El proyecto se direcciona a aumentar la característica de revestimientos en muros de ladrillos, utilizando una mezcla de mortero que incorpora sulfato de calcio con ceniza Delonix. Para lograr este objetivo, se realizaron pruebas y ensayos para caracterizar las variantes de dosificaciones del mortero, la resistencia a compresión para espécimen de cúbicos, la permeabilidad en muretes recubiertos con ceniza Delonix, también un análisis de los costos unitario para la fabricación. Además, de evaluar los objetivos específicos para evaluar la resistencia de las perspectivas y encontrar la propuesta más efectiva de la mezcla para mejorar sus características. Los datos obtenidos de los ensayos se muestran con tablas y se describen los procedimientos para realizar ensayos de inundación simulada y medir la capacidad de los muros. En general, el proyecto busca una solución técnica para mejorar la resistencia y la permeabilidad de los revestimientos de muros de ladrillos en edificios en Perú. / The project is aimed at increasing the coating characteristics of brick walls, using a mortar mixture that incorporates calcium sulfate with Delonix ash. To achieve this objective, tests and trials were carried out to characterize the mortar dosage variants, the compressive strength for 50 mm cubic specimen, the permeability in walls coated with Delonix ash, as well as an analysis of the unit costs for manufacturing. In addition, to evaluate the specific objectives to evaluate the resistance of the prospects and to find the most effective proposal of the mixture to improve its characteristics. The data obtained from the tests are shown with tables and the procedures for performing simulated flood tests and measuring the capacity of the walls are described. In general, the project seeks a technical solution to improve the strength and permeability of brick wall cladding in buildings in Peru.

The subject of this final thesis is prepared detailed project documentation for the reconstruction of apartment building on Karáskovo Square in Brno - Židenice. The existing building is rectangular and is a part of a apartment terraced buildings. Residential building has a basement and three floors and an attic. The main entrance is oriented to the southwest. Foundation structures are concrete, vertical support system is a brick wall, roof structure is wooden roof standing stool with pleated ceramic tiles.

In dieser Dissertation werden die Repräsentationen von Kulturtransfer in zeitgenössischen britischen Romanen untersucht (Monica Ali: Brick Lane (2003), Nadeem Aslam: Maps For Lost Lovers (2004), Gautam Malkani: Londonstani (2007) und Maggie Gee: The White Family (2002)). Für die Analyse der Begegnungen und Kulturtransferprozesse werden narratologische Analysekategorien mit denen der Kulturtransferanalyse verknüpft. Neben den textimmanenten Aspekten werden außerdem die Produktions- und Rezeptionskontexte der Romane mitberücksichtigt. Dazu gehören u.a. auch das Buchmarketing und Buchumschlagdesign sowie Rezensionen und öffentliche Reaktionen auf die Romane. Mit diesem Instrumentarium werden z.B. folgende Fragen untersucht: Wie werden Begegnungen und Austauschprozesse repräsentiert und bewertet? Welche Gründe für Aneignung oder Abschottung werden formuliert? In diesem Kontext konzentriert sich die Arbeit auf die Repräsentation von Mediatorinnen und Mediatoren, Kontaktzonen und -situationen, Machtstrukturen sowie Selektions- und Ablehnungsprozesse. Außerdem wird untersucht, mit welchen ästhetischen Mitteln die Austauschprozesse gestaltet werden, beispielsweise durch die Untersuchung der Plotmuster und der Charakterisierungen auf Stereotype hin. und welche Effekte dies bewirkt. Die Analysen haben ergeben, dass Kulturtransfer als erstrebenswert bewertet wird. Gleichzeitig findet aber oft nur Assimilierung statt und kein reziproker Austausch auf Augenhöhe. Die ausgewählten Romane setzen sich vorwiegend mit Hindernissen des interkulturellen Austauschs auseinander. Besonders häufig werden in diesem Kontext Gründe wie mangelnde Bereitschaft, mangelnde Bildung und extremistische (religiöse) Ansichten der Einwandererfamilien angeführt. Die Romane verstetigen Stereotype, die dem Lesepublikum bereits aus vielen Massenmedien vertraut sind, u.a. durch entwicklungsresistente Charaktere, typisiert als ungebildete und unverbesserliche Migranten, die Parallelgesellschaften entwerfen. / This thesis analyses representations of cultural exchange in contemporary British novels in the context of migration and the British literary field. It offers a multilayered approach: the combination of cultural exchange theory and its categories with narratological tools do justice to the aesthetic side of the novels as well as their socio-political and historical contexts that are particularly relevant for novels dealing with migration. Cultural exchange theory analyses appropriation and transformation processes, i.e. how the concepts, cultural practices as well as representations change when they are transferred into a different cultural context. Furthermore, this thesis takes into consideration that all novels exist as material objects within a literary field that is affected by editors, marketing people, reviewers, and other agents. The results support the following theses: Contact and exchange are implicitly and explicitly depicted as something positive, with two of the novels emphasising the virtues of selective appropriation. However, the exchange processes mainly work in one direction only and contact between (British) Asian and (white) British characters is limited. The blame for this is often put on the immigrants and their families. The selected texts focus on obstacles and conflicts in exchange processes without offering solutions to the conflicts. In this context, religion or religious fervour along with a lack of education are most often depicted as the main obstacle for reciprocal cultural exchange. The aesthetic means employed are analysed as well as their effects, e.g. whether form and content reinforce each other or produce contradictions. Finally, the thesis shows which novels deconstruct and contradict existing stereotypes and which ones are complicit in reproducing them. Primary texts: Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003), Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers (2004), Gautam Malkani’s Londonstani (2006) and Maggie Gee’s The White Family (2002).

近年來，由於醫學技術進步使世界各國人民帄均壽命延長，加上通貨膨脹的影響，使得老年人在退休時是否擁有充足的財富來因應生活支出成為退休規劃中的重要議題。而由於年金兩難(Annuity Puzzle)的問題，個人積蓄在退休時點就立即用於購買年金保險是否為一個好的退休規劃仍有待考慮。故本文中提出遞延購買年金策略，退休人可考慮進行自我資產配置一段期間後再年金化，並進一步分析資產配置期間長度改變或消費水準改變時的影響。 本文為退休者建立兩種效用函數，第一種為未來單一時點之效用、第二種為多期折現之加總效用，並分別探討由各效用求出的退休後最適資產配置。本文並參考Lee, Yung-Tsung (2009)推導出兩效用函數之理論值，以取代模擬值，並利用格子點分析縮小求解的範圍。 第一種效用關注於每一給定的未來時點上，我們可用於推估最佳年金化時點及其資產配置。由類似mean-variance的形式組成此效用函數，並考慮隨年紀增長而提高風險趨避程度。令最適投資之效用與一完全購買年金者之帳戶價值於各個時點上相比，便可決定何時為最佳年金化時點。我們並分析不同風險態度的退休者的結果，越風險趨避者越適宜較早年金化。 第二種效用則先決定資產配置計畫的長度，所求得之最適投資將考慮到計畫過程中的要求，而非只有最後一點的目標。我們將分析資產配置計畫過程中、不同計畫長度下，以及不同消費水準時最適投資比例的變化。 兩種效用函數下皆有採用Regular Rebalance及Multiple Period Rebalance的投資策略。Multiple Period Rebalance並未明顯帶來更好的效用，因此選擇以Regular Rebalance進行各項參數敏感度的格子點分析。 / When people retire, purchasing the annuity insurances using their retirement fund is one way against the longevity risk. However, it has some shortcoming; the annual payment may be insufficient for daily life consumption, can’t be adjusted for any urgent need (liquidity risk), and moreover, if the policyholders unfortunately pass away early, they couldn’t leave the rest policy account value as bequest. Under these considerations, many people won’t purchase the annuity insurances right away at retirement; they can do their consumption choices and do asset allocation at the mean time like as ―self-annuitization‖(the ―investment/consumption plan‖, 2006, Gerrard, Haberman and Vigna), and then convert their portfolios into annuity pension on an adequate moment post-retirement to solve the longevity problem. This paper constructs two kinds of retiree’s utility functions according a time-series of safety level. The first one focuses on one future timing, and we use it to investigate the adequate annuitization timing. The more risk taker a retiree is, the later he annuitizes. The second one summarizes the utilities each timing during a period after retirement, and we use it to analysis the sensitivities for the optimal asset allocation. Both of the two analyses are discussed under two investment strategies, regular rebalance and multiple-period rebalance.

Ce mémoire est une exploration du thème de l'utilisation de l'argile en architecture domestique et publique en Grèce Antique. À travers un inventaire de sites archéologiques, nous examinerons les différents vestiges présents qui démontrent l'utilisation de l'argile dans l'architecture, par exemple dans la production de briques d'argiles crues et dans les élévations en terre compactée. Ces vestiges sont très peu représentés archéologiquement et nous explorerons les raisons et questionnements amenés par cette faible présence. / This thesis is an exploration about the use of earth, more precisely clay, in domestic and public architecture in ancient Greece. In a first time, we will review some publications about clay and the different uses that was made of it during Antiquity. Then, we will present some archaeological sites that show remains in clay, more precisely wall architecture of mud-brick, and adobe. This kind of remains is really rare in Greek archaeology, and through this thesis we will see why, try to solve some questions about it, and finally, talk about the future and conservation of these remains.

Cette recherche porte sur les techniques de production des matériaux de construction en terre cuiteà l’époque romaine dans les provinces de Gaule et de Germanie. Ces techniques ne nous sontaccessibles directement que par l’archéologie, à la fois par les vestiges mobiliers : les matériauxfabriqués eux-mêmes, et par les vestiges immobiliers : les tuileries qui sont régulièrement mises aujour. Seules les structures de production sont examinées, mais il est souvent fait référence auxmatériaux. L’étude est menée selon deux lignes directrices, l’une horizontale : la chaîne opératoire, l’autreverticale : le temps, du présent vers le passé. Les structures de production sont traitées selon l’ordrede la chaîne opératoire : l’extraction, la préparation de la terre, le façonnage, le séchage et lacuisson. À l’intérieur de chacune de ces cinq phases sont étudiées successivement des structuresd’époque contemporaine (ateliers artisanaux), moderne, médiévale et enfin gallo-romaine. Cettedémarche régressive permet de mettre en évidence les continuités et les ruptures dans lestechniques mises en oeuvre et ainsi de mieux caractériser et comprendre la plus ancienne d’entreelles, celle des tuiliers gallo-romains. Le fonctionnement des structures de production les plusrécentes éclaire celui des structures romaines. Des comparaisons ponctuelles ne sont utilisées quepour tenter d’expliquer certaines caractéristiques originales des structures gallo-romaines. Lesrésultats les plus novateurs ont été obtenus dans l’étude des structures employées dans les phasesde façonnage, de séchage et de cuisson. / This research concerns the techniques of tile and brick-making in Roman time in the provinces ofGaul and Germania. We have only access to these techniques through archaeology. First, there arethe movable vestiges: the objects (tiles and bricks), then there are the real estate vestiges: the tilemakingsites which are regularly uncovered. Only the structures of production are examined here,but it is often made reference to materials. The study is led according to two guidelines. One is horizontal: the “chaîne opératoire”, the other is vertical: Time, from present to past. The structures of production are treated according to the orderof the making process: quarrying, preparing clay, shaping, drying, and firing. Inside each of thesefive phases are successively studied structures of contemporary time (craft production), modern,medieval and finally Gallo-Roman. This regressive approach allows us to bring to light thecontinuities and the breaks in the techniques used and thus, to better characterize and understandthe most ancient of them, the Gallo-Roman tile-makers one. The functioning of the most recentstructures of production sheds light on that of the Roman ones. Punctual comparisons are only usedto try and explain some original characteristics of the Gallo-Roman structures. The most innovativeresults were obtained in the study of the structures used in the phases of shaping, drying and firing.

Fly ash is a waste product from thermal power plants where pulverised coal is used for the generation of electricity. Fly ash is being utilised in the blended cements, additive for concrete and manufacturing of concrete blocks and bricks. Fly ash-lime-gypsum bricks are being manufactured and marketed throughout the country. The literature review on fly ash-lime-gypsum (FALG) mixtures as intended to manufacture bricks or blocks for masonry applications indicates several gaps in understanding the various aspects of the technology. The present thesis is an attempt to understand the behaviour of compacted stabilised fly ash mixtures for the manufacture of fly ash bricks and characteristics of masonry using such bricks. A brief introduction to the technology of compacted stabilised fly ash bricks for structural masonry is provided. Review of the literature on fly ash-lime and fly ash-lime-gypsum mixtures, and fly ash bricks is provided in chapter 1. Chapter 2 gives details of the experimental programme, properties of raw materials used in the experimental investigations, methods of preparing different types of specimens and their testing procedures. Chapter 3 deals with the strength and absorption characteristics of compacted stabilised fly ash mixtures in greater detail. The main focus of the investigations is on arriving at the optimum stabilizer-fly ash mixtures considering density, stabilizer-fly ash ratio, curing conditions, etc. as the variables. Therefore the parameters/variables considered in the investigation include: (a) density of the compacted fly ash mixture, (b) stabilizer-fly ash ratio, (c) curing duration (normal curing and steam curing) and (d) dosage of additives like gypsum. Some of the major conclusions of the investigations are (a) compressive strength of compacted stabilised fly ash mixtures is sensitive to dry density of the specimens and the strength increases with increase in density irrespective of stabiliser content and type of curing, (b) Optimum limefly ash ratio yielding maximum strength is 0.75, (c) addition of gypsum accelerates rate of strength gain for compacted fly ash-lime mixtures (d) for 28 days wet burlap curing optimum gypsum content yielding maximum strength is 2% and maximum compressive strength is achieved for lime contents in the range of 10 – 17%, (e) steam curing (at 80 °C for 24 hours) gives highest compressive strength for compacted fly ash-lime mixtures. Characteristics of compacted fly ash-lime, fly ash-lime-gypsum and fly ash-cement bricks and their masonry are presented in chapter 4. Compressive strength, elastic modulus, water absorption, initial rate of absorption, dimensional stability and durability of the bricks were examined. Compressive strength, flexure bond strength and stress strain relationship for the fly ash brick masonry using cement-lime mortar were evaluated. The investigations clearly show the possibility of producing bricks of good quality using compacted fly ash-lime gypsum mixtures. Wet compressive strengths of 8- 10 MPa was obtained for compacted fly ash-lime-gypsum bricks at the age of 28 days. Wet strength to dry strength ratio for these bricks is in the range of 0.55 – 0.67. Initial tangent modulus for the fly ash-lime-gypsum bricks in saturated condition is in the range of 8000 – 12000 MPa. There is a large scope for selecting optimum mix ratios of fly ash, sand, lime and other additives to obtain a specific designed strength for the brick. The thesis ends with Chapter 5 highlighting major conclusions of the investigations.

Thesis (MSc (Mathematical Sciences))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / In this thesis we consider the modelling of a particular layout optimisation problem, namely, the LEGO construction problem. The LEGO construction problem, in short, concerns the optimal layout of a set of LEGO bricks to represent a given object. Our goal is to develop a software package which LEGO enthusiasts can use to construct LEGO sculptures for any real-world object. We therefore not only consider the layout optimisation problem, but also the generation of the input data required by the LEGO construction problem. We show that by using 3D geometric models to represent the real-world object, our implemented voxelisation technique delivers accurate input data for the LEGO construction problem. The LEGO construction problem has previously been solved with optimisation techniques based on simulated annealing, evolutionary algorithms, and a beam search approach. These techniques all indicate that it is possible to generate LEGO building instructions for real-world objects, albeit not necessarily in reasonable time. We show that the LEGO construction problem can be modelled easily with cellular automata, provided that cells are considered as clusters which can merge or split during each time step of the evolution of the cellular automaton. We show that the use of cellular automata gives comparable layout results in general, and improves the results in many respects. The cellular automata method requires substantially less memory and generally uses fewer LEGO bricks to construct the LEGO sculpture when using comparable execution times.

Submitted by Alison Vanceto (alison-vanceto@hotmail.com) on 2017-05-02T13:57:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLDV.pdf: 2484486 bytes, checksum: d3e5e77576203f23208cb028dd992b41 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-05-03T13:05:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLDV.pdf: 2484486 bytes, checksum: d3e5e77576203f23208cb028dd992b41 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-05-03T13:05:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLDV.pdf: 2484486 bytes, checksum: d3e5e77576203f23208cb028dd992b41 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-03T13:17:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLDV.pdf: 2484486 bytes, checksum: d3e5e77576203f23208cb028dd992b41 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / The construction sector is one of the sectors that most require natural resources and generate waste throughout the production chain. In this sense, given the need to preserve the environment and natural resources for future generations, the industry needs to improve the environmental performance of its operations chain. In order to achieve effective improvements by the actions developed by the sector, these actions need to be based on information about the environmental performance that are objective and verifiable. One of the methods that allow the collection of environmental information is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is one of the main tools of environmental impact assessment for the lifecycle of products and systems. The LCA allows to evaluate the impacts of raw material extraction, manufacturing process, use and disposalt. In this context, a study of the manufacturing process of structural ceramic blocks (cradle to factory gate) was conducted, aiming to analyze its main impacts and processes that contribute most to these environmental impacts. To conduct this study data collection was performed in two plants located in the State of São Paulo. Based on data collected locally and on the international database Ecoinvent®, the life cycle inventory (LCI) was drawn up with the necessary adaptations to represent the local context. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was carried out using the following methods: CML 2002, Edip 97, USEtox and IPCC 2013. Based on the LCIA results, it was possible to identify the processes that contributed to each of the impacy categories analyzed, with the electricity being the process that most contributed to all categories. But the fuel used in the burning of the blocks, in turn, did not generate significant environmental impacts due to factories studied using biomass. Therefore, this study allowed to evaluate the magnitude and importance of the environmental impacts generated by the manufacture of ceramic bricks and also to characterize the environmental performance of ceramic bricks based on LCA. / A construção civil é um dos setores que mais consome recursos naturais e gera resíduos na sua cadeia de produção. Neste sentido, diante da necessidade de preservar o meio ambiente e os recursos naturais para as futuras gerações, é fundamental que o setor melhore o desempenho ambiental de suas operações. Para que as ações desenvolvidas pelo setor resultem em melhorias efetivas, é necessário que elas sejam subsidiadas por informações sobre o desempenho ambiental, que sejam objetivas e verificáveis. Um dos métodos que permite a compilação de informações ambientais é a Avaliação de Ciclo de Vida (ACV), que se apresenta como um dos principais instrumentos de avaliação dos impactos ambientais gerados durante o ciclo de vida de produtos e sistemas. A ACV permite avaliar os impactos desde a extração de recursos naturais, processamento de matéria-prima, manufatura até o uso e descarte dos mesmos. Neste contexto, foi realizado um estudo do processo de fabricação de blocos cerâmicos estruturais (do berço ao portão da fábrica) com o intuito de averiguar seus principais impactos ambientais e os processos que mais contribuem para estes impactos. Para realizar este estudo, foi feita a coleta de dados em duas fábricas localizadas no Estado de São Paulo. Com base nos dados coletados in-loco e na base de dados internacional Ecoinvent®, o inventário do ciclo de vida (ICV) foi elaborado com as devidas adaptações para que representasse o contexto local. A partir do ICV, foi realizada a avaliação dos impactos do ciclo de vida (AICV) por meio dos métodos CML 2002, EDIP 97, USEtox e IPCC 2013. Com base nos resultados da AICV, foram identificados os processos que mais contribuíram para cada uma das categorias de impacto analisadas, sendo a eletricidade o processo que colaborou de forma mais significativa para todas as categorias. Já o combustível utilizado na queima dos blocos, por sua vez, não gerou impactos ambientais significativos, devido às fábricas estudadas utilizarem biomassa. Portanto, o presente estudo permitiu avaliar a magnitude e significância dos impactos ambientais gerados pela fabricação de blocos cerâmicos, bem como caracterizar o desempenho ambiental de blocos cerâmicos com base em ACV.

The focus of the study was two-fold, firstly to determine the effect of age on the capacity of manual materials handling workers and secondly to determine the effect of increasing task mechanisation on the workers’ responses to task demands. The first component of this study, namely Part I, 101 male and 12 female ‘unskilled’ manual workers – of various ages – from a brick manufacturing industry were assessed. Anthropometric, health and strength factors were measured to improve the understanding of the South African manual worker capacity and more specifically, the effect of age on this capacity. Data collection was done between 7.30am and 9.30am in a laboratory-type setting on-site. Anthropometric characteristics (including body mass index, waist to hip ratio, waist circumference and body fat percentage) provided information on the state of obesity and the impact of age in the South African context. Linked to this, the health factors (including blood pressure, resting heart rate and a self-reported questionnaire) provide an extra snapshot of the disease profile in South Africa, and could potentially influence other capacity factors. Isometric strength capacities (of eight different areas, namely: back, leg, bicep, shoulder, pinch, pinch and pull) demonstrated whether South African manual workers show the same decline in strength with aging as seen in industrially advanced countries. The second component of the study, Part II, was performed in situ and measured the workers’ responses to task demands of three brick palletising tasks, one manual (n=21) and two with increasing mechanisation (n=12 each). Spinal kinematics, joint forces and working heart rate were assessed on normal work days during a 30-lift duration and body discomfort measures were taken at the start, middle and end of the work-shift. Spinal kinematics were measured dynamically using a lumbar motion monitor, whereas the spinal forces were estimated using the three dimensional static strength prediction program. The worker capacity results showed that waist to hip ratio, waist circumference and body fat percentage increased significantly with aging, whereas body mass index was not affected by age. All body morphology values were within ‘normal’ ranges. Although diastolic blood pressure increased significantly with age, systolic was not affected significantly by age. Both groups, however, showed an increasing prevalence of hypertension with aging. There were no significant changes in resting heart rate with aging, with a range of 66 bt.min⁻¹ to 74.86 bt.min⁻¹, therefore within normal ranges. Of the strength factors, age only affected shoulder and push strength significantly: Showing a decrease in shoulder strength from 49.89 kgF to 39.91 kgF in the men aged 20-29 to the 50-59 respectively and an increase in push strength from men aged 30-39 and 40-49 to those aged 50-59. Part II results revealed highly frequent lift rates and large degrees of sagittal flexion and lateral bending in all three tasks. These postures adopted for long durations are likely to lead to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. Heart rates of workers from the three tasks were significantly different and heart rates for two tasks were above the recommended 110 bt.min⁻¹. Similarly the body discomfort ratings of the three tasks differed, although a common trend was seen in that lower back pain was the most commonly reported area of discomfort in all tasks. South African manual materials handling males did not show the same responses to aging as men from industrially advanced countries, calling for further research into these differences. Due to the high risks of the three tasks assessed, future research and interventions are required to reduce the risk of injury in the assessed tasks.