Both behavioral and neurophysiological data indicate that many factors contribute to how infants tune to their native language(s) in early infancy. However, substantial debate remains regarding the neural mechanisms that underlie this tuning process. This study was designed to determine whether the behavioral changes in infants' processing of native and non-native speech during the second half of the first year correspond to qualitative neural processing changes that can be measured using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Specifically, we used NIRS to examine changes in hemodynamic activity in monolingually-exposed infants between the ages of 3 and 14 months while they were exposed to native (English) and non-native (Spanish) speech. In all infants, measurements were taken from the bilateral temporal regions of the cerebral cortex. Three age groups were tested: pre-tuned infants, who should show no sensitivity to phonological differences between the native and non-native speech samples (3-to-6-month-olds), actively tuning infants, who should be beginning to differentiate between the phonology of the native and non-native speech samples (7-to-10-month-olds), and tuned infants, who should readily distinguish between the phonologies of the native and non-native speech samples (11-to-14-month-olds). Results demonstrated significant differences in hemodynamic activity during the processing of native speech compared to non-native speech in each of the three age groups, with qualitatively different patterns of hemispheric lateralization emerging in response to the two types of speech in each of the three groups. These findings point to a potential neural marker of infants' sensitivity to the phonology of their native language as it emerges with increasing age that will be useful in future research.

Gamification is an emerging phenomenon that has been advocated for its potential to improve organisational outcomes. The present study aimed to examine the effect of gamification in a perceptual diagnosis task. Forty participants completed a 22-minute visual search task. To investigate the role of game mechanics participants were divided into four conditions resulting from the factorial combination of the narrative mechanic (narrative and control condition) and the points mechanic (Points and no-points control condition). Attention effort, motivation, and work engagement were measured through performance metrics, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and self-report questionnaires. The results revealed points significantly increased task performance while narrative significantly increased intrinsic motivation and prefrontal oxygenation. These findings may provide much needed contributions to the literature surrounding gamification. It was also revealed that fNIRS measures of frontal activation may be a reasonable objective indicator of initial cognitive effort. This presents significant real world applications for objectively measuring motivation.

The agriculture industry experiences severe economic losses each year when wheat crops become infected with Fusarium and the mycotoxin Deoxynivalenol (DON). This research investigated the feasibility of using near infrared hyperspectral imaging to detect Fusarium damage and DON in Canadian Western Red Spring wheat. Four samples were selected from each grain grade resulting in 16 samples and 240 hyperspectral data cubes. The data cubes were calibrated to the system, the consistent spectra was found and then a 1- nearest neighbour classifier was generated. Grade percentages were computed and used to generate two 3- nearest neighbour classifiers, one for identifying Fusarium damage and the other for identifying DON content. The Fusarium damage classifier had an accuracy of 85% and the DON content classifier had an accuracy of 80%. While a single sample image classification will not replace manual testing, the use of multiple samples from one harvest could reduce manual inspections.

Remote sensing of the Earth's atmosphere, typically performed in the infrared region of the spectrum, plays an important role in scientific research. In the past the instruments used to perform these observations have been large, massive devices and correspondingly have only been able to be placed on large satellites. There is currently a trend toward smaller Earth observing platforms, so-called micro-satellites, and there is therefore a need for smaller, less massive instruments. Typically these instruments utilise a semiconductor device that responds to incoming infrared radiation in a known way. Such devices are subject to a number of noise sources that reduce their performance. By cooling them to temperatures around 80K it is possible to significantly reduce the amplitude of this noise compared to the incoming radiation of interest, thus increasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Typically this cooling is performed by a mechanical cooler, but currently many of them are too massive and require too much power to be suitable for use on a small remote sensing satellite. By considering a typical application, a performance target for a miniature cooler was determined to be a heat lift of 200mW at a cold tip temperature of 80K. Hardware has been created to investigate the feasibility of achieving this aim with a hybrid cooler/radiator. The cooler is a miniature integral Stirling machine and uses flat spiral flexures with a newly designed linear motor to drive the compressor piston; the displacer is driven pneumatically. The prototype initially underwent characterisation without first being pre-cooled by the radiator. Although significant cooling was observed (to below 170K), initial characterisation highlighted a low thermal resistance between the warm end of the cooler and the cold tip. With pre-cooling the cold tip was able to reach a minimum no-load cold tip temperature of 92K, and with 200mW applied to the cold tip a temperature of 122.4 K was sustainable. Attempts were made to increase the thermal resistance between the warm end and cold tip by introducing thermal breaks into the regenerator, and whilst these did increase the thermal resistance, the overall performance of the cooler decreased. The concept of a hybrid miniature cooler/radiator has been shown to be feasible. To achieve the target performance of a heat lift of 200mW at 80K further work needs to be performed to characterise loss processes within the cooler and increase the thermal resistance between the warm end and cold tip.

A liquid nitrogen cooled, carbon monoxide laser magnetic resonance spectrometer was used to study mid-infrared vibration-rotation transitions in the gaseous free radical NCO, in its ̅X²Π state, at very high resolution. The use of an intracavity absorption cell made possible the observation of some transitions with sub-Doppler resolution. Developments to the spectrometer extended the range of operation of the CO laser. Most importantly, a CO laser operating on overtone transitions, Δν = 2, was operated in Oxford. The Δν = 2 CO laser operates over the range 2450-3800cm^-1 (4.08-2.63 μm), and the Δν = 1 CO laser over the range 1200-2100 cm^-1 (8.33-4.76 μm). NCO exhibits a Renner-Teller effect in its ground electronic state, an interaction between the motion of the electrons and the bending motion of the nuclei. Vibration-rotation transitions were observed in a sequence of bands involving the excitation of the out-of-phase stretching vibration, in the region of 1900cm^-1. Some of the bands involved the excited bending vibration. The Zeeman effect behaviour of the molecular energy levels, particularly in the ²Σ vibronic states, clearly showed the manifestation of the Renner-Teller effect. The Zeeman effect in the ²Σ vibronic states was considered in detail. Many of the ²Σ LMR spectra were recorded at sub-Doppler resolution. NCO is complicated to model, and unassigned LMR spectra remain. A harmonic Renner-Teller model was developed for the analysis. It was implemented by constructing an explicit matrix representation of the single electronic state N² effective Hamiltonian, which was diagonalised exactly. A new term in this Hamiltonian, describing centrifugal distortion corrections to the Renner-Teller coupling term, was developed for the ²Σ vibronic states in order to account for anharmonic vibronic interactions.

Recent studies have demonstrated that applied hydrostatic pressure can affect the functional properties of whey protein isolate (WPI). In this work, the effects of applied hydrostatic pressure on the tertiary and secondary structure of whey proteins were investigated by spectroscopic and rheological techniques to elucidate the molecular basis of such pressure-induced changes in protein functionality. The individual protein components of WPI and various samples of WPI obtained from different sources were subjected to different single-cycle pressure treatments of up to 400 MPa in 100 MPa increments with 30-min holding time as well as to pressures ranging from 450 to 650 MPa without a holding time. Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, circular dichroism, and Fourier transform Raman spectroscopic studies of pressure-treated samples of beta-lactoglobulin, the major protein component of WPI, revealed significant changes in tertiary structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic studies revealed that the secondary structure of beta-lactoglobulin was also sensitive to applied pressure and holding time. The secondary and tertiary structure of alpha-lactalbumin, the second most prevalent protein in WPI, was unaffected by applied hydrostatic pressure. The spectroscopic behaviour of the various samples of WPI subjected to pressure treatment was variable and indicated that the response of WPI to applied hydrostatic pressure is dependent on the method used to isolate the WPI from whey. The rheological profiles of beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, and WPI samples after various pressure treatments were also recorded. Both beta-lactoglobulin and WPI exhibited marked increases in viscosity with increasing pressure, whereas alpha-lactalbumin remained solutions exhibited no significant change in viscosity. These studies have furthered the understanding of the effects of applied hydrostatic pressure on the molecular structure and rheological pr

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for probing protein structure-function relationships. With the use of isotope editing, it can also be employed to elucidate protein-nucleic acid interactions. This technique was used to study the sequence of heat-induced unfolding of the uniformly labeled 13C regulatory subunit (RSU) of E. coli aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase) with its inhibitor CTP. The absorption of CTP in the amide I' region limits our ability to detect protein conformational changes upon binding of CTP. Therefore, by labeling the protein with 13C shifts the amide I' band ~ 40 cm -1 and clearly separates the protein bands from those of CTP. Variable-temperature (VT) FTIR spectroscopy was then employed to monitor the thermal unfolding of the labeled RSU in the presence and absence of CTP. / In addition, isotope editing was further explored to probe domain-domain interactions of the two domains of RSU using intein technology. Intein technology provides a novel means by which isotope editing can be performed to extract information on protein inter-domain and inter-subunit interactions by spectroscopic analysis but has not yet been exploited in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The objective of this project is to present for the first time the feasibility of segmental labeling through intein-mediated protein ligation (IPL) for the purpose of studying conformational changes by FTIR spectroscopy, using ATCase as a model enzyme. In the first phase of this project, the RSU of ATCase, which houses a Zn-binding domain and a nucleotide binding domain, was reconstructed from its isolated domains using commercially available intein-base expression vectors. As steps towards obtaining an isotope labeled RSU, we have fused each domain to separate inteins. Following affinity purification, the intein tags were chemically cleaved and the reactive ends of the two RSU domains were ligated together to form a peptide. Although ligation was successful, improved yields are required for the FTIR spectroscopic studies.

The application of hyperspectral imaging technique in the wavelength range of 400-1000 nm to estimate some of the maturity parameters of mangoes was investigated. Mangoes with different quality levels were grouped using principle component analysis (PCA). Feature wavelengths were identified to predict total soluble solids content, water content and firmness using simple correlation, first derivative, partial least square (PLS) regression analysis and measured values. Calibration models were developed using the selected wavelengths from correlation coefficients, first derivative, partial least square (PLS) regression analysis and corresponding maturity parameters employing artificial neural network model to predict total soluble solids content, water content and firmness of the fruit. Performance of the models was compared using the correlation coefficient (r) values. Fruit firmness was predicted with high correlation coefficient (r=0.88) followed by water content (r=0.81) and total soluble solids (r=0.78) using wavelengths selected from simple correlation of first derivative data with the parameters and ANN model. The results of the study demonstrated the scope for further research on maturity and quality evaluation of fruits using hyperspectral imaging technique.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies allow users to control external devices through brain activity alone, circumventing the somatic nervous system and the need for overt physical movement. BCIs may potentially benefit individuals with severe neuromuscular disorders who experience significant, and often total, loss of voluntary muscle control (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, brainstem stroke). Though a majority of BCI research to date has focused on electroencephalography (EEG) for brain signal acquisition, recently researchers have noted the potential of an optical imaging technology called near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for BCI applications. This thesis investigates the feasibility of a practical, online optical BCI based on conscious modulation of prefrontal cortex activity through the performance of different cognitive tasks, specifically mental arithmetic (MA) and mental singing (MS). The thesis comprises five studies, each representing a step toward the realization of a practical optical BCI. The first study demonstrates the feasibility of a two-choice synchronized optical BCI based on intentional control states corresponding to MA and MS. The second study explores a more user-friendly alternative - a two-choice system-paced BCI supporting a single intentional control state (either MA or MS) and a natural baseline, or "no-control (NC)", state. The third study investigates the feasibility of a three-choice system-paced BCI supporting both MA and MS, as well as the NC state. The fourth study examines the consistency with which the relevant mental states can be differentiated over multiple sessions. The first four studies involve healthy adult participants; in the final study, the feasibility of optical BCI use by a user with Duchenne muscular dystrophy is explored. In the first study, MA and MS were classified with an average accuracy of 77.2% (n=10), while in the second, MA and MS were differentiated individually from the NC state with average accuracies of 71.2% and 62.7%, respectively (n=7). In the third study, an average accuracy of 62.5% was obtained for the MA vs. MS vs. NC problem (n=4). The fourth study demonstrated that the ability to classify mental states (specifically MA vs. NC) remains consistent across multiple sessions (p=0.67), but that there is intersession variability in the spatiotemporal characteristics that best discriminate the states. In the final study, a two-session average accuracy of 71.1% was achieved in the MA vs. NC classification problem for the participant with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Defatted soybean was subjected to isolation procedures as follows: NaOH extraction/acid precipitation (NaOH-IE); water extraction/acid precipitation (H2O-IE); NaOH extraction/cryoprecipitation (NaOH-CP) and citric acid extraction/cryoprecipitation (CA-CP). NaOH-CP and CA-CP each resulted in precipitation of one protein mainly consisting of glycinin and beta-conglycinin, respectively. The proteins were subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), SDS-PAGE, size exclusion-chromatography (SEC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for characterization. PAGE, SDS-PAGE, SEC and DSC confirmed the homogeneity of NaOH-CP. The gelation properties and structural characteristics of NaOH-CP were investigated; the minimum protein concentration required for formation of a thermally-induced gel from NaOH-CP was 8%. With cold-set gelation, in the presence of 30 mM CaCl2, the minimum protein concentration required for formation of a self-supporting gel was 4%. At 100 mM CaCl 2, cold-set gelation of 10% protein concentration gave gel of strength 7.4 N compared to the 7.8 N gel strength obtained with thermally-induced gel at 16% protein concentration. The effects of heating on the NaOH-CP structure, in the presence of varying concentrations of NaCl and reducing agents, were examined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and DSC. FTIR spectroscopy revealed that at 25°C the NaOH-CP protein showed four bands at 1633, 1650, 1667, and 1689 cm-1. At 85°C, the temperature associated with gelation, the four bands decreased in intensity with the simultaneous increase in the intensity of a band at 1644 cm-1 as result of the protein unfolding, furthermore two new bands at 1616 and 1685 cm -1 appeared. The latter two bands are attributed to intermolecular mu-sheet formed during gelation. The NaOH-CP did not exhibit any aggregation band between 25--100°C in the presence of NaCl. The DSC studies revealed that the protein denatured at approximately 102°