Entre as peças fundamentais que compõem as estruturas de concreto armado encontram-se as lajes, as quais vêm sendo objeto de contínuo aperfeiçoamento no que diz respeito ao conforto, à segurança e à economia. O desenvolvimento de técnicas construtivas econômicas propiciou o aparecimento das lajes pré-fabricadas, com vantagens em relação às lajes maciças, como: redução do consumo de madeira para as fôrmas, redução do consumo de concreto, com a conseqüente diminuição dos esforços nas peças estruturais, e nas fundações. Tudo isto redundando evidentemente em menor tempo de execução e maior economia no custo da construção. Procurou-se neste trabalho reunir informações que possibilitem uma visão global sobre o tema, abordando-se, para isso, aspectos históricos das lajes pré-fabricadas, descrição dos elementos que as compõem, estudo do processo construtivo, dimensionamento, ensaios de laboratório em vigas com armaduras treliçadas e, finalmente, a análise da segurança destas lajes na fase de construção. Esta pesquisa mostrou que a qualidade e o desempenho estrutural destas lajes depende, em grande parte, dos cuidados tomados durante a fase construtiva, especialmente no que diz respeito ao escoramento. Assim, consegue-se evitar acidentes em obras ocasionados por erros cometidos nessa etapa. / Among the fundamental elements of reinforced concrete structures, slabs have been the object of continuous improvement regarding of comfort, safety and economy. The development of economical construction techniques has permitted the forecoming of precast slabs, with advantages over massive slabs, such as: reducing the consumption of formwork, concrete, and consequently a reduction of the stress on the structural elements and foundations. All these, obviously, result in quicker execution and greater economy in construction costs. This study has attempted to gather the necessary information to provide a global view of this subject; approaching historical aspects of precast slabs, a description of its elements and construction process, dimensioning, laboratory experiments upon truss-framed reinforced beams, and finally, an analysis of security in the construction phase. It was concluded that the quality and structural performance of these slabs depend greatly on the care taken during the construction phase, particulary in respect to bracing. Thus, accidents caused by errors comitted at this stage are avoided.

La fabrication des structures composites conduit à une variabilité élevée de ses paramètres mécaniques. La thèse a comme objectif global de développer des méthodes économiques et robustes pour étudier la variabilité de la réponse statique ou dynamique des structures composites modélisées par éléments finis, prenant en compte les propriétés matériaux (modules d'élasticité, coefficients de Poisson, masses volumiques...) et physiques (épaisseurs et orientations des fibres) incertaines. Deux méthodes stochastiques : Certain Generalized Stresses Method (CGSM) et Modal Stability Procedure (MSP), sont développées. La méthode CGSM considère une hypothèse mécanique, les efforts généralisés sont supposés indépendants des paramètres incertains. Elle permet d'évaluer la variabilité de la réponse statique. La méthode MSP, proposée pour étudier la variabilité d'une structure en dynamique, est basée sur l'hypothèse considérant que les modes propres sont peu sensibles aux paramètres incertains. Les hypothèses mécaniques et une unique analyse par éléments finis permettent de construire un méta-modèle exploité dans une simulation de Monte Carlo. Le coût de calcul de ces méthodes stochastiques est donc réduit considérablement. De plus, elles présentent les avantages de ne pas limiter le nombre de paramètres incertains ou le niveau de variabilité d'entrée, et d'être compatibles avec tout code éléments finis standard. Quatre exemples académiques de plaque et coque composite sont traités avec la méthode CGSM, deux exemples académiques de plaque composite carrée et un exemple de plaque raidie sont traités avec la méthode MSP. La variabilité de la réponse statique (déplacement et critère de rupture) et dynamique (fréquence propre), soit la moyenne, l'écart-type, le coefficient de variation et la distribution, est évaluée. Les résultats statistiques obtenus par les méthodes proposées sont comparés avec ceux obtenus par une simulation de Monte Carlo directe, considérée comme la méthode de référence. La comparaison montre que les méthodes développées fournissent des résultats de bonne qualité et qu'elles sont très performantes en temps de calcul. Un indicateur d'erreur est également proposé, permettant de donner une estimation du niveau d'erreur des résultats obtenus par les méthodes CGSM ou MSP par rapport à la méthode de référence, sans réaliser un grand nombre d'analyses par éléments finis. / The manufacture of composite structures leads to a high variability of mechanical parameters. The objective of this work is to develop economic and robust methods to study the variability of the static or dynamic response of composite structures modeled by finite elements, taking into account uncertain material (elastic moduli, Poisson's ratios, densities... ) and physical (thicknesses and fiber orientations) properties. Two methods are developed: the Certain Generalized Stresses Method (CGSM) and the Modal Stability Procedure (MSP). The CGSM considers a mechanical assumption, the generalized stresses are assumed to be independant of uncertain parameters. lt allows to evaluate the variability of static response. The MSP, proposed to study the variability of structures in dynamics, is based on the assumption that the modes shapes are insensitive to uncertain parameters. These mechanical assumptions and only one fïnite element analysis allow to construct a metamodel used in a Monte Carlo simulation. As a result, the computational cost is reduced considerably. Moreover, they are not limited by the number of considered parameters or the level of input variability, and are compatible with standard finite element software. Four academic examples of composite plate and shell are treated with the CGSM, while two academic examples of composite square plate and an example of stiffened plate are studied by the MSP. The variability of static response (displacement and failure criterion) and dynamic response (natural frequency), namely mean value, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and distribution, is evaluated. The results obtained by the proposed methods are compared with those obtained by the direct Monte Carlo simulation, considered as the reference method. The comparison shows that the proposed methods provide quite accurate results and highlights their high computational efficiency. An error indicator is also proposed, which allows to provide an estimation of the error level of the results obtained by the CGSM or MSP compared to the reference method, without performing a large number of finite element analyses.

This thesis deal with survey and diagnostics of industrial building in Chropyne. The theoretical presents to the general issue of building technical surveys, diagnostics reinforced concrete structures and describes methods for diagnosis of reinforced concrete structures. Practical part deals with building survey and diagnostics of the object including static assessment.

The thesis is focused on the comparison of functional examination of the patients lungs, before and after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as well as on the comparison of physiological data for a individual person with measured values after the disease. The relationship between lung function and smoking, sex, age and time gap after COVID undergone was monitored. The screening was accomplished by spirometry in a pneumology surgery and the obtained data were processed in practical part of my thesis. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis describes the respiratory system and lungs functional testing. In addition, infectious disease COVID-19 is described herein. The aim of the thesis was to select suitable patients, who have suffered from the COVID-19 disease, but without other serious respiratory problems, make a measurements and statistically evaluate the correlation between the measured results. The experiment involved 66 people aged between 21-94, of which 43 were men and 23 women. It has been shown a predominantly negative effect of COVID-19 in the values of the examined indicators in spirometric measurements, similarly, the impairment was seen more in men than in women. The role of younger age has been proven in the better results of spirometric measurements. However, the differences in...

Continuum robots are biologically inspired robots that capture the extraordinary abilities of biological structures such as elephant trunks, octopus tentacles, and mamma-lian tongues. They are given the term continuum robots due to their ability to bend conti-nuously rather than at specific joints such as with traditional rigid link robots. They are used in applications such as search and rescue operations, nuclear reactor repairs, colo-noscopies, minimal invasive surgeries, and steerable needles. In this thesis, a model that predicts the shape of a continuum robot is presented and verified. A verification system to verify the validity and accuracy of the model is presented which allows easy and accu-rate measurement of a continuum robot tip position. The model was verified against a flexible rod, the core component of a continuum robot, resulting in an accuracy of 0.61%. Finally, this thesis introduces a novel robot design, consisting of a single rod for the backbone which can be manipulated by applying external forces and torques.

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In this thesis we consider two comparative statics questions of changes in risk. The first question concerns situations where an individual faces some risk and has no control over the uncertain environment. In these situations we ask what kind of changes in risk will cause the individual's expected utility to increase. The second comparative statics question concerns situations where an individual faces some risk and has some control over the uncertain environment. In particular, we consider situations where the individual maximizes her expected utility with respect to some control parameter. Here we ask what kind of changes in risk will cause the individual's optimal value of the control parameter to increase. The existing literature has answered these questions for a class of individuals (for example, the class of risk averse individuals). This thesis differs from existing literature as it focuses on a given individual, and thus reveals some of the person-specific factors that affect individual?s responses to changes in risk. The aim of the thesis is to show how an order on distributions, termed single crossing likelihood ratio (SCLR) order, can intuitively answer both questions for a given individual. The main contributions of the thesis are as follows. First, the thesis presents the SCLR order and its main properties. Second, the thesis shows that the SCLR order can answer the above comparative statics questions in an intuitive way. In particular, the thesis shows that the answer to the above questions, with the use of the SCLR order, depends on a risk reference point which can be interpreted as a "certainty equivalent" point. Thus it is demonstrated that individual's responses to changes in risk are affected by her "certainty equivalent" point. Lastly, the results of the thesis can be used to provide an intuitive explanation of related existing results that were obtained for a class of individuals.

In this thesis we consider two comparative statics questions of changes in risk. The first question concerns situations where an individual faces some risk and has no control over the uncertain environment. In these situations we ask what kind of changes in risk will cause the individual's expected utility to increase. The second comparative statics question concerns situations where an individual faces some risk and has some control over the uncertain environment. In particular, we consider situations where the individual maximizes her expected utility with respect to some control parameter. Here we ask what kind of changes in risk will cause the individual's optimal value of the control parameter to increase. The existing literature has answered these questions for a class of individuals (for example, the class of risk averse individuals). This thesis differs from existing literature as it focuses on a given individual, and thus reveals some of the person-specific factors that affect individual?s responses to changes in risk. The aim of the thesis is to show how an order on distributions, termed single crossing likelihood ratio (SCLR) order, can intuitively answer both questions for a given individual. The main contributions of the thesis are as follows. First, the thesis presents the SCLR order and its main properties. Second, the thesis shows that the SCLR order can answer the above comparative statics questions in an intuitive way. In particular, the thesis shows that the answer to the above questions, with the use of the SCLR order, depends on a risk reference point which can be interpreted as a "certainty equivalent" point. Thus it is demonstrated that individual's responses to changes in risk are affected by her "certainty equivalent" point. Lastly, the results of the thesis can be used to provide an intuitive explanation of related existing results that were obtained for a class of individuals.

Mémoire (G.O.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1999. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

This dissertation aims at verifying methodology used for somatographic evaluation of the shape and statics of the spine. The potential of the methodology verified lies in increased objectivity of upright body posture evaluation and thereby contributes to the specification of preventative measures for postural defects, and their consequences. Under a cross-sectional pilot study, a non-invasive somatographic method-a diagnostic DPT-3 system designated for spine shape diagnostics-was used to examine selected biomechanical parameters (spinal curves and statics in the sagittal plane in the upright position) in a total of 508 probands. Of this, 326 were school-age children and 182 adults. Among the key parameters monitored were: Cl (depth of cervical lordosis); LI (depth of lumbar lordosis); the sagittal balance of Cl/Ll, and VThk (distance of the peak of the thoracic kyphosis from the ideal verticals-IV). A questionnaire was used to evaluate the level of movement activity in probands and the relation between the occurrence of painful back and headaches and the measurement of biomechanical parameters and movement activity. A total of 81.3 % of children and 94.5 % of adults were found to have deviations from the biomechanically ideal posture model, which signals a postural defect. The values of the Cl (p...