The purpose of this diploma thesis is to get a better understanding of cold kinetic deposition (cold spray), principles of functioning of this method followed by an evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of cold spray and its comparison to conventional thermal methods and a simple summary of the practical use of cold spray with respect to different materials. Next there is a summary of the properties and uses of frequently applied metals in electrical engineering, aluminium and copper, description of metal corrosion and an understanding of the diagnostic method of acoustic emission. In the practical part, a sample with copper cold spray coating on aluminium substrate was created. Following, this sample was split for corrosion tests, where the split samples were exposed to a corrosive environment for different times of exposure. The extent of corrosion degradation of the samples was evaluated by acoustic emission and metallographic analysis for corrosion-loaded samples for 100, 200 and 300 hours. In the end, an illustrative design of the application of the cold spray technology was created.

Frost formation is of a major research interest as it can affect many industrial processes. Frost appears as a thin deposit of ice crystals when the temperature of the surface is below the freezing point of the liquid. The objective of this research is to study icing with hope to propose new anti-icing and deicing methods. In the beginning of the research, cracking of the ice layer was observed when a deionized water droplet impacts a ?50 oC cooled sphere surface that is in contact with dry ice. To further investigate the cracks occurrence, multiple experiments were conducted. It was observed that the sphere surface temperature and droplet temperature (ranges from 10-80 oC) have no effect on the crack formation. On the other hand, it was observed that formation of a thin layer of frost on the sphere before the drop impact leads the lateral cracking of the ice. Thus, attempts to reproduce the cracks on clean super cold sphere surfaces were made using scratched and sandblasted spheres as well as superhydrophobized and polymer particle coated spheres. Furthermore, innovative methods were tried to initiate the cracks by placing epoxy glue bumps and ice-islands coatings on the surface of the spheres. All of these attempts to reproduce the crack formation without the presence of frost, failed. Nonetheless, the adding of isolated frost on the sphere surfaces always leads to the crack formation. Generally, frost forms on the small spheres faster than it does on the bigger ones. Additionally, the cold water droplet produces thicker water and ice layer compared to a hot water droplet; and the smaller the sphere the larger its water and ice layer thicknesses.

This thesis evaluated the role of Serine/Arginine-rich proteins, also known as SR proteins, in addition to LAMMER kinases in the cold acclimation response using Brassica napus and Arabidopsis thaliana. Transcription profile analyses of SR and LAMMER kinase genes in Brassica napus and BnCBF overexpressor lines showed that exposure to low temperatures led to increased transcript levels for nine SR genes and two kinases. BnCBF overexpression was found to exacerbate this response. This was associated with increases in SR protein abundance and phosphorylation status, suggesting that SR proteins play an essential role in cold acclimation. These findings prompted further studies to assess the role of SR proteins and kinases in the cold acclimation induced adjustment of photosynthesis, the acquisition of freezing tolerance and the transcriptional profile of CBF, SPS and COR genes, which play an important role in the transcriptional cascade allowing plants to undergo cold acclimation. Using Arabidopsis loss-of-function mutants of SR proteins and AME3 LAMMER kinase, it was shown that At-RSZ22 and At-SR45 are indispensable in the regulation of photosynthesis under non-acclimated and cold acclimation conditions. At-RSZ22a, At-SCL30 and At-RS41 were then proposed to play a crucial role in the cold acclimation induced adjustment of photosynthetic performance. Moreover, the deletion of At-AME3 kinase not only jeopardized the cold acclimation induced adjustment of photosynthetic performance, but also the acquisition of freezing tolerance. This was associated with attenuation of the transcription profile of key cold responsive genes and protein abundance of COR15 A/B and dehydrins. These findings prompted further physiological characterization of ame3 mutants, and the elucidation of Serine/Arginine-rich proteins capable of interacting with this LAMMER kinase of interest. Under cold stress and acclimation conditions, the deletion of At-AME3 LAMMER kinase impeded Photosystem I physiology and state-1 state-2 transitions. These findings were associated with decreases in Photosystem II and Photosystem I protein abundance. Yeast 2-hybrid assays showed that six SR proteins are capable of physically interacting with AME3. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate that At-RSZ22 and At-SR45 are essential in the photosynthetic performance of Arabidopsis, that At-RSZ22a, At-SCL30 and At-RS41 play an essential role in the cold acclimation induced recovery of photosynthetic performance, and that At-AME3 plays an essential role in the cold acclimation response.

The Central Asian country of Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics; it is also prone to a plethora of natural hazards including mass wasting, flood, and extreme temperature. This thesis seeks to characterize how vulnerable rural Tajik mountain communities are to prolonged cold. The primary focus was in Navobod, in the Zeravshan Valley of Tajikistan, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 households, the village leader and doctor, and school staff. The results from the interviews were compared with GIS analysis of the region. Interviews indicated that the area is highly vulnerable to the impacts of prolonged cold. These rural residents continue to practice unsustainable land use, primarily for agricultural and biofuel resources. With unreliable sources of income, a fragile national economy, and decreased access to markets, these residents are ill-equipped to mitigate the impacts of prolonged cold weather. GIS results largely supported interview results.

京都大学 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(医学) / 乙第13535号 / 論医博第2275号 / 新制||医||1065(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 伊達 洋至, 教授 湊谷 謙司, 教授 小林 恭 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

This thesis presents a research project aimed at advancing the treatment of cold-formed steel (CFS) structural reliability in roof trusses. Structural design today relies almost exclusively on component-level design, so structural safety is assured by limiting the probability of failure of individual components. Reliability of the entire system is typically not assessed, so in a worst-case scenario the system reliability may be less than the component reliability, or in a best-case scenario the system reliability may be much greater than the component reliability. A roof truss itself, is a subsystem with several possible failure modes that are being studied in this test program. These trusses are constructed of CFS members that nest with one another at the truss nodes and are connected by drilling fasteners through the mated surfaces, as well as having steel sheathing fastened to the top chords for lateral bracing. Presented in this paper is a series of full-scale static tests on single cold-formed steel roof trusses with a unique experimental setup. The test specimens were carefully monitored to address multiple failure modes: buckling of the top chord, buckling of the truss webs, and any connection failures. This research includes the experimental results, the computed system reliability of the trusses as well as their relationship between the components reliability.

A shrouded blade was designed as a test case for flutter analysis of steam turbine. Flutter is a self-excitedvibration. It can lead to dramatic blade loss and high-cycle fatigue. Shrouded blade is more complicated onflutter analysis, because the mode shapes are more complex with bending and torsion components atdifferent phases. Moreover, the blade mode shape and frequency also vary with nodal diameter. Lack ofopen resource of shrouded blade, there were less researches about shrouded blade test case on flutter. The initial blade geometry was from Di Qi’s 3D free standing blade test case. The material of the blade isTitanium. The aim of current study is to design a 3D test case for realistic shrouded blade flutter analysis. The geometryof the proposed shrouded blade test case was fully described in this thesis report. ANSYS ICEM was usedfor presenting the geometry and generating mesh. ANSYS APDL was used for structural analysis.Parameters of shroud parts were based on literature reviews and engineers’ general suggestions. The modeshapes for the first family of modes were calculated and reported. / Ett höljeblad utformades som ett testfall för fladderanalys av ångturbin. Flutter är en självupphetsadvibration. Det kan leda till dramatisk bladförlust och högcykelutmattning. Höljeblad är mer kompliceratvid fladderanalys, eftersom modeformerna är mer komplexa med böjnings- och torsionskomponenter iolika faser. Dessutom varierar bladformsformen och frekvensen också med noddiameter. Brist på öppenresurs av höljet blad, det fanns mindre undersökningar om höljet blad test fall på flutter. Den ursprungligabladgeometrin var från Di Qis 3D frittstående bladprovfall. Bladets material är titan. Syftet med den aktuella studien är att designa ett 3D-testfall för realistisk hävd bladflöjtsanalys. Geometrinhos det föreslagna höljet av bladsprov beskrivs fullständigt i denna avhandlingsrapport. ANSYS ICEManvändes för att presentera geometrin och det genererande nätet. ANSYS APDL användes för strukturellanalys. Parametrar av höljesdelar baserades på litteraturrecensioner och ingenjörers allmänna förslag.Modeshistorierna för den första familjen av lägen beräknades och rapporterades.

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein Today we live in very interesting times for researchers but at the same time very dangerous for the whole human existence and our planet. Today we mostly consume information from big news companies controlled by huge corporations whose actions threaten the population’s misleading due to the simplified and one-sided narratives. Unfortunately, most of them are becoming very mainstream and even propagandistic. Nowadays it can be said not only about traditionally propagandist Russian ones but also about previously rather neutral and quite independent media in the USA, EU, and other Western countries. Today’s mainstream media outlets more and more often provide us (news consumers) with simplified and not objective information which is often based on somebody’s opinion-based evaluations or judgments and less on original data and documents. This extremely dangerous tendency in the modern world should be researched and analyzed to prevent further backsliding into a militaristic and war-oriented agenda and propaganda.  We already live in extremely dangerous times according to the doomsday clock which was established by the father of nuclear weapons Albert Einstein. The world is currently 90 seconds apart from Armageddon. It is the closest it has ever been. To prevent misleading and understand the full complexity of the problems we face today we must investigate the primary sources such as original documents of post-Cold War in order to follow the sequence of events that led us to the new ongoing Cold War 2.0. Only by doing so can it be possible to get a more complex but completer and more logical picture of today’s reality as well as to understand how those reasons, events, and people listed in this thesis led us to the current state of unprecedented crisis. Everything has a reason, thus those prerequisites will be analyzed and discovered with the aim of understanding how the soft, smart, and hard powers with the combination of a realist theory have influenced post-Cold War policies and developments which led humanity to the verge of a nuclear catastrophe once again but with even more dangerous and unpredictable variables than couple decades before. Regardless of all the information presented in this thesis, the Russian war in Ukraine is criminal and has no justification as well as those responsible individuals.

The use of cold-formed steel (CFS) structures has become increasingly popular in different fields of building technology. For example, small housing systems using cold-formed steel for wall structures, framing systems and roof structures, including trusses and shielding materials, have been developed during recent years. The reasons behind the growing popularity of these products include their ease of fabrication, high strength/weight ratio and suitability for a wide range of applications. These advantages can result in more cost-effective designs, as compared with hot-rolled steel, especially in short-span applications. It has been common practice in cold-formed steel construction to cut openings in the web of beams for the passage of service ducts and piping. The provision of such openings reduces the story heights and consequently can result in saving of considerable amount of construction materials. On the other hand, the presence of a large web opening causes localized redistribution of stress around the opening region. The large opening causes loss of strength and changes the buckling characteristics of an entire member. It also affects the flexural stiffness, resulting in poor performance of member under serviceability. It is common practice to reinforce the opening of hot-rolled steel members, but proper reinforcement schemes for CFS perforated members has not been established yet. Various reinforcement schemes for cold-formed steel sections were investigated during this study. Two types of reinforcement schemes (for flexural zones and shear zones) were developed. Fifty-four flexural tests and 33 shear tests were conducted. Two types of sections (lipped channel joists with h/t ratio 180 and 118) were tested in flexure and one type of section (lipped channel joists with h/t ratio 180) was tested in shear. The study also included a finite element based numerical investigation, consisting of parametric studies on the size (web depth and thickness) of joists, size and shape of web openings, reinforcement and associated fastening schemes. It was observed that a 75 percent of opening in the web of CFS channel joist causes up to 25 percent reduction in flexural strength and up to 60 percent reduction in shear strength. Such reduced flexural and shear strengths were re-captured by providing proper reinforcement schemes. The flexural reinforcement schemes recommended by the current AISI Standard were found to be ineffective for the sections having low w /t ratios. Bridging channel reinforcement scheme was also considered in this study. Bridging channel reinforcement scheme was capable of restoring the flexural strength of cold formed steel joist having w /t ratios 118 and 180. Similarly, the reinforcement schemes recommended in AISI Standard were not adequate to restore the shear strength of joist sections. A newly developed Virendeel type reinforcement system was capable of restoring the original shear strength of a cold-formed steel joist section. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Pain perception can be drastically affected by external factors in the surrounding environment. Previous studies relying on subjective ratings of pain have shown that guided meditations supplemented by virtual reality (VR) can reduce the perception of pain more successfully than the audio alone. The research question for this study was: How does the efficacy of meditation as a means of pain mitigation differ with and without the application of VR? To answer this question, we used fNIRS to visualize changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which has been shown to play a role in the larger pain matrix in the brain. To induce discomfort, we used a Cold Pressor Arm Wrap (CPAW), which is a variation of the more common Cold Pressor Task (CPT). This study was a within-subjects design where in each of the three conditions participants experienced CPAW. The three conditions were: (1) control (no VR & no audio), (2) audio (audio only), and (3) VR (audio + VR). We hypothesized that there would be a decrease in cortical activity in the DLPFC during CPAW when supplemented by VR meditation compared to audio-led meditation and no meditation, due to a decrease in perceived pain in the VR condition. Our results showed that VR meditation did significantly reduce perceived pain, according to the subjective pain ratings. Participants rated their discomfort the lowest in the VR condition, slightly higher in the audio condition, and highest for the control condition (in the absence of meditation). However, there were no significant differences in activity in the DLPFC between the conditions. The lack of any significant findings with the fNIRS data could be the result of many issues, including not having a large enough sample, physiological noise, improper localization of the pain ROIs, and not having a strong enough discomfort stimulus. The future directions for this study would seek to remedy these issues in order to obtain more informative fNIRS results. Overall, this study did show that VR meditation does effectively reduce pain perception and is therefore a promising tool for nonpharmacological pain management.