Les noyaux riches en neutrons de la région de transition A~180-200 présentent de nombreux intérêts pour les physiciens nucléaires. Les meilleurs exemples d'isomérisme K sont prédits pour les noyaux situés du côté riche en neutrons de la vallée de stabilité. Ces noyaux sont par contre difficilement peuplés par des réactions nucléaires classiques. L'étude des décroissances gamma de ces isomères K fournit des informations de première importance sur l'évolution de la structure du noyau de la forme prolate à la forme sphérique dans la région de transition. La fragmentation du projectile s'est avérée une méthode puissante pour peupler des isotopes de noyaux lourds riches en neutrons, ceci avec des sections efficaces suffisantes pour pouvoir en faire la spectroscopie gamma. Les techniques de spectroscopie gamma utilisées auprès du Séparateur de FRagments (FRS) du GSI ont permis d'étudier les états isomériques K de noyaux de la région de masse A~190-200 dont les temps de vie s'étendent de quelques nanosecondes à quelques millisecondes. Ces isomères sont produits par fragmentation d'un faisceau de 208Pb à une énergie de 1 GeV/nucléon sur une cible de 9Be d'une épaisseur de 1.6 g/cm2. Les fragments sont séparés par le FRS fonctionnant en mode achromatique et identifiés grace à la méthode Brho-DeltaE-TOF. Les ions sont ensuite arrêtés par un stoppeur en aluminium. Les rayonnements gamma prompts et retardés émis en coincidence avec les ions implantés sont détectés par un dispositif composé de 4 détecteurs germanium trèfle segmentés d'efficacité photopic totale 6 %. Utilisant cette nouvelle technique expérimentale, ce travail a permis d'étudier de nouveaux isomères dans les noyaux riches en neutrons de la région de masse A=190-200. De nouveaux états isomériques K ont été identifiés dans les noyaux 190W et 197Ir. L'étude de leur décroissance a permis d'obtenir des informations nouvelles sur leur structure. Ce travail a aussi démontré l'efficacité de cette nouvelle méthode pour atteindre des états de haut spin : les états isomériques K=35/2- ont été peuplés dans les noyaux de 175Hf, 179W et 181Re. Les spins de ces états correspondent à la plus haute valeur jamais observée dans des réactions de fragmentation du projectile.

L'étude des états isomères est un outil important utilisé afin de recueillir des informations sur la structure des noyaux proches comme éloignés de la vallée de stabilité. Cette étude peut aussi être menée afin de comprendre le rôle des différents mécanismes de réaction dans le peuplement des états excités. Le dispositif expérimental associé au spectromètre LISE du GANIL nous a permis de mener à bien ce travail. Dans la première partie de ce travail, une expérience dont le but est l'observation et l'étude des isomères situés dans la région des noyaux riches en neutrons proches du 78Ni produits par fragmentation d'un faisceau de 86Kr est présentée. Dix états isomères de court temps de vie ont été mis en évidence et étudiés pour la première fois. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons mené une étude sur le rôle du mécanisme de réaction sur le peuplement des niveaux excités pour différents spins et différentes énergies des noyaux produits par fragmentation d'un faisceau de 92Mo à 60 MeV/u. Lors de cette nouvelle expérience, les taux de production F d'isomères et les distributions en moment des fragments produits ont été mesurés. Une forte dépendance de F en fonction de la structure de l'isomère et du mécanisme de réaction a été observée pour la première fois aux énergies intermédiaires.

<i>Festuca hallii</i> [(Vasey) Piper] (plains rough fescue) is a dominant native grass species in the Fescue Prairie region of North America that has undergone dramatic range reduction in the past century. This research is undertaken to address the related issues associated with the effectiveness of sampling in capturing genetic diversity, the influence of habitat fragmentation on genetic variation, the geographic variation of seed germination characteristics, and the comparative genetic variation of differential germination. It was found that the tiller samples revealed slightly larger among-population variation than the seed samples. The fescue plant was genetically diverse, as revealed by the proportion of polymorphic bands, the mean band frequency, and the within-population variation. The genetic variation was not highly differentiated with only 6.5% of the total AFLP variation residing among populations. Mantel test revealed a significant correlation between genetic and geographic distances and a spatial autocorrelation up to 60 km among populations was detected. Base temperatures (<i>T_b</i>, minimal or base temperature permitting germination) of the 15 populations fell into a narrow range within 2.2°C with an average of 1.1°C. High final germination percentage was reached at a wide temperature range from 5 to 20°C with the highest germination percentage at 10°C. Germination rate index increased with increasing temperature from 5 to 20°C. <i>T_b</i> was positively correlated with latitude and negatively with longitude and the thermal time requirement for 50% germination was negatively correlated with latitude. The AFLP variation and germination responses were significantly associated with environmental attributes related to moisture, indicating local adaptation. However, the AFLP variation and germination was not significantly associated with the estimated population size and geographic distance to the nearest neighbor, suggesting that fragmentation has not generated considerable genetic and germination impact on the fescue populations. Marked differences in estimates of mean band frequency were observed for various groups of germinating seeds under different test temperatures. Comparisons of AFLP variation among 27 groups of seeds representing population, germination timing and test temperature indicates seed genotypes respond slightly differently to environmental variation, resulting in significant but small impact of germination timing and temperature on the genetic diversity of populations. These findings are significant not only for understanding and predicting the ecological adaptation of the species, but also for formulating effective restoration strategies for remnant populations.

Human-dominated landscapes often have habitat loss and fragmentation. These characteristics described at the landscape scale, called landscape elements, influence species diversity and distribution. These landscape elements include such descriptions as the amount of habitat in the landscape and the degree of fragmentation of the habitat. "Optimization of landscape pattern" studies which landscape elements will maximize species diversity and/or distribution. Some general conclusions have emerged from this research. For example, for some bird species the size of the habitat patch in which a species nests has been found to be more important than landscape variables. However, preliminary research suggested that landscape elements such as the matrix are important urban areas. My study addressed this problem by asking: which elements of the landscape are most important for predicting avian species richness and abundance in the Greater Toronto Area? A literature review revealed a number of variables that have been found to influence bird species diversity within a landscape: area of habitat in which the species nests, amount of habitat within the landscape, degree of fragmentation, vegetation characteristics of the habitat patch, and area within the landscape deemed urban in municipal land-use designations (amount of urbanization). From this literature, I formulated four hypotheses describing the most important variables for avian diversity: (1) the area of the habitat patch is most important, (2) only variables describing the habitat patch itself are important, (3) the area of the habitat patch is important, but landscape variables should also be considered and (4) urbanization is most important. These hypotheses were considered competing explanations of bird species diversity at the landscape scale. <br /><br /> A database of breeding bird data and landscape information, in a geographic information system platform, was used to investigate the comparative strength of the competing hypotheses for the Greater Toronto Area. A mathematical expression with a Poisson model format was created to represent each hypothesis. The model selection technique based on Kullback-Leibler information using the Akaike Information Criterion was deemed most appropriate for the comparison of the models. Four separate Poisson model competitions were completed using two habitat types and two response variables: species richness and total abundance. In three of the four competitions, the best model included the habitat area and the amount of urbanization in the landscape. In the forth competition, this model was considered as strong as another model which included habitat area, amount of habitat in the landscape and degree of fragmentation. The results from the model competition support the hypothesis that habitat area is important, but landscape variables must also be considered to explain avian richness and total abundance. It appears that maintaining native bird biodiversity in the Greater Toronto Area should focus on preserving and possibly increasing habitat area and decreasing adjacent urbanization. Exploration of the best model in the forest analysis with the richness response variable found that a 10% increase in habitat area cause approximately a 10% increase in species richness, and a 10% increase in urban area caused approximately a 20% decrease in species richness. Consequently, current natural heritage planning in Ontario should consider urban development as an important negative effect on native birds.

In current age, various companies are using a centralized database system for dailybusiness transactions in different domains. Some critical issues have been observedrelated to the complexity, maintenance, performance and communication cost of datain centralized data repository for query processing, according to the demand of endusersfrom different locations. So, different enterprises are striving to implementefficient distributed database systems in their business environments for scalability.The distributed database architecture covers different factors such as transparentmanagement system, replication, fragmentation and allocation etc. This dissertationfocuses on database fragmentation and techniques which are useful for performingdatabase fragmentation. The objective of this research is to investigate efficient algorithm and technique fordatabase fragmentation in distributed environment. We proposed a customized ISUD(Insert, Select, Update, Delete) technique after comparative study of the best suitabletechniques, which is selected for implementation purpose. The functionality of thecustomized ISUD technique helps to get the precedence of the attribute of a relationhorizontally in database from various sites or location. The practical objective of this dissertation is to design the architecture and develop,implement customized ISUD (Insert, Select, Update, Delete) user interface, and to testthe selected algorithm or technique by using the interface. We used C#.Net as adevelopment tool. This user interface accepts ISUD frequency as an input andproduces ALP (attribute location precedence) values as output. We have incorporateddesign science research (DSR) method for customized ISUD technique development.This customized ISUD technique can be considered as a foundation to implementhorizontal database fragmentation in distributed environment, so that the databaseadministrator can take a proper decision for allocating the fragmented data to varioussites at initial state of distributed database design.

Human-dominated landscapes often have habitat loss and fragmentation. These characteristics described at the landscape scale, called landscape elements, influence species diversity and distribution. These landscape elements include such descriptions as the amount of habitat in the landscape and the degree of fragmentation of the habitat. "Optimization of landscape pattern" studies which landscape elements will maximize species diversity and/or distribution. Some general conclusions have emerged from this research. For example, for some bird species the size of the habitat patch in which a species nests has been found to be more important than landscape variables. However, preliminary research suggested that landscape elements such as the matrix are important urban areas. My study addressed this problem by asking: which elements of the landscape are most important for predicting avian species richness and abundance in the Greater Toronto Area? A literature review revealed a number of variables that have been found to influence bird species diversity within a landscape: area of habitat in which the species nests, amount of habitat within the landscape, degree of fragmentation, vegetation characteristics of the habitat patch, and area within the landscape deemed urban in municipal land-use designations (amount of urbanization). From this literature, I formulated four hypotheses describing the most important variables for avian diversity: (1) the area of the habitat patch is most important, (2) only variables describing the habitat patch itself are important, (3) the area of the habitat patch is important, but landscape variables should also be considered and (4) urbanization is most important. These hypotheses were considered competing explanations of bird species diversity at the landscape scale. <br /><br /> A database of breeding bird data and landscape information, in a geographic information system platform, was used to investigate the comparative strength of the competing hypotheses for the Greater Toronto Area. A mathematical expression with a Poisson model format was created to represent each hypothesis. The model selection technique based on Kullback-Leibler information using the Akaike Information Criterion was deemed most appropriate for the comparison of the models. Four separate Poisson model competitions were completed using two habitat types and two response variables: species richness and total abundance. In three of the four competitions, the best model included the habitat area and the amount of urbanization in the landscape. In the forth competition, this model was considered as strong as another model which included habitat area, amount of habitat in the landscape and degree of fragmentation. The results from the model competition support the hypothesis that habitat area is important, but landscape variables must also be considered to explain avian richness and total abundance. It appears that maintaining native bird biodiversity in the Greater Toronto Area should focus on preserving and possibly increasing habitat area and decreasing adjacent urbanization. Exploration of the best model in the forest analysis with the richness response variable found that a 10% increase in habitat area cause approximately a 10% increase in species richness, and a 10% increase in urban area caused approximately a 20% decrease in species richness. Consequently, current natural heritage planning in Ontario should consider urban development as an important negative effect on native birds.

<i>Festuca hallii</i> [(Vasey) Piper] (plains rough fescue) is a dominant native grass species in the Fescue Prairie region of North America that has undergone dramatic range reduction in the past century. This research is undertaken to address the related issues associated with the effectiveness of sampling in capturing genetic diversity, the influence of habitat fragmentation on genetic variation, the geographic variation of seed germination characteristics, and the comparative genetic variation of differential germination. It was found that the tiller samples revealed slightly larger among-population variation than the seed samples. The fescue plant was genetically diverse, as revealed by the proportion of polymorphic bands, the mean band frequency, and the within-population variation. The genetic variation was not highly differentiated with only 6.5% of the total AFLP variation residing among populations. Mantel test revealed a significant correlation between genetic and geographic distances and a spatial autocorrelation up to 60 km among populations was detected. Base temperatures (<i>T_b</i>, minimal or base temperature permitting germination) of the 15 populations fell into a narrow range within 2.2°C with an average of 1.1°C. High final germination percentage was reached at a wide temperature range from 5 to 20°C with the highest germination percentage at 10°C. Germination rate index increased with increasing temperature from 5 to 20°C. <i>T_b</i> was positively correlated with latitude and negatively with longitude and the thermal time requirement for 50% germination was negatively correlated with latitude. The AFLP variation and germination responses were significantly associated with environmental attributes related to moisture, indicating local adaptation. However, the AFLP variation and germination was not significantly associated with the estimated population size and geographic distance to the nearest neighbor, suggesting that fragmentation has not generated considerable genetic and germination impact on the fescue populations. Marked differences in estimates of mean band frequency were observed for various groups of germinating seeds under different test temperatures. Comparisons of AFLP variation among 27 groups of seeds representing population, germination timing and test temperature indicates seed genotypes respond slightly differently to environmental variation, resulting in significant but small impact of germination timing and temperature on the genetic diversity of populations. These findings are significant not only for understanding and predicting the ecological adaptation of the species, but also for formulating effective restoration strategies for remnant populations.

Pulsed laser ablation ¡]PLA¡^in single shot on polycrystalline Ti thin foil ca. 20

Pulsed laser ablation (PLA) in single shot on polycrystalline Al thin foil ca. 50£gm in thickness was conducted in air and water to study the heat and shock affected zone (HSAZ) under specific wave length (532 nm), pulse duration time (16 ns) and laser input energy (400, 600 and 800 mJ/pulse) with a specified spot size of 0.03 mm2. The combined optical and electron microscopic observations indicated water is more effective than air to reduce HSAZ which increases with the increase of pulse energy yet with negligible recrystallization of Al substrate. Oxidation of the Al foil and redeposition of aluminum oxide nanocondensates on the laser incident side caused thermal mismatch between the coating and the Al substrate (especially when only 30£gm in thickness), and hence intra- and intergranular cracking along thermally etched subgrain boundary and grain boundary, respectively. The minimum interspacing of successive shots for effective fabrication of aluminum oxide nanocondesates from Al substrate are 470 and 250£gm, for the present PLA in air and water, respectively. PLA fragmentation of £\-Al2O3 powder (mainly 100 nm in size) in water was also conducted under free-run mode (1064 nm, 240 £gs pulse duration) vs Q-switch mode (532 nm, 16 ns pulse duration) having laser spot size 0.03 mm2 and focal point 5 mm beneath the water level for an accumulation time of 20 min at 10 Hz. Comparing with the case of 1064 nm, the 532 nm laser incidence suffered less water absorption and was more effective to produce nanocondensates mainly in the form of £^ and £_* derived phases ranging from 5 to 20 nm in diameter which were occasionally (111)-specifically coalesced as twinned bicrystals.

The H-type Nb2O5 powders (monoclinic structure with (101) crystallographic shear plane) submicron to micrometers in size were subjected to pulsed laser ablation fragmentation in water (PLAL) with optional NaCl addition in order to study the structure change of the resultant Nb2O5 nanoparticles by x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. The Nb2O5 nanoparticles via such a dynamic PLAL fragmentation process turned out to be H-type relic and newly formed T-type (an orthorhombic high-pressure phase), TT-type (a pseudohexagonal high-pressure phase) and a nonstoichiometric amorphous phase which coexist within a faceted nanoparticle (down to ca. 5 nm) or coalesced with each other. The composite Nb2O5 nanoparticles were protonated and imposed with a considerable internal compressive stress to modify the structure units and band structure as indicated by vibrational (Raman and FTIR) spectra and uv-visible absorption spectrum of the darkened colloidal solution indicating a stepwise minimum band gap lowering down to stepwise 3.0¡Ó0.1 eV and 2.5¡Ó0.1eV. NaCl spiking in water did not cause appreciable change on the phase behavior of Nb2O5 powders upon PLAL.