G-l-o-r-y Spells Glory

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4863/thumbnail.jp

Mise en place et application d'un spectromètre de dichroïsme linéaire infrarouge avec modulation de la polarisation pour l'étude de l'orientation des mélanges polymères

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Rock paintings and microorganisms: a new insight on Escoural cave

European cave art is of tremendous importance to understand the cultural traditions of the Upper Palaeolithic (35 000 – 10 000 BP) populations. Indeed, Prehistoric communities performed numerous cave paintings all over Western Europe. Understanding these artworks should provide a better knowledge of these early cultural aspects. Although numerous studies have been carried out to analyse the materials used by those communities, nothing has been done on the techniques’ palette of Escoural Cave’s representations. The present work aims at providing the very first data about the techniques and materials used by the Prehistoric to perform the cave paintings of Escoural (Alentejo, Portugal), and the microorganisms possibly endangering this unique parietal art. In situ observations coupled with an extensive micro-sampling and micro-destructive analyses allowed to characterize the coloured material and the way they were applied on the walls of the cave. Both red and black pigments present major composition’s disparities among the different paintings and drawings, supporting a more complex occupations’ chronology than what was earlier thought. The Palaeolithic paintings have suffered deterioration from environmental conditions and include chemical, mechanical and aesthetic alterations, possibly as a result of fungal activity. The standard techniques for biological assessments used in these contexts provided important insights on the diversity of the microbial population, though they have accuracy limitations. To understand the extent and viability of the existing microbiota, DNA quantification and biomarkers analyses, such as desidrogenase activity were performed and correlated with ergosterol amounts; RESUMO: A Arte Rupestre Europeia é de grande importância para compreender as tradições culturais da população do Paleolítico Superior (35 000 - 10 000 BP). De fato, as comunidades Pré-históricas realizaram inúmeras pinturas rupestres em toda a Europa Ocidental, sendo crucial compreender estas obras de forma a proporcionar um melhor conhecimento destes ancestrais aspectos culturais. Embora vários estudos tenham sido realizados para analisar os materiais utilizados por estas comunidades, nada foi efetuado sobre a técnica de execução das representações presentes na Gruta do Escoural. O presente trabalho visa fornecer os primeiros dados sobre as técnicas e materiais utilizados na Pré-História para executar as pinturas rupestres de Escoural (Alentejo, Portugal) bem como caracterização dos microorganismos possivelmente associados aos danos deste bem único. Observações in situ, juntamente com uma extensa micro-amostragem e análises micro-destrutivas permitiu caracterizar os pigmentos utilizados e a forma como eles foram aplicados nas paredes da caverna. Tanto os pigmentos vermelhos como os pretos apresentam composição distinta nas diversas pinturas e desenhos aí representados, apoiando a presença de diferentes ocupações contrariamente ao que se pensava até então. As pinturas Paleolíticas têm sofrido deterioração, devido às condições ambientais, nomeadamente alterações químicas, mecânicas e, possivelmente como resultado da atividade fúngica. As técnicas usualmente utilizadas para a avaliação de contaminação biológica fornecem informação importante sobre a diversidade da população microbiana, embora apresentem algumas limitações. Para entender a extensão e a viabilidade da microbiota existente, a quantificação de DNA e análise de biomarcadores como actividade de desidrogenases foram realizadas e correlacionadas com o conteúdo em ergosterol

Stabilization of an α-helix by short adjacent accessory foldamers

AbstractTemplate-based stabilization of α-peptide helices with short accessory non-peptide helical foldamers fused either at the N- or C-terminus or at both ends of the peptide segment has been investigated by NMR spectroscopy in polar solvents and by X-ray diffraction. In this work, we focused on aliphatic N,N′-linked oligoureas that form predictable and well-defined helical structures akin to α-helices. Our results indicate that urea oligomers have the ability to enforce a peptide segment to adopt a well-defined α-helical structure and may suggest a general approach to stabilize short helical peptide epitopes for the development of modulators of protein–protein interactions

Maximal Group Membership in Ad Hoc Networks

International audienceThe notion of Group communication has long been introduced as a core service of distributed systems. More recently, this notion appeared with a somewhat different meaning in the field of mobile ad hoc systems. In this context, we study the group membership problem. After specifying the basic safety properties of such groups and a maximality criterion based on cliques, we propose a group membership algorithm. Lastly, with respect to this criterion, we compare our algorithm with two group membership algorithms for ad hoc environments. Moreover, a formal description in TLA+ has been programmed and verified by model-checking for small networks

A Data Oriented Approach for Real-Time Systems

International audienceDistributed real-time systems often have to maintain the temporal validity of data. In this paper we present a modelling framework centered on data where a so-called observation relation represents and abstracts the interactions between variables. An observation is a relation between variables, an image and its sources, where the image values depend on past values of the sources. The system architecture is seen as a set of observation relations describing the flow of values between variables. The observation relations are parametrized with timed constraints that limit the time shift between the variables and specify the availability of timely sound values. At this level of abstraction, the designer gives a specification of the system based on timed properties about the timeline of data such as their freshness, latency etc. We proceed to an analysis of the feasibility of such a specification and we formally analyze the correctness of an implementation with respect to a specification. In order to prove the feasibility of an observationbased model, we build a finite state transition system which is bi-similar to the specification. The existence of an infinite execution in this system proves the feasibility of the specification. Possible implementations are described as a set of interacting components which control the flow of values in the system. A finite system is built to prove the correctness of the implementation by model checkin

La composition de services dans le monde asynchrone Formalisation et vérification en TLA+

International audienceLes architectures orientées services (SOA) permettent de répondre à deux défis importants du génie logiciel : la rutilisabilité et la décomposition. Néanmoins elles amènent de nouveaux problème, notamment liés à la répartition des services et la non-centralisation du contrôle. Les services étant indépendants et autonomes, il faut s’assurer que mis ensemble ils sont capables de communiquer et que leurs interactions n’introduisent pas de mauvais fonctionnement global. Dans le monde asynchrone, plus proche de la réalité, cette vérification devient non triviale, et cela d’autant plus qu’il existe de multiples modèles asynchrones, plus ou moins libéraux dans ce qu’ils autorisent. Nous exposons dans ce papier nos travaux en cours autour des modèles asynchrones et de la vérification des compositions de services paramétrées par ces modèles

Simulation of a solar hybrid absorption/thermochemical refrigerationsystem for a residential application

Further improvement of solar refrigeration systems depends strongly on development of more efficient energy storage systems. A hybrid absorption / thermochemical refrigeration system is proposed in this work, where both subsystems share the same condenser, evaporator and refrigerant fluid, making the overall system more economic and better performing than operating both parts separately. Performance of the system is evaluated by means of a simulation in a sample scenario, consisting of a demand of refrigeration for a single-family residence. The influence of varying the number of solar thermal collectors and the mass of refrigerant fluid available for storage at the thermochemical subsystem is studied

Hybrid system combining mechanical compression and thermochemical storage of ammonia vapor for cold production

International audienceThis paper studies a hybrid system for cold production consisting of a compression cycle combined with a thermochemical process 10 by sharing the same condenser, evaporator and refrigerant fluid. The aim of this hybridization is to solve mismatch issues between 11 the demand of cold and the source of energy (availability and/or price) with a system as compact as possible. One important side 12 benefit is that the interaction between the compressor and the thermochemical reactor reduces the activation temperature for 13 ammonia desorption in the thermochemical reactor. To study this interaction a quasi-steady simulation model for both storage 14 and de-storage phases has been developed and experimentally validated by means of a small scale (approx. 300 Wh of cold 15 storage) experimental bench with ammonia as refrigerant and barium chloride (BaCl2) as reactant salt. Experiments proved a 35 16 K reduction in the activation temperature of the desorption reaction with respect to desorption without compressor. Model 17 validation by adjusting permeability and thermal conductivity of the reactive composite showed an acceptable agreement between 18 predicted and experimental reaction advancement-time curves. The validated model was used for simulation of the system in a 19 preliminary case study, representative in power (40 kW) and temperature (-25°C) of an industrial cold demand. It is shown that 20 during ammonia de-storage, the hybrid achieves a higher COP than a conventional mechanical vapor compression system. It 21 increases exponentially with the relative share of thermochemical storage in the cold production. 2