Cement-based concrete is one of the main construction materials that is widely used for many construction applications due to its strength, durability, reflectivity, and versatility. However, it is acknowledged that production of cement as a primary material of concrete releases 1.8 Gt carbon dioxide (CO2) into the environment. It is estimated that one ton of cement production releases one ton of CO2 to the atmosphere. That is why, this work aims to create a concrete that could be an alternative to cement-based concrete. Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is an eco-friendly construction material and an alternative to conventional concrete that is produced by reacting aluminate and silicate bearing constituents with a caustic activator (i.e. sodium-based or potassium-based). Both potassium and sodium have been considered as generally safe intergradient by the FDA, based upon the observance of several good manufacturing practice conditions of use. Theses activators are used in various application including concrete, food, as a stabilizer, and as a thickening agent. Moreover, these activators are also used in making soap, as an electrolyte in alkaline batteries and in electroplating, lithography, and paint and varnish removers. Medically, these activators are widely used in the wet mount preparation of various clinical specimens for microscopic visualization of fungi and fungal elements in skin, hair, nails, and even vaginal secretions, Currently, it was determined that these activators solution were found to be a safe and effective treatment of plane warts. Despite the developments in the studies relating to GPC made by various precursors such as fly-ash and slag in the literatures, the use of GPC made by fly-ash and bottom-ash has not been overly researched. In this study, attempts have been made to produce a unique mix proportion for Potassium-based GPC made by fly-ash and bottom-ash and investigate various mechanical properties of this type of GPC including elastic modulus, freeze-thaw resistance, heavy metal leach-ability and corrosion in both laboratory and real environmental conditions using Non-Destructive Tests (NDT)s. / Graduate / 2021-12-15

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá charakterizací 3D porézních kolagenových pěn obsahující vybraná antibakteriální činidla. V literární části jsou shrnuty dosavadní poznatky o biomateriálech a biopolymerech se zaměřením na kolagen a chitosan. Dále jsou v ní popsány antibakteriálních vlastnosti nanočástic v kontextu s využitím selenových nanočástic jako antibakteriální činidla. Pro potřeby této práce byla vybrána antibakteriální aditiva dvojího typu – biopolymerní chitosan a selenové nanočástice. 3D porézní struktury bylo dosaženo metodou lyofilizace. Mechanické vlastnosti biopolymerní matrice byly podpořeny síťováním v prostředí chemického síťovadla na bázi karbodiimidu. K charakterizaci připravených kolagenových pěn byly použity především fyzikálně chemické metody. Na analýzu mikrostruktury a velikosti pórů, vizualizaci nanočástic a jejich distribuci v testovaných materiálech byla využita rastrovací elektronová mikroskopie (SEM) spolu s energiově disperzní analýzou (EDX). Parametry jako je porozita, botnací poměr, úbytek hmotnosti při degradaci ve vodném prostředí a v prostředí enzymů byly zjištěny vhodnými gravimetrickými metodami. Ovlivnění chemické struktury kolagenové matrice před a po přidání antibakteriálních aditiv bylo sledováno za pomocí metody zeslabeného úplného odrazu infračervené spektroskopie s Fourierovou transformací (ATR FTIR). Procentuální uvolnění nanočástic z testovaných vzorků bylo sledováno pomocí optické emisní spektroskopie s indukčně vázanou plazmou (ICP OES). K zhodnocení antibakteriálních vlastností testovaných materiálů byly použity především difúzní agarová disková metoda a makrodiluční bujónová metoda. Provedeným výzkumem jsme zjistili vliv přídavku antibakteriálních činidel na strukturu a některé vlastnosti 3D kolagenových matric. Výsledky antibakteriálních testů ukázaly pozitivní vliv chitosanu i selenových nanočástic na inhibici růstu bakterií v závislosti na koncentraci přidaných aditiv. Navržené materiály mohou být využity pro biomedicínské aplikace především v oblastech zabývající se regenerací měkkých tkání.

Pre regeneráciu a rast poranených nervových vlákien bolo preskúmaných mnoho postupov, no výsledný rast axónov je často náhodný až dezorganizovaný a odráža sa na zložitejšom zotavovaní pacienta. V tejto práci boli vyrobené nové skafoldy s mikroštruktúrnymi a mechanickými vlastnosťami nervového skafoldu pomocou metódy freeze-casting. Konkrétne boli vyrobené biokeramické skafoldy na báze fosforečnanov vápenatých, oxidu titaničitého alebo oxidu zirkoničitého. Pomocou kontrolovaného rastu ľadu v jednom smere bola pripravená orientovaná mikroštruktúra. Pozorovanie pomocou skenovacej elektrónovej mikroskopie potvrdilo lineárne orientované póry (lamelárny systém), v ktorých priemerná veľkosť pórov klesala so zvyšujúcou sa rýchlosťou mrazenia. Skafoldy pripravené pomocou mrazenia v tekutom dusíku vykazovali vynikajúce mechanické vlastnosti, kde pevnosť v ohybe bola získaná v rozmedzí 10–17 MPa. Tie isté skafoldy mali vzdialenosť medzilamelamelárnych priestorov 10–30 µm, ktorých parametre sú vhodné pre nervové skafoldy. Biokompatibilita bola vyhodnotená pomocou Schwannových buniek in vitro, kde bola pozorovaná adhézia a rast v lamelárnom smere. Cytotoxické testy odhalili negatívny vplyv vyššej koncentrácie vápnika na prežitie Schwannových buniek. Pripravené skafoldy mali schopnosť tvorby apatitu na povrchu v podobe embryonálnych a nukleačných centier a apatitu samotného. Skafoldy na báze fosforečnanov vápenatých a oxidu titaničitého vykazovali sľubné regeneračné vlastnosti, konkrétne adhéziu a rast prostredníctvom pórovitej štruktúry a taktiež vynikajúce mechanické vlastnosti.

The theoretical part of this master’s thesis contain comparing the methods of endurance hydraulic bound mixtures of concrete recycles against influence of water and freeze in Czech republic and some other states of The European Union. The practical part is dedicated about laboratory testing concrete recycles with mixtures of binders and its endurance against the water and freeze cycles in Czech republic. In made rollers is compared the strength in pure compression with the strength in pure compression after freezing cycles. From the results of the exams is considered about suitability of using these hydraulic bound mixtures to road construction depending on the kind of use binder, amount of the binder and water. Results of this thesis will be used to revision of national postscript of technological norm ČSN 73 6124-1.

The thesis is focused on possibilities of durability evaluation of surface layer of concrete structures. The durability of concrete surface layer usually determines the durability of the structure as a unit. It has to be determined in what environment the structure is situated and what influences it has to face, to set the durability of the structure. There is a several normative prescription to set the resistance of the structure. There is formulated a summary of the most widely used and known prescriptions in the theoretical part of the thesis. It is a lot of effort to estimate the durability of the concrete by estimation of permeability of the concrete surface layer recently. Thus these methods are also formulated in the summary and there are compared the individual outputs of the tests. The permeability and pore structures of the concrete surface layer are crucial parameters for the durability of concrete structure. These parameters influence the construction properties of the concrete as well, thus the thesis is focused on relationship of the pore structure and the strength in press of the concrete.

El trabajo de investigación se basa principalmente en el desarrollo de la marca Wayu, la cual consiste en la producción y comercialización vía online y en tiendas especializadas de granola de cereales andinos con fruta liofilizada. Esto en respuesta a la problemática de no encontrar un snack saludable que brinde las energías necesarias para realizar sus actividades diarias a nuestro público objetivo, el cual está compuesto por hombres y mujeres entre 18 y 35 años de Lima Metropolitana de los niveles socioeconómicos A y B que llevan un estilo de vida saludable. Para ello, el trabajo busca solucionar la problemática de nuestros consumidores mientras que consideramos una cuota de responsabilidad social al trabajar de cerca con las comunidades andinas de la zona Puerto Inca de Huancayo. Los experimentos realizados nos permitieron validar la intención de los consumidores finales mediante sus comentarios en las publicaciones de redes sociales y mensajes directos, asimismo, se validó el interés por parte de las tiendas especializadas de contar con nuestro producto como parte de su catálogo de bienes ofrecido al público objetivo que apuntamos. La estructura del trabajo se divide inicialmente en la descripción de la problemática a solucionar y el respectivo diseño del modelo del negocio. Todas las fases del trabajo llegan a un punto en común: justificar la viabilidad del negocio. Por último, se quiere demostrar si la inversión del proyecto puede ser recuperada en el tiempo trazado.

In this study, we investigate the feasibility of Feebly Interacting Massive particles (FIMP) as possible candidates to constitute the observed Dark Matter abundance in the universe. FIMPs are particles that couple very feebly with known particles in the Standard Model (SM). As such, they do not attain thermal equilibrium with the baryon abundant environment in the early universe before Nucleosynthesis. In contrast to a freeze-out mechanism common for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) as DM candidates, FIMPs are produced by the so-called freeze-in mechanism that we will describe in this study. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the Coleman Weinberg (C-W) mechanism affects the FIMP [freeze-in] mechanism. We specifically consider a minimal extension of SM in which an Electroweak Singlet-scalar ($S$) couples only to the Higgs-boson ($H$); This is called the Higgs-portal mechanism. We study the C-W effective potentials for the Higgs and Dark-scalar singlet and their implications on FIMP mechanism.Using these, we focus on the High-temperature production of the DM with just the $HH\mapsto SS$ to compute the reaction rates, comparing Bose-Einstein statistics ($\Gamma_{HH\mapsto S S}^{B-E}$) to Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics $\Gamma_{HH\mapsto S S}^{M-B}$. We employ only $\Gamma_{HH\mapsto S S}^{B-E}$ to compute DM relic abundance ($Y$) at several Dark-scalar masses ($m_S$) as a function of coupling $k$, establishing that Higgs-Dark scalar coupling $k$ $\mapsto$ $k_{DM}$ corresponding to actual DM abundance lies in between ${10}^{-8.7}$ and ${10}^{-8}$, i.e. ${10}^{-8.7}<k_{DM}<="" div=""> / I denna studie undersöker vi mycket svagt interagerande massiva partiklar (FIMP) som möjliga kandidater till den observerade mängden av mörk materia i universum. FIMP:er är partiklar som interagerar väldigt svagt med de kända partiklarna i Standarmodellen (SM). Som sådana uppnår de ej termisk jämvikt med den baryonrika omgivningen i det tidiga universumet innan nukleosyntes sker. I kontrast med en frys-ut mekanism vanligt för svagt interagerade massiva partiklar (WIMPS) som DM kandidater, så produceras FIMP:er av en så kallad frys-in mekanism som vi skall beskriva i denna studie. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur Coleman Weinberg (C-W) mekanismen påverkar frys-in mekanismen för FIMP:er. Vi tar särskilt hänsyn till en minimal utvidgning av SM i vilken en Elektrosvag singlettskalär ($S$) interagerar med endast Higgsbosonen. Denna mekanism kallas för Higgs-portalmekanism. Vi studerar de C-W effektiva pontetialerna för higgs och mörk-skalärsingletten och deras implikationer för FIMPmekanismen. När vi använder dessa, så fokuserar vi på högtemperatursproduktion av DM med endast $HH\mapsto SS$ för att beräkna reaktionshastigheter, och jämför Bose-Einstein statistik ($\Gamma_{HH\mapsto S S}^{B-E}$) med Maxwell-Boltzmann statistik $\Gamma_{HH\mapsto S S}^{M-B}$. Vi använder endast $\Gamma_{HH\mapsto S S}^{B-E}$ för att beräkna kvarvarande DM mängd ($Y$) för flera mörk-skalärmassor ($m_S$) som en funktion av interaktion $k$, vilket slår fast att Higgs-Mörk skalär interaktionen $k$ $\mapsto$ $k_{DM}$ som korresponderar mot den faktiska DM mängden ligger mellan ${10}^{-8.7}$ and ${10}^{-8}$, i.e. ${10}^{-8.7}<k_{DM}<="" div="">

River-ice break-up in high-latitude regions, despite its brevity, is a fundamental process, representing the most dynamic and complex period of fluvial processes. Moreover, ice break-up has significant cascading ecological effects, with a different severity for mechanical vs. thermal break-up, and thus, motivates the importance of monitoring efforts. Classical research methods, such as fieldwork or analysis of photographs and aerial imagery, offer a general perspective on the timing of ice break-up but have safety and logistic issues caused by the dangers of unstable ice cover, the lag times between event occurrence and observation, and the frequent low visibilities. The emerging field of environmental seismology, which studies surface processes through seismic signals, provides an alternative solution to these shortcomings by continuously recording high temporal resolution data. Seismic sensing can potentially record any event within a set distance if the produced signal is powerful enough. Three geophones had monitored the subarctic Sävar River reach for 185 days to test the efficiency of seismic methods to capture ice-cracking events, and based on their characteristics, to identify thermal vs. mechanical ice break-up. With visual and multivariate analysis, seismic methods provided a conservative set of 2 228 events, detected at milliseconds precision, described, and located. Besides, both trigger lag times and principal component analysis depicted correlations between environmental drivers and ice-cracking events. The automatic picker based on duration and trigger thresholds required manual supervision because of the initial numerous false signals that accounted for 96% of total initial events. Ice-cracking signals as short as 0.2s and frequencies of 8-40 Hz with an average power of -117 dB were statistically defined, classified, and described by case events as two types, associated, based on their spectral and temporal patterns, with the two ice break-up modes. With an estimated Rayleigh wave velocity of 680 m/s, all ice-cracking signals' locations were within the instrumented area. Trigger lag times analysis improved detection and showed a strong link between ice-cracking events and drivers of lag times less than three hours, including near-immediate responses (< 2s). With multivariate analysis, the lag times showed a mainly climatic control for thermal melting and a primarily fluvial control in mechanical ice break-up. The combination of statistical and seismic analysis provides, despite the considerable manual screening, a valid and potentially site-transferable method to extract and describe ice-cracking signals and thus identify ice break-up modes in northern rivers.

L’objectif de ce travail est de caractériser l’interaction entre le Lanréotide – un octapeptide dicationique – et des membranes composées de lipides. Bien que ce peptide soit très soluble, il possède des propriétés d’autoassemblage. Au-delà d’une concentration critique – qui est sensible à la température et à la force ionique – ce peptide s’auto-assemble en nanotubes dont la structure a été résolue par l’équipe. Ce travail de thèse comporte deux volets : d’une part l’étude de l’interaction entre le Lanréotide et des membranes anioniques, d’autre part l’étude de l’interaction entre le Lanréotide et des membranes neutres.Nous adoptons une approche structurale afin de caractériser les mélanges membrane-peptide : diffusion de rayons X, spectroscopie infrarouge (ATR-FTIR), microscopie électronique (coloration négative et cryofracture) ; ainsi qu’une approche quantitative (ultrafiltration et dosage) afin de déterminer la stœchiométrie des interactions. En présence de lipides anioniques, le Lanréotide interagit en totalité avec les membranes jusqu’à les saturer. Cette interaction, qui n’est pas abolie à forte force ionique (2M de NaCl ou de phosphate), provoque un autoassemblage du peptide à la surface des membranes. Ce phénomène génère des autoassemblages mixtes constitués d’un empilement de bicouches de peptide prises en sandwich entre des bicouches de lipides. Ces empilements s’enroulent selon une spirale d’Archimède, c’est-à-dire une spirale régulière dont le pas est constant. Dans ces assemblages mixtes le peptide est organisé dans un nouveau mode d’assemblage dont la structure est ici résolue.Dans le cas des mélanges membranes neutre-Lanréotide, un coefficient de partage du peptide entre l’eau et les lipides est mis en évidence. Ceci suggère que dans ces conditions le peptide peut traverser les membranes. Enfin l’interaction du Lanréotide avec ces membranes provoque une diminution de sa concentration critique d’assemblage. / The aim of this work is to characterize the interaction between the Lanreotide – a dicationic octapeptide – and membranes composed of lipids. Even if the peptide is very soluble, it has self-assembling properties. Above the critical concentration – which is sensitive to both temperature and ionic strength – the peptide self-assembles into nanotubes whose structure has been solved by the team. The present work is divided into two parts: on one side the study of the interaction of the Lanreotide with anionic membranes, on the other one the study of the interaction of the Lanreotide with neutral membranes.We adopted a structural approach to characterize the membrane-peptide mixture: X-ray scattering, vibrational spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), electron microscopy (negative staining and freeze-fracture) ; we also used a quantitative approach (ultrafiltration and peptide quantification) in order to determine the stoichiometry of the interaction. In the presence of anionic lipids, the peptide interacts with membranes until its saturation. This interaction, which is not abolished at high ionic strength (2M NaCl or phosphate), induces the self-assembly of the peptide at the surface of the membrane. This phenomenon generates mixed self-assemblies composed of a stack of peptide bilayers sandwiched by lipids bilayers. These stacks wrap into an Archimedian spiral which is a regular spiral with a constant step. In these mixed assemblies, the peptide is organized in a new architecture compared to the self-assemble nanotubes. This new structure has been characterized and solved in this study.In the case of neutral membrane-Lanreotide mixture, the peptide partitions between water and lipids. This observation suggests that in this condition the peptide is able to cross the membranes. The peptide-membrane interaction also decreases the critical concentration of the peptide.

Since a large part of the hydropower structures in Sweden was built in the 1950s and 1960s, many of them are slowly but surely exhibiting deterioration. The hydropower companies are facing big challenges and are consequently investing in effective repairing methods since a hydropower structure failure could pose serious consequences and dangers to people, the environment, and the community. Many structures within hydropower are made of concrete and the demands on the new supplementing concrete are high. Concrete with the potential to meet these high demands is the pre-placed aggregate concrete, which has shown promising results regarding its mechanical properties in previous studies. For this reason, this type of concrete is of interest to investigate. The focus has not been on optimizing the pre-placed aggregate concrete for full-scale productions. Instead, the main objectives of this master thesis were to study and analyze the mechanical properties of this type of concrete, such as shrinkage, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, freeze-thaw resistance and moreover investigate parameters of importance in the mix design to obtain a homogenous and easy flowing grout that successfully could fill the voids between the coarse aggregates. The investigations were carried out by laboratory experiments in the research and laboratory facilities of Vattenfall in Älvkarleby. The mix design of the grout was developed using the methods and requirements stated in the American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM standards, and The Swedish Institute for Standards, SiS. A total of 15 grout-mixes were made. However, only the last five were used to cast specimens as the air content was insufficient in the first ten. The results indicated that it is necessary to replace the air-entraining admixture with microspheres in order for the pre-placed aggregate concrete to meet the requirements in exposure class XF3 and XC4. The scaling of the pre-placed aggregate concrete was less than 0.1 kg/m2 at 56 cycles, and thus, the freeze-thaw resistance was classed as very good. Moreover, the use of slag considerably reduced the bleeding of the grout and also improved the casting results. However, on the other hand, it increased the shrinkage of the pre-placed aggregate concrete. An efficiency factor of 0.6 proved to be too low since the compressive strength of the specimen with slag was approximately 50 % higher than the ones without. Furthermore, the shrinkage of the pre-placed aggregate concrete was after 63 days found to be lower than that of the conventional concrete. Also, the compressive strength of the pre-placed aggregate concrete without slag proved to be approximately 15 % lower than that of conventional concrete. Additionally, vibration during casting was found to increase the compressive strength of the pre-placed aggregate concrete and also improved the casting results. Low bleeding, combined with a high discharge time of approximately 45 seconds for 1.7 liters of grout, generated the best casting results. The results from the investigations have shown that this type of concrete has great potential. However, actions and further investigations should be made to see whether changing the fine aggregate size to a smaller one improves the ability of the grout to penetrate the voids between the coarse aggregates. Moreover, pump injection of the grout should be tested instead of pouring it over the coarse aggregates to see whether it improves the casting results and the mechanical properties. / Då en stor del av vattenkraftsdammarna i Sverige byggdes på 1950 och 1960-talet börjar många av dessa sakta men säkert brytas ner. Vattenkraftföretagen står inför stora utmaningar och investerar följaktligen i effektiva reparationsmetoder då dammbrott skulle kunna få allvarliga konsekvenser för människor, den omgivande miljön och för samhället. Flertalet konstruktioner inom vattenkraften är gjorda av betong och kraven på den nya kompletterande betongen är höga. En betong med potentialen att möta och uppfylla dessa höga krav är injekteringsbetongen som i tidigare studier uppvisat lovande resultat beträffande dess mekaniska egenskaper. Med anledning av detta är injekteringsbetongen av intresse att undersöka. Fokus har inte varit på att optimera injekteringsbetongen i syfte att genomföra fullskaliga försök. Istället har huvudsyftet med detta examensarbete varit att studera och analysera injekteringsbetongens mekaniska egenskaper såsom krympning, tryckhållfasthet, spräckhållfasthet, frostbeständighet samt undersöka viktiga parametrar i skapandet av ett homogent och lättflytande cementbruk som med god framgång kunde fylla ut hålrummen mellan grova ballasten. Undersökningarna utfördes genom laboratorieförsök på Vattenfalls betonglaboratorium i Älvkarleby. Vidare har skapandet och utvecklandet av bruket utförts i enlighet med metoder och krav angivna i American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM standards, samt i Svenska institutet för Standarder, SiS. Totalt gjordes 15 bruksblandningar, dock användes enbart de sista fem till gjutning av provkroppar då lufthalten visade sig vara för låg i dem första tio. Resultaten indikerade på att det är nödvändigt att ersätta luftporbildare med mikrosfärer för att erhålla en lufthalt som uppfyller kraven för betong i exponeringsklass XF3 samt XC4. Injekteringbetongens avflagning efter 56 dygn var mindre än 0.1 kg/m2 och frostbeständigheten kunde därmed klassas som mycket god. Användningen av slagg minskade cementbrukets vattenseparation avsevärt och bidrog även till förbättrade gjutresultat. Dock bidrog det å andra sidan till en ökad krympning hos injekteringsbetongen. En effektivitetsfaktor på 0.6 visade sig vara för låg då injekteringsbetongen med slagg hade en cirka 50 % högre tryckhållfasthet än dem utan. Dessutom visade sig injekteringsbetongens krympning vara mindre än den konventionella betongens efter 63 dagar. Tryckhållfastheten hos injekteringsbetongen utan slagg uppvisade även en cirka 15 % lägre tryckhållfasthet än den konventionella betongens. Vibrering under gjutning visade sig höja tryckhållfastheten hos injekteringsbetongen samt förbättra gjutresultaten. En låg vattenseparation i kombination med en flödestid på cirka 45 sekunder för 1.7 liter bruk visade sig ge bästa gjutresultaten. Resultaten från laboratorieförsöken har visat på att injekteringsbetongen besitter stor potential. Dock bör ytterligare undersökningar genomföras för att bedöma huruvida en mindre ballastfraktion för sanden påverkar brukets förmåga att penetrera den grova ballasten. Vidare bör bruket pumpas in istället för att hällas över den grova ballasten, detta för att se huruvida gjutresultaten samt de mekaniska egenskaperna hos injekteringsbetongen skulle förbättras.