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<p> Matrix diffusion from planar fractures was studied both mathematically and through physical model experiments. A conceptual model was developed based on previous work by Parker (1994) and Crank (1956). Mathematical models were developed to simulate diffusion from 2D and 3D instantaneous disk sources and a 3 D continuous disk source. The models were based on analytical solutions previously developed by Carslaw and Jaeger (1959). Analytical solution is not available for the total mass diffused into the porous matrix for a 3D continuous disk source, and it was therefore calculated through the summation of the iso-concentration lines, which were assumed to be a semi-spherical shape.</p> <p> The mathematical simulations indicated that the 2D scenario produces significantly different results from the 3D scenario, the time for mass disappearance is significantly larger for continuous sources than for instantaneous sources, the normalized concentration generally decreased over time for instantaneous sources while it increased over time for continuous sources, diffusion rates decrease significantly over time and space, and the normalized mass loss from the source zone never reaches 1 for continuous sources due to the semi-infinite integral. The simulations also showed that disappearance times increase exponentially with increasing source radii and matrix porosity, and decrease with increasing aqueous-phase NAPL solubilities.</p> <p> The observations from the physical model experiments were very close to the simulated data at z = 0, validating the 3D mathematical models for this elevation. A plot of the observed vs simulated data did not reveal any trends, indicating that the majority of the differences can be attributed to experimental error. The experimental concentrations were below the method detection limit at depths of 3 and 6 cm however, indicating that either the experiments should have been conducted over a longer time period or a more sensitive analytical method should have been employed, to enable model validation at these depths.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

What sets the observable chemical composition of exoplanetary atmospheres? The available chemical abundance of the planet's natal protoplanetary disk gas will have a deciding role in the bulk abundance of the atmosphere very early in the planet's life. While late accretion of ices and inter-atmosphere physical processing can change the observable chemical abundances. We have developed a theoretical model which connects the chemical and physical evolution of an accretion disk with the growth of a young planet to predict the bulk chemical abundance of the planetary atmosphere that is inherited from the disk. We assess what variation in atmospheric chemical abundances are attributed to different planet formation histories. We find differences in the relative abundances of primary nitrogen carriers NH$_3$ and N$_2$ depending on {\it when} the planet accreted its gas. Early ($t<1$ Myr) accreters predominately accreted warmer gas which tend to have its nitrogen in NH$_3$, while later protoplanets accrete colder, more N$_2$ dominated gas. Furthermore we compute the carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) for each planets, which is used to infer {\it where} a planet forms in its accretion disk. We find that each of our planets accrete their gas very close to the water ice line, thereby accreting `pristine' gas with C/O$_{planet}$ exactly matching its host star. We extend our results by tuning our initial disk parameters to reproduce the properties of the HL Tau disk. We produce three models that span the range of measured gas masses, and one model which studies a UV quiet system. We generally find that planet formation is efficient enough to produce a Jupiter-massed planet within the predicted 1 Myr age of the disk. We find a correspondence between the radial locations of ice lines within our astrochemical model and the set of observed dust gaps in the HL Tau system. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-08-15Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:48:56Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rodrigues_lo_me_arafcf.pdf: 364674 bytes, checksum: 25ad80987f7d2eb4d8bf537154a09922 (MD5) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / A produção de beta-lactamase de espectro estendido (ESBL) em membros da família Enterobacteriaceae pode conferir resistência a cefalosporinas de amploespectro, aztreonam e penicilinas. Devido a esse fenômeno, a detecção exata dos produtores de ESBL é essencial para a seleção apropriada da antibioticoterapia. Para detectar a produção de beta-lactamase de espectro estendido (ESBL) em bacilos Gram-negativos, foi usado um teste de triagem com os discos de aztreonam (ATM), ceftazidima (CAZ), cefotaxima (CTX) e ceftriaxona (CRO) sobre 300 cepas, das quais trinta e cinco eram suspeitas da presença de ESBL. A produção de ESBL foi demonstrada por três métodos fenotípicos confirmatórios de fácil utilização. Os três testes fenotípicos para confirmar a produção de ESBL incluíram o teste do sinergismo (double disk), E-test? ESBL e disco combinado. Os discos utilizados no teste do sinergismo e do disco combinado foram: aztreonam (30?g-ATM), cefotaxima (30?g-CTX), ceftazidima (30?g-CAZ), cefpodoxima (10?g-CPD) ceftriaxone (30?g-CRO) e amoxicilina+ácido clavulânico(30?g-AMC), cefotaxima+ácido clavulânico (30?g-10?g), ceftazidima+ácido clavulânico (30?g- 10?g), cefpodoxima+ácido clavulânico (10?g-1? g). Para E-test foram utilizadas fitas contendo as cefalosporinas: ceftazidima versus ceftazidima/ácido clavulânico; cefotaxima versus cefotaxima/ácido clavulânico. Os testes fenotípicos confirmaram a presença de ESBL em cinco cepas de enterobactérias (1,66%). Todos os métodos são de fácil execução, contudo o método do Etest requer experiência para interpretar os resultados. Os três testes oferecem uma solução viável para confirmar a produção de ESBL no laboratório clínico. / The production of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) in the members of the family Enterobacteriaceae can check resistance to cephalosporins of extended-spectrum, aztreonam and penicilins. Due to this phenomenon, the exact detection of the producers of ESBL are essential for the appropriate selection of antimicrobial therapy. To detect the production of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) in Gram-negative bacilli, a test of screening was used with the discs of aztreonam (ATM), ceftazidime (CAZ), cefotaxime (CTX) e ceftriaxone (CRO) in 300 strains, of which thirty-five were suspicious of the presence of ESBL. The production of ESBL was demonstrated by three phenotypic methods confirmed of easy utilization. The three phenotypic tests to confirm the production of ESBL included the test of sinergy (double disk), E-test? ESBL and combination disk. The disks used on the test sinergy and the combination disk were: aztreonam (30?g-ATM), cefotaxime (30?g-CTX), ceftazidime (30?g-CAZ), cefpodoxime (10?g-CPD) ceftriaxone (30?g- CRO) e amoxicillin+clavulanic acid (30?g-AMC), cefotaxime+clavulanic acid (30?g- 10? g), ceftazidime+clavulanic acid (30?g-10? g), cefpodoxime+clavulanic acid (10?g- 1? g). For E-test, were utilized strips containing the cephalosporins: ceftazidime and ceftazidime/clavulanic acid; cefotaxime and cefotaxime/clavulanic acid. The phenotypic tests confirmed the presence of ESBL in five strains Enterobacteriaceae (1,66%). All of the methods are of easy execution; however, the method of Etest requires experiment to interpret the results. The three tests offer a viable solution to confirm the production of ESBL on a clinic laboratory.

Given a set of unit disks in the plane with union area A, what fraction of A can be covered by selecting a pairwise disjoint subset of the disks? Richard Rado conjectured 1/4 and proved 1/4.41. In this thesis, we consider a variant of this problem where the disjointness constraint is relaxed: selected disks must be k-colourable with disks of the same colour pairwise-disjoint. Rado's problem is then the case where k = 1, and we focus our investigations on what can be proven for k > 1. Motivated by the problem of channel-assignment for Wi-Fi wireless access points, in which the use of 3 or fewer channels is a standard practice, we show that for k = 3 we can cover at least 1/2.09 and for k = 2 we can cover at least 1/2.82. We present a randomized algorithm to select and colour a subset of n disks to achieve these bounds in O(n) expected time. To achieve the weaker bounds of 1/2.77 for k = 3 and 1/3.37 for k = 2 we present a deterministic O(n^2) time algorithm. We also look at what bounds can be proven for arbitrary k, presenting two different methods of deriving bounds for any given k and comparing their performance. One of our methods is an extension of the method used to prove bounds for k = 2 and k = 3 above, while the other method takes a novel approach. Rado's proof is constructive, and uses a regular lattice positioned over the given set of disks to guide disk selection. Our proofs are also constructive and extend this idea: we use a k-coloured regular lattice to guide both disk selection and colouring. The complexity of implementing many of the constructions used in our proofs is dominated by a lattice positioning step. As such, we discuss the algorithmic issues involved in positioning lattices as required by each of our proofs. In particular, we show that a required lattice positioning step used in the deterministic O(n^2) algorithm mentioned above is 3SUM-hard, providing evidence that this algorithm is optimal among algorithms employing such a lattice positioning approach. We also present evidence that a similar lattice positioning step used in the constructions for our better bounds for k = 2 and k = 3 may not have an efficient exact implementation.

Given a set of unit disks in the plane with union area A, what fraction of A can be covered by selecting a pairwise disjoint subset of the disks? Richard Rado conjectured 1/4 and proved 1/4.41. In this thesis, we consider a variant of this problem where the disjointness constraint is relaxed: selected disks must be k-colourable with disks of the same colour pairwise-disjoint. Rado's problem is then the case where k = 1, and we focus our investigations on what can be proven for k > 1. Motivated by the problem of channel-assignment for Wi-Fi wireless access points, in which the use of 3 or fewer channels is a standard practice, we show that for k = 3 we can cover at least 1/2.09 and for k = 2 we can cover at least 1/2.82. We present a randomized algorithm to select and colour a subset of n disks to achieve these bounds in O(n) expected time. To achieve the weaker bounds of 1/2.77 for k = 3 and 1/3.37 for k = 2 we present a deterministic O(n^2) time algorithm. We also look at what bounds can be proven for arbitrary k, presenting two different methods of deriving bounds for any given k and comparing their performance. One of our methods is an extension of the method used to prove bounds for k = 2 and k = 3 above, while the other method takes a novel approach. Rado's proof is constructive, and uses a regular lattice positioned over the given set of disks to guide disk selection. Our proofs are also constructive and extend this idea: we use a k-coloured regular lattice to guide both disk selection and colouring. The complexity of implementing many of the constructions used in our proofs is dominated by a lattice positioning step. As such, we discuss the algorithmic issues involved in positioning lattices as required by each of our proofs. In particular, we show that a required lattice positioning step used in the deterministic O(n^2) algorithm mentioned above is 3SUM-hard, providing evidence that this algorithm is optimal among algorithms employing such a lattice positioning approach. We also present evidence that a similar lattice positioning step used in the constructions for our better bounds for k = 2 and k = 3 may not have an efficient exact implementation.

High cycle fatigue (HCF) failure has been studied extensively over the last two decades. Its impact on jet engines is severe enough that may result in engine losses and even life losses. The main requirement for fatigue life predictions is the stress caused by mechanical vibrations. One of the factors which have major impact on the vibratory stresses of bladed disk assemblies is a phenomenon called &ldquo / mistuning&rdquo / which is defined as the vibration localization caused by the loss of cyclic periodicity which is a consequence of inter&amp / #8208 / blade variations in structural properties. In this thesis, component mode synthesis method (CMSM) is combined with nonlinear forced response analysis in modal domain. Newton&amp / #8208 / Raphson and arc length continuation procedures are implemented for the solution. The component mode synthesis method introduces the capability of imposing mistuning on the modal properties of each blade in the assembly. Forced response analysis in modal domain reduces the problem size via mode truncation. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it is capable of calculating nonlinear forced response for all the degrees&amp / #8208 / of&amp / #8208 / freedom at each blade with less computational effort. This makes it possible to make a stress analysis at resonance conditions. The case studies presented in this thesis emphasize the importance of number of modes retained in the reduced order model for both CMSM and nonlinear forced response analysis. Furthermore, the results of the case studies have shown that both nonlinearity and mistuning can cause shifts in resonance frequencies and changes in resonance amplitudes. Despite the changes in resonance conditions, the shape of the blade motion may not be affected.

In the past years solid state disks have developed drastically and are now gaining increased popularity compared to conventional hard drives. While hard disk drives work predictable, transparent SSD routines work in the background without the user’s knowledge. This work describes the changes to the everyday life for forensic specialists; a forensic investigation includes data recovery and the gathering of a digital image of each acquired memory that provides proof of integrity through a checksum. Due to the internal routines, which cannot be stopped, checksums are falsified. Therefore the images cannot prove integrity of evidence anymore. The report proves the inconsistence of checksums of SSD and shows the differences in data recovery through high recovery rates on hard disk drives while SSD drives scored no recovery or very poor rates.