Antenatal fetal surveillance is a field of increasing importance in modern obstetrics. Measurements extracted (such as fetal heart rate) from antenatal fetal monitoring techniques have the potential to reduce the social, personal and financial burdens of fetal death on families, health care systems and the community. Techniques to monitor the fetus through pregnancy have been developed with the aim of providing information to enable the clinician to diagnose fetal wellbeing, characterise development and detect abnormality. An early diagnosis before delivery may increase the effectiveness of the appropriate treatment. Over the years, various research efforts have been carried out in the field of fetal electrocardiography by attaching surface electrodes to the maternal body. Unfortunately the desired fetal heartbeat signals at the electrode output are buried in an additive mixture of undesired interference disturbances. In this thesis, a non-invasive fetal electrocardiogram machine has been designed, constructed and implemented. This machine is composed of three modified electrocardiogram circuits and an external soundcard. Data was acquired from four surface electrodes placed on the maternal body. Eleven pregnant subjects, with a gestation age between the 30th and 40th weeks of pregnancy, were used to investigate the validity of this machine. Fetal R-waves were detected in 72.7 percent of subjects. The development of a non-invasive machine, capable of detecting and recording valuable anatomic and electrophysiological information of a fetus, represents an important tool in clinical and investigative obstetrics.

ix, 219 leaves : photos., tables, graphs ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1979

Reprints of 4 papers published by the author included in back of book / 181 leaves : ill. ; 26 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Dept. of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, University of Adelaide, 1974

Nasality is a common resonance disorder present in the speech of severely hearing impaired individuals (Hudgins, 1934). The likely cause has been attributed to structural or functional abnormalities of the velopharyngeal mechanism as well as deviations in pitch and loudness. In addition, hearing impaired individuals speak at a slower rate than normal hearing individuals which has been shown to exacerbate the presence of nasality in their speech (Colton & Cooker, 1968). The purpose of this study was to determine whether deliberate increases in speaking rate would serve to decrease the amount of nasality in the speech of severely hearing impaired individuals. The participants were 11 severe to profoundly hearing impaired students, ranging in age from 12 to 19 years (mean = 16 years). Each participant provided a baseline speech sample (R1) followed by three training sessions during which participants were trained to increase their speaking rate. Following the training sessions, a second speech sample was obtained (R2). Acoustic and perceptual analysis pf the speech samples obtained at R1 and R2 were undertaken. The acoustic analysis focused on changes in first and second formant frequency bandwidth (BW1 & BW2). The perceptual analysis involved 21 naïve listeners rating the speech samples (at R1 & R2) for perceived nasality. Findings indicated a significant increase in speaking rate at R2. In addition, a significantly narrower BW2 frequency and lower perceptual rating score was obtained at R2 across all participants, suggesting a considerable decrease in nasality as speaking rate increases. The influences of speaking rate changes on the functioning of the velopharyngeal mechanism are discussed. In addition, the clinical implications of the findings are explored.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2001.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (D.Sc.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Biochemistry, 1977.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Physics. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/05/29). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 29, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.