hybrid swarm in Nature Reserve Čertoryje (Bílé Karpaty Mountains/the White Carpathians, the Czech Republic). Putative hybridizing populations were 14,4 % of sampled localities, i.e. direct presence hybrids (7,9 %) or both parental species (8,4 %). Aneuploids and higher polyploids were found exclusively in Čertoryje hybrid swarm, except one putative DNA nonaploid plant. The genome in situ hybridisation confirmed and improved knowledge of particular species/cytotypes chromosome counts and further specified their genome composition. GISH newly characterized genome composition of interspecific hybrids and higher allopolyploids and revealed their heterogeneous origin. Flow cytometry revealed continuum of absolute genome sizes among parental species and their hybrid. The continuum was rather asymmetric in direction towards E. hispidus. Model hybrid swarm Čertoryje produce...

This master thesis deals with the synthetic absolute superlative in contemporary Portuguese and its Czech counterparts. The aim was to describe the phenomenon in detail, explain the usage of doublet forms and discover the most frequent Czech counterparts of the absolute superlative in Portuguese language. The research was based on a corpora analysis of a Portuguese corpus named Corpus do Português and on a contrastive analysis of the parallel corpus Intercorp. The results show that in the case of the usage of the doublets, the borders between spoken and formal language might fade away, one of the doublets (formal vs. informal) often dominates and the usage is also influenced, apart from the level of formality, by other factors, for example by the variety of Portuguese. The most frequent Czech counterpart of the absolute superlative is a positive adjective usually bearing a higher value of expressiveness than the Portuguese adjective. The Czech language expresses the value of the absolute superlative primarily through its lexicon. Other counterparts are various expressions using adverbs, prefixes, diminutive or augmentative suffixes etc. In conclusion, a reverse control was made, and we identified the most frequent equivalents of several chosen Czech counterparts.

By means of return-based style analysis (RBSA), heterogeneous style sub-categories were identified within the TARR category of the South African unit trust market to create a framework for sub-categorisation. The study dealt with TARR funds and their place within the investment universe. The literature review emphasised the importance of asset allocation, which supports the use of RBSA to identify asset allocation. The literature review further provided a motivation for the semi-strong form of RBSA applied to the sample data. In the study, RBSA was applied to two groups within the sample data, namely funds that have data points for the full measurement period (Group 1) and funds that have less than 75 data points (Group 2). A four-phase process was applied to the sample data. The findings suggest the following:<ul><li> in general, return-based style analysis applied to each fund identifies the asset allocation for the fund and is valid; but it is emphasised that for specific periods, the explanatory power of the regression model may become questionable; </li><li> the collective results of return-based style analysis applied to the funds can be used to create a framework for sub-categorisation. The framework proposed was the result of nine out of a potential 54 funds. The explanatory power of the regression results was less questionable. The proposed framework was applied to the remaining 45 funds (Group 2), but there were indeed inconsistencies in the application; </li><li> the framework created did not raise any concerns as a result of the Group 1 analysis. However, it was questionable when applied to the Group 2 funds in its entirety; </li><li> sub-categorisation based on only the allocation to the domestic short-term asset class was definitely a criterion that was true irrelevant of which sample group it was applied to. </li></ul> / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Financial Management / unrestricted