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ABSTRACT URBAN FISSURE: RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE LAND WALLS WITHIN THE URBAN MILIEU OF ISTANBUL Bas B&uuml / t&uuml / ner, Funda Ph.D. Department of City and Regional Planning Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Baykan G&uuml / nay Co-Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Namik Erkal December 2010, 306 pages The major intention of this thesis is to introduce a new concept &ndash / urban fissure- to discuss the positionality and spatiality of city walls within contemporary urban milieus. Besides being an architectural defense structure, covering a considerable amount of land in cities, city walls have always been an important urban component. Land Walls has been a unique example of city walls that have existed for 15 centuries as an untouchable object in a metropolitan city like Istanbul. After the Ottoman Conquest in 1453, Land Walls lost their major defense purpose, and became a part of civilian life. From that time until the mid-20th century they loosely marked the west edge of the city. However, in the second half of the 20th century, with the enormous expansion of Istanbul, Land Walls have remained in the middle of the city. Throughout their history, they have produced a diversity of spaces, uses and traditions. Their unusual structure, and their complex spatiality including spaces adjoining and around them have generated several challenging processes. They have raised uncertainties and sometimes problems not only in spatial terms, but also in regulations and implementations. In this respect, regarding their current positionality and spatiality, this thesis argues Land Walls and walled zone as an urban fissure which is supposed to make them legible within the urban milieu of Istanbul.

This study evaluates the relationship of the Civilian Conservation Corps' stonework in Indiana's state parks and the National Park Service's design guidelines for stone landscape features. The design guidelines were instrumental in establishing an overall design approach for many of the stone structures evaluated in this study. A general history of the Civilian Conservation Corp program provides the context for the program as well as the relationship to stonework in Indiana's state parks. Through a sampling of stone landscape features in six Indiana state parks it can be concluded that the Civilian Conservation Corps were impacted by the National Park Service's design guidelines. At the same time the Civilian Conservation Corps deviated from the guidelines and improvised with their own variation. / Department of Architecture

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.56-59).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MSc (Genetics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Title page: Dept. of Genetics, Faculty of Science. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Undeniably, changes in the environment and dwindling traditional energy resources have resulted in the search for viable, renewable energy alternatives such as biofuels. Cellulose is one of the most abundant polymers on earth and can be converted to simple sugars and fermented to ethanol biofuel fairly easily. Cellulose rich biomass that can serve to supply ethanol biofuel production can be sourced from unexploited agricultural waste. The main drawback to using vegetative tissue as opposed to harvested food stocks from crops results from the structural properties of plant cell walls. Although cellulose is abundant, the contaminating hemicellulose and lignin fibres within the cell wall matrix have a negative impact on the digestibility of the cellulose present. Thus, an important step in creating an effective biofuel production system from agricultural excess is developing crops with improved cell wall polymer characteristics that can be converted to ethanol more efficiently. This project consisted of two parts. Firstly, the aim was to assess lignin production in transgenic sugarcane transformed with a construct aimed at down-regulating the 4- (hydroxyl) cinnamoyl CoA ligase (4CL) gene in the lignin biosynthesis pathway. The second part of the project revolved around discovering the mechanism of impared cell growth caused by expressing the gene encoding cellulose synthase from a marine invertebrate, Ciona savignyi, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several sugarcane lines that had been previously transformed with a hairpin RNAi construct aimed at down-regulating the 4CL gene in the monolignol biosynthesis pathway were subjected to analysis to determine if lignification had been reduced. Although the presence of the hairpin construct in the genomic DNA had been confirmed for all of the transgenic lines, there was no significant decrease in the lignin levels in any of the transgenic lines. PCR analysis of the mRNA and enzyme assays also confirmed that the 4CL gene was still being expressed. Ongoing work will determine the cause of the unsuccessful down-regulation. Previously, it had been proven that the cellulose synthase gene from C. savignyi could be functionally expressed in S. cerevisiae. However, cellulose production resulted in extremely retarded growth of colonies and cultures, to the point of the apparent death of the cultures. The aim of this part of the project was to determine the mechanism (either metabolic or physical) that causes this effect. To generate enough cell mass to perform metabolic analysis, several strategies to impede cellulose production in transgenic yeast were explored. Attempts to stop cellulose production and induce better growth by introducing Isoxaben (a traditional weed killer that targets cellulose synthases) into the growth medium used for the transgenic yeast proved unsuccessful. To control the expression of the transgene, it was attempted to clone the cellulose synthase gene into an expression system containing an inducible promoter. The cloning exercise proved extremely difficult and multiple attempts with several strategies proved unsuccessful. This process is still ongoing as the growth retarding process induced by cellulose production in yeast remains to be identified. / AFRIKAAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is onontkenbaar dat veranderinge in die omgewing en minderwordende tradisionele energiebronne veroorsaak dat lewensvatbare en hernubare energiebronne soos biobrandstof gevind moet word. Sellulose is een van die mees volop polimere op aarde en kan redelik maklik omgeskakel word na eenvoudige suikers en gefermenteer word tot etanol-biobrandstof. Sellulose-ryk biomassa wat etanol-biobrandstof kan verskaf, kan herwin word van tot op hede ongebruikte landbou-afval. Die komplekse struktuur van plantselwande is die hoofstruikelblok in die omskakeling van vegetatiewe weefsel tot biobrandstof. Hoewel sellulose volop is, het die kontaminerende hemisellulose- en lignienvesels binne die selwand-matriks ’n negatiewe impak op die verteerbaarheid van die sellulose teenwoordig in die selwand. Daarom is ’n belangrike stap in die ontwikkeling van effektiewe biobrandstof-produksiesisteme vanaf landbou-afval om gewasse te ontwikkel met verbeterde selwandpolimeer-eienskappe wat etanol-produksie kan vergemakilik. Hierdie projek het bestaan uit twee dele. Eerstens was die doel om vas te stel of die lignienproduksie geaffekteer is in transgeniese suikerriet getransformeer met ’n konstruk wat mik om die 4-(hidroksie)-cinnamoyl CoA ligase (4CL) geen te af-reguleer in die lignienbiosintese- padweg. Die tweede deel van die projek het daarop gefokus om die meganisme te ondek wat die belemmerde selgroei veroorsaak, as gevolg van die uitdrukking van die geen wat kodeer vir sellulose-sintase in ’n mariene ongewerwelde, Ciona savignyi, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Verskeie suikerriet-lyne, wat voorheen getransformeer is met ’n haarnaald-RNAi-konstruk om die 4CL-geen te af-reguleer in die monolignol-biosintese-padweg, is onderwerp aan analise om vas te stel of lignifikasie verminder is. Hoewel die teenwoordigheid van die haarnaald-konstruk in die genomiese DNA bevestig is vir al die transgeniese lyne, was daar geen beduidende vermindering in die lignienvlakke in die transgeniese lyne nie. PKRanalise van die mRNA en ensiem-aktiwiteitstoetse het ook bevestig dat die 4CL-geen steeds uitgedruk word. Verdere ondersoek sal kan vasstel wat die oorsaak van die onsuksesvolle af-regulering is. Voorheen is bewys dat die sellulose-sintase-geen van C. savignyi funksioneel uitgedruk kon word in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Egter, selluloseproduksie het die gevolg gehad dat groei in die transgeniese kolonies en kulture erg gestrem is, tot die punt dat die kulture dood voorgekom het. Die doel van hierdie deel van die projek was om vas te stel wat die meganisme (òf metabolies òf fisies) is wat hierdie verskynsel veroorsaak het. Om genoeg selmassa te genereer om metaboliese analise uit te voer, is verskeie strategieë om selluloseproduksie in transgeniese gis te verhinder, ondersoek. Pogings om selluloseproduksie te stop en om groei te verbeter deur Isoxaben by te voeg in die groeimedium gebruik vir transgeniese gis, was onsuksesvol. Isoxaben is ’n tradisionele onkruiddoder wat sellulose-sintases teiken en inhibeer. Om die uitdrukking van die transgeen te beheer, is ’n poging aangewend om dié sellulose-sintase-geen in ’n uitdrukking-sisteem te kloon met ’n induseerbare promotor. Die kloneringsoefening was uiters moeilik en veelvoudige pogings met verskeie strategieë was onsuksesvol. Hierdie proses moet verder gevoer word aangesien die groeistremmingsmeganisme veroorsaak deur selluloseproduksie in gis nog geïdentifiseer moet word.

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The behavior of wood shear walls has been the focus of researchers and engineers for many years due to their availability in the North American construction landscape. A review of the established literature showed that most of the research have focused on the shear wall behavior as a whole with no investigation specifically targeting the individual components of its deflection. Also, little to no attention has been given to the investigation of the cumulative effects especially when the out-of-plane diaphragm stiffness is considered. The current study aims at investigating the effects of construction details variation on the behavior of the shear walls and evaluating whether the current deflection equation, as per wood design standard (CSA 2014) can adequately predict the overall wall stiffness. A total of 27 full-scale single-storey walls, with different construction details and aspect ratios, were tested under either static or monotonic (as both are the same) loading. The parameters that were varied in the testing were the stud size and spacing, nail diameter and spacing, sheathing panel type and thickness and hold-down anchoring system/type. For the two-storey walls, two different loading cases were considered, namely where the load was applied at the top or bottom storey only. The results showed that the strength and stiffness correlated almost directly to the inverse of the wall aspect ratio. There was no clear trend when considering the effect of the walls’ aspect ratios on ductility. Unexpectedly, walls with aspect ratios not permitted according to the wood design standard (4:1 and 6:1) followed similar strength and stiffness trends and had sufficient ductility ratios as those with smaller aspect ratios. This observation explains in part some of the discrepancies found between engineering calculations and behavior of actual building with light frame wood shear walls. Significant discrepancies were found when comparing the various deflection constituent with those estimated using the design expression. Adding more end studs and changing the size of the studs had no significant effect on the overall wall capacity and little effect on its stiffness. Reducing the stud spacing had, as expected, no effect on the wall capacity; however, the results showed that the bending stiffness was affected by the overall number of studs in the wall and not solely by the end studs. Shear walls sheathed with plywood panels exhibits slightly higher peak load and initial stiffness than those with OSB, which was mainly attributed to the greater panel thickness, and possibly density, of the plywood. Both sheathing types provided similar levels of ductility, as expected. Thicker sheathing increased the capacity and stiffness of the wall with no significant change observed in ductility ratio. The wall strength was significantly affected by the nail diameter and nail spacing, but no difference was observed when the nail edge/end distance was increased. The results also showed that discrete hold-down system behaved in a non-linear manner with a significantly greater initial stiffness than that assumed in design. The study also showed that having continuous hold-down connections has a positive effect on the capacity, stiffness and ductility of the wall when compared with discrete hold-downs. Having no hold-down adversely affects the wall capacity and stiffness, but did not affect the ductility of the wall. For the two-storey walls, the deflection estimated based on the cumulative effect assumption showed slight differences when compared with that observed in the experimental study. It was observed that the majority of the cumulative effect stems from the rigid body rotation due to deformation in the hold-down devices. A Computer shear wall model (through SAP2000) was developed using linear “frame” and “membrane” elements for the framing and sheathing members, respectively, whereas the sheathing to framing nails and hold-down were modeled using nonlinear springs. It was found that the model was capable of predicting the peak load, ultimate deflection and yield loads with reasonable accuracy, but overestimated the initial stiffness and ductility of the walls. In general, when the force-displacement curves were compared it was evident that the model was capable of predicting the wall behaviour with reasonable accuracy. When investigating the cumulative effects using the model, the results clearly showed that the assumption of cumulative effects due to rigid body rotation is valid for stacked shearwalls with no consideration for the floor diaphragm. The effect of the diaphragm on the behavior of the shear walls, in particular its out-of-plane rigidity was simulated by modeling the floors as beam. The out of plane stiffness of the shear walls was investigated for idealized (infinitely stiff or flexible) as well as “realistic”. The results showed reductions in the shearwall deflection in the magnitude of approximately 80% considering the out of plane rigidity of the diaphragm. It was also concluded that considering conservative estimates of out of plane stiffness might lead to a very significant reduction in deflection and that assuming the floor diaphragm to be infinitely rigid out of plan seems reasonable. For diaphragms supported on multiple panels further reduction in the deflection was observed. More work, particularly at the experimental level, is needed to verify the finding obtained in the numerical investigation related to the effect of out of plane diaphragm stiffness.

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Unreinforced masonry (URM) walls are often used as load-bearing or infill walls in buildings in many countries. Such walls are also commonly found in existing and heritage buildings in Canada. URM walls are strong structural elements when subjected to axial loading, but are very vulnerable under out-of-plane loads. This type of loading may come from different sources , including seismic or blast events. When subjected to blast, wall elements experience large pressures on one of their faces due to the high pressure produced in the air when an explosion takes place. This wave of compressed air travels in a very short time and hits the wall causing immense stresses, which result in large shear and bending demands that may lead to wall failure, and the projection of debris at high velocities that can injure building occupants. This failure process is highly brittle due to the very low out-of-plane strength that characterize such walls. In the past years, many investigations have been carried out to enhance the structural behaviour of unreinforced masonry walls under out-of-plane loading. Different strengthening methods have been studied, which include the use of polyurea coatings, the application of advanced fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites or the use of concrete overlays in combination with high performance reinforcement. Fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) is a new composite material that overcomes some of the drawbacks of FRP. This composite material consists of applying coatings which consist of one or more layers of cement-based mortar reinforced with a corresponding open mesh of dry fibers (fabric). This material has been studied as a strengthening technique to improve in-plane and out-of-plane capacity of existing URM walls as well as other structural elements, mostly under seismic actions. This thesis presents an experimental and analytical study which investigates the effectiveness of using FRCM composites to improve the out-of-plane resistance of URM walls when subjected to blast loading. As part of the experimental program, three large-scale URM masonry walls were constructed and strengthened with 1,2 and 3 layers of FRCM using unidirectional carbon fabrics. In all cases the specimens were built as load-bearing concrete masonry (CMU) walls. To increase shear resistance, two of the walls were also grouted with a flowable self-compacting concrete (SCC) mortar. Blast tests were conducted using the University of Ottawa Shock Tube and the results are compared with control walls tested in previous research at the University of Ottawa. The experimental results show that the FRCM retrofit significantly improved the blast performance of the URM load-bearing walls, allowing for increased blast capacity and improved control of displacements. The performance of the retrofit was found to be dependent on the number of retrofit layers. As part of the analytical research, Single Degree of Freedom (SDOF) analysis was carried out to predict the blast behaviour of the strengthened walls. This was done by computing wall flexural strength using plane sectional analysis and developing idealized resistance curves for use in the SDOF analysis. In general, the analysis procedure is found to produce reasonably accurate results for both the resistance functions and wall mid-height displacements under blast loading.