The effects of an acute bout of whole-body vibration on pulse wave velocity in individuals with SCI

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality in the spinal cord injured (SCI) population. Reduced arterial compliance is a cardiovascular risk factor and whole body vibration (WBV) has be en shown to improve arterial compliance in able-bodied individuals. The study investigated the effect of an acute session ofWBV on arterial compliance as measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV). On separate days, arm, leg and aortic PWV were measured pre- and post- a 45 minute session of passive stance (PS) and WBV. The WBV was intermittent with a set frequency of 45Hz and amplitude of O.6mm. There was no condition by time effect when comparing PWV after WBV and PS. Following WBV, aortic (928.6±127.7 vs. 901.1±96.6cm/sec), leg (1035.2±113.8 vs.l099.8±114.2cm/sec) and arm PWV (1118.9±119.8 vs. 1181.1±124.4cm/s) did not change. As such, WBV did not reduce arterial compliance, however future research with protocol modifications is recommended.

Reliability of muscle fiber conduction velocity in the tibialis anterior

This document could not have been completed without the hard work of a number of individuals. First and foremost, my supervisor, Dr. David Gabriel deserves the utmost recognition for the immense effort and time spent guiding the production of this document through the various stages of completion. Also, aiding in the data collection, technical support, and general thought processing were Lab Technician Greig Inglis and fellow members of the Electromyographic Kinesiology Laboratory Jon Howard, Sean Lenhardt, Lara Robbins, and Corrine Davies-Schinkel. The input of Drs. Ted Clancy, Phil Sullivan and external examiner Dr. Anita Christie, all members ofthe assessment committee, was incredibly important and vital to the completion of this work. Their expertise provided a strong source of knowledge and went to ensure that this project was completed at exemplary level. There were a number of other individuals who were an immense help in getting this project off the ground and completed. The donation of their time and efforts was very generous and much needed in order to fulfill the requirements needed for completion of this study. Finally, I cannot exclude the contributions of my family throughout this project especially that of my parents whose support never wavers.

Gaining Insights About Water: The Value of Surveys in First Nations Communities to Inform Water Governance

Knowledge of how water is perceived, used and managed in a community is critical to the endeavour of water governance. Surveys of individuals residing in a community offer a valuable avenue to gain information about several of these aspects of water. This paper draws upon experiences in three First Nation communities to explore the values of surveys to illuminate water issues and inform water decision-making. Findings from experiences with surveys in Six Nations of the Grand River, Mississaugas of the New Credit, and Oneida First Nation of the Thames reveal rich information about how surveys can provide insights about: the connection of individuals to the land, water and their community; reasons for valuing water; perceptions of water quality and issues surrounding water-related advisories; and, degree of satisfaction with water management and governance at different scales. Community partners reflected upon the findings of the survey for their community. Dialogue was then broadened across the cases as the partners offer benefits and challenges associated with the survey. Community surveys offer an important tool in the resource managers’ toolbox to understand social perceptions of water and provide valuable insights that may assist in improving its governance.

Niagara Ship Canal : letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting report by Colonel Blunt, on the surveys for a ship canal to connect Lakes Erie and Ontario (1868)

March 3, 1868. -- Referred to the Select Committee on the Niagara Ship Canal.

Voucher #5 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to George Forbes for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857

Voucher #5 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to George Forbes for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857.

Voucher #6 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to Thomas Woods for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857

Voucher #6 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to Thomas Woods for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857.

Voucher #7 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W.G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers and summaries of account paid by W.G. Thompson for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857

Voucher #7 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W.G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers and summaries of account paid by W.G. Thompson for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857.

Pay roll voucher #8 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension for surveys in the month of February, Feb. 28, 1857

Pay roll voucher #8 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension for surveys in the month of February, Feb. 28, 1857.

Voucher #9 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W. G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers for surveys, Feb. 28, 1857

Voucher #9 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W. G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers for surveys, Feb. 28, 1857

Estudio de flujos de potencia y análisis de fallas en sistemas eléctricos de distribución radial

Tesis (Maestro en Ciencias de la Ingeniería Eléctrica con Especialidad en Potencia) UANL, 2002.

Nuevo principio de protección diferencial de transformadores aplicando redes neuronales de base radial (RBF )

Tesis (Maestro en Ciencias de la Ingeniería Eléctrica con Especialidad en Potencia) U.A.N.L.

Space and time characterization of laser-induced plasmas for applications in chemical analysis and thin film deposition

Après des décennies de développement, l'ablation laser est devenue une technique importante pour un grand nombre d'applications telles que le dépôt de couches minces, la synthèse de nanoparticules, le micro-usinage, l’analyse chimique, etc. Des études expérimentales ainsi que théoriques ont été menées pour comprendre les mécanismes physiques fondamentaux mis en jeu pendant l'ablation et pour déterminer l’effet de la longueur d'onde, de la durée d'impulsion, de la nature de gaz ambiant et du matériau de la cible. La présente thèse décrit et examine l'importance relative des mécanismes physiques qui influencent les caractéristiques des plasmas d’aluminium induits par laser. Le cadre général de cette recherche forme une étude approfondie de l'interaction entre la dynamique de la plume-plasma et l’atmosphère gazeuse dans laquelle elle se développe. Ceci a été réalisé par imagerie résolue temporellement et spatialement de la plume du plasma en termes d'intensité spectrale, de densité électronique et de température d'excitation dans différentes atmosphères de gaz inertes tel que l’Ar et l’He et réactifs tel que le N2 et ce à des pressions s’étendant de 10‾7 Torr (vide) jusqu’à 760 Torr (pression atmosphérique). Nos résultats montrent que l'intensité d'émission de plasma dépend généralement de la nature de gaz et qu’elle est fortement affectée par sa pression. En outre, pour un délai temporel donné par rapport à l'impulsion laser, la densité électronique ainsi que la température augmentent avec la pression de gaz, ce qui peut être attribué au confinement inertiel du plasma. De plus, on observe que la densité électronique est maximale à proximité de la surface de la cible où le laser est focalisé et qu’elle diminue en s’éloignant (axialement et radialement) de cette position. Malgré la variation axiale importante de la température le long du plasma, on trouve que sa variation radiale est négligeable. La densité électronique et la température ont été trouvées maximales lorsque le gaz est de l’argon et minimales pour l’hélium, tandis que les valeurs sont intermédiaires dans le cas de l’azote. Ceci tient surtout aux propriétés physiques et chimiques du gaz telles que la masse des espèces, leur énergie d'excitation et d'ionisation, la conductivité thermique et la réactivité chimique. L'expansion de la plume du plasma a été étudiée par imagerie résolue spatio-temporellement. Les résultats montrent que la nature de gaz n’affecte pas la dynamique de la plume pour des pressions inférieures à 20 Torr et pour un délai temporel inférieur à 200 ns. Cependant, pour des pressions supérieures à 20 Torr, l'effet de la nature du gaz devient important et la plume la plus courte est obtenue lorsque la masse des espèces du gaz est élevée et lorsque sa conductivité thermique est relativement faible. Ces résultats sont confirmés par la mesure de temps de vol de l’ion Al+ émettant à 281,6 nm. D’autre part, on trouve que la vitesse de propagation des ions d’aluminium est bien définie juste après l’ablation et près de la surface de la cible. Toutefois, pour un délai temporel important, les ions, en traversant la plume, se thermalisent grâce aux collisions avec les espèces du plasma et du gaz.

Dynamics of laser produced silver plasma under film deposition conditions studied using optical emission spectroscopy

Laser produced plasma from silver is generated using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Optical emission spectroscopy is used to carry out time of flight (TOF) analysis of atomic particles. An anomalous double peak profile in the TOF distribution is observed at low pressure. A collection of slower species emerge at reduced pressure below 4 X lO-3 mbar and this species has a greater velocity spread. At high pressure the plasma expansion follows the shockwave model with cylindrical symmetry whereas at reduced pressure it shows unsteady adiabatic expansion (UAE). During UAE the species show a parabolic increases in the expansion time with radial distance whereas during shock wave expansion the exponent is less than one. The angular distribution of the ablated species in the plume is obtained from the measurement of optical density of thin films deposited on to glass substrates kept perpendicular to the plume. There is a sharp variation in the film thickness away from the film centre due to asymmetries in the plume.

Influence of Angle of Air Injection and Particles in Bed Hydrodynamics of Swirling Fluidized Bed

The thesis presented here unveils an experimental study of the hydrodynamic characteristics of swirling fluidized bed viz. pressure drop across the distributor and the bed, minimum fluidizing velocity, bed behaviour and angle of air injection. In swirling fluidized bed the air is admitted to the bed at an angle 'Ѳ' to the horizontal. The vertical component of the velocity v sin Ѳ causes fluidization and the horizontal component v cos Ѳ contributes to swirl motion of the bed material.The study was conducted using spherical particles having sizes 3.2 mm, 5.5 mm & 7.4 mm as the bed materials. Each of these particles was made from high density polyethylene, nylon and acetal having relative densities of 0.93, 1.05 and 1.47 respectively.The experiments were conducted using conidour type distributors having four rows of slits. Altogether four distributors having angles of air injection (Φ)- 0°, 5°, 10° & 15° were designed and fabricated for the study. The total number of slits in each distributor was 144. The area of opening was 6220 mm2 making the percentage area of opening to 9.17. But the percentage useful area of opening of the distributor was 96.The experiments on the variation of distributor pressure drop with superficial velocity revealed that the distributor pressure drop decreases with angle of air injection. Investigations related to bed hydrodynamics were conducted using 2.5 kg of bed material. The bed pressure drop measurements were made along the radial direction of the distributor at distances of 60 mm, 90 mm, 120 mm & 150 mm from the centre of the distributor. It was noticed that after attaining minimum fluidizing velocity, the bed pressure drop increases along the radial direction of the distributor. But at a radial distance of 90 mm from the distributor centre, after attaining minimum fluidizing velocity the bed pressure drop remains almost constant. It was also observed that the bed pressure drop varies inversely with particle size as well as particle density.An attempt was made to determine the effect of various parameters on minimum fluidizing velocity. It was noticed that the minimum fluidizing velocity varies directly with angle of air injection (Φ), particle size and particle density.The study on the bed behaviour showed that the superficial velocity required for initiating various bed phenomena (such as swirl motion and separation of particles from the cone at the centre) increase with increase in particle size as well as particle density. It was also observed that the particle size and particle density directly influence the superficial velocity required for various regimes of bed behaviour such as linear variation of bed pressure drop, constant bed pressure drop and sudden increase or decrease in bed pressure drop.Experiments were also performed to study the effect of angle of air injection (Φ). It was noticed that the bed pressure drop decreases with angle of air injection. It was also noticed that the angle of air injection directly influence the superficial velocity required for initiating various bed phenomena as well as the various regimes of bed behaviour.