Purpose: Biomechanical differences between people with low back pain (LBP) and healthy controls have been shown previously. LBP has been associated with standing postures in occupational settings. A transient pain-generating model allows for comparisons between pain developers (PD) and non-pain developers (NPD). The first objective was to utilize a multifactorial approach to characterize differences between PD and NPD individuals. The second objective was to investigate the impact of exercise on LBP during standing. Methods: Forty-three participants without any history of LBP volunteered for this study. Participants performed pre- and post-standing functional movements and 2-hours of standing. Continuous electromyography (EMG) data were collected from 16 trunk and hip muscles, kinematic and kinetic data were used to construct an 8-segment rigid link model. Vertebral joint rotation stiffness (VJRS) measures were calculated. Participants completed visual analog scales (VAS) rating LBP every 15 minutes during the 2-hr standing. Participants were classified as PD or NPD based on greater than 10 mm increase in VAS. Participants were assigned to exercise (EX) or control (CON) groups. All participants returned for a second data collection following 4-weeks. Results: Forty percent of participants developed LBP during standing. The PD group had elevated muscle co-activation prior to reports of pain (p < 0.05). Following standing, there was a decrease in VJRS about the lateral bend axis during unilateral stance. PDEX had decreased VAS scores during the second data collection (p = 0.007) compared with PDCON. Male PDEX had decreased gluteus medius co-activation during standing (p < 0.05). Between-day repeatability for the CON groups was excellent with intraclass correlation coefficients > 0.80 for the majority of the outcome measures. Conclusions: There were clear differences between PD/NPD groups in muscle activation patterns, prior to subjective reports of LBP, supporting the hypothesis that some of the differences observed between these groups may be predisposing rather than adaptive. An exercise intervention resulted in positive changes in the PD group, both in subjective pain scores as well as muscle activation profiles. Elevated muscle co-activation in the first 15-30 minutes of standing may indicate that an individual is at increased risk for LBP during standing.

Abnormal pressures have been measured in the deep boreholes at the Bruce site, southern Ontario, where a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste disposal has been proposed. The pressure regime in the stratigraphic units exhibits either higher than hydrostatic pressure (over-pressured) or lower than hydrostatic pressure (under-pressured) are considered to be abnormal. At the Bruce site, the Ordovician sediments are under-pressured while the underlying Cambrian sandstone and the overlying Guelph carbonate are over-pressured. Hypotheses have been documented in literature to explain the phenomenon of abnormal pressures. These hypotheses include osmosis, glacial loading and deglaciation unloading, exhumation of overlying sediments, crustal flexure and the presence of an immiscible gas phase. Previous work on the Bruce site has shown that the under-pressures in the Ordovician limestone and shales could not be explained by glaciation and deglaciation or by saturated analyses. The presence of a gas phase in the Ordovician formations has been determined to be a reasonable cause of the under-pressure developed in the Ordovician shales and limestones at the Bruce site. Support for the presence of a gas phase includes solution concentrations of methane, concentrations of environmental isotopes related to methane and estimates of water and gas saturations from laboratory core analyses. The primary contribution of this thesis is the sensitivity analyses performed on the hydrogeologic parameters with respect to a one dimensional two-phase flow model. First, a one dimensional two-phase air and water flow model was adopted and reconstructed to simulate the long-term evolution of the groundwater regimes at the DGR site. Then the hydrogeologic parameters which impact the presence of under-pressure in the groundwater are investigated. Data required to quantify the properties of geologic media and groundwater are adopted directly from borehole testing and laboratory testing results. The permeable boundaries of the domain are assumed to be water saturated and pressure specified (using hydrostatic conditions in the Guelph Formation and hydrostatic with 120 m over-pressure condition in the Cambrian and Precambrian). Isothermal conditions were assumed, thus constant water density and viscosity values are estimated for the average total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration of the modelled stratigraphic column. A constant diffusion coefficient (a diffusivity of $0.25\times10^{-8}$ m$^2$/s) of air in water is assumed with a saturation-dependent tortuosity. The air generation rate is assumed to simulate the gas phase generated in the Ordovician formations. The numerical simulation of up to 4 million years provides a means to explore the behaviour of gas phase dissipation due to partitioning into the water phase and diffusive transport in the solute phase. Results confirmed that the presence of a gas phase would result in the under-pressure in water.

Quadrature digital modulation techniques are widely used in modern communication systems because of their high performance and flexibility. However, these advantages come at the cost of high power consumption. As a result, power consumption has to be taken into account as a main design factor of the modulator.<p>In this thesis, a low-power quadrature digital modulator in 0.18um CMOS is presented with the target system clock speed of 150 MHz. The quadrature digital modulator consists of several key blocks: quadrature direct digital synthesizer (QDDS), pulse shaping filter, interpolation filter and inverse sinc filter. The design strategy is to investigate different implementations for each block and compare the power consumption of these implementations. Based on the comparison results, the implementation that consumes the lowest power will be chosen for each block. First of all, a novel low-power QDDS is proposed in the thesis. Power consumption estimation shows that it can save up to 60% of the power consumption at 150 MHz system clock frequency compared with one conventional design. Power consumption estimation results also show that using two pulse shaping blocks to process I/Q data, cascaded integrator comb (CIC) interpolation structure, and inverse sinc filter with modified canonic signed digit (MCSD) multiplication consume less power than alternative design choices. These low-power blocks are integrated together to achieve a low-power modulator. The power consumption estimation after layout shows that it only consumes about 95 mW at 150 MHz system clock rate, which is much lower than similar commercial products. <p>The designed modulator can provide a low-power solution for various quadrature modulators. It also has an output bandwidth from 0 to 75 MHz, configurable pulse shaping filters and interpolation filters, and an internal sin(x)/x correction filter.

The main objective of this research was to investigate possible uses of Western-Canadian grown chickpea (<i>Cicer arietinum</i> L.) in the form of flour, starch and protein isolates in low-fat pork bologna. <p>In the first study, flour, starch and protein isolates from six chickpea cultivars (three Kabuli and three Desi) from two harvests (2005 and 2006) were evaluated for their physico-chemical, functional and thermal properties. Chickpea flour was made by grinding seed to pass through a 0.1mm screen, whereas protein isolates and starch were prepared by a wet milling process. Protein isolates were prepared from chickpea flour (23.2% protein on average) by alkaline extraction (pH 8.0) and isoelectric precipitation (pH 4.3). Protein isolates contained 72.8-85.3% protein; the starch fraction contained 93.0-98.0% starch. On SDS-PAGE, the chickpea flours and protein isolates contained similar polypeptide bands in the range of 30 to 55 kDa, with three major bands at approximately 50-55, 40 and 30 kDa. Least gelation concentration (LGC) for chickpea flours ranged from 6-14%; LGC for chickpea protein isolates ranged from 10-14%. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of chickpea flour slurries revealed two endothermic peaks. One corresponded to starch gelatinization at approximately 64°C, which was slightly higher than for the starch fraction (~60°C). The second broad peak at approximately 96°C corresponded to the denaturation of the globulin protein fraction, which was also slightly higher than for the protein isolates (~91°C). Chickpea flour exhibited nitrogen solubility index values higher than those of chickpea protein isolates and soy and pea protein isolates. Chickpea protein isolates exhibited water holding capacities, oil absorption capacities, emulsion activity indeces and emulsion stability indeces higher than those of the chickpea flours. CDC Xena (Kabuli) and Myles (Desi), in general, most exhibited properties appropriate for meat applications. In the second study, the efficacy of flour, starch and protein from CDC Xena (Kabuli hereafter) and Myles (Desi hereafter) were investigated in low-fat pork bologna (LFPB). Low-fat pork bologna (<5% fat) was prepared by incorporating 2.5 or 5.0% flour, 1.5 or 3.0% protein isolate (protein basis), or 1.0 or 2.0% starch in the formulation. Controls were prepared without any binder, and formulations containing wheat or pea flour, soy or pea protein isolate, potato or pea starch, or extra meat were prepared for comparison. Inclusion of chickpea flour, protein or starch had a positive effect (P<0.05) on the cook yield, expressible moisture and purge of LFPB, and had little effect on colour. Increasing chickpea flour substitution from 2.5 to 5.0% altered the sensory and instrumental textural quality of LFPB significantly (P<0.05). Desi flour at 5.0% showed the highest TPA (texture profile analysis) hardness and chewiness, Allo-Kramer shear values and torsion shear stress. Similarly, LFPB containing chickpea protein isolate (CPI), soy protein isolate (SPI) or pea protein isolate (PPI) (3.0% protein basis) was firmer than either LFPB containing 1.5% protein from CPI, SPI or PPI or the control-I (with the same level of meat protein). Likewise, LFPB formulated with 2.0% Kabuli or Desi starch had higher TPA values than those prepared with pea or potato starch. For most flavour sensory properties, Kabuli and Desi chickpea flour and starch, irrespective of level of incorporation, performed similarly to the control. However, panellists noted more off-flavours with the addition of wheat flour or pea flour at 5.0%. Chickpea protein isolate, SPI or PPI at the 1.5% protein addition level did not alter the flavour properties of LFPB.<p>It was concluded that chickpea flour, starch and protein had potential for utilization as extenders in low-fat meat emulsion systems such as frankfurters and bologna.

Energy demand in the built environment is quite important. China holds a large population and the energy use in the building sector is about 1/3. The rebuilding of old houses and building new low energy houses are becoming more and more popular in China. Low energy building not only consumes less energy, but also provides good indoor environment. An indoor climate software IDA is used in energy and indoor climate simulation. The traditional high isolated low energy house in a hot climate is analyzed, on a typical day in either summer or winter, or during the whole year. Energy consumptions under different parameters are presented. Results show that high isolated house may not always be suitable in a hot climate.

Automobile components are often exposed to aggressive environments as a result of aqueous salts from the road coming into contact with unprotected steel. This situation greatly reduces both the life and the appearance of the affected parts. Ultra-high strength steel parts are suspected to exhibit poor corrosion-fatigue properties and be more susceptible to corrosion in general. In this study, the effect of strength level on the decrease in fatigue life of AISI 4130 steel when exposed to an aqueous salt solution is quantified. The observed mechanical properties including corrosion-fatigue behavior are examined with consideration to different microstructural characteristics resulting from heat treatments to the steel. The hardness and tensile properties of the test material were characterized before fatigue testing. Fatigue tests were completed in both air and salt solution to determine the effect on fatigue life of the latter environment. Following fatigue testing, the fracture surface was examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to determine the failure mode. Six strength levels of AISI 4130 steel were investigated ranging from 837 to 1846 MPa (121 268 ksi). The frequency of loading used for corrosion-fatigue tests was 1 Hz and the stress ratio for each test was constant at R = 0.1. The corrosion-fatigue tests consisted of the specimen being submerged in an aqueous solution of sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and sodium bicarbonate and fatigued until failure. The solution was maintained at room temperature with constant aeration to ensure constant oxygen levels. The parameters of interest were the applied loads and the cycles to failure. There were four primary findings of the study. First, decreases in fatigue life of the material caused by the corrosive environment ranged from 100% in the lowest strength level to 190% in the higher strength levels. This result showed that higher strength in this steel corresponds to increasing detriment to fatigue life when the material is exposed to an aqueous salt environment. Second, evidence was found that the salt solution lowered the fatigue limit for each strength level studied in this material. All specimens that were tested in the corrosive environment failed in less than 150,000 cycles, while some specimens fatigued in the air environment experienced run-outs at over 106 cycles. Third, the decrease in fatigue life was attributed to the presence of martensite in the structure of the steel. It was noted that the higher the martensite content, the larger the decrease in fatigue life when exposed to the corrosive environment. Finally, the fracture surfaces of fatigued specimens revealed that a similar cracking mode was present for each strength level in both environments. Enhanced crack initiation was, therefore, assumed to be the cause of the decrease in fatigue life between the air and aqueous salt environments.

The objective of the research is to model the reliability and breakdown mechanism of back-end dielectrics in integrated circuits and to investigate the impact of physical design characteristics on the back-end dielectric reliability. As design and process complexities continue to increase, the reliability of the back-end dielectrics becomes marginal. This is mainly because the power supply voltage is not scaled at a rate comparable to feature size, which results in exponentially increasing electric fields among interconnect lines. Therefore, it is strongly desirable to be able to predict reliability or to detect design weaknesses to reliability failure during the pre-silicon verification stage. It is desirable to enable pre-silicon verification of back-end dielectric reliability based on physical design characteristics. In this research, it is shown that dielectric reliability can be modeled as a function of the critical circuit area based on the yield models. Defect clustering is taken into account by using the negative binomial statistics. The physical design characteristics will be investigated for their impact on back-end dielectric reliability. These characteristics include such factors as layout geometry, pattern density, pattern orientation, and via placement. The physical breakdown mechanism for porous back-end dielectric films is also to be investigated using Monte Carlo simulation. It is shown that the electric field is enhanced by porosity in ultra-low-k dielectric films. The electric field enhancement caused by the porosity is shown to accelerate the charge transport.

ABSTRACT The design and fabrication of a rotating electromagnetic generator of low-speed and small bicycle were presented in this study. In accordance with the standard of generator the finite element analysis was used to design the prototype generator. In the simulation, the different parameters of the magnet, coil and iron yoke were set into the Taguchi method to find the best configuration. The parameters included the magnet poles, coil size, wire thickness, winding way, with or without iron yoke, and the distance between the magnet and yoke. When a permanent magnet is moved relative to a coil, an electromotive force is created. According to the theory of electromagnetic induction, the electricity was generated by the electromagnetic power generator. In this study, power produced by the relative motion between coil and magnet. This project innovatively uses Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic(LTCC) technology to fabricate micro-coil, and the required magnetic characteristics of permanent magnet are produced by sintered Nd-Fe-B. The technology and simulation were combined to achieve the requirements of lightweight, compact, high energy density. A prototype of the micro-generator is 50x50x4.5 mm3 in volume size. The 28 poles hard magnet Nd/Fe/B with an outer diameter of 50 mm and a thickness of 2 mm was molded and sintered, and provides the magnetic field of 3.5 Tesla. The coils with a width of 200£gm, a pitch 100£gm and the thickness of 40£gm were fabricated by silver. The coils had 30 layers and 22 poles. A steel yoke can improve the efficiency of power generation. The results of induced electromotive force were 0.61, 0.97 and 1.45V at the rotational speeds of 37rpm, 74rpm and 111rpm respectively in the simulation.

In the field of organic solar technology, there are two main problems, the stability of materials and the low power efficiency. By analyzing the power efficiency of organic solar cells, we can infer that efficiency of absorption and charge mobility are the key factors to these two problems. In this study, we focus on coupling carbazole with different low bandgap moieties. By using Suzuki Coupling, we synthesized new conjugated polymers with main chain structures of D-A sequence. It turns out that the copolymer can form a strong intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). We¡¦ve successfully synthesized two new low bandgap copolymers with D-A sequence, PCAMDT and PCAMDP. These two copolymers show us excellent thermal stabilities with decomposition temperature of 320¢Jand 355¢J,respectively.According to UV-Vis absorption spectrum, PCAMDT and PCAMDP own bandgaps at 1.85 eV and 2.22eV,respectively. Electrochemical analysis reveals that the HOMO and LUMO level of PCAMDT are found to be -5.69eV and -3.77eV,repectively, while the HOMO and LUMO level of PCAMDP are -5.87eV and -3.75eV. These properties make PCAMDT and PCAMDP advantageous materials while applied as high absorbing layers of organic solar cells.

The catalytic properties of gold have been widely investigated. In Dr. Chao-Ming Chiang¡¦s study, department of chemistry of NSYSU, they found that the organic molecules, propanal, form heterocyclic 2, 4, 6- triethyl-1, 3, 5-trioxane ring on Au(110) missing row surface at 180 K by temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and reflection absorption infrared spectra (RAIR). In this study, we used low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study the detailed catalytic process on surface. Residual gas analyzer (RGA) was used to measure the thermal desorption of the propanal on Au(110) at 130 K and 185 K. This can be used to calibrate the temperature on the surface, which can not be directly measured by the thermal couple on the manipulator. The combination between the LEED pattern from the experiment and the DFT model shows the propanal adsorbed on the inclined plane with about 64 deg. to 71 deg. companing the (110) plane. The STM results also show that some of the surface after adsorption have trench wider atomic rows. In our experiment, the real temperature of the sample was not exactly determined. More experiments need to be taken to confirm the temperature.