The GMT-Consortium Large Earth Finder (G-CLEF) is an echelle spectrograph with precision radial velocity (PRV) capability that will be a first light instrument for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). G-CLEF has a PRV precision goal of 40 cm/sec (10 cm/s for multiple measurements) to enable detection of Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zones of sun-like stars'. This precision is a primary driver of G-CLEF's structural design. Extreme stability is necessary to minimize image motions at the CCD detectors. Minute changes in temperature, pressure, and acceleration environments cause structural deformations, inducing image motions which degrade PRV precision. The instrument's structural design will ensure that the PRV goal is achieved under the environments G-CLEF will be subjected to as installed on the GMT azimuth platform, including: Millikelvin (0.001 K) thermal soaks and gradients 10 millibar changes in ambient pressure Changes in acceleration due to instrument tip/tilt and telescope slewing Carbon fiber/cyanate composite was selected for the optical bench structure in order to meet performance goals. Low coefficient of thermal expansion (C 1E) and high stiffness-to-weight are key features of the composite optical bench design. Manufacturability and serviceability of the instrument are also drivers of the design. In this paper, we discuss analyses leading to technical choices made to minimize G-CLEF's sensitivity to changing environments. Finite element analysis (FEA) and image motion sensitivity studies were conducted to determine PRV performance under operational environments. We discuss the design of the optical bench structure to optimize stiffness to -weight and minimize deformations due to inertial and pressure effects. We also discuss quasi-kinematic mounting of optical elements and assemblies, and optimization of these to ensure minimal image motion under thermal, pressure, and inertial loads expected during PRV observations.

Diese Doktorarbeit befasst sich mit der methodischen Entwicklung von Akquisition- und Rekonstruktionstechniken zur Anwendung von Echtzeit-Bildgebungstechniken auf das Gebiet der dynamischen kontrastmittelgestützten Magentresonanztomographie. Zur Unterdrückung unerwünschter Bildartefakte wird eine neue Spoiling-Technik vorgeschlagen, die auf randomisierten Phasen der Hochfrequenzanregung basiert. Diese Technik erlaubt eine schnelle, artefaktfreie Aufnahme von T1-gewichteten Rohdaten bei radialer Abtastung. Die Rekonstruktion quantitativer Parameterkarten aus solchen Rohdaten kann als nichtlineares, inverses Problem aufgefasst werden. In dieser Arbeit wird eine modellbasierte Rekonstruktionstechnik zur quantitativen T1-Kartierung entwickelt, die dieses inverse Problem mittels der iterativ regularisierten Gauß-Newton-Methode mit parameterspezifischer Regularisierung löst. In Simulationen sowie in-vitro- und in-vivo-Studien wird Genauigkeit und Präzision dieser neuen Methode geprüft, die ihre direkte Anwendung in in-vitro-Experimenten zur "first-pass"-Perfusion findet. In diesen Experimenten wird ein kommerziell verfügbares Phantom verwendet, dass in-vivo-Perfusion simuliert und gleichzeitig vollständige Kontrolle über die vorherrschenden Austauschraten erlaubt.

A novel technique for saphenous vein (SV) graft harvesting, the No-touch technique (NT), has been developed at the Dept. of Cardiovascular surgery, Örebro University hospital. With NT the SV is harvested with a pedicle of surrounding tissue. This avoids graft spasm and eliminates the need for distension. The surrounding tissue acts as a structural support and is a rich source of vaso-dilating agents. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) has shown a significantly higher patency rate for NT SV grafts compared to SV grafts harvested with conventional technique (CT). This thesis evaluates some of the properties of the surrounding tissue and compares patency rates between NT SV and radial artery (RA) grafts and patency rates for internal thoracic artery (ITA) grafts harvested with and without surrounding tissue. Paper I investigated vasa vasorum (VV) in SV grafts and showed that the NT preserves an intact VV whereas CT does not. This could be one of the mechanisms underlying the improved patency for NT SV grafts. Paper II evaluated VV and associated nitric oxide (NO) in SV and arterial grafts. SV grafts showed a higher number and larger VV, which correlated with NO production, compared to arterial grafts. NT SV grafts showed higher activity for e-NOS compared to CT SV grafts. Paper III is a RCT comparing patency rates between NT SV and RA grafts, three years after surgery, showing a significantly higher patency rate for NT SV grafts. Paper IV is a RCT comparing patency rates for ITA graft harvested with and without surrounding tissue and did not show any difference between graft preparations. In conclusion, the NT for SV graft harvesting preserves an intact vasa vasorum and associated NO production. NT SV grafts show a higher patency rate than RA grafts. Harvesting of ITA with or without surrounding tissue does not affect patency rate.

No description available.

Les mécanismes développementaux qui spécifient le nombre et le phénotype laminaire des neurones du cortex cérébral jouent un rôle essentiel dans l’établissement de la cytoarchitecture corticale. Le nombre de neurones dans chaque couche d'une aire donnée est déterminé par le taux de production neuronale, qui dépend étroitement de l'équilibre entre les divisions prolifératives et différenciatives. Des observations clés suggèrent que la durée de la phase G1 (TG1) ferait partie intégrante d'un mécanisme cellulaire régulant le mode de division des précurseurs du cortex. Nous avons testé cette hypothèse par l'accélération expérimentale de la progression dans la phase G1 de précurseurs corticaux de souris in vivo, via la surexpression des cyclines E1 et D1. A E15, la réduction de TG1 promeut la rentrée dans le cycle cellulaire aux dépens de la différenciation neuronale, résultant en une modification de la cytoarchitecture du cortex adulte. Des données de modélisation confirment que les effets induits par la réduction de TG1 sont médiés par des changements du mode de division. Les effets de la surexpression des cyclines E1 et D2 à E13 sont plus modérés qu'à E15, indiquant des différences intrinsèques entre les précurseurs corticaux précoces et tardifs. La mesure des phases du cycle cellulaire des populations de précurseurs corticaux à l’aide de différentes techniques révèle un niveau important d’hétérogénéité et souligne la nécessité de prendre en compte la diversité des précurseurs co‐existant dans les zones germinales du télencéphale. / In the cerebral cortex, area‐specific differences in neuron number and phenotype are distinguishing features both within and across species. The developmental mechanisms that specify the number of neurons and their laminar fate are instrumental in specifying cortical cytoarchitecture. Neuron number in layers and areas correlate with changes in the rate of neuron production, largely determined by the balance between proliferative and differentiative divisions in cortical precursors. Key observations suggest a concerted regulation between the duration of the G1 phase (TG1) and mode of division and have led to the hypothesis that TG1 could be an integral part of a cellular mechanism regulating the mode of division of cortical precursors. To test this hypothesis we experimentally accelerated TG1 in mouse cortical precursors in vivo, via the forced expression of cyclinE1 and cyclinD1. At E15, TG1 reduction promoted cell‐cycle re‐entry at the expense of differentiation and led to cytoarchitectural modifications. Modeling confirms that the TG1‐induced changes in neuron production and laminar fate are mediated via the changes in the mode of division. Forced expression of G1 cyclins was also applied to early cortical precursors. The effects of cyclinD1 and cyclinE1 up‐regulation at E13 were milder than those observed at E15, pointing to intrinsic differences between early and late cortical precursors. The used of various techniques to measure cell‐cycle kinetics in distinct precursor populations underlined the necessity of taking the full diversity of neural precursors co‐existing in the GZ of the telencephalon into account when performing cellcycle kinetics analysis.

Submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Background: When a soft tissue injury occurs the blood vessels and surrounding tissue are damaged leading to haemorrhaging and inflammation. Cryotherapy (cold therapy) is generally acknowledged as the preferable treatment by manual therapists during this immediate post-traumatic period of an injury. Cryotherapy has been shown to result in vasoconstriction decreasing the rate of blood flow which has a favourable effect on inflammation and pain. The commercially available cooling cuff is a relatively new cryotherapy modality offering a mechanism of cooling that does not require freezing and is easy to use. The polymer granules within the cooling cuff are activated by emersion in water therefore freezing is not required making the cooling cuff readily available compared to more traditional forms of cryotherapy. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a moist ice pack and a commercially available cooling cuff radial artery blood flow (cm.s-1) and radial artery lumen diameter (mm) after 15 minutes of application. Method: This study was a pre-test post-test design utilising 43 asymptomatic participants that were randomly allocated to one of two groups. Each group either received a standard moist ice pack or a commercially available cooling cuff, placed on the ventral surface of the participants forearm, over the radial artery, for a duration of 15 minutes. Measurements were taken with a Doppler ultrasound to determine radial artery blood flow and lumen diameter, prior to the intervention and 15 minutes after the cryotherapy application. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS VERSION 20 (IBM Corp. Released 2010.IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19.0. Armonk, New York: IBM Corp.). Statistical significance was set at a p< 0.05 level. Intra-group and inter-group comparisons were measured using repeated measures ANOVA testing. Results: Both the moist ice pack and commercially available cooling cuff resulted in a significant decrease in radial artery blood flow (p< 0.001) after 15 minutes of application with no significant changes being observed in radial artery diameter Conclusions: The commercially available cooling cuff resulted in a similar effect on radial artery blood flow and lumen diameter as moist ice, indicating that the commercially available cooling cuff may be utilised in the acute phase of an injury to alter blood flow. / M

La mutation technologique du transport en général et aéronautique en particulier, engagée au niveau européen, conduit à une évolution vers des avions plus économiques et moins consommateurs de carburant. Ceci impacte fortement les systèmes de conditionnement d’air par une électrification partielle ne nécessitant plus de prélèvement d’air sur les réacteurs. Il est alors nécessaire d’assurer une large plage de débit à travers la turbine, élément de la turbomachine constituant le cœur du « pack » de conditionnement d’air, tout en fournissant le maximum de puissance possible sur l’ensemble de la plage. L’étage turbine classique ne peut pas assurer la plage de débit spécifiée. Il est donc remplacé par un étage turbine à section d’injection variable. Cet étage turbine doit fonctionner depuis la phase de maintenance au sol (faible débit, fort taux de détente) jusqu'en phase de croisière (fort débit, faible taux de détente), tout en assurant également son rôle sur les autres phases de vol et multiples cas de panne. La problématique est alors de concevoir une turbine dont la géométrie varie en fonctionnement et qui présente de très bons rendements sur une large plage de débit. Il est ainsi primordial de comprendre au préalable la complexité des écoulements pour ce type de géométrie, et comment le dispositif assurant la variation de section va influencer la topologie de l’écoulement dans l’étage turbine. En particulier, la présence de jeux dans les parties statiques de l’étage introduit une perturbation tourbillonnaire en amont du rotor. L’impact de cette perturbation sur l’écoulement principal, son interaction avec les écoulements secondaires, doit être détaillé. L’influence de la localisation de cette perturbation, de son intensité, doit être analysée, dans un contexte rendu très complexe par la variabilité de la géométrie. La compréhension des phénomènes mis en jeu responsables de la variation des performances dans l’étage turbine, permettra de définir une stratégie de dimensionnement à adopter. L’amélioration des performances de la turbine permettra ainsi de limiter la puissance demandée sur le moteur électrique afin de limiter la masse embarquée et donc la consommation de carburant. La méthodologie retenue pour aborder cette problématique, se décline en quatre volets. Un premier volet bibliographique pour s’approprier les phénomènes physiques liés à l’écoulement dans une turbine à géométrie variable et faire un état de l’art des solutions techniques existantes de géométrie variable des distributeurs de turbines centripètes. Un volet numérique dont l’objectif sera double. D'une part, de proposer une méthodologie de calcul robuste de prévision des performances et, d’autre part, de discriminer différentes options de dimensionnement dont la pertinence doit être démontrée sur l’ensemble de sa plage d’opérabilité. Un volet expérimental représentant la part principale de la thèse, consistera à mettre en place un module spécifique pour réaliser et analyser les essais pour des points de spécification représentatifs du fonctionnement de la turbine sur avion. Cela permettra de fournir une base de données d’analyse et de validation, et de quantifier les effets d’intégration. Ces études numérique et expérimentale seront conduites conjointement, afin que l’analyse de l‘écoulement profite de la complémentarité des deux approches. La dernière étape de cette étude a pour but la restitution des résultats obtenus et le savoir-faire vers l’industrie tant du point de vue de la prédiction des performances que de la méthodologie de dimensionnement des turbines à géométrie variable. / The technological mutation of transport in general and aeronautics in particular, engaged to the European level, leads to an evolution of more economical and fuel-efficient aircrafts. It strongly impacts the environmental control systems by a partial electrification which does not need an air bleeding on the engine anymore. Then it is necessary to insure a large output range through the turbine, element of the turbomachine which forms the heart of the air conditioning « pack », while providing the maximum amount of possible power on the whole range. The classical turbine stage cannot insure the specified output range. Then it is replaced by a variable geometry radial inflow turbine. This turbine stage has to function from the maintenance phase on the ground (weak output, strong expansion ratio) to the en route phase (strong output, weak expansion ratio). It also has to guarantee its role during the others phases of flight and in case of multiple failures power. So the problematic is to design a turbine such that its geometry varies in operation and adapt itself to the changing operating with the best possible efficiency on the widest possible range. Thus it is primordial to understand beforehand the complexity of flows for this kind of geometry, and how the variable geometry device affects the flow topology in the turbine stage. In particular, the presence of clearances in the static parts of the stage creates a vortex perturbation upstream from the rotor. The impact of this perturbation on the main flow, its interaction with secondary flows, must be detailed. The influence of the perturbation localisation, its intensity, must be analysed, in the complex variable geometry context. The understanding of phenomenon involved and responsible for the downgrade of performance in the turbine stage, will allow defining a specific strategy of design. The improvement of performance for the turbine will enable to restrict the required power on the electrical engine for limiting the on board weight, and then the fuel consumption. The selected methodology to broach this problematic, is divided into four parts. Firstly, a bibliographic part in order to appropriate physics phenomenon related to the flow in a variable geometry turbine will be conducted, together with a state of art about the different existing technological solutions. Secondly, some numerical simulations will be set to propose a methodology of robust calculations for performance prediction and, to discriminate different design options. The third step consists in an experimental phase representing the main work of the thesis. It will consist in the definition of a specific module instrumented for tests representative of the turbine on aircraft functioning. It will provide a database for analysing the flow and validating the numerical simulations, and to quantify the effects of integration. These numerical and experimental studies will be led jointly, such that the general analysis takes advantage of complementarity of both approaches. The last step of this study aims at conditioning the results achieved and the know-how for industrial application.

Student Number :9900127Y - MSc (Eng) dissertation - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Arterial pulse wave analysis studies the wave shape of the blood pressure pulse. The pulse wave provides more information than the extreme systolic and dia- stolic pressures, measured with a cuff sphygmomanometer. The aim of the research is to investigate the design issues in a pulse wave analysis system, and to compare these to a commercially available system. The system was compared and validated by measuring the pulse wave at the radial artery (wrist) using the non-invasive technique of arterial tonometry. The design conformed to the IEC-601 safety standard to ensure patient safety. The data was compared against the data from the commercial system and analysis was performed in the time and frequency domain. The performance of the design suggests that, in some respects, the design was comparable to the commer- cial system, however, a number of performance characteristics fell short of the commercial system. Suggestions have been made to address these problems in further research.

No presente trabalho, são discutidos alguns aspectos do escoamento em turbomáquinas radiais, com ênfase nas análises teórica e experimental de rotores centrífugos. Na análise teórica, utilizando o método das singularidades, são apresentadas duas formulações para o escoamento potencial e incompressível no interior de rotores centrífugos com pás de largura variável. Na primeira formulação, apropriada para pás de espessura finita, o escoamento no plano físico, para qualquer geometria de rotor de turbomáquina, é mapeado para o plano da grade linear. A solução numérica da equação de Fredholm de segunda espécie, resultante dessa formulação no plano da grade linear, é obtida pelo método dos painéis, através de uma distribuição de vórtices de densidade uniforme em cada painel. Por meio de uma equação de transformação de velocidades, as características do escoamento são reconduzidas para o plano físico. Na segunda formulação, apropriada para pás infinitamente finas, as características do escoamento são obtidas no próprio plano da grade radial. A solução numérica da equação de Fredholm de primeira espécie resultante dessa formulação é obtida também pelo método dos painéis, porém com uma distribuição de vórtices de densidade linear em cada painel. Diversas características locais e globais do escoamento são determinadas para vários formatos de pás. Baseando-se no carregamento da pá, propõe-se um parâmetro adimensional que determina o número ótimo de pás. Na análise experimental, foram construídos cinco rotores centrífugos com diferentes formatos e números de pás. Também, foi construída uma seção especial de testes para ensaios de rotores centrífugos sem interferência externa irregular no seu escoamento. Para a determinação das características do escoamento, foram utilizados dois sistemas de medidas: um, com uma sonda aerodinâmica localizada na saída do rotor centrífugo e, o outro, com uma célula de carga para a medição da potência de eixo desse rotor. A comparação entre os resultados obtidos por esses dois sistemas de medidas mostra algumas características importantes como o fenômeno da recirculação do escoamento no rotor centrífugo. Os resultados numéricos e experimentais são comparados para uma ampla faixa de vazões. Diversas análises dos resultados são apresentadas e alguns comentários são feitos sobre a validade da aplicação de teorias invíscidas em rotores centrífugos. Conclui-se que o critério baseado no número de Richardson máximo é apropriado para indicar o número ótimo de pás de rotores centrífugos com pás curvadas para trás, por meio do cálculo do escoamento potencial.

Flows, instabilities, and magnetism play significant roles in the internal and atmospheric dynamics of objects ranging from the smallest exoplanets to the largest stars. These phenomena are governed by the equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which link the flows and magnetic fields, and from which the operational parameters and growth rates of instabilities can be recovered. Here we present an overview of interesting phenomena (such as the internal dynamics of stellar and planetary objects, as well as instabilities which might operate within these environs), as well as computational techniques by which these phenomena might both be understood and analysed (through both ‘simplifications’ of the MHD equations and different numerical/computational approaches). We first present an investigation into the Heat-Flux-Driven Buoyancy Instability (HBI) within stellar and planetary atmospheres, considering both the parameter space it might operate within as well as its non-linear effects during said operation. We find that whilst the HBI may be able to play a role in Solar, stellar and planetary atmospheres, it is likely to be quite limited in scope, only operating within small regions. However, its dramatic consequences for heat transport in the non-linearly evolved state, and the prospects that it may operate outside the narrow regimes that our analytical analysis suggested, suggest that it may merit further study. This is followed with a discussion of a method by which the surface flows of exoplanets might be measured: The Rossiter-Mclaughlin Effect at Secondary Eclipse (RMse). We formulate the effect, showing that the formalism is identical to the traditional Rossiter-Mclaughlin effect, albeit in a different frame (a planet transiting a star becomes a star transiting a planet), and consider its observational implications: the effect should be observable for the brightest planet hosting stars using upcoming 40m-class telescopes (i.e.E-ELT). We finish with a series of 3D anelastic simulations of fully convective stars, designed to investigate how the internal flows are affected by varying stellar parameters, as well as a possible link between residual entropy and differential rotation contours, and a method by which this link can be used (via the thermal wind equation - TWE) to extrapolate the internal rotation. We find a clear transition between ‘solar-like’ and ‘anti-solar’ internal dynamics, characterised in the meridional circulation, differential rotation, residual entropy, and angular momentum flux profiles. Furthermore we find that, whilst the alignment between residual entropy and differential rotation contours is somewhat varied, the resultant extrapolation, via the TWE, produces a generally good fit to the differential rotation contours, suggesting a general robustness to the theory.