Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Planck units'

The article solves the riddle of the fine structure constants with the help of the Planck units, derives its physical meaning and shows the consequences.:Abstract Introduction What is the fine structure constant? Consequence from the existence of the fine structure constant.

Existing martian relative age chronologies rely entirely or predominantly on Mariner 9 images, extrapolated numbers of craters, and craters 500(DEGREES)K) for the planet are consistent with the derived chronology.

Hardy space scalar theory on the disk is now classical. Some extensions have been done, one of them is the approach done by Donald Sarason using Laurent series. We present the more complicated function theory, without the use of either power series or Laurent series, for finitely-connected planar domains.<br>Master of Science

The topic of unit commitment has been and continues to be of interest to many researchers and is a primary operation for most utilities. Past research has utilized integer programming, dynamic programming, linear programming, gradient, and heuristic techniques. This research combines both linear programming and dynamic programming for unit commitment decisions within a weekly time frame. The result provides most of the advantages of linear programming and dynamic programming with less stringent requirements on the pre solution information needed for unit transition sequences. Further, the research yields a new tool for the solution of the Transaction Evaluation problem.<br>Ph. D.<br>incomplete_metadata

Thesis (PhD (Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The power conversion unit of a large solar chimney power plant converts the fluid power, first into mechanical power, and then into electrical power. In this dissertation a tool is developed to determine the layout and the number of turbines of the solar chimney power conversion unit providing the lowest cost of electricity. First, the history of the solar chimney concept and the related fields of research are presented. Potential features and configurations of the power conversion unit are introduced, and it is shown how the solar chimney power conversion unit compares to those of other applications. An outline of the dissertation is given, and its potential impact is discussed. An analytical turbine model is developed. Several modelling approaches and the performance of single rotor and counter rotating turbine layouts are compared. Preliminary turbine designs are investigated, experimentally and numerically. The main aim of the experimental investigation is to verify the applicability of the loss model used in the analytical turbine model. The aim of the numerical investigation is to evaluate a commercial software package as a tool in context with solar chimney turbines. For each component of the power conversion unit an analytical performance model is introduced. Using these models, the single vertical axis, multiple vertical axis and multiple horizontal axis turbine configurations are compared from an efficiency and energy yield point of view, and the impact of the various losses on the overall performance is highlighted. A detailed cost model for the power conversion unit is also presented. To optimize for cost of electricity this cost model is then linked to the performance models, and the resulting optimization scheme is applied to several plant configurations. It is shown that for a large solar chimney power plant the power conversion unit providing minimal cost of electricity consists of multiple horizontal axis turbines using a single rotor layout including inlet guide vanes.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die drywingsomsettingseenheid van ’n groot sonskoorsteenaanleg sit die vloeidrywing om, eers in meganiese drywing en dan in elektriese drywing. In hierdie proefskrif word ’n gereedskapstuk ontwikkel om die uitleg en aantal turbines van die sonskoorsteen-drywingsomsettingseenheid te bepaal wat die laagste koste van elektrisiteit lewer. Eerstens word die geskiedenis van die sonskoorsteen en verwante navorsingsvelde behandel. Moontlike eienskappe en konfigurasies vir die drywingsomsettingseenheid word voorgestel, en daar word aangetoon hoe die sonskoorsteendrywingsomsettings- eenheid vergelyk met ander toepassings. ’n Raamwerk van die proefskrif word gegee, en die potensiële trefkrag daarvan word bespreek. ’n Analitiese turbine-model word ontwikkel. Verskeie nabootsingsbenaderings en die vertoning van ’n enkelrotor en teenroterende turbine-uitlegte word vergelyk. Voorlopige turbine-ontwerpe word ondersoek, eksperimenteel en numeries. Die hoofdoel van die eksperimentele ondersoek is om die toepaslikheid van die verliesmodel in die analitiese turbine-model te bevestig. Die doel van die numeriese ondersoek is om kommersiële sagteware op te weeg as ’n gereedskapstuk in die konteks van sonskoorsteenturbines. Vir elke onderdeel van die drywingsomsettingseenheid word ’n analitiese model voorgestel. Met gebruik van hierdie modelle word die enkele vertikale-as, die veelvoudige vertikale-as an die veelvoudige horisontale-as turbinekonfigurasies vergelyk vanuit ’n benuttingsgraad- en energie-opbrengsoogpunt,en die uitwerking van die verskillende verliese op die algehele gedrag word uitgewys. ’n Kostemodel in besonderhede word vir die drywingsomsettingseenheid aangebied. Om vir die koste van elektrisiteit te optimeer word hierdie kostemodel dan gekoppel aan die vertoningsmodelle, en die gevolglike optimeringskema word toegepas op verskeie aanlegkonfigurasies. Daar word aangetoon dat vir ’n groot sonskoorsteenaanleg die drywingsomsettingseenheid wat die minimumkoste van elektrisiteit gee, bestaan uit veelvoudige horisontale-as turbines met enkelrotoruitleg en inlaatleilemme.<br>Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies

Project-based learning (PBL) is centred on a challenging, yet meaningful, driving question and culminates in a product that students create or do to showcase their learning to a public audience. Other essential elements of a true PBL experience include: sustained inquiry, authentic tasks, opportunities for students to make decisions about their culminating product, reflection, critique, and revision (Hallermann, Larmer, & Mergendoller, 2011). A well-designed PBL combines curriculum and instructional activities to cultivate 21st century skills in students to prepare them for future success in the workforce. Two teams of Year five teachers designed a week-long PBL unit for students organised around the characteristics of the planets, which integrated science, mathematics, and English. The teachers implemented the PBL with six classes of Year five students, documenting their thoughts on planning and implementation to reflect upon the experience.

Akademisk avhandling--Uppsala Universitet, 1978.<br>Mention parallèle de titre ou de responsabilité : Socialization derailed : Sweden, oil and the USA's plansfor a new world order, 1945-1949 / Thomas Jonter. Contient un résumé en anglais. Notes bibliogr. en bas de page. Bibliogr. p. 189-198.

This study presents an exploration of the structure, dynamics and utilisation of woody plants in vegetation units of northern Maputaland. Animal (in Tembe Elephant Park) and human (in the rural community of Manqakulane) utilisation of woody plants were compared against a control area (Tshanini Community Conservation Area) where animals were extirpated and people were precluded through tribal rules. The tree assemblages of the unique Sand Forest were explored, and compared with previous studies. A new classification was proposed and a new subcommunity was established. Contrary to previous studies, a gradient from Short to Intermediate to Tall Sand Forest was defined, and it was suggested that structurally different Sand Forest subcommunities represent a mosaic of different evolutionary states, rather than stationary states as perceived currently. Animal utilisation appeared to have transformed Sand Forest in conserved land to such an extent that it no longer resembled Sand Forest outside conserved areas. The structure of Sand Forest and woodlands of the region was evaluated at the vegetation unit level (21 vegetation units), through a size and height class distribution analysis of woody plants. Humans and animals had clearly modified the woodlands and appeared to force succession from closed woodland to open woodland. The Sand Forest appeared to benefit from low intensity animal utilisation, with increased diversity, and possibly enhanced dynamics. However, signs that current animal utilisation have negative effects were perceived. The size class distribution of Sand Forest and woodland woody species was presented and an analysis of species grain was performed. The grain concept was successfully applied to woodland species for the first time. It appeared that nearly all vegetation units were fine-grained, and therefore governed by small-scale dynamics. Frequent small disturbances are necessary to maintain diversity. There was cause for concern that current animal and human utilisation threaten such fine-scale dynamics. The utilisation level by the browsing mammals guild in Tembe Elephant Park and by small browsers and people in Manqakulane Rural Community were evaluated over two periods. Small to medium browsers utilised more woody species and height classes than any other agent, but with short-term effects. However, utilisation marks linked to elephants and people were accumulating significantly, and the long-term effects of these agents were threatening the dynamics of Maputaland vegetation. The case of woody species utilisation by elephants was evaluated further and compared with a previous study. Overall utilisation by elephants reached 100% of individuals for several woody species, while other species’ regeneration potential was severely threatened. Woody species preferred in 1994 were nearly extirpated. Utilisation of woody species by elephants throughout Tembe Elephant Park appeared correlated with distance to permanent water points during a dry spell. In conclusion, it appeared clear that policies in favour of high animal numbers in formally conserved areas were not suited for northern Maputaland and this result should be considered when the expansion of the South African protected areas of Maputaland into Mozambique becomes effective. Community-based conservation appeared promising, but novel ways of generating income should be investigated.<br>Thesis (PhD (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2008.<br>Animal and Wildlife Sciences<br>unrestricted

Thesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017.<br>Fuel cell (FC) technology is one of the most sought-after renewable energy technology. However, the output voltage of FC stacks is inherently unstable; as such, it is of little or no use for most power supply applications. In addition to the unstable output voltage, FC stacks are susceptible to high current ripple, which can reduce the system’s life expectancy. The work carried out in order to stabilise the output voltage, and to reduce the current ripple of FC stacks involves a review of some existing converter topologies used for power conditioning units (PCUs), modelling, design, control and simulation of different converter topologies and the experiment of the prototype circuit for the interleaved boost voltage multiplier (IBVM) converter topology. In the process to stabilise the stack output voltage and to reduce the stack output current ripple, it is also required to improve the system response to load changes. This work presents results that show that system works, with the voltage stabilised, the stack output current ripple reduced and the response time reduced. A relative evaluation of the dynamic behaviour of four converter topologies in power conditioning units is carried out, and these are the isolated current-fed full-bridge (ICFFB) converter, the boost converter, the sepic converter and the IBVM converter. The simulation results of the four topologies show that the output voltage of a PEMFC stack was stabilised, and that the IBVM topology is a better topology compared to the others, especially when it comes to reducing the stack current ripple.

Alfalfa is the second largest production crop grown in Arizona with an estimated 150,000 acres of production in 1993. Water requirements for alfalfa have been estimated at 6 acre-feet per year. These two facts together make it imperative that data be gathered to help growers apply their irrigation water efficiently while maintaining their yields. In 1994, a study was initiated in the Parker Valley region of La Paz County, Arizona, to measure daily water use in alfalfa. Two sites were chosen for measurement: one site was a surface irrigated field located at the Quail Mesa Farm; the second site was a surface irrigated field located on the Colorado River Farm. The two sites were chosen to give a contrasting schedule of irrigation and allow for data collection at differing times throughout the year. Nine neutron probes were installed in each field, three 113 in from the head, three in the center, and three 113 in from the tail on one field at each location. Neutron probe readings were taken at 18", 30", 42", and 54" depths below the soil surface to measure soil moisture from 1' -2', 2' -3', 3'-4', 4' -5'. The soil moisture for the top foot was determined by gravimetric sampling. The data gathered by this study was used to compare with data used in AZSCHED, a computerized irrigation scheduling program. With this data, determination of alfalfa water used based on heat units after cutting was made to help growers better use their irrigation water.

A criação de Unidades de Conservação é uma estratégia mundialmente utilizada para garantir a conservação dos recursos naturais e a sustentabilidade ambiental, econômica e social, tendo como principal instrumento de planejamento e gestão o plano de manejo. Antes e depois a promulgação do Sistema Nacional de Unidades de Conservação vários planos de manejo foram elaborados a partir dos métodos consagrados que não consideram a variável tempo para a definição de ações de conservação e recuperação dos recursos naturais, a curto, médio e longo prazo. Visando contribuir para o aperfeiçoamento metodológico dos planos de manejo, a presente pesquisa apresenta uma compilação sobre as unidades de conservação e respectivos planos de manejo, tendo como estudo de caso, para a análise do método consagrado, o Plano de Manejo da APA Várzea do rio Tietê. Além disso, a pesquisa apresenta uma descrição das principais ferramentas de modelagem econômica - ecológica com intuito de conhecer conceitos e métodos alternativos e complementares para elaboração dos planos de manejo. Das fermentadas estudadas, o InVest se apresenta como sendo o mais operacional, produzindo modelos para a quantificação biofísica, o mapeamento e a valoração monetária dos benefícios providos por ecossistemas terrestres e marinhos, enquanto que o MIMES se apresenta como sendo o mais indicado para qualquer escala de modelos dinâmicos e integrados que, além de identificar, avalia e valora os serviços ecossistêmicos. Ambos os modelos consideram a variável tempo e estabelecem cenários a partir deles. Ao final, observou-se que, os métodos consagrados para elaboração dos planos de manejo das Unidades de Conservação não consideram a variável tempo na medida em que não definem os cenários e tendências para superação ou não do limiar de resiliência dos ecossistemas protegidos pelas unidades de conservação, o método tradicional analisa a situação atual, sem construir cenários para conservação e recuperação desses recursos naturais, a curto, médio e longo prazo. Desse modo, a questão que se coloca não é a definição de quanto vale os serviços ecossistêmicos para a sociedade e, sim, qual é o real limiar de resiliência do ecossistema.<br>The creation of Conservation Units is a globally used strategy to guarantee the conservation of natural resources and environmental, economic and social sustainability, having as main planning and management tool the management plan. Before and after the promulgation of the National System of Conservation Units, several management plans were elaborated based on established methods that do not consider the time variable for the definition of actions for conservation and recovery of natural resources in the short, medium and long term. Aiming to contribute to the methodological improvement of the management plans, the present research presents a compilation on the conservation units and respective management plans, having as case study, for the analysis of the established method, the APA Management Plan Várzea do Rio Tietê. In addition, the research presents a description of the main economic - ecological modeling tools in order to know alternative and complementary concepts and methods to elaborate management plans. From the studied ferments, InVest presents itself as the most operational, producing models for biophysical quantification, mapping and monetary valuation of the benefits provided by terrestrial and marine ecosystems, while MIMES presents itself as being the most suitable for any scale Of dynamic and integrated models that, in addition to identifying, evaluating and valuing ecosystem services. Both models consider the time variable and establish scenarios from them. At the end, it was observed that the methods established for the elaboration of the management plans of the Conservation Units do not consider the time variable insofar as they do not define the scenarios and trends for overcoming or not the resilience threshold of the ecosystems protected by the conservation units. Conservation, the traditional method analyzes the current situation without constructing scenarios for conservation and recovery of these natural resources in the short, medium and long term. Thus, the question is not the definition of how much ecosystem services are worth for society, but rather what is the real resilience threshold of the ecosystem.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology: Chemical Engineering, In the Faculty of Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014<br>Energy efficiency has become an important feature in the design of process plants due to the rising cost of energy and the more stringent environmental regulations being implemented worldwide. In South Africa as in other African countries, most of the chemical plants were built during the era of cheap energy with little emphasis placed on energy efficiency due to the abundance of cheap utility sources such as coal and crude oil. In most of these plants, there exists significant potential for substantial process heat recovery by conceptual integration of the plant’s heat exchangers. Pinch Technology (PT) has been demonstrated to be a simple and very effective technique for heat integration and process optimization. This study applies the PT approach to retrofit the heat exchangers network of the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU), of a complex petroleum refinery with the aim to reduce utilities requirement and the associated gaseous pollutants emission. This objective is accomplished by firstly conducting an energy audit of the unit to scope for potential energy saving. The existing Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) was re-designed using the remaining problem analysis (RPA) to achieve improved process energy recovery while making maximum use of the existing exchangers. The aim is to maintain the existing plant topology as much as possible. This network was later relaxed trading heat recovery with number of heat transfer unit so as to optimize the capital cost. These were implemented in AspenPlus v7.2 environment. The cost implications of the retrofitted and evolved networks including the capital and operating costs were determined on a 5 years payback time basis. The Problem Table (PT) analysis revealed that the minimum utilities requirements are 75 MW and 55 MW for the hot and cold utilities respectively. Compared to the existing utilities requirements of 103 MW for hot utility and 83 MW for cold utility, this represent a potential savings of about 26 % and 33 % savings for the hot and cold utilities respectively. The target utilities usage in the re-designed network after applying Remaining Problem Analysis (RPA) was found to be 55 MW for the cold utility and 75 MW for hot utility. The relaxed HEN required a cold utility of 62.5 MW and hot utility of 81 MW. From the total cost estimation, it was found that, although an energy saving of 34% can be achieved by the re-designed network before relaxation, the capital cost, US$ 1670000 is significantly higher than for the existing network (about US$ 980000). The final relaxed network gave an energy saving of 34% and with total cost of US$ 1100000. It was recommended from the study after cost comparisons of the four different networks (the original network, the MER network, the relaxed network and a grass-root design) that the best network for the retrofit purpose was the relaxed HEN, because there is no major shift in deviation from the topology of the original network. From the analysis it was found that a 34% saving in energy cost could be achieved from this retrofit. The Total Annual Cost (TAC) for this network gives credence to the fact that this retrofit which applied the rules of pinch analysis can bring about real saving in energy usage.

Esta tesis examina y compara terminología, conceptos y principios de la disciplina utilizados por autores de este ámbito a fin de conceptualizar su marco analítico de referencia. A su vez, analiza y contrasta los planes de estudio de “motion graphics” de programas universitarios en los EE.UU. con la intención de identificar su estructura y organización. La hipótesis define que los planes de estudio existentes en “motion graphics” reflejan caos y falta de coherencia, resultado de una disciplina emergente. La investigación realiza un análisis de dominio de terminología, conceptos y principios de “motion graphics”, una examinación de contenido de sus planes de estudio en la educación superior y una comparación de su estructura y organización. Tras la evaluación de 320 catálogos universitarios de planes de estudio de “motion graphics” de Estados Unidos, la investigación corrobora la hipótesis. Finalmente, la investigación propone un plan de estudios para la enseñanza de “motion graphics” en Estados Unidos organizado a través de las estrategias de continuidad, secuenciación e integración, que brinda coherencia a su estructura.

Submitted by Pedro Silva Filho (pfsilva@ipen.br) on 2017-11-22T17:00:26Z No. of bitstreams: 0<br>Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-22T17:00:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0<br>Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)<br>A demanda por combustível nuclear para reatores de pesquisa está aumentando em nível mundial, enquanto várias de suas fábricas têm pequeno volume de produção. Este trabalho estabeleceu um modelo conceitual com duas estratégias para o aumento da capacidade produtiva dessas fábricas. Foram abordadas as fábricas que produzem elementos combustíveis tipo placa carregados com LEU U3Si2-Al, tipicamente usados em reatores nucleares de pesquisa. A primeira estratégia baseia-se na literatura da área de administração da produção e é uma prática frequente nas fábricas em geral. A segunda estratégia aproveita a possibilidade de desmembrar setores produtivos, comum em instalações de produção de combustível nuclear. Ambas as estratégias geraram diferentes cenários de produção, os quais devem ser seguros em relação à criticalidade. Foram coletados dados de uma fábrica real de combustível nuclear para reatores de pesquisa. As duas estratégias foram aplicadas a esses dados com a finalidade de testar o modelo proposto, o que configurou um estudo de caso. A aplicação das estratégias aos dados coletados deu-se por meio de simulação de eventos discretos em computador. Foram criados diversos modelos de simulação para abranger todos os cenários gerados, de forma que o teste indicou um aumento da capacidade produtiva de até 207% sem necessidade de aquisição de novos equipamentos. Os resultados comprovam que o modelo atingiu plenamente o objetivo proposto. Como principal conclusão pode-se apontar a eficácia do modelo proposto, fato que foi validado pelos dados da fábrica.<br>Tese (Doutorado em Tecnologia Nuclear)<br>IPEN/T<br>Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP<br>CNPq:310274/2012-5

Dans ce travail, nous avons introduit le concept sous-jacent de PUFEM et la formulation de base lié à l'équation de Helmholtz dans un domaine borné. Le processus d'enrichissement de l'onde plane de variables PUFEM a été montré et expliqué en détail. L'idée principale est d'inclure une connaissance a priori sur le comportement local de la solution dans l'espace des éléments finis en utilisant un ensemble de fonctions d'onde qui sont des solutions aux équations aux dérivées partielles. Dans cette étude, l'utilisation des ondes planes se propageant dans différentes directions a été favorisée car elle conduit à des algorithmes de calcul efficaces. En outre, nous avons montré que le nombre de directions d'ondes planes dépend de la taille de l'élément PUFEM et la fréquence des ondes à la fois en 2D et 3D. Les approches de sélection de ces ondes planes sont également illustrés. Pour les problèmes 3D, nous avons étudié deux systèmes de distribution des directions d'ondes planes qui sont la méthode du cube discrétisé et la méthode de la force de Coulomb. Il a été montré que celle-ci permet d'obtenir des directions d'onde espacées de façon uniforme et permet d'obtenir un nombre arbitraire d'ondes planes attachées à chaque noeud de l'élément de PUFEM, ce qui rend le procédé plus souple.Dans le chapitre 3, nous avons étudié la simulation numérique des ondes se propageant dans deux dimensions en utilisant PUFEM. La principale priorité de ce chapitre est de venir avec un schéma d'intégration exacte (EIS), résultant en un algorithme d'intégration rapide pour le calcul de matrices de coefficients de système avec une grande précision. L'élément 2D PUFEM a ensuite été utilisé pour résoudre un problème de transmission acoustique impliquant des matériaux poreux. Les résultats ont été vérifiés et validés par la comparaison avec des solutions analytiques. Les comparaisons entre le régime exact d'intégration (EIS) et en quadrature de Gauss ont montré le gain substantiel offert par l'EIE en termes de temps CPU.Une 3D exacte Schéma d'intégration a été présenté dans le chapitre 4, afin d'accélérer et de calculer avec précision (jusqu'à la précision de la machine) des intégrales très oscillatoires découlant des coefficients de la matrice de PUFEM associés à l'équation 3D Helmholtz. Grâce à des tests de convergence, un critère de sélection du nombre d'ondes planes a été proposé. Il a été montré que ce nombre ne pousse que quadratiquement avec la fréquence qui donne lieu à une réduction drastique du nombre total de degrés de libertés par rapport au FEM classique. Le procédé a été vérifié pour deux exemples numériques. Dans les deux cas, le procédé est représenté à converger vers la solution exacte. Pour le problème de la cavité avec une source de monopôle située à l'intérieur, nous avons testé deux modèles numériques pour évaluer leur performance relative. Dans ce scénario, où la solution exacte est singulière, le nombre de directions d'onde doit être choisie suffisamment élevée pour faire en sorte que les résultats ont convergé.Dans le dernier chapitre, nous avons étudié les performances numériques du PUFEM pour résoudre des champs sonores intérieurs 3D et des problèmes de transmission d'ondes dans lequel des matériaux absorbants sont présents. Dans le cas particulier d'un matériau réagissant localement modélisé par une impédance de surface. Un des critères d'estimation d'erreur numérique est proposé en considérant simplement une impédance purement imaginaire qui est connu pour produire des solutions à valeur réelle. Sur la base de cette estimation d'erreur, il a été démontré que le PUFEM peut parvenir à des solutions précises tout en conservant un coût de calcul très faible, et seulement environ 2 degrés de liberté par longueur d'onde ont été jugées suffisantes. Nous avons également étendu la PUFEM pour résoudre les problèmes de transmission des ondes entre l'air et un matériau poreux modélisé comme un fluide homogène équivalent<br>In this work, we have introduced the underlying concept of PUFEM and the basic formulation related to the Helmholtz equation in a bounded domain. The plane wave enrichment process of PUFEM variables was shown and explained in detail. The main idea is to include a priori knowledge about the local behavior of the solution into the finite element space by using a set of wave functions that are solutions to the partial differential equations. In this study, the use of plane waves propagating in various directions was favored as it leads to efficient computing algorithms. In addition, we showed that the number of plane wave directions depends on the size of the PUFEM element and the wave frequency both in 2D and 3D. The selection approaches for these plane waves were also illustrated. For 3D problems, we have investigated two distribution schemes of plane wave directions which are the discretized cube method and the Coulomb force method. It has been shown that the latter allows to get uniformly spaced wave directions and enables us to acquire an arbitrary number of plane waves attached to each node of the PUFEM element, making the method more flexible.In Chapter 3, we investigated the numerical simulation of propagating waves in two dimensions using PUFEM. The main priority of this chapter is to come up with an Exact Integration Scheme (EIS), resulting in a fast integration algorithm for computing system coefficient matrices with high accuracy. The 2D PUFEM element was then employed to solve an acoustic transmission problem involving porous materials. Results have been verified and validated through the comparison with analytical solutions. Comparisons between the Exact Integration Scheme (EIS) and Gaussian quadrature showed the substantial gain offered by the EIS in terms of CPU time.A 3D Exact Integration Scheme was presented in Chapter 4, in order to accelerate and compute accurately (up to machine precision) of highly oscillatory integrals arising from the PUFEM matrix coefficients associated with the 3D Helmholtz equation. Through convergence tests, a criteria for selecting the number of plane waves was proposed. It was shown that this number only grows quadratically with the frequency thus giving rise to a drastic reduction in the total number of degrees of freedoms in comparison to classical FEM. The method has been verified for two numerical examples. In both cases, the method is shown to converge to the exact solution. For the cavity problem with a monopole source located inside, we tested two numerical models to assess their relative performance. In this scenario where the exact solution is singular, the number of wave directions has to be chosen sufficiently high to ensure that results have converged. In the last Chapter, we have investigated the numerical performances of the PUFEM for solving 3D interior sound fields and wave transmission problems in which absorbing materials are present. For the specific case of a locally reacting material modeled by a surface impedance. A numerical error estimation criteria is proposed by simply considering a purely imaginary impedance which is known to produce real-valued solutions. Based on this error estimate, it has been shown that the PUFEM can achieve accurate solutions while maintaining a very low computational cost, and only around 2 degrees of freedom per wavelength were found to be sufficient. We also extended the PUFEM for solving wave transmission problems between the air and a porous material modeled as an equivalent homogeneous fluid. A simple 1D problem was tested (standing wave tube) and the PUFEM solutions were found to be around 1% error which is sufficient for engineering purposes

In this paper, a method for determining ground plane features in a sequence of images captured by a mobile camera is presented. The hardware of the mobile system consists of a monocular camera that is mounted on an inertial measurement unit (IMU). An image processing procedure is proposed, first to extract image features and match them across consecutive image frames, and second to detect the ground plane features using a two-step algorithm. In the first step, the planar homography of the ground plane is constructed using an IMU-camera motion estimation approach. The obtained homography constraints are used to detect the most likely ground features in the sequence of images. To reject the remaining outliers, as the second step, a new plane normal vector computation approach is proposed. To obtain the normal vector of the ground plane, only three pairs of corresponding features are used for a general camera transformation. The normal-based computation approach generalizes the existing methods that are developed for specific camera transformations. Experimental results on real data validate the reliability of the proposed method.<br><p>QC 20121107</p>

Submitted by Jos? Henrique Henrique (jose.neves@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2017-04-17T17:55:53Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) ana_caldeira_barros.pdf: 1948428 bytes, checksum: 6db2194dabcfd512dffc0104f589dd5c (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2017-04-20T16:43:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) ana_caldeira_barros.pdf: 1948428 bytes, checksum: 6db2194dabcfd512dffc0104f589dd5c (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-20T16:43:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) ana_caldeira_barros.pdf: 1948428 bytes, checksum: 6db2194dabcfd512dffc0104f589dd5c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016<br>As comunidades rurais sofrem de iniquidades em sa?de e normalmente t?m menor acesso a ela quando comparadas ?s comunidades urbanas. Se localizadas no entorno de unidades de conserva??o, podem apresentar caracter?sticas espec?ficas de conviv?ncia com o ambiente, tal como a preponder?ncia de uso de plantas medicinais nativas em rela??o ao uso de plantas cultivadas. Por outro lado, essas comunidades podem sofrer com inseguran?a e incertezas, devido ?s restri??es de uso da biodiversidade impostas pela legisla??o ambiental vigente. Acredita-se que s?o nas pr?ticas populares de sa?de, como o uso de plantas medicinais, que a popula??o busca apoio para o enfrentamento das situa??es de adoecimentos. O objetivo desse trabalho foi estudar as comunidades rurais de Bra?nas e Lagoa da Pedra quanto aos seguintes aspectos sociodemogr?ficos e de sa?de: composi??o familiar, escolaridade, dados ocupacionais, socioecon?micos; sistemas de produ??o de alimentos e extrativismo, sa?de do trabalhador e ao uso da medicina popular. As comunidades envolvidas no estudo s?o localizadas aproximadamente a 100 km da sede de Diamantina e a 20 km do distrito de Senador Mour?o, na margem direita do rio Jequitinhonha, na zona de amortecimento do Parque Nacional das Sempre Vivas, em Minas Gerais. A ?rea da pesquisa faz parte da mesorregi?o do Alto Jequitinhonha, nordeste do estado, transi??o de Cerrado e Mata Atl?ntica. Entre janeiro e abril de 2016, foram aplicados question?rios estruturados em 36 domic?lios, em que viviam 120 pessoas. As comunidades plantavam principalmente feij?o nas margens do rio, sendo esta atividade e a venda da produ??o a mais importante ocupa??o e fonte de renda local. A maior parte dos entrevistados relatou cultivar hortali?as e legumes (72%) ou outros alimentos em seus quintais (97%) para autoconsumo. A cria??o de animais de produ??o e/ou de estima??o foi relatada por 94% dos entrevistados. A maioria das casas tinha estrutura de adobe, cobertura de telha de barro e piso de cimento, sendo que a principal car?ncia de saneamento ambiental foi a presen?a de fossa rudimentar na maioria das resid?ncias. As comunidades apresentaram rela??es espec?ficas de conviv?ncia com o ambiente local. Nesse ?mbito, foram citadas pelos entrevistados 139 plantas de uso medicinal, seus locais de coleta, modo de fazer e indica??es terap?uticas. Os principais agravos investigados s?o comuns aos processos de adoecimentos de outras comunidades rurais do pa?s, tais como parasitoses intestinais e acidentes com animais pe?onhentos. Al?m desses, hipertens?o arterial, problemas de pele e respirat?rios tamb?m foram recorrentes.<br>Disserta??o (Mestrado Profissional) ? Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Sa?de, Sociedade e Ambiente, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2016.<br>The rural communities suffer with health disabilities and usually have less access to health systems compared to urban communities. If these communities are located in conservation units? surroundings, they can exhibit specific familiarities with their localenvironment, such as the main use of native medicinal plants instead the use of cultivated herbal plants. In contrast, these communities can suffer uncertainties about the use of local biodiversity given the present environment policy. There is a belief that popular health practices, such as medicinal plants, can help to improve common illness. The main object is to study the rural communities of Bra?nas and Lagoa da Pedra according to the following socialeconomics and health aspects: family composition, educational level, active work force, food production and extrativism, workers? health and popular health practices. These two communities are situated at the northeast of Minas Gerais State and within the Alto Jequitinhonha mesoregion, proximally 100 km from Diamantina, MG . and 20 km from Senador Mour?o District. They are also located in a buffer zone of Sempre Vivas National Park and within the biome transition zone of Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. Between January and April/2016 structured questionnaires were applied on 36 households, in which inhabit 120 dwellers. These communities cultivate manly beans in the rivers margins and this activity is the main source of local income. The interviewers mostly cultivated vegetables (72%) or other kind of crops (97%) and farm animals or pets (94%) in their backyards for selfpreservation. Almost all houses were made of adobe, covered by clay tiles and cement floor and the main lack of environmental sanitation condition found is rudimentary cesspits. The communities have familiarities with local environment and in this case, 139 medicinal plants were described by interviewers, such as their extraction location, how to prepare and their therapeutics indications. The main illness concerns investigated in this study are common to other Brazilians? rural communities, such as intestinal parasites and accidents with venomous animals. Besides these illnesses, hypertension, skin rashes and breathing problems also occur frequently.

The integration of variable renewable energy sources (VRE) is likely to cause fundamental and structural changes to the operation of future power systems. In the United Kingdom (UK), large amounts of price-insensitive and variable-output wind generation is expected to be deployed to contribute towards renewable energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission targets. Wind generation, with near-zero marginal costs, limited predictability, and a limited ability to provide upward dispatch, displaces price-setting thermal power plants, with higher marginal costs, changing flexibility and reserve requirements. New-build, commercial-scale, and low-carbon generation capacity, such as CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear, may impact power system flexibility and ramping capabilities. Low-carbon generation portfolios with price-sensitive thermal power plants and energy storage are therefore likely to be required to manage increased levels of variability and uncertainty at operational timescales. This work builds on a high-resolution wind reanalysis dataset of UK wind sites. The locations of existing and proposed wind farms are used to produce plausible and internally consistent wind deployment scenarios that represent the spatial distribution of future UK wind capacity. Temporally consistent electricity demand data is used to characterise and assess demand-wind variability and net demand ramp events. A unit commitment and economic dispatch (UCED) model is developed to evaluate the likely operating regimes of thermal power plants and CCS-equipped units across a range of future UK wind scenarios. Security constraints for reserve and power plant operating constraints, such as power output limits, ramp rates, minimum up/down times, and start-up times, ensure the operational feasibility of dispatch schedules. The load factors, time spent at different loads, and the ramping and start-up requirements of thermal power plants are assessed. CO2 duration curves are developed to assess the impacts of increasing wind capacity on the distribution of CO2 emissions. A sensitivity analysis investigates the impacts of part-load efficiency losses, ramp rates, minimum up/down times, and start-up/shut-down costs on power plant operating regimes and flexibility requirements. The interactions between a portfolio of energy storage units and flexible CO2 capture units are then explored. This multi-disciplinary research presents a temporally-explicit and detailed assessment of operational flexibility requirements at full 8760 hour resolution, highlighting the non-linear impacts of increasing wind capacity. The methodological framework presented here uses high spatial-and temporal-resolution wind data but is expected to provide useful insights for other VREbased power systems to mitigate the implications of inadequate flexibility.

Julien Gracq écrit avec l'encre de ses lectures, les écrivains qu'il privilégie devenant de véritables intercesseurs. Reconnaissant lui-même avoir "une dette" envers Gérard de Nerval, cette étude avait pour but de recenser les traces nervaliennes dans l'œuvre gracquienne, elles ont mis à jour davantage : des affinités dans leur imaginaire poétique, de sorte que la lecture de l'œuvre gracquienne s'accroit de la connaissance de l'œuvre nervalienne ; elle s'augmente du texte inscrit en creux sur lequel l'auteur réécrit le sien propre, a l'image d'un palimpseste ou les textes effaces seraient innombrables, ce qui donne au texte gracquien un foisonnement de signes et de significations tout à fait considérable car Nerval y est inscrit parmi beaucoup d'autres écrivains. Ce sont quelques troublantes similitudes entre le roi Cophetua de Julien Gracq et Sylvie de G. De Nerval qui ont motivé cette étude<br>Julien Gracq writes with the ink of his readings, the writers he privileges becoming true intercessors. Recognizing to be himself "in debt" to Gerard de Nerval, this study purposed numbering the traces of Nerval in Gracq's work, they brought more to light : some affinities in their poetical imaginary, so that the reading of Gracq's work increases by the knowledge of Nerval's ; it keeps growing with the hollow - inscribed text on which the author rewrites his own, similar to a palimpsest where the effaced texts would be unumerable, which gives Gracq's text plenty of signs and significations for Nerval is inscribed these among many other writers. There are a few troubling similitudes between Julien Gracq's king Cophetua and G. De Nerval' Sylvie which motivated this study

Представлені проблеми синтезу систем автоматичного управління на основі методів векторної оптимізації прямих показників якості та покращеної інтегральної квадратичної оцінки. Побудовані математичні моделі систем керування енергоблоком атомної електростанції для нормальних режимів. Наведено результати синтезу оптимальних ПІД та нечітких регуляторів.<br>Problems of synthesis of automatic control systems based on the methods of vector optimization of direct quality indices and improved integral quadratic estimate are presented. Mathematical models of control systems for power unit of nuclear electric station for normal modes are constructed. The results of synthesis of optimal PID and fuzzy controllers are presented.

This dissertation reports on the design and implementation of a high-frequency, tri-axial capacitive resonant gyroscopes integrated on a single chip. The components that construct tri-axial rotation sensing consist of a yaw, a pitch and a roll device. The yaw-rate gyroscope has a wide bandwidth and a large full-scale range, and operates at a mode-matched condition with DC polarization voltage of 10V without frequency tuning requirement. The large bandwidth of 3kHz and expected full-scale range over 30,000˚/sec make the device exhibit fast rate response for rapid motion sensing application. For the pitch-and-roll rate sensing, an in-plane drive-mode and two orthogonal out-of-plane sense-modes are employed. The rotation-rate sensing from lateral axes is performed by mode-matching the in-plane drive-mode with out-of-plane sense-modes to detect Coriolis-force induced deflection of the resonant mass. To compensate process variations and thickness deviations in the employed silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, large electrostatic frequency tunings of both the drive and sense modes are realized. A revised high aspect ratio combined polysilicon and silicon (HARPSS) process is developed to resolve the Coriolis response that exists toward out-of-plane direction while drive-mode exists on in-plane, and tune individual frequencies with minimal interference to unintended modes. To conclude and overcome the performance limitation, design optimization of high-frequency tri-axial gyroscopes is suggested. Q-factor enhancement through reduction of thermoelastic damping (TED) and optimizations of physical dimensions are suggested for the yaw disk gyroscope. For the pitch-and-roll gyroscope, scaling property of physical dimension and its subsequent performance enhancement are analyzed.

Plant form is a product of emergent processes of cell division, patterning and morphogenesis. These fundamental processes remain poorly characterised in plants. However, engineering approaches can provide new tools and frameworks for the study and manipulation of plant development. This dissertation describes the development of engineering frameworks for reprogramming of the early diverging land plant Marchantia polymorpha (Marchantia). I describe the generation of genomic and transcriptomic datasets for Marchantia, which has provided the basis for the compilation of a gene-centric registry of DNA parts for engineering (MarpoDB). I describe the development of Loop assembly, an efficient and standardised DNA assembly system based on Type IIS restriction enzymes for recursive fabrication of DNA circuits with high efficiency. MarpoDB was used to mine new DNA parts compatible with Loop assembly which were used to generate plant transformation vectors for labelling of cellular features to study aspects of growth and development. I performed image analysis of genetic markers for segmentation and quantification of cellular properties in germinating gemmae. I implemented high-efficiency Cas9-mediated mutagenesis in Marchantia for use in functional molecular genetics studies. Furthermore, I produced inducible systems for expression of heterologous elements by transactivation which showed negligible levels of basal activity. It was possible to use this system for induction of gene expression in single cells. Finally, these new frameworks were applied to study the gametophytic meristem in Marchantia gemmae. I mapped the expression of several putative candidate homologues for higher plant meristem regulators, performed overexpression and loss-of-function studies for homologues of WUSCHEL, CLAVATA3 and SHOOT MERISTEMLESS. A strategy for misregulation of endogenous genes was developed using inducible transactivation, and was used with cellular markers for WUSCHEL and CLAVATA3 homologues in Marchantia.

Submitted by Neusa Fagundes (neusa.fagundes@unioeste.br) on 2017-09-21T18:50:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcus_Machado2017.pdf: 1121735 bytes, checksum: 9ea84f769f344f4ca6f35da15bcea609 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-21T18:50:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcus_Machado2017.pdf: 1121735 bytes, checksum: 9ea84f769f344f4ca6f35da15bcea609 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-13<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES<br>Precision agriculture is essential for farmers who want to increase their productivity and reduce costs with agricultural inputs. One way of using precision agriculture is to divide the area used for cultivation into individualized plots with similar productive potentials within the plot and different among plots; these fractions of the total area are called Management Units (MUs). In this context, the objective of the study was to verify the effectiveness of the division of the area in MUs and to define the plant density for the soybean crop that provides greater productive efficiency in each MU in an experimental area with 15.5 ha, located in Céu Azul City, Paraná State, in Brazil. In the experiment, the formation of the MUs occurred following the steps: collection of soil samples to characterize the chemical and physical attributes; selection of attributes with higher correlation with productivity; interpolation and generation of thematic maps with the values of the attributes selected in the sample points; grouping of data and definition of MUs, considering that the entire computational process was performed with the help of the Software for the Definition of Management Units (SDUM). For the formation of MUs, it was used the attributes of altitude and soil penetration resistance 0-0.1m, attributes that have a greater spatial correlation with productivity in the field. The area was divided into 2 MUs, 4 contour lines (CLs) and 16 plots. In the field, 2 plant densities were applied, 214,000 and 257,000 plants ha-1, and each density was applied in 8 different plots, using line spacing of 0.70 m. In order to characterize and quantify differences in MUs and CLs and the efficiency of plant densities in the MUs, the productivity was measured at 37 points in each plot. Regarding productivity, it was found that there was a significant difference at the level of 5% between MUs, being that the MU with greater productive potential, located in the highest part in the area, achieved higher productivity; the application of the two different plant densities in the MUs generated effect, being that the densities of 214,000 and 257,000 plants ha-1 reached, respectively, higher productivity in MU2 and MU1; also, there was a difference in productivity between CLs.<br>A agricultura de precisão é essencial para produtores que desejam aumentar sua produtividade e reduzir custos com insumos agrícolas. Uma forma de se utilizar a agricultura de precisão é dividindo-se a área utilizada para cultivo em parcelas individualizadas, com potenciais produtivos semelhantes dentro da parcela e diferentes entre parcelas; essas frações da área total são chamadas de Unidades de Manejo (UMs). Nesse contexto, o objetivo do trabalho foi constatar a efetividade da divisão da área em UMs e definir a densidade de plantas para o cultivo de soja que proporcione maior eficiência produtiva em cada UM em área experimental com 15,5 ha, localizada em Céu Azul/PR. No experimento, a formação das UMs ocorreu seguindo-se as etapas: coleta de amostras de solo para caracterizar os atributos químicos e físicos; seleção de atributos com maior correlação com a produtividade; interpolação e geração de mapas temáticos com os valores dos atributos selecionados nos pontos amostrados; agrupamento de dados e definição de UMs, sendo que todo o processo computacional foi realizado com o auxílio do Software para Definição de Unidades de Manejo (SDUM). Para formação das UMs utilizou-se dos atributos altitude e a resistência a penetração do solo 0-0,1 m, que possuem maior correlação espacial com a produtividade no local trabalhado. A área foi dividida em 2 UMs, 4 curvas de nível (CNs) e 16 parcelas. Aplicou-se no plantio 2 densidades de plantas, 214.000 e 257.000 plantas ha-1, sendo que cada densidade foi aplicada em 8 parcelas diferentes, utilizando o espaçamento entre linhas de 0,70 m. Para caracterizar e quantificar diferenças nas UMs e nas CNs e a eficiência das densidades de plantas nas UMs, a produtividade foi medida em 37 pontos em cada parcela. Constatou-se em relação à produtividade que houve diferença significativa ao nível de 5% entre UMs, sendo que a UM com maior potencial produtivo, localizada na parte mais elevada na área, alcançou maior produtividade. Houve efeito na aplicação das duas diferentes densidades de plantas nas UMs, sendo que as densidades de 214.000 e 257.000 plantas ha-1 alcançaram, respectivamente, produtividade superior na UM2 e na UM1; além disso, existiu diferença na produtividade entre as CNs.

Mestrado em Ciências Actuariais<br>O estágio curricular tem como principal objetivo o primeiro contacto, por parte do aluno, com a prática empresarial. Teve a duração de três meses e três semanas e foi realizado na Mercer Portugal, mais especificamente no Retirement Service Center (RSC). A Mercer é uma multinacional do grupo MMC (Marsh & McLennan Companies) que está presente em Portugal desde 1993, líder mundial em serviços de consultoria nas áreas de capital humano, benefícios, pensões e investimentos. No final do estágio, o aluno deverá ter um conhecimento alargado sobre a área de fundos de pensões, mais especificamente os fundos de pensão afetos a um Plano de Contribuição Definida (PCD) e os fundos de pensão afetos a um Plano de Benefício Definido (PBD). Embora o RSC seja um centro de serviços partilhados, inseridos na linha de negócio de Retirement da Mercer com clientes de vários países, neste estágio serão desenvolvidos apenas serviços de reconciliação de fundos de pensões com o PCD para clientes da Irlanda como Unit Reconciliation e Bank Account Reconciliations, assim como o cálculo do Transfer Value para clientes do Reino Unido. No cálculo do Transfer Value, espera-se que o aluno utilize conhecimentos adquiridos em algumas unidades curriculares do mestrado, sobretudo nas unidades de matemática atuarial e fundos de pensões. Um dos desafios mais motivantes será a necessidade do estudo aprofundado dos regimes de pensões (pension schemes) do Reino Unido, numa perspetiva mais teórica e legislativa e conciliar com o conhecimento atuarial no cálculo do Transfer Value.<br>The internship has as main objective the first contact of the student with business practice. It lasted three months and three weeks and was held at Mercer Portugal, specifically in Retirement Service Center (RSC). Mercer is a multinational group MMC (Marsh & McLennan Companies) that has been present in Portugal since 1993. It is a world leader in consulting services in the areas of human capital, benefits, pensions and investments. At the end of the internship, the student must have extensive knowledge about the area of pension funds, specifically pension funds under the Defined Contribution Plan (DCP) and pension funds under the Defined Benefit Plan (PBD). Although RCS is a center for shared services, inserted in the Retirement business line of Mercer, with clients from various countries, during the internship will be developed only reconciliation service pension funds with PCD for customers in Ireland as Unit Reconciliations and Bank Account Reconciliations, as well as the calculation of Transfer Value for UK customers. In calculating the Transfer Value, are expected to use knowledge acquired in some units of the master, especially in actuarial mathematics units and pension funds. One of the challenges is motivating the need for in-depth study of pension systems (pension schemes) in the UK, in a more theoretical and legislative perspective, and reconcile with the actuarial knowledge in the calculation of Transfer Value.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:29:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3992.pdf: 1107503 bytes, checksum: 7c3e8c7b1f79eb3747f360b3ec8d02b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-01<br>The Lagoa do Peixe National Park is an important conservation unity, aiming to protect the wetlands, one of the most endangered type of ecosystem in the world. In Southern Brazil around 90% of the wetlands were already lost. The protected ecosystems in the park are ernationally important for biodiversity conservation and it is the unique Ramsar site in Southern Brazil. The existence of areas invaded by Pinus eliotti and the artificial breaching of the lagoon sandbar are severe problems that can threaten the biodiversity in this preservation area. The goal of this study was to evaluate the diversity of aquatic macrophyte present in the park and test some ecological hypothesis about the community diversity of aquatic macrophyte in natural areas and areas under influence of the main problems of the park (pine invasion and the sandbar breaching). To answer this questions a survey was conducted in 32 wetlands situated inside the park between 2007 and 2009. We identified 176 aquatic macrophyte species in the palustrine wetlands of the park. The aquatic macrophyte richness and composition in coastal wetlands are directly related to the isolation degree of these wetlands in relation to the source wetland and other closer wetlands. The wetland area was not a significant factor for the spatial structure of the aquatic macrophyte community. Other determinant factors for the community were habitat diversity and hydroperiod. The influence of those environmental characteristics was different among the macrophyte groups defined as: hydrophytes, palustrine, and amphibious. The presence of pine resulted in a decrease in macrophyte richness, and the species composition in this area is, in a general way, a subset of the species found in natural wetlands. The artificial sandbar breaching did not affect the richness of aquatic macrophytes in the floodplain wetlands of Lagoa do Peixe. However, in this areas affected by the sandbar breaching, the community composition 4 was characterized by a pattern of continuous species replacement during the two-year study. These results provide important information for wetland management in the park.<br>O Parque Nacional da Lagoa do Peixe, o único sítio Ramsar no sul do Brasil, é uma importante Unidade de Conservação do sul do Brasil visando à proteção de áreas úmidas um dos tipos de ecossistemas mais ameaçados no mundo. No sul do Brasil, cerca de 90% das áreas úmidas já foram perdidas. A existência de áreas invadidas por Pinus elliottii e a abertura artificial da barra da Lagoa do Peixe são problemas graves que podem representar severos riscos à biodiversidade no parque. O objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a diversidade de macrófitas aquáticas do parque e testar algumas hipóteses ecológicas sobre a dinâmica da comunidade de macrófitas aquáticas em áreas naturais e sob a influência da invasão do pinus e da abertura da barra. Foi realizado um inventário em 32 áreas úmidas do parque entre 2007 e 2009, nas quais foram identificadas 176 espécies de macrófitas aquáticas. A riqueza e a composição de macrófitas aquáticas estiveram diretamente relacionadas ao grau de isolamento dessas áreas em relação às áreas-fonte e a outras áreas úmidas próximas. O tamanho da área não foi um fator importante para a estrutura espacial da comunidade de macrófitas aquáticas, sendo fatores determinantes a diversidade de hábitats e o hidroperíodo. A influência desses fatores variou entre os grupos de macrófitas definidos como: hidrófitas, palustres e anfíbias. A invasão por pinus resultou na redução da riqueza de macrófitas e a composição de espécies nessas áreas é, de forma geral, um subconjunto das espécies encontradas nas áreas úmidas naturais. A abertura da barra não alterou a riqueza de macrófitas, as quais estão sujeitas ao manejo da barra. A composição da comunidade foi caracterizada por um padrão de contínua substituição de espécies ao longo dos dois anos de estudo. Esses resultados são informações importantes para o gerenciamento das áreas úmidas do parque.

Les Réseaux de Capteurs Sans Fil (RCSFs) constituent une classe particulière des réseaux Ad hoc, faisant l'objet de recherches intensives. Ils sont considérés comme un outil très puissant pour connecter le monde physique et le monde numérique. Ils se composent d'un grand nombre de noeuds capteurs dotés de ressources limitées en termes d'énergie, de portée de capture et de communication, de vitesse de traitement et de capacité de stockage. Ils sont déployés dans un environnement intérieur ou extérieur, et ce dans de nombreux domaines d'application tels que l'armée, l'environnement, la santé, la maison et l'agriculture. La rareté des ressources des noeuds capteurs et la non fiabilité des liaisons sans fil motivent la plupart des problématiques dans le domaine des RCSFs, à savoir l'énergie, la couverture, la connectivité, le routage, la tolérance aux pannes et la sécurité. L'objectif de cette thèse est de proposer un protocole de surveillance inter-couches, à efficacité énergétique et fiable, pour la surveillance des zones sensibles clôturées, tel qu'un site pétrolier ou nucléaire, utilisant les réseaux de capteurs sans fil avec un cycle d'activité, et avec prise en compte des liens asymétriques dus au phénomène de l'irrégularité de la radio. Initialement, le protocole proposé identifie les noeuds de bordure du RCSF pour les utiliser comme nœuds sentinelles, c.-à-d., des noeuds qui sont toujours dans un état actif. Les noeuds restants sont utilisés en tant que noeuds relais avec un cycle d'activité, pendant la phase de routage des alertes vers le noeud puits. Le processus d'identification des noeuds de bordure ainsi que le routage des alertes, sont assurés par le protocole Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing through Symmetrical Links (GPSR-SL) qui est une version améliorée du protocole GPSR, reposant sur un graphe de connectivité représenté sous forme de disques non-unité (N-UDG). Le protocole de surveillance inter-couches proposé a été implémenté et ses performances ont été évaluées en utilisant l'environnement de simulation OMNeT++/Castalia. Les résultats de performance montrent que ce protocole permet d'obtenir un ratio de livraison de paquets plus élevé d'environ 3.63%, une efficacité énergétique et une latence satisfaisante par rapport au même protocole basé sur le GPSR original<br>Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a special class of Ad hoc networks, which are under intensive research.They are considered as a very powerful tool to connect the physical and the digital worlds. They consist of a largenumber of sensor nodes that are characterized with limited resources in terms of energy, range of sensing and communication, processing speed and storage capacity.They are deployed in an indoor or outdoor environment in many application domains such as army, environment, health, home and agriculture. The scarcity of sensor node resources and the unreliability of wireless links drive most of the research issues in the field of WSNs, namely energy, coverage, connectivity, routing, fault tolerance and security. The aim of this thesis is to propose an energyefficient and reliable cross-layer surveillance protocol for sensitive fenced areas, such as oil or nuclear sites, using duty-cycled WSNs with asymmetrical links due to the radio irregularity phenomenon. Initially, the proposed protocol identifies the boundary nodes of the deployedWSN, to be used as sentinel nodes, i.e., nodes that are always in an active state. The remaining nodes are usedas duty-cycled relay nodes during the routing phase to relay alerts towards the sink. The boundary nodes identification process and alert routing are both performed using an enhanced version of the Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR) protocol, referred to as GPSR over Symmetrical Links (GPSR-SL) and which relies on a Non Unit Disk Graph (N-UDG). The proposed cross-layer surveillance protocol has been implemented and its performance has been evaluated under the OMNeT++/Castalia simulation environment. Performance results show that this protocol achieves higher Packet Delivery Ratio by up to 3.63%, energy .efficiency and satisfactory latency when compared to the same protocol based on the original GPSR

Le but de ce travail est de contrôler le mélange des réactifs dans des cuves de précipitation mécaniquement agitées, qui sont les précipiteurs classiques employés dans l'industrie. Outre la compréhension des interactions entre mélange et précipitation, on cherche à déterminer les géométries de précipiteurs et d'agitateurs ainsi que les conditions de fonctionnement qui conduisent à des cristaux à morphologie et granulométrie contrôlées. En sus de la méthode conductimétrique classique pour la mesure des temps de mélange ou des fluctuations de concentration, une nouvelle technique non intrusive basée sur la visualisation des écoulements par nappe laser et traitement d'images a été élaborée pour étudier les mécanismes du mélange dans des réacteurs de tailles diverses donnant des informations précieuses pour la modélisation des effets de mélange sur la précipitation

Diploma thesis deals with direct cooling systems in food processing plants. The work focuses on the description of the components of the refrigerant cycle, with emphasis on the choice of refrigerant. The result is a design of direct cooling system in the food factory in the variants with refrigerant R404A and R717. The work describes the advantages and disadvantages of various options. The work includes an experimental section which deals with the measure-ment and processing of the actual values of the refrigerant cycle and the comparison of two cold sources.

This project deals with design and implementation of control system, which is used for regulation climate conditions in special grow box. Measured values are displayed on graphic LCD, sent to application in PC or displayed on web server. The project solves software and hardware implementation of measurement system.

碩士<br>國立交通大學<br>機械工程系所<br>93<br>IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is a sensor unit that can provide the position information (angular acceleration, angular velocity, linear acceleration and etc.) for an object in motion. Typical IMU uses three gyroscopes to sense the angular velocity and three linear accelerometers to sense the linear acceleration. The output from 3 gyroscopes undergoes integral operation to obtain 3 rotation angles; and the output from 3 linear accelerometers undergoes integration operation twice to obtain 3 coordinates for location. Another approach is named “Gyro-free IMU”, which only the linear accelerometers are utilized. The output of Gyro-free IMU consists of 3 angular accelerations and 3 linear accelerations, which need 2 consecutive integral operations to obtain rotation angles and 2 consecutive integral operations to obtain 3 location coordinates in space. The integral operation will result in the error accumulation and should be avoided or minimized, if possible. Due to the convergence properties of Gyro-free IMU, the accelerometers utilized must be deployed in a 3D location manner. As a consequence, the accelerometers must be fabricated in prior to the IMU and then mounted on the various locations of IMU. This approach inevitably results in misalignment error for the placement of accelerometers. In correspondence to the existing problems mentioned above, we proposed the brand new design “observer-base planar Gyro-Free IMU” to solve those problems.

This dissertation addresses design and analysis aspects of stochastic dynamical systems using Fokker-Planck equation (FPE). A new numerical methodology based on the partition of unity meshless paradigm is developed to tackle the greatest hurdle in successful numerical solution of FPE, namely the curse of dimensionality. A local variational form of the Fokker-Planck operator is developed with provision for h- and p- refinement. The resulting high dimensional weak form integrals are evaluated using quasi Monte-Carlo techniques. Spectral analysis of the discretized Fokker- Planck operator, followed by spurious mode rejection is employed to construct a new semi-analytical algorithm to obtain near real-time approximations of transient FPE response of high dimensional nonlinear dynamical systems in terms of a reduced subset of admissible modes. Numerical evidence is provided showing that the curse of dimensionality associated with FPE is broken by the proposed technique, while providing problem size reduction of several orders of magnitude. In addition, a simple modification of norm in the variational formulation is shown to improve quality of approximation significantly while keeping the problem size fixed. Norm modification is also employed as part of a recursive methodology for tracking the optimal finite domain to solve FPE numerically. The basic tools developed to solve FPE are applied to solving problems in nonlinear stochastic optimal control and nonlinear filtering. A policy iteration algorithm for stochastic dynamical systems is implemented in which successive approximations of a forced backward Kolmogorov equation (BKE) is shown to converge to the solution of the corresponding Hamilton Jacobi Bellman (HJB) equation. Several examples, including a four-state missile autopilot design for pitch control, are considered. Application of the FPE solver to nonlinear filtering is considered with special emphasis on situations involving long durations of propagation in between measurement updates, which is implemented as a weak form of the Bayes rule. A nonlinear filter is formulated that provides complete probabilistic state information conditioned on measurements. Examples with long propagation times are considered to demonstrate benefits of using the FPE based approach to filtering.

Providing water and proper sanitation to poor communities by 2015 is one of the United Nations targets for this millennium. In South Africa many communities aspire to waterborne sanitation. However, there is a technology gap for decentralized and sustainable waterborne sanitation systems capable of treating domestic wastewater (Foxon et al., 2006). Although domestic wastewater is more commonly treated using aerobic processes, anaerobic processes may be more appropriate for decentralized applications since they do not require aeration. Research is currently being undertaken to understand the behavior of a combined ABR-MBR unit for treating domestic wastewater. In this study, the anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) was investigated by analyzing physico-chemical and biochemical data from experiments on a laboratory-scale ABR. This anaerobic reactor was treating complex particulate wastewater made up of sludge from the ventilated improved pit latrine toilets (known as VIP sludge). The main focus of this study was to establish the relationship between the increasing organic loading rates and the effluent characteristics (such as chemical oxygen demand: COD and extrapolymeric substances: EPS). The present work was structured in two parts; in the first part the reactor was operated at constant hydraulic retention time (HRT) without controlling feed characteristics. In the second part, the ABR was operated with step increases in organic loading rates. It was logistically not possible to provide a feed of real domestic wastewater to the laboratory-scale equipment. Consequently, a pit latrine sludge diluted with tap water was used to feed the ABR. This feed was found to have different biodegradability characteristics compared to domestic wastewater. However, the results still give insight into the performance of the ABR and into the treatability of VIP sludge. COD removal ranged from 52 to 80 % depending on the inlet COD. Some COD removal was due to solids retention in compartments, while it was estimated that only 28% of COD removal was due to biological degradation. Soluble extrapolymeric substances (proteins and carbohydrates) which are usually a by -product of anaerobic degradation were higher in the feed than in the effluent despite the increasing organic loading rates. However, more than 50 % of soluble extrapolymeric substances from the influent remained in the effluent and were found (in a parallel project) to influence membrane fouling in the membrane section of the experimental set-up (ABR-MBR unit). Parameters such as pH, conductivity, alkalinity, total and volatile solids were also investigated in this study. The pH decreased slightly from the inlet to the outlet during all runs even though the loading rates were increased. Conductivity increased significantly from influent to effluent with the increasing organic loading rates. Large amounts of total solids were retained in the reactor during the treatment process. Low alkalinity production was recorded during the operation of the reactor. In most cases, the data recorded in this study showed a low biological activity taking place while the reactor was working at room temperatures. Overall, up to 80% of removal efficiencies in terms of total COD and solids were recorded with increasing organic loading rates at constant hydraulic retention time. While these results do not allow the prediction of ABR-MBR performance during the treatment of real wastewater, it was concluded that: Most solids retention occurred in the feed tank. Most COD removal occurred as a result of solids retention and digestion. Loading characteristics did not strongly influence effluent EPS, pH or alkalinity, but did influence COD and conductivity. The relatively low biodegradability of the feedstock indicates that anaerobic digestion is not the most appropriate treatment for VIP sludge.<br>Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Fusarium verticillioides (=Fusarium moniliforme) a common fungal contaminant of maize throughout the world has been associated with diseases in both man and animals. The structure of the fumonisins, a family of structurally related mycotoxins isolated from cultures associated with the high incidence of human oesophageal cancer in the Transkei region in South Africa and with equine leucoencephalomalacia, a neurological disorder in horses and donkeys, has been established. The main mycotoxin, fumonisin B₁ consists of the diester formed by the C(14) and C(15) hydroxy groups of (2S,3S,5R,10R,12S,14S,15R,16R)-2-amino-12,16-dimethyleicosane-3,10,14,15-pentaol with the Si carboxy group of propane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid. A comparison of the structures of the 28 known fumonisins isolated since 1988 reveals that they share a common structural motif for the C(11)–C(20) unit, and probably also the same stereochemistry for the 4 stereogenic centres present in this part of the C20 backbone. Disconnection of the C(9)–C(10) bond in a retrosynthetic analysis of the fumonisins identifies (3S,5S,6R,7R)-3,7-dimethylundecane-1,5,6-triol as a common building block for the synthesis of any of the fumonisins. In the dissertation the retrosynhetic analysis of this 3,7-dimethylundecane-1,5,6-triol building block identifies a simple precursor, ethyl 2-heptenoate, as the starting material for the proposed synthetic route toward this target. The Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation reaction plays a pivotal role in this synthetic route as all 4 stereogenic centres present in the 3,7-dimethylundecane-1,5,6-triol target are generated by this methodology at three different stages of the proposed synthesis. The epoxy alcohol formed at each stage was subjected to regioselective ring opening followed by a protective group strategy which allowed for the protection of the secondary hydroxyl group as the benzyl ether and left the primary hydroxyl group, available after oxidation to the aldehyde, for a two-carbon chain extension to an α,β-unsaturated ester. This ester in turn was reduced to an allylic alcohol which formed the starting material for a second cycle of reactions. In this manner a synthetic route towards the target compound was developed and problems associated with the route investigated. The dissertation shows that a viable route was developed with complete stereochemical control in the formation of the stereogenic centres, even though the final product, the protected 3,7-dimethylundecane-1,5,6-triol was not obtained due to time constraints and material shortages.<br>Dissertation (MSc (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2007.<br>Chemistry<br>MSc<br>unrestricted

MSc (Statistics)<br>Department of Statistics<br>Generally, short term load forecasting is essential for any power generating utility. In this dissertation the main objective was to develop short term load forecasting models for the peak demand periods (i.e. from 18:00 to 20:00 hours) in South Africa using. Quantile semi-parametric additive models were proposed and used to forecast electricity demand during peak hours. In addition to this, forecasts obtained were then used to nd an optimal number of generating units to commit (switch on or o ) daily in order to produce the required electricity demand at minimal costs. A mixed integer linear programming technique was used to nd an optimal number of units to commit. Driving factors such as calendar e ects, temperature, etc. were used as predictors in building these models. Variable selection was done using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso). A feasible solution to the unit commitment problem will help utilities meet the demand at minimal costs. This information will be helpful to South Africa's national power utility, Eskom.<br>NRF

碩士<br>國立臺北科技大學<br>技術及職業教育研究所<br>107<br>The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of playing tabletop games on students’ mathematics learning achievement for planar Cartesian coordinate system unit learning in junior high school. All participants were selected from two separate classes of the seventh grade students of a school in New Taipei City. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design of which the subjects were two seventh-grader classes, and sixty-one students in total. The experimental group students were taught with the method of collaborative mathematic game, and the control group students were taught with didactic teaching. The experimental teaching lasted for six weeks and the design contained pre- and post-tests. The research tools included the “mathematics learning accomplishment test”, “mathematics learning attitude scale”,and the “mathematics learning retention test” for quantitative statistics, and then the “course feedback form” was used for qualitative analysis to investigate the performance of students’ mathematics learning. This study explored the differences between the game's integration of mathematics teaching and didactic teaching methods on students’ learning achievement, and compared the differences in gender, mathematical ability, and parental education. The conclusions of the research were as follows: 1.The integration of games into mathematics teaching had made significant progress in students' learning attitude, and there was no significant difference in didactic teaching methods. The integration of games into mathematics teaching had not significantly improved students' learning accomplishment and learning retention as expected. 2.The integration of games into mathematics teaching had significantly improved the learning accomplishment of the “high-achieving” students, but there was no significant difference between the “middle achievers” and the “low achievers”. 3.The integration of games into mathematics teaching had made significant progress in the learning attitude of the students whose parents were " above the university " and " junior college " education level ; there was no obvious impact on students whose parents’ educational were “high school level below”. 4.Students’ love and identification of the game was integrated into mathematics teaching. They thought that the operations could help them to understand the concept. There was a positive and pleasant learning atmosphere in class, but it was necessary to pay attention to the fact that the repeated same game would bore the students. Finally, based on the results of this study, some suggestions for math teaching and further studies were proposed.

M.Sc.<br>The world is focusing on increasing the number of people who have access to safe drinking water due to the ascending numbers of drinking water related illnesses reported annually in rural areas where water is not treated before consumption. To meet this goal, household water treatment has to be introduced especially in places where homes are wide apart making centralised water treatment improbable. Most readily available household water treatment systems (HWTS) such as membrane filters may not be affordable in rural areas due to power requirements and degree of ability to use and maintain them. This study was therefore aimed at designing and constructing HWTS using readily available material such as sand, gravel, zeolites and clays. Five HWTS were designed, built, evaluated and compared based on their ability to remove chemical contaminants such as iron, arsenic and fluorides from drinking water. The types of filters that were used during this study are the biosand filter (BSF), a modified biosand filter with zeolites (BSFZ), a silver impregnated porous pot (SIPP) filter, a ceramic candle filter (CCF) and a bucket filter (BF). Effectiveness of the filters in reducing physical parameters such as turbidity and visual colour was also assessed. The water treatment devices had the following flow rates; 1.74 L/h – 19.20 L/h (BSFZ), 0.81 L/h – 6.84 L/h (BSF), 0.05 L/h – 2.49 L/h (SIPP) and 1.00 L/h – 4.00 L/h (CCF). The flow rates were high at the early stages of filter use and decreased with increase in the volume of water filtered through. The flow rates of the filters were affected by the turbidity of intake water which was between 1.74 NTU – 42.93 NTU and correlated to chlorophyll a concentrations. The household water treatment technologies reduced turbidity to levels less than 1 NTU (> 90% reduction) in the following order SIPP > BSFZ > BSF > CCF > BF. The filters achieved greater than 60% retention of calcium, magnesium, iron and arsenic. These contaminants with the exception of arsenic were reduced to acceptable levels of the South African National Standard of drinking water (SANS 241, 2004). Compared to the other filters, the BSFZ performed better in removing nitrates, phosphates and fluorides although the overall retention efficiency was low. Total organic carbon was removed greatly by the CCF (39%) and the least removal was by the BF. The overall performance of the filters in reducing contaminants from drinking water was in the order BSFZ > BSF > SIPP > CCF > BF. Filter washing vi resulted in an overall increase in the flow rates of the filters but negatively affected turbidity reduction. The filters still removed contaminants after total cumulative volumes of 1200 L (BSFZ, BSF, CCF and BF) and 300 L (SIPP) were filtered through the devices. The five evaluated filters have several advantages to the readily available technologies and the advantages include ease of construction, operation and maintenance. The filters are gravity driven and work independent of temperature. These HWTS incorporate safe storages fitted with spigots to eliminate recontamination of water when it is drawn for use. The filters can produce enough drinking and cooking water for a family of six members due to their high flow rates. The BSFZ, BSF, SIPP, CCF and BF may therefore be considered for treating contaminated water at household scale in places where water is taken directly from the source without treatment.

The olive oil extraction industry represents a substantial share of the economies of Mediterranean countries but leads to serious environmental problems by producing huge amounts of wastes (by-products) within a short production period. The production rate of olive oil is about 1.4-1.8 million tonnes per year in the Mediterranean, resulting in 30 million m3 of by-products and 20 million tonnes of olive pomace. A small portion of these wastes can be used as raw materials in different industries as they contain valuable natural resources. Greece has about 2300 small-scale, rural, agro-industrial units that extract olive oil. These are generally three-phase systems and their by-products include olive mill residual solids (olive pomace and leaves) and olive mill waste water. Olive mills produce significant quantities of solid wastes with outputs of 0.35 tonnes of olive pomace and 0.05 tonnes of leaves per tonne of olives. The huge quantities of olive pomace and olive leaves produced within the short oil extraction season cause serious management problems in terms of volume and space. The solid wastes (olive pomace and olive leaves) that are produced contain almost 95% organic matter and although they could be highly beneficial to agricultural soils, it has been shown that they also contain toxic compounds and lipid which increase soil hydrophobicity and decrease water retention and infiltration rate. The soils of most Mediterranean countries have low organic matter contents (<1%) which has negative impacts on agriculture. Frequent application of composted organic residues increases soil fertility, mainly by improving aggregate stability and decreasing soil bulk density. Organic amendments play a positive role in climate change abatement by soil carbon sequestration. Recurrent use of composted materials enhances soil organic nitrogen content by up to 90%. To replenish soil organic matter content and promote eco-friendly crop production, the application of olive pomace compost could be a good solution. To examine olive mill solid waste composting, four pilot-scale experiments were carried out to produce good quality compost using three phase olive mill solid waste (olive pomace, OP) and different bulking agents such as rice husk (RH), olive leaves (OL) sawdust (SD), wood shavings (WS), and chromium treated reed plants (RP). A series of parallel experiments was carried out to examine the effect final compost quality of: (a) initial moisture content, (b) water addition during the composting process, and (c) material ratios, and to also determine the toxicity level in plants and human blood lymphocytes (genotoxicity and cytotoxicity). For each experiment, six trapezoidal bins were used with dimensions 1.26 m long, 0.68 m wide and 0.73 m deep, and a total volume of 0.62 m3. The study was carried out in the facilities of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, Agrinio, in a closed area to maintain controlled temperature conditions. To monitor the composting process and evaluate compost quality, physicochemical parameters (temperature, moisture content, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, volatile solids, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and water soluble phenols) were measured at different phases. The respirometric test (O2 uptake) was performed to determine compost stability. Experimental results showed that even after short composting periods, the quality of the final product remained high. The final product had excellent physicochemical characteristics (C/N: 12.1–17.5, germination index (GI): 88.32–164.43%, Cr: 8–10 mg/kg dry mass, that fulfill1 EU requirements and can be used as a fertilizer in organic farming. To achieve higher quality of the final product, Olive pomace should be used in higher ratios than the other materials (OL, RH, WS, SD and RP). The amount (volume of humidifying agents) and time (frequency) of moisture addition also played an important role during composting. Based on the experimental results, olive mill wastes can produce a high quality soil amendment which has no phytotoxic, genotoxic or cytotoxic effects. Nevertheless, composting duration and bulking agents and their ratios are crucial factors that determine the quality of the final product. Finally, the revision of EU regulations is proposed to include genotoxic and cytotoxic evaluation of composts that enter the human food chain. A full-scale compost unit was designed based on the experimental results. For a typical small-sized olive mill, processing 30 tonnes of olives per day for a 100-day operation period, a total area of about 850 m2 is needed to compost the mill’s entire annual waste production.<br>Η βιομηχανία παραγωγής ελαιόλαδου αποτελεί ένα σημαντικό κομμάτι της οικονομίας στις χώρες της Μεσογείου, προκαλώντας ταυτόχρονα σημαντικά περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα, λόγω της παραγωγής μεγάλων ποσοτήτων αποβλήτων κατά τη σύντομη περίοδο λειτουργίας των ελαιοτριβείων. Η μέση ετήσια παραγωγή ελαιολάδου στην Μεσόγειο κυμαίνεται στους 1.4-1.8 χιλιάδες τόνους, ενώ παράγονται επίσης περίπου 30 χιλιάδες m3 παραπροϊόντων και 20 χιλιάδες τόνους ελαιοπυρήνα. Μόνο ένα μικρό μέρος αυτών των παραπροϊόντων μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί ως πρώτη ύλη σε διάφορες βιομηχανίες. Η Ελλάδα έχει περίπου 2300 ελαιοτριβεία μικρής κλίμακας διασπαρμένα στην ύπαιθρο. Τα ελαιοτριβεία αυτά είναι κυρίως τριφασικά και τα παραπροϊόντα τους συμπεριλαμβάνουν στερεά υπολείμματα (ελαιουρήνας και φύλλα) και υγρά απόβλητα ελαιοτριβείου. Τα ελαιοτριβεία παράγουν σημαντικές ποσότητες στερεών υπολειμμάτων παρέχοντας περίπου 0.35 τόνους ελαιοπυρήνα και 0.05 τόνους φύλλων ανά τόνο ελαιοκάρπου, παρακαλώντας σημαντικά προβλήματα στη διαχείρισης τους. Τα στερεά υπολείμματα (ελαιοπυρήνας και φύλλα) περιέχουν 95% οργανική ύλη, καθιστώντας τα δυνητικά κατάλληλα ως εδαφοβελτιωτικά, καθώς τα εδάφη των περισσότερων Μεσογειακών χωρών έχουν χαμηλή περιεκτικότητα σε οργανική ύλη (<1%) επηρεάζοντας αρνητικά την γεωργία. Τα υπολλείματα αυτά περιέχουν ωστόσο τοξικές ουσίες και έλαια, τα οποία αυξάνουν την υδροφοβικότητα του εδάφους και μειώνουν την κατακράτηση του νερού και την ρυθμό διήθησης. Έχει αποδειχθεί ότι συχνές εφαρμογές κομποστοποιημένων οργανικών υπολειμμάτων αυξάνουν την γονιμότητα του εδάφους, αυξάνοντας κυρίως τη συνολική σταθερότητα και την πυκνότητα του εδάφους. Η συχνή χρήση κομποστοποιημένων υλικών βελτιώνει την περιεκτικότητα των εδαφών σε οργανικό άζωτο του εδάφους έως και 90%. Η κομποστοποίηση ελαιοπυρήνα θα μπορούσε να αποτελέσει μια πιθανή λύση για την αναπλήρωση του περιεχομένου σε οργανική υλη των εδαφών και για την προώθηση μιας οίκοφιλικής αγροτικής παραγωγής. Για να εξεταστεί η κομποστοποιήση στερεών υπολειμμάτων ελαιοτριβείων, διεξήχθησαν 4 πειράματα πιλοτικής κλίμακας για την παραγωγή κομποστ, χρησιμοποιώντας στερεά υπολείμματα τριφασικών ελαιοτριβείων (ελαιοπυρήνας) και διαφόρους διογκωτικούς παράγοντες, όπως φλοιό ρυζιού, φύλλα ελιάς, πριονίδια, ροκανίδια, και καλάμια με υψηλή περιεκτικότητα σε χρώμιο. Σκοπός των παράλληλων πειραμάτων ήταν η εξέταση της επίδρασης στην ποιότητα του τελικού κομπόστ των: (α) αρχικού περιεχόμενου υγρασίας, (β) της προσθήκης νερού κατά την διάρκεια της κομποστοποιήσης, (γ) των ποσοστών ανάμιξης των υλικών, καθώς επίσης και ο προσδιορισμός της φυτοτοξικότητας και της γενοτοξικότητας των τελικών κομπόστ. Σε κάθε πείραμα χρησιμοποιήθηκαν 6 τραπεζοειδή πλαστικά δοχεία διαστάσεων 1.26 m σε μήκος, 0.68 m σε πλάτος και 0.73 m σε ύψος, με ολικό όγκο 0.62 m3. Οι πιλοτικές μονάδες ήταν τοποθετημένες σε κλειστό χώρο του Τμήματος Διαχείρισης Περιβάλλοντος και Φυσικών Πόρων του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών στο Αγρίνιο, ώστε να επικρατούν σταθερές συνθήκες θερμοκρασίας. Η παρακολούθηση της κομποστοποίησης και η εκτίμηση της ποιότητας του κομπόστ, έγινε μέσω του προσδιορισμού διαφόρων φυσικοχημικών παραμέτρων (θερμοκρασία, περιεχόμενο υγρασίας, pH, ηλεκτρική αγωγιμότητα, περιεχόμενη οργανική ύλη, πτητικά στέρεα, ολικός οργανικός άνθρακας, ολικό άζωτο, ολικό φώσφορος, κάλιο, νάτριο, και ολικές φαινόλες). Για την εκτίμηση της ποιότητας του κομποστ πραγματοποιήθηκαν επίσης ρεσπιρομετρικά τεστ (κατανάλωση O2). Τα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα απέδειξαν ότι ακόμα και μετά από σύντομες περιόδους κομποστοποιήσης η ποιότητα του τελικού κομπόστ παρέμενε υψηλή. Το τελικό προϊόν είχε εξαιρετικά φυσικοχημικά χαρακτηριστικά (C/N: 12.1–17.5, δείκτης βλαστικότητας (GI): 88.32–164.43%, Cr: 8–10 mg/kg ξηρής μάζας), τα οποία είναι εντός των νομοθετικών ορίων της ΕΕ για την χρήση λιπασμάτων σε βιολογικές καλλιέργειες. Για την παραγωγή υψηλής ποιότητας κομπόστ ο ελαιοπυρήνας πρέπει να χρησιμοποιείτε σε μεγαλύτερη αναλόγια σε σχέση με τα υπόλοιπα υλικά. Η ποσότητα και η συχνότητα προσθήκης νερού παίζει επίσης σημαντικό ρόλο κατά τη κομοστοποιήση. Με βάση τα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα αποδείχθηκε ότι τα στερεά υπολείμματα ελαιοτριβείων μπορούν να παράξουν ένα υψηλής ποιότητας εδαφοβελτιωτικό, το οποίο δεν εμφανίζει φυτοτοξικότητα, γενοτοξικότητα και κυτταροτοξικότητα. Παρόλο αυτά η διάρκεια της κομποστοποίησης, οι διογκωτικοί παράγοντες και τα ποσοστά ανάμιξης των υλικών είναι κρίσιμοι παράγοντες, που επηρεάζουν την ποιότητα του τελικού προϊόντος. Επίσης αναφέρουμε ότι η νομοθεσία της ΕΕ θα πρέπει να αναθεωρηθεί συμπεριλαμβάνοντας τόσο τη γενοτοξική και την κυτταρτοξική εκτίμηση του κομπόστ πριν χρησιμοποιηθεί για βρώσιμες καλλιέργειες. Τέλος με βάση τα πειραματικά αποτελέσματα διαστασιολοήθηκε μια μονάδα πλήρους κλίμακας για την κομποστοποίηση στερεών υπολειμμάτων ελαιοτριβείου. Έτσι για ένα τυπικό μικρής κλίμακας ελαιοτριβείο, που επεξεργάζεται ημερησίως 30 τόνους ελιών και για περίοδο κομποστοποίησης 100 ημερών, χρειάζεται μια συνολική έκταση περίπου 850 m2 για τη κομπστοποίηση όλης της ετησίας ποσότητας του ελαιοπυρήνα.