Master´s thesis focuses on the design of monolithic reinforced concrete structures storey hose which consist of 2 underground and 6 floors. This project deals whit two different boards, board over ground floor and over second floor, as well as three pillars supporting board, separate staircase placed in a reinforced core, base plate. All calculations are done according to applicable standards, mainly according to ČSN EN 1992-1-1.

Diploma thesis deals with the complex desing documentation newly-built hotel. The building is situated in the centre of Brno in the cadastral Brno – Trnitá. The hotel is desingned for temporary accommodation and small conferences. It is four-storey building with flat roof and without a basement. Cast-in-place reinforced concrete farme is used for structural system with locally supported slab. It used clay bloks for infill wall. The whole building is insulated external thermal insulation composite system from mineral wool. For visitors to the hotel is parking available in the south part of the land. The hotel is desingned for visitors with limited mobility and orientation.

The thesis is focused on the design and assessment of selected elements of load-bearing structure of hospital pavilion. This pavilion consisted of board frame with additionally lined self-supporting perimeter cover. Selected elements of the structure are locally supported slab, columns, foundation pad and staircase . Computational model was assembled of the software RFEM5. Internal forces locally supported slab were verified by manual calculation. The design documentation consist of engineering report, structural analysis and shape and reinforcements drawings of selected structural elements.

The diploma thesis is focused on a structural analysis of a multi-storey office building. The Loadbearing structure is made of cast-in-place reinforced concrete. In the thesis there is analysed a selected floor slab, a column, a foundation pad, a part of loadbearing wall and a precast staircase. Computation of internal forces is carried out by computational software SCIA Engineer. The Results from the software are verificated via simplified manual method. Assessment of a structure is done according to valid standards and regulations.

Diploma thesis deals with the design of a carrier structure of an administrative building. It is a new building, which is located in the city of Brno. The building is solved as a reinforced concrete skeleton with stiffening core. There ares five overground floors. Thesis is focused on the design and the static assessment of selected parts of the building. It includes a drawing documentation.

Le contrôle des vibrations à basse fréquence adapté aux structures légères est un défi scientifique ettechnologique en raison de contraintes économiques et écologiques de plus en plus strictes. De récentes études enacoustique ont portées sur l’absorption totale d’ondes basses fréquences à l’aide d’absorbeurs parfaits sublongueursd’onde. Ces métamatériaux sont obtenus en exploitant la condition de couplage critique. Unegénéralisation de cette méthode pour le domaine élastodynamique serait d’un grand intérêt pour répondre auxexigences du contrôle des vibrations de structures légères à basse fréquence.Cette thèse vise à adapter le problème d’absorption parfaite des ondes de flexion dans des systèmes 1D et 2D avecdes résonateurs locaux en utilisant la condition de couplage critique. Une étude préliminaire sur des systèmes 1D àgéométries simples sont d’abord proposée. Celle-ci propose une méthode de conception de résonateurs simplespour une absorption efficace des ondes de flexion. Une complexification du système 1D est ensuite considérée avecl’étude du couplage critique de Trou Noir Acoustique (TNA) 1D. Ceci a motivé l’interprétation de l’effet TNA à l’aidedu concept de couplage critique afin de présenter des outils clés à de futures procédures d’optimisation pour ce typede terminaisons. La condition de couplage critique est ensuite étendue aux systèmes 2D. L’absorption parfaite parle premier mode axisymétrique d’un résonateur circulaire inséré dans une plaque mince infinie est analysée. Ladiffusion multiple par une ligne de résonateurs circulaires insérés dans une plaque mince 2D infinie ou semi-infinie,appelée métaplaque, est aussi considérée dans l’optique de se rapprocher d’une application industrielle. A traverscette thèse, des modèles analytiques, des simulations numériques et des expériences sont présentés pour valider lecomportement physique des systèmes présentés. / The vibration control adapted to light structures is a scientific and technological challenge due toincreasingly stringent economic and ecological standards. Meanwhile, recent studies in audible acoustics havefocused on broadband wave absorption at low frequencies by means of subwavelength perfect absorbers. Suchmetamaterials can totally absorb the energy of an incident wave. The generalisation of this method for applicationsin elastodynamics could be of great interest for the vibration control of light structures.This thesis aims at adapting the perfect absorption problem for flexural waves in 1D and 2D systems with localresonators using the critical coupling condition. A study of 1D systems with simple geometries is first proposed. Thisprovides methods to design simple resonators for an effective absorption of flexural waves. The 1D systems thenbecome more complex by studying the critical coupling of 1D Acoustic Black Holes (ABH). The ABH effect is theninterpreted using the concept of critical coupling, and key features for future optimisation procedures of ABHs arepresented. The critical coupling condition is then extended to 2D systems. The perfect absorption by the firstaxisymmetric mode of a circular resonator inserted in a thin plate is analysed. Multiple scattering by an array ofcircular resonators inserted in an infinite or semi-infinite 2D thin plate, called metaplate, is also considered to getclose to practical applications. Through this thesis, analytical models, numerical simulations and experiments areshown to validate the physical behaviour of the systems presented.

Since the turn of the millennium, Zimbabwe has witnessed a raft of socio-economic and political problems characterised by hyper-inflation; shortage of basic commodities; dwindling fiscal reserves; ballooning domestic and foreign debt; falling standard of living and high levels of migration. The devastating effects of the Aids pandemic have not helped the situation. With estimates indicating that there are more than million orphaned children, social security programmes have been overstretched resulting in the State failing to adequately provide for the needs of these orphans in the country. It is against this background that the study sought to explore the community level initiatives that communities are taking to meet the needs of orphans through community based programmes. The goal of the study was to explore the contribution of social entrepreneurship in meeting the needs of orphans in the Mberengwa district, Zimbabwe. The study was conducted using a qualitative research approach. The study was exploratory and the type of research was applied. The collective case study design was utilised. A total of twenty participants took part in the study; including six children who were benefiting from the income generating projects, four key informants who work closely with the projects as well as ten villagers who were involved in the day to day running of the projects. The participants were selected from two villages that have the projects benefiting orphans. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected from the children and key informants by way of interviews and from the villagers through focus group discussions. The findings show that the government of Zimbabwe lacks capacity to meet the needs of orphans due to the socio-economic and political challenges and as a result, communities in Mberengwa district have taken the initiative to care for the orphans in their area through income generating projects. The income generating projects are social entrepreneurial ventures in that they aim at generating profits which are channelled towards meeting the needs of the orphans. Through the income generating projects, the orphans in Mberengwa district are able to access their needs which include food, education, clothing, shelter, birth registration and protection from abuse. Findings also indicated that in the Mberengwa district, orphan care is viewed as a community, rather than individual responsibility. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the communities in Mberengwa have inherent strengths which make it possible for them to work together in achieving common objectives. Consequently, their social ties and close social relations enable them to work together to deal with problems confronting them collectively. vi projects benefiting orphans. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected from the children and key informants by way of interviews and from the villagers through focus group discussions. The findings show that the government of Zimbabwe lacks capacity to meet the needs of orphans due to the socio-economic and political challenges and as a result, communities in Mberengwa district have taken the initiative to care for the orphans in their area through income generating projects. The income generating projects are social entrepreneurial ventures in that they aim at generating profits which are channelled towards meeting the needs of the orphans. Through the income generating projects, the orphans in Mberengwa district are able to access their needs which include food, education, clothing, shelter, birth registration and protection from abuse. Findings also indicated that in the Mberengwa district, orphan care is viewed as a community, rather than individual responsibility. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the communities in Mberengwa have inherent strengths which make it possible for them to work together in achieving common objectives. Consequently, their social ties and close social relations enable them to work together to deal with problems confronting them collectively. It was concluded that income generating projects based on social entrepreneurial principles are a critical poverty alleviation and social protection mechanism for orphans in the Mberengwa communities as they lead to meeting their needs and furthermore, alleviate social problems in the community. In order to respond to the gap created by the government’s lack of capacity to care for the orphans, social entrepreneurship through income generating projects can be utilised to achieve social protection and poverty alleviation goals more so in the country’s quest to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Recommendations include the need to review the legal and policy framework governing the care and protection of orphans in the country to include community-based programmes. Furthermore, it is recommended to strengthen traditional orphan care structures in facilitating income generating projects based on social entrepreneurial principles as they have the propensity to help meet the needs of orphans at the community level. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Design space exploration (DSE) is a tool used to evaluate and compare designs as part of the design selection process. While evaluating every possible design in a design space is infeasible, understanding design behavior and response throughout the design space may be accomplished by evaluating a subset of designs and interpolating between them using surrogate models. Surrogate modeling is a technique that uses low-cost calculations to approximate the outcome of more computationally expensive calculations or analyses, such as finite element analysis (FEA). While surrogates make quick predictions, accuracy is not guaranteed and must be considered. This research addressed the need to improve the accuracy of surrogate predictions in order to improve DSE of structural responses. This was accomplished by performing comparative analyses of linear and nonlinear dimensionality-reduction-based radial basis function (RBF) surrogate models for emulating various FEA nodal results. A total of four dimensionality reduction methods were investigated, namely principal component analysis (PCA), kernel principal component analysis (KPCA), isometric feature mapping (ISOMAP), and locally linear embedding (LLE). These methods were used in conjunction with surrogate modeling to predict nodal stresses and coordinates of a compressor blade. The research showed that using an ISOMAP-based dual-RBF surrogate model for predicting nodal stresses decreased the estimated mean error of the surrogate by 35.7% compared to PCA. Using nonlinear dimensionality-reduction-based surrogates did not reduce surrogate error for predicting nodal coordinates. A new metric, the manifold distance ratio (MDR), was introduced to measure the nonlinearity of the data manifolds. When applied to the stress and coordinate data, the stress space was found to be more nonlinear than the coordinate space for this application. The upfront training cost of the nonlinear dimensionality-reduction-based surrogates was larger than that of their linear counterparts but small enough to remain feasible. After training, all the dual-RBF surrogates were capable of making real-time predictions. This same process was repeated for a separate application involving the nodal displacements of mode shapes obtained from a FEA modal analysis. The modal assurance criterion (MAC) calculation was used to compare the predicted mode shapes, as well as their corresponding true mode shapes obtained from FEA, to a set of reference modes. The research showed that two nonlinear techniques, namely LLE and KPCA, resulted in lower surrogate error in the more complex design spaces. Using a RBF kernel, KPCA achieved the largest average reduction in error of 13.57%. The results also showed that surrogate error was greatly affected by mode shape reversal. Four different approaches of identifying reversed mode shapes were explored, all of which resulted in varying amounts of surrogate error. Together, the methods explored in this research were shown to decrease surrogate error when performing DSE of a turbomachine compressor blade. As surrogate accuracy increases, so does the ability to correctly make engineering decisions and judgements throughout the design process. Ultimately, this will help engineers design better turbomachines.

Les pathologies infiltrantes diffuses recensent un large groupe de désordres pulmonaires et nécessitent un suivi régulier en imagerie tomodensitométrique (TDM). Une évaluation quantitative est nécessaire pour établir la progression (régionale) de la maladie et/ou l’impact thérapeutique. Cela implique le développement d’outils automatiques de diagnostic assisté par ordinateur (DAO) pour la segmentation du tissu pathologique dans les images TDM, problème adressé comme classification de texture. Traditionnellement, une telle classification repose sur une analyse des caractéristiques texturales 2D dans les images TDM axiales selon des critères définis par l’utilisateur. Récemment, des techniques d’intelligence artificielle fondées sur l’apprentissage profond, notamment les réseaux neuronaux convolutionnels (CNN), ont démontré des performances meilleures pour résoudre des tâches visuelles. Toutefois, pour les architectures CNN « classiques » il a été prouvé que les performances étaient moins bonnes en classification de texture par rapport à la reconnaissance d’objets, en raison de la dimensionnalité intrinsèque élevée des données texturales. Dans ce contexte, ce travail propose un système automatique pour l’analyse quantitative des pathologies infiltrantes diffuses du poumon fondé sur une architecture CNN en cascade (conçue spécialement pour l’analyse de texture) et sur un prétraitement spécifique des données d’entrée par filtrage localement connexe (permettant d’atténuer l’intensité des vaisseaux pulmonaires et d’augmenter ainsi le contraste des régions pathologiques). La classification, s’appliquant à l’ensemble du volume pulmonaire, atteint une précision moyenne de 84% (75.8% pour le tissu normal, 90% pour l’emphysème et la fibrose, 81.5% pour le verre dépoli) / Infiltrative lung diseases (ILDs) enclose a large group of irreversible lung disorders which require regular follow-up with computed tomography (CT) imaging. A quantitative assessment is mandatory to establish the (regional) disease progression and/or the therapeutic impact. This implies the development of automated computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) tools for pathological lung tissue segmentation, problem addressed as pixel-based texture classification. Traditionally, such classification relies on a two-dimensional analysis of axial CT images by means of handcrafted features. Recently, the use of deep learning techniques, especially Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for visual tasks, has shown great improvements with respect to handcrafted heuristics-based methods. However, it has been demonstrated the limitations of "classic" CNN architectures when applied to texture-based datasets, due to their inherently higher dimension compared to handwritten digits or other object recognition datasets, implying the need of redesigning the network or enriching the system to learn meaningful textural features from input data. This work addresses an automated quantitative assessment of different disorders based on lung texture classification. The proposed approach exploits a cascade of CNNs (specially redesigned for texture categorization) for a hierarchical classification and a specific preprocessing of input data based on locally connected filtering (applied to the lung images to attenuate the vessel densities while preserving high opacities related to pathologies). The classification targeting the whole lung parenchyma achieves an average of 84% accuracy (75.8% for normal, 90% for emphysema and fibrosis, 81.5% for ground glass)

The aim of this master thesis is to explore and describe behavior of slab in punching shear. In total four concrete slabs were experimentally tested; each being reinforced differently. Using real experiments, there was a possibility to observe different behavior of steel and FRP reinforcement, eventually even the effect of adding FRP stirrups on load-bearing capacity. For the purpose of experimental testing design, currently placed formulas used to determine punching shear capacity were adjusted for application on longitudinal and shear FRP reinforcement. Atena software was used to approximate behavior of specimens by performing a nonlinear analysis. After the results of loading tests were obtained, next step was the comparison of design approaches and comparison of behavior of nonlinear model to a real specimen. In practical part, design of locally supported slab with requirement of non-magnetic reinforcement took place.