Accelerated soil erosion is one of the major threats to agricultural production in Ethiopia and the Harerge region is not exceptional. It is estimated that about 1.5 billion tones of soil is being eroded every year in Ethiopia. In the extreme cases, especially for the highlands, the rate of soil loss is estimated to reach up to 300 t ha-1yr-1 with an average of about 70 t ha -1yr-1 which is beyond any tolerable level. The government have made different attempts to avert the situation since 1975 through initiation of a massive program of soil conservation and rehabilitation of severely degraded lands. Despite considerable efforts, the achievements were far bellow expectations. This study was aimed at assessing the effect of some soil properties, rainfall intensity and slope gradients on surface sealing, soil erodibility, runoff and soil loss from selected sites in the Harerge region, eastern Ethiopia, using simulated rainfall. Soil loss was also estimated for the sites using Soil Loss Estimation Model for Southern Africa (SLEMSA) and the Universal soil Loss Equation (USLE). Moreover, the effectiveness of various rates and patterns of wheat residue mulching in controlling soil loss was also evaluated for one of the study sites, (i.e. Regosol of Alemaya University), under both rainfall simulation and field natural rainfall conditions. For most of the erosion parameters, the interaction among soil texture, slope gradient and rainfall intensity was significant. In general however, high rainfall intensity induced high runoff, sediment yield and splash. The effect of slope gradients on most of the erosion parameters was not significant as the slope length was too small to bring about a concentrated flow. The effect of soils dominated by any one of the three soil separates on the erosion parameters was largely dependent on rainfall intensity and slope gradient. The soils form the 15 different sites in Harerge showed different degrees of vulnerability to surface sealing, runoff and sediment yield. These differences were associated with various soil properties. Correlation of soil properties to the erosion parameters revealed that aggregate stability was the main factor that determined the susceptibility of soils to sealing, runoff and soil loss. This was in turn affected by organic carbon content, percent clay and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). Soils with relatively high ESP such as those at Babile (13.85) and Gelemso (7.18) were among the lowest in their aggregate stability (percent water stable aggregates of 0.25 –2.0mm diameter); and have highest runoff and sediment yield as compared to other soils in the study. Similarly, most of those soils with relatively low ESP, high organic carbon content (OC%) and high water stable aggregates such as Hamaressa, AU (Alemaya University) vertisol and AU regosol were among the least susceptible to sealing and interrill erosion. Nevertheless, some exceptions include soils like those of Hirna where high runoff was recorded whilst having relatively high OC%, low ESP and high water stable aggregates. Both the SLEMSA and USLE models were able to identify the erosion hazards for the study sites. Despite the differences in the procedures of the two models, significant correlation (r = 0.87) was observed between the values estimated by the two methods. Both models estimated higher soil loss for Gelemso, Babile, Karamara and Hamaressa. Soil loss was lower for Diredawa, AU-vertisol and AU-Alluvial all of which occur on a relatively low slope gradients. The high soil loss for Babile and Gelemso conforms with the relative soil erodibility values obtained under rainfall simulation suggesting that soil erodibility, among others, is the main factor contributing to high soil loss for these soils. The difference in the estimated soil losses for the different sites was a function of the interaction of the various factors involved. Though the laboratory soil erodibility values were low to medium for Hamaressa and Karamara, the estimated soil loss was higher owing to the field topographic situations such as high slope gradient. SLEMSA and USLE showed different degrees of sensitivities to their input variables for the conditions of the study sites. SLEMSA was highly sensitive to changes in rainfall kinetic energy (E) and soil erodibility (F) and less sensitive to the cover and slope length factors. The sensitivity of SLEMSA to changes in the cover factor was higher for areas having initially smaller percentage rainfall interception values. On the other hand, USLE was highly sensitive to slope gradient and less so to slope length as compared to the other input factors. The study on the various rates and application patterns of wheat residue on runoff and soil loss both in the laboratory rainfall simulation and under field natural rainfall conditions revealed that surface application of crop residue is more effective in reducing soil loss and runoff than incorporating the same amount of the residue into the soil. Likewise, for a particular residue application method, runoff and soil loss decreased with increasing application rate of the mulch. However, the difference was not significant between 4 Mg ha-1 and 8 Mg ha-1 wheat straw rates suggesting that the former can effectively control soil loss and can be used in areas where there is limitation of crop residues provided that other conditions are similar to that of the study site (AU Regosols). The effectiveness of lower rates of straw (i.e. less than 4 Mg ha-1 ) should also be studied. It should however be noted that the effectiveness of mulching in controlling soils loss and runoff could be different under various slope gradients, rainfall characteristics and cover types that were not covered in this study. Integrated soil and water conservation research is required to develop a comprehensive database for modelling various soil erosion parameters. Further research is therefore required on the effect of soil properties (with special emphasis to aggregate stability, clay mineralogy, exchangeable cations, soil texture and organic matter), types and rates of crop residues, cropping and tillage systems, mechanical and biological soil conservation measures on soil erosion and its conservation for a better estimation of the actual soil loss in the study sites. Copyright 2004, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bobe, BW 2004, Evaluation of soil erosion in the Harerge region of Ethiopia using soil loss models, rainfall simulation and field trials, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-08022004-141533 / > / Thesis (PhD (Soil Science))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

<p>  </p> <p>Cavitation, liquid slosh, and splashes are ubiquitous in science and engineering. However, these phenomena are not fully understood. Yet to date, we do not understand when or why sometimes the splash seals, and other times does not. Regarding cavitation, a high temporal resolution method is needed to characterize this phenomenon. The low temporal resolution of experimental data suggests a model-based analysis of this problem. However, high-fidelity models are not always available, and even for these models, the sensitivity of the model outputs to the initial input parameters makes this method less reliable since some initial inputs are not experimentally measurable. As for sloshing, the air-liquid interface area and hydrodynamic stress for the liquid slosh inside a confined accelerating cylinder have not been experimentally measured due to the challenges for direct measurement.</p>

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Une étude tridimensionnelle du déferlement plongeant des vagues est proposée sur la base de résultats obtenus par Simulation des Grandes Echelles des équations de Navier-Stokes en formulation diphasique. Après une étude bibliographique situant le problème, la première partie du travail est consacrée au développement et à la validation des méthodes numériques employées pour la résolution des équations. Dans une seconde partie de travail, l'outil numérique est exploité afin d'étudier différents problèmes bidimensionnels de propagation d'ondes solitaires. La dernière partie du travail consiste à appliquer les méthodes numériques au déferlement tridimensionnel d'ondes sinusoïdales périodiques de larges amplitudes. Une description complète du phénomène est proposée, incluant la génération du splash-up ainsi que la dissipation de l'énergie par les différentes structures turbulentes présentes dans l'écoulement.

La culture d’associations de variétés sensibles et résistantes au sein d’une même parcelle permet de réduire la propagation des maladies fongiques foliaires aériennes. L’architecture des plantes a un impact sur la dispersion de spores et le microclimat, mais est rarement prise en compte dans la conception des associations. L’objectif de cette thèse était de comprendre le rôle joué par l’architecture dans des associations de variétés différant par leur niveau de résistance à une maladie dispersée par éclaboussement, la septoriose du blé, causée par Zymoseptoria tritici. Une expérimentation en conditions contrôlées a permis de quantifier des relations entre interception de spores et architecture des couverts. Des différences de densité entre couverts purs et associés ont donné lieu à une réduction du niveau de maladie sur les plantes sensibles cultivées en association par rapport à celles cultivées pures. Lors d’une expérimentation au champ, les associations de variétés de hauteurs de tiges contrastées étaient moins malades que celles ayant des hauteurs similaires. Ces résultats ont été mis en relation avec des effets de l’architecture sur la dispersion de spores et la durée d’humectation au sein des couverts. Une approche de modélisation spatialement explicite a permis d’identifier des mécanismes de dispersion par éclaboussement liés à l’architecture des couverts associés. Dans des associations de variétés de hauteurs différentes, la quantité d’inoculum éclaboussée dépendait de la surface foliaire présente au dessus des feuilles malades (effet parapluie). La quantité d’inoculum interceptée par un étage foliaire était liée à la différence de hauteur entre la source d’inoculum et l’étage foliaire (effet hauteur). Les différences de hauteur de plantes entre variétés d’une association ont modulé l’interception de spores par des feuilles résistantes (effet barrière). Nos résultats suggèrent qu’une prise en compte de l’architecture des variétés dans la conception des associations variétales permettrait de mieux maîtriser les maladies par éclaboussement. / Growing mixtures of susceptible and resistant cultivars in the same field makes it possible to reduce the propagation of airborne fungal plant diseases. Plant architecture has an impact on spore dispersal or microclimate, but is rarely taken into account in mixture design. The objective of this work was to understand the role of canopy architecture in mixtures of cultivar of different levels of resistance to a disease dispersed by rain-splash, septoria tritici blotch, caused by Zymoseptoria tritici. A controlled conditions experiment made it possible to quantify relationships between spore interception and canopy architecture. Differences of canopy density between pure stands and mixtures led to a reduction in disease on susceptible plants grown in mixture, compared to the susceptible pure stand. During a field experiment, mixtures of cultivars with contrasted stem height were less diseased than those with similar stem height. These results were related to the effect of canopy architecture on spore dispersal and leaf wetness duration. A spatially explicit modeling approach made it possible to identify splash dispersal mechanisms related to the architecture of mixed canopies. In mixtures of cultivar with diverse plant height, the amount of splashed inoculum depended on leaf area located above diseased leaves (umbrella effect). The amount of inoculum intercepted by a leaf layer was related to its difference of height between the inoculum sources (height effect). Differences of plant height between cultivars composinga mixture modulated the interception of spores by resistant leaves, providing an increased protection of susceptible leaves (barrier effect). Our results suggest that considering cultivar architecture in the design of cultivar mixtures could make it possible to improve the management of splash-dispersed diseases.

L’ascomicete Guignardia bidwellii, agente causale del marciume nero della vite, è un patogeno economicamente importante in alcuni areali viticoli. La conoscenza, disponibile sul marciume nero dell’uva, è stata recuperata dalla letteratura, analizzata e sintetizzata per sviluppare un modello meccanicistico del ciclo di vita del patogeno, guidata dalle variabili meteorologiche e dalla fenologia della vite, e basata sull'analisi dei sistemi. Il modello è stato poi valutato per la sua capacità di rappresentare il sistema reale e la sua utilità per la comprensione di epidemie di marciume nero su foglie e grappoli in un vigneto del Nord Italia, nel 2013 al 2015. Successivamente, le mancanze di conoscenza sono state analizzate, studiate e quindi colmate attraverso specifici esperimenti. In un primo passo, le dinamiche dell’inoculo primario e dei modelli di dispersione (di entrambi ascospore e conidi) da mummie svernate sono state studiate in un vigneto sperimentale per tre anni. In un secondo passo, l'effetto della temperatura e dell'umidità sulla formazione di picnidi di G. bidwellii e la successiva estrusione di cirri, nelle lesioni su foglia, la produzione e la germinazione dei conidi (inoculo secondario), e la lunghezza del periodo di latenza sono stati studiati sia in condizioni di campo che in ambiente controllato. In un terzo passo, sono stati condotti studi in ambiente controllato per studiare la produzione di conidi di G. bidwellii sulle lesioni di foglie, influenzata da lavaggi ripetuti e alternando periodi di secco ed umido. Il modello epidemiologico sviluppato in questa tesi può essere utilizzata da viticoltori come strumento predittivo per la pianificazione di trattamenti fungicidi nei vigneti. / The ascomycete Guignardia bidwellii, causal agent of black-rot on grapevines, is an economically important pathogen in some viticultural areas. The available knowledge on black-rot of grape was retrieved from literature, analyzed, and synthesized to develop a mechanistic model of the life cycle of the pathogen, driven by weather and vine phenology, and based on the systems analysis. The model was then evaluated for its ability to represent the real system and its usefulness for understanding black-rot epidemics on leaves and bunches in a vineyard of north Italy, in 2013 to 2015. Thereafter, weaknesses in our knowledge were analysed and studied through specific experiments. In a first step, dynamics of primary inoculum and dispersal patterns (both ascospores and conidia) from overwintered grape mummies were investigated in an experimental vineyard during three years. In a second step, the effect of temperature and humidity on the formation of G. bidwellii pycnidia and the extrusion of cirri in grape leaf lesions, production and germination of conidia (secondary inoculum), and the length of the latency period were studied under both environmental and controlled conditions. In a third step, environmental-controlled studies were conducted to investigate the production course of G. bidwellii conidia on grape leaf lesions as influenced by repeated washing events and alternate dry and wet periods. The model developed in this thesis can be used by vinegrowers as a predictive tool for scheduling fungicide sprays in the vineyards.

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過去網站設計相關研究大多強調網站介面設計、導覽設計或消費者使用之易 用性…等，較少研究關注於視覺設計對消費者態度之影響，但學者Gitte, Gary, Cathy & Brown(2006)研究發現，一般瀏覽者在接觸到網頁的0.05 秒內就已經對 於網頁設計的好惡下了決定其實，因此，留住消費者網站的第一印象非常重要。 Holter(2006)認為以動畫組成的片頭首頁(Splash page)就好像是網站的封面，不但 能呈現出網站整體之基本元素與風格，還能表現出網站整體之策略，更是表現企 業創意的最佳所在。因此，本研究主要是探討網站設計中片頭首頁(Splash pages) 之有無、生動性程度與時間長短對消費者態度之影響。 本研究採用實驗法，以2x2x2(實驗組)+1x2(控制組)之多因子設計，主要的 自變項為「片頭首頁有無(有vs.無)」、「片頭首頁生動性(高vs.低)」和「片頭首 頁時間(10 秒vs.20 秒)」；依變項是「消費者態度」，其中又分為「片頭首頁態度 度」、「網站態度」和「品牌態度」；調節變項是「網路使用目的(目標導向vs.經 驗導向」。研究結果發現： 1. 片頭首頁之有無，不會影響消費者對網站及品牌態度之偏好。 2. 片頭首頁生動性高低，不會影響消費者對片頭首頁、網站及品牌態度之偏好。 3. 片頭首頁時間長短，不會影響消費者對片頭首頁、網站及品牌態度之偏好。 4. 消費者網路使用目的之差異，不會影響消費者對片頭首頁、網站及品牌態度 之偏好。 5. 片頭首頁生動性與時間長短之間具有交互效果：當消費者在瀏覽高生動片頭 首頁時，10 秒片頭首頁比20 秒片頭首頁會有較高的品牌態度偏好。

L’approximation de phénomènes physiques, tels qu’une simulation de liquides en informatique graphique, requiert l’utilisation de méthodes complexes nécessitant des temps de calcul et une quantité de mémoire importants. Malgré les avancées récentes dans ce domaine, l’écart en réalisme entre un liquide simulé et la réalité demeure encore aujourd’hui considérable. Cet écart nous séparant du réalisme souhaité nécessite des modèles numériques de simulation dont la complexité ne cesse de croître. L’objectif ultime est de permettre à l’utilisateur de manipuler ces modèles de simulation de liquides sans la nécessité d’avoir une connaissance accrue de la physique requise pour atteindre un niveau de réalisme acceptable et ce, en temps réel. Plusieurs approches ont été revisitées dans les dernières années afin de simplifier ces modèles ou dans le but de les rendre plus facilement paramétrables. Cette thèse par articles encadre bien les trois projets constituant nos contributions dans le but d’améliorer et de faciliter la génération de simulations de liquides en informatique graphique. Tout d’abord, nous introduisons une approche hybride permettant de traiter séparément le volume de liquide non-apparent (i.e., en profondeur) et une couche de particules en surface par la méthode de calcul Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). Nous revisitons l’approche par bandes de particules, mais cette fois nouvellement appliquée à la méthode SPH qui offre un niveau de réalisme supérieur. Comme deuxième projet, nous proposons une approche permettant d’améliorer le niveau de détail des éclaboussures de liquides. En suréchantillonnant une simulation de liquides existante, notre approche est capable de générer des détails réalistes d’éclaboussures grâce à la dynamique de balistique. En complément, nous proposons une méthode de simulation par vagues permettant de reproduire les interactions entre les éclaboussures générées et les portions quasi-statiques de la simulation existante. Finalement, le troisième projet introduit une approche permettant de rehausser la résolution apparente d’un liquide par l’apprentissage automatique. Nous proposons une architecture d’apprentissage inspirée des flux optiques dont l’objectif est de générer une correspondance entre le déplacement des particules de simulations de liquides à différentes résolutions (i.e., basses et hautes résolutions). Notre modèle d’apprentissage permet d’encoder des caractéristiques de hautes résolutions à l’aide de déformations pré-calculées entre deux liquides à différentes résolutions et d’opérations de convolution basées sur le voisinage des particules. / The approximation of natural phenomena such as liquid simulations in computer graphics requires complex methods that are computationally expensive. Despite recent advances in this field, the gap in realism between a simulated liquid and reality remains considerable. This disparity that separates us from the desired realism requires numerical models whose complexity continues to grow. The ultimate goal is to provide users the capacity and tools to manipulate these liquid simulation models to obtain acceptable realism. In the last decade, several approaches have been revisited to simplify and to allow more flexible models. In this dissertation by articles, we present three projects whose contributions support the improvement and flexibility of generating liquid simulations for computer graphics. First, we introduce a hybrid approach allowing us to separately process the volume of non-apparent liquid (i.e., in-depth) and a band of surface particles using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. We revisit the particle band approach, but this time newly applied to the SPH method, which offers a higher level of realism. Then, as a second project, we propose an approach to improve the level of detail of splashing liquids. By upsampling an existing liquid simulation, our approach is capable of generating realistic splash details through ballistic dynamics. In addition, we propose a wave simulation method to reproduce the interactions between the generated splashes and the quasi-static portions of the existing liquid simulation. Finally, the third project introduces an approach to enhance the apparent resolution of liquids through machine learning. We propose a learning architecture inspired by optical flows by which we generate a correspondence between the displacement of the particles of liquid simulations at different resolutions (i.e., low and high resolutions). Our training model allows high-resolution features to be encoded using pre-computed deformations between two liquids at different resolutions and convolution operations based on the neighborhood of the particles.