In the past, the oil and gas industry has typically used the single gradient system to drill wells offshore. With this system the bottom hole pressure was controlled by a mud column extending from the drilling rig to the bottom of the wellbore. This mud column was used to achieve the required bottom hole pressure. But, as the demand for oil and gas increased, the industry started exploring for oil and gas in deep waters. Because of the narrow margin between the pore and fracture pressures it is somewhat difficult to reach total depth with the single gradient system. This led to the invention of the dual gradient system. In the dual gradient method, heavy density fluid runs from the bottom hole to the mudline and a low density fluid from the mudline to the rig floor so as to maintain the bottom hole pressure. Several methods have been developed to achieve the dual gradient drilling principle. For this research project, we paid more attention to the liquid lift, dual gradient drilling (riser dilution method). This method of achieving dual gradient drilling was somewhat different from the others, because it does not utilize elaborate equipment and no major changes are made on the existing drilling rigs. In this thesis the technical feasibility of using the liquid lift method over the other methods of achieving dual gradient drilling was determined. A computer program was developed to simulate the wellbore hydraulics under static and dynamic conditions, injection rate and base fluid density required to dilute the riser fluid and finally, u-tubing phenomena. In this thesis we also identified some problems associated with the liquid lift method and recommendations were made on how these problems can be eliminated or reduced. Emphases were placed on the effect of u-tubing, injection rate of base fluid at the bottom of the riser and well control issues facing this system.

We define a Yang-Mills model in 1+1 dimensions coupled to a real scalar field and we study the Yang-Mills flow equations for this simple model. Yang-Mills flows have not been thoroughly studied, especially in a physical context, but may be able to provide valuable insight into both particle physics as well as gravity. We study our model using both the Hamiltonian equations and Euler-Lagrange equations, and we calculate the flow numerically using a simple finite difference method for the case of an Abelian Lie group and static fields. We are able to find several analytic solutions to the equations of motion and the numerical calculation of the flow suggests most non-constant solutions are unstable. We also find that the flow depends upon the relative values of the coupling constant and the mass of the scalar field. The results found with this simple model provide a starting point for the study of Yang-Mills flow in the context of more complicated (but more physical) models such as the Abelian Higgs.

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, 2004 / Includes bibliographical references (leaves. 67).

Dans le contexte actuel de crise de la biodiversité et des risques associés de dégradation des services écosystémiques, les réseaux plantes-pollinisateurs sont parmi les réseaux mutualistes les plus étudiés. Sans pollinisateurs, de nombreuses plantes sauvages et cultivées ne pourraient pas se reproduire. Il est important de comprendre les réseaux plantes-pollinisateurs si nous souhaitons empêcher la destruction des interactions de pollinisation et des services écosystémiques connexes. Dans ces réseaux, les espèces doivent être présentes au même endroit et au même moment pour interagir. En France, l'abondance, la richesse des plantes et des pollinisateurs diffèrent le long du gradient latitudinal, qui correspond aux variations naturelles de la biodiversité. Ces variations pourraient potentiellement affecter la structure du réseau. En outre, les réseaux d'interactions sont souvent décrits sur la base de données agrégées dans le temps, mais en réalité les interactions varient dans le temps. Les grands ensembles de données sur les interactions plantes-pollinisateurs, couvrant toute la saison de floraison ou plusieurs années et permettant des comparaisons pertinentes entre les réseaux le long du gradient environnemental, sont rares. En raison de leur complexité et de leur variation interannuelle, la plupart des études sur les réseaux mutualistes se sont concentrées sur la comparaison des mesures classiques des réseaux qui sont toutes influencées par la taille des réseaux (le nombre d'espèces). De plus, la plupart de ces réseaux sont fondés sur des interactions observées sur le terrain, ce qui fait que certains liens ne sont pas observés. Ainsi, ces réseaux représentent un sous-échantillon d'interactions possibles, ce qui nécessite l'élaboration de nouvelles approches méthodologiques pour mieux explorer les processus écologiques qui déterminent les interactions entre les espèces. L'objectif général de cette étude est de comprendre et d'aider à prédire les effets des changements environnementaux sur les communautés de plantes et de pollinisateurs en étudiant les associations plantes-pollinisateurs selon un gradient environnemental. Je fournis et analyse ici une nouvelle base de données constituée de données géolocalisées caractérisant les associations plantes-pollinisateurs au niveau de l'espèce, la variation spatiale de la structure des communautés et l'assemblage des traits, en me concentrant sur six prairies calcaires le long d'un gradient latitudinal en France. J'ai d'abord comparé la variation de la diversité taxonomique dans l'espace (inter et intra-région) et dans le temps (tout au long de la saison). Ensuite, j'ai utilisé une nouvelle approche méthodologique pour comparer des réseaux de tailles différentes et pour étudier les conséquences des gradients environnementaux sur la probabilité d'interaction plante-pollinisateur. Pour comprendre à quel point notre vision des réseaux échantillonnés selon des méthodes classiques est déformée, j'ai construit des réseaux d'interaction plus complets en utilisant le pollen trouvé sur les insectes. Enfin, j'ai étudié le mécanisme de variation géographique des odeurs florales et les différences entre les populations liées à la variation de la communauté des pollinisateurs. En raison de la complexité et variabilité des interactions plantes-pollinisateurs, notre étude a souligné l'importance de tenir compte de toute la saison de floraison et de la période de vol des insectes, en utilisant des identifications au niveau de l'espèce, afin de démêler le rôle écologique des espèces et les variations du réseau. L'utilisation d'une nouvelle approche méthodologique nous a permis de faire des comparaisons de réseaux le long du gradient environnemental et de diversité en évitant des problèmes de circularité. La grande quantité de données fournies dans cette thèse a permis d'effectuer des comparaisons à différents niveaux, du réseau dans son ensemble aux variations entre populations d’une même espèce. / In the current context of biodiversity crisis and the associated risks of ecosystem service failure, plant-pollinator networks are among the most studied mutualistic networks. Without pollinators, many plants could not reproduce and set seed, and 70% of agricultural production directly depends on them. However, pollinating insects constitute some of the terrestrial taxa most affected by global changes. As such, understanding plant-pollinator networks is of particular relevance if we are to prevent catastrophic disruption of pollination interactions and associated ecosystem services. In plant-pollinator networks, species need to be present in the same site and at the same moment for interactions to occur. In France, plant and pollinator abundance, richness and presence differ along the latitudinal gradient, which correspond to natural variations in biodiversity, and these variations could potentially affect network structure. Moreover, interaction networks are often reported based on temporally aggregated data, but in truth pollination interactions are not static and vary in time, since different plant and pollinator species display different phenologies. Large datasets on plant-pollinator interactions which comprise the entire flowering season or multiple years and allow relevant comparisons among networks along environmental gradient are rare. Due to their complexity and variation among years, most studies of mutualistic networks have focused on predicting and comparing classic network metrics which are all influenced by network size, i.e. the number of plant and insect species. Furthermore, most of these networks are based on interactions observed in the field, and thus some existing links between species remain unobserved. As such, visit-based networks represent a subsample of possible interactions, which call for the development of new methodological approaches to better explore the ecological processes determining species interactions. The general aim of this study is to understand and help predict the effects of environmental changes on plant and pollinator communities by studying plant-pollinator associations along an environmental gradient. Here, I provide and analyse a new database made of geo-localized data characterizing plant-pollinator associations at the species level, spatial variation in community structure and trait assemblage, focusing on six different calcareous grasslands along a latitudinal gradient in France. I first compared the taxonomical diversity variation in space (between and within region) and time (along the season). Then, I used a new methodological approach to compare networks of different size and to study the consequences of environmental gradients on plant-pollinator interaction probability. To understand how much distorted is our vision of plant-pollinator networks sampled following classic methods, I built more complete interaction networks using the pollen found on insects. Finally, I studied the mechanism behind geographical variation of floral scents and among-populations differences linked to the variation in the pollinator community. Because of the complexity and variation of plant-pollinator interactions, our study highlighted the importance to consider the entire flowering season and insects flying period, using species-level identifications, to disentangle the ecological species' role and the network variations. The use of new methodological approach allowed us to make networks comparison along the environmental and diversity gradient avoiding data circularity. The high amount of data provided in this thesis permitted to make comparisons at different level, from the entire network to species-specific variation among-populations.

No description available.

Ladybugs are often used in biological control, because of their predatory way of life and potential ability to control many insect pests. So far, a number of studies was performed on this family, on their hunting strategies, other life history strategies, population dynamics, dependence of their distribution in time and space on the abundance of prey etc. However, the temporal changes in species composition and relative or absolute abundance of ladybugs were not yet examined along an altitudinal gradient. This is why I have focused my work on these dependencies. I tested the following hypothesis: overwintering sites in Coccinellidae are usually located at lower altitudes, where the individuals eventually attack their prey on the earliest budding trees; as season goes on, ladybugs follow the trends in environmental conditions and food and move to higher located sites; at the end of the season, ladybugs return back to their overwintering sites. In the research area in the Beskydy Mountains, 12 experimental sites were selected, evenly spaced along an elevational gradient of 350-482 m above sea level at each location. During the season, 12 measurements at two-week intervals were performed, each containing 2x300 sweeps. A total of 3064 of ladybug individuals were collected, belonging to 11 species. The...

The master thesis studies the impact of the entropy gradient on the vorticity of ve- locity field, particularly by applying the linear momentum balances. These balances are formulated for Thermo-viscous fluids (later fluids) and Thermo-viscous-elastic ma- terial (later solids) with the other balances (energy, mass, etc.). In order to derive these balances, the Classical continuum mechanics approach is used along with the respec- tive Variational principles. The thesis emphasizes the Variational principles applica- tion representing the modification of the Bateman principle [Bat29] and its comparison with the Classical approach, linked to the L. Crocco work [Cro37], particularly in the case of vorticity generation. It is pointed that by the definition of the dissipative en- tropy sdis a harmony of both approaches can be achieved and that, in the case of an appropriate limit, the direct effect of the entropy gradient on the vorticity of velocity field can be demonstrated. By applying this conclusion the relationship between the change of circulation among a closed curve and released heat on the given geometry is indicated.

En optimisation multiobjectif, les connaissances du front et de l’ensemble de Pareto sont primordiales pour résoudre un problème. Un grand nombre de stratégies évolutionnaires sont proposées dans la littérature classique. Ces dernières ont prouvé leur efficacité pour identifier le front de Pareto. Pour atteindre un tel résultat, ces algorithmes nécessitent un grand nombre d’évaluations. En ingénierie, les simulations numériques sont généralement réalisées par des modèles de haute-fidélité. Aussi, chaque évaluation demande un temps de calcul élevé. A l’instar des algorithmes mono-objectif, les gradients des critères, ainsi que les dérivées successives, apportent des informations utiles sur la décroissance des fonctions. De plus, de nombreuses méthodes numériques permettent d’obtenir ces valeurs pour un coût modéré. En s’appuyant sur les résultats théoriques obtenus par Inria, nous proposons un algorithme basé sur l’utilisation des gradients de descente. Ces travaux résument la caractérisation théorique de cette méthode et la validation sur des cas tests analytiques. Dans le cas où les gradients ne sont pas accessibles, nous proposons une stratégie basée sur la construction des métamodèles de Krigeage. Ainsi, au cours de l’optimisation, les critères sont évalués sur une surface de réponse et non par simulation. Le temps de calcul est considérablement réduit, au détriment de la précision. La méthode est alors couplée à une stratégie de progression du métamodèle. / In multiobjective optimization, the knowledge of the Pareto set provides valuable information on the reachable optimal performance. A number of evolutionary strategies have been proposed in the literature and proved to be successful to identify Pareto set. Howerver, these derivative free algorithms are very demanding in computational time. Today, in many areas of computational sciences, codes are developed that include the calculation of the gradient, cautiously validated and calibrated. Thus, an alternate method applicable when the gradients are known is introduced presently. Using a clever combination of the gradients, a descent direction common to all criteria is identified. As a natural outcome, the Multiple Gradient Descent Algorithm (MGDA) is defined as a generalization of the steepest-descent method and compared with PAES by numerical experiments. Using MGDA on a multiobjective optimization problem requires the evaluation of a large number of points with regards to criteria, and their gradients. In the particular case of CFD problems, each point evaluation is very costly. Thus here we also propose to construct metamodels and to calculate approximate gradients by local finite difference.

Main goal of this thesis was to compare geographical variability of sizes of colonies in the relationship with the type of roost of 6 models of originally cave bats species: Greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis), Geoffroy's bat (Myotis emarginatus), Common bent-wing bat (Miniopterus schreibersii), Greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), Lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) a Mediterranean horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale). The selected data set was also analyzed the possible influence of the composition of land cover in roosts around the variability of the size of the colonies. Based on compilation of literature and active communication with regional bat-monitoring coordinators, entries about size of colonies from 2 603 locations in 24 countries of Europe were collected. 1 952 entries were from roosts in buildings and 651 from caves. Based on statistical analysis, conclusive influence of type of roost on size of colonies by M. schreibersii, M. myotis a R. hipposideros was discovered. While in M. schreibersii and M. myotis are human colonies in smaller buildings, in R. hipposideros by contrast, they are larger. Simultaneously, north-west gradient in geographical distribution of maternal bat- colonies in dependence on type of roost (caves vs. buildings): in southern areas...

Corals form a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic zooxanthellae from the genus Symbiodinium; the breakdown of this symbiosis results in the phenomenon known as coral bleaching. This relationship is especially vulnerable to high temperature stress, although corals may survive if they have resistant types of symbionts, or switch their community composition towards them. To assess the variation of the symbiont community in different environmental conditions, I recorded the temperature and collected samples from six scleractinian coral species and one calcifying hydrozoan, in two inshore, two mid-shelf, and two offshore reefs at 1, 15, and 30m depth, analyzing Symbiodinium diversity using Next Generation Sequencing with the SymPortal profile typing approach. The temperature was very similar for all points in winter, when coral samples were collected, but variation between points increased until a maximum at summer, with the shallower parts of the inshore reefs showing higher temperatures and the points at 30m depth showing the lowest. The Symbiodinium composition was more similar between samples of the same host species than among samples of the same reefs or depths. Coral species from the Pocilloporidae family and Millepora dichotoma showed specific association with different profile types, specifically, intragenomic variants of Symbiodinium type A1, which appears to be dominant in the Red Sea although it has not been reported for these species in other regions. The other species showed specific associations with types previously reported in other regions, mostly from clade C and D, although also having different types and intragenomic variants. For most cases, certain profile types, which can reflect different species or populations, appeared to be dominant in particular environmental conditions, following a distribution related with depth, reef type, or both. In conclusion, this study showed that the Symbiodinium composition depends more on the host species than on the environmental conditions, and within each species the adaptation to environmental gradients can rely on tolerant symbiont species or populations characteristic of the Red Sea, or association with different types and clades that are common also in other regions.