Experimental verification of a novel system identification technique that can detect defects at the element level is successfully accomplished. The method can be used for in-service health assessment of real structures without disrupting normal operations. This study conclusively verifies the method.Analytical verification of the proposed algorithm has been successfully completed by the research team at the University of Arizona. Vo and Haldar (2004) experimentally verified the method by conducting tests on fixed-ended and simply supported defect-free and defective beams. The purpose of this research was to validate the method by conducting experiments with more realistic structures. A three-story one-bay steel frame, built to 1/3 scale to fit the experimental facility, was considered. The frame was excited by harmonic or impulsive excitation forces. The transverse acceleration responses were collected using capacitive accelerometers. The angular displacement responses were measured using an autocollimator. The dynamic responses of the frames were collected by a data acquisition system with simultaneous sampling capability. Using only experimentally collected response information and completely ignoring the excitation information, the stiffness of all the structural elements were identified. The method identified the defect-free frame very accurately. Defects, in terms of removing a beam, reducing cross sectional area over a small segment of a beam, and cutting notches in a beam, were introduced. The method correctly identified the defect location in all cases. Additional sensors were placed around the location of the defect in an effort to identify the defect spot more accurately. The proposed method also successfully identified defect with improved accuracy. To increase the implementation potential of the proposed method, the defect-free and defective frames are then identified using limited response information. A two-stage Kalman filter-based approach is used. It is denoted as Generalized Iterative Least Square Extended Kalman Filter with Unknown Input (GILS-EKF-UI) method. A sub-structure approach is used for this purpose. The GILS-EKF-UI method also identified the state of the structure using only limited response information. As expected, in this case the error in the identification goes up as less information is used. However, the error is much smaller than other methods currently available in the literature, even when input excitation was used for the identification purpose. The method is very robust and can identify defects caused by different types of loadings. The method can be used as a nondestructive defect assessment technique for structures.

No description available.

No description available.

Excessive sedimentation is a major stressor to ecosystem health in freshwater systems globally. Benthic macroinvertebrates are excellent bioindicators of ecosystem health because they have a range of environmental tolerances and are typically associated with certain substrate types. This study tested the hypothesis that sedimentation is a driver of benthic macroinvertebrate communities by determining their responses to increased deposited sediment levels in the Northern Great Plains using both experimental and survey approaches. In both approaches, the effects of deposited sediment were isolated, the responses of specific indicator invertebrates were characterized and finally, indices that commonly respond to deposited sediment were analyzed for their sensitivity. At the community level, the overall multivariate redundancy model was not significant and deposited sediment accounted for only 0.2% of the total variation in species composition in the river survey. Indicator species analysis identified taxa that were associated with sediment impairment classes in both studies. Index sensitivities indicated that Percent Swimmers responded to sediment and can potentially be used as an index of deposited sediment in this region, however this index was not sensitive to sediment in the landscape-scale survey. Although individual taxa that responded to sediment deposition may be used as bioindicators of sediment impairment in further studies, the relatively small effect of sediment at the community level and on univariate composition metrics suggests benthic macroinvertebrate communities are adapted to deposited sediment in the Northern Great Plains.

The inability to monitor the molecular trajectories of whole organs throughout the clinically relevant ischemic interval is a critical problem underlying the organ shortage crisis. Here, we report a novel technique for fabricating manufacturing conformal microfluidic devices for organ interface. 3D conformal printing was leveraged to engineer and fabricate novel organ-conforming microfluidic devices that endow the interface between microfluidic channels and the organ cortex. Large animal studies reveal microfluidic biopsy samples contain rich diagnostic information, including clinically relevant biomarkers of ischemic pathophysiology. Overall, these results suggest microfluidic biopsy via 3D printed organ-conforming microfluidic devices could shift the paradigm for whole organ preservation and assessment, thereby relieving the organ shortage crisis through increased availability and quality of donor organs. / Master of Science

Hipotezė: joga praktikuojančių žmonių gyvensena sveikesnė ir sveikatos vertinimas geresnis, nei jogos nepraktikuojančių. Darbo objektas: jogą praktikuojančių ir nepraktikuojančių žmonių gyvensena ir sveikatos vertinimas. Darbo tikslas: nustatyti ir palyginti jogą praktikuojančių ir jogos nepraktikuojančių žmonių gyvensenos ypatumus bei sveikatos vertinimą. Uždaviniai: 1.Nustatyti ir palyginti jogą praktikuojančių ir nepraktikuojančių žmonių mitybos ypatumus. 2.Nustatyti ir palyginti jogą praktikuojančių ir nepraktikuojančių žmonių žalingų įpročių bei fizinio aktyvumo ypatumus. 3.Palyginti jogą praktikuojančių ir nepraktikuojančių žmonių subjektyvų savo sveikatos vertinimą. Rezultatai: Apžvelgus visus gautus duomenis, galime teigti, jog darbo pradžioje iškelta hipotezė, yra teisinga. Jogą praktikuojantys žmonės mitybos, fizinio aktyvumo, žalingų įpročių ir sveikatos vertinimo atžvilgiu yra pranašesni už jogos nepraktikuojančius. Išvados: Jogą praktikuojantys žmonės pasižymi sveikesniais gyvensenos įpročiais, jie mažiau vartoja gyvūninės kilmės riebalų, dažniau vartoja vaisius, košes ir grūdinius produktus, taip pat yra fiziškai aktyvesni, nei nepraktikuojantys, tiek vyrai tiek moterys dažniau sportuoja savarankiškai, lanko grupines pratybas ir be jogos praktikų užsiima kitomis fiziškai aktyviomis veiklomis. Tarp jų vyrauja mažesnis žalingų įpročių paplitimas, nei vienas iš jų nerūko, o ir alkoholį vartoja ženkliai mažiau, nei jogos nepraktikuojantys. Praktikuojantys jogą... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Hypothesis: yoga practitioners lifestyle is healthier and health evaluation is better that non practitioners. Object: yoga practitioners and non practitioners actual lifestyle and health evaluation. Aim: to determine and compare the yoga practitioners and non practitioners lifestyle features and health evaluation. Objectives: 1.Determine and compare yoga practitioners and non practitioners nutrition pecularities. 2.Determine and compare yoga practitioners and non practitioners addictions and physical activity pecularities. 3.Compare yoga practitioners and non-practitioners subjective evaluation of their health. Results: After taking a close look at the results of our research, we can confirm that the hypothesis raised in the beginning of the work is correct. Yoga practitioners nutrition, physical activity, addictions and evaluation of their health is better than non practitioners. Conclusion: Yoga practitioners have healthier lifestyle habits, they consume less animal fat, eat more fruits, cereal and cereal based products. Also they are more physically active than non practitioners, both men and women often exercise solo or in group practices and without yoga, practice more kinds of physical activities. Among them are less prevalence of addictions, none of them smoke and comparing with yoga non practitioners less of them use alcohol. Yoga practitioners are healthier and have a better value of their health and quality of life.

Health organizations and governments are investing considerable resources into Internet-based health promotion. There is a large and growing body of research on health “etools” but to date most has been conducted using experimental paradigms; much less is known about those that are freely-available. Analysis was conducted of the data base generated through the operation of the freely-available health risk assessment (HRA) of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. During the study period of February 1 to December 20, 2011, 147,274 HRAs were completed, of which 120,510 (79.8%) included consent for the use of information for research and were completed by adults aged 18 to 90 years. Comparison of Canadian users to national statistics confirmed that the HRA sample is not representative of the general population. The HRA sample is significantly and systematically biased by gender, education, employment, heath behaviours, and the prevalence of specific chronic diseases. Etool users may be a large but select segment of the population, those previously described as “Internet health information seekers.” Are all Internet health information seekers the same? To explore this issue, segmentation procedures available in common commercial packages (k-means clustering, two-step clustering, and latent class analysis) were conducted using five combinations of variables. Ten statistically significant solutions were created. The most robust solution divided the sample into four groups differentiated by age (two younger and two older groups) and healthiness, as reflected by disease and modifiable risk factor burden and readiness to make lifestyle changes. These groups suggest that while all users of online health etools may be health information seekers, they vary in the extent to which they are health oriented or health conscientious (i.e., engaging in preventive health behaviours or ready for behaviour change). It is hoped that this research will provide other organizations with similar data bases with a model for analyzing their client populations, therefore increasing our knowledge about health etool users.

Electrical power systems play a key role in production and services in both the industrial and commercial sectors and significantly affect the private lives of citizens. A major asset of any power delivery system is the transformer. Transformers represent extensive investment in any power delivery system, and because of the notable effect of a transformer outage on system reliability, careful management of this type of asset is critical. In North America, a large proportion of transformers is approaching the end of their life and should be replaced. In many cases, unexpected transformer outages can be catastrophic and cause both direct and indirect costs to be incurred by industrial, commercial, and residential sectors. Direct costs include but are not limited to loss of production, idle facilities and labour, damaged or spoiled product, and damage to equipment. For commercial customers, the effects may include damage to electrical and electronic equipment, and in some cases damage to goods. For residential customers, outages may cause food spoilage or damage to electrical equipment. In addition to direct costs, there are several types of indirect costs may also result, such as accidental injuries, looting, vandalism, legal costs, and increases in insurance rates. The main goal of this research was to assess the health and remaining lifetime of a working transformer. This information plays a very important role in the planning strategies of power delivery systems and in the avoidance of the potentially appalling effects of unexpected transformer outages. This thesis presents two different methods of assessing transformer end of life and three distinct methods of determining the health index and health condition of any working transformer. The first method of assessing transformer end of life is based on the use of Monte Carlo technique to simulate the thermal life of the solid insulation in a transformer, the failure of which is the main reason for transformer breakdown. The method developed uses the monthly average ambient temperature and the monthly solar clearness index along with their associated uncertainties in order to estimate the hourly ambient temperature. The average daily load curve and the associated uncertainties in each hourly load are then used to model the transformer load. The inherent uncertainties in the transformer loading and the ambient temperature are used to generate an artificial history of the life of the transformer, which becomes the basis for appraising its remaining lifetime. The second method of assessing transformer end of life is essentially an economic evaluation of the remaining time to the replacement of the transformer, taking into consideration its technical aspects. This method relies on the fact that a transformer fails more frequently during the wear-out period, thus incurring additional maintenance and repair costs. As well, frequent failures increase during this period also costs related to transformer interruptions. Replacing a transformer before it is physically damaged is therefore a wise decision. The bathtub failure model is used to represent the technical aspects of the transformer for the purposes of making the replacement decision. The uncertainties related to the time-to-failure, time-to-repair, time-to-switch, and scheduled maintenance time are modeled using a Monte Carlo simulation technique, which enables the calculation of the repair costs and the cost of interruptions. The repair, operation, and interruption costs are then used to generate equivalent uniform annual costs (EUACs) for the existing transformer and for a new transformer, a comparison of which enables the determination of the most economical replacement year. The case studies conducted using both methods demonstrate their reliability for determining transformer end of life for assessing the appropriate time for replacement. Diagnostic test data for 90 working transformers were used to develop three methods of estimating the health condition of a transformer, which utilities and industries can use in order to assess the health of their transformer fleet. The first method is based on building a linear relation between all parameters of diagnostic data in order to determine a transformer health index, from which the health condition of the transformer can be evaluated. The second method depends on the use of artificial neural networks (ANN) in order to find the health condition of any individual transformer. The diagnostic data for the 90 working transformers together with the health indices calculated for them by means of a specialized transformer asset management and health assessment lab, were used to train an ANN. After the training, the ANN can estimate a health index for any transformer, which can be used in order to determine the health condition of the transformer. The third method is based on finding a relation between the input data and the given health indices (calculated by the specialized transformer asset management and health assessment lab) using the least squares method. This relation then can be used to find the health index and health condition of any working transformer. The health condition determined based on these methods shows excellent correlation with the given health condition calculated by the specialized transformer asset management and health assessment lab.

Electrical power systems play a key role in production and services in both the industrial and commercial sectors and significantly affect the private lives of citizens. A major asset of any power delivery system is the transformer. Transformers represent extensive investment in any power delivery system, and because of the notable effect of a transformer outage on system reliability, careful management of this type of asset is critical. In North America, a large proportion of transformers is approaching the end of their life and should be replaced. In many cases, unexpected transformer outages can be catastrophic and cause both direct and indirect costs to be incurred by industrial, commercial, and residential sectors. Direct costs include but are not limited to loss of production, idle facilities and labour, damaged or spoiled product, and damage to equipment. For commercial customers, the effects may include damage to electrical and electronic equipment, and in some cases damage to goods. For residential customers, outages may cause food spoilage or damage to electrical equipment. In addition to direct costs, there are several types of indirect costs may also result, such as accidental injuries, looting, vandalism, legal costs, and increases in insurance rates. The main goal of this research was to assess the health and remaining lifetime of a working transformer. This information plays a very important role in the planning strategies of power delivery systems and in the avoidance of the potentially appalling effects of unexpected transformer outages. This thesis presents two different methods of assessing transformer end of life and three distinct methods of determining the health index and health condition of any working transformer. The first method of assessing transformer end of life is based on the use of Monte Carlo technique to simulate the thermal life of the solid insulation in a transformer, the failure of which is the main reason for transformer breakdown. The method developed uses the monthly average ambient temperature and the monthly solar clearness index along with their associated uncertainties in order to estimate the hourly ambient temperature. The average daily load curve and the associated uncertainties in each hourly load are then used to model the transformer load. The inherent uncertainties in the transformer loading and the ambient temperature are used to generate an artificial history of the life of the transformer, which becomes the basis for appraising its remaining lifetime. The second method of assessing transformer end of life is essentially an economic evaluation of the remaining time to the replacement of the transformer, taking into consideration its technical aspects. This method relies on the fact that a transformer fails more frequently during the wear-out period, thus incurring additional maintenance and repair costs. As well, frequent failures increase during this period also costs related to transformer interruptions. Replacing a transformer before it is physically damaged is therefore a wise decision. The bathtub failure model is used to represent the technical aspects of the transformer for the purposes of making the replacement decision. The uncertainties related to the time-to-failure, time-to-repair, time-to-switch, and scheduled maintenance time are modeled using a Monte Carlo simulation technique, which enables the calculation of the repair costs and the cost of interruptions. The repair, operation, and interruption costs are then used to generate equivalent uniform annual costs (EUACs) for the existing transformer and for a new transformer, a comparison of which enables the determination of the most economical replacement year. The case studies conducted using both methods demonstrate their reliability for determining transformer end of life for assessing the appropriate time for replacement. Diagnostic test data for 90 working transformers were used to develop three methods of estimating the health condition of a transformer, which utilities and industries can use in order to assess the health of their transformer fleet. The first method is based on building a linear relation between all parameters of diagnostic data in order to determine a transformer health index, from which the health condition of the transformer can be evaluated. The second method depends on the use of artificial neural networks (ANN) in order to find the health condition of any individual transformer. The diagnostic data for the 90 working transformers together with the health indices calculated for them by means of a specialized transformer asset management and health assessment lab, were used to train an ANN. After the training, the ANN can estimate a health index for any transformer, which can be used in order to determine the health condition of the transformer. The third method is based on finding a relation between the input data and the given health indices (calculated by the specialized transformer asset management and health assessment lab) using the least squares method. This relation then can be used to find the health index and health condition of any working transformer. The health condition determined based on these methods shows excellent correlation with the given health condition calculated by the specialized transformer asset management and health assessment lab.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A avaliaÃÃo do impacto de intervenÃÃes educativas surge para identificar a efetividade de programas, softwares, curso e treinamentos que envolvam profissionais e sujeitos com necessidades de capacitaÃÃo. O curso Ãlcera por PressÃo Online, utilizado nesta tese, trata-se de uma tecnologia de informaÃÃo e comunicaÃÃo desenvolvida para capacitar profissionais de enfermagem sobre a prevenÃÃo e tratamento de Ãlcera por pressÃo (UP) em pacientes nas diversas esferas de cuidado. A UP, alÃm de ser um problema de saÃde pÃblica mundial, provoca a realizaÃÃo de estudos que buscam formas de minimizar esse problema, alÃm de ser um indicador de qualidade da assistÃncia de enfermagem adotado em instituiÃÃes de saÃde. Foi objetivo desta tese avaliar o impacto de uma intervenÃÃo educativa a partir de uma tecnologia de informaÃÃo e comunicaÃÃo sobre prevenÃÃo e tratamento de UP em uma unidade de terapia intensiva de um hospital universitÃrio de Fortaleza/CE. Trata-se de um estudo quase experimental, com abordagem antes e depois, realizado no perÃodo de setembro de 2011 a junho de 2012. Participaram da pesquisa 94 pacientes (47 antes e 47 depois) e nove enfermeiras do setor. O estudo foi dividido em trÃs fases: prÃ-intervenÃÃo, intervenÃÃo e pÃs-intervenÃÃo. Foram utilizados para coleta de dados formulÃrios com variÃveis clÃnicas e sociais dos pacientes; dados referentes à assistÃncia de enfermagem na prevenÃÃo e tratamento de UP; a escala de avaliaÃÃo de risco de Braden; questionÃrio com variÃveis sociais das enfermeiras; e o questionÃrio de avaliaÃÃo de conhecimento sobre UP de Pieper e Mott (1995). Os dados foram organizados no Programa Excel e analisado no Programa estatÃstico SAS, com a utilizaÃÃo dos Testes t de Student, Exato de Fisher, Qui-quadrado corrigido de Yates, T de Wilcoxon e U de Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney para anÃlise estatÃstica. A pesquisa obteve a aprovaÃÃo do Comità de Ãtica em Pesquisa da instituiÃÃo com protocolo n 098.09.11. Os resultados apontaram similaridade entre os grupos prà e pÃs-intervenÃÃo em relaÃÃo Ãs caracterÃsticas sociais e fatores clÃnicos avaliados (p&#706;0,05), exceto no item readmissÃo que sà esteve presente na primeira fase. A avaliaÃÃo de risco, a descriÃÃo da pele e a descriÃÃo de medidas preventivas apresentaram melhor porcentagem no grupo pÃs-intervenÃÃo, mas sem diferenÃa estatisticamente significante (p=0,839; p=0,865; p=0,723, respectivamente). A maioria dos pacientes do grupo prÃ-intervenÃÃo (53,19%) apresentou UP; essa superioridade tambÃm ocorreu em relaÃÃo à presenÃa de UP na admissÃo na UTI, com diferenÃa significante em relaÃÃo ao grupo pÃs-intervenÃÃo (p=0,046). A prevalÃncia de UP na UTI diminuiu de 36,23% para 27,36%; e a incidÃncia de 31,91% para 19,14% depois da intervenÃÃo educativa. A maioria dos pacientes do grupo prÃ-intervenÃÃo apresentou risco elevado de desenvolver UP (57,44%) e o grupo pÃs-intervenÃÃo, risco moderado (51,06%). Entre as nove enfermeiras, a maioria jà tinha realizado curso sobre UP (55,56%) e curso na modalidade EAD (55,56%). O nÃmero de acertos de questÃes sobre prevenÃÃo foi superior no grupo pÃs-intervenÃÃo com 81,93%, sendo tambÃm esse grupo o que apresentou maior porcentagem de acertos nas questÃes relacionadas ao estadiamento da UP (93,20%). A diferenÃa no nÃmero de acertos e de pontos entre os grupos apresentou diferenÃa significante (p&#706;0,05). Concluiu-se que a intervenÃÃo educativa gerou impacto na diminuiÃÃo da prevalÃncia e incidÃncia de lesÃes na UTI e na aquisiÃÃo de conhecimento das enfermeiras, principalmente, relacionado ao estadiamento das lesÃes. / Educational interventions impact assessment appears to identify the effectiveness of programs, software, courses and trainings that involve professionals and individuals who present capacity needs. The Pressure Ulcer Online Course used in this thesis is an information and communication technology (ICT) developed to qualify nursing professionals to prevent and treat Pressure Ulcer (PU) in patients in all care situations. The PU, besides being a worldwide health problem, assembles studies that search ways of minimizing this problem, and it is a quality nursing assistance indicator adopted by health institutions. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention using an information and communication technology on prevention and treatment of pressure ulcer at an Intensive Care Unit of a Teaching Hospital in Fortaleza/CE. This is a quasi-experimental study with a before and after approach carried out from September 2011 to June 2012. 94 patients (47 patients before and 47 patients after) and 09 nurses from the ICU have participated in the research. The study has been divided into three phases: pre-intervention, intervention, and post-intervention. In order to collect data, we used questionnaires for patientsâ social and clinic variables; data regarding nursing assistance for PU prevention and treatment; Braden scale for assessing pressure ulcer risk; questionnaire for nursesâ social variables; and the Pieperâs and Mottâs (1995) questionnaires to evaluate the nursesâ knowledge of PU. Data was organized using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using the Statistic Software SAS. Statistical analyses were carried out using the Studentâs t-test, Fisherâs Exact test, and Yatesâ corrected Chi-square test, Wilcoxon T test, and Wicoxon-Mann-Whitney U test. The ethical committee of the institution has approved this research under protocol number 098.09.11. Results have pointed out similarity between the pre and post-intervention groups regarding social characteristics and clinical factors (p&#706;0.05) that have been analyzed, excepting the readmission item, which was present only in the first phase. Risk assessment, skin description and prevention measures description have shown better percentage in the post-intervention group, but there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.839; p=0.865; p=0.723, respectively). Most patients from the pre-intervention group (53.19%) have presented PU; this superiority has also happen regarding PU presence at the patientâs admission to hospital with significant difference related to the post-intervention group. PU prevalence at the IUC has decreased from 36.23% to 27.36% and incidence has reduced from 31.91% to 19.14 after the educational intervention. Most patients from the pre-intervention group have presented high risk for developing PU (57.44%) and the post-intervention group has present moderate risk (51.06%). Most of the nine nurses have already taken a course on PU (55.56%) and an online course (55.56%). Number of correct answers about prevention was higher in the post-intervention group, which showed a percentage of 81.93% correct answers. This group was also the one presenting the greatest percentage in questions about PU staging (93.20%). Difference on the number of correct answers and points between the groups have presented significant difference (p<0.05). We concluded that the educational intervention has impacted on the decrease of lesions prevalence and incidence at the IUC and on the nurses knowledge acquisition, mainly, regarding lesions staging.