Introduction-Physical activity can reduce the risk of contracting many of the 'diseases of the sedentary', such as coronary heart disease and cancer (Blair et al., 1996). Recognition of this protective effect has led to the development of many programmes designed to promote the benefit of participation in sport and physical exercise (Hillary Commission, 1993; Nicholl et aI., 1995). With participation in sport, especially contact sport, the risk for injuries increases, including injuries to the head and neck (Wilberger, 1993; Wekesa et al., 1996; Pettersen, 2002). Mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) or concussion as used interchangeably in the literature (Maroon et al., 2000; Wills & Leathem, 2001) are an important public health concern, due to the high incidence and frequently persisting symptomatology (Evans, 1992). Mild traumatic brain injury is defined as a complex patho-physiological process affecting the brain induced by traumatic biomechanical forces (Aubry et al., 2002; McCrory et al., 2004). A sub-concussive injury or very mild traumatic brain injury (vMTBI) may be defined as an apparent brain insult with insufficient force to cause hallmark symptoms of concussion (Jordan, 2000; Webbe & Bath, 2003). The high incidence of sport related head injuries in South Africa is alarming, although the prevalence thereof is unknown and difficult to assess, as the seemingly trivial injuries frequently remain unreported (Roux et al., 1987). This is especially applicable in sport where a milder form of head injury is common. This is cause for concern as cumulative head injuries traditionally regarded as trivial or 'minor' may result in players running the risk of increasingly negative consequences following repetitive 'minor' head injuries. In contact sport such as rugby, players are at great risk of sustaining repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries. The negative outcome following these repetitive minor head injuries has been demonstrated by numerous studies on boxers and other athletes exposed to repeated MTBI and vMTBI (McLatchie et aI., 1987). The incidence of vMTBI has not yet been researched in school rugby and this study is the first to report the incidence of vMTBI in a secondary school rugby team. Obiectives - The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence, the neuropsychological consequences and the effect on the academic performance of repeated mild (MTBI) and very mild traumatic brain injuries (vMTBI) in a secondary school rugby team during one playing season. Methods - A cohort of 35 secondary school male rugby players divided into a vMTBI (group 1) (n=26) and a MTBI (group 2) (n=9) from a local secondary school's first and second team, was followed for a full competitive season by a trained Biokineticist, who was present at all the games and contact sessions played. All vMTBI and MTBI and the severity of these injuries were documented. A control (group 3) that consisted of 10 secondary school non-rugby players were compared with the vMTBI and MTBI groups. The incidence of repeated MTBI and vMTBI in a secondary school rugby team were gathered by questionnaires and observation next to the field by a trained Biokineticist. Pre-season and post-season neuropsychological tests were conducted on the research groups and the control group. The neuropsychological tests that were conducted on the three groups were the Colour Trial Test 1 and 2 (CTT 1 + 2), the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) and the Standardised Assessment of Concussion (SAC). After each match played throughout the season the research group also completed a SAC test. The academic results of the final examination (year 1) of the year of the specific rugby season were obtained, as well as the academic results of the final examination of the preceding two years (year 2 and 3). The programme STATISTICA (version 7.0, Stat soft, Tulsa, OK) was used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA's, two-way repeated measures ANOVA's, Post-hoc Tuckey HSD analysis and Pearson's product moment correlation were used for all the statistical analyses. Results - This study of a secondary school rugby team has shown 726 vMTBI's and 18 MTBI's throughout one rugby season. This relates to 1951 vMTBI's per 1000 player hours and 48 MTBI's per 1000 player hours. Reductions in delayed memory (p=O.O1)from preseason to post-season in a group of players with repetitive vMTBI's during a single rugby season were found. This was the first evidence of possible neurocognitive deficits towards delayed memory in very mild traumatic brain injuries at secondary school level. Statistically significant (p<=0.05)results of the SAC test totals between both the vMTBI and MTBI groups were documented in the different games throughout the rugby season and compared with the baseline test. No statistically significant differences (p<=0.05) between the pre-season and post-season's scores of the SAC test totals were documented. A decrease in academic performance in the subject Afrikaans (year 1 compared with year 2) with a p-value of p=O.O17(group 1) and p=O.O16(group 2) respectively was found. Conclusion - The findings of this study indicate a high incidence of vMTBI in a cohort of secondary school rugby players in one season, a statistically significant reduction (p=O.O1 )in delayed memory of the vMTBI rugby players and a statistically significant decrease in academic performance p=O.O17 (group 1) and p=O.O16 (group 2) in the subject Afrikaans from year 1 to year 2 final examinations. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

This thesis will discuss the results of a two-year 90 game study to consider the role violence and aggression plays in competitive minor hockey and its role as a mechanism for injury. The second objective of this thesis was to determine the contextual factors that lead to injury on the ice. Using a mixed methods approach, the study followed three minor hockey teams from the Ottawa-Gatineau region over two sporting seasons. The study found that players are not being injured due to aggressive or violent play but rather players are being hurt within the rules of the game. The contextual factors that were shown to lead to injury included: (1) body-checking, (2) time of the game, (3) player’s body mass, (4) position played and (5) legal plays. Injuries were also broken down by anatomical site (head/neck, upper body and lower body); the upper body was affected by injury most.

PURPOSE: This phase I dose-escalation study was undertaken to establish the maximum tolerated dose of the sequence-selective minor groove DNA binding agent SJG-136 in patients with advanced solid tumors. The study also investigated antitumor activity and provided pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Sixteen patients were assigned sequentially to escalating doses of SJG-136 (15-240 microg/m(2)) given as a 10-minute i.v. infusion every 21 days. The dose was subsequently reduced in incremental steps to 45 microg/m(2) due to unexpected toxicity. RESULTS: The maximum tolerated dose of SJG-136 was 45 microg/m(2). The main drug-related adverse event was vascular leak syndrome (VLS) characterized by hypoalbuminemia, pleural effusions, ascites, and peripheral edema. Other unexpected adverse events included elevated liver function tests and fatigue. The VLS and liver toxicity had delayed onset and increased in severity with subsequent cycles. Disease stabilization was achieved for >6 weeks in 10 patients; in 2 patients this was maintained for >12 weeks. There was no evidence of DNA interstrand cross-linking in human blood lymphocytes with the use of the comet assay. Evidence of DNA interaction in lymphocytes and tumor cells was shown through a sensitive gamma-H2AX assay. SJG-136 had linear pharmacokinetics across the dose range tested. CONCLUSIONS: SJG-136 was associated with dose-limiting VLS and hepatotoxicity when administered by short injection every 21 days. DNA damage was noted, at all dose levels studied, in circulating lymphocytes. The etiology of the observed toxicities is unclear and is the subject of further preclinical research. Alternative clinical dosing strategies are being evaluated.

This thesis describes the development and rationalization of processes involved in a new methodology developed in our group, minor enantiomer recycling. The first part of the thesis addresses mechanistic studies of one of the reactions involved in minor enantiomer recycling, dual Lewis acid-Lewis base catalyzed acetylcyanation of aldehydes. The methodology uses a combination of a chiral titanium-salen  complex with a tertiary amine as a catalytic  system  in  the enantioselective  synthesis  of  O-acylated  cyanohydrins from aldehydes and ketonitriles. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the rate-determining step in the reaction changes, depending on the nature of the aldehyde that was used. It was also concluded that cyanohydrin is coordinated to the Lewis acid in the acylation step. The second part of the thesis deals with minor enantiomer recycling, a highly selective one-pot recycling system. In a first step the product is formed as a minor and a major enantiomer by asymmetric catalysis. Recycling of the minor enantiomer, by selective kinetic resolution, regenerates the starting material. Continuous addition of a second reagent, also involved in a coupled exergonic process, leads to an increase of both yield and enantiomeric excess. Recycling procedures for the synthesis of O-acylated and O-formylated cyanohydrins have been developed with high yield and high enantiomeric excess of the products. The study includes development of the systems, comparison to other methodologies in asymmetric catalysis, and attempts to understand the processes involved. / <p>QC 20141202</p>

Disertacijos objektas yra XIX amžiaus pirmosios pusės Mažosios Lietuvos surinkimininkų giesmynų ir jų giesmių istorija tekstologiniu, lingvistiniu požiūriu. Tyrimo šaltiniai – giesmynai: „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ (1817, Tilžė), „Mažos giesmių knygelės“ (1819, Tilžė), manoma parengti Kristijono Endrikio Mertikaičio. Šioje disertacijoje pirmą kartą išsamiai analizuojama giesmynų ir jų dalių sandara, kalba ir šaltiniai, apžvelgiami XVIII amžiaus Karaliaučiaus vokiški giesmynai, atskleidžiamas Halės pietizmo vaidmuo, sudarant vokiškų ir lietuviškų giesmynų repertuarą. Ištyrus lietuviškus giesmynus buvo prieita prie tokių išvadų: Mertikaitis, sudarydamas surinkimininkų reikmėms skirtą giesmyną „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ (1817, Tilžė), iš principo laikėsi oficialiųjų bažnytinių giesmynų formavimo principų. Dalis verstų ir originalių giesmių (iš viso 52) tiesiog perimta iš lietuviškų šaltinių. Giesmyno „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ (1817, Tilžė) giesmės kalbos požiūriu skirtinos į dvi grupes – pasauliečių ir dvasininkų giesmes. Kalbos tyrimai patvirtino istoriografų spėjimą, kad Mažos giesmių knygelės parengtos to paties asmens Mertikaičio. Nustatyta, kad vokiškieji giemynų šaltiniai yra Karaliaučiaus teologijos profesoriaus, pietisto Frantzo Alberto Schultzo 1752 metų giesmynas Kern Alter und Neuer geiſtreicher Lieder, Als der Ʒweyte Theil, jaunosios kartos Halės pietisto Ernsto Gottliebo Woltersdorfo sudarytas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The subject of the dissertation is the history of the hymn books and hymns of the first half of 19th century Fellowship Movement in Lithuania Minor in textual and linguistic approach. The sources of the research are the hymn books „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ (1817) and „Mažos giesmių knygelės“ (1819), supposedly composed by Kristijonas Endrikis Mertikaitis. For the first time, the detailed analysis of the structure, language and sources of the hymn books and their parts, the overview of the 19th century German hymn books from Königsberg, and the explanation of the role of Halle Pietism in composing the repertoire of the German and Lithuanian hymn books are provided in this dissertation. The examination of Lithuanian hymn books has led to the following conclusions: when composing the hymn book „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ for the needs of Fellowship Movement, Mertikaitis essentially followed the official line for the formation of church hymn books. The portion of translated and original songs (52 in total) is simply taken from Lithuanian sources. The hymnal „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ have to be divided linguistically into two groups - the hymns for laity and the hymns for clergy. Linguistic research confirmed the presumption of historians that hymn book „Mažos giesmių knygelės“ is composed by the same person, i. e. Mertikaitis. It was established that German sources of the hymn books are the hymn book „Kern... [to full text]

SMA belongs to a class of so-called “smart materials” which possess properties that can be controlled by application of various types of stimuli – stress, temperature, electric field or magnetic field. In particular, SMA is a smart material which undergoes a temperature- or stress-dependent phase transformation giving it the property of remembering its original shape. Once deformed (up to a certain recoverable strain), SMA returns to its original shape upon heating. In this thesis, a study of SMA models and techniques to improve the performance of SMA actuators was carried out. In general, an SMA model is required for 3 main purposes: simulation, analysis and for model-based hysteresis compensation. In this work, the reduced-order form of John Shaw’s partial-differential equation model is chosen for implementation and simulation. The reduced-order form is used because its simpler structure makes it more useful for real-time control applications. The parameters were estimated for the John Shaw model followed by its implementation in MATLAB. From the view of control applications, a limitation of the John Shaw model is the inability to reproduce the so-called ‘minor loop behavior’ which is observed when the material is subject to cycling resulting in incomplete phase transformations. Modeling minor loop behavior is particularly important in closed-loop strain (or position) control applications since achieving a specific target strain between the two (load-dependent) extremes requires partial phase transformation. Herein, the governing equations are modified to include minor loop behavior. This behavior was tested using damped signals which would be expected to trigger minor loops in the actual SMA and reasonable match is observed from the simulations. The use of SMA actuators is limited by the relatively slow response time compared to other smart materials. The conventional current saturation (CS) scheme limits the maximum current into the wire at the manufacturer-specified safe current values in order to protect the wire from damage due to overheating. However, this is a conservative limit on the maximum current and hence, the response is artificially slowed. In order to improve the response time, a model-based temperature saturation (MBTS) scheme was developed, in which current is saturated based on model-predicted temperature. The MBTS scheme allows much higher currents to be applied to the wire, while ensuring that the wire is not damaged. Based on simulations using the reduced-order John Shaw model, it is observed that better tracking occurs using the MBTS scheme in the actuation scheme as compared to the CS scheme.

The thesis concentrates on the interaction between man and his settlement within the context of the Roman city in Asia Minor during the imperial period. The analysis is carried out by examining the role of the nymphaea within the context of urban architecture. First of all, an insight of the Roman city and its armatures is given in order to define the Roman urban context. Within this context, the nymphaea are treated as landmarks for mentally mapping the city and as urban furniture in a properly functioning urban public sphere. Six sample cities are chosen as case studies. These are Pisidian Antioch, Perge, Hierapolis, Laodiceia, Ephesus and Miletus. The nymphaea within these cities are evaluated through selected criteria to answer questions such as: Where were the nymphaea usually located in the Roman city? What were their functions at those locations? Considering their role in the public sphere, how did the nymphaea affect the design of the city, urban life and its customs? As a result, it is seen that the location of the nymphaea within the city was not always dependent on the location of water sources. They were often located along the armature to be visible and memorable. Therefore, as an urban element the nymphaea influenced public activity by contributing to civic consciosnes and the making of livable and &amp / #65533 / legible&amp / #65533 / cities.

El presente trabajo se concibió con la vocación de devenir una aportación al estudio del proceso penal de menores. Por ello, originariamente, se planteó como un análisis de todas y cada una de las fases de dicho proceso. Sin embargo, rápidamente este objetivo se demostró inalcanzable por cuanto, de una primera aproximación a los preceptos de la norma, se aprecia que en la misma, se contiene «algo más» que algunas especialidades o especificidades con respecto a los procesos penales de adultos.Como premisa de partida, cabe considerar que el proceso diseñado por la L.O. 5/2000, al estar concebido exclusivamente para el enjuiciamiento de las conductas delictivas presuntamente cometidas por menores de edad, puede incardinarse en la categoría de los procesos especiales. Esta constatación, sin embargo, no era suficiente, a nuestro juicio, para justificar un proceso en el que aparecían figuras e instituciones procesales hasta el momento inéditas en el ordenamiento jurídico español. Por ello el planteamiento inicial al que se aludía fue sustancialmente modificado, sin que a la postre, ello haya supuesto una alteración sustancial del objetivo primigenio. El trabajo de investigación se inicia con un interrogante, que podría formularse como sigue: Aceptando que la edad es el elemento determinante de la existencia de una rama del derecho penal específicamente dedicada a los menores, ¿hasta qué punto dicho elemento condiciona la acción del legislador en el sentido de establecer un cuerpo normativo significativamente diferenciado del previsto para los adultos?

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