Wireless Sensor Network consists of tens or thousands of sensor nodes scattered in a physical space and one or more Base stations or Sinks. Even thought developed for military applications now they find a wide variety of civilian applications also. Some of the applications are Target tracking, Animal monitoring, Vehicle monitoring. The need (or lack thereof) for reliability in a sensor network is firmly dependent upon the specific application the sensor network is used for. Some applications like re-tasking or reprogramming sensor nodes [upgrading software or algorithms, adding codes, scripts etc] over -the-air requires assured delivery of high-priority events to sinks. We believe that as the number of sensor network applications grows, there will be a need to build more powerful general-purpose hardware and software environments capable of reprogramming or retasking sensors to. / Wireless sensor network is a special form of wireless networks dedicated to surveillance and monitoring applications Reliability in wireless sensor network is application specific. The specific form of reliability might change from application to application. Our idea is to generate reliability based transport protocol that is customizable to meet the needs of emerging reliable data applications in sensor networks and is also adaptive when the nodes are mobile. In our approach, clusters are formed for minimizing energy dissipation. The nodes maintain a neighbor list to forward data and any changes in the local topology can trigger updates to a node’s neighbor list. If a node notices that its neighbor list has changed, it can spontaneously re-advertise all of its data thus providing reliable transport in mobility conditions also. Our approach has five phases-setup, relaying, relay initiated error recovery, selective status reporting and node supervising. Our simulation results prove that the proposed approach can outperform existing related techniques and is highly responsive to the various error and mobility conditions experienced in sensor networks.

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The majority of stroke survivors return to living in the community; however, muscle weakness and cardiovascular deconditioning can restrict mobility, limit community access and independence, particularly when challenging activities like stair negotiation are involved. A “step-by-step” (SBS) strategy (both feet per step) may be adopted in lieu of a “step-over-step” (SOS) method (one foot per step) to increase stability and off-load the paretic limb though the physical demands of the two methods are unknown. The main objective of this thesis was to investigate the strength and energy demands of the two stair-stepping strategies in chronic stroke compared to healthy adults. The first study identified the relative strength and aerobic demands of both strategies. The results showed that the stroke group produced similar peak joint moments compared to controls, despite their slower cadence suggesting that the stroke group exerts comparable ‘effort’ to move more slowly. The SBS method was associated with lower strength costs (relative to individuals’ maximum strength output) than SOS, however aerobic cost was significantly higher. The second study identified the mechanical energy expenditures (MEEs) and transfers related to both strategies. The MEEs were found to be lower when the SBS strategy was used. Though expenditures were similar between groups, the stroke group had higher expenditures associated with the work of the less affected knee extensors (lead limb) during ascent and descent and controls exhibited higher expenditures for the plantarflexors during ascent. The reduced output of the trail (affected) limb plantarflexors likely resulted in the increased workload of the knee extensors. Overall, the aerobic cost per step was higher in stroke, particularly during descent, suggesting that in addition to reducing cadence, persons with stroke may be co-contracting to increase stabilization during descent, thus increasing oxygen demands. This thesis provides novel information on the physical demands associated with two methods of stair negotiation demonstrating that the SBS strategy might be better suited to persons with chronic stroke by minimizing the strength demands on the paretic side, but the benefit comes at an elevated aerobic cost. This information is valuable to rehabilitation professionals engaged in retraining mobility to facilitate community reintegration. / Thesis (Master, Rehabilitation Science) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-30 13:42:08.209

This research work involved the prediction of the fatigue life of an automotive rear suspension twistbeam assembly fitted to a vehicle travelling over a customer correlated durability route. This was achieved by making use of the integrated concepts of scaling and superposition of linear static finite element analysis being driven by experimental load data - the so called 'quasi-static time domain' approach. A study of the free body diagram of the twistbeam resulted in an indeterminate load set of some 24 components, with experimental data indicating that a state of static unbalance existed. Subsequent to developing a matrix-based generalised method ofload cell calibration to confum the foregoing, a modal technique was developed to partition the experimental data into a static load set, causing elastic deformations, and a rigid load set, imparting rigid body accelerations. The semi-independent characteristics of the twistbeam necessitated the coupling of large structural displacements with inertia relief. This required extensive modifications to the current techniques and led to the development and use of a three dimensional functional response matrix in place of the conventional two dimensional one. Recommendations concerning appropriate finite element boundary conditions were also formulated to handle these effects. Finally, the limitations of the uniaxial fatigue model were revealed under the application of a set of tools for analysing the biaxiality and mobility of the maximum absolute principal stress.

β-defensins are a class of mammalian defence peptides with therapeutic potential because of their ability to kill bacteria and attract host immune cells. In order to realise this potential, it is necessary to understand how the functions of these peptides are related to their structures. This thesis presents biophysical analysis of β- defensins and related peptides in conjunction with biological assays. These studies provide new insights into the structure-activity relationships of β-defensins. Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) is used throughout this thesis to probe the tertiary structure of peptides in vacuo and, by inference, make conclusions about their conformations in solution prior to ionisation. Where appropriate, IM-MS is complemented by other techniques, including high performance liquid chromatography and circular dichroism spectroscopy. First, the importance of a C-terminal cysteine residue within the murine β-defensin Defb14 is investigated. The functional and structural implications of chemically modifying the cysteine residue are examined. Second, the N-terminal region of Defb14 is modified by the substitution and deletion of amino acids. Again, the effects on biological activity and structure are discussed. Finally, the functional and structural overlap of β-defensins with another family of proteins – the chemokines – is considered. The oligomerisation of β-defensins and their interaction with glycosaminoglycans is of particular interest: structural data for human β-defensins 2 and 3 in the absence and presence of polysaccharides are presented.

Mobility Management (MM) eftersträvar ett helhetstänk där all samhällsplanering bedöms påverka trafikflöden och resmönstren. Områden som traditionellt inte tillhör trafikplanering anses inom konceptet Mobility Management vara medskapare i att nå effektiv mobilitet. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka konceptets ursprung och dess innebörd, med tonvikt på de argument som åberopas för att få människor att ändra sitt resebeteende i hållbar riktning. Jag jämför även Mobility Management med tidigare planeringideal för att placera konceptet i ett sammanhang och finna ursprunget till idéerna. Genom att läsa dokument från nätverket Möjligheter med Mobility Management i Samhället (MMMiS), Trafikverket, SKL, Trivector och regeringen bildar jag en uppfattning om Mobility Managements innebörd i Sverige idag och sökte granska innehållet efter generella drag. Uppsatsen är därigenom en dokumentsanalys och en kvalitativstudie av Mobility Management. I uppsatsen finner jag att Mobility Management som koncept inte står ensamt mot sitt ursprung och innebörden är inte helt frånskild från tidigare trafikplanering. Skillnaden är dock att vi nu tydligare kan se att trafikplanering och övrig samhällsplanering hör samman.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intergenerational educational mobility and income inequality. Previous research suggests that this relationship is expected to be positive, i.e. high income inequality is associated with low intergenerational educational mobility. To estimate the association between the two specified variables data on educational mobility is taken from a previous study and data on the income inequality measure, the Gini coefficient is taken from the World Bank. A weighted least square regression shows that 0.10 increase in the Gini coefficient leads to a 0.135 increase in the measure of educational mobility. Moreover, one underlying mechanism for this certain linkage is inspected. Pearson correlation between public spending on education as a percent of GDP and educational mobility show a rather strong negative association suggesting that higher spending on education is related to higher educational mobility.