In this thesis we look for potential chronic inflammation biomarkers because studies have shown that farmers with musculoskeletal disorders might be affected by the environment to develop musculoskeletal disorders. Animal farmers are highly exposed to dust, aerosols, molds and other toxins in the air and environment leading to musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory disorders, airway symptoms and febrile reactions. There is reason to believe that the farmers have a constant or chronic inflammation that develops into musculoskeletal disorders. By using a proteomic approach with Two-dimensional Gel Electrophoresis and silver staining our goal was to find biomarkers by quantifying protein spots that differ significantly from farmers with musculoskeletal disorders compared to rural controls. In our study we found 8 significant proteins, two from Alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein, one from Apolipoprotein A1, three from Haptoglobin, one from Hemopexin and 1 from Antithrombin. All 5 proteins are involved in inflammation response in some way and some proteins are linked to chronic inflammation. Out of the 5 proteins Alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein, Apolipoprotein A1 and Hemopexin seem like the most likely proteins to investigate further as potential inflammation biomarkers.

The structural architecture found in low-dimensional materials can lead to a number of interesting physical properties including anisotropic conductivity, magnetic frustration and non-linear optical properties. There is no standard synthesis concept described thus far to apply when searching for new low-dimensional compounds, and therefore control on the design of the new materials is of great importance.This thesis describes the synthesis, crystal structure and characterization of some new transition metal oxohalide compounds containing p-elements having a stereochemically active lone-pair. First row transition metal cations have been used in combination with SeIV, SbIII and TeIV ions as lone-pair elements and Cl- and Br- as halide ions. The lone-pairs do not participate in covalent bonding and are responsible for an asymmetric one-sided coordination. Lone-pair elements in combination with halide ions have shown to be powerful structural spacers that can confine transition metal building blocks into low-dimensional arrangements. The halide ions and lone-pairs reside in non-bonded crystal volumes where they interact through weak van der Waals forces. The transition metal atoms are most often arranged to form sheets, chains or small clusters; most commonly layered compounds are formed.To further explore the chemical system and to separate the transition metal entities even more the possibility to include tetrahedral building blocks such as phosphate-, silicate-, sulphate- and vanadate building blocks into this class of compounds has been investigated. Tetrahedral building blocks are well known for their ability of segmenting structural arrangements by corner sharing, which often leads to the formation of open framework structures. The inclusion of tetrahedral building blocks led to the discovery of interesting structural features such as complex hydrogen bonding, formation of unusual solid solutions or faulted stacking of layers.Compounds for which phase pure material could be synthesized have been characterized in terms of their magnetic properties. Most compounds were found to have antiferromagnetic spin interactions and indications of magnetic frustration could be observed in some of them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 6: Manuscript. Paper 9: Manuscript. Paper 10: Manuscript.</p>

The purpose of this project is to develop the procedures to perform the camera calibration in a three dimension range finding system. The goal is to have a system that will provide reasonably accurate range data which can be used in further three-dimensional computer vision research such as edge detection, surface recovery and object recognition. In this project, an active lighting, optical, triangulation based range finding system has been developed. The software system is designed in object oriented technology and implemented using the C++ programming language. The overall performance of the system is investigated and the system has achieved 0.5 mm (or 4%) accuracy. A review of three range data acquisition techniques is given. Based on the analysis to the current system, suggestions to future improvement are also provided. / Department of Physics and Astronomy

With the reduction in transistor dimensions to a few tens of nanometers as a result of aggressive scaling, interconnect delay has now become one of the major bottlenecks to chip performance. Secondly, interconnect power and area have both become a significant part of the total chip power and area respectively. These concerns have led to an effort to find a solution that would reduce interconnect delay and leakage, while also reducing the area they occupy in a chip, so that either the chip area could be reduced, or more functionality could be incorporated within a certain area. 3D integration, i.e., stacking of various sub-systems of a chip on top of each other, enables chip-makers to achieve higher packaging efficiencies, thereby reducing system cost, while also reducing delay (and thus increasing the available bandwidth). Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) have emerged as the key interconnect technology for 3D ICs, as they enable significant reduction in delay and leakage compared to wire-bonded dies, while also occupying less area in a package. They also enable stacking of sub-systems which differ in functionality, and stacking of multiple dies. Also, unlike wire-bond, dies need not be bandwidth limited by the number of wire bonds that can be made between two levels in a stack. While TSVs offer many advantages, one of the concerns when implementing a 3D system using TSVs is the mechanisms of interaction between a TSV and a device in its vicinity. Another concern is with regards to the interaction between the TSV and its surrounding material. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a TCAD framework for process and device co-simulation of a TSV transistor system to study the various mechanisms of interaction between them, as well as between the TSV and substrate. The utility of this tool has been demonstrated by studying two mechanisms of interaction, the effect of TSV-induced stress, and the effect of TSV-device electrical coupling, on the electrical performance of bulk NMOS and PMOS transistors. The results from 3D TCAD simulations suggest that designers can scale the keep out zone (KOZ) around TSVs more aggressively, allowing for more efficient utilization of silicon area, without a drastic performance penalty.

There are two main tools for determining the stability of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs): Lyapunov Theory and linearization. The former has the advantage of providing stability results for nonlinear equations directly, while the latter considers the stability of linear equations and then further justification is needed to show the linear stability implies local stability of the nonlinear equation. Linearization has the advantage of investigating stability on a simpler equation; however, the justification can be difficult to prove. Both Lyapunov Theory and linearization are applied to the Landau--Lifshitz equation, a nonlinear PDE that describes the behaviour of magnetization inside a magnetic object. It is known that the Landau-Lifshitz equation has an infinite number of stable equilibrium points. We present a control that forces the system from one equilibrium to another. This is proved using Lyapunov Theory. The linear Landau--Lifshitz equation is also investigated because it provides insight to the nonlinear equation. The linear model is shown to be well--posed and its eigenvalue problem is solved. The resulting eigenvalues suggest an appropriate control for the nonlinear Landau--Lifshitz equation. Mathematically, the control causes the initial equilibrium to no longer be an equilibrium and the second point to be an asymptotically stable equilibrium point. This implies the magnetization has moved to the second equilibrium and hence the control objective is successfully achieved. The existence of multiple stable equilibria is closely related to hysteresis. This is a phenomenon that is often characterized by a looping behaviour; however, the existence of a loop is not sufficient to identify hysteretic systems. A more precise definition is required, which is presented, and applied to the Landau--Lifshitz equation (both linear and nonlinear) to establish the presence of hysteresis.

We study the (strong-)Gibbsian character on R Z d of the law at time t of an infinitedimensional gradient Brownian diffusion / when the initial distribution is Gibbsian.

Objective: To evaluate three-dimensional position of the TMJ condyle within the glenoid fossa in different types of skeletal patterns. Materials and methods: Ninety CBCT images were consecutively selected and divided into skeletal class I, class II and class III. The images were analyzed locating landmarks in the different areas of the condyle and glenoid fossa. All landmarks presented acceptable reliability. The mean results were compared using ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc test (p < 0.05). Results: There was a tendency for the anterior joint space to be smaller than the posterior joint space. Statistical analysis, however, evidenced no significant differences between the anterior, superior and posterior joint spaces and the different skeletal patterns or between sides. Conclusion: There was non-concentricity of the condyle for all the groups studied, and no particular direction was statistically significantly favored. It is unclear whether the differences found would be clinically significant, considering anatomical individual variations.

Fault detection and isolation (FDI) are essential in ensuring safe and reliable operations in industrial systems. Extensive research has been carried out on FDI for one dimensional (1-D) systems, where variables vary only with time. The existing FDI strategies are mainly focussed on 1-D systems and can generally be classified as model based and process history data based methods. In many industrial systems, the state variables change with space and time (e.g., sheet forming, fixed bed reactors, and furnaces). These systems are termed as distributed parameter systems (DPS) or two dimensional (2-D) systems. 2-D systems have been commonly represented by the Roesser Model and the F-M model. Fault detection and isolation for 2-D systems represent a great challenge in both theoretical development and applications and only limited research results are available. In this thesis, model based fault detection strategies for 2-D systems have been investigated based on the F-M and the Roesser models. A dead-beat observer based fault detection has been available for the F-M model. In this work, an observer based fault detection strategy is investigated for systems modelled by the Roesser model. Using the 2-D polynomial matrix technique, a dead-beat observer is developed and the state estimate from the observer is then input to a residual generator to monitor occurrence of faults. An enhanced realization technique is combined to achieve efficient fault detection with reduced computations. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method is effective in detecting faults for systems without disturbances as well as those affected by unknown disturbances.The dead-beat observer based fault detection has been shown to be effective for 2-D systems but strict conditions are required in order for an observer and a residual generator to exist. These strict conditions may not be satisfied for some systems. The effect of process noises are also not considered in the observer based fault detection approaches for 2-D systems. To overcome the disadvantages, 2-D Kalman filter based fault detection algorithms are proposed in the thesis. A recursive 2-D Kalman filter is applied to obtain state estimate minimizing the estimation error variances. Based on the state estimate from the Kalman filter, a residual is generated reflecting fault information. A model is formulated for the relation of the residual with faults over a moving evaluation window. Simulations are performed on two F-M models and results indicate that faults can be detected effectively and efficiently using the Kalman filter based fault detection. In the observer based and Kalman filter based fault detection approaches, the residual signals are used to determine whether a fault occurs. For systems with complicated fault information and/or noises, it is necessary to evaluate the residual signals using statistical techniques. Fault detection of 2-D systems is proposed with the residuals evaluated using dynamic principal component analysis (DPCA). Based on historical data, the reference residuals are first generated using either the observer or the Kalman filter based approach. Based on the residual time-lagged data matrices for the reference data, the principal components are calculated and the threshold value obtained. In online applications, the T2 value of the residual signals are compared with the threshold value to determine fault occurrence. Simulation results show that applying DPCA to evaluation of 2-D residuals is effective.

A numerical analysis is performed for the three-dimensional, turbulent flow of air in a thyristor valve hall located at the Dorsey Converter Station, owned and operated by Manitoba Hydro. The goal of this analysis was to determine the configurations that result in increased air-side cooling effectiveness in the valve hall. The governing equations are solved using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code CFX-5. This computer code uses a finite volume method of solution and is based on a finite element approach for representing the geometry. The effects of inlet and outlet opening geometry, inlet air mass flow rate, and inlet air angle on the thermal performance for the air-side cooling of the thyristor valve hall geometry are examined.

The process of fish migration within rivers and streams is important, especially during the spawning season which often coincides with peak spring discharges in Manitoba. Current environmental regulations for fish passage through culverts require that the average velocity be limited to the prolonged swimming speed of the fish species present. In order to examine the validity of this approach, physical model results were used to calibrate and test a commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. Detailed analysis showed that CFD models and the empirical equations used were both able to give a better representation of the flow field than the average velocity. However, the empirical equations were able to provide a more accurate velocity distribution within the fully developed region. A relationship was then developed, to estimate the cumulative percent area less than a threshold velocity within CSP culverts, to be used as a guideline during the design phase.