Trauma caused by grasping during laparoscopic surgery is something which will never be fully eradicated however efforts should be taken to reduce the potential to cause trauma by grasping. Tissue is often grasped with excessive forces for long periods of time during surgeries such as cholecystectomies and colectomies. This along with failed grasping actions and the occurrence of slip has been shown to damage the tissue. Design features often employed within graspers such as profiling and the occlusion mechanism of the instrument cause areas of high, uneven distribution of pressures on the tissue which can result in perforation or tissue tearing. By investigating these contributing factors, development of graspers with a low risk to cause damage this combined with actuating the grasping force should reduce the incidence of grasping trauma, currently at estimated at one incidence per procedure. These trauma events can lead to conversion to open surgery, peritonitis and even death. Development of an autonomous grasping instrument to detect and prevent slip by actuating the grasping force is reported. Piezoelectric sensors are used to detect incipient slip and slip events. A closed loop control system then reacts to these perceived slip events to prevent slip occurring by actuating the applied force by small increments to increase or decrease grasping force. This leads to a system in which only the required amount of force necessary to overcome pull force is applied to the tissue. Other areas of investigation to reduce tissue trauma are presented. In chapter 3 design features such as surface profiling and fenestrations are evaluated to determine the potential to cause damage. A variety of profiles and fenestrations are studied and each is reported by representing the applied force to retention force ratio which indicates how good the profile is at retaining tissue against a pull force. The aim of this study was to develop surface profiling which had a high retention force but a reduced number of high stress areas which can lead to tissue damage. Three new parallel action grasping designs are presented and evaluated using finite element analysis. Parallel action grasping is important in reducing tissue trauma as it distributes pressure evenly across the active grasping area as opposed to more conventional pivot style graspers which have high stress concentration areas in the proximal opening. Each area of study within the thesis addresses areas of concern which have been shown to cause tissue trauma and postulates viable solutions to reduce the incidences of tissue trauma during laparoscopic surgery with the ultimate aim of developing a deployable and autonomous grasping device which will detect and prevent slip.

Este trabalho visa localizar os pontos de proibição de ultrapassagem em uma rodovia, buscando conhecer e avaliar de forma prática e precisa os locais das marcações das faixas de sinalização horizontal, analisando-se um método moderno baseado nas informações dos satélites artificiais do Sistema de Posicionamento Global - GPS, e os métodos clássicos de levantamentos topográficos utilizados. Apresenta-se uma revisão dos principais conceitos relacionados ao perfil longitudinal, à distância de visibilidade nas curvas verticais e aos métodos utilizados para levantamento. Os resultados gráficos permitiram uma avaliação dos perfis e das marcações, obtendo-se um resultado satisfatório na avaliação do método moderno. / This work has the objective to locate the points of no passing lanes on a road, trying to know and evaluate in a practical and accurate way the places of horizontal signalization, analyzing a modern method based in collected information from the artificial satellites of the Global Positioning System - GPS, and classic methods of surveying. A review of the main concepts related to the longitudinal profile, of the sight distance in vertical turns, and to the methods used to surveying the graphic results permitted the evolution of profiles and marking, obtaining a satisfactory result in the evolution of the modern method.

The thesis is focused on the application of the method FMECA process manufacturing whitewood glued profile. The aim of work is to describe the production, identify fault conditions and their consequences in the fractional sub-processes of production and the analysis of criticality propose measures to increase the reliability of achieving the required quality.

Objetivou-se avaliar a influência da condição sexual sobre o desempenho, características de carcaça e qualidade da carne de bovinos Angus x Nelore, terminados em confinamento. Foram utilizados 176 bovinos, com idade média de 20 meses, pertencentes ao Programa Brasileiro de Carne Angus Certificada, divididos em quatro condições sexuais (CS): 32 machos não castrados (NC), 48 machos castrados cirurgicamente (CC), 48 machos imunocastrados (IM) e 48 fêmeas (F). Para a imunocastração dos bovinos, foram utilizadas três doses de uma vacina anti-GnRH. Os animais foram confinados durante 190 dias, com a mesma dieta, composta de 80% de concentrado e 20% de volumoso na matéria seca. Ao final deste período, os bovinos foram abatidos. Durante o abate, foi calculado o rendimento de carcaça quente (RCQ) e avaliado o pH. Na desossa, foi avaliada no m. Longissimus a área de olho de lombo (AOL), espessura de gordura subcutânea (EGS) entre a 12ª e 13ª costelas, marmorização, cor e pH. Foram coletadas amostras de 2,54 cm de espessura do m. Longissimus, embaladas a vácuo e maturadas por zero (sem maturação), 7 e 14 dias, a 2°C para análises de maciez objetiva (FC) e subjetiva, perdas por cocção (PPC), teor de extrato etéreo (EE) e perfil de ácidos graxos. Utilizou-se o procedimento MIXED do programa SAS® e a significância foi declarada quando P ≤ 0,05. Os machos NC apresentaram maior peso vivo final, ganho de peso médio diário, AOL e maiores valores de pH em relação às demais condições sexuais (P < 0,01). Para PCQ, os machos NC e IM apresentaram valores mais elevados do que machos CC e fêmeas (P < 0,01). Por outro lado, as fêmeas apresentaram maior EGS em relação às demais categorias (P < 0,01). O escore de marmorização foi maior na carne das fêmeas e machos CC do que dos machos NC e IM (P < 0,01), no entanto, a carne dos machos CC apresentou maior escore de gordura intramuscular Prime do que a carne das fêmeas. Para RCQ não houve diferença entre as CS. Houve maior PPC na carne dos machos CC (P < 0,01) e a carne das fêmeas apresentou maior teor de EE em relação às demais categorias (P = 0,0248). Houve interação entre CS e dias de maturação para os valores de FC (P = 0,0002) e para os valores de L* (P = 0,0118) e b* (P = 0,0113). A maturação influenciou a cor da carne, em função da CS e ambas favoreceram a maciez da carne de todas as CS avaliadas, especialmente de machos NC e fêmeas. A CS influenciou todos os atributos avaliados na análise sensorial (P < 0,05). A carne de fêmeas e animais castrados, sejam imunocastrados ou castrados por método cirúrgico, apresentaram melhor aceitação pelos consumidores na análise. Adicionalmente, a carne das fêmeas apresentou PAG mais favorável à saúde humana, enquanto a carne dos machos NC apresentou um perfil de AG menos saudável (P < 0,05). A imunocastração pode ser uma alternativa à castração cirúrgica, pois os resultados associados à melhoria na qualidade da carne de bovinos cruzados Angus x Nelore, são similares aos encontrados para os machos CC. Entretanto, vale ressaltar que os bovinos CC produzem carne com maior deposição de gordura intramuscular do que os IM e que os custos financeiros da imunocastração devem ser levados em consideração para a produção da carne. Ainda, as diferenças no perfil de ácidos graxos podem indicar que a CS pode impactar o valor nutricional da carne em termos de saúde humana. / The goal of this work was to evaluate sexual condition effects on performance, carcass traits, and meat quality of a feedlot Angus x Nellore cattle. Were used 176 cattle, 20 months of age, from the Brazilian Certified Angus Beef Program, assigned into four sexual conditions: 32 bulls, 48 steers, 48 immunocastrated, and 48 heifers. The immunocastrated were obtained by vaccinating three times with anti-GnRH vaccine. Animals were fed ad libitum with a highgrain diet containing 80% concentrate. At the end of the experimental period (190 days) the animals were harvested. At the slaughter were collected data related to the carcass yield and pH values. After slaughter, were evaluated in Longissimus muscle, the rib eye area, and subcutaneous fat thickness between the 12th and 13th ribs, marbling score, color, and pH. Vacuum packaged steaks (2.54 cm thick) from the Longissimus muscle were collected, aging for zero, 7, and 14 days at 2°C and stored at -18°C until analysis of meat quality. Statistical analyzes were performed using the proc MIXED SAS® program (version 9.2). Bulls presented increased final body weight, average daily gain, rib eye area, and pH values when compared with the other sexual conditions (P < 0.01). For hot carcass weight, bulls and immunocastrated had higher values compared to steers and heifers (P < 0.01). Interestingly, heifers presented higher subcutaneous fat thickness compared to the other categories (P < 0.01). Heifers and steers presented increased intramuscular fat scores compared to the bulls and immunocastrated; however, beef from steers presented higher marbling Prime scores when compared with beef from heifers. Beef from steers had higher cooking loss (P < 0.01) and beef from heifers presented higher ether extract content when compared with other sexual conditions (P = 0.0248). There was interaction between sexual condition and aging time for Warner Bratzler Shear Force (WBSF) values (P = 0.0002), L* (P = 0.0118) and b* (P = 0.0113) values. The period of aging affected beef color, depending of the sexual condition. In addition, all cattle categories evaluated had beef tenderness improved by the aging process and sexual condition, especially beef from bulls and heifers. Sexual condition had main influence in all beef sensorial attributes (P < 0.05). Beef from heifers, steers, and immunocastrated cattle had better consumer´s acceptability in sensory analysis then the beef from bulls. Additionally, beef from heifers presented favorable fatty acid profile for human healthy, while beef from bulls had an unfavorable fatty acid profile (P < 0.05). In conclusion, immunocastration can be an alternative to surgical castration, since it improves meat quality with results like those for Angus x Nellore steers. However, it is important to highlight that the steers produce high intramuscular fat deposition then the immunocastrated, and the cost of immunocastration should be taken into consideration for the beef cattle production. Additionally, the difference on fatty acid profile can indicate that the sexual condition can impact the nutrition values of the meat.

The availability of large-scale data on the Web motivates the development of automatic algorithms to analyze topics and to identify relationships between topics. Various approaches have been proposed in the literature. Most focus on specific topics, mainly those representing people, with little attention to topics of other kinds. They are also less flexible in how they represent topics. In this thesis we study existing methods as well as describe a different approach, based on profiles, for representing topics. A Topic Profile is analogous to a synopsis of a topic and consists of different types of features. Profiles are flexible to allow different combinations of features to be emphasized and are extensible to support new features to be incorporated without having to change the underlying logic. More generally, topic profiles provide an abstract framework that can be used to create different types of concrete representations for topics. Different options regarding the number of documents considered for a topic or types of features extracted can be decided based on requirements of the problem as well as the characteristics of the data. Topic profiles also provide a framework to explore relationships between topics. We compare different methods for building profiles and evaluate them in terms of their information content and their ability to predict relationships between topics. We contribute new methods in term weighting and for identifying relevant text segments in web documents. In this thesis, we present an application of our profile-based approach to explore social networks of US senators generated from web data and compare with networks generated from voting data. We consider both general networks as well as issue-specific networks. We also apply topic profiles for identifying and ranking experts given topics of interest, as part of the 2007 TREC Expert Search task. Overall, our results show that topic profiles provide a strong foundation for exploring different topics and for mining relationships between topics using web data. Our approach can be applied to a wide range of web knowledge discovery problems, in contrast to existing approaches that are mostly designed for specific problems.

The concurrent criterion-related validity of the Family Profile (FAMPRO) was investigated using the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales II (FACES II), the Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD) as criterion measures . Further analysis was conducted through a principal component factor analysis with a varimax rotation and correlations with a Family Satisfaction Scale. The Family Profile is an easy-to-administer, -score, and -interpret instrument designed for use in family life education. It is a 35-item instrument that measures seven areas of family functioning: Family Fun, Family Decisions, Family Pride, Family Values, Family Caring, Family Communication, and Family Confidence. The total scores of the Family Profile had strong correlations with the total scores of the three criterion instruments. Additionally, the individual constructs of the Family Profile showed moderate to strong relationships with the corresponding subscales found in the criterion instruments. Factor analysis of the FAMPRO with this sample indicated that the most important factor explaining the largest portion of the variance is the ability of family members to display positive regard to one another in an open and warm manner. The Family Satisfaction Scale created for this project was moderately to strongly correlated with all of the Family Profile's Subscales. The sample used for this study was taken from undergraduate Family and Human Development classes at Utah State University and had a total N of 194. This nonrandom sample was mostly young, single, and female. The religious preference for 80% of the sample was Mormon (LDS). While the sample limits generalization of the results, these preliminary results provide sufficient evidence to warrant further research using the Family Profile. Because the FAMPRO is easy to use and interpret, it holds promise as an effective tool for family life educators and clinicians alike.

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it sought to provide a profile of child development laboratory schools across the nati.on. Second, because laboratory schools are believed to be model programs that provide appropriate learning environments for children, their parents, and for the professional training of teachers, it was of particular interest to examine whether laboratory schools were training Early Childhood Education students in ways consistent with the current research and policies in the field. Specifically, the practices of laboratory schools at two- and four-year institutions were compared. Results of the study indicated that laboratory schools utilized philosophies that guide the curriculum within their programs. A variety of methods such as coursework, written materials, and conferences, were employed to inform students and parents of the program's philosophy. Observations were routinely conducted in laboratories with students and parents typically observing the program from an observation booth and/or the classroom. with regard to the mission of laboratory programs, two-year schools ranked service significantly higher, while four-year programs tended to do more research and training of graduate students. The ages of children in laboratories at two- and four-year schools were similar , but four-year schools had more classes with fewer children per class. Two-year schools had more full-day programs and longer hours, while four-year schools had more half-day programs operating fewer hours. Two-year schools also had more students and parents assisting in the classroom; however , two- and four-year programs both had acceptable ratios of adults to children. The Child Development Laboratory programs appear to be the model setting for the professional training of teachers and also a location which can help parents to become better consumers of alternative child care.

Asphalt pavement rutting is one of the most common and destructive pavement distresses observed on U.S. roads, particularly in the urban environment at intersections. They are an important indicator of the structural integrity of the pavement as well as having an impact on road user safety. For these reasons, most road agencies regularly monitor the levels of rut depths on their pavement. There are four technologies used for estimating rut depth in automated measurement way: ultrasonics, point lasers, scanning lasers, Optical. This thesis will focus on the development of the laser scanner rut depth measurement system, including the improvement of the hardware design, the software development and data analysis. In order to evaluate the accuracy and correction of the laser scanner system, the researcher used it to measure different pavement in different situations. This research focused on the performance measures, such as correlativity, repeatability. From field experiments and data analysis, the following results had been obtained: 1. Laser scanner showed satisfactory repeatability performances; 2. Laser scanner has good correlations with manual rut data. 3. High power laser scanner in dark asphalt has good correlations with in light pavement. The findings of this research will contribute to the development of laser system in the measurement of pavement rutting.

The beach profiles pre-and post-the Hurricane Hermine (2016) and Irma (2017) along the Sand Key barrier island were collected to quantify longshore variations in storm induced beach changes as well as to compare the beach changes caused by hydrodynamic conditions of the two different hurricanes. Cross-shore beach profile are examined in 4 sections including dune field, dry beach, sand bar and whole beach to calculate beach change. The volume change for each section and shoreline contour change before and post the hurricane was computed. Hydrodynamic conditions were obtained from adjacent NOAA’s tide and wave gauges. Both hurricanes generated high offshore waves, with Hurricane Hermine generated waves mostly from southwest, and Irma generated waves dominantly from northeast. Hurricane Hermine generated a storm surge of up to 1 m. While hurricane Irma generated negative surge of -1.1 m. Several beach profile parameters such as the foreshore slope, as well as volume changes of dune field, dry beach and sand bar induced by the two hurricanes were computed. Under both storms, the foreshore slope became steeper after the storm north of the headland, while the foreshore slope became gentler south of the headland. Storm surge plays an important role in inducing beach erosion. Hurricane Hermine with 1 m surge caused significant dune erosion in terms of dune volume loss and dune line retreat. On the other hand, hurricane Irma with negative surge only caused minor dune erosion. Sand bar moved seaward during both hurricanes, with Irma induced a much greater offshore movement than that of Hermine. In addition, the sand bar height decreased significantly during Irma. In contrast, during Hermine the sand bar height remained largely similar before and after the storm. Large alongshore variations in beach erosion was observed during both hurricanes as influenced by background erosion rate and direction of incident waves as they approaching the curved shoreline. For both storms, the erosional hot spot at North Sand Key with the highest background erosion rate suffered the most sand loss over the entire profile. More sand was eroded from the dry beach along the broad headland than along the beaches both north and south of it. Corresponding to the higher volume of dry beach erosion, shoreline retreat was also the largest around the headland. During Hurricane Hermine, the headland sheltering of the southerly approaching waves resulted in more erosion to the south than to the north. The opposite happened during Hurricane Irma with northerly approaching wave. More erosion occurred to the north of the headland than that to the south. Systematic measurement of beach profile beach and after hurricanes can improve our understanding on beach morphodynamics on storm induced beach changes.

<p>For the vast majority of proteins no experimental information about the three-dimensional structure is known, but only its sequence. Therefore, the easiest way to obtain some understanding of the structure and function of these proteins is by relating them to well studied proteins. This can be done by searching for homologous proteins. It is easy to identify a homologous sequence if the sequence identity is above 30%. However, if the sequence identity drops below 30% then more sophisticated methods have to be used. These methods often use evolutionary information about the sequences, which makes it possible to identify homologous sequences with a low sequence identity.</p><p>In order to build a three--dimensional model from the sequence based on a protein structure the two sequences have to be aligned. Here the aligned residues serve as a first approximation of the structure.</p><p>This thesis focuses on the development of fold recognition and alignment methods based on evolutionary information. The use of evolutionary information for both query and target proteins was shown to improve both recognition and alignments. In a benchmark of profile--profile methods it was shown that the probabilistic methods were best, although the difference between several of the methods was quite small once optimal gap-penalties were used. An artificial neural network based alignment method ProfNet was shown to be at least as good as the best profile--profile method, and by adding information from a self-organising map and predicted secondary structure we were able to further improve ProfNet.</p>