Stimulation électrique de la moelle épinière lombaire pour déclencher la marche chez le chat spinal

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Distribution network reconfiguration validation with uncertain loads - network configuration determination and application

Automatic load transfer (ALT) on the 11 kV network is the process by which circuit breakers on the network are switched to form open points in order to feed load from different primary substations. Some of the potential benefits that may be gained from dynamically using ALT include maximising utilisation of existing assets, voltage regulation and reduced losses. One of the key issues, that has yet to be properly addressed in published research, is how to validate that the modelled benefits really exist. On an 11 kV distribution network where the load is continually changing and the load on each distribution substation is unlikely to be monitored - reduction in losses from moving the normally open point is particularly difficult to prove. This study proposes a method to overcome this problem and uses measured primary feeder data from two parts of the Western Power Distribution 11 kV Network under different configurations. The process of choosing the different configurations is based on a heuristic modelling method of locating minimum voltages to help reduce losses.

Decoupling loads for nano-instruction set computers

We propose an ISA extension that decouples the data access and register write operations in a load instruction. We describe system and hardware support for decoupled loads. Furthermore, we show how compilers can generate better static instruction schedules by hoisting a decoupled load’s data access above may-alias stores and branches. We find that decoupled loads improve performance with geometric mean speedups of 8.4%.

The impact of gestational age and fetal weight on the risk of failure of spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery.

BACKGROUND: There are limited data about spinal dosing for cesarean delivery in preterm parturients. We investigated the hypothesis that preterm gestation is associated with an increased incidence of inadequate spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery compared with term gestation. METHODS: We searched our perioperative database for women who underwent cesarean delivery under spinal or combined spinal-epidural anesthesia with hyperbaric bupivacaine ⩾10.5mg. The primary outcome was the incidence of inadequate surgical anesthesia needing conversion to general anesthesia or repetition or supplementation of the block. We divided patients into four categories: <28, 28 to <32, 32 to <37 and ⩾37weeks of gestation. The chi-square test was used to compare failure rates and a multivariable regression analysis was performed to investigate potential confounders of the relationship between gestational age and failure. RESULTS: A total of 5015 patients (3387 term and 1628 preterm) were included. There were 278 failures (5.5%). The incidence of failure was higher in preterm versus term patients (6.4% vs. 5.1%, P=0.02). Failure rates were 10.8%, 7.7%, 5.3% and 5% for <28, 28 to <32, 32 to <37 and ⩾37weeks of gestation, respectively. In the multivariable model, low birth weight (P<0.0001), gestational age (P=0.03), ethnicity (P=0.02) and use of combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (P<0.0001) were significantly associated with failure. CONCLUSIONS: At standard spinal doses of hyperbaric bupivacaine used in our practice (⩾10.5mg), there were higher odds of inadequate surgical anesthesia in preterm parturients. When adjusting for potential confounders, low birth weight was the main factor associated with failure.

The construction and characterization of new permeable rho antagonists and their roles after spinal cord injury

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Influence of fetal tissue transplant on the morphology of the neuromuscular junctions of tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius following spinal transection in the rat

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Stimulation électrique de la moelle épinière lombaire pour déclencher la marche chez le chat spinal

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Table 1: Densities and snow loads for individual levels in 1967 and 1978

The deformation of a 20 m deep firn pit in the accumulation area of Kesselwandferner was surveyed over aperiod of 11 years. Six or seven surveying markers had been installed at each of 14 levels. The survey shows tImt the shear strain rate is independent of depth and the originally circular pit cross section was changed into an ellipse. In the direction of the glacier flow, the diameter was increased, the strain rate being approximately independent of depth. Transverse to the flow, however, the diameter decreased, the strain rate becoming higher as the depth increased. The vertical strain rates responsible for thinning of firn layers decrease with depth.

Distribution of Wheel Loads on Highway Bridges, 1968

The purpose of the research was to develop a more realistic design criteria for distribution of wheel loads on highway bridges. A comprehensive study was made of the· static load distribution in a broad range of short and medium span bridge types used by today's designers.

Characterization of the glial scar tissue in a murine model of spinal cord compression, with focus on hyaluronan

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological disorder that affects thousands of people each year. Although in recent decades significant progress has been made in relation to understanding the molecular and cellular events underlying the nervous damage, spinal cord injury is still a highly disabling condition for which there is no curative therapy. People affected by spinal cord injuries manifested dysfunction or loss, temporary or permanent, of motor, sensory and / or autonomic functions depending on the spinal lesion damaged. Currently, the incidence rate of this type of injury is approximately 15-40 cases per million people worldwide. At the origin of these lesions are: road accidents, falls, interpersonal violence and the practice of sports. In this work we placed the hypothesis that HA is one of the component of the scar tissue formed after a compressive SCI, that it is likely synthetised by the perilesional glial cells and that it might support the permeation of the glial scar during the late phase of SCI. Nowadays, much focus is drawn on the recovery of CNS function, made impossible after SCI due to the high content of sulfated proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix. Counterbalancing the ratio between these proteoglycans and hyaluronic acid could be one of the experimental therapy to re-permeate the glial scar tissue formed after SCI, making possible axonal regrowth and functional recovery. Therefore, we established a model of spinal cord compression in mice and studied the glial scar tissue, particularly through the characterization of the expression of enzymes related to the metabolism of HA and the subsequent concentration thereof at different distances of the lesion epicenter. Our results show that the lesion induced in mice shows results similar to those produced in human lesions, in terms of histologic similarities and behavioral results. but these animals demonstrate an impressive spontaneous reorganization mechanism of the spinal cord tissue that occurs after injury and allows for partial recovery of the functions of the CNS. As regards the study of the glial scar, changes were recorded at the level of mRNA expression of enzymes metabolizing HA i.e., after injury there was a decreased expression of HA synthases 1-2 (HAS 1-2) and an increase of the expression HAS3 synthase mRNA, as well as the enzymes responsible for the HA catabolism, HYAL 1-2. But the amount of HA measured through the ELISA test was found unchanged after injury, it is not possible to explain this fact only with the change of expression of enzymes. At two weeks and in response to SCI, we found synthesized HA by reactive astrocytes and probably by others like microglial cells as it was advanced by the HA/GFAP+ and HA/IBA1+ cells co-location.

Analysis of the moisture effect on the mechanical behaviour of an adhesively bonded joint under proportional multi-axial loads

The objective of the study is to identify the 3D behaviour of an adhesive in an assembly, and to take into account the effect of ageing in a marine environment. To that end, three different tests were employed. Gravimetric analyses were used to determine the water diffusion kinetics in the adhesive. Bulk tensile tests were performed to highlight the effects of humid ageing on the adhesive behaviour. Modified Arcan tests were performed for several ageing times to obtain the experimental database which was necessary to identify constitutive models. A Mahnken-Schlimmer type model was determined for the unaged state according to a procedure developed in a previous study. This identification used inverse techniques. It was based on the unaged modified Arcan results and on a coupling between an optimisation routine and finite-element analysis. Then, a global inverse identification procedure was developed. Its aim was to relate the unaged parameters to the moisture concentration and overcome the difficulties usually associated with ageing of bonded assemblies in a humid environment: a non-uniformity of the stress state and a gradient of mechanical properties in the adhesive. This procedure was similar to the one used in the first part but needed modified Arcan results for several ageing times. It also required an initial assumption for the evolution of the Mahnken-Schlimmer parameters with the moisture concentration.