Highly structured school-based interventions have shown promise in reducing risk factors for obesity in children. However, challenges exist with the sustainability of these kinds of programs and little is known about the potential for less structured interventions to effect change on behaviours that underpin overweight and obesity in children. We utilized an experimental design to test the effects of a semi-structured intervention on the lifestyle behaviours of grade 4 to 6 students at four schools. We also assessed stakeholder satisfaction with the intervention. ANOVA found no significant differences in vegetable and fruit intake or steps taken per day between conditions (control versus intervention); suggesting that impact of the intervention on these behaviours was inconsequential. Narrative accounts provided by the stakeholders expressed satisfaction with the intervention. This pilot study contributes to our understanding of the types of strategies likely to be efficacious in reducing the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. / Nutrition and Metabolism

The coherent system has been extensively studied in recent years. The reasons are that receiver sensitivity is better than Intensity Modulation with Direct Detection (IM/DD) and the spectral efficiency of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is increased. The modulation formats of the coherent system are Amplitude shift keying (ASK), Phase shift keying (PSK), and Frequency shift keying (FSK). The detection techniques are Homodyne detection and Heterodyne detection, both of them need a laser light source in the receiver called as the Local oscillator (LO). In the previous study, the Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation format with Pseudo Random Binary Sequence (PRBS) 27-1 to transmit 51km was investigated, and the pilot carrier method realized the Homodyne Detection. The merit of the pilot carrier is that the LO is not necessary in the receiver. In this master thesis, the optical signal of the QPSK modulation format with PRBS 215-1 is transmitted over 500km using the pilot carrier method. A WDM system demonstration is also conducted to increase the system capacity. The Bit error rate (BER) is calculated by the MATLAB program. The BER performance of 20G bit/s, 500 km transmission system using the QPSK with single channel and multiplexed channels were measured.

<p>Urbanization is an ongoing process all over the globe. People moving from rural to urban areas are the primary cause of urbanization, and history indicates that this movement of people is very hard to influence. The inflow of new residents to urban areas results in the need for more buildings and infrasystems, new institutions and often, new ways of life. How does this relate to the sustainability challenge? Given the ways in which most cities are currently developing, urbanization does not contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals.</p><p>This thesis explores a new research strategy for studying the process of urbanization and how it may hold opportunities for addressing the long-term objectives of environmentally sustainable urban development. The research strategy: MAMMUT – Managing the Metabolism of Urbanization, is a methodological and conceptual framework, it is a dynamic and cross-disciplinary approach towards understanding urban sustainability.</p><p>The main novelty in this research strategy is to explore the use of <i>situations of opportunity</i> – instants when stakeholders have a possibility greater than average to guide and influence the urbanization process so as to contribute to more of environmental sustainability – as units of analysis. Political scientists have used concepts similar to this, however none is as wide in scope and time. Four aspects are analysed in a <i>situation of opportunity</i>: urban structure, institutional framework, new ways of life and environmental impacts – enhancing the cross-disciplinary approach of the framework. Also, in terms of time frame, the pre-history, the formative moment and the outcome of each situation are studied.</p><p>A cover essay and three papers compose this thesis. The papers apply and test the above-mentioned methodology in pilot studies about historical <i>situations of opportunity</i> created by the development of public transport systems in Stockholm, Dar es Salaam and Curitiba. The cover essay discusses the lessons learned with the pilot studies and aims at: (a) discussing and further developing the MAMMUT methodological and conceptual framework; (b) analysing the relations and synergies between the four aspects of urbanization (as proposed by MAMMUT’s framework).</p><p>The main conclusion of the thesis is that the MAMMUT research strategy can be a useful tool for analysing the urbanization process and its relations to sustainable development. Suggestions for improvements in the framework are made. Also, the four aspects of urbanization suggested for the analysis of a given <i>situation</i> are confirmed relevant, however the analysis of the relations and synergies between these aspects is revealed to be as important as studying the four aspects<i> per se.</i></p>

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Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd (COMAC)and Chinese Scholarship Council. / The aim of this thesis is to develop a real time PIO detection and mitigation system that consists of a detector based on short time Fourier transform(STFT) and autoregressive model(ARX) with exogenous inputs, together with an adaptive controller based mitigation system. The system not only detects the traditional PIO characteristics but also focuses on the trend of pilot behaviour by calculating the rate of change in the open loop crossover frequency. In the detection system, a sliding windowed STFT method was applied to identify the frequency and phase characteristics of the system via processing the signal of pilot input and aircraft state. An ARX model was also applied to get the rate of change of the crossover frequency. After detection, a PIO cue was shown on the primary flight display. A scheduled gain controller was coupled to provide PIO mitigation by varying stick input gain. Compensatory and tracking tests for the evaluation of this system were performed using a quasi-linear Boeing-747 aircraft model including nonlinear command gearing and actuator rate-limiting. Bandwidth and Gibson criteria were used to design PIO prone control laws for system evaluation experiments. Results from PIO tests conducted on desktop PCs were presented. These were analyzed and compared with those obtained from implementing the Real-time Oscillation Verifier module available in literature.

Background: Frozen shoulder or idiopathic adhesive capsulitis is an enigma of musculo-skeletal medicine. It is a difficult condition to treat and its etiology is still unknown. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate whether acupuncture has a role in the management of frozen shoulder. Objectives: An in-depth literature review was conducted on all aspects related to the current concepts and treatments for frozen shoulder. Although there were discussions on associated conditions and possible causes of frozen shoulder, there is currently no consensus on its management. Acupuncture has been used successfully as a treatment for frozen shoulder by many eastern practitioners. Unfortunately, their claims could not be substantiated due to a lack of properly conducted clinical trials. An acupuncture treatment protocol for the management of frozen shoulder was designed based on both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Anatomical principles. This protocol was then tested with a clinical trial. Methods: A pilot study, using a prospective case series of 20 patients suffering with the “adhesive phase” of frozen shoulder, was conducted to test the effectiveness of the acupuncture treatment protocol. This study included specific selection and exclusion criteria; an objective assessment of the range of movement and subjective assessments on the quality of life and pain. All data were collated and analysed with SPSS version 12. The pretreatment and post-treatment data were tested using both parametric paired sample t test and non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The patients’ profile confirmed the affected age group and gender distribution to be similar to those in the literature search. Unfortunately, due to the small sample size, there were no significant associated conditions demonstrated. There were twice as many cases of primary frozen shoulder than secondary frozen shoulder in this study. These analyses suggested that there were significant changes in all three areas of assessment – range of shoulder movement, quality of life and visual analogue pain scale (p&lt0.001). At completion of treatment, the result revealed that the acupuncture treatment protocol was successful in 60%, and moderately successful in 15%, of the 20 cases tested. This outcome was compared with the study by Omari and Bunker which showed only 12% success with conservative western medical treatments, suggesting that acupuncture may be better than conservative western medical treatments. Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment is less costly and has minimal side effects. It should be part of the non-procedural modalities offered to patients suffering with frozen shoulder. For patients who have failed western conservative managements, a trial of acupuncture treatment should be considered prior to embarking on the more invasive interventions..

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-11-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:37:36Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 braga_gw_me_guara.pdf: 3089752 bytes, checksum: 837118811a801f0f57c8d0d5994cdd4c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / No desempenho de suas atividades aéreas, os pilotos de helicópteros são submetidos a posturas que impõem tensões contínuas em determinados grupos musculares, ao mesmo tempo em que deixam outras musculaturas em desuso. Diante disso, observam-se inúmeros casos de lombalgia que acometem pilotos de helicópteros Esquilo, principalmente nas Forças Armadas, sendo prováveis causas a ergonomia do assento e a vibração que o corpo sofre. Diante de tal fato, este estudo teve os seguintes objetivos: (1) mensurar os níveis de aceleração (vibração), na direção longitudinal (eixo z) da coluna lombar a que os pilotos de helicópteros As-350 L1 Esquilo estão expostos durante o voo; (2) verificar a atividade muscular dos eretores da espinha dos pilotos de helicópteros As-350 L1 Esquilo, com um aparelho de eletromiografia, durante a exposição à vibração em voo; (3) analisar os dados dos pilotos, da aceleração, os sinais de eletromiografia dos músculos eretores da espinha e a sua correlação. A fim de atingir esses objetivos, foram distribuídos 60 questionários para os pilotos de Esquilo do Complexo de Aviação do Exército em Taubaté-SP. Posteriormente, foram selecionados dois pilotos do sexo masculino, de estatura média e acima da média, na faixa etária de 30 a 35 anos de idade, com mais de 300 horas de voo e com classificações morfológicas corporais diferentes, de acordo com a tabela IMC. Após a coleta dos dados, os resultados foram analisados através da norma ISO 2631: 1997 e tratados estatisticamente. No estudo, observou-se que esses pilotos estão expostos a uma vibração de corpo inteiro que requer cautela em relação ao risco à saúde, pois os valores de aceleração encontrados no estudo encontraram-se compreendidos na... / The helicopter pilot’s posture while operating an aircraft can cause continuing strain on certain muscle groups while leaving others unused. Many Esquilo helicopter pilots, especially in the military, are reported to suffer from low back pain, the probable causes being seat ergonomics and the effect of aircraft vibration on the body. With this in mind, this study proposed the following objectives: (1) measure the levels of acceleration (vibration) in the longitudinal direction (z axis) to which the L1-350 Esquilo pilot lumbar spine is exposed during flight, (2) check the L1-350 Esquilo pilot spinal erector muscle activity while exposed to vibration during flight, using electromyography and (3) analyze the data pertaining to the pilot and acceleration, the spinal erector muscle electromyography signals and the correlation between them. In order to achieve these goals, 60 questionnaires were distributed to Esquilo pilots from the Army Aviation Compound of Taubaté (Complexo de Aviação do Exército de Taubaté) in São Paulo. Then, two male pilots were selected, between the ages of 30 and 35, each with more than 300 flight hours, with different body morphological classifications according to the BMI table, one of average height and the other above average height. The collected data was analyzed according to ISO 2631:1997 and statistically studied. It was observed that the pilots’ whole-body vibration levels are such that caution is required to avoid health problems, especially considering those pilots who are members of the military whose exposure is higher due to the number of operational flights. The electromyogram also showed that pilot muscle activity was insignificant due to the small variation in the activity potential of the analyzed muscle. It was... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:36:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:59:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 01803.pdf: 1763975 bytes, checksum: 1d9670fc7ad262d61966c6814c757dc7 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Orientador: Jose Geraldo Trani Brandão / Banca: José Elias Tomazini / Banca: Valdeci Donizete Gonçalves / Resumo: No desempenho de suas atividades aéreas, os pilotos de helicópteros são submetidos a posturas que impõem tensões contínuas em determinados grupos musculares, ao mesmo tempo em que deixam outras musculaturas em desuso. Diante disso, observam-se inúmeros casos de lombalgia que acometem pilotos de helicópteros Esquilo, principalmente nas Forças Armadas, sendo prováveis causas a ergonomia do assento e a vibração que o corpo sofre. Diante de tal fato, este estudo teve os seguintes objetivos: (1) mensurar os níveis de aceleração (vibração), na direção longitudinal (eixo z) da coluna lombar a que os pilotos de helicópteros As-350 L1 Esquilo estão expostos durante o voo; (2) verificar a atividade muscular dos eretores da espinha dos pilotos de helicópteros As-350 L1 Esquilo, com um aparelho de eletromiografia, durante a exposição à vibração em voo; (3) analisar os dados dos pilotos, da aceleração, os sinais de eletromiografia dos músculos eretores da espinha e a sua correlação. A fim de atingir esses objetivos, foram distribuídos 60 questionários para os pilotos de Esquilo do Complexo de Aviação do Exército em Taubaté-SP. Posteriormente, foram selecionados dois pilotos do sexo masculino, de estatura média e acima da média, na faixa etária de 30 a 35 anos de idade, com mais de 300 horas de voo e com classificações morfológicas corporais diferentes, de acordo com a tabela IMC. Após a coleta dos dados, os resultados foram analisados através da norma ISO 2631: 1997 e tratados estatisticamente. No estudo, observou-se que esses pilotos estão expostos a uma vibração de corpo inteiro que requer cautela em relação ao risco à saúde, pois os valores de aceleração encontrados no estudo encontraram-se compreendidos na... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The helicopter pilot's posture while operating an aircraft can cause continuing strain on certain muscle groups while leaving others unused. Many Esquilo helicopter pilots, especially in the military, are reported to suffer from low back pain, the probable causes being seat ergonomics and the effect of aircraft vibration on the body. With this in mind, this study proposed the following objectives: (1) measure the levels of acceleration (vibration) in the longitudinal direction (z axis) to which the L1-350 Esquilo pilot lumbar spine is exposed during flight, (2) check the L1-350 Esquilo pilot spinal erector muscle activity while exposed to vibration during flight, using electromyography and (3) analyze the data pertaining to the pilot and acceleration, the spinal erector muscle electromyography signals and the correlation between them. In order to achieve these goals, 60 questionnaires were distributed to Esquilo pilots from the Army Aviation Compound of Taubaté (Complexo de Aviação do Exército de Taubaté) in São Paulo. Then, two male pilots were selected, between the ages of 30 and 35, each with more than 300 flight hours, with different body morphological classifications according to the BMI table, one of average height and the other above average height. The collected data was analyzed according to ISO 2631:1997 and statistically studied. It was observed that the pilots' whole-body vibration levels are such that caution is required to avoid health problems, especially considering those pilots who are members of the military whose exposure is higher due to the number of operational flights. The electromyogram also showed that pilot muscle activity was insignificant due to the small variation in the activity potential of the analyzed muscle. It was... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre