No description available.

The purpose of this study was to focus on the efficacy of a dynamic breath exerciser called the Breath Builder™ and its effects on clarinet players’ performance abilities and/or lung functions. The study sample consisted of 15 clarinetists, a combination of undergraduate and graduates from the clarinet studio at the University of Arizona, ages 18 - 27. The eight-week study consisted of two phases. During Phase 1, subjects in experimental group 1 used the Breath Builder™ three times a day, five times a week. The control group was not given Breath Builders™ and continued with their normal practice routine. In Phase 2, the control group was given Breath Builders™ and relabeled as experimental group 2. Experimental group 1 stopped using the Breath Builder™ and was relabeled as experimental group 3. Following this cessation, the subjects in experimental group 3 were measured to note any change in lung function or performance. Some of the pulmonary lung function measurements used for this study were, Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Maximal Inspiratory Pressure (MIP), Maximal Inspiratory Pressure in 1 second (MIP1), and Maximal Expiratory Pressure (MEP). Musical abilities measured were tone, note duration and phrase duration. A significant interaction effect was found regarding MIP and MIP₁.

This work focuses on the concept of sustainable propellant collection. The concept consists of gathering ambient gas while on-orbit and using it as propellant. Propellant collection could potentially enable operation in very-low Earth orbits without compromising spacecraft lifetime. This work conducts a detailed analysis of propellant collection from a physics perspective in order to test the assertions of previous researchers that propellant collection can dramatically reduce the cost of propellant on-orbit. Major design factors for propellant collection are identified from the fundamental propellant collection equations, which are derived in this work from first principles. A sensitivity analysis on the parameters in these equations determines the relative importance of each parameter to the overall performance of a propellant-collecting vehicle. The propellant collection equations enable the study of where propellant collection is technically feasible as a function of orbit and vehicle performance parameters. Two case studies conducted for a very-low Earth orbit science mission and a propellant depot-type mission serve to demonstrate the application of the propellant collection equations derived in this work. The results of this work show where propellant collection is technically feasible for a wide range of orbit and vehicle performance parameters. Propellant collection can support very-low Earth operation with presently available technology, and a number of research developments can further extend propellant-collecting concepts' ability to operate at low altitudes. However, propellant collection is not presently suitable for propellant depot applications due to limitations in power.

Our understanding of the neural control of breathing-swallowing coordination (BSC) is largely unclear. Although brainstem control is undoubtedly predominant, this research investigated the hypothesis that the cortex becomes increasingly influential in BSC between birth and adulthood. The main paradigm used to test this primary hypothesis was a comparison of BSC in conditions along a continuum of volitional through non-volitional swallowing on the basis of a decreasing level of cortical activation along this continuum. Voluntarily-initiated swallows during wakefulness were at one end of the continuum and reflexively-initiated swallows during sleep were at the other extreme. Non-volitional wakeful swallows were considered between these two conditions. The BSC of ten infants between birth and 1 year of age and twenty adults between the ages of 20 and 75 years was recorded using non-invasive time-locked recording methods. In order to apply the 'continuum-of-volition' paradigm to swallowing conditions in infants, BSC was monitored during nutritive (breast- or bottle-feeding), non-nutritive wake, and sleep swallows. Infants were monitored longitudinally to determine whether maturation of the cortex and corticobulbar tracts during the first year of life influenced the patterns of BSC. In adults, BSC was monitored during three non-nutritive conditions: volitional, spontaneous wake, and sleep conditions. Post-swallow expiration was found to be predominant in all conditions for all participants at all ages. In addition, the infant results revealed that nutritive BSC matured during the first year of life and differed to non-nutritive wakeful BSC, particularly in the first 2 months of life. Non-nutritive wakeful and sleep BSC did not differ from one another. In summary, the infant results support increasing cortical input into volitional nutritive BSC, an early impact of feeding on BSC, and no difference between BSC when asleep and non-volitional non-nutritive swallows when awake. The results obtained from adults revealed that irrespective of the level of arousal, volitional BSC is different to non-volitional BSC. These results imply that cortical influence on BSC is limited to conditions in which swallowing is voluntarily initiated. The combined interpretation of infant and adult results suggest that cortical influence over BSC, although increasing with maturation, is limited to the volitional swallowing conditions of feeding in infants and during non-nutritive but volitional swallows in adults. From this, it can be deduced that the most likely cortical sites involved in BSC are those involved in the voluntary initiation or planning of swallowing. Infant and adult swallowing apnoea duration (SAD) was also compared across all of the above conditions. SAD was influenced by feeding throughout the first year of life but was not influenced by level of arousal at any stage in the first year or in adulthood. Also, SAD did not change with age in any swallowing condition during infancy. However, comparison of non-nutritive wake SAD across the lifespan revealed that SAD of newborns and young adults is shorter than that of elderly adults, with no difference between consecutive age-groups: newborns, one-year-olds, and young adults. These results suggest SAD is largely mature at birth and impervious to descending suprabulbar influence. Finally, the effects of volitional swallowing and level of arousal on peak submental surface electromyography (SEMG) was investigated in adults. Like BSC, submental muscle activity was influenced only by volitional swallowing, being longer for volitional than non-volitional swallows without being influenced by level of arousal. Since peak submental SEMG activity represents a measure of relative hyolaryngeal excursion, these results suggest that the cortex has some degree of influence over this particular feature of pharyngeal-stage swallowing.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Universitet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Nursing))--Mahidol University, 1979.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-86). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-86). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-84).