In the construction industry, concrete is the most common material, because of its good properties such as compressive strength and endurance. Concrete is a composition of several different materials where one of the main components is cement. When the hydration process starts, large amount of heat is generated. This leads to temperature rise within the structure. The heat development that takes place can become critical for massive structures such as dams and power plants, where natural cooling is not sufficient. This in combination with internal and external restraint resulting in tensions causing cracks in the structure. By controlling the temperature development, one can reduce the risk of cracking in massive structures. The controlling is divided into pre-cooling and post-cooling. Reduction of the risk for thermal cracking can be done in different ways. Parts of the cement in the concrete can be replaced by a pozzolan material such as silica fume, blast furnace slag or fly ash. Another method is to increase the size of the aggregates which makes it possible to reduce the cement content with remained strength. Cooling the aggregates or use of ice can also be used as a pre-cooling methods. The most common post-cooling method is the installation of cooling pipes. Pipes are installed between the reinforcement bars, in which one then pump through with cold water. This thesis aims at practicing the methods examined by Lagundžija & Thiam (2017). Focusing on those results that proved to be most effective, i.e. the combination of fly ash, ice and large aggregates. The results retrieved during the tests shows a significant increase in the compressive strength when using a combination of fly ash, ice and large aggregates. This gives us the opportunity to reduce the initial cement content. Reducing the cement content is the most effective factor regarding the heat development. When replacing amounts of the water with ice, it can be seen that the initial casting temperature was reduced. Further studies can be done to find the right amount of reduction of the cement that can be done while maintaining the required compressive strength. / Inom byggbranschen är betong det mest förekommande materialet, detta tack vare dess goda egenskaper, som till exempel tryckhållfasthet och uthållighet. Betongen utgörs av flera olika beståndsdelar där den centrala komponenten är cement. När cementets hydratationsprocess startar utvecklas en markant värmeutveckling. Detta leder till temperaturhöjningar inuti den nygjutna konstruktionen. Värmeutvecklingen kan bli kritisk för grövre konstruktioner, som till exempel dammar och kraftverk, där naturlig avkylning inte är tillräcklig. Detta i kombination med att inre och yttre tvång resulterar i dragspänningar som orsakar sprickor i konstruktionen. Genom att styra temperaturutvecklingen kan man minska risken för sprickbildning i massiva konstruktioner. Styrningen delas in i förberedande kylning och efterkylning. Reduktion av risken för termisk sprickbildning kan ske på olika sätt. Delar av cementen i betongen kan ersättas med ett puzzolant material som till exempel silikatstoft, masugnsslagg eller flygaska. En annan metod är att öka ballaststorleken vilket gör det möjligt att minska cementhalten med kvarvarande hållfasthet. Man kan även kyla ballasten alternativt blanda in is i mixen för att sänka den initiala temperaturen. Den mest förekommande efterkylningsmetoden är installation av kylrör. Det monteras in rör mellan armeringsjärnen, vilket man sedan pumpar kallt vatten igenom. Denna uppsats syftar på att praktiskt tillämpa de metoder som undersöktes av Lagundžija & Thiam (2017). Fokus på de resultat som visade sig vara mest effektiva, dvs kombinationen av flygaska, is och grov ballast. Resultaten som uppnåddes under de tester som utfördes visar en markant ökning i tryckhållfastheten vid användning av kombinationen med flygaska, is och grov ballast. Detta ger oss utrymmet att reducera den initiala cementhalten som används. Att minska cementinnehållet är den faktor som ger störst effekt gällande värmeutvecklingen. Fortsatta studier kan göras för att hitta rätt mängd reduktion av cementet som kan göras samtidigt som anvisad tryckhållfasthet bibehålls.

Random sampling is one of the most widely used means to build synopses of large datasets because random samples can be used for a wide range of analytical tasks. Unfortunately, the quality of the estimates derived from a sample is negatively affected by the presence of 'outliers' in the data. In this paper, we show how to circumvent this shortcoming by constructing outlier-aware sample synopses. Our approach extends the well-known outlier indexing scheme to multiple aggregation columns.

Ce travail de thèse se propose d’étudier le retard de croissance intra-utérin sous l’angle de la cytogénétique placentaire, avec deux approches distinctes et complémentaires. La première approche visera à réévaluer l’influence des anomalies chromosomiques limitées au placenta sur la croissance fœtale, car des études précédentes ont rapporté des résultats contradictoires à ce sujet. La première partie de ce travail permettra en outre d’étudier l’incidence et l’influence de la disomie uniparentale chez les fœtus issus des grossesses compliquées d’une anomalie chromosomique limitée au placenta. La deuxième approche de notre travail s’intéressera à la longueur de structures chromosomiques particulières, les télomères, au niveau placentaire. Il a récemment été décrit que la longueur des télomères des cellules placentaires était réduite au terme des grossesses compliquées d’un retard de croissance intra-utérin. La longueur télomérique placentaire n’a jamais été évaluée au cours de ces grossesses et pourrait potentiellement être utilisée comme biomarqueur placentaire du retard de croissance intra-utérin. La deuxième partie de ce travail nous permettra également d’évaluer le nombre de copies des régions chromosomiques portant les gènes codant pour les principales sous-unités du complexe enzymatique télomérase et de rechercher la présence d’agrégats télomériques au niveau placentaire en cas de retard de croissance intra-utérin. / This thesis proposes to study intrauterine growth restriction in terms of cytogenetics of placenta, with two distinct and complementary approaches. The first approach will be to reassess the influence of confined placental mosaicism on fetal growth, as previous studies have reported conflicting results on this issue. The first part of this work will also study the influence of fetal uniparental disomy in case of confined placental mosaicism. The second approach of our work will focus on the length of terminal chromosomal structures, telomeres, at the placental level. It has recently been reported that telomere length was reduced in placental cells collected at term in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction. Placental telomere length has never been evaluated in ongoing pregnancies and it could potentially be used as a placental biomarker of intrauterine growth restriction. The second part of this work will also focus on the copy number of chromosomal regions carrying genes encoding the main subunits of the telomerase enzyme complex and will look for the presence of placental telomeric aggregates in case of intrauterine growth restriction.

Στην εργασία αυτή αξιολογούνται οι πετρογραφικές και φυσικομηχανικές ιδιότητες που καθορίζουν την καταλληλότητα των ανθρακικών σχηματισμών του Νομού Αιτωλοακαρνανίας Δυτικής Ελλάδας,που ανήκουν στη ζώνη Ωλονού-Πίνδου ηλικίας Άνω Κρητιδικού.Σκοπός είναι να συσχετισθούν οι ιδιότητες αυτές,να προσδιοριστεί η συμπεριφορά των αργιλικών προσμίξεων και να καθορισθεί η καταλληλότητας τους,για χρήση τους ως αδρανή σε έργα οδοποιϊας.Δυο από τις δοκιμές που προσδιορίζουν την καθαρότητα των αδρανών είναι η δοκιμή ισοδύναμου άμμου και η δοκιμή μπλε του μεθυλενίου,τα αποτελέσματα των οποίων συσχετίστηκαν με τις πετρογραφικές και φυσικομηχανικές παραμέτρους των πετρωμάτων. / In this paper we evaluate the petrographic and physicomechanical properties which determine the suitability of carbonate formations of Aitoloakarnania Western Greece , in Olonos - Pindos unit Cretaceous age.The objective is to relate these properties to determine the behavior of clay impurities and determine the suitability for use as aggregates in road construction.Two of the tests that used to determine the purity of the aggregates is the sand equivalent and methylene blue, the results of which were associated with the petrographic and physico-mechanical parameters of rocks .

The homo and hetero dimerisation of two spectroscopically different chromophores were studied, namely: 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diazas-indacene (g-BODIPY) and its 5-styryl-derivative (r-BODIPY). Various spectroscopic properties of the r-BODIPY in different common solvents were determined. It was shown that g- and r-BODIPY in the ground state can form homo- as well as hetero dimers. We demonstrate that the ganglioside GM1 in lipid bilayers of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) exhibits a non-uniform lateral distribution, which is an argument in favour of self-aggregation of GM1 being an intrinsic property of the GM1. This was concluded from energy transfer/migration studies of BODIPY-labelled gangliosides. An algorithm is presented that quantitatively accounts for donor–donor energy migration (DDEM) among fluorophore-labelled proteins forming regular non-covalent polymers. The DDEM algorithm is based on Monte Carlo (MC) and Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations and applies to the calculation of fluorescence depolarisation data, such as the fluorescence anisotropy. Thereby local orientations, as well as reorienting motions of the fluorescent groups are considered in the absence and presence of DDEM among them. A new method, in which a genetic algorithm (GA) was combined with BD and MC simulations, was developed to analyse fluorescence depolarisation data collected by the time-correlated single photon counting technique. It was applied to study g-BODIPY-labelled filamentous actin (F-actin). The technique registered the local order and reorienting motions of the fluorophores, which were covalently coupled to cysteine 374 (C374) in actin and interacted by means of electronic energy migration within the polymer. Analyses of F-actin samples composed of different fractions of labelled actin molecules revealed the known helical organiszation of F-actin, and demonstrated the usefulness of this technique for structure determination of complex protein polymers. The distance from the filament axis to the fluorophore was found to be considerably less than expected from the proposed position of C374 at a high filament radius. In addition, polymerisation experiments with BODIPY-actin suggest a 25-fold more efficient signal for filament formation than pyrene-actin.

No description available.

No description available.

The provision of clean drinking water typically involves treatment processes to remove contaminants. The conventional process involves coagulation with hydrolysing metal salts, typically of aluminium (‘alum’) or trivalent iron (‘ferric’). Along with the product water this also produces a waste by-product, or sludge. The fact of increasing sludge production — due to higher levels of treatment and greater volume of water supply — conflicts with modern demands for environmental best practice, leading to higher financial costs. A further issue is the significant quantity of water that is held up in the sludge, and wasted. / One means of dealing with these problems is to dewater the sludge further. This reduces the volume of waste to be disposed of. The consistency is also improved (e.g. for the purpose of landfilling). And a significant amount of water can be recovered. The efficiency, and efficacy, of this process depends on the dewaterability of the sludge.In fact, good dewaterability is vital to the operation of conventional drinking water treatment plants (WTP’s). The usual process of separating the particulates, formed from a blend of contaminants and coagulated precipitate, relies on ‘clarification’ and ‘thickening’, which are essentially settling operations of solid–liquid separation.WTP operators — and researchers — do attempt to measure sludge dewaterability, but usually rely on empirical characterisation techniques that do not tell the full story and can even mislead. Understanding of the physical and chemical nature of the sludge is also surprisingly rudimentary, considering the long history of these processes. / The present work begins by reviewing the current state of knowledge on raw water and sludge composition, with special focus on solid aluminium and iron phases and on fractal aggregate structure. Next the theory of dewatering is examined, with the adopted phenomenological theory contrasted with empirical techniques and other theories.The foundation for subsequent analyses is laid by experimental work which establishes the solid phase density of WTP sludges. Additionally, alum sludges are found to contain pseudoböhmite, while 2-line ferrihydrite and goethite are identified in ferric sludges. / A key hypothesis is that dewaterability is partly determined by the treatment conditions. To investigate this, numerous WTP sludges were studied that had been generated under diverse conditions: some plant samples were obtained, and the remainder were generated in the laboratory (results were consistent). Dewaterability was characterised for each sludge in concentration ranges relevant to settling, centrifugation and filtration using models developed by LANDMAN and WHITE inter alia; it is expressed in terms of both equilibrium and kinetic parameters, py(φ) and R(φ) respectively.This work confirmed that dewaterability is significantly influenced by treatment conditions.The strongest correlations were observed when varying coagulation pH and coagulant dose. At high doses precipitated coagulant controls the sludge behaviour, and dewaterability is poor. Dewaterability deteriorates as pH is increased for high-dose alum sludges; other sludges are less sensitive to pH. These findings can be linked to the faster coagulation dynamics prevailing at high coagulant and alkali dose.Alum and ferric sludges in general had comparable dewaterabilities, and the characteristics of a magnesium sludge were similar too.Small effects on dewaterability were observed in response to variations in raw water organic content and shearing. Polymer flocculation and conditioning appeared mainly to affect dewaterability at low sludge concentrations. Ageing did not produce clear changes in dewaterability.Dense, compact particles are known to dewater better than ‘fluffy’ aggregates or flocs usually encountered in drinking water treatment. This explains the superior dewaterability of a sludge containing powdered activated carbon (PAC). Even greater improvements were observed following a cycle of sludge freezing and thawing for a wide range of WTP sludges. / Further aspects considered in the present work include deviations from simplifying assumptions that are usually made. Specifically: investigation of long-time dewatering behaviour, wall effects, non-isotropic stresses, and reversibility of dewatering (or ‘elasticity’).Several other results and conclusions, of both theoretical and experimental nature, are presented on topics of subsidiary or peripheral interest that are nonetheless important for establishing a reliable basis for research in this area. / This work has proposed links between industrial drinking water coagulation conditions, sludge dewaterability from settling to filtration, and the microstructure of the aggregates making up that sludge. This information can be used when considering the operation or design of a WTP in order to optimise sludge dewaterability, within the constraints of producing drinking water of acceptable quality.

Cette thèse est une contribution à la construction de l’Approche Locale de la rupture à l’échelle microscopique à l’aide de la modélisation d’agrégats polycristallins. Elle consiste à prendre en compte la variabilité spatiale de la microstructure du matériau. Pour ce faire, la modélisation micromécanique du matériau est réalisée par la simulation d’agrégats polycristallins par éléments finis. Les champs aléatoires de contrainte (principale maximale et de clivage) dans le matériau qui représentent la variabilité spatiale de la microstructure sont ensuite modélisés par un champ aléatoire gaussien stationnaire ergodique. Les propriétés de variabilité spatiale de ces champs sont identifiés par une méthode d’identification, e.g. méthode du périodogramme, méthode du variogramme, méthode du maximum de vraisemblance. Des réalisations synthétiques des champs de contraintes sont ensuite simulées par une méthode de simulation, e.g. méthode Karhunen-Loève discrète, méthode “Circulant Embedding”, méthode spectrale, sans nouveau calcul aux éléments finis. Enfin, le modèle d’Approche Locale de la rupture par simulation de champ de contrainte de clivage permettant d’y intégrer les réalisations simulées du champ est construit pour estimer la probabilité de rupture du matériau. / This thesis is a contribution to the construction of the Local Approach to fracture at the microscopic scale using polycrystalline aggregate modeling. It consists in taking into account the spatial variability of the microstructure of the material. To do this, the micromechanical modeling is carried out by finite element analysis of polycrystalline aggregates. The random stress fields (maximum principal et cleavage stress) in the material representing the spatial variability of the microstructure are then modeled by a stationary ergodic Gaussian random field. The properties of the spatial variability of these fields are identified by an identification method, e.g. periodogram method, variogram method, maximum likelihood method. The synthetic realizations of the stress fields are then simulated by a simulation method, e.g. discrete Karhunen-Loève method, circulant embedding method, spectral method, without additional finite element calculations. Finally, a Local Approach to fracture by simulation of the cleavage stress field using the simulated realizations is constructed to estimate the rupture probability of the material.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:03:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Wesley Carlos Nunes.pdf: 7932394 bytes, checksum: b486f88aa078b83264c74d2720002782 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-04 / Recycling waste materials is an efficient way to hinder environmental, social and economic impacts of the civil construction industry. This dissertation aimed at verifying the behavior of different concretes made of coarse recycled aggregate (AGR), mineral fractions collected from the waste (RCD) of a high- rise apartment building (multiple floor building). The RCD has been selectively collected at the building construction site and processed by a jaw crusher. The study focused on the effects of gradual replacements of coarse natural aggregate (AGN) by AGR where the fundamental properties of the fresh and hardened concretes are concerned. The experiment involved the production of three dry aggregate/ceme nt ratios: (3,5 / 1), (5 / 1) and (6,5 / 1) for each concrete family (zero%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% replacement contents of AGN by AGR), and thus 15 different concrete mix proportions were manufactured. Workability, entrapped air, and density were the variables analyzed in the fresh concretes. Furthermore, water absorption, density, total pores volume, compressive strength, splitting-tensile strength, and initial-tangent modulus were the properties studied in hardened concretes. The strengths of concretes with AGR contents are lower than those of corresponding reference concretes (zero% of replacement content of AGN by AGR). However, reductions in the cement content in mixtures of the concretes produced with AGR showed compressive and splitting-tensile strengths values nearer to those of the reference concrete family. The experiment allows for the conclusion that concretes produced from AGR of RCD can be used for several purposes in civil construction, if the management of concrete mix proportions and the control of quality are performed under the liability of capable and qualified professionals. / Para minimização significativa dos impactos sócio-ambientais e econômicos provocados com o entulho gerado pela indústria da construção civil, a reciclagem destes resíduos apresenta-se como caminho alternativo e eficiente. Mediante esta perspectiva, buscou-se nesta dissertação verificar o comportamento de concretos produzidos com agregado graúdo reciclado (AGR), proveniente das frações minerais contidas no entulho (RCD) de um edifício de múltiplos pavimentos, a partir de coleta seletiva na obra e posterior beneficiamento do material em sistema de britagem. Foram estudados os efeitos de substituições gradativas do agregado graúdo natural (AGN) por AGR de RCD, nas propriedades fundamentais dos concretos, tanto no estado fresco quanto no estado endurecido. Para o desenvolvimento experimental foram produzidos concretos em três proporções de dosagem: (1 : 3,5), (1 : 5,0) e (1 : 6,5) (cimento : agregados secos), e cinco teores de substituição (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% e 100%) do AGN por AGR, totalizando, desde modo, 15 proporções de dosagem estudadas. A trabalhabilidade, teor de ar aprisionado e massa específica foram as propriedades estudadas nos concretos em estado fresco. As propriedades avaliadas no estado endurecido dos concretos foram absorção de água, massa específica, índice de vazios, resistência à compressão axial, resistência à tração por compressão diametral e módulo de deformação. As resistências dos concretos produzidos com teores de AGR apresentaram-se inferiores aos correspondentes concretos de referência 0% de teor de substituição do AGN por AGR. Entretanto, na proporção em que se reduziu o consumo de cimento nas dosagens, os concretos produzidos com AGR apresentaram valores de resistências à compressão e à tração mais próximos aos resultados aferidos para os concretos de referência. Os experimentos conduziram a concluir que, tanto do ponto de vista técnico quanto econômico, os concretos produzidos com AGR de RCD podem ser normalmente utilizados na construção civil, desde que as dosagens das misturas e o controle de qualidade destes concretos sejam realizados sob responsabilidade de profissionais comprovadamente habilitados e especializados.