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The wooden multi-storey building industry is facing persistent sound transmission problems at low frequencies. Inserting elastomers within wall-floor junctions is common usage nevertheless no accurate studies have elucidated the real behavior of those nonlinear combined materials yet. Deeper knowledge is needed to create a relevant FE model which will help industry to use those materials efficiently.The nonlinear dynamic behavior of the elastomers inserted in wooden junctions is analyzed while the static load acting on them is varying. The specific situation where those elastomers were tested is a scaled room made of two walls and one floor.An experimental study was conducted on this prototype wooden construction and a numerical analysis was performed on the Finite Element model of it. The frequency response functions of several positions were measured on the physical setup.The study showed that loaded structures (up to 2 times the load of the floor) had a lower damping ratio. Having the structure standing on really stiff or elastic material does not differ when comparing experimental and analytical modal parameters.Those results depict the behavior of elastomers for different load cases and are definitely a step forward for the conception of a reliable FE model.

The standard, EN12354-1 describes a simplified statistical energy analysis (SEA) model to predict the apparent sound reduction index between two rooms inclusive of the contributions of the flanking paths. There is interest worldwide in applying the EN12354 model to lightweight building elements. However, lightweight elements typically do not meet the requirements of an SEA subsystem and therefore applying the EN12354 model to these elements may result in inaccurate predictions. The purpose of this investigation was to systematically evaluate the application of the EN12354 model to lightweight building constructions. The evaluation included the determination of the probability density functions and the propagated uncertainty of the calculations. Knowledge of the probability density functions resulted in alternative calculations of the structure-borne sound transmitted through the constructions. The uncertainty analysis revealed that the uncertainty of the predictions is directly affected by the variance of the vibratory field measured on the elements. The vibratory fields of lightweight elements typically show large variances and therefore the propagated uncertainty of the EN12354 predictions for these elements can be significant. The investigation included measurements both in the laboratory and in the field. The results of the laboratory measurements were compared to both predictions using the EN12354 methods and ESEA models which included higher order flanking paths and non-resonant transmission paths. The field measurements included in this investigation were unique because the flanking intensity sound reduction indices of the elements in the source room were measured. The measurements allowed for the EN12354 predictions for each flanking element to be assessed instead of just the apparent sound reduction index between the rooms. The study resulted in proposed correction factors for when reciprocity does not hold and proposed changes to ISO10848 to improve the accuracy of the predictions when the EN12354 method was applied to lightweight building elements. However, neither the proposed correction factors nor the proposed changed to ISO10848-1 could correct for the potentially large differences between the predicted and the measured results. Based on the findings of this study, the use of the EN12354 model for the calculation of the apparent sound reduction index of lightweight elements is not endorsed. Lightweight constructions may not be categorized as ideal SEA subsystems due to the lack of diffuseness of the vibratory field. Furthermore, in order for EN12354 to be applied to lightweight constructions, a reliable method of calculating the resonant component of the sound reduction index of double-leaf elements is required. Therefore, statistical methods including the EN12354 method may be unsuitable for use for the prediction of flanking noise for lightweight building constructions.

Organic co-solvent-induced secondary conformation of α17-40 of human hemoglobin facilitates the splicing of E30-R31 in a mixture of its complementary segments by V8 protease. The amino acid sequence of α17-40 has been conceptualized by the general structure FR1-EALER-FRII and the pentapeptide sequence EALER playing a major role in inducing the α-helical conformation. The primary structure of α17-40 has been engineered in multiple ways to perturb one, two, or all three regions and the influence of the organic co-solvent-induced conformation and the concomitant resistance of E30-R31 peptide bond to V8 protease digestion has been investigated. The central pentapeptide (EALER), referred to here as splicedon,3 appears to dictate a primary role in facilitating the splicing reaction. When the same flanking regions are used, (1) splicedons that carry amino acid residues of low α-helical potential, for example G at position 2 or 3 of the splicedon, generate a conformational trap of very low thermodynamic stability, giving an equilibrium yield of only 3%-5%; (2) splicedons with amino acid residues of good α-helical potential generate a conformational trap of medium thermodynamic stability and give an equilibrium yield of 20%-25%; (3) the splicedons with amino residues of good α-helical potential and also an amino acid that can generate an i, i + 4 side-chain carboxylate-guanidino (amino) interaction, a conformational trap of maximum thermodynamic stability is generated, giving an equilibrium yield of 45%-50%; and (4) the thermodynamic stability of the conformational trap of the spliced peptide is also influenced by the amino acid composition of the flanking regions. The V8 protease resistance of the spliced peptide bond is not a direct correlate of the amount of α-helical conformation induced into the product. The results of this study reflect the unique role of the splicedon in translating the organic co-solvent-induced product conformation as a site-specific stabilization of the spliced peptide bond. It is speculated that the splicedon with higher α-helical potential as compared to either one of the flanking regions achieves this by integrating its potential with that of the flanking region(s). Exchange of flanking regions with the products of other V8 protease-catalyzed splicing reactions will help to establish the general primary structural requirements of this class of splicing reactions and facilitate their application in modular construction of proteins.

by Zhang Xiang. / "June 2003." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-174). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

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Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and peanut mottle virus (PMV) are potyviruses that can cause serious yield reductions in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. Virus resistant soybean cultivars have been released with alleles at the Rsv1 and Rpv1 locus that confer resistance to SMV and PMV, respectively. A high-resolution map-based cloning approach was undertaken to isolate Rsv1 and Rpv1 from soybean, with hopes of providing insight into this host-pathogen relationship. A mapping population of 1,056 F2 individuals was constructed from the cross of the resistant cultivar PI 96983 (Rsv1 and Rpv1) by the susceptible cultivar Lee 68 (rsv1 and rpv1). Ninety-one of the 1,056 F2 individuals had a cross-over (recombination) in the chromosomal region between microsatellite, or simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker loci Hsp176 and Sat120, and these 91 recombinant lines (RLs) were selected for further genetic analysis. Genotypes of Rsv1 and Rpv1 for the 91 RLs were obtained by inoculating their F2:3 progeny with SMV-G1 and PMV-P1, respectively. The 91 RLs also were used for mapping one random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), five SSR, and 21 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Included in these RFLP markers were seven resistance gene candidate (RGC) and five resistance gene candidate flanking (RGCF) markers. RGC probes encode a protein with homology to previously cloned plant disease resistance genes, and RGCF probes are sequences obtained from the flanking regions of candidate disease resistance genes. The resultant high-resolution map consisted of 41 marker loci detected by 27 molecular markers. Rsv1 and Rpv1 cosegregated with one or more RFLP bands detected by RGCF probes: GG27-1a, 3gG2SP, and/or T3G. Analyses of the disease reaction and molecular marker data from seven RLs suggested that the map position of Rsv1 should be at a locus different from that designated by the linkage analysis software, Mapmaker 3.0. Compared to the other 89 RLs, a high percentage (>34%) of F3 plants grown from four of these seven RLs gave a necrotic reaction when inoculated with SMV-G1. From this evidence, we believed that another locus independent of Rsv1 was involved in PI 96983's response to SMV-G1. The two loci conferring resistance to SMV-G1 were designated Rsv1a and Rsv1b. / Master of Science

Dans le domaine de l’acoustique du bâtiment, la structuredes constructions en bois est légère et ses capacités d’isolementacoustique sont faibles en particulier pour les basses fréquencesen comparaison à d’autres techniques de constructioncomme le béton. Les travaux de cette thèse se donc sont centréssur l’élaboration d’un outil prédictif visant à déterminer lesperformances acoustiques des planchers solivés en bois afin decompléter les outils prédictifs actuellement sur le marché. Laméthode des éléments finis est adaptée pour résoudre ce problèmevibro-acoustique car le comportement basses fréquencesest de type modal. Pour gagner en temps de calcul, une résolutionmixte éléments finis – formulation intégrale d’Huygens etdifférentes optimisations ont été mises en place. Grâce à l’utilisationde la méthode des éléments finis, il a été possible demettre en évidence des résonances de ce problème couplé quifont chuter localement la valeur de l’affaiblissement ; celles-cine peuvent être prises en compte par la méthode des matricesde transfert. Néanmoins, ces deux méthodes fournissent des alluresmoyennes de courbes d’affaiblissement équivalentes, enparticulier lors d’une étude en tiers d’octave. Pour aborder leproblème des transmissions latérales, nous avons montré lafaisabilité de la détermination expérimentale des propriétés mécaniqueséquivalentes d’un élément de jonction courant entreles planchers et les murs : le sabot métallique. Un modèle mécaniquesimplifié par éléments finis permet ainsi un couplagemécanique entre les solives et les poutres en intégrant les effetslocaux de dissipation présents pour ce type de jonction. / In building acoustics, the structure of wooden construction islightweight and sound insulation at low frequency are weakcompared to other construction techniques like concrete. Thework of this thesis is focus on the development of predictivetools for determining the acoustic performance of wooden joistfloors to complete the existing predictive tools available on themarket. The finite element method (FEM) is adapted to solvethis vibro-acoustic problem because behavior at low frequenciesis modal. To save computation time, a mixed resolutionfinite element with Huygens integral formulations and severaloptimizations were implemented. We could note the interest ofthe FEM : we observed that resonances of the coupled systemdrive locally down the value of the TL, which can not be takeninto account by the method of transfer matrices. However, wenote that these two methods provide equivalent average curveshapes of TL’s spectrum. To deal with the problem of flankingtransmissions, penalizing the lightweight construction, we experimentalydetermine the mechanical properties of a equivalentjunction element between floors and walls : the wood joisthanger. Through a simplified mechanical model, this numericalfinite element model allows a mechanical coupling between thejoists and beams by incorporating the local effects of dissipationpresent for this type of junction.

The previous view of DNA as a linear sequence of bases is evolving to consider structure, topology and dynamics. Sequences surrounding damage lesions have been shown to effect enzyme recognition and processing. Here we present an in depth investigation of subtle structural and dynamical features imparted to nucleic acid duplexes by a designed modification or damage lesions. Highly restrained solution structures were generated and validated utilizing a range of NMR techniques. This allowed for the characterization of multiple features of the nucleic acid duplex; such as base pairing, backbone torsion angles, deoxyribose sugar pucker, and intra and inter nucleotide proton distances. Additional experiments provided insight into dynamic movements of the nucleic bases. These features are then correlated to enzyme data in order to explain the observed modulation of activity.

La forte sensibilité des ouvrages bois aux transmissions latérales, vibrations et autres sons basses fréquences représente un obstacle à leur développement. En réponse à cette problématique, le projet Vibracoubois, dans lequel s'inscrivent ces travaux, vise à développer la caractérisation ainsi que la modélisation des transferts vibro-acoustiques au sein de ces structures. L'objectif principal de ces travaux est donc d'élargir le champ de l'étude expérimentale et numérique à une structure complète constituée de différentes parois et de cavités couplées. Les jonctions, véritables nœuds des systèmes constructifs, sont placées au centre de l'étude. Pour ce faire, un protocole expérimental est développé, permettant d'effectuer des mesures en laboratoire mais également in-situ sur des structures réelles. Les résultats de campagnes d'essais effectuées au sein de deux maquettes d'ouvrages bois (ossature et bois massif) grandeur nature sont présentés. Par ailleurs, en vue de se rapprocher des jonctions réelles du bâtiment, des méthodes numériques de couplage incluant des effets locaux de dissipation sont développées. Une méthode hybride est présentée. Un modèle numérique de la maquette en bois massif, basé sur la méthode des éléments-finis, est créé. L'utilisation de cette méthode est justifiée de par la prépondérance des comportements modaux aux basses fréquences. Ce modèle intègre la méthode hybride en vue d'obtenir un couplage souple entre les parois, par opposition au couplage classique rigide des éléments-finis. Les résultats d'un processus de recalage portant sur les propriétés des parois et des jonctions ainsi que sur le couplage vibro-acoustique sont présentés. / Wooden buildings are very sensitive to flanking transmissions, vibrations and low frequency sounds, which interferes with their development. The Vibracoubois project, in which this research work is part of, aims to respond to this problem by improving the vibro-acoustic transfers characterization and modelling of these structures. This research work mainly focuses on expanding the experimental and the numerical scope of the study to an entire structure made of coupled walls and air cavities. The junctions, considered critical for the vibration propagation in these buildings, are placed at the center of this work. First, an experimental protocol is presented. It allows to measure both the vibro-acoustic behaviour of laboratory and real structures. The results of test campaigns run on two full-scale experimental mock-ups (timber frame and CLT) are then presented. Secondly, numerical coupling methods that include local dissipation effects are developed, in order to get closer to real junctions behaviour. A hybrid coupling method is presented. A numerical model of the CLT mock-up, based on the finite-elements method, is then created. The use of this method is justified because of the strong modal behaviour of these structures at low frequencies. This model implements the hybrid coupling method in order to create flexible junctions, as opposed to the classic rigid coupling of the finite-elements. Based on the CLT mock-up experimental measurements, the results of an adjustment process of the wall and the junction properties used in the numerical model is finally presented.