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.

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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.

Master of Public Health / Department of Food, Nutrition, Dietetics and Health / Mark Haub / INTRODUCTION: College represents a major stepping stone toward independence for a number of students. This transition from high school to college life is a critical period for development of a healthy lifestyle. Health promotion departments at universities are uniquely positioned to implement a comprehensive strategy for increasing physical activity, and advocate for healthful eating. The Kansas State University (KSU) Health Promotion team at Lafene Health Center helps students enhance their health behaviors, and they developed a questionnaire to better understand the health issues students face. Their questionnaire, The Health Assessment Needs of Kansas State Students (THANKS), was created to better understand the barriers to a healthful lifestyle for students at KSU. The purpose of the current study was to assess the THANKS (questionnaire)used in the Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 semesters within the student population at KSU. METHODS: The Fall 2016 and Fall 2017 THANKS questionnaires were analyzed for this investigation. The THANKS questionnaires focused on holistic aspects of health, including: physical activity, hydration, nutrition, tobacco use, mental health, social determinants of health, general health, and demographics. For the purpose of assessing this questionnaire, section A: Physical Activity (PA), section B: Nutrition, and section H: Demographics were analyzed. The following analyses were performed: readability analysis; the Flesch Reading Ease Score and Flesch Kincaid Grade Level score, descriptive statistics, reliability analysis; Cronbach’s Alpa and Cronbach’s Alpha if item deleted, and ANOVA. RESULTS: Overall, women made up the majority of the sample size (66.7%). Age ranges for ≤18 yrs old for all academic classifications were 72.3% (freshman) and 3.4% (sophomore). 19-24 yrs old age category had 93.3% (sophomore), 92.6% (Junior), 87.1% (Senior), whereas, graduate or professional students had 39.8% as their highest for the category of 25 to 30 yr olds. The majority of freshman resided in campus residence halls (75.3%), whereas for all classes respectively resided off campus (52.1%, 71.6%, 83.1%, 83%). The sample was primarily Caucasian for all classes (sophomore- graduate or professional), respectively (83.4%, 83.2%, 85.8%, 87.6%, 65.9%). Reliability analysis showed a low Cronbach’s Alpha for the PA section (0.58). For the nutrition section, frequency questions (0.61), and location of meals consumed had a high a high reliability (0.89). Flesch Reading Ease score of 70.3 indicated the THANKS survey is fairly easy to read. Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score of 5.2 indicated the reader’s age of fifth graders. All inter-item correlations for the frequency of PA and location of engagement in PA were below 0.15, ANOVA of general nutritious diet and consumption of p-values of SSB (0.001), energy drinks (0.019), meals at home (0.007), meals off campus (0.000), meals at vending machine (0.031), glasses of water (0.001), participation in PA (0.000), frequency of moderate intensity (0.002), frequency of strength/resistance training (0.000) per week showed significance. ANOVA for participation in PA and of p-values SSB (0.001) per week and glasses of water per week (0.000) showed significance. CONCLUSION: The THANKS survey shows promise for an adequate survey tool but with room for improvement. Health promotion department may need to improve the psychometric properties of the PA and nutrition sections of the survey in order to obtain meaningful survey results that may be used in translation to programming for improved health on campuses.

The long-term monitoring of the South African southern right whale population has revealed a decrease in sightings along the coast and an increase of calving intervals within the last few years, causing changes in the species´ demographics causing a decrease in annual population growth rate (6.5% y -1 ). Because reproductive success is linked to body condition, the purpose of this study was to conduct a visual health assessment based on overhead photographs from the annual aerial southern right whale surveys and detect potential links between visual health condition of parous females and the increased calving intervals. Additionally, it was aimed to find relationships between visual health of parous females and environmental indices of the Southern Ocean, representing food availability. To allow global comparison of the results, the method used for the visual health assessment was developed in collaboration with international southern right whale researchers from Australia and South Africa. The health indices were adapted from a visual health assessment method developed for northern right whales and include body condition, skin condition, the presence of cyamids around the blowholes and rake marks on the skin. The results showed that these health variables derived from overhead photographs were sufficient to detect visual health changes over time. Within the study period (2005 – 2017), there were two years in which whales had a significant decreased visual health (i.e. increased health score) than average; 2008 and 2014. No direct link between the observed health condition and calving intervals could be found, possibly due to the lack of data on calving intervals post-2014 as well asthe assessment of breeding females only (i.e. breeding females are in good enough conditions to reproduce). However, significant relationships were found between visual health and Southern Ocean productivity (p< 0.001) and climate indices (p < 0.05) with a 0-year lag. These results clearly indicate a link between southern right whale visual health condition and Southern Ocean food availability in one feeding ground, suggesting that this may be the primary feeding ground for parous females during pregnancy. Understanding the links between visual health, reproductive success and climate/food availability helps to understand changes in the population’s demographics and to predict the resilience of the species. Additionally, the standardization of the method allows for global comparison.

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 / Organ failure is one of the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in humans. Unfortunately, there are not enough donor organs to meet the present demand, often referred to as the organ shortage crisis. To compound the problem, there is lack of understanding of the biological processes occurring in organs during the transplantation interval. Here, we present a method to manufacture a biomedical device using a 3D printing technique to monitor, collect, and isolate diagnostically relevant biological species released during the transplantation interval. This information has the potential to lead to a better understanding of organ health, which ultimately could increase the availability and quality of donor organs.

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.