Dissertations / Theses on the topic '3D-structural model'

Cette thèse présente le modèle 3D du bassin de la Plaine du Pô en Italie du nord. Les six parties de la thèse conduisent le lecteur à partir du cadre géologique de base aux géométries et à la cinématique de la déformation à travers la région, ainsi qu’aux possibles applications en milieu académique ou industriel. Le modèle a intégré des données éparses et de qualité inégale, tirées exclusivement de la littérature publique. L'ensemble de données utilisées pour la création du modèle se base strictement sur des données en profondeur (i.e. dans leur dimension de profondeur). Les données sismiques disponibles ont été intentionnellement écartées pour les raisons suivantes: a) elles sont mal distribuées à travers le secteur d'étude, b) elles se rapportent à des images de basse qualité, d) leur intégration dans le modèle aurait impliqué un long et difficile travail d’évaluation du meilleur modèle de vitesse de propagation des ondes sismiques dans les sédiments, le mieux à même d’être employé pour une conversion finale temps-profondeur, la variation latérale et verticale des vitesses sismiques à l’échelle régionale étant douteuse ou, au mieux, incertaine. La méthodologie appliquée, la création de modèles et l'analyse des améliorations du modèle 3D fournissent un certain nombre de conclusions sur la géométrie, le style structural et la cinématique de la Plaine du Pô et leur contribution en terme de sismicité du bassin et de son potentiel pétrolier, avec une confirmation mutuelle des, mais aussi par, les résultats locaux et épars obtenus par d’autres auteurs. Le résultat principal du projet est d'avoir prouvé la capacité du modèle à visualiser et analyser la complexité du bassin de la Plaine du Pô dans les 3 dimensions à différentes échelles d'observation, de l’échelle crustal jusqu'au niveau des prospects
This thesis deals with the 3D model building of the Po Valley foreland basin in northern Italy. The six parts of the thesis lead from the basic geological framework to the deformation geometries and kinematics across the region, to some of the possible model applications, for both academia and industry. The model has integrated sparse and variable quality data, exclusively taken from the public literature. The complete dataset used for the performed model building, strictly relies on depth-data (i.e. in their depth dimension). As such, the few available seismic data have been intentionally left apart because: a) they are poorly distributed across the study-area, b) they definitely refer to low quality images, d) their integration into the model would have implied a long and difficult work about the definition of the most-likely sediment velocities to be used for an ultimate time-depth conversion, uncertain and, at best, questionable. The applied methodology, the related model building and the progressing analysis of 3D model results suggest and discuss a number of conclusions about the Po Valley structural geometries-style-kinematics. From such results can be derived implications on basin seismicity and hydrocarbon potential, while confirming (thus being supported by) the local and sparse results of previous authors. The major result from the project is to have proven the model capability in rendering and analyzing the entire Po Valley basin structural complexity in 3D dimensions, from crustal to field scale. Thanks to this, the model is unique in the literature of the region

Introduction Heteromeric amino acid transporters (HATs) are composed of a heavy subunit (rBAT or 4F2hc) and a light subunit (b0 + AT, ASC1, LAT1, LAT2, y + LAT1, y + LAT2 and xCT), joined by a disulfide bridge (Chillaron et al. 2001). rBAT and 4F2hc are type II membrane glycoproteins (N-terminal cytoplasmic). Both have a single transmembrane segment, an N-terminal intracellular tail and an extracellular domain (ectodomain). As far as we know, the role of the heavy subunit is facilitating the transit of the light subunit to the plasma membrane. The light subunits are polytopic proteins unglycosylated, with 12 transmembrane segments, and the N-and C-terminal intracellular. The light subunit is the catalytically active subunit which confers specificity to the heterodimer on the transport system (Reig et al. 2002): LAT1 and LAT2 for system L , y+LAT1 and y+LAT2 for system y + L, asc for system ASC1; xCT for system Xc -, and b0+at for system b0, + (Chillaron et al. 2001). Results Overexpression of these human proteins was carried out with the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris (strain KM71H) as expression system (based on Long et al. 2005). The main objective was to generate enough protein in a high level of purity to study the structure and check their function by transport assays. The different subunits, light and heavy, were cloned into the expression vector pPICZ (Invitrogen). To facilitate the purification of the different proteins, a cluster of 10 histidines was introduced by PCR at the N-terminus of the heavy subunits and a StrepTagII (IBA) at the N-terminus of the light subunits. 4F2hc is a glycoprotein with 4 possible targets for glycosylation. The glycosylations confer heterogeneity to protein, thus glycosylation targets were eliminated by directed mutagenesis. From all these human heavy and light subunits and heterodimers, only 4F2hc for the heavy subunits, LAT2 for the light subunits, and the heterodimer 4F2hc/LAT2 were overexpressed and extracted from the yeast membrane in enough amounts to continue with the purification step. The light subunit LAT2 was successfully purified but when the stability was analysed by size exclusion chromatography showed a clear profile of aggregation, concluding further studies. In contrast, the heavy subunit 4F2hc was stable after the exclusion chromatography for two days. The heterodimer 4F2hc/LAT2 proved to be stable after gel filtration analysis during one day. Thus, the heterodimer was significantly more stable than the light subunit alone, which allowed us to make an important statement. The catalytic subunit LAT2 needed their heavy subunit (i.e. 4F2hc) to increase the stability. This statement contrasted with the results for the heterodimer rBAT/b0+AT, in which was the heavy subunit rBAT the one who needed its light subunit b0+AT to a correct folding during its biogenesis (Bartoccioni et al. 2008; Rius et al. 2011). Functional studies with human heterodimer 4F2hc/LAT2 were set up to check the role of 4F2hc in the transport. Firstly the functionality of the heterodimer 4F2hc/LAT2 and the light subunit LAT2 in the living cell was checked successfully, meaning a correct folding at expression level. The apparent KM in both cases was the same, remaining unanswered the role of the heavy subunit 4F2hc in the transport function. Next, reconstitution in liposomes was carried out successfully for 4F2hc/LAT2 but not for LAT2, due to the high aggregation tendency. 4F2hc/LAT2 showed the typical overshoot for an amino acid transporter. To carry out the structural studies and due to the difficulty to maintain a stable soluble heterodimer, it was decided to carry out the technique of Single particle -negative staining (SP-NS) in the laboratory of Prof. Fotiadis in the University of Bern (Switzerland). The 3D model technique based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is relatively new and has been imposed for mammalian membrane proteins, allowing structural analysis with relatively small concentration of protein. The pure heterodimer was stained in a grid with uranyl formate at 0.75% (two drops optimized for 1 second, washing with water twice). This sample was analysed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Different images of projections in different orientations for 4F2hc/LAT2 were kept in a library of 11,000 picks. The refinement of the whole library allowed the 3D reconstruction of this protein by Mr. Meury. The model showed two asymmetric particles, one smaller, in which the crystal of the human ectodomain 4F2hc (Fort et al. 2007) fitted pretty well, and other bigger, which showed a black hole. Thus, the smaller particle was recognized as the heavy subunit, located on top of the light subunit. The resolution was 19 amstrongs, which was in the normal range for this method (from 16 amstrongs to 25 amstrongs). Discussion It was observed that the heavy subunit was located on top of the light subunit LAT2, and not in contact with the cell membrane as was firstly though. The size for the heavy subunit coincided with the existing 3D crystals of the human ectodomain which can fit quite accurately, always assuming the presence of the transmembrane segment in the 3D model. By contrast, the light subunit did not fit with the crystal structure of the prokaryotic homolog AdiC in the APA family (APC superfamily) (Gao et al. 2009) (Kowalczyk et al. 2011) due to the large amount of detergent surrounding this highly hydrophobic subunit in SP-NS method. In spite of that, when the size was compared with AdiC and Stet (a prokaryotic homolog in the LAT family with 30% of homology) studied in the same SP-NS method (Casagrande et al. 2009) the light subunit LAT2 coincided in size with its homologs, demonstrating that the increased volume was due to the detergent effect. Supporting the 4F2hc/LAT2 model, interaction studies with integrins (Feral et al 2005; Feral et al. 2007) and other membrane proteins involved in cell growth (ICAMI; Liu et al. 2003) and / or overexpressed in tumours (CD147/MCT1; Xu et al. 2005) suggest an effect in the transport function through the heavy subunit 4F2hc, which may be explained with an orientation on top of the light subunit and interaction by the external loops. New Evidences: Recently, the 4F2hc/LAT2 heterodimer model in which the heavy subunit is located on top of the light subunit has been corroborated by cross-linking experiments by Miss Helena Alvarez in our laboratory. This fact, allow us to imagine how interactions between both subunits will carry out also when the disulphide bridge is missing. Analyzing the external loops in AdiC atomic structure (the closest paradigm with LATs at present) is found that the external loop 3 and the external loop 4 are the longest (around 25 residues). These loops are even longer in LAT2, which make possible the interaction between both subunits being the separation of 16 amstrongs in the 3D model. Both loops have important roles in the transport cycle based in LeuT fold. The external loop 3 has an important movement in the transition from outward-open conformation to occluded-outward conformation due to the tilt of 40o of the transmembrane 6. The external loop 4, moves down to lid the substrate pathway during the transition from occluded-outward conformation to the occluded-inward conformation. Our new 3D model of a human heteromeric aminoacid transporter offers the opportunity to study new aspects about the role of the heavy subunit in the holotransporter. If the external loops join 4F2hc and LAT2 modulating the transport function in presence of other transmembrane proteins, or if 4F2hc only acts as a bollard of a multiproteic complex, rest to be studied in the future.
Els transportadors heteromèrics d'aminoàcids (HATS) de metazous estan formats per una subunitat pesada (4F2hc o rBAT) (N-glicoproteïna amb 1 segment transmembrana i un gran ectodomini en el seu extrem C-terminal), i una subunitat lleugera (d'entre 10) unides covalentment per un pont disulfur, fent aquests transportadors únics entre els metazous. En humans, 6 subunitats lleugeres es troben formant heterodímers amb 4F2hc (LAT1, LAT2, y+ LAT1, y + LAT2, XCT i asc1) i una (b0, + AT) amb rBAT. Els HATs tenen incidència en la salut, ja que mutacions en qualsevol de les subunitats ocasionen aminoacidúries (cistinúria, lisinúria amb intolerància a proteïnes), són receptors virals o estan sobre expressats en cèl • lules tumorals. El nostre grup va determinar l'estructura de l'ectodomini de 4F2hc a 2.1 Å (Fort J et al. 2007), i recentment ha resolt l'estructura d'un homòleg procariota (AdiC d' E. coli, amb ~17% d´homologia) de les subunitats lleugeres a 3.0 Å de resolució (Kowalczyk et al. 2011). Per contra no hi ha informació estructural sobre els holo-transportadors HAT. El present treball ens mostra el primer model estructural a 19 Å d'un transportador HAT humà, el transportador 4F2hc/LAT2. La importància de 4F2hc, a part de tenir un paper important en immunologia, es troba en la seva sobreexpressió en cèl•lules tumorals, el que la converteix en una important diana per a tractaments i desenvolupament de vacunes contra el càncer. El model ens mostra com en aquest transportador, l´ectodomini de 4F2hc està situat sobre LAT2, suggerint interacció amb els bucles extracel•lulars del transportador i nos sols interacció a través del pont disulfur del segment transmembrana com es pensava anteriorment. Aquesta nova topologia explica la necessitat i la importància de que l'ectodomini de 4F2hc formi part de l´heterodímer 4F2hc/LAT2 i presenta un escenari estructural per al paper "chaperone-like" de 4F2hc sobre les subunitats lleugeres.

Heteromeric amino acid transporters (HATs) mediate the transport of amino acids through the plasma membrane. They are composed of two subunits (a heavy and a light one) linked by a conserved disulfide bridge. Genetic defects in the genes coding these HATs may affect its functionality or expression, leading to inherited aminoacidurias. Thus, solving the structure of the Eukaryotic HATs has become of great importance. However structural information about interactions between the heavy and light subunits of HATs is scarce. In this work, human 4F2hc/L-type amino acid transporter 2 (LAT2) first low resolution 3D model obtained by single particle negative-staining transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was validated. In order to assess the interaction between both subunits of the heterodimer, crosslinking experiments between cysteine residues in both moieties was tried. Namely, two chemical spacers of different length (10.5 and 14.3 Å) were tested and crosslinking was observed for those mutants with pairing positions between 8 and 17.5 Å. Indeed, specific residues that crosslinked 4F2hc and LAT2 nearly completely (>80%). As a result of the positive results (as compared to the appropriate controls) the idea that 4F2hc-ED almost completely covers the extracellular surface of the transporter subunit LAT2 is reasonable. Moreover, further varied evidences (TEM, SPA and docking experiments) were in line with the obtained results, revealing that the extracellular domain of 4F2hc interacts with LAT2, almost completely covering the extracellular face of the transporter. The interaction of 4F2hc with LAT2 gives insights into the structural bases for light subunit recognition and the stabilizing role of the ancillary protein in HATs. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the ectodomain of 4F2hc suffices the stabilization of the light subunit. The second goal of the thesis was to find a suitable HAT candidate to perform crystallization trials and posterior structure elucidation, since human 4F2h/LAT2 was not stable enough for this aim. Until now, only the human 4F2hc ectodomain atomic structure has been solved (Fort et al., 2007), and some low sequence amino acid identity prokaryotic homologues of LATs. In order to identify putative good eukaryotic light subunits for 3D crystallization the adopted GFP‐based Saccharomyces cerevisiae protocol for our transporters resulted successful since it allowed to find three putative good candidate eukaryotic light subunits for 3D crystallization studies. GFP technology allowed quick expression screening, membrane protein-detergent solubilization screening and finally another screening step including assessment of the stability by ultracentrifugation dispersity sedimentation. Once the candidates selected in the best conditions, further purification was required (size exclusion chromatography) before attempting crystallization. In this sense, further efforts were delivered in order to try to enhance the stability (and minimize aggregation). Thus, addition of lipids in the solubilization step and during protein purification was used to mimic the protein membrane environment and reduce the aggregation. Really interesting is the stabilizing effect that cholesterol has on almost all light subunits tested. This is in concordance with the fact that 4F2hc has been found located in lipid rafts where membrane are rich in cholesterol. Removal of reactive cysteine and generation of truncated versions of the protein in the C and N terminal were introduced to increase the crystallization probability. This work ended with the finding of 3 good candidates for crystallization screenings, and the best candidate was optimized in terms of stability and protein flexibility for crystallization studies. Just preliminary crystallization trials were done.
Los transportadores heteroméricos de aminoácidos (HAT) median el transporte de aminoácidos a través de la membrana plasmática. Representan el único ejemplo de transportadores de solutos formado por dos subunidades distintas unidas por un puente disulfuro. Debido a su gran relevancia en fisiología (asociados a aminoacidurias, infección por virus, cáncer,…) el estudio de su estructura-función resulta clave. Debido a su naturaleza, son proteínas difíciles de cristalizar, de las que sólo se conoce la estructura atómica del ectodominio de 4F2hc humano. En este escenario la tesis se centró en la validación del primer modelo 3D a baja resolución de un HAT humano (4F2hc/LAT2), mediante experimentos de crosslinking entre subunidades, e identificación de nuevos candidatos para cristalización 3D. Para ello se seleccionaron 24 subunidades ligeras de distintas especies eucariotas y se testaron en un proceso de selección para determinar el/los mejores candidatos. El primer objetivo de la tesis concluyó con la determinación de residuos concretos en 4F2hc y LAT2 cercanos a una distancia de 3-14 Å mediante la utilización de crosslinkings de cisteínas. Finalmente, tres líneas distintas: el modelo 3D obtenido por microscopía electrónica de transmisión y tinción negativa de partículas individuales (en colaboración con Dr. Fotiadis), los experimentos de crosslinking, y el docking generado en colaboración con Dr. Fdz-Recio, demostraron que 4F2hc-ED cubre, casi completamente, la superficie extracelular de LAT2. Además, se demostró que el ectodominio de 4F2hc es suficiente para estabilizar LAT2. Como resultados del segundo objetivo, tres subunidades ligeras fueron seleccionadas, tras adaptar el protocolo desarrollado por Drew et al.,2008, como mejores candidatas para estudios de cristalización 3D. Posteriormente, distintas estrategias se siguieron para mejorar la estabilidad de la mejor candidata: eliminación de la cisteína reactiva, adición de lípidos a la muestra, cambio de sistema de expresión para aumentar su expresión a células de insecto Sf9. Además, se generaron mutantes delecionados en N y C terminal para reducir su flexibilidad y aumentar la probabilidad de cristalización. Se concluyó en encontrar un buen candidato para estudios de cristalización.

In the context of interior noise reduction, the present work aims at proposing Finite Element (FE) solution strategies for interior structural-acoustic applications including 3D modelling of homogeneous and isotropic poroelastic materials, under timeharmonic excitations, and in the low frequency range. A model based on the Biot-Allard theory is used for the poroelastic materials, which is known to be very costly in terms of computational resources. Reduced models offer the possibility to enhance the resolution of such complex problems. However, their applicability to porous materials remained to be demonstrated.First, this thesis presents FE resolutions of poro-elasto-acoustic coupled problems using modal-based approaches both for the acoustic and porous domains. The original modal approach proposed for porous media, together with a dedicated mode selection and truncation procedure, are validated on 1D to 3D applications.In a second part, modal-reduced models are combined with a Padé approximants reconstruction scheme in order to further improve the efficiency.A concluding chapter presents a comparison and a combination of the proposed methods on a 3D academic application, showing promising performances. Conclusions are then drawn to provide indications for future research and tests to be conducted in order to further enhance the methodologies proposed in this thesis.

In the context of interior noise reduction, the present work aims at proposing Finite Element (FE) solution strategies for interior structural-acoustic applications including 3D modelling of homogeneous and isotropic poroelastic materials, under timeharmonic excitations, and in the low frequency range. A model based on the Biot-Allard theory is used for the poroelastic materials, which is known to be very costly in terms of computational resources. Reduced models offer the possibility to enhance the resolution of such complex problems. However, their applicability to porous materials remained to be demonstrated.First, this thesis presents FE resolutions of poro-elasto-acoustic coupled problems using modal-based approaches both for the acoustic and porous domains. The original modal approach proposed for porous media, together with a dedicated mode selection and truncation procedure, are validated on 1D to 3D applications.In a second part, modal-reduced models are combined with a Padé approximants reconstruction scheme in order to further improve the efficiency.A concluding chapter presents a comparison and a combination of the proposed methods on a 3D academic application, showing promising performances. Conclusions are then drawn to provide indications for future research and tests to be conducted in order to further enhance the methodologies proposed in this thesis.
Dans le contexte de lutte contre les nuisances sonores, cette thèse porte sur le développement de méthodes de résolution efficaces par éléments finis, pour des problèmes de vibroacoustique interne avec interfaces dissipatives, dans le domaine des basses fréquences. L’étude se limite à l’utilisation de solutions passives telles que l’intégration de matériaux poreux homogènes et isotropes, modélisés par une approche fondée sur la théorie de Biot-Allard. Ces modèles étant coûteux en terme de résolution, un des objectifs de cette thèse est de proposer une approche modale pour la réduction du problème poroélastique, bien que l’adéquation d’une telle approche avec le comportement dynamique des matériaux poreux soit à démontrer.Dans un premier temps, la résolution de problèmes couplés élasto-poro-acoustiques par sous-structuration dynamique des domaines acoustiques et poreux est établie. L’approche modale originale proposée pour les milieux poroélastiques, ainsi qu’une procédure de sélection des modes significatifs, sont validées sur des exemples 1D à 3D.Une deuxième partie présente une méthode combinant l’utilisation des modèles réduits précédemment établis avec une procédure d’approximation de solution par approximants de Padé. Il est montré qu’une telle combinaison offre la possibilité d’accroître les performances de la résolution (allocation mémoire et ressources en temps de calcul).Un chapitre dédié aux applications permet d’évaluer et comparer les approches sur un problème académique 3D, mettant en valeur leurs performances encourageantes. Afin d’améliorer les méthodes établies dans cette thèse, des perspectives à ces travaux de recherche sont apportées en conclusion.

QC 20120224

FP6 Marie-Curie Smart Structures
FP7 Marie-Curie Mid-Frequency

This Thesis reports on the integration of different modelling techniques to construct a unified and better constrained conceptual model of structural evolution of the Pico del Águila anticline (External Sierras, Southern Pyrenees, Spain). The structure is a well-known example of detachment fold, which exhibits a N-S structural trend, parallel to the direction of tectonic transport in the Southern Pyrenees. Based on field observations of an unevenly distributed Triassic décollement, analogue modelling show how to generate orogen-perpendicular structures which may result in transverse anticlines. Numerical models investigate the effect of a complex mechanical stratigraphy, characterized by an interlayering of competent and incompetent layers, plus syn-kinematic sedimentation in the fold growth. Based on field data and seismic interpretations, a 3D reconstruction and sequential geomechanical restoration of the Pico del Águila anticline reports the coexistence of multiple folding mechanisms occurring simultaneously in different units and structural domains of the fold, leading to a complex strain pattern that can not be assessed by simplistic kinematic 2D approaches. By integrating the presented models with the previous data in the region, we discuss about the benefits and drawbacks of each modelling technique and present an integrated model of structural evolution for the Pico del Águila anticline. This brings a better comprehension of the structure as well as the processes that drove the evolution of the N-S detachment anticlines in the External Sierras of the Southern Pyrenees.
L’anticlinal del Pico del Águila és un conegut exemple de plec de desenganxament amb sedimentació marina a fluvio-deltaica associada, amb una tendència estructural N-S, paral•lela a la direcció de transport tectònic dels Pirineus Meridionals. Basat en observacions de camp que indiquen una distribució heterogènia del nivell de desenganxament Triàsic, els models analògics mostren el procés de generació d’estructures perpendiculars al sistema orogènic que poden donar lloc als anticlinals N-S descrits a les Sierras Exteriores Aragonesas. Els models numèrics investiguen l’efecte d’una estratigrafia mecànica complexa, caracteritzada per una intercalació d’unitats competents i incomptetents (amb marcades diferències en el grau de competència, per tant) i de la sedimentació sin-cinemàtica en el creixement i evolució de l’anticlinal. Basat en dades de camp i interpretacions de perfils sísmics s’ha portat a terme una reconstrucció i restitució geomecànica tridimensional de l’anticlinal del Pico del Águila. D’aquestes se’n deriva la coexistència de de múltiples mecanismes de plegament actuant simultàniament en diferents unitats i dominis estructurals, la qual implica al seu torn un patró i distribució de la deformació que no poden ser avaluats mitjançant aproximacions o tècniques de modelització cinemàtiques o/i bidimensionals. S’integren també els resultats obtinguts a partir de les esmentades tècniques de modelització amb les dades i coneixements previs de la regió, es discuteixen els beneficis, desavantatges i limitacions de cadascuna d’aquestes tècniques de modelització, i es presenta un model integrat d’evolució estructural del Pico del Águila. Aquest anàlisi crític dels resultats i aquest esforç d’integració porten sense dubte cap a una millor comprensió de l’estructura i dels processos que menaren l’evolució dels plecs de desenganxament N-S de les Sierras Exteriores Aragonesas dels Pirineus Meridionals.

Les modèles virtuels de plantes sont visuellement de plus en plus réalistes dans les applications infographiques. Cependant, dans le contexte de la biologie et l'agronomie, l'acquisition de modèles précis de plantes réelles reste un problème majeur pour la construction de modèles quantitatifs du développement des plantes.Récemment, des scanners laser 3D permettent d'acquérir des images 3D avec pour chaque pixel une profondeur correspondant à la distance entre le scanner et la surface de l'objet visé. Cependant, une plante est généralement un ensemble important de petites surfaces sur lesquelles les méthodes classiques de reconstruction échouent. Dans cette thèse, nous présentons une méthode pour reconstruire des modèles virtuels de plantes à partir de scans laser. Mesurer des plantes avec un scanner laser produit des données avec différents niveaux de précision. Les scans sont généralement denses sur la surface des branches principales mais recouvrent avec peu de points les branches fines. Le cœur de notre méthode est de créer itérativement un squelette de la structure de la plante en fonction de la densité locale de points. Pour cela, une méthode localement adaptative a été développée qui combine une phase de contraction et un algorithme de suivi de points.Nous présentons également une procédure d'évaluation quantitative pour comparer nos reconstructions avec des structures reconstruites par des experts de plantes réelles. Pour cela, nous explorons d'abord l'utilisation d'une distance d'édition entre arborescence. Finalement, nous formalisons la comparaison sous forme d'un problème d'assignation pour trouver le meilleur appariement entre deux structures et quantifier leurs différences
In the last decade, very realistic rendering of plant architectures have been produced in computer graphics applications. However, in the context of biology and agronomy, acquisition of accurate models of real plants is still a tedious task and a major bottleneck for the construction of quantitative models of plant development. Recently, 3D laser scanners made it possible to acquire 3D images on which each pixel has an associate depth corresponding to the distance between the scanner and the pinpointed surface of the object. Standard geometrical reconstructions fail on plants structures as they usually contain a complex set of discontinuous or branching surfaces distributed in space with varying orientations. In this thesis, we present a method for reconstructing virtual models of plants from laser scanning of real-world vegetation. Measuring plants with laser scanners produces data with different levels of precision. Points set are usually dense on the surface of the main branches, but only sparsely cover thin branches. The core of our method is to iteratively create the skeletal structure of the plant according to local density of point set. This is achieved thanks to a method that locally adapts to the levels of precision of the data by combining a contraction phase and a local point tracking algorithm. In addition, we present a quantitative evaluation procedure to compare our reconstructions against expertised structures of real plants. For this, we first explore the use of an edit distance between tree graphs. Alternatively, we formalize the comparison as an assignment problem to find the best matching between the two structures and quantify their differences

Caisson or pier foundations are encountered as part of the foundation system of tall structures such as bridges, transmission towers, heliostats, etc, and correspond to rigid blocks of length-to-diameter (D/B) ratio on the order of D/B = 2-6. As a result of their geometry and stiffness characteristics, the mechanisms of load transfer from the superstructure to the surrounding soil and their kinematic response to seismic wave propagation are governed by a complex stress distribution at the pier-soil interface, which cannot be adequately represented by means of simplified Winkler models for shallow foundations or flexible piles. Continuum model solutions, such as 3D finite elements (FE) cannot be employed frequently in practice for the design of non-critical facilities due to the cost and effort associated with these analyses. The objective of this work is to develop a Winkler-type model for the analysis of transversely-loaded caissons, which approximately accounts for all the main soil resistance mechanisms mobilized, while retaining the advantages of simplified methodologies for design at intermediate levels of target accuracy. Investigation of the governing load-transfer mechanisms and development of complex spring functions is formulated on the basis of 3D FE simulations. Initially, the soil-structure stiffness matrix is computed by subjecting the pier to transverse static and dynamic loading at the top, and numerically estimating the response. Complex frequency-dependent functions are next developed for the spring constants by equating the stiffness matrix terms to the analytical expressions developed for the four-spring model. Sensitivity analyses are conducted for optimization of the truncated numerical domain size, finite element size and far-field dynamic boundary conditions to avoid spurious wave reflections. Simulations are next conducted to evaluate the transient response of the foundation subjected to vertically propagating shear waves, and results are compared to the response predicted by means of the 4-spring model. Finally, the applicability of the method is assessed for soil profiles with depth-varying properties. While the methodology developed is applicable for linear elastic media with no material damping, the expressions of complex spring functions may be extended to include hysteretic damping, nonlinear soil behavior and soil-foundation interface separation, as shown in the conclusions.

Although nonflexible, scaled molecular models like Pauling-Corey's and its descendants have made significant contributions in structural biology research and pedagogy, recent technical advances in 3D printing and electronics make it possible to go one step further in designing physical models of biomacromolecules: to make them conformationally dynamic. We report the design, construction, and validation of a flexible, scaled, physical model of the polypeptide chain, which accurately reproduces the bond rotational degrees-of-freedom in the peptide backbone. The coarse-grained backbone model consists of repeating amide and alpha-carbon units, connected by mechanical bonds (corresponding to phi and psi angles) that include realistic barriers to rotation that closely approximate those found at the molecular scale. Longer-range hydrogen-bonding interactions are also incorporated, allowing the chain to easily fold into stable secondary structures. This physical model can serve as the basis for linking tangible bio-macromolecular models directly to the vast array of existing computational tools to provide an enhanced and interactive human-computer interface. We have explored the boundaries of this direction at the interface of computational tools and physical models of biological macromolecules at the nano-scale. Using a CAD-biocomputational framework, we have provided a methodology to design and build physical protein models focusing on shape and dynamics. We have also developed a workflow and an interface implemented for such bio-modeling tools. This physical-digital interface paradigm, at the intersection of native state proteins (P), computational models (C) and physical models (P), provides new opportunities for building an interactive computational modeling tool for protein folding and drug design. Furthermore, this model is easily constructed with readily obtainable parts and promises to be a tremendous educational aid to the intuitive understanding of chain folding as the basis for macromolecular structure.
Ph. D.

The Vajont landslide is one of the largest catastrophic slope failures of the past century. About 270 million m3 of limestones, mudstones and marls slid into the Vajont Reservoir on October 9, 1963, producing a displacement wave that overtopped the dam and killed over 2000 people in the valley below. Although the landslide has been extensively studied over the past several decades, its morphologic and structural controls, mechanisms, and dynamics are not completely understood yet. The first step in carrying out the research was the implementation of a bibliographic and geographic electronic geo-databases, including all existing bibliographic records. Published documents, theses, unpublished technical reports and maps were collected and indexed and they are available for the scientific community. Afterwards, new techniques and technologies which were not available yet in the 60’s, were applied to this thesis in order to investigate more in detail the morpho-structural features and to better understand the different role that they played in the 1963 event, thus providing a more rigorous and less empirically based forecasting approach to the study of large catastrophic landslides. In particular, the applied remote sensing techniques (DEM analyses, LIDAR technologies, photogrammetric analyses) allowed to characterize in detail the structure of inaccessible areas of the failure surface and, along with the geological and geomechanical field investigations, to clarify relevant aspects concerning the geological-structural setting of the northern slope of Mount Toc. The geomechanical survey in 89 stations was performed in order to reach an accurate knowledge and in-depth evaluation of the characteristics of the rock masses outcropping on the Vajont area, both inside and outside the landslide. The obtained results permitted the identification of the most significant parameters that influenced the rockslide triggering and displacement, so helping in the comprehension of both the phenomenon and the structural control on its development and collapse. The implementation of laboratory tests Uniaxial and Triaxial on rock samples completed the geomechanical characterization of the rock-masses. The amount of the collected data were used to characterize the rock mass quality, through the following different classifications : Rock Quality Designation (RQD) Rock Mass Rating System (RMR) and Slope Mass Rating (SMR). In order to complete the knowledge of the deep geological structure of the rock masses two seismic reflection profiles were carried out. The results of their preliminary interpolation are still in progress. The accurate and detailed results achieved of the above mentioned techniques, combined with field investigations, laboratory tests and ongoing geophysical surveys allowed to obtain a reliable 3D geological model. This above mentioned 3D model firstly allowed to define the sliding surface depth and geometry more precisely than ever, and secondly to evaluate the landslide kinematics. These aspects represent the fundamental starting point for the future 3D modelling elaborations.
La frana del Vajont è uno dei piu’ grandi eventi catastrofici del secolo scorso. Il 9 ottobre 1963, Circa 270 milioni di m3 di calcari, marnosi precipitarono nel bacino del Vajont .producendo un onda che oltrepasso’ la diga uccidendo piu’ di 2000 persone nella valle sottostante. Nonostante nei decenni passati la frana sia stata approfonditamente studiata, il controllo morfologico e strutturale, i meccanismi e le dinamiche non sono state ancora completamente chiarite. Il primo step del progetto di ricerca è stata la costruzione di un GIS-database contenente tutte le informazioni, edite ed inedite, collezionate sulla frana del Vajont (articoli, report, tesi e rapporti scientifici, carte geologiche e topografiche). Successivamente nuove tecniche e tecnologie non disponibili negli anni 60, sono state utilizzate nel presente lavoro per analizzare in dettaglio le caratteristiche morfo-strutturali e per megli comprendere il differente ruolo che hanno rivestito nell’evento del 1963, fornendo di conseguenza metodi di previsione piu’ scientificamente piu’rigorosi per la previsione delle grandi eventi catastrofici. In particolare, le tecniche remote sensing utilizzate (analisi DEM, tecnologie Lidar e analisi fotogrammetriche) hanno consetito di caratterizzare in dettaglio le caratteristiche strutturali di aree poco accessibili sulla superficie di scivolamento e, congiuntamente alle indagini di campagna, di chiarire gli aspetti rilevanti circa l’assetto geologico del versante Nord del Monte Toc. .Al fine di ottenere un’accurata conoscenza e una approfondita valutazione delle caratteristiche degli ammassi rocciosi affioranti fuori e dentro l’area della frana, le indagini geomeccaniche sono state condotte su 89 stazioni di misura. I risultati ottenuti hanno permesso di identificare i parametri più significativi che hanno influenzato l’innesco e l’evoluzione della frana favorendo così la comprensione del fenomeno in termini di sviluppo e collasso. L’implemetazione dei test di laboratorio, (prove uniassiali e triassiali) sui campioni di roccia hanno completato la caratterizzazione geomeccanica degli ammassi rocciosi. La consistente quantità di dati ottenuti è stata utilizzata per caratterizzare gli ammassi rocciosi attraverso differenti classificazioni standard tra cui RQD (Rock Quality Designation), (RMR) Rock Mass Rating System e SMR (Slope Mass Rating). Al fine di investigare sulla struttura geologica del versante Nord del Monte Toc, sono stati realizzati due profili ssismici. Attualmente è in corso l’analisi preliminare dell’interpolazione. Inoltre la costruzione del primo modello geologico 3D della frana ha permesso di analizzare dettagliatamente la cinematica della frana e di definire la geometria e la profondità della superficie di scivolamento. Gli accurati e dettagliati risultati raggiunti mediante l’utilizzo di nuove tecniche e di tradizionali indagini di campagna completate dai test di laboratorio ha permesso di ottenere un attendibile modello geologico 3D e un quadro completo delle caratteristiche geomeccaniche, che costituiscono una base fondamentale per l’elaborazione futura di modelli 3D

The finite element method is a powerful analysis tool which has facilitated a better understanding of the behaviour of reinforced concrete structures. Its use in the research field is widespread and complements experimental tests and the development of new analytical models. Its application in practice engineering has permitted to deal with complex elements. However, the general structural engineer is still reluctant to consider finite element modelling for his work as he finds most of these models excessively sophisticated for his needs and knowledge. In particular, complexity of many finite element tools usually derives from the adoption of advanced concrete constitutive models. Implementation of more simple models based on engineering practice could facilitate its use by less experienced finite element users. In structural engineering practice finite element analysis can be of great usefulness to deal with those more problematic elements and/or where the application of traditional analysis methods presents limitations. This includes the so-called D-regions with a 3D behaviour. The strut-and-tie method and the stress field method are consistent and rational tools for the analysis and design of D-regions, but while their application to 2D elements is well covered in literature, its extension to 3D is problematic. This generally explains why excessively conservative assumptions are still common in the design of these elements. Refinement of current analytical and design approaches or the use of finite element analysis could lead to more rational solutions which in turn will reduce material requirements and costs. A 3D nonlinear finite element-based tool was developed in this thesis oriented towards the analysis and design of 3D D-regions by less experienced finite element users. Regarding material modelling, an orthotropic concrete model was adopted to permit the use of uniaxial stress-strain relationships. Only one single parameter, the uniaxial compressive strength of concrete, needs to be defined. Additionally, several aid functions were implemented, among which the following can be highlighted: a comprehensive, embedded reinforcement model to facilitate the introduction of complex rebar geometries; special support and load elements permitting an integrated and simple treatment of the boundary conditions imposed by them; and a simple design algorithm for the automatic determination of the required rebar areas. Three examples of applications to representative 3D D-regions are presented to show the capabilities of the tool. In particular, the analyses of fourteen four-pile caps, three socket base column-to-foundations connections and one anchorage block are described in the third part of the thesis. Results prove that realistic response predictions can be obtained considering relatively simple constitutive models. The capacity of the tool to configure consistent stress field models depending on the reinforcement arrangement is also demonstrated. The generation of rational reinforcement configurations by applying the implemented design algorithm is also shown. A strut-and-tie-based method for the analysis and design of four-pile caps with rectangular geometries is proposed in the fourth part. The method is based on a refined 3D strut-and-tie model and the consideration of three potential modes of failure: exceeding the reinforcement strength, crushing of the diagonal strut at the base of the column with narrowing of the strut and splitting of the diagonal strut due to transverse cracking. The main innovation is that the strut inclination is not fixed as in current strut-and-tie-based design procedures, but determined by maximizing the pile cap strength. The method accounts for strength softening of cracked concrete, compatibility constraints and reinforcement details. Its application to 162 specimens of literature led to very good predictions of the ultimate strength and, to a lesser extent, of the mode of failure.
El método de los elementos finitos es una potente herramienta de análisis que ha facilitado un mejor conocimiento del comportamiento de las estructuras de hormigón armado. Su uso en el ámbito de la investigación está ampliamente extendido. Su aplicación en la práctica ingenieril ha permitido la resolución de elementos complejos. Sin embargo, el ingeniero estructural común todavía es reticente a usar la modelización por elementos finitos ya que considera que la mayoría de estos modelos son excesivamente sofisticados para sus necesidades. La complejidad de muchas herramientas de elementos finitos suele derivarse de la adopción de modelos constitutivos de hormigón avanzados. La implementación de modelos más sencillos podría facilitar su uso por usuarios menos experimentados. En la práctica ingenieril el análisis con elementos finitos puede ser de gran utilidad para tratar aquellos elementos más problemáticos y/o donde la aplicación de los métodos de análisis tradicionales presenta limitaciones. Esto incluye las llamadas regiones D con comportamiento 3D. El método de bielas y tirantes y el método de campos de tensiones son herramientas racionales para el análisis y dimensionamiento de regiones D, pero su extensión a 3D es problemática. Este hecho explica por qué se adoptan todavía hipótesis excesivamente conservadoras en el dimensionamiento de estos elementos. La propuesta de métodos analíticos y de diseño más adecuados o la modelización con elementos finitos podría conducir a soluciones más racionales, lo que a su vez reduciría las necesidades de material y los costes. Como parte de esta tesis se ha desarrollado una herramienta de cálculo no lineal basada en el método de los elementos finitos orientada al análisis y dimensionamiento de regiones D tridimensionales por usuarios con menos experiencia en la modelización con elementos finitos. Se ha adoptado un modelo ortotrópico para el hormigón para permitir el uso de relaciones uniaxiales de tensión-deformación. Sólo es necesario definir un único parámetro, la resistencia a compresión uniaxial del hormigón. Adicionalmente, se han implementado varias funciones de ayuda, entre las que destacan: un modelo de armadura embebida para facilitar la introducción de geometrías de armado complejas; elementos especiales de apoyo y de carga que permiten un tratamiento integral de las condiciones de contorno; y un algoritmo de diseño para la determinación automática del área de armado necesaria. Se presentan tres ejemplos de aplicación a regiones D 3D representativas para mostrar las capacidades de la herramienta. En concreto, en la tercera parte del documento se describen los análisis de catorce encepados, tres cálices de cimentación y un bloque de anclaje. Los resultados muestran que se pueden obtener predicciones bastante realistas considerando modelos constitutivos relativamente sencillos. También se demuestra la capacidad de la herramienta para configurar modelos de campo de tensiones consistentes dependiendo de la configuración de armado. Además se muestra la capacidad del algoritmo de diseño para configurar disposiciones de armado racionales. En la cuarta parte se propone un método para el análisis y dimensionamiento de encepados sobre cuatro pilotes con geometría rectangular. El método se basa en un modelo 3D de bielas y tirantes refinado y la consideración de tres modos de fallo posibles: rotura del acero, aplastamiento de la biela diagonal en la base de la columna con estrechamiento de la misma y splitting de la biela diagonal debido a la fisuración transversal. La principal novedad es que el ángulo de la biela no se fija como en otros modelos, sino que se determina mediante la maximización de la resistencia del encepado. El método considera el debilitamiento de la resistencia del hormigón fisurado, condiciones de compatibilidad de deformaciones y detalles de armado. Su aplicación a 162 especímenes dio luga
El mètode dels elements finits és una potent eina d'anàlisi que ha facilitat un millor coneixement del comportament de les estructures de formigó armat. El seu ús en l'àmbit de la investigació està àmpliament estès. La seua aplicació en la pràctica enginyeril ha permès la resolució d'elements més complexos. No obstant això, l'enginyer estructural comú encara és reticent a fer servir la modelització per elements finits ja que considera que la majoria d'aquests models són excessivament sofisticats per a les seues necessitats i el seu conèixement. En concret, la complexitat de moltes eines d'elements finits sol derivar-se de l'adopció de models constitutius avançats de formigó. La implementació de models més senzills basats en la pràctica enginyeril podria facilitar el seu ús per a usuaris menys experimentats en la modelització amb elements finits. A la pràctica enginyeril l'anàlisi amb elements finits pot ser de gran utilitat per a tractar aquells elements més problemàtics i/o on l'aplicació dels mètodes d'anàlisi tradicionals presenta limitacions. Això inclou les anomenades regions D amb comportament 3D. El mètode de bieles i tirants i el mètode de camps de tensions són eines racionals per a l'anàlisi i dimensionament de regions D, però la seua extensió a 3D és problemàtica. Aquest fet explica per què s'adopten encara hipòtesis excessivament conservadores en el dimensionament d'aquests elements. La proposta de mètodes analítics i de disseny més adequats o la modelització amb elements finits podria conduir a solucions més racionals, amb el que també es reduirien les necessitats de material i els costos. Com a part d'aquesta tesi s'ha desenvolupat una eina de càlcul no lineal basada en el mètode dels elements finits orientada a l'anàlisi i dimensionament de regions D tridimensionals per a usuaris amb menys experiència en la modelització amb elements finits. S'ha adoptat un model ortotròpic per al formigó per permetre l'ús de relacions uniaxials de tensió-deformació. Només cal definir un únic paràmetre, la resistència a compressió uniaxial del formigó. Addicionalment, s'han implementat diverses funcions d'ajuda, entre les quals destaquen: un model d'armadura embeguda per facilitar la introducció de geometries d'armat complexes; elements especials de suport i de càrrega que permeten un tractament integral i senzill de les condicions de contorn; i un algoritme de disseny per a la determinació automàtica de l'àrea d'armat necessari. Es presenten tres exemples d'aplicació a regions D 3D representatives per mostrar les capacitats de l'eina. En particular, en la tercera part del document es descriuen les anàlisis de catorze enceps sobre quatre pilons, 3 calzes de fonamentació i un bloc d'ancoratge. Els resultats mostren que es poden obtenir prediccions prou realistes considerant models constitutius relativament senzills. També es demostra la capacitat de l'eina per configurar models de camp de tensions consistents depenent de la configuració d'armat. A més es mostra la capacitat de l'algoritme de disseny per configurar disposicions d'armat racionals. En la quarta part es proposa un mètode per a l'anàlisi i dimensionament d'enceps sobre quatre pilons amb geometria rectangular. El mètode es basa en un model 3D de bieles i tirants refinat i la consideració de tres modes de fallada possibles: trencament de l'acer, aixafament de la biela diagonal a la base de la columna amb estrenyiment de la mateixa i splitting de la biela diagonal per causa de la fissuració transversal. La principal novetat és que l'angle de la biela no es fixa com en els models actuals de bieles i tirants, sinó que es determina mitjan\c{c}ant la maximització de la resistència de l'encep. El mètode proposat considera el debilitament de la resistència del formigó fissurat, condicions de compatibilitat de deformacions i detalls d'armat. La seua aplicació a 162 espècimens de la liter
Meléndez Gimeno, C. (2017). A finite element-based approach for the analysis and design of 3D reinforced concrete elements and its applications to D-regions [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/86193
TESIS

Materially non-linear analysis of reinforced concrete frame structures with infill walls requires appropriate mathematical models to be adopted for the beams and the columns as well as the infill walls. This study presents a mathematical model for frame elements based on a 3D Hermitian beam/column finite element and an equivalent strut model for the infill walls. The spread-of-plasticity approach is employed to model the material nonlinearity of the frame elements. The cross-section of the frame element is divided into triangular sub regions to evaluate the stiffness properties and the response of the element cross-section. By the help of the triangles spread over the actual area of the section, the bi-axial bending and the axial deformations are coupled in the inelastic range. A frame super-element is also formed by combining a number of frame finite elements. Two identical compression-only diagonal struts are used for modeling the infill. The equivalent geometric and material properties of the struts are determined from the geometry of the infill and the strength of the masonry units A computer code is developed using the object-oriented design paradigm and the models are implemented into this code. Efficiency and the effectiveness of the models are investigated for various cases by comparing the numerical response predictions produced by the program with those obtained from experimental studies.

In the world of ICT, strategies for innovation and development are increasingly focusing on applications that require spatial representation and real-time interaction with and within 3D media environments. One of the major challenges that such applications have to address is user-centricity, reflecting e.g. on developing complexity-hiding services so that people can personalize their own delivery of services. In these terms, multimodal interfaces represent a key factor for enabling an inclusive use of the new technology by everyone. In order to achieve this, multimodal realistic models that describe our environment are needed, and in particular models that accurately describe the acoustics of the environment and communication through the auditory modality. Examples of currently active research directions and application areas include 3DTV and future internet, 3D visual-sound scene coding, transmission and reconstruction and teleconferencing systems, to name but a few. The concurrent presence of multimodal senses and activities make multimodal virtual environments potentially flexible and adaptive, allowing users to switch between modalities as needed during the continuously changing conditions of use situation. Augmentation through additional modalities and sensory substitution techniques are compelling ingredients for presenting information non-visually, when the visual bandwidth is overloaded, when data are visually occluded, or when the visual channel is not available to the user (e.g., for visually impaired people). Multimodal systems for the representation of spatial information will largely benefit from the implementation of audio engines that have extensive knowledge of spatial hearing and virtual acoustics. Models for spatial audio can provide accurate dynamic information about the relation between the sound source and the surrounding environment, including the listener and his/her body which acts as an additional filter. Indeed, this information cannot be substituted by any other modality (i.e., visual or tactile). Nevertheless, today's spatial representation of audio within sonification tends to be simplistic and with poor interaction capabilities, being multimedia systems currently focused on graphics processing mostly, and integrated with simple stereo or multi-channel surround-sound. On a much different level lie binaural rendering approaches based on headphone reproduction, taking into account that possible disadvantages (e.g. invasiveness, non-flat frequency responses) are counterbalanced by a number of desirable features. Indeed, these systems might control and/or eliminate reverberation and other acoustic effects of the real listening space, reduce background noise, and provide adaptable and portable audio displays, which are all relevant aspects especially in enhanced contexts. Most of the binaural sound rendering techniques currently exploited in research rely on the use of Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs), i.e. peculiar filters that capture the acoustic effects of the human head and ears. HRTFs allow loyal simulation of the audio signal that arrives at the entrance of the ear canal as a function of the sound source's spatial position. HRTF filters are usually presented under the form of acoustic signals acquired on dummy heads built according to mean anthropometric measurements. Nevertheless, anthropometric features of the human body have a key role in HRTF shaping: several studies have attested how listening to non-individual binaural sounds results in evident localization errors. On the other hand, individual HRTF measurements on a significant number of subjects result both time- and resource-expensive. Several techniques for synthetic HRTF design have been proposed during the last two decades and the most promising one relies on structural HRTF models. In this revolutionary approach, the most important effects involved in spatial sound perception (acoustic delays and shadowing due to head diffraction, reflections on pinna contours and shoulders, resonances inside the ear cavities) are isolated and modeled separately with a corresponding filtering element. HRTF selection and modeling procedures can be determined by physical interpretation: parameters of each rendering blocks or selection criteria can be estimated from real and simulated data and related to anthropometric geometries. Effective personal auditory displays represent an innovative breakthrough for a plethora of applications and structural approach can also allow for effective scalability depending on the available computational resources or bandwidth. Scenes with multiple highly realistic audiovisual objects are easily managed exploiting parallelism of increasingly ubiquitous GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). Building individual headphone equalization with perceptually robust inverse filtering techniques represents a fundamental step towards the creation of personal virtual auditory displays (VADs). To this regard, several examples might benefit from these considerations: multi-channel downmix over headphones, personal cinema, spatial audio rendering in mobile devices, computer-game engines and individual binaural audio standards for movie and music production. This thesis presents a family of approaches that overcome the current limitations of headphone-based 3D audio systems, aiming at building personal auditory displays through structural binaural audio models for an immersive sound reproduction. The resulting models allow for an interesting form of content adaptation and personalization, since they include parameters related to the user's anthropometry in addition to those related to the sound sources and the environment. The covered research directions converge to a novel framework for synthetic HRTF design and customization that combines the structural modeling paradigm with other HRTF selection techniques (inspired by non-individualized HRTF selection procedures) and represents the main novel contribution of this thesis: the Mixed Structural Modeling (MSM) approach considers the global HRTF as a combination of structural components, which can be chosen to be either synthetic or recorded components. In both cases, customization is based on individual anthropometric data, which are used to either fit the model parameters or to select a measured/simulated component within a set of available responses. The definition and experimental validation of the MSM approach addresses several pivotal issues towards the acquisition and delivery of binaural sound scenes and designing guidelines for personalized 3D audio virtual environments holding the potential of novel forms of customized communication and interaction with sound and music content. The thesis also presents a multimodal interactive system which is used to conduct subjective test on multi-sensory integration in virtual environments. Four experimental scenarios are proposed in order to test the capabilities of auditory feedback jointly to tactile or visual modalities. 3D audio feedback related to user’s movements during simple target following tasks is tested as an applicative example of audio-visual rehabilitation system. Perception of direction of footstep sounds interactively generated during walking and provided through headphones highlights how spatial information can clarify the semantic congruence between movement and multimodal feedback. A real time, physically informed audio-tactile interactive system encodes spatial information in the context of virtual map presentation with particular attention to orientation and mobility (O&M) learning processes addressed to visually impaired people. Finally, an experiment analyzes the haptic estimation of size of a virtual 3D object (a stair-step) whereas the exploration is accompanied by a real-time generated auditory feedback whose parameters vary as a function of the height of the interaction point. The collected data from these experiments suggest that well-designed multimodal feedback, exploiting 3D audio models, can definitely be used to improve performance in virtual reality and learning processes in orientation and complex motor tasks, thanks to the high level of attention, engagement, and presence provided to the user. The research framework, based on the MSM approach, serves as an important evaluation tool with the aim of progressively determining the relevant spatial attributes of sound for each application domain. In this perspective, such studies represent a novelty in the current literature on virtual and augmented reality, especially concerning the use of sonification techniques in several aspects of spatial cognition and internal multisensory representation of the body. This thesis is organized as follows. An overview of spatial hearing and binaural technology through headphones is given in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is devoted to the Mixed Structural Modeling formalism and philosophy. In Chapter 3, topics in structural modeling for each body component are studied, previous research and two new models, i.e. near-field distance dependency and external-ear spectral cue, are presented. Chapter 4 deals with a complete case study of the mixed structural modeling approach and provides insights about the main innovative aspects of such modus operandi. Chapter 5 gives an overview of number of a number of proposed tools for the analysis and synthesis of HRTFs. System architectural guidelines and constraints are discussed in terms of real-time issues, mobility requirements and customized audio delivery. In Chapter 6, two case studies investigate the behavioral importance of spatial attribute of sound and how continuous interaction with virtual environments can benefit from using spatial audio algorithms. Chapter 7 describes a set of experiments aimed at assessing the contribution of binaural audio through headphones in learning processes of spatial cognitive maps and exploration of virtual objects. Finally, conclusions are drawn and new research horizons for further work are exposed in Chapter 8.
Il settore dell'Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sta investendo in strategie di innovazione e sviluppo sempre più rivolte ad applicazioni capaci di interazione complesse grazie alla rappresentazione spaziale in ambienti virtuali multimodali capaci di rispettare i vincoli di tempo reale. Una delle principali sfide da affrontare riguarda la centralità dell'utente, che si riflette, ad esempio, sullo sviluppo di servizi la cui complessità tecnologica viene nascosta al destinatario, e la cui offerta di servizi sia personalizzabile dall’utente e per l’utente. Per queste ragioni , le interfacce multimodali rappresentano un elemento chiave per consentire un uso diffuso di queste nuove tecnologie. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo è necessario ottenere dei modelli multimodali realistici che siano capaci di descrivere l’ambiente circostante, e in particolare modelli che sappiano rappresentare accuratamente l'acustica dell'ambiente e la trasmissione di informazione attraverso la modalità uditiva. Alcuni esempi di aree applicative e direzioni di ricerca attive nella comunità scientifica internazionale includono 3DTV e internet del futuro , codifica, trasmissione e ricostruzione della scena 3D video e audio e sistemi di teleconferenza , per citarne solo alcuni. La presenza concomitante di più modalità sensoriali e la loro integrazione rendono gli ambienti virtuali multimodali potenzialmente flessibili e adattabili, permettendo agli utenti di passare dall’una all’altra modalità in base alle necessità dettata dalle mutevoli condizioni di utilizzo di tali sistemi. Modalità sensoriali aumentata attraverso altri sensi e tecniche di sostituzione sensoriale sono elementi essenziali per la veicolazione dell’informazioni non visivamente, quando, ad esempio, il canale visivo è sovraccaricato, quando i dati sono visivamente ostruiti, o quando il canale visivo non è disponibile per l'utente (ad esempio, per le persone non vedenti). I sistemi multimodali per la rappresentazione delle informazioni spaziali beneficano sicuramente della realizzazione di motori audio che possiedano una conoscenza approfondita degli aspetti legati alla percezione spaziale e all’acustica virtuale. I modelli per il rendering di audio spazializzato sono in grado di fornire accurate informazioni dinamiche sulla relazione tra la sorgente sonora e l'ambiente circostante , compresa l'interazione del corpo dell’ascoltatore che agisce da ulteriore filtraggio acustico. Queste informazioni non possono essere sostituite da altre modalità (ad esempio quella visiva o tattile). Tuttavia , la rappresentazione spaziale del suono nei feedback acustici tende ad essere, al giorno d’oggi, semplicistica e con scarse capacità di interazione, questo perchè i sistemi multimediali attualmente si focalizzano per lo più sull’elaborazione grafica, e si accontentano di semplici tecnologie stereofoniche o surround multicanale per il rendering del suono. Il rendering binaurale riprodotto in cuffia rappresenta un approccio avveniristico, tenendo conto che i possibili svantaggi (es. invasività , risposte in frequenza non piane) possono essere man mano gestiti e controbilanciati da una serie di desiderabili caratteristiche. Questi sistemi sono caratterizzati dalla possibilità di controllare e/o eliminare il riverbero e altri effetti acustici dello spazio di ascolto circostante, di ridurre il rumore di fondo e fornire dei display audio adattabili e portatili, tutti aspetti rilevanti soprattutto in contesti di innovazione. La maggior parte delle tecniche di rendering binaurale impiegate oggigiorno in ricerca si basano sull'uso di Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs), vale a dire di filtri particolari che catturano gli effetti acustici di testa, busto e orecchie dell’ascoltatore. Le HRTF permettono una simulazione fedele del segnale audio che si presenta all'ingresso del canale uditivo in funzione della posizione spaziale della sorgente sonora. I filtri basati su HRTF sono generalmente presentati sotto forma di segnali acustici misurati a partire da una testa di manichino costruito secondo misurazioni antropometriche medie. Tuttavia, le caratteristiche antropometriche individuali hanno un ruolo fondamentale nel determinare le HRTF: diversi studi hanno riscontrato come l’ascolto di audio binaurale non individuale produce errori di localizzazione evidenti . D'altra parte , le misurazioni individuali di HRTF su un numero significativo di soggetti richiedono un impiego di risorse e tempo non trascurabili. Sono state proposte negli ultimi due decenni diverse tecniche per il design di HRTF sintetiche e tra le più promettente vi è quella che utilizza i modelli strutturali di HRTF. In questo approccio rivoluzionario, gli effetti più importanti coinvolti nella percezione spaziale del suono (i ritardi acustici e le ombre acustiche ad opera della diffrazione attorno alla testa, le riflessioni sui contorni dell’orecchio esterno e sulle spalle, le risonanze all'interno delle cavità dell’orecchio) sono isolati e modellati separatamente nell’elemento filtrante corrispondente. La selezione di HRTF non individuali e queste procedure di modellazione possono essere entrambe analizzate con una interpretazione fisica: i parametri di ogni blocco di rendering o i criteri di selezione possono venir stimati dalla relazione tra dati reali e simulati e antropometria dell’ascoltatore. La realizzazione di efficaci display uditivi personali rappresenta un notevole passo in avanti per numerose applicazioni; l’approccio strutturale consente una intrinseca scalabilità a seconda delle risorse computazionali o della larghezza di banda disponibili. Scene altamente realistiche con più oggetti audiovisivi riescono ad essere gestite sfruttando il parallelismo della Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) sempre più onnipresenti. Ottenere un equalizzazione individuale delle cuffie con tecniche di filtraggio inverso che siano percettivamente robuste costituisce un passo fondamentale verso la creazione di display uditivi virtuali personali. A titolo d’esempio, vengono di seguito riportate alcune aree applicative che possono trarre beneficio da queste considerazioni: riproduzione multi canale in cuffia, rendering spaziale del suono in dispositivi mobile, motori di rendering per computer-game e standard audio binaurali individuali per film e produzione musicale. Questa tesi presenta una famiglia di approcci in grado di superare gli attuali limiti dei sistemi di audio 3D in cuffia, con l’obiettivo di realizzare display uditivi personali attraverso modelli strutturali per l’audio binaurale volti ad una riproduzione immersiva del suono. I modelli che ne derivano permettono adattamento e personalizzazione di contenuti, grazie alla gestione dei parametri relativi all’antropometria dell'utente oltre a quelli relativi alle sorgenti sonore nell'ambiente . Le direzioni di ricerca intraprese convergono verso una metodologia per la progettazione e personalizzazione di HRTF sintetiche che unisce il paradigma di modellazione strutturale con altre tecniche di selezione per HRTF (ispirate a procedure di selezione non-individuali di HRTF) e rappresenta il principale contributo di questa tesi: l’ approccio a modellazione strutturale mista( MSM ) che considera la HRTF globale come una combinazione di elementi strutturali, che possono essere scelti tra componenti sia sintetiche che registrate. In entrambi i casi, la personalizzazione si basa su dati antropometrici individuali, utilizzati per adattare sia i parametri del modello sia per selezionare un componente simulato o misurato, tra un insieme di risposte all’impulso disponibili. La definizione e la validazione sperimentale dell'approccio a MSM affronta alcune questioni cruciali riguarda l'acquisizione e il rendering di scene acustiche binaurali, definendo alcune linee guida di progettazione per ambienti virtuali personali che utilizzano l’audio 3D e che possiedono nuove forme di comunicazione su misura e di interazione con contenuti sonori e musicali. In questa tesi viene anche presentato un sistema interattivo multimodale utilizzato per condurre test soggettivi sull’integrazione multisensoriale in ambienti virtuali. Vengono proposti quattro scenari sperimentali al fine di testare le funzionalità di un feedback sonoro integrato a modalità tattili o visive. (i) Un feedback con audio 3D legato ai movimenti dell'utente durante una semplice attività di inseguimento di un bersaglio viene presentato come un esempio applicativo di sistema riabilitativo audiovisivo. (ii) La percezione della direzione sonora dei passi interattivamente generati in cuffia durante la camminata evidenzia come l'informazione spaziale sia in grado di mettere in luce la congruenza semantica tra movimento e feedback multimodale. (iii) Un sistema audio tattile interattivo e real-time sintetizza l'informazione spaziale di mappe virtuali per l’educazione all’orientamento e alla mobilità (O&M) rivolta a persone non vedenti. (iv) Un ultimo esperimento analizza la stima tattile delle dimensioni di un oggetto virtuale 3D (un gradino), mentre l'esplorazione è accompagnata da un feedback sonoro generato in tempo reale i cui parametri variano in funzione dell’altezza del punto di interazione aptico. I dati raccolti da questi esperimenti suggeriscono che feedback multimodali che sfruttano correttamente modelli di audio 3D, possono essere utilizzati per migliorare la navigazione nella realtà virtuale, l’orientamento e l’apprendimento di azioni motorie complesse, grazie all'alto livello di attenzione, impegno e immersività fornito all'utente. La metodologia di ricerca, basata sull'approccio a MSM, rappresenta un importante strumento di valutazione per determinare progressivamente i principali attributi spaziali del suono in relazione a ciascun dominio applicativo. In questa prospettiva, tali studi rappresentano una novità nella letteratura scientifica corrente che ha come principale argomento di indagine la realtà virtuale e aumentata, soprattutto per quanto riguarda l'uso di tecniche di sonicazione legate alla cognizione spaziale e alla rappresentazione multisensoriale interna del corpo . Questa tesi è organizzata come segue. Un’introduzione e una panoramica sulla percezione spaziale del suono e sulle tecnologie binaurali in cuffia sono fornite nel Capitolo 1. Il Capitolo 2 è dedicato al formalismo sulla modellazione strutturale mista e sua corrispondente filosofia di ricerca. Nel Capitolo 3 vengono presentati i modelli strutturali relativi ad ogni parte del corpo, risultanti da precedenti ricerche. Due nuove proposte di modello di testa e orecchio approfondiscono rispettivamente la dipendenza dalla distanza nel near-field e le informazioni spettrali fornite dall’orecchio esterno per la localizzazione verticale del suono. Il Capitolo 4 si occupa di un caso di studio completo riguardante l'approccio a modellazione strutturale mista, fornendo degli approfondimenti riguardanti i principali aspetti innovativi di tale modus operandi. Il Capitolo 5 fornisce una panoramica di strumenti sviluppati per l'analisi e la sintesi di HRTF. Inoltre linee guida per il design di ambienti di realtà virtuale vengono discussi in termini di problematiche riguardanti vincoli di tempo reali, requisiti per la mobilità e personalizzazione del segnale audio. Nel Capitolo 6, attraverso due casi di studio viene approfondita l'importanza dell'attributo spaziale del suono nel comportamento dell’ascoltatore e come la continua interazione in ambienti virtuali possa utilizzare con successo algoritmi per l’audio spaziale. Il Capitolo 7 descrive una serie di esperimenti volti a valutare il contributo dell’audio binaurale in cuffia in processi di apprendimento di mappe cognitive spaziali e nell'esplorazione di oggetti virtuali. Infine, il Capitolo 8 apre a nuovi orizzonti per futuri lavori di ricerca.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer un Alphabet Structural (AS) permettant une caractérisation fine et précise des structures tridimensionnelles (3D) des protéines, à l’aide des chaînes de Markov cachées (HMM) qui permettent de prendre en compte la logique issue de l’enchaînement des fragments structuraux en intégrant l’augmentation des conformations 3D des structures protéiques désormais disponibles dans la banque de données de la Protein Data Bank (PDB). Nous proposons dans cette thèse un nouvel alphabet, améliorant l’alphabet structural HMM-SA27,appelé SAFlex (Structural Alphabet Flexibility), dans le but de prendre en compte l’incertitude des données (données manquantes dans les fichiers PDB) et la redondance des structures protéiques. Le nouvel alphabet structural SAFlex obtenu propose donc un nouveau modèle d’encodage rigoureux et robuste. Cet encodage permet de prendre en compte l’incertitude des données en proposant trois options d’encodages : le Maximum a posteriori (MAP), la distribution marginale a posteriori (POST)et le nombre effectif de lettres à chaque position donnée (NEFF). SAFlex fournit également un encodage consensus à partir de différentes réplications (chaînes multiples, monomères et homomères) d’une même protéine. Il permet ainsi la détection de la variabilité structurale entre celles-ci. Les avancées méthodologiques ainsi que l’obtention de l’alphabet SAFlex constituent les contributions principales de ce travail de thèse. Nous présentons aussi le nouveau parser de la PDB (SAFlex-PDB) et nous démontrons que notre parser a un intérêt aussi bien sur le plan qualitatif (détection de diverses erreurs)que quantitatif (rapidité et parallélisation) en le comparant avec deux autres parsers très connus dans le domaine (Biopython et BioJava). Nous proposons également à la communauté scientifique un site web mettant en ligne ce nouvel alphabet structural SAFlex. Ce site web représente la contribution concrète de cette thèse alors que le parser SAFlex-PDB représente une contribution importante pour le fonctionnement du site web proposé. Cette caractérisation précise des conformations 3D et la prise en compte de la redondance des informations 3D disponibles, fournies par SAFlex, a en effet un impact très important pour la modélisation de la conformation et de la variabilité des structures 3D, des boucles protéiques et des régions d’interface avec différents partenaires, impliqués dans la fonction des protéines
The purpose of this PhD is to provide a Structural Alphabet (SA) for more accurate characterization of protein three-dimensional (3D) structures as well as integrating the increasing protein 3D structure information currently available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The SA also takes into consideration the logic behind the structural fragments sequence by using the hidden Markov Model (HMM). In this PhD, we describe a new structural alphabet, improving the existing HMM-SA27 structural alphabet, called SAFlex (Structural Alphabet Flexibility), in order to take into account the uncertainty of data (missing data in PDB files) and the redundancy of protein structures. The new SAFlex structural alphabet obtained therefore offers a new, rigorous and robust encoding model. This encoding takes into account the encoding uncertainty by providing three encoding options: the maximum a posteriori (MAP), the marginal posterior distribution (POST), and the effective number of letters at each given position (NEFF). SAFlex also provides and builds a consensus encoding from different replicates (multiple chains, monomers and several homomers) of a single protein. It thus allows the detection of structural variability between different chains. The methodological advances and the achievement of the SAFlex alphabet are the main contributions of this PhD. We also present the new PDB parser(SAFlex-PDB) and we demonstrate that our parser is therefore interesting both qualitative (detection of various errors) and quantitative terms (program optimization and parallelization) by comparing it with two other parsers well-known in the area of Bioinformatics (Biopython and BioJava). The SAFlex structural alphabet is being made available to the scientific community by providing a website. The SAFlex web server represents the concrete contribution of this PhD while the SAFlex-PDB parser represents an important contribution to the proper function of the proposed website. Here, we describe the functions and the interfaces of the SAFlex web server. The SAFlex can be used in various fashions for a protein tertiary structure of a given PDB format file; it can be used for encoding the 3D structure, identifying and predicting missing data. Hence, it is the only alphabet able to encode and predict the missing data in a 3D protein structure to date. Finally, these improvements; are promising to explore increasing protein redundancy data and obtain useful quantification of their flexibility

The aim of this work is the development of a refined reduced order model suitable for numerical applications in solid and fluid mechanics with a remarkable reduction in computational cost. Nowadays, numerical reduced order models are widely exploited in many areas, such as aerospace, mechanical and biomechanical engineering for structural analysis, fluid dynamic analysis and coupled (aeroelastic) fluid-structure interaction analysis. One-dimensional (1D) structural models, commonly known as beams, are for instance used in many applications to analyze the structural behavior of slender bodies, such as columns, arches, blades, aircraft wings, bridges, skyscrapers, rotor and wind turbine blades. One-dimensional structural elements are simpler and computationally more efficient than 2D (plate/shell) and 3D (solid) elements. This feature makes beam theories still very attractive for the static, dynamic response, free vibration and aeroelastic analyses, despite the approximations which they introduce in the simulation. Recently, 1D models are intensively exploited for the simulation of the human cardiovascular system under either physiological or pathological conditions. As it is easily comprehensible, fluid flows in pipes, channel, capillaries or even arteries are particularly suitable for the application of one-dimensional models also to fluid dynamics. Typically, one-dimensional models for fluid dynamics and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems are again remarkably more efficient than three-dimensional methods in terms of computational cost. A key point for reduced order models is the capability in simulating in an accurate way the investigated physical problem. For instance, in last decades the growing use of advanced composite and sandwich materials in thin-walled beam-like structures has revealed that 1D theories have to be refined in order to predict the behavior of such complex structures with high fidelity. For this purpose, a higher-order one-dimensional method is introduced in this work and its capabilities are highlighted and discussed. The present work is subdivided into three fundamental parts corresponding to the physical fields the proposed refined model is applied to. Firstly, a structural part presents the formulation of a displacement-based higher-order one-dimensional model for the analysis of beam-like structures. Classical beam theories (Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko) have intrinsic limitations which preclude their applications for the analysis of a wide class of engineering problems. The Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) is employed to introduce a hierarchical modeling with a variable order of expansion for the displacement unknowns over the beam cross-section. The finite element method (FEM) is used to handle arbitrary geometries and loading conditions. The influence of higher-order effects over the cross-section deformation, not detectable by classical and low-order beam theories, on the static, free vibration and time-dependent response of several structures with arbitrary cross-section geometries and made of arbitrary materials is remarked through the numerical results presented. Secondly, an aeroelastic part describes the extension of the refined structural model to the static aeroelastic analysis of lifting surfaces made of metallic and composite materials. A coupled aeroelastic computational model based on the Vortex Lattice aerodynamic Method and the finite element method (FEM) is formulated. A refined aeroelastic approach is also presented by replacing the Vortex Lattice aerodynamic Method with the more powerful 3D Panel Method. Comparison with results obtained by existing plate/shell aeroelastic models shows that the present 1D model could result less expensive from the computational point of view with respect to shell cases with same accuracy. The effect of the cross-section deformation on the aeroelastic static response and on the critical wing divergence velocity is evaluated for different wing configurations. The beneficial effects of aeroelastic tailoring in the case of wings made of composite anisotropic materials are also confirmed by using the present model. Finally, a third part concerning the use of the refined one-dimensional CUF model for fluid dynamic problems is presented. The basic partial differential equations (PDEs) of fluid mechanics (Navier-Stokes and Stokes equations) are faced and 1D refined models with variable velocity-pressure accuracy are presented on the basis of the one-dimensional Carrera Unified Formulation and the finite element method. The application of these higher-order models to describe the three-dimensional fluid flow evolution on a computational domain is formulated for the Stokes problem. The present approach reveals its capabilities in predicting accurately, with a reduced computational cost with respect to more consuming two-dimensional or three-dimensional methods, nonclassical and complex fluid flows. Moreover, the numerical results show the promising potentiality of such an approach to the future extension of fluid-structure CUF-CUF models, i.e. the coupling of CUF models used for both structural and fluid dynamic analyses.

Dynamic instrumentation and a series of ambient vibration tests were performed on a four storey strengthened R/C building within the scope of this study. Traffic load and wind load were accepted as natural dynamic loads and the vibrations were recorded by sensitive accelerometers.For that study, 12 uniaxial, 1 triaxial accelerometers and a 15 channel data logger system were used. Four sets of dynamic measurements were recorded over a period of 6 months. Recorded readings were analyzed using UPC, PC and CVA algorithms and Artemis software. The natural freqeuncies, mode shape of the tested building were determined. The experimental results were compared against each other. A 3D-FE model of the building was prepared and analytical results were also compared against experimental results.The calibration (updating) of the analytical model was carried out using the experimentally obtained mode shapes and freqeunices. The results of the study indicate that first few mode shapes and freqeuncies of the building can be obtained successfully within zero to 10 Hz range using ambient monitoring. Field calibrated FE models can effectively simulate the first translational and torsional modes of the building. Calibration studies indicate that the upper floor is more flexible than the nominal model and there are weaknesses between the shear wall and roof slab connections.

This dissertation developed a method that can accurately and efficiently capture the response of a structure by rigorous combination of a reduced-dimensional beam finite element model with a model based on full two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) finite elements. As a proof of concept, a joint 2D-beam approach is studied for planar-inplane deformation of strip-beams. This approach is developed for obtaining understanding needed to do the joint 3D-beam model. A Matlab code is developed to solve achieve this 2D-beam approach. For joint 2D-beam approach, the static response of a basic 2D-beam model is studied. The whole beam structure is divided into two parts. The root part where the boundary condition is applied is constructed as a 2D model. The free end part is constructed as a beam model. To assemble the two different dimensional model, a transformation matrix is used to achieve deflection continuity or load continuity at the interface. After the transformation matrix from deflection continuity or from load continuity is obtained, the 2D part and the beam part can be assembled together and solved as one linear system. For a joint 3D-beam approach, the static and dynamic response of a basic 3D-beam model is studied. A Fortran program is developed to achieve this 3D-beam approach. For the uniform beam constrained at the root end, similar to the joint 2D-beam analysis, the whole beam structure is divided into two parts. The root part where the boundary condition is applied is constructed as a 3D model. The free end part is constructed as a beam model. To assemble the two different dimensional models, the approach of load continuity at the interface is used to combine the 3D model with beam model. The load continuity at the interface is achieved by stress recovery using the variational-asymptotic method. The beam properties and warping functions required for stress recovery are obtained from VABS constitutive analysis. After the transformation matrix from load continuity is obtained, the 3D part and the beam part can be assembled together and solved as one linear system. For a non-uniform beam example, the whole structure is divided into several parts, where the root end and the non-uniform parts are constructed as 3D models and the uniform parts are constructed as beams. At all the interfaces, the load continuity is used to connect 3D model with beam model. Stress recovery using the variational-asymptotic method is used to achieve the load continuity at all interfaces. For each interface, there is a transformation matrix from load continuity. After we have all the transformation matrices, the 3D parts and the beam parts are assembled together and solved as one linear system.

Il lavoro di tesi si colloca in un ampio protocollo di ricerca già avviato riguardante lo studio delle capriate lignee di grandi luci site in edifici con significativa valenza storica. Il metodo sperimentale è stato messo a punto per successive approssimazioni e correzioni in seguito alla sua applicazione a diversi casi di studio e, in base ai feedback ottenuti in corso d’opera, è in continuo aggiornamento. La tesi, mira da un lato ad una nuova e approfondita implementazione del metodo, dall’altro all’applicazione dello stesso al fine di analizzare ed interpretare i movimenti e le deformazioni del sistema di copertura del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Dalla nuvola di punti dell’intero sottotetto, acquisita tramite laser scanner, si estrapolano le singole capriate e, attraverso un programma di modellazione parametrica, si costruiscono degli algoritmi che generano dei modelli tridimensionali per ogni capriata. Il confronto tra tali modelli e la nuvola di punti iniziale consente di leggere le capriate in modo dettagliato, analizzarne spostamenti e deformazioni, derivare informazioni puntuali e comparate sul loro comportamento, trarre considerazioni globali sullo stato di salute dell’intero sottotetto e, se necessario, prevedere e progettare eventuali interventi di recupero o rinforzo strutturale. La struttura completamente parametrizzata della nuova versione del metodo ha indirizzato lo studio verso la ricerca di una correlazione fra gli algoritmi generativi ed il campo del Building Information Modeling, rivelandosi uno strumento con una vasta possibilità di collegamento con altri importanti temi di ricerca riguardo la digitalizzazione del patrimonio costruito. Il collegamento diretto con dei software di tipo BIM può infine consentire una relazione diretta con software di calcolo strutturale, costituendo un unico workflow che, partendo dal rilievo digitale tramite laser scanner, arriva all’ottenimento di un modello di calcolo degli oggetti studiati.

La mécanique et le stress compressif jouent un rôle important dans la progression tumorale. Récemment, plusieurs approches ont été développées pour tester le stress en compression dans des modèles 3D in vitro. Dans le présent travail, nous montrons d’abord la pertinence de la compression dans l’organisation des fibroblastes associés au cancer (CAF), en enveloppant les cellules cancéreuses lors d’une compression isotrope 3D dans des capsules d’alginate creux. Dans ce système, les CAF couvrent les cellules cancéreuses en présence de compression selon un processus impliquant vraisemblablement une réorganisation du dépôt de fibronectine et non un réarrangement passif des deux sphéroïdes. Dans la deuxième partie de ce travail, nous avons étudié la réaction des composants de la cavéole au stress en compression.Les cavéoles sont des invaginations de la membrane plasmique capables d'amortir la tension de la membrane, protégeant ainsi la cellule de son éclatement. Nous montrons ici comment les cavéoles réduisent leur présence lors de la compression3D à court terme et comment cette compression inhibe l'activation de STAT1 et STAT3 induite par l'interféron. De plus, les effets à long terme des contraintes de compression sur les sphéroïdes entraînent également la perte du composant cavéole EHD2, une ATPase centrale pour la stabilité des cavéoles sur la membrane. Enfin, nous avons trouvé différentes voies avec une transcription modifiée du gène après un stress compressif. Parmi eux, nous avons caractérisé l'effet de la perte decavéoline-1 sur la libération d'exosomes sous compression 3D
Mechanics and compressive stress play an important role in tumor progression. Recently, several approaches have been developed to test compressive stress in 3D in vitro models. In the present work, we first show the relevance of compression in the organization of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), enwrapping cancer cells upon 3D isotropic compression in capsules of hollow alginate. In this system, CAFs cover cancer cells in the presence of compression by a process which most likely involves fibronectin deposition reorganization, and not a passive rearrangement of the two spheroids. In the second part of this work, we investigated the response of caveolae components to compressive stress. Caveolae are plasma membrane invaginations which are able to buffer membrane tension, thus protecting the cell from bursting. Here, we show how caveolae reduce their presence under 3D short term compression, and how this compression inhibits interferon induced STAT1 and STAT3 activation. Moreover, long term effects of compressive stress in spheroids result also in loss of the caveolae component EHD2, acentral ATPase for caveolae stability on the membrane. Lastly, we found different pathways with altered gene transcription after compressive stress. Among them, we characterized the effect of caveolin-1 loss on the release of exosomes under 3Dcompression

La complexité des structures géologiques en Moyenne Durance rend difficile la caractérisation et l’évaluation du risque sismique dans cette région. La compréhension 3D des structures nécessite l’utilisation de techniques modernes de modélisation numérique pour réaliser des modèles 3D du substratum géologique qui soient cohérents à différentes échelles, pour effectuer des simulations des mouvements sismiques. Pour réaliser des modèles 3D géologiques, nous avons harmonisé des bases de données géologiques et géophysiques hétérogènes (forages pétroliers, sondages géotechniques, profils sismiques, profils géophysiques H/V, cartographie géologique haute et basse résolution, datations biostratigraphiques, ...) dans le géomodeleur 3D gOcad. La réalisation des modèles 3D permet de caractériser la géométrie 3D des principales structures tectoniques en Moyenne Durance, notamment la Zone de failles de la Moyenne Durance (ZFMD) ainsi que la géométrie haute résolution du substratum géologique de la vallée de Cadarache, notamment de son remplissage sédimentaire tertiaire. Notre étude permet de préciser la géométrie 3D de la ZFMD et son rôle sur les structures géologiques adjacentes. La ZFMD constitue une zone de transfert qui limite l’extension latérale et modifie la géométrie des plis et chevauchements. Les structures tectoniques en Moyenne Durance sont caractérisées par une déformation de type thin-skin. La tectonique salifère joue un rôle important dans cette déformation (niveau de décollement, formation et géométrie 3D des plis). A l’échelle de la vallée de Cadarache, l’étude géologique des affleurements couplée à l’étude géostatistique des sondages permet de réaliser une simulation en 3D de la répartition spatiale des faciès et de proposer un modèle sédimentaire 3D du remplissage tertiaire de la vallée. Il est caractérisé par une sédimentation en deux étapes : une première phase de remplissage par des apports détritiques importants en provenance du Sud-Est, liés au démantèlement du massif des Maures-Estérel, une deuxième phase de remplissage par des dépôts d’environnement fluviatile méandriforme à forte sinuosité et à dominante de sables. Enfin, l’imbrication multi-échelle des modèles 3D a permis d’expliquer la formation de la vallée de Cadarache dans le contexte géodynamique de la région de la Moyenne Durance au Tertiaire, et notamment sous l’influence de la compression pyrénéenne et de la ZFMD sur la région de la Moyenne Durance et sur la vallée de Cadarache
The complexity of geological structures in Middle Durance region makes difficult the characterization and evaluation of seismic risk in this region. Understanding these structures in 3D requires to use modern techniques of 3D digital modelling in order to achieve the 3D geological models of the bedrock with coherence on different scales, to perform ground motion simulations. Building 3D geological models need to normalize heterogeneous geophysical and geological databases (oil boreholes, geotechnical boreholes, seismic profiles, H/V geophysical profiles, high and low resolution geological mapping, biostratigraphic dating,...) in the 3D software gOcad. The realization of 3D geological models allows to characterize the 3D geometry of main the tectonic structures in Middle Durance region, including the Middle Durance Fault Zone (ZFMD) and the high resolution geometry of geological bedrock of the Cadarache Valley, and in particular its tertiary sedimentary fill. Our study allows to specify the ZFMD 3D geometry and its role on the adjacent geological structures. The ZFMD is a transfer zone that limits lateral extension and changes the geometry of folds and thrusts. The Middle Durance tectonic structures are characterized by a thin-skin deformation. Salt tectonics plays an important role in this deformation (detachment level, training and 3D geometry of folds). At the scale of the Valley of Cadarache, outcrop geological study coupled with boreholes geostatistical study allows to perform a 3D simulation of the spatial distribution of facies and to propose a 3D sedimentary model for the Tertiary filling of the Cadarache Valley. It is characterized by sedimentation in two steps: a first step of filling by important detrital inputs from the Southeast, related to the erosion of the Maures-Esterel massif, a second step of filling by deposits of fluvial meandering sand-dominant environment with high-sinuosity. Finally, building multi-scale 3D models allows explaining the formation of the Valley of Cadarache in the geodynamic context of the Middle Durance region at Tertiary times, and particularly under the influence of the Pyrenean compression and ZFMD on the Middle Durance region and the Valley of Cadarache

FRP laminates and fabrics, used as an externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) to strengthen or repair concrete members, have proven to be an economical retrofitting method. However, when used to strengthen long-span members or members with limited access, the labor and equipment demands may negate the benefits of using continuous EBR FRP. Recently, CFRP rod panels (CRPs) have been developed and deployed to overcome the aforementioned limitations. Each CRP is made of several small diameter CFRP rods placed at discrete spacing. To fulfill the strengthening length, CRP’s are spliced together and made continuous by means of overlaps (or finger joints). In this doctoral dissertation, the effectiveness of spliced CRPs as flexural strengthening reinforcement for RC members was investigated by experimental, analytical and numerical methods. The experimental research includes laboratory tests on (1) RC beams under four-point bending and (2) double-lap shear concrete specimens. The first set of tests examines the behavior of concrete members strengthened with spliced CRPs. Several beams were fabricated and tested, including: (a) unstrengthened, (b) strengthened with spliced CRPs, (c) strengthened with full-length CRPs, and (d) strengthened with full-length and spliced CFRP laminates. The double-lap shear tests serve to characterize the development length and bond strength of two commonly used CRPs. Several small-scale CRPs, with variable bond lengths, were tested to arrive to an accurate estimation of development length and bond strength. Several other specimens were additionally tested to preliminarily examine the effects of bond width and rod spacing. A 3D nonlinear finite element simulation was utilized to further study the response of CRP strengthened RC beams, by extracting essential data, that couldn’t be measured in the experimental tests. Additionally, analytical tools were added to investigate the behavior of tested bond and beam specimens. The first tool complements the double-lap shear tests, and provides mathematical terms for important characteristics of the CRP/concrete bond interface. The second tool investigates concrete cover separation failure, which was observed in the beam testing, for RC beams strengthened with full-length and spliced CRPs.

We develop a generic Graph Cut-based semiautomatic multiobject image segmentation method principally for use in routine medical applications ranging from tasks involving few objects in 2D images to fairly complex near whole-body 3D image segmentation. The flexible formulation of the method allows its straightforward adaption to a given application.\linebreak In particular, the graph-based vicinity prior model we propose, defined as shortest-path pairwise constraints on the object adjacency graph, can be easily reformulated to account for the spatial relationships between objects in a given problem instance. The segmentation algorithm can be tailored to the runtime requirements of the application and the online storage capacities of the computing platform by an efficient and controllable Voronoi tessellation clustering of the input image which achieves a good balance between cluster compactness and boundary adherence criteria. Qualitative and quantitative comprehensive evaluation and comparison with the standard Potts model confirm that the vicinity prior model brings significant improvements in the correct segmentation of distinct objects of identical intensity, the accurate placement of object boundaries and the robustness of segmentation with respect to clustering resolution. Comparative evaluation of the clustering method with competing ones confirms its benefits in terms of runtime and quality of produced partitions. Importantly, compared to voxel segmentation, the clustering step improves both overall runtime and memory footprint of the segmentation process up to an order of magnitude virtually without compromising the segmentation quality.

Master´s thesis is divided into two parts. In first part is author focusing on designing load-bearing structures that are made of reinforced concrete (floor slab, external wall, stairway). The assessments of those structures were made according to valid standard of ČSN EN 1992-1-1 and structural part of design documentation to those constructions were processed. In second, theoretical, part are different models of reinforced concrete slab in 3D (as part of whole construction) and in 2D created. The main task was to compare influence of different support´s stiffness in models on internal forces (bending moments) and on deflection of slab.

La complexité structurelle de l'habitat joue un rôle clé dans la structure, la dynamique et la capacité de résilience des communautés récifales. La situation critique des récifs coralliens plaide pour l’amélioration des méthodes de suivi, afin d’assister la mise en œuvre de mesures de conservation efficaces. Aujourd’hui, les nouvelles technologies aident les chercheurs et gestionnaires à recueillir des informations spatio-temporelles de haute précision. Parmi elles, la photogrammétrie par Structure-from-Motion (SfM) permet de créer des modèles tridimensionnels et de cartographier les zones récifales à partir de photos, afin de réaliser des suivis quantitatifs des communautés benthiques. Quatre objectifs ont structuré cette thèse : 1) définir des protocoles de photogrammétrie sous-marine pour créer des modèles 3D des colonies coralliennes et des récifs permettant de mener des analyses physiques et écologiques, 2) développer de nouveaux descripteurs quantitatifs de l'habitat récifal, 3) déterminer les liens entre ces descripteurs et les fonctions clés assurées par les assemblages de poissons associés, 4) comparer les méthodes photogrammétriques avec une méthode de suivi traditionnellement employée, le Line Intercept Transect (LIT). Au total, 120 colonies coralliennes, 24 paysages récifaux de pentes externes et deux structures artificielles (digues) ont été modélisés dans deux régions biogéographiques : la Nouvelle-Calédonie (océan Pacifique), l'île d'Europa et La Réunion (océan Indien). Deux protocoles photogrammétriques ont été mis au point, correspondant aux deux échelles d'étude : la colonie de corail (≤ 2 m3) et les paysages récifaux et digues (> 100 m2). Les analyses des modèles 3D de colonies coralliennes ont fourni des mesures 2D et 3D permettant de quantifier le volume de refuge qu’elles offrent. Des modèles linéaires de prédiction ont ensuite été développés pour estimer la capacité de refuge à l’échelle des paysages récifaux. La cartographie des paysages récifaux a permis le calcul de 22 nouveaux descripteurs de l'habitat. Parmi eux, sept ont été retenus pour leur pertinence (la complexité de la surface, la capacité et la diversité des refuges, l’abondance des colonies branchues, tabulaires et massives, et le recouvrement corallienne totale), expliquant respectivement 63 % et 70 % de la distribution des biomasses et des abondances de poissons. L’importance de ces descripteurs pour le maintien de la diversité et la biomasse des groupes de poissons assurant des fonctions clés écosystémiques (herbivorie-bioérosion, production secondaire, assimilation du plancton, prédation, broutage des polypes coralliens) a été montrée. Des comparaisons entre les outils photogrammétriques et la méthode LIT ont révélé que la méthode d’analyse surfacique sur les orthomosaïques, couplée aux modèles numérique d’élévation, est la plus efficace en termes de temps et d’information écologique. Le LIT reste la méthode la moins chronophage et la plus efficace pour les identifications taxonomiques précises. En revanche, elle est la plus limitée en terme de représentativité de l'écosystème. Dans l'ensemble, les travaux de cette thèse ont démontré la pertinence des applications de la photogrammétrie sous-marine par SfM pour les études scientifiques, la gestion et les programmes de sensibilisation des environnements récifaux. En outre, les données collectées et les analyses réalisées contribuent à établir une base de référence pour améliorer les suivis et les mesures de gestion des récifs, et s’inscrivent dans les ambitieux objectifs de conservation du 21ème siècle
Habitat structural complexity plays a key role in the dynamics and resilience of coral reef communities. The critical situation of coral reef ecosystems beseeches a rapid improvement of monitoring tools to assist in the implementation of efficient conservation measures. Today, new reef assessment technologies support researchers and managers to collect information safer, faster, and with greater accuracy. Among them, photogrammetry by Structure-from-Motion (SfM) creates three-dimensional models and reef zone maps from overlapping images to conduct quantitative surveys of benthic communities. This thesis addressed four objectives: 1) define underwater photogrammetry protocols to create 3D models of coral colonies and reefscapes, in order to conduct physical and ecological assessments, 2) develop new quantitative reef habitat descriptors, 3) determine the links between these descriptors and the key functional processes ensured by associated fish assemblages, 4) compare photogrammetric methods with a traditional monitoring method, the Line Intercept Transect (LIT). Overall, 120 coral colonies, 24 reefscapes, and two artificial structures (breakwaters) were 3D modeled in two biogeographic provinces: New Caledonia (Pacific Ocean), Europa Island, and Reunion Island (Indian Ocean). Two photogrammetric protocols were defined corresponding to the study scales: the coral colony (≤ 2 m3) and the reefscapes and breakwaters (> 100 m2). Analyzing the 3D models of coral colonies provided 2D and 3D metrics to estimate their shelter volume. Predictive models were then built and fitted to estimate shelter capacity at the reefscape scale. Mapped reefscapes provided the necessary information to calculate 22 new quantitative descriptors. Among them, seven were the most complementary: surface complexity, shelter capacity, diversity of shelter - Shannon Shelter Index, the abundance of branching, massive and tabular, and total coral cover. They explained 63% and 70% of the distribution of reef fish biomass and abundance, respectively. Multifactorial analyses demonstrated the importance of these habitat descriptors in supporting five key functions of reef ecosystems that are ensured by groups of fishes (herbivory-bioerosion, secondary production, plankton assimilation, predation, and coral feeding). Comparisons between photogrammetric methods and the LIT method showed that the surface analysis on the orthomosaics is the most efficient method considering the quantity and quality of data that can be gathered and the time expenditure. The LIT method is less time-consuming and more efficient for specific taxonomic identifications, though it is the most limited method in terms of descriptors and the representativeness of the ecosystem. In addition to the four principle objectives, the 3D models and other photogrammetric outputs served as communication tools in different awareness actions.To sum up, this thesis demonstrated the relevance of underwater SfM photogrammetry applications for coral reef studies, management, and awareness actions. The collected data and their analyses also contribute to establishing a baseline for monitoring the state of reef ecosystems and their functions. In doing so, it provides new scientific information to enhance future management measures and confront the ambitious twenty-first-century conservation targets

Au travers de l’ensemble de ces travaux, l’objectif principal consiste à valider la pertinence de la construction et de l’utilisation de modèles 3D géométriques ou paramétriques orientés BIM/hBIM pour des analyses numériques. Il s’agit notamment d’études structurales dans le cas de bâtiments historiques ainsi que la planification potentielle de travaux de restauration, rénovation énergétique et réhabilitation. Des travaux d’exploitation complémentaires des données et des nuages de points, pour la détection, la segmentation et l’extraction d’entités géométriques ont également été intégrés dans les travaux et la méthodologie proposée. Le processus de traitement des données, modélisation géométrique ou paramétrique et leur exploitation, proposé dans ces travaux, contribue à améliorer et mieux comprendre les contraintes et enjeux des différentes configurations et conditions liées aux cas d’études et aux contraintes spécifiques propres aux types de constructions. Les contributions proposées pour les différentes méthodes de modélisation géométriques et paramétriques à partir des nuages de points, sont abordées par la construction de modèles géométriques orientés BIM ou hBIM. De même, les processus de détection d’éléments surfaciques et d’extraction de données à partir de nuages de points mis en place sont présentés. La mise en application de ces méthodes de modélisation est systématiquement illustrée par différents cas d’étude, dont l’ensemble des travaux relatifs ont été effectués dans le cadre de cette thèse. Le but est dès lors de démontrer l’intérêt et la pertinence de ces méthodes numériques en fonction du contexte, des besoins et des études envisagées, par exemple avec la flèche de la cathédrale de Senlis (Oise) et le site de l’Hermitage (Oise). Des analyses numériques de type éléments finis permettent ensuite de valider la pertinence de telles démarches
Throughout this work, the main objective is to validate the relevance of construction and use of geometric or parametric 3D models BIM or hBlM-oriented for numerical analyzes. These include structural studies in the case of historic buildings, as well as planning for restoration work, energy renovation and rehabilitation. Complementary data mining and use of point clouds for the detection, segmentation and extraction of geometric features have also been integrated into the work and proposed methodology. The process of data processing, geometric or parametric modeling and their exploitation, proposed in this work, contributes to improve and understand better the constraints and stakes of the different configurations and conditions related to the case studies and the specific constraints specific to the types of constructions. The contributions proposed for the different geometric and parametric modeling methods from point clouds are addressed by the construction of geometric models BIM or hBlM-oriented. Similarly, the process of surface detection, extraction of data and elements from point clouds are presented. The application of these modeling methods is systematically illustrated by different case studies, all of whose relative work has been carried out within the framework of this thesis. The goal is therefore to demonstrate the interest and relevance of these numerical methods according to the context, needs and studies envisaged, for example with the spire of the Senlis cathedral (Oise) and the Hermitage site (Oise). Numerical analyzes with finite element method are used to validate the relevance of these approaches

碩士
逢甲大學
土木工程學系
107
The structure of the construction project and the hydropower components are usually designed by different professional teams. It is inevitable that different components overlap or close each other in space. In the era of two-dimensional engineering drawings, many space conflicts were often found late before construction or even during construction, which often led to re-engineering, changing design, causing cost overruns, delays in schedule, and even problems such as Lao'an. In recent years, the emergence of BIM software, automated conflict detection has become a basic function, making early detection of space conflicts possible. However, the conflicting results of BIM software detection are often hundreds of thousands, and it is still necessary to manually review and analyze and analyze them one by one. This process is often time consuming and labor intensive. Therefore, some studies have pointed out that the method of automatic judgment has its urgency. Otherwise, conflict detection may be reduced to form due to excessive information. According to expert interviews, many of the spatial conflicts in the BIM software conflict detection report are permissible pseudo clashes, which need not be reviewed in practice. Taking the pipeline beam as an example, some conflicts in the position of the beam do not affect the structural behavior of the beam. If these conflicts in the conflict detection report can be automatically screened out, the engineers can focus on the conflicts that really need to be resolved. In this way, the aforementioned time-consuming and laborious manual determination operation can be improved. The main purpose of this study is to use BIM and 3D-GIS technology to develop an algorithm for automatically determining the conflict of legal pipelines to accelerate BIM management personnel to interpret BIM software conflict detection reports. The study takes an actual architectural engineering structural model and MEP model as an example, using Autodesk Navisworks for conflict detection, and using ESRI ArcScene's built-in Model Builder programming tool to write the decision program. Preliminary test results show that the calculus program developed in this study can successfully identify more than 90% of legal pipeline cross-beam conflicts.

Potential field data hold a leading role in the geologic-structural application. Their use becomes even more important if applied to extremely inaccessible zones as oceanic basins or no-antropized area. By an areo-naval survey it is possible to cover large areas, in a short time, to define their deep crustal features that are otherwise not accessible by other direct methods. The analysis of the magnetic field data is particularly effective in the study of the crustal portions characterized by lateral variation of the magnetic susceptibility. The magnetic analysis is often applied to areas where sub-volcanic bodies or relic portion of oceanic nature in sedimentary deposits are located. The aim of this thesis is the development of a tridimensional model about the 41st parallel zone starting from potential field data. The name 41st parallel indicates a geographic zone aligned along N41st of latitude. This area is longitudinally defined between the Continental Campanian Margin (Naplean Gulf, Ischia and Procida island) and the northwestern portion of the Sardinia Island. From a geological point of view, the 41st parallel represents a complicate area. Several geological structures are located along this zone: submerged volcanic bodies such as the Etruschi, Vercelli and Cassinis seamounts, emerged edifices connected to the Pliocenic-Quaternary volcanism of the Central Tyrrhenian sea (Palmarola, Zenone, Ponza, Ischia and Procida) and several deep fault structures such as the E-W fault of Ponza. The formation and the development of this particular zone is not clear and is still object of discussion in literature. The structural setting of 41st parallel zone is highlighted only by magnetic field data. By the observation of the magnetic anomalous field it is possible to see an alignment of several magnetic anomalies along the N41st latitude. These anomalies take place on the main structural evidences of the area. The bathymetric data and information don't suggest these features. To this aim, I use the magnetic data to analyse in quantitative way, the 41st parallel zone. The magnetic data used for the development of the 3D magnetic model derived by the dataset of the Aeromagnetic Anomaly Map of Italy (Caratori Tontini et al., 2004). The original magnetic dataset includes the total intensity field of Italy and its surrounding seas acquired partly during the aeromagnetic surveys performed by Agip (now Eni-Spa) between 1971 and 1980 and during new surveys in the years 2001-2002(Eni,Exploration & Production Division - Igmar, La Spezia). The magnetic data were recorded, in a homogeneous way, by using a cesium-magnetometer. By the successive reprocessing of the row magnetic data the revised magnetic anomaly map is obtained showing a strong informative contribution and a good agreement with the sea-level map of Chiappini et al. (2002). In the first chapter of this thesis I describe the geological and structural features of the Tyrrhenian sea in general way. However, I analyse the 41st parallel zone starting from the literature data. In the second chapter I evaluate the Bouguer gravity field of the Tyrrhenian Sea by using two methodologies for an evaluation of the optimal Bouguer reduction density. Using a free-air gravimetric satellite data set of the Tyrrhenian sea, I perform a map of isostatic level of the central Tyrrhenian area. In the third chapter I describe the properties of the Geomagnetic field and its representation focusing my interest on the time and spatial dependencies of the field. The successive section provides information about the row magnetic data used for the quantitative elaboration describing the characteristics of the anomaly field of the studied area. In the fifth chapter, the properties of the magnetic signal is studied by using a statistical analysis of the power spectrum (Spector and Grant, 1970) and by the Continuous Wavelet Transform. After these analyses, in the sixth chapter I introduce the concept of magnetic basement and the relationship between magnetic signal and temperature. Starting from the regional heat-flow data (Della Vedova et al., 2001) of the Central Tyrrhenian area the Curie Isotherm surface is modeled defining the maximum depth of the magnetic-thermal basement. The boundaries of the magnetic sources (top and bottom) represents the base-line for the successive phases of quantitative analysis. By using a 2D inversion algorithm I obtain the map of apparent susceptibility. In the seventh chapter, I apply this algorithm to the magnetic evidence of the 41st parallel zone and to the Selli Line region. This procedure suggests a distribution of magnetization that permits to connect the 41st parallel zone and the structural elements of the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea such as the Magnaghi Basin and the Selli Line faults system. Starting form the results obtained by the apparent magnetization maps, I perform a 3D inversion of magnetic data providing information about the vertical distribution of the sources. In the eighth chapter, that represents an important part of the thesis, I introduce the inverse problem in the potential field analysis by a new 3D algorithm capable to evaluate the depth to the bottom of the source. Then, I apply this algorithm to the real magnetic dataset of the 41st and Selli Line regions. The recovered models show the shape, location in depth and direction of development of the magnetic generating sources suggesting the geometric relationship between the different sources. These information are important for evaluating the crustal setting of the study area. Finally, in the last chapter I interpret the results of inversion process evaluating the relationship between the 41 st parallel and the Selli Line region. Starting from the magnetic recovered models of these two regions I provide a chronological reconstruction of the geodynamic evolution of the Central Tyrrhenian Sea.
Università di Bologna
Unpublished
3.3. Geodinamica e struttura dell'interno della Terra
3.4. Geomagnetismo
3.5. Geologia e storia dei sistemi vulcanici
open

There is shift in the Architectural / Engineering / Construction and Facility Management (AEC&FM) industry toward performance-driven projects. Assuring good performance requires efficient and reliable performance control processes. However, the current state of the AEC&FM industry is that control processes are inefficient because they generally rely on manually intensive, inefficient, and often inaccurate data collection techniques. Critical performance control processes include progress tracking and dimensional quality control. These particularly rely on the accurate and efficient collection of the as-built three-dimensional (3D) status of project objects. However, currently available techniques for as-built 3D data collection are extremely inefficient, and provide partial and often inaccurate information. These limitations have a negative impact on the quality of decisions made by project managers and consequently on project success. This thesis presents an innovative approach for Automated 3D Data Collection (A3dDC). This approach takes advantage of Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR), 3D Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) modeling and registration technologies. The performance of this approach is investigated with a first set of experimental results obtained with real-life data. A second set of experiments then analyzes the feasibility of implementing, based on the developed approach, automated project performance control (APPC) applications such as automated project progress tracking and automated dimensional quality control. Finally, other applications are identified including planning for scanning and strategic scanning.

Il presente lavoro di dottorato si è posto l’obiettivo di caratterizzare la sismicità indotta dalle attività di produzione di idrocarburi della Val d’Agri intesa come valle intramontana che comprende il bacino del fiume Agri e le dalle strutture appenniniche più esterne, al cui interno ricadono la concessione di coltivazione omonima e la diga del Lago Pertusillo. L’attività svolta ha riguardato la definizione di un nuovo modello geo-strutturale pseudo -3D, di maggiore dettaglio rispetto a quanto disponibile in letteratura, utilizzato per la caratterizzazione della sismicità nell’area di studio (es. Candela et al. 2015 e Buttinelli et al. 2016). Infatti, il modello realizzato è stato ricostruito attraverso un set di dati innovativo: dati di superficie rilevati, di sottosuolo messi a disposizione dalla società Eni S.p.A. e dataset riprocessato con metodi avanzati relativo alla sismicità registrata reso disponibile da INGV. L’analisi integrata di tutti questi dati ha permesso di realizzare un modello strutturale ben vincolato e geologicamente affidabile in grado di meglio rispondere ai diversi quesiti di carattere geodinamico, tettonico e sismologico che riguardano la conoscenza di questa complessa area di studio. Con particolare riguardo alla sismicità strumentale, i risultati del lavoro di dottorato mostrano una prima possibile caratterizzazione della sismicità registrata a ovest e a est del bacino della Val d’Agri attraverso il modello dei graviquakes (Doglioni et al., 2014 e 2015), identificando le strutture, le unità coinvolte, le loro proprietà fisiche, e i meccanismi determinanti nella generazione degli eventi sismici. I risultati relativi alla caratterizzazione della sismicità attraverso il modello dei graviquakes trovano supporto nelle evidenze di recenti studi disponibili in letteratura (Balasco et al. 2021; Vadacca et al. 2021).
The present Ph. D thesis aims to characterize seismicity induced by hydrocarbon production in Val d’Agri, an intramontain valley that includes the Agri river basin and the outermost Apennine structures, where the homonymous exploitation licence and the Pertusillo Lake dam are located. The activity carried out concerned the definition of a new pseudo - 3D geo-structural model alternative and more detailed with respect to those available in literature, used to characterize seismicity in the study area (e.g. Candela et al. 2015 and Buttinelli et al. 2016). In fact, the realized structural model is based on an innovative dataset costituted by: field data collected, underground data provided by Eni S.p.A. and a reprocessed dataset with advance techniques on recorded seismic events provided by INGV. Integrated analysis of these data allows to realize a very well constrained and reliable structural model that supplies several evidences answering many of the open questions on geodynamic, tectonic, and seismic field retracing important steps in the knowledge evolution of this complex study area. Regarding seismicity, the results of this thesis show a possible characterization of recorded events at west and east of the Val d’Agri basin through graviquakes model (Doglioni et al., 2014 e 2015) identifying structures, units involved, their physical properties and the most relevant mechanisms in generation of seismic events. The results on seismicity characterization adopting the graviquakes model is consistent with recent studies (Balasco et al. 2021; Vadacca et al. 2021).

碩士
國立高雄科技大學
土木工程系
107
Recently 3D printing technology had been developed and applied to various industrial products, such as medicine, food, clothing and so on. In this study, feasibility of applying 3D printing technology to structural model preparation for vibration test of uncontrolled and controlled single-story buildings. A dual-arm long-end framed-type 3D printing machine (CR-10S, CR-10) was used, along with smelting deposition (FDM) material, to print the rod and the column, which combined with wooden floor to form a single-story model for shaking table test. Advantages of 3D printing features include easy molding, short production time and high variability. In this investigation, structural model are all single-story with single degree of freedom: (1) uncontrolled model; (2) controlled models: tuned mass-damper (TMD) and liquid damper (LD). Three dynamic responses are conducted: (1) free vibration tests for obtaining fundamental frequencies, system daming and stiffness; (2) harmonically vibration for resonant frequencies; (3) seismic responses using Chi-Chi, El-Centro and Kobe ground accelerations. Compared with analytical results, experimental results show that (1) 3D printing models can be applied for preliminary and convenient structural model preparation for vibration tests; (2) Precision of experimental results are not always good due to characteristics of 3D printing materials. (3) the sequence of anti-seismic effect of controlled models is El Centro, Chi-Chi and Kobe.