Le sujet de cette thèse est le mur comme élément du “décor’’, tel que l’âge classique l’entend. Pour les architectes et les théoriciens du XVIe et du XVIIe siècle, le mur contribue à la beauté de l’édifice. Différentes techniques de finition permettent de l’embellir : appareils en pierre de taille dressés et ravalés, bossages, briques polychromes, enduits qui unifient et enluminent les parements. Qu’il soit nu ou orné le mur n’est jamais neutre. Les architectes disposent sur le mur des motifs qui "enrichissent" les ordonnances, mais les surfaces décoratives qui qualifient les intervalles entre les principaux éléments du décor, ouvertures ou éléments de l’ordre, et les encadrements, qui montrent le mur comme un tableau, structurent les ordonnances, avec ou sans ordres. Ces ornements qui jouent un rôle aussi important sur le plan symbolique que syntaxique ont ainsi leur place dans le système classique des ornements dans lequel les ordres tiennent le premier rôle. Les ornements du mur peuvent prendre les caractères de l’ordre mais ont aussi leur propre rhétorique ; d’une part ils ont les qualités du mur même, d’autre part ils n’ont pas la même origine : les premiers ornements classiques imitent les inscriptions des monuments funéraires ou honorifiques de l’Antiquité. Une des particularités de la façade française est l’insistance sur les lignes verticales de la travée de fenêtres qui est en soi une composition ornementale. Les architectes coordonnent deux systèmes opposés : l’horizontalité qu’impose la superposition des ordres et la verticalité de la travée de fenêtres. Ils utilisent alors deux moyens : le renforcement des moulurations horizontales et l’ornement du mur. Cette thèse confirme certaines observations sur la façade française : l’effet a-tectonique des ornements, même si ceux-ci structurent la composition. Au principe classique de l’unité de l’organisme architectural dans lequel rien de peut être ajouté ou retranché, les architectes français apportent leur réponse : tous les éléments sont des ornements ainsi que le mur lui-même, qui se montre ou se voile de légers ornements. / The subject of this thesis is the wall as element of the "decor", such as the classic age understands it. For the architects and the theorists of the XVIth and of the XVIIth century, the wall contributes to the beauty of the building. Various techniques of finish allow to embellish it: dressed stone, perfectly raised, bossages, bricks, coat which unify and illuminate facings. Naked or decorated, the wall is never neutral. The architects put on the wall motives which "enrich" the composition, but the ornamental surfaces which qualify the intervals between the main elements of the decor, openings or elements of the order, and the frames which show the wall as a picture structure the composition, with or without orders. These ornaments which play a role as important on the symbolic plan as on syntactic one have their place in the classic system of the ornaments in which the orders hold the leading part. The ornaments of the wall can take the characters of the order but also have their own rhetoric; on one hand they have the qualities of the wall, on the other hand they don’t have the same origin: the first classic ornaments imitate the inscriptions of funeral or honorary monuments of the Antiquity. One of the peculiarities of the French facades is the insistence on the vertical lines of the bay of windows which is in itself a decorative composition. The architects coordinate two opposite systems: the horizontality which imposes the superimposition of the orders and the verticality of the bay of windows. They use then two means: the intensification of the horizontal moulding and the ornament of the wall. This thesis confirms certain observations on the French facade: the a-tectonic effect of the ornaments, even if this they structure the composition. To the classic principle of unity of the architectural body in which nothing can be added or substracted, the French architects bring their answer: all the elements are ornaments as well as the wall itself, which shows or hides with light ornaments.

The advantages of cold-formed thin-walled steel studs are many and their applications in building constructions continue to grow. They are used as load-bearing members. An example is lightweight wall panel assemblies which consist of channel steel studs with gypsum plasterboard layers attached to the two flanges, often with interior insulation. At present, expensive fire tests or advanced numerical modelling methods are necessary in order to discover the fire resistance of such wall assemblies. For common practice this is not effective and a simplified method, suitable for use in daily design, is necessary. The aim of this research is to develop such simplified methods. The first main objective of this study is to develop a simple approach to calculate the temperature distributions in the steel section, in particular the temperatures on both the exposed and unexposed sides when the panel is exposed to fire exposure from one side. These two temperatures are the most influential factors in the fire resistance of this type of wall assembly. The proposed method calculates the average temperatures in the flanges of the steel section and assumes that the temperature in the web is linear. The proposed method is based on a simple heat balance analysis for a few nodes representing the key components of the wall panel. The thermal resistance of these nodes are obtained by the weighted average of thermal resistances in an effective width of the panel within which heat transfer in the panel width direction is assumed to occur. The proposed method has been extensively validated by comparison with numerical parametric studies. In order to calculate the ultimate capacity of steel studs, the traditional method is by using effective width. However, this method is now being questioned as it considers elements of section in isolation and does not consider interaction between the elements. In addition, this method is not appropriate to be extended to steel studs under fire conditions. The cross-section under fire conditions has non-uniform temperature distribution which results in the non-uniform distribution of mechanical properties. Using an effective width method to deal with this problem will require many assumptions whose accuracy is uncertain. Recently, the direct strength method (DSM) has been developed and its accuracy for ambient applications has been comprehensively validated. This method calculates cross-sectional plastic resistance and elastic critical loads for local, distortional and global buckling modes with the aid of simple computer programs. The elastic and plastic resistances are then combined to give the ultimate resistance of the structure using interaction equations. This method is suited to steel studs with non-uniform temperature distribution in the cross-section. The second main objective of this study is to extend the direct strength method for application to thin-walled steel studs having non-uniform elevated temperature distributions in the cross-section. It has been found that the DSM concept is applicable, but the interaction equations should be modified to allow for the effects of elevated temperature (non-uniform temperature distribution and changes in stress-strain relationships). Also the effects of thermal bowing should be included when calculating the plastic resistance and the elastic buckling loads of the cross-section. This research has proposed new interaction equations and has developed design tools. By comparing the results of the proposed method with validated Finite Element simulations over a very large range of parametric studies, the proposed method has been demonstrated to be valid. The validation studies include both standard and parametric fire exposures and are generally applicable.

O presente trabalho visa compreender o processo de degradação da parede celular vegetal de hospedeiros de fitopatógenos da família Xanthomonadaceae. Criamos e aperfeiçoamos uma técnica de enumeração dos genes relacionados ao metabolismo de polissacarídeos, com enfoque na distinção entre aqueles que agem sobre os componentes da parede celular vegetal e sobre outros polissacarídeos. A história evolutiva desse conjunto de enzimas foi delineada através de inferências sobre as relações de homologia entre os genes enumerados, sua presença ou ausência nos diversos genomas abordados e comparação das taxas de mutação entre grupos de homólogos. Além disso, procuramos também, com essa etapa de bioinformática e a etapa seguinte, incrementar a anotação desses genes, muitos descritos como hipotéticos ou com vaga definição de sua função. Na segunda parte do desenvolvimento do projeto foram feitos experimentos de expressão heteróloga e verificação da atividade enzimática para validação da anotação de alguns dos genes identificados. / This study aims to understand the process of degradation of host plant cell walls by plant pathogens of the Xanthomonadaceae family. We created and perfected a technique for enumeration of genes related to the metabolism of polysaccharides, focusing on the distinction between those who act on components of plant cell wall and on other polysaccharides. The evolutionary history of this group of enzymes has been outlined through inferences about the relations of homology between the genes listed, their presence or absence in different genomes and comparison of mutation rates between groups of homologues. Moreover, we also attempted with this bioinformatics step and the next step, to enhance the annotation of these genes, many described as hypothetical or vague in the determination of its function. In the second part of the project development heterologous expression and enzymatic activity assays were made to validate the annotation of some of the genes identified.

Os estudos com traqueídes vasculares em Caryophyllales têm focalizado questões filogenéticas e funcionais. Embora sejam descritas como traqueídes, com espessamento da parede secundária superior a 2µm, o relato de WBTs em diferentes tecidos em outras famílias evidencia que a definição dessas células não está bem estabelecida. O objetivo deste trabalho é compreender a ontogenia das traqueídes vasculares de Pilosocereus aurisetus (cacto colunar), descrevendo a sua estrutura em nível celular e bioquímico, bem como suas implicações funcionais e evolutivas. Para isso foi descrita a ontogênese, como base para o estudo de composição de parede, e anticorpos foram utilizados para melhor entendimento das moléculas de relevância funcional. Além disso, uma revisão anatômica que sintetiza o conhecimento atual sobre ocorrência das WBT, polimorfismo do lenho e diversidade de hábitos foi inserida em um contexto filogenético, a fim de esclarecer o papel do polimorfismo do lenho na evolução de Cactoideae. Plântulas foram incluídas em parafina para obtenção de cortes seriados, analisados em microscopia óptica e confocal. A análise de composição de parede celular foi feita com tecido xilemático de plântulas, cujos polissacarídeos foram sujeitos a hidrólise ácida, seguida de análise em cromatografia. Na imunolocalização foram utilizados os anticorpos anti-galactano LM5 e anti-arabinano LM6, para pectinas, e anti-manano, para hemiceluloses. Dados sobre a presença de traqueídes vasculares e do tipo de lenho em Cactaceae foram coletados da literatura e mapeados em uma filogenia robusta. A grande proporção de parede primária, associada à deposição de galactano, permite a função de armazenamento de água. Além disso, o aumento de parede secundária associada à deposição de manano na base, sugere função de sustentação nesta região, ainda que, somente a formação do lenho fibroso pareça fornecer o suporte necessário para que um cacto colunar atinja a altura de um adulto. Tal processo parece ter sido a predisposição anatômica crucial para a evolução dos cactos colunares. O presente estudo fornece um panorama amplo e novas evidências sobre a origem e função das traqueídes vasculares de Cactaceae. / Studies with wide-band tracheids have adressed phylogenetic and functional questions. Although these cells have been described as tracheids, with secondary cell walls thicker than 2µm, their recent register in different tissues of other families has pointed out that this definition may not be well established. The aim of the present study is to understand the ontogeny of the wide-band tracheids in Pilosocereus aurisetus (a columnar cactus), describing their structure at both celular and biochemical levels, and to investigate their possible functional and evolutionary implications for the Cactoideae as a whole. Therefore, Pilosocereus aurisetus ontogeny was studied as basis to cell wall composition analyses. Such analyses involved the use of antibodies and the identification of molecules of functional relevance. Furthermore, an anatomical review that summarizes the current knowledge about wide-band tracheid occurrence, wood polymorphism, and habit diversity was analyzed within a phylogenetic framework to investigate the role of polymorphic wood in Cactoideae evolution. Seedlings were embedded in paraffin, and the resulting sections were analyzed in optical and confocal microscopy. Studying the cell wall composition in seedling xylem involved the use of acid hydrolization of polysaccharides followed by chromatography analysis. The antibodies used for imunocitolocalization were anti-galactan LM5 and anti-arabinan LM6, for pectins, and anti-mannan, for hemicelluloses. Data about wide-band tracheids occurrence and wood polymorphism in Cactaceae were collected from the literature and mapped in a robust phylogeny for the subfamily. The prevalent proportion of primary cell wall with galactan suggests a water storage function for the wide-band tracheids. Furthermore, the rise of secondary cell wall deposition, and the high concentration of mannan in the cactus base suggest a sustaining function for this region. However, the fibrous wood development alone seems to provide enough support to sustain a mature columnar cactus. Such process may have been the most important anatomical prerequisite in the evolution of columnar cacti. The present study offers an overview and new evidences for the origin and function of wide-band tracheids.

Para quantificar o teor de lignina em alguns cultivares de aveia, foi utilizado o método espectrofotométrico "lignina solúvel em brometo de acetila – LSBA", onde a lignina é solubilizada em uma solução a 25% de brometo de acetila em ácido acético glacial e em seguida sua absorbância lida a 280 nm; como padrão de referência foi utilizada a lignina extraída da aveia através de uma solução ácida de dioxana. A quantificação da lignina foi realizada em oito cultivares de aveia, nas frações planta inteira, caule e folha, em três estádios de maturidade (45, 55 e 65 dias de idade). Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com três métodos gravimétricos: lignina detergente ácido (LDA), lignina permanganato de potássio (LPer) e lignina Klason (LK). Os quatro métodos estudados mostraram teores de lignina diferentes entre si. Os resultados de LSBA foram superiores para quase todos os cultivares, ocorrendo o inverso para a LDA. Houve uma pequena diferença em relação aos dias de corte, com dados superiores para LSBA, onde o caule apresentou maior variação em relação às demais frações. As curvas de regressão e os espectrogramas indicaram presença de diferenças qualitativas entre as ligninas provenientes da aveia forrageira nos diferentes estádios de maturidade. / To quantify lignin content in some varieties of oat, it was employed the spectrophotometric method acetyl bromide soluble lignin – ABSL where lignin is dissolved into a 25% acetyl bromide solution in glacial acetic acid and its absorbance read at 280 nm; as a standard it was employed a, lignin extracted by mild acidic dioxane solution from the same sample. Lignin quantification was evaluated in eight oat cultivars, divided in three vegetable parts (whole plant, stem and leaf), and three different maturity stages (cuts at 45, 55 and 65 days). Obtained results were compared with three gravimetric methods: acid detergent lignin (ADL), potassium permanganate lignin (PerL) and Klason lignin (KL). All four methodologies yielded different results. Overall, ABSL yielded highest values whereas ADL yielded the lowest ones. There was a slight difference related to maturity, with higher values for ABSL, where stem fraction showed higher variation when comparing to the two other vegetable parts. Regression equations and espectrograms indicated the presence of qualitative differences between lignins from at distinct maturity stages.

In this work, we have developed user interactive capabilities that allow us to perform segmentation and manipulation of patient-specific geometries required for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies, entirely in image domain and within a single platform of ‘IAFEMesh'. Within this toolkit we have added commonly required manipulation capabilities for performing CFD on segmented objects by utilizing libraries like ITK, VTK and KWWidgets. With the advent of these capabilities we can now manipulate a single patient specific image into a set of possible cases we seek to study; which is difficult to do in commercially available software like VMTK, Slicer, MITK etc. due to their limited manipulation capabilities. Levelset representation of the manipulated geometries can be simulated in our flow solver (SCIMITAR-3D) without creating any surface or volumetric mesh. This image-levelset-flow framework offers few advantages. 1) We don't need to deal with the problems associated with mesh quality, edge connectivity related to mesh models, 2) and manipulations like boolean operation result in smooth, physically realizable entities which is challanging in mesh domain. We have validated our image-levelset-flow setup with the known results from previous studies. We have modified the algorithm by Krissian et al. and implemented it for the segmentation of Type-A aortic dissection. Finally, we implemented these capabilities to study the hemodynamics in Type-A aortic dissection. Our image based framework is a first of its kind and the hemodynamic study of Type-A dissection too is first study onto the best of our knowledge.

Drug use is a global pandemic with overdose-related deaths on the rise. Technological advances have made drug markets more commonly located online, indicating that Darknet markets will become the drug markets of the future. While Darknet markets have existed since the year 2010, research on the phenomena is scarce. The Wall Street Market (WSM) was established in 2016 and by 2017 it was the world´s largest international cryptomarket. Flugsvamp 3.0 is the most current Swedish domestic drug market on Darknet. This study examined WSM and Flugsvamp 3.0, regarding available drug types, number of advertisements, prices and countries of origin on WSM. The study also compared prices on these cryptomarkets with the street prices of Stockholm. During the research process, WSM was shut down by law enforcement. Therefore, an additional day of data collecting on Flugsvamp 3.0 was conducted. The study utilized a method of structured simple observation. A descriptive analysis, with uni- and bivariate analyses, was conducted. The most common drug on both markets was Pharmaceuticals, or prescription drugs. The market with the lowest prices was WSM, while street prices in Stockholm were the lowest of all three marketplaces. Germany most commonly shipped drugs to Sweden, via transactions through WSM. After the closure of WSM both number of advertisements and prices increased on Flugsvamp 3.0, in general. There is a pressing need for further research on Darknet drug markets, as the efficiency of law enforcement efforts to combat drug use depends on it.

La collaboration entre plusieurs personnes peut prendre plusieurs formes, et la technologie soutient depuis longtemps ces pratiques. Mais lorsque la collaboration doit se faire à distance, est-elle aussi bien assistée par la technologie ? Dans ce travail, je soutiens l'idée selon laquelle le succès d'un système de télécommunications ne dépend pas de sa capacité à imiter une collaboration colocalisée, mais dans sa capacité à faciliter les pratiques collaboratives découlant des caractéristiques spécifiques de la technologie. J'explore cet argument en utilisant un mur d'écrans en tant que technologie collaborative. J'ai commencé par observer des collaborateurs effectuer leur travail quotidien à distance en utilisant des prototypes. Ensuite j'ai conduit des expériences et j'ai trouvé que les utilisateurs peuvent interpréter avec précision les instructions déictiques à distance et le regard direct quand un collaborateur à distance est affiché par une vidéo, même si celle-ci n'est pas placée directement devant l'observateur. À partir de ces résultats, j'ai créé CamRay, un outil de télécommunication qui utilise une rangée de caméras pour enregistrer le visage des utilisateurs lorsqu'ils parcourent physiquement les données le long de l'écran et présente cette vidéo sur un autre mur d'écrans distant par dessus le contenu existant. Je propose deux possibilités pour afficher la vidéo: Follow-Local, où le flux vidéo de l'utilisateur distant suit l'utilisateur local, et Follow-Remote où il suit l'utilisateur distant. Je montre que Follow-Remote préserve les relations spatiales entre le collaborateur à distance et le contenu de l'écran, créant ainsi la possibilité de désigner les objets par des gestes de pointage, tandis que Follow-Local facilite les conversations grâce à un face-à-face virtuel qui transmet plus facilement la communication gestuelle. Finalement, je me base sur ces résultats pour guider la conception de futurs systèmes de communications à distance entre murs d'écrans, et dégager des considérations à suivre lorsque des capacités de communication à distance sont ajoutées à de nouvelles technologies. / Collaboration can take many forms, for which technology has long provided digital support. But when collaborators are located remotely, to what extent does technology support these activities? In this dissertation, I argue that the success of a telecommunications system does not depend on its capacity to imitate co-located conditions, but in its ability to support the collaborative practices that emerge from the specific characteristics of the technology. I explore this using wall-sized displays as a collaborative technology. I started by observing collaborators perform their daily work at a distance using prototypes. I then conducted experiments and found that people can accurately interpret remote deictic instructions and direct gaze when performed by a remote collaborator through video, even when this video is not placed directly in front of the observer. Based on these findings, I built CamRay, a telecommunication system that uses an array of cameras to capture users' faces as they physically navigate data on a wall-sized display, and presents this video in a remote display on top of existing content. I propose two ways of displaying video: Follow-Local, where the video feed of the remote collaborator follows the local user, and Follow-Remote, where it follows the remote user. I find that Follow-Remote preserves the spatial relations between the remote speaker and the content, supporting pointing gestures, while Follow-Local enables virtual face-to-face conversations, supporting representational gestures. Finally, I summarize these findings to inform the design of future systems for remote collaboration across wall-sized displays.

La paroi végétale assure des fonctions biologiques majeures définissant la singularité des plantes ; elle est également à l'origine de multiples applications en tant que ressource agro-alimentaire, source de biomatériaux ou encore pour la production de biocarburants. Malgré cette importance fondamentale et pratique de la paroi végétale, la connaissance de sa biosynthèse apparaît à ce jour toujours très limitée. En effet, la faible abondance des glycosyltransférases (GTs) responsables de sa biosynthèse, l'absence de substrat spécifique et les difficultés à obtenir certains nucléotides-sucres nécessaires aux tests enzymatiques, a souvent rendu difficile les approches de biochimie classiques. Cependant, le séquençage de génomes (Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Poplar populus), la création de banques de mutants d'insertion et la classification des activités glycosyltransférases dans la base de données CAZy (www.cazy.org) sont autant d'outils récents ayant permis des avancées significatives vers la compréhension de la biosynthèse de la paroi des végétaux. Le CERMAV a participé à ce type d'avancée en 2009, en publiant une liste de 24 gènes candidats, nommés « NGT » pour « Nouvelles GlycosylTransférases », présentant des signatures caractéristiques des glycosyltransférases. Afin de démontrer l'implication des gènes NGT dans les processus d'édification de la paroi végétale, nous avons développé une approche de génomique fonctionnelle, analysant en parallèle des lignées mutantes d'Arabidopsis altérées pour les gènes NGT et testant l'activité GT de ces protéines exprimées en systèmes hétérologues. Durant mes travaux de thèse j'ai pu caractériser 15 lignées mutantes à l'état homozygote pour 7 des 24 gènes NGT. Ces lignées homozygotes ont été criblées afin de rechercher un phénotype d'altération du développement ou de la composition en sucres de leur paroi qui soit corrélé à l'altération des gènes NGT. Ce travail de criblage a conduit à s'intéresser plus particulièrement aux mutants ngt1-1 et ngt1-2 altérés pour le gène NGT1 (At5g28910). La caractérisation des lignées mutantes ngt1-1 et ngt1-2 a permis de quantifier un phénotype de croissance foliaire réduit de 38%, par comparaison au développement des feuilles de la plante sauvage. Par ailleurs, la caractérisation biochimique de la paroi des mutants a révélé des réductions significatives et quantitatives de l'arabinose, du galactose et du rhamnose dans la paroi des mutants, ainsi que des modifications qualitatives marquées principalement des arabinanes. L'altération des arabinanes a d'ailleurs pu être confirmée par microscopie après immuno-marquage de sections d'hypocotyle de mutants à l'aide des anticorps monoclonaux LM6 et LM13 dirigés contre des épitopes α-1,5-arabinanes. Il a pu être montré également que la complémentation des mutants par une construction 35S::NGT1 permet de restaurer un phénotype sauvage à ces mutants. Par ailleurs, de façon à tester l'activité glycosyltransférase de la protéine NGT1, nous avons réalisé son expression en système hétérologue. A ce jour, malgré des résultats préliminaires encourageants, il n'a pas été possible de déterminer des conditions de tests permettant d'observer une activité glycosyltransférase suffisante et reproductible pour la protéine NGT1, que ce soit une activité fucosyltransférase (correspondant à la signature de la séquence du gène) ou bien une activité arabinosyltransférase (correspondant au phénotype biochimique des mutants ngt1). / The plant cell wall not only defines the unique biology of the plants but also have practical applications as feedstock for biomaterials and for the production of biofuels. Plant primary cell wall is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectins. Significant progress has been made recently in identifying the enzymes involved in plant cell wall biosynthesis, but only a handful of those have been involved in pectin biosynthesis. With the aim of identifying new putative glycosyltransferases (GTs), in lab Hansen et al 2009 designed a bioinformatic strategy and identified a new group of 24 genes called “NGT” for (Novel Glycosyltransferase) which were considered “strong” candidates for putative glycosyltransferase activities. In order to determine the putative role of these NGT genes in plant cell wall biosynthesis, we designed a functional genomics strategy, analysing in parallel Arabidopsis T-DNA mutant lines and performing heterologous expression of candidate genes. I have characterized 15 homozygous mutant lines among the group of 24 putative NGT genes through PCR. We analysed the homozygous mutants for phenotypic alteration such as dwarfing or organ malformation and found that some of mutant lines have narrow leaves as compared to Wild type plants. In parallel I have carried out the cell wall chemical analysis of 12 homozygous mutant lines and did not get any strong difference in neutral monosaccharide composition. The detailed and complete analysis (chemical, expression and microscopic analysis) of all the above mentioned genes could have been time consuming and an overwhelming work, so I focused on At5g28910 (named NGT1) which harbours a fucosyltransferase peptide signature and on At5g14550 (named P), a gene belonging to the DUF266 gene family. Homozygous T-DNA mutant lines ngt1-1 and ngt1-2 lines were analyzed and showed a reduced growth phenotype (leaf area). Leaf area was quantified at various development stages using ImageJ, and showed a 38% reduction in mutants. Additionally, biochemical characterization of the cell wall was performed showing a reduction in neutral monosaccharide contents, like arabinose, rhamnose and galactose in mutant cell wall. Furthermore glycosyl linkage analysis of mutant lines ngt1-1 and ngt1-2 has shown that 5-Arabinofuranose (5-Araf) and 3,5-Arabinofuranose (3,5-Araf ) contents were decreased as compared to Wild type Col0 cell wall. These results were also confirmed by immunolabeling of stem cross section of mutant and wild type plants. The complementation of the mutant plants through Agrobacterium transformation resulted in the complete restoration of plant phenotype. Taken together, these data suggest that NGT1 could be an arabinosyltransferase. In order to characterize its biochemical activity, the NGT1 protein was heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris. The recombinant protein was used to perform in vitro activity tests, but we were unable to demonstrate any neither fucosyltransferase (on the basis of peptide signature) nor arabinosyltransferase activity. In parallel to this study, I contributed to the heterologous expression and characterization of two biochemically characterized Arabidopsis GTs involved in xyloglucan synthesis: the fucosyltransferase (AtFUT1) and xylosyltransferase (AtXT1). I have successfully expressed a truncated and active form of AtFUT1, which represents an essential step for further structural studies that will be undertaken in the lab.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an important semiconducting metal oxide and is expected to play an important role in future applications related to photonic crystals, energy storage, and photocatalysis. Two aspects regarding the combustion synthesis have been investigated; scale-up in laboratory synthesis and advanced nanoparticle synthesis. Concerning the scale-up issue, a novel curved wall-jet (CWJ) burner was designed for flame synthesis. This was achieved by injecting precursors of TiO2 through a central port into different flames zones that were stabilized by supplying fuel/air mixtures as an annular-inward jet over the curved wall. This provides a rapid mixing of precursors in the reaction zone with hot products. In order to increase the contact surface between the precursor and reactants as well as its residence time within the hot products, we proposed two different modifications. The CWJ burner was modified by adding a poppet valve on top of the central port to deliver the precursor tangentially into the recirculating flow upstream within the recirculation zone. Another modification was made by adopting double-slit curved wall-jet (DS-CWJ) configuration, one for the reacting mixture and the other for the precursor instead of the central port. Particle growth of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and their phases were investigated. Ethylene (C2H4), propane (C3H8), and methane (CH4) were used with varying equivalence ratio and Reynolds number and titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) was the precursor. Flow field and flame structure were quantified using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and OH planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) techniques, respectively. TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, and BET nitrogen adsorption for surface area analysis. The flow field quantified by PIV consisted of a wall-jet region leading to a recirculation zone, an interaction jet region, followed by a merged-jet region. The modified CWJ burner revealed appreciable mixing characteristics between the precursor and combustion gases within these regions, with a slight increase in the axial velocity due to the precursor injection. This led to more uniformity in particle size distribution of the synthesized nanoparticles with the poppet valve (first modification). The double-slit modification improved the uniformity of generated nanoparticles at a very wide range of stable experimental conditions. Images of OH fluorescence showed that flames are tightly attached to the burner tip and TTIP has no influence on these flames structures. The particle size was slightly affected by the operating conditions. The phase of TiO2 nanoparticles was mainly dependent on the equivalence ratio and fuel type, which impact flame height, heat release rate and high temperature residence time of the precursor vapor. For ethylene and methane flames, the anatase content is proportional to the equivalence ratio, whereas it is inversely proportional in the case of propane flames. The anatase content reduced by 8% as we changed Re between 8,000 and 19,000, implying that the Re has a slight effect on the anatase content. The synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited high crystallinity and the anatase phase was dominant at high equivalence ratios (φ >1.6) for C2H4, and at low equivalence ratios (φ <1.3) for the C3H8 flame. Concerning advanced nanoparticle synthesis, a multiple diffusion burner and flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) were adopted in this study to investigate the effect of doping/coating on TiO2 nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized by the previously mentioned techniques in addition to thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for carbon content, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for surface chemistry, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) for light absorbance, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for metal traces, and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) for magnetic properties. Results from multi diffusion burner show that doping TiO2 with vanadium changes the phase from anatase to rutile while doping and coating with carbon or SiO2 does not affect the phase. Doping with iron reduces the band gab of TiO2 particles by reducing the conduction band. FSP results show that iron doping changes the valance band of the nanoparticles and enhances their paramagnetic behavior as well as better light absorption than pure titania, which make these particles good candidates for photocatalytic applications.