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<p> An extensive experimental study is made of the general behaviour of the impact dampers, using a mechanical model. Coefficient of restitution, Mass-ratio, and Gap-factor are the parameters which were changed during the course of investigation and their effects were observed. </p> <p> The noise level has been eliminated successfully. Dampers containing two particles in a single container are compared with single particles dampers and the latter are found to be relatively efficient. Results with the mass particle oscillating in the container filled with fluid indicate that friction forces acting on the mass-particle are detrimental to the efficiency of the damper. </p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

<p> The progress of technology in the electronic components industry has been rapidly growing. The evolution of various techniques has made it possible for this industry to grow and diversify with the market demand. Thus, the development of electronic component products over a short span of time requires having highly efficient tools for design and manufacturing. Advances in commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) softwares and computational power have enabled modeling to a high level of architectural details. Nowadays, computer aided design becomes an essential design tool in the engineering environment. Computer analysis reduces both the time development cycle and the prototyping costs in the early to intermediate design phases. The accuracy of the computational prediction of heat transfer rates depends mostly on the correct choice of turbulent model. Although many turbulent models, rather than a universal turbulent model, have been developed during the last two decades, there is usually one model that performs better than others for certain flow conditions. </p> <p> In the present research, a turbulence model is selected from amongst a few candidates, namely standard k- 8, RNG k- 8, shear stress transport (SST), and Reynolds Stress Model (RSM), based on comparisons with experimental data and direct numerical simulation (DNS) results from previous work. The SST turbulence model shows excellent agreement with the DNS results and, hence, is considered an appropriate turbulence model for thermal analysis of electronic packages with elements that have almost the same heights. Moreover, the average Nusselt number of array of obstacles is obtained numerically using commercial code ANSYS-CFX 1 0.0. The effects upon the mean Nusselt number arising from parameteric changes in Reynolds number, element height, element width, and element-to-element distance are compared and discussed. Finally, the parametric study has offered a set of correlations for the mean Nusselt number of arrays of mounted obstacles in the channel flow. </p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

All animals face a complex environment full of obstacles that they must overcome in order to survive and reproduce. How an individual responds to its environment is essential to overcoming such obstacles in order to maximize fitness. In my thesis, I focused on the roles of persistence and aggression in achieving fitness-relevant goals. Persistence is continuing in a course of action in spite of difficulty or resistance, and aggression is any instance where an individual uses physical, and potentially damaging, force against a conspecific. I used fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model system to examine the ways in which males use persistence and aggression to attain fitness-relevant goals such as defending resources, gaining access to females, and mating. I first examined how a male’s age affected his persistence in courting recently mated females, who are generally unreceptive, and found that older males were more persistent than younger males (Chapter 2). Next, I showed that males of different ages differed in their courtship persistence in the presence of a competitor, and that males were able to subtly, but directly, interfere with one another’s courtship attempts (Chapter 3). I then demonstrated how males were able to use aggression in a mate guarding context to reduce the likelihood that a competitor male mated with their recent mate (Chapter 4), and as a form of resource defense to defend a desirable food patch in the presence of a potential mate (Chapter 5). Finally, I considered male persistence in the pursuit of unreceptive females as a form of male sexual aggression towards recently mated and sexually immature females (Chapters 5 and 6). Overall, my thesis work demonstrates how complex, and sometimes intertwined, the roles of persistence, aggression, and sexual coercion can be even within a ‘simple’ model organism, such as the fruit fly. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / All animals face obstacles from their environment that they must respond to in order to survive and reproduce. In this thesis, I focused on how males use aggressive and persistent behaviours to overcome environmental obstacles. Aggression is the use of physical force against another individual, and persistence is when an individual continues in a course of action despite difficulties. I used fruit flies as a model to examine how males fight with one another over access to food and potential mates. I also studied how males persistently harass females in order to mate with them. In many experiments, I found that males use a combination of aggressive and persistent behaviours to achieve a goal. Overall, my results show that even in a simple species like fruit flies, individuals can use complex combinations of behaviours to achieve a variety of goals.

Background: Since the 1980s, there has been a growing interest in research to focus on positive mental health instead of narrowing attention toward risk factors and to foster resilience instead of treating trauma. There is substantial empirical evidence that despite being exposed to the same risk; individuals react differently to the same stimuli. The ability of some people to successfully cope and adapt despite adversity is what constitutes resilience. In the context of forced migration, resilience research examines the elements that ameliorate wellbeing and positive adjustment rather than focusing on the pathological consequences of trauma. However, little is known about how the construct of resilience is conceptualized within the field of forced migration research. This research aims to critically appraise and map the existing literature on resilience in the forced migration population, and to analyze how the concept of resilience is defined, operationalized, and applied in refugee research. Methods: Arksey and O’Malley scoping review framework was followed to search 5 online databases. Numerical and thematic analysis were both conducted to examine the breadth of the literature and to chart the relevant data. Results: A total of 20 studies were selected for the scoping review. The findings included a description of the literature regarding geographic distribution, recruited methods, and targeted populations. In addition, the results investigated definitions of resilience, measures used to operationalize resilience, the relationship between resilience and mental health illnesses, internal and external protective factors contributing to fostering resilience processes, and resilience across cultures and languages. Conclusion: There is an increase in interest to understand the concept of resilience through synthesizing both qualitative and quantitative data. However, longitude and evaluation studies remain the exception. Further research is needed to validate resilience instruments across cultures and languages. The interactions between mental health illnesses and resilience should be better understood in the context of forced migration as well. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc)

This dissertation concerns capillary-gravity surface waves in a two-dimensional rectangular basin that is partially filled with water. To generate the surface waves, a harmonic forcing is applied to the vertical side walls of the basin. The dissertation consists of four parts which work with different assumptions on the frequencies of the forcing. The first part discusses the linearized model with Hocking's edge condition and gives an eigenvalue equation and an asymptotic expansion for the eigenvalues. Then, for the nonlinear problem, it is assumed that the frequency of the forcing is close to an eigenfrequency and the solution has an asymptotic expansion using a two time-scales approach. Under an edge condition, the first- and second-order approximations of the solution and a solvability condition from the third-order equations yield an ordinary differential equation for the amplitude of the solution. In part two, it is assumed that the frequency of the forcing applied to the boundary is close to the sum of two eigenfrequencies. In this case, the solvability conditions give a system of two differential equations for the complex valued amplitudes of the two eigenmodes. The system can be reduced to one real-valued differential equation. Its solutions yield the solutions of the original system and their properties. A condition for the existence of homoclinic orbits connecting the trivial equilibrium is obtained. These results are confirmed by numerical experiments. The third part is based on the results in the second part. Here, one of the eigenfrequencies is chosen to be much larger than the other one, and different orders of the amplitudes of the eigenmodes are assumed. The orders of the coefficients of the system found in the second part are obtained, and the resulting special case is discussed in detail. In particular, numerical examples of orbits that can be associated with homoclinic orbits connecting nontrivial equilibria are given. The behavior of solutions close to those orbits is demonstrated. In the fourth part, an additional frequency for the forcing terms given in parts two and three is introduced. In each situation, the modified systems are presented and discussed. / Ph. D.

The objective of this research work was to develop a design tool to analyze and design undamped beam and rotor systems in two dimensions. Systems modeled in two dimensions, such as beams with different moments of inertia, could produce varying responses in the each direction of motion. A coupling between the vertical and horizontal motions also exists in rotor systems mounted of fluid film bearings. The computer program called 2DBEAM has been developed to model and provide analyses of such systems in two dimensions. The tool has been based on an existing design package, BEAM9, which in its present state provides the response of beams and rotors in one plane of motion. The 2DBEAM program has the capability of performing the static response, free vibration, forced dynamic response, and frequency response analyses of a system. The Transfer Matrix Method has been used in the development of the software and an explanation of the method is included in this thesis. Mathematical problems and solutions encountered while developing 2DBEAM are also documented in this study. The code has been tested against analytical and published solutions for the types of analysis mentioned above and on coupled and uncoupled system models. / Master of Science

Yes / A comprehensive meta‐analysis of two types of forced‐choice (FC) personality inventories (ipsative and quasi‐ipsative) across nine occupational groups (Clerical, Customer Service, Health Care, Managerial, Military, Police, Sales, Skilled Manual, and Supervisory) is reported. Quasi‐ipsative measures showed substantially higher operational validity coefficients and validity generalization across all occupations than ipsative measures. Results also showed that, compared with the findings of previous meta‐analyses, quasi‐ipsative personality inventories are better predictors of job performance than previously thought and that operational validities for ipsative measures are notably congruent with past findings. We conclude that quasi‐ipsative scale formats are superior for predicting job performance for all occupational groups. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for personnel selection are discussed in 4.4. / Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Grant Number: PSI2011‐27943. Leverhulme Trust. Grant Number: IN‐2012‐095

The thesis deals with problems of trafficking in human beings, especially concerning prevention. The theoretical part characterizes forms of trafficking in human beings and their appearance in the Czech Republic. Further the impact of trafficking in human beings on the trafficked subjects and the specificity of social work in the sphere of trafficking in human beings are described. In the end of the theoretical part organizations engaged in prevention of trafficking in human beings in the Czech Republic are introduced. The aim of the diploma thesis was to map České Budějovice youth's knowledge of trafficking in human beings. The subaim of the diploma thesis was to prepare and carry out lectures on prevention of trafficking in human beings at secondary schools and secondary educational establishment and subsequently to map if studentś information about trafficking in human beings increases after the lectures. In the practical part this research used quantitative investigation, method of questioning, questionnaire technology. Youth's information about trafficking in human beings in České Budějovice was not better than the hypothesis, which arose pursuant to the results of the pilot research, assumed. By means of following questioning, which ran at intervals from 3 to 6 months after the lecture, it was found out, that students´ knowledge of trafficking in human beings increased however the partial hypothesis was not confirmed. The lecture on prevention of trafficking in human beings with special intention on working migration abroad and prevention of its risk, done by the author, is stated in the part Apendices.

Spirometry is the most important tool in diagnosing pulmonary disease and is the most frequently performed pulmonary function test. Respiratory disease is also one of the greatest causes for morbidity and mortality on the Hopi Nation, but no specific reference equations exist for this unique population. The purpose of this study was to determine if population reference equations were necessary for these children and, if needed, to create new age and race-specific pulmonary nomograms for Hopi children. Two hundred and ninety-two healthy children, ages 4-13 years, attending Hopi Nation elementary schools in Arizona, were asked to perform spirometry for a full battery of pulmonary volumes and capacities of which the following were analyzed: forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), FEV1 % (FEV1/FVC), FEF25-75% and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Spirometric data from Navajo children living in the same geographical region as the Hopi children were compared as well as spirometric data from common reference values used for other ethnic groups in the USA. Spirometry tests from 165 girls and 127 boys met American Thoracic Society quality control standards. We found that the natural log of height, body mass and age were significant predictors of FEV1, FVC, and FEF25-75% in the gender-specific models and that lung function values all increased with height and age as expected. The predictions using the equations derived for Navajo, Caucasian, Mexican-American, African-American youth were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) from the predictions derived from the Hopi equations for all of the variables across both genders, with the exceptions of Hopi versus Navajo FEV1/FVC in the males and Hopi versus Caucasians FEF25-75% in the females. Thus it would appear for this population important to have specific formulae to provide more accurate reference values.