Presented master’s thesis describes the design and the implementation of an experimental device used for the study of tribological aspects of wheel-rail contact. In this work, the reader will first learn the fundamentals such as adhesion, slip, traction curve, etc. Subsequently, the work is describing devices that are used for the study of wheel-rail contact around the world. This section is followed by the author proposed solution. The result is a twin disc device in the scale of 1:3. The device allows determining traction characteristics for different environmental conditions (presence of water, sand and oil in contact for different temperatures) and various operating parameters (contact pressure and speed). A part of this work are also the validation experiments and complete design documentation.

This diploma thesis deals with thermal qualities of moulding mixtures of foundry mould of various types of sand grains and a computer simulation of the solidification of the cast. The aim of this work is to compare the values of thermal qualities of moulding materials bonded with water glass taken in experimental measurements to the values of thermal qualities of moulding materials connected with organic binding agent contained in simulation software. A sample cast will be moulded in order to evaluate cooling capacities of individual moulding mixtures according the shift of thermal axis. These results will consequently be compared to the results of the simulation.

The subject of my thesis is design of extension sprots centre. The building has one mutilevel aboveground. The roof is solved reinforced concrete girders, rafters and flat roof. The project emphasizes the use of layout, architectural design, fire safety and thermal comfort in the building. The thesis "Sports centre" has been prepared in the form of project documentation containing all terms required by regulations.

The main aim of this thesis is to create a Project documentation of the design of the New development, kindergarten, in the cadastral area Dejvice, Prague. The object is designed as a standalone barrier-free single-storey building. Kindergarten consists of two departments with a capacity of 48 pupils and adjacent facilities. The object is based on foundation pads and ground table. All masonry constructions are lime-sand blocks Kalksandstein. The facade is complemented by thermal isolation and the exterior staircase is monolithic and reinforced concrete. The object has a flat roof where an air conditioning unit is placed. The drawing is processed via AutoCAD software and visuals are created in program Sketchup.

A series of plate load tests were conducted at the experimental farm of the University of Pretoria. The test areas were levelled by means of three surface preparation methods namely, i) a thin layer of plaster of Paris; ii) a thin layer of well-graded sand and iii) by using only hand tools. In addition, a modified plate load test was designed to eliminate the effect of bedding errors that occur during these tests. Telescopic probes were used to measure the relative displacement at two points below the centre of the plate. The main objective of this research project was to first quantify the bedding errors that occur during plate load tests. Secondly, to evaluate the three different surface preparation methods used in plate load tests to achieve a levelled and smooth test surface, and lastly to evaluate the effectiveness of using telescopic probes in routine plate load tests to eliminate the effects of bedding errors. The stiffness values, determined from the vertical displacement of the plate, were compared with the internal stiffness values determined by means of the telescopic probes. All stiffness values were compared with continuous surface wave (CSW) measurements performed on the same material. The test apparatus, methods and results are discussed in this dissertation. To my / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Civil Engineering / unrestricted

This project investigated the bacteria in water entering and leaving the slow sand filters at Ringsjö Water Works using flow cytometry. The purpose was to explore the possibility of utilising flow cytometry as a monitoring method for optimising water production using slow sand filters. Data describing the bacterial community in water was collected over seven weeks and analysed with FlowJo, flow cytometric image comparison and Minitab. The total cell count, intact cell count and the percentage of high nucleic acid bacteria were analysed. These parameters were highly dependent on scraping events, water entering the filters and season. The results indicated that flow cytometry has great potential for use as a monitoring method, although more data should be collected to establish expected trends and secure baseline values for routine comparisons. / <p>Fördröjning av publikation fram till 31 december 2020.</p>

[pt] Muitos autores concordam que areias em estado fofo, sob carregamento não drenado crescente e granulometria favorável à liquefação, necessariamente liquefazem em algum momento. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal avaliar se duas amostras de areia, com características muito distintas uma da outra, submetidas às mesmas condições descritas acima, entram em liquefação. A primeira amostra é uma areia limpa que foi extraída de um aterro hidráulico localizado em Camboinhas, Niterói, RJ, Brasil. A segunda é um rejeito arenoso de ferro extraído de uma barragem de rejeitos localizada em Mariana, MG, Brasil. As avalições foram feitas através de ensaios de compressão triaxial com deformação controlada. Avaliou-se o comportamento desses materiais em condições de baixa compacidade e sob diferentes tensões de confinamento, com a finalidade de observar se ocorreria a liquefação. Em caso de não ocorrência da liquefação, o objetivo era compreender os motivos de tal resposta e no caso de ocorrência, avaliar a influência da tensão de confinamento, assim como delimitar as zonas de instabilidade não drenada. Verificou-se que a areia de Camboinhas entrou em liquefação total apenas para tensões de confinamento baixas, e apresenta comportamento oposto ao comportamento normal de solos arenosos fofos, tendo baixa resistência à liquefação em baixa tensão de confinamento e alta resistência à liquefação em grandes tensões de confinamento. O rejeito arenoso de Mariana entrou em liquefação total em tensões de confinamento baixas e altas. O rejeito apresentou comportamento diferente da areia de Camboinhas e semelhante ao comportamento normalmente obtido em solos arenosos fofos sob condições não drenadas. / [en] Many authors agree that loose sands, under increasing undrained loading and liquefaction favorable granulometry, necessarily liquefy at some moment. This work has as main objective to evaluate if two sand specimens, with characteristics very different from each other, under the same conditions as described above, enter into liquefaction. The first specimen is a clean sand that was extracted from a hydraulic embankment located in Camboinhas, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. The second is a sandy tailing of iron extracted from a tailing dam located in Mariana, MG, Brazil. The evaluations were made through triaxial compression tests with controlled deformation. The behavior of these materials was evaluated under conditions of low compactness and under different confininig pressure, in order to observe if liquefaction would occur. In case of no liquefaction, the objective was understand the reasons for such response and in case of occurrence, evaluate the influence of the confining pressure, as well as mark the zones of instability undrained. It was verified that the Camboinhas sand entered in total liquefaction only for low confining pressure, and it has the opposite behavior to the normal behavior of loose granular soils, having low strength to liquefaction in low confining pressure and high strength to liquefaction in large confining pressure. The Mariana granular tailing also entered in total liquefaction for low and higth confinig pressure. The tailing showed different behavior of the Camboinhas sand and similar to the behavior normally obtained in loose granular soils under undrained conditions.

This is a study on the Indian government's use of mercantilism and imperialism in their policy choices in regards to the diminishing supply of sand. Because of this the study will revolve around the globally growing problem that is a sand shortage, and how the Indian government is preparing to handle it. What consequences the solutions have had and how different levels inside the government are working against each other. Then the rising phenomenon that is the Indian sand mafia will be analyzed, who are their partners and benefactors. How come they could emerge and what exactly is a sand mafia? These are some of the questions this thesis will answer

No description available.

Background: Tropical sand dunes are ideal systems for understanding drivers of community assembly as dunes are subject to both deterministic and stochastic processes. However, studies that evaluate the factors that mediate plant community assembly in these ecosystems are few. Aims: We evaluated phylogenetic community structure to elucidate the role of deterministic and stochastic processes in mediating the assembly of plant communities along the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Methods: We used plastid genetic markers to evaluate phylogenetic relationships in 16 sand-dune communities. To evaluate the role of climate in shaping plant community structure we carried out linear regressions between climatic variables and mean phylogenetic distance. We estimated the Net Relatedness Index and Nearest Taxon Index to identify ecological processes mediating community assembly. Results: Observed phylogenetic structure was not different from random, suggesting that stochastic processes are the major determinants of community assembly. Climate was slightly correlated with phylogenetic diversity suggesting that abiotic environment plays a minimal role in community assembly. Conclusions: Random assembly appears to be the primary factor structuring the studied sand dune plant communities. Environmental filters may represent a secondary factor contributing to the observed phylogenetic structure. Thus, both processes may act simultaneously to mediate the assembly of sand-dune plant communities.