The prepartum surge in fetal plasma cortisol, essential for the maturation of organs in mammals and the normal timing of parturition in some species, including sheep, may result from an increase in the molar ratio of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) to pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in the fetal circulation. Related to this, the cleavage of POMC to ACTH by the enzyme, prohormone convertase 1 (PC1), may be influenced by corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) stimulation. Accumulating evidence suggests that the capacity of individual corticotrophs to process POMC to ACTH may vary and individual corticotrophs are differentially responsive to CRH. It is not known, however, if there are separate corticotroph subpopulations in the fetal sheep pituitary which can be identified by differential colocalisation of POMC, ACTH and the CRH receptor 1, CRHR₁, nor if changes in the relative proportions of such subpopulations play a role in the molecular mechanisms underlying the overall changes in pituitary function described previously during gestation and in response to suboptimal uterine environments. To investigate these hypotheses, it was first necessary to develop novel methods for the simultaneous immunohistochemical labelling of POMC, ACTH and CRHR₁ in individual cells on sections of fetal sheep pituitary. In addition, I developed and validated an automated method to categorise and count individual cells to increase the quantitative power of this study. Pituitary tissue was collected from control fetuses at 53-55 (n=6), 63-85 (n=6), 110 (n=4), 139-141 (n=4) and 144-145 (n=6) days gestation. Two animal models, known to alter pituitary function in the fetal sheep, were used to investigate corticotrophic adaptations to suboptimal uterine environments. For the maternal periconceptional undernutrition (PCUN) model, maternal feed was reduced to 70% of maintenance requirements from at least 45 days before to 7 days after mating and fetal tissues were collected at 53-55 days gestation (n=7). For the placental restriction (PR) model, the majority of the placental attachment sites were removed in five ewes before mating and fetal tissues were collected at 140 (n=4) and 144 (n=4) days gestation. Pituitary sections were simultaneously labelled with antisera raised against full length POMC, ACTH and CRHR₁ and the proportions of pituitary cells with combinations of antisera were quantified. Four subpopulations of corticotrophs were identified, which expressed either: POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁, ACTH+CRHR₁, POMC+ CRHR₁ or POMConly. There was a significant decrease in the proportion of pituitary cells expressing POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁ between 53-55 and 65-85 days gestation, before an increase at 110 days gestation and a further marked decrease between 139-141 and 144-145 days gestation. In fetuses from the PCUN group, the proportion of pituitary cells expressing POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁ in early gestation was reduced. PR resulted in a significantly higher proportion of corticotrophs expressing POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁ during the prepartum period. This work represents the discovery of the differential expression of POMC, ACTH and CRHR₁ in individual corticotrophs of the fetal sheep pituitary and the first insights into the pituitary adaptations to periconceptional nutrient restriction and placental restriction at the level of individual corticotrophs. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1337370 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, 2008

The prepartum surge in fetal plasma cortisol, essential for the maturation of organs in mammals and the normal timing of parturition in some species, including sheep, may result from an increase in the molar ratio of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) to pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in the fetal circulation. Related to this, the cleavage of POMC to ACTH by the enzyme, prohormone convertase 1 (PC1), may be influenced by corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) stimulation. Accumulating evidence suggests that the capacity of individual corticotrophs to process POMC to ACTH may vary and individual corticotrophs are differentially responsive to CRH. It is not known, however, if there are separate corticotroph subpopulations in the fetal sheep pituitary which can be identified by differential colocalisation of POMC, ACTH and the CRH receptor 1, CRHR₁, nor if changes in the relative proportions of such subpopulations play a role in the molecular mechanisms underlying the overall changes in pituitary function described previously during gestation and in response to suboptimal uterine environments. To investigate these hypotheses, it was first necessary to develop novel methods for the simultaneous immunohistochemical labelling of POMC, ACTH and CRHR₁ in individual cells on sections of fetal sheep pituitary. In addition, I developed and validated an automated method to categorise and count individual cells to increase the quantitative power of this study. Pituitary tissue was collected from control fetuses at 53-55 (n=6), 63-85 (n=6), 110 (n=4), 139-141 (n=4) and 144-145 (n=6) days gestation. Two animal models, known to alter pituitary function in the fetal sheep, were used to investigate corticotrophic adaptations to suboptimal uterine environments. For the maternal periconceptional undernutrition (PCUN) model, maternal feed was reduced to 70% of maintenance requirements from at least 45 days before to 7 days after mating and fetal tissues were collected at 53-55 days gestation (n=7). For the placental restriction (PR) model, the majority of the placental attachment sites were removed in five ewes before mating and fetal tissues were collected at 140 (n=4) and 144 (n=4) days gestation. Pituitary sections were simultaneously labelled with antisera raised against full length POMC, ACTH and CRHR₁ and the proportions of pituitary cells with combinations of antisera were quantified. Four subpopulations of corticotrophs were identified, which expressed either: POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁, ACTH+CRHR₁, POMC+ CRHR₁ or POMConly. There was a significant decrease in the proportion of pituitary cells expressing POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁ between 53-55 and 65-85 days gestation, before an increase at 110 days gestation and a further marked decrease between 139-141 and 144-145 days gestation. In fetuses from the PCUN group, the proportion of pituitary cells expressing POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁ in early gestation was reduced. PR resulted in a significantly higher proportion of corticotrophs expressing POMC+ACTH+CRHR₁ during the prepartum period. This work represents the discovery of the differential expression of POMC, ACTH and CRHR₁ in individual corticotrophs of the fetal sheep pituitary and the first insights into the pituitary adaptations to periconceptional nutrient restriction and placental restriction at the level of individual corticotrophs. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1337370 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, 2008

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Cette thèse a pour sujet le développement de méthodes et de techniques permettant d'inférer l'état affectif d'une personne à partir d'informations visuelles. Plus précisement, nous nous intéressons à l'analyse d'expressions du visage, puisque le visage est la partie la mieux visible du corps, et que l'expression du visage est la manifestation la plus évidente de l'affect. Nous étudions différentes théories psychologiques concernant affect et émotions, et différentes facons de représenter et de classifier les émotions d'une part et la relation entre expression du visage et émotion sousjacente d'autre part. Nous présentons les dérivées Gaussiennes multi-échelle en tant que descripteur dímages pour l'estimation de la pose de la tête, pour la détection de sourire, puis aussi pour la mesure de l'affect. Nous utilisons l'analyse en composantes principales pour la réduction de la dimensionalité, et les machines à support de vecteur pour la classification et la regression. Nous appliquons cette même architecture, simple et efficace, aux différents problèmes que sont l'estimation de la pose de tête, la détection de sourire, et la mesure d'affect. Nous montrons que non seulement les dérivées Gaussiennes multi-échelle ont une performance supérieure aux populaires filtres de Gabor, mais qu'elles sont également moins coûteuses en calculs. Lors de nos expérimentations nous avons constaté que dans le cas d'un éclairage partiel du visage les dérivées Gaussiennes multi-échelle ne fournissent pas une description d'image suffisamment discriminante. Pour résoudre ce problème nous combinons des dérivées Gaussiennes avec des histogrammes locaux de type LBP (Local Binary Pattern). Avec cette combinaison nous obtenons des résultats à la hauteur de l'état de l'art pour la détection de sourire dans le base d'images GENKI qui comporte des images de personnes trouvées «dans la nature» sur internet, et avec la difficile «extended YaleB database». Pour la classification dans la reconnaissance de visage nous utilisons un apprentissage métrique avec comme mesure de similarité une distance de Minkowski. Nous obtenons le résultat que les normes L1 and L2 ne fournissent pas toujours la distance optimale; cet optimum est souvent obtenu avec une norme Lp où p n'est pas entier. Finalement, nous développons un système multi-modal pour la détection de dépressions nerveuses, avec en entrée des informations audio et vidéo. Pour la détection de mouvements intra-faciaux dans les données vidéo nous utilisons de descripteurs de type LBP-TOP (Local Binary Patterns -Three Orthogonal Planes), alors que nous utilisons des trajectoires denses pour les mouvements plus globaux, par exemple de la tête ou des épaules. Nous avons trouvé que les descripteurs LBP-TOP encodés avec des vecteurs de Fisher suffisent pour dépasser la performance de la méthode de reférence dans la compétition «Audio Visual Emotion Challenge (AVEC) 2014». Nous disposons donc d'une technique effective pour l'evaluation de l'état dépressif, technique qui peut aisement être étendue à d'autres formes d'émotions qui varient lentement, comme l'humeur (mood an Anglais). / In this thesis we focus on the development of methods and techniques to infer affect from visual information. We focus on facial expression analysis since the face is one of the least occluded parts of the body and facial expressions are one of the most visible manifestations of affect. We explore the different psychological theories on affect and emotion, different ways to represent and classify emotions and the relationship between facial expressions and underlying emotions. We present the use of multiscale Gaussian derivatives as an image descriptor for head pose estimation, smile detection before using it for affect sensing. Principal Component Analysis is used for dimensionality reduction while Support Vector Machines are used for classification and regression. We are able to employ the same, simple and effective architecture for head pose estimation, smile detection and affect sensing. We also demonstrate that not only do multiscale Gaussian derivatives perform better than the popular Gabor Filters but are also computationally less expensive to compute. While performing these experiments we discovered that multiscale Gaussian derivatives do not provide an appropriately discriminative image description when the face is only partly illuminated. We overcome this problem by combining Gaussian derivatives with Local Binary Pattern (LBP) histograms. This combination helps us achieve state-of-the-art results for smile detection on the benchmark GENKI database which contains images of people in the "wild" collected from the internet. We use the same description method for face recognition on the CMU-PIE database and the challenging extended YaleB database and our results compare well with the state-of-the-art. In the case of face recognition we use metric learning for classification, adopting the Minkowski distance as the similarity measure. We find that L1 and L2 norms are not always the optimum distance metrics and the optimum is often an Lp norm where p is not an integer. Lastly we develop a multi-modal system for depression estimation with audio and video information as input. We use Local Binary Patterns -Three Orthogonal Planes (LBP-TOP) features to capture intra-facial movements in the videos and dense trajectories for macro movements such as the movement of the head and shoulders. These video features along with Low Level Descriptor (LLD) audio features are encoded using Fisher Vectors and finally a Support Vector Machine is used for regression. We discover that the LBP-TOP features encoded with Fisher Vectors alone are enough to outperform the baseline method on the Audio Visual Emotion Challenge (AVEC) 2014 database. We thereby present an effective technique for depression estimation which can be easily extended for other slowly varying aspects of emotions such as mood.

Dissolution dynamic nuclear polarisation is an emerging clinical technique which enables the metabolism of hyperpolarised 13C-labelled molecules to be dynamically and non- invasively imaged in tissue. The first molecule to gain clinical approval is [1-13C]pyruvate, the conversion of which to [1-13C]lactate has been shown to detect early treatment re- sponse in cancers and correlate with tumour grade. As the technique has recently been translated into humans, accurate and reliable quantitative methods are required in order to detect, analyse and compare regions of altered metabolism in patients. Furthermore, there is a requirement to understand the biological processes which govern lactate pro- duction in tumours in order to draw reliable conclusions from this data. This work begins with a comprehensive analysis of the quantitative methods which have previously been applied to hyperpolarised 13C data and compares these to some novel approaches. The most appropriate kinetic model to apply to hyperpolarised data is determined and some simple, robust quantitative metrics are identified which are suitable for clinical use. A means of automatically segmenting 5D hyperpolarised imaging data using a fuzzy Markov random field approach is presented in order to reliably identify regions of abnormal metabolic activity. The utility of the algorithm is demonstrated on both in silico and animal data. To gain insight into the processes driving lactate metabolism, a mathematical model is developed which is capable of simulating tumour growth and treatment response under a range of metabolic and tissue conditions, focusing on the interaction between tumour and stroma. Finally, hyperpolarised 13C-pyruvate imaging data from the first human subjects to be imaged in Cambridge is analysed. The ability to detect and quantify lactate production in patients is demonstrated through application of the methods derived in earlier chapters. The mathematical approaches presented in this work have the potential to inform both the analysis and interpretation of clinical hyperpolarised 13C imaging data and to aid in the clinical translation of this technique.

[pt] Meios heterogêneos porosos submetidos a ataque químico em condições de alta temperatura representam um segmento de destacada importância no campo científico e industrial. O perfil de penetração efetiva de difundentes em meios porosos é um tópico de ampla significância e complexidade em fenômenos de transporte de momento, calor e massa; pois descreve o conceito do fenômeno de difusão configuracional transiente nas zonas não saturadas e, por conseguinte, sua abordagem matemática na formulação que o caracteriza. A proposta deste estudo é o desenvolvimento de um modelo matemático numérico de previsão do processo difusional transiente dos difundentes óxidos nos meios heterogêneos porosos. Assim, buscou-se realizar ensaios experimentais de difusão transiente do difundente sólido composto de óxidos de ferro (II), (II,III) e (III) para meios porosos de refratários sílico-aluminosos de alta alumina (Al2O3 SiO2), com e sem dopantes de óxido de cromo (III). Utilizou-se uma técnica não destrutiva microtomográfica com reconstrução computacional 3D e processamento digital de imagens para monitoramento espacial de cada partícula sólida difundente no meio. Foi analisada a influência, da temperatura variando de 1100 graus Celsius a 1300 graus Celsius, do tempo de exposição de 100h, bem como a presença de dopantes na estrutura dos meios porosos para mitigação da penetração. Dados da concentração adimensional dos difundentes em função da profundidade de penetração foram preditos por modelos transientes de transferência de massa fundamentados na formulação de placas semi-infinitas considerando condições de contorno saturadas. O quantitativo de transporte de massa obtido pelo processamento das imagens microtomográficas foram comparados e correlacionados com o método de mapeamento químico de superfície por varredura EDS em microanálise elementar. A partir dos dados experimentais e simulados, quantificou-se a difusividade dos meios porosos. Constatou-se uma variação inferior a 3,52 por cento entre os métodos destrutivo e não-destrutivo analisados para a quantificação da concentração adimensional dos difundentes ao longo da profundidade do meio, reforçando que o método proposto possa ser estendido para inúmeros outros difundentes e meios porosos congêneres. / [en] Porous heterogeneous media subjected to chemical etching in high temperature conditions represent a segment of outstanding importance in the scientific and industrial field. The diffusants effective penetration profile in porous media is a topic of broad significance and complexity in transport phenomena of momentum, heat and mass; once it describes the concept of transient configurational diffusion phenomena in unsaturated zones and therefore, a mathematical approach to its formulation. The purpose of this study is the development of a numerical mathematical model for predicting the transient diffusion process of oxides diffusants in porous heterogeneous media. Thus, experimental transient diffusion tests were performed with solids diffusants composed of iron oxides (II), (II,III) and (III) in porous silico-aluminous refractory media of high alumina (SiO2 Al2O3) with and without dopants of oxide chromium (III). A non-destructive computerized microtomography technique with digital 3D reconstruction and post-processing images was used for spatial monitoring each solid diffusant particle in the media. The influence of temperature was examined ranging from 1100 Celsius degrees to 1300 Celsius degrees, at exposure time of 100h, as well as the presence of dopants in the structure of porous media to mitigate penetration. Data of the normalized diffusants concentration field as function of the penetration depth were predicted by mass transfer transient models based on semi-infinite slabs formulation considering saturated boundary conditions. The numerical results of mass transfer obtained by microtomography images processing were compared and correlated with the chemical surface mapping method with EDS scan for elementary microanalysis. From the experimental and simulated data was quantified the porous media diffusivity. It was observed a variation less than 3.52 percent between destructive and non-destructive methods analyzed to quantify the normalized diffusants concentration along the media depth, enhancing the proposed method to be extended to other porous media and solids diffusants.

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-29T23:45:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ANDREZZA SOUSA SILVA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGEPM) 2018.pdf: 5233631 bytes, checksum: 12ad47a8373c6479a15d2cbfeba06e8d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-29T23:45:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ANDREZZA SOUSA SILVA – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGEPM) 2018.pdf: 5233631 bytes, checksum: 12ad47a8373c6479a15d2cbfeba06e8d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-19 / A Bacia Rio do Peixe (BRP) apresenta diversas estruturas rúpteis, dentre elas as bandas de deformação, que podem controlar as propriedades petrofísicas e aspectos texturais das rochas. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho é identificar os efeitos causados pelos diferentes tipos de bandas de deformação cataclásticas, em função da cinemática, sobre os aspectos texturais, distribuição de tamanho de grãos e poros, bem como porosidade em arenitos conglomeráticos. As propriedades dos grãos e dos poros foram extraídas através da análise de imagens em seções delgadas no Avizo Fire 8.1. No total foram analisadas 23 amostras, 19 com bandas de deformação (CB) com orientação definida (NW, NE, NS e EW), 2 amostras deformadas, porém sem bandas (SB) e 2 amostras da rocha hospedeira (ND). As rochas deformadas (CB e SB), apresentam redução no tamanho de grãos e pequeno acréscimo nos valores dos aspectos texturais em comparação a rocha não deformada (ND). Em relação à porosidade foi encontrada redução de 66% nas amostras CB e acréscimo de 13% nas SB. Ambos agrupamentos possuem maior conexão de grãos, permitindo o surgimento da macroporosidade, que não havia sido detectada nas amostras ND. Dentre as amostras com banda de deformação e cinemática definida, a rochas associadas ao sistema transcorrente dextral, de direção NW, possuem maior redução de diâmetro de grão, e menor redução de porosidade, cerca de 29%. As amostras com bandas de deformação NE e NS, formadas por cinemática transtensiva, são as amostras nas quais houve a menor quebra dos grãos, entretanto caracterizam-se pela presença de porosidade por fraturamento de grãos, gerando altos picos de macroporosidade. As amostras oriundas do sistema distensivo de direção EW possuem segunda maior redução de grãos, maior redução de porosidade e ausência de macroporosidade. Os aspectos texturais (circularidade, convexidade e razão de aspecto) das amostras com banda (NW, NE, NS e EW) é dependente da intensidade de cisalhamento provocado por diferentes sistemas deformacionais, quanto mais intenso mais cominuído será o grão, e consequentemente mais convexo, circular e menos alongado. Logo, é possível observar que a cinemática e a presença de bandas de deformação exercem controle sobre os aspectos texturais e petrofísicos dos arenitos conglomeráticos da Formação Antenor Navarro. E esse controle é definido pela compactação da rocha, rearranjo dos grãos, intensidade da catáclase, presença de fraturamento de grãos e cinemática atuante. / The Rio do Peixe Basin (RPB) presents several rump structures, among them the deformation bands, which can control the petrophysical properties and textured aspects of the rocks. Therefore, the objective of this work is to identify the effects caused by the different types of cataclastic deformation bands, as a function of kinematics, on the textural aspects, grain and pore size distribution, as well as porosity in conglomeratic sandstones. The grain and pore properties were extracted by thin section image analysis in Avizo Fire 8.1. In total, 23 specimens were analyzed, 19 with deformation bands (CB) with defined orientation (NW, NE, NS and EW), 2 deformed samples, but without bands (SB) and 2 samples of host rock (ND). The deformed rocks (CB and SB), present a reduction in grain size and small increase in the values of the textured aspects in comparison to the non-deformed rock (ND). In relation to the porosity, a reduction of 66% was found in the CB samples and a 13% increase in the SB. Both clusters have a larger grain connection, allowing the appearance of macroporosity, which had not been detected in the ND samples. Among the samples with deformation band and defined kinematics, the rocks associated to the dextral transcurrent system, NW direction, have a larger reduction of grain diameter, and a smaller reduction of porosity, about 29%. The samples with NE and NS deformation bands, formed by transtensive kinematics, are the samples with the lowest grain breakage. However, they are characterized by the presence of porosity by grain fracturing, generating high peaks of macroporosity. The samples from the EW steering distance system have the second largest grain reduction, greater reduction of porosity and absence of macroporosity. The textural aspects (roundness, convexity and aspect ratio) of the banded samples (NW, NE, NS and EW) are dependent on the shear strength caused by different deformation systems, the more intense the grain is, the more convex, circular and less elongated. Therefore, it is possible to observe that kinematics and the presence of deformation bands exert control over the texture and petrophysical aspects of the conglomeratic sandstones of the Antenor Navarro Formation. And this control is defined by the rock compaction, rearrangement of the grains, the intensity of the catachase, presence of grain fracture and active kinematics.

Depuis la fin des années 1990, les images optiques à très hautes résolutions spatiales issues de capteurs satellitaires sont de plus en plus accessibles par une vaste communauté d’utilisateurs. En particulier, différents systèmes satellitaires sont maintenant disponibles et produisent une quantité de données importante, utilisable pour l’observation de la Terre. En raison de cet important volume de données,les méthodes analytiques manuelles deviennent inadaptées pour un traitement efficace de ces données. Il devient donc crucial d’automatiser ces méthodes par des procédés informatiques, capables de traiter cette quantité de données hétérogènes.Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nos recherches se sont focalisées sur le développement de nouvelles approches basées régions (i.e., segmentation et classification) permettant l’extraction de plusieurs niveaux de connaissance et d’information à partir d’ensembles d’images à différentes résolutions spatiales. De telles images offrent en effet des vues différentes de la scène étudiée, ce qui peut permettre de faciliter l’extraction des objets d’intérêt. Ces derniers étant structurés sous la forme de hiérarchies d’objets complexes, nos travaux se sont naturellement tournés (1) vers l’utilisation d’approches de segmentation hiérarchique fournissant des ensembles de partitions de la scène à différents niveaux de détail et (2) vers l’intégration de connaissances de haut-niveau dans les processus de fouille de données. De manière plus générale, nous nous sommes intéressés à élaborer un outil informatique reposant sur une stratégie d’analyse descendante,similaire à celle d’un utilisateur, qui consiste à interpréter la scène en considérant, en premier lieu, les grandes zones composant les territoires (à partir des images aux résolutions les plus grossières) puis à affiner récursivement le niveau d’interprétation pour en extraire des zones plus spécialisées (à partir des images aux résolutions les plus fines).L’ensemble de ces travaux a été implanté dans une bibliothèque logicielle et validé dans le contexte de l’analyse d’environnements urbains à partir d’ensembles d’images multi résolutions. / In the field of remote sensing image analysis, the recognition of complex patterns from satellite images presents several challenges related to the size, the accuracy and the complexity of the considered data. Indeed, due tothe large amount of ground details provided by these images, the classical photo-interpretation approachesdo not provide satisfactory results. In this context, it is then relevant to develop new automatic tools adaptedto the extraction of complex patterns from such data.In this thesis, we have proposed new region-based approaches (i.e., segmentation and classification) enablingto extract different levels of information from sets of images at different spatial resolutions. Indeed, suchmultiresolution sets of images provide different (complementary) views on the represented objects of interestand can be used to make easier the extraction process of these objects. The main principle of the propose d'approach is to progressively extract and classify segments/objects of interest from the lowest to the highestresolution data, and then finally to determine complex patterns from VHSR images. This approach, inspired by the principle of photo-interpretation and human vision, merges hierarchical segmentation approaches withmultiresolution clustering strategies combined to the integration of high-level background knowledge.The proposed framework has been validated in the context of the urban mapping of complex objects.Experiments have been carried out on multiresolution sets of satellite images sensed over different cities. Theresults obtained have shown that the quality and the accuracy of the extracted patterns seem sufficient tofurther accurately perform both classification or object detection in an operational context.

[pt] A soldagem subaquática molhada é uma das técnicas utilizadas no reparo de plataformas submarinas para extração de petróleo e gás, tendo uma grande expansão no mundo atual. Sua maior vantagem frente a outros processos de soldagem se deve a sua simplicidade e facilidade de mobilização, já que permite ao mergulhador trabalhar diretamente sobre as partes submersas das peças sem a proteção de um ambiente artificial, como na tradicional solda a seco. Neste tipo de soldagem são usados tanto eletrodos oxidantes quanto eletrodos rutílicos. Neste trabalho busca-se avaliar os efeitos da utilização de Wustita em substituição parcial à Hematita, mineral empregado no revestimento de eletrodos oxidantes. Foram produzidos 5 grupos de eletrodos mantendo fixa a porcentagem em peso do total de óxidos de ferro e variando as proporções de FeO e Fe2O3. Realizaram-se soldas de 4 passes em posição plana com ângulo de 60º de inclinação entre o eletrodo e a chapa a 0.5m de profundidade. Os metais soldados foram avaliados por análise química, microscopia, hidrogênio difusível e micro dureza. Desenvolveram-se métodos de análise digital de imagens, para medir fração de área de inclusões a partir de imagens de MO e MEV, e a fração de microconstituintes por MO. Os resultados mostraram um aumento de ferrita próeutetóide com o aumento da wustita e uma diminuição com a fração de carbono. Esta, por sua vez, decresceu com o aumento da wustita. A micro-dureza decresceu com a fração de wustita e cresceu com a fração de carbono. / [en] Underwater wet welding is one of the techniques used in the repair of underwater oil and gas platforms, with a large expansion in the world nowadays. Its major advantage over other welding processes is due to its simplicity and ease of deployment, as it allows the diver to work directly on the submerged portions of the parts without the protection of an artificial environment, as in the traditional dry welding. Both oxidizing and rutilic electrodes are used in this type of welding. In this study we assessed the effects of the use of wustite in partial replacement of Hematite, a mineral used in the coating of oxidizing electrodes. Five groups of electrodes were produced with a fixed percentage of the total weight of iron oxide and varying proportions of FeO and Fe2O3. Four pass welds in the flat position with 60° angle of inclination between the electrode plate and a 0.5m deep were performed. Weld metals were evaluated by chemical analysis, microscopy, diffusible hydrogen and micro-hardness. Digital image analysis methods were developed to measure inclusion area fraction from OM and SEM images, and the fraction of micro-constituents by OM. The results showed an increase of proeutectoid ferrite with increasing wustite content and a decrease with increasing carbon content, which, by its turn, decreased with increasing wustite content. Micro-hardness decreased with wustite content and increased with carbon content.

L’objectif de ce travail était d’étudier l’évolution de la morphologie des agrégats soumis à des conditions hydrodynamiques turbulentes. Pour cela, des expériences de floculation de particules de latex ont été réalisées dans un réacteur de Taylor-Couette en mettant en œuvre un séquençage des conditions hydrodynamiques, consistant en six étapes effectuées alternativement à faible et fort taux de cisaillement. Pour l’ensemble des expériences, un suivi en ligne de la taille des flocs a été réalisé par granulométrie laser. Par ailleurs, des paramètres caractéristiques de la forme des agrégats, ont été déterminés par analyse d’images sur des échantillons de suspension prélevés à la fin des différentes étapes du séquençage hydrodynamique. Dans le cas où le mécanisme de floculation est la neutralisation de charges (par ajout de NaCl ou de Al2(SO4)3), les résultats ont permis de confirmer la forte influence de l’hydrodynamique sur la taille des agrégats mais ont aussi révélé l’existence d’un lien entre la forme des agrégats et leur histoire. Contrairement à la taille, la morphologie des flocs, caractérisée par leur circularité ou leur convexité est peu sensible à l’hydrodynamique. L’étude des distributions surfaciques de ces paramètres de forme ainsi que la représentation des résultats expérimentaux sous forme bidimensionnelle (reliant taille et forme) ont en effet montré qu’après un certain nombre de cycles rupture-refloculation, la circularité comme la convexité évoluent vers une distribution unique, indépendante de l’hydrodynamique. Dans le cas où le mécanisme de floculation est le pontage (le polymère utilisé étant le PolyDADMAC), pour des taux de cisaillement faible, les agrégats sont plus grands, mais plus circulaires et plus résistants à la rupture que ceux créés par neutralisation de charge. Une analyse complémentaire est ensuite proposée permettant d’analyser l’effet des conditions hydrodynamiques sur la dimension fractale des flocs déduite des mesures par diffraction laser ou de l’analyse d’images. A des fins de comparaison, une nouvelle expression de la dimension fractale issue de l’analyse morphologique Df* a été introduite. Enfin, la modélisation de la floculation par résolution de l’équation de bilan de population basée sur la méthode de la quadrature des moments (QMOM) a été abordée ; les paramètres variables du modèle étant les valeurs expérimentales du taux de cisaillement moyen et la dimension fractale. Les résultats préliminaires montrent qu’il est possible de reproduire correctement l’évolution des six premiers moments de la distribution en taille des agrégats pour une phase d’agrégation du séquençage hydrodynamique. / The aim of this work was to investigate the evolution of the morphology of aggregates under turbulent hydrodynamic conditions. For this purpose, latex particles flocculation experiments were conducted in a Taylor-Couette reactor by carrying out a sequencing of the hydrodynamic conditions, consisting of six steps performed alternately at low and high shear rate. For all the experiments, an on-line monitoring of the size of the flocs was carried out by laser diffraction. Moreover, characteristic parameters of the shape of the aggregates were determined by image analysis on suspension samples taken at the end of the various stages of the hydrodynamic sequencing. When the flocculation mechanism is the charge neutralization (by addition of NaCl or Al2(SO4)3), the results have confirmed the strong influence of hydrodynamics on aggregate size but also revealed the existence of a relationship between the shape of the aggregates and their history. Contrary to size, the morphology of the flocs, characterized either by their circularity or convexity, is not sensitive to hydrodynamics. The study of the surface distributions of these shape parameters as well as the representation of the experimental results in two-dimensional form (linking size and shape) have shown that, after a number of breakage-reflocculation cycles, both circularity and convexity evolve towards a single distribution which is independent of hydrodynamics. When the bridging flocculation is the main mechanism (the polymer used being PolyDADMAC), at low shear rates, the aggregates are larger, but more circular and more resistant to breakage than those issued from charge neutralization. A complementary analysis is then proposed to analyze the effect of hydrodynamics on the fractal dimension measured either by laser diffraction or by image analysis. In order to compare both results, a new expression of the fractal dimension derived from the morphological analysis Df * was introduced. Finally, the modeling of the flocculation by solving the population balance equation using the quadrature method of moments (QMOM) is presented; the only variable parameters being the experimental values of the average shear rate and the fractal dimension. The preliminary results show that it is possible to reproduce correctly the evolution of the first six moments of the aggregate size distribution for an aggregation phase of the hydrodynamic sequencing.