Neuromuscular control is believed to play an essential role during dynamic knee joint stabilisation. Evaluation of voluntary muscle action can be delineated as support strategies against external loading moments (Lloyd & Buchanan, 2001). The aim of this study was to determine if males and females exhibit differences in knee muscle action and cocontraction during voluntary isometric closed kinetic chain force generation in various directions in the horizontal plane representative of applied loads transverse to the long axis of the shank. Twenty-six healthy young adults (13 male, 13 female) stood with their dominant leg in a boot fixed to a force platform. A force target matching protocol required subjects to position a cursor (projected on a video screen) over a target and maintain the position for one second. To control the cursor, loads were applied against the force platform with their dominant leg to produce various combinations of anterior-posterior, medial-lateral loads while maintaining constant inferior-superior loads. A successful target match required a normalised force magnitude of equal effort for each subject and target location which triggered the recording of electromyography (EMG) for eight muscles crossing the knee joint. EMG was normalised to percent maximum voluntary isometric contraction. A mean magnitude of muscle activation, mean direction of muscle activation and a muscle specificity index was determined using EMG vectors. In addition, cocontraction indices were also computed for antagonist muscle pairs. Based on similar previous research, it was hypothesised that females would have greater quadriceps and hamstrings coactivation, greater muscle activation magnitudes, lower specificity for the quadriceps than males and no difference in hamstring characteristics. In our study, females significantly cocontracted their vastus lateralis and lateral gastrocnemius muscles to a greater degree than males (p=0.001). No significant differences were observed across sexes for the cocontraction of quadriceps and hamstrings or the lateral quadriceps and gastrocnemius muscles. Females displayed significantly lower specificity than males in their semitendinosus (p=0.025) and tensor fascia lata (p=0.012) activity patterns, greater magnitude of muscle activation in their lateral gastrocnemius (p=0.002) and tensor fascia lata (p<0.003) and no statistical difference in the other muscles. Furthermore, the activation patterns in our study grossly differed from previous open kinetic chain force target matching. These findings indicate that healthy young males and females have differences in their knee muscle control strategies and that knee muscle recruitment patterns differ during weight bearing and non-weight bearing tasks.

The aim of this project was to develop a passive optical compensating arrangement that would allow the formation and continued stability of interference patterns over a long timescale and also to investigate optical wave scattering in thick gratings at extreme angles of scattering. A novel passive arrangement based on a Sagnac interferometer is described that produces interference patterns more stable than those produced by a conventional arrangement. An analysis of the arrangement is presented that shows it to be an order of magnitude more stable than an equivalent conventional approach. The excellent fringe stability allowed holographic gratings with small periods (~ 0.5 μm) to be written in photorefractive lithium niobate with low intensity writing fields (~mW/cm2) produced by a He:Ne laser, despite long grating fabrication times (~ 1000 s). This was possible because the optical arrangement compensated for phase shifts introduced by translational and rotational mirror motion caused by environmental perturbations. It was shown that the rapid introduction of a phase shift in one of the writing fields can change the direction of energy flow in the two-wave mixing process. It was found that the improvement in stability of the modified Sagnac arrangement over a conventional interferometer decreased when the crossing angle was increased and that the point about which the mirrors are rotated greatly affects the stability of the arrangement. For a crossing angle of 12 degrees, the modified Sagnac arrangement is more than twice as stable when the mirrors are rotated about their midpoints, rather than their endpoints. Investigations into scattering in the extremely asymmetrical scattering (EAS) geometry were undertaken by scattering light from a 532nm Nd:YAG laser off gratings written in photorefractive barium titanate and lithium niobate. Despite the difficulties posed by background noise, there was very good agreement between the observed scattered field and that predicted by a previously established theoretical model. Thus, this work represents the first experimental observation of EAS in the optical part of the spectrum.

Global concern about the environmental impacts of waste disposal and stringent implementation of environmental laws lead to numerous research on recycled materials. Increased awareness about the inherent engineering values of waste materials, lack of landfill sites and strong demand for construction materials have encouraged research on composite materials, which are either fully or partly made of recycled materials. This trend is particularly strong in transportation and geotechnical projects, where huge quantities of raw materials are normally consumed. Owing to the low mass-to-volume ratio, disposal of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) is a major problem. In addition, EPS recycling methods are expensive, labour intensive and energy demanding. Hence, this thesis is focused on the development of a new soil composite made by mixing recycled EPS with expansive clays. Given the high cost of damage to various buildings, structures and pavements caused by the unpredictable ground movements associated with expansive soils, it has been considered prudent to try and develop a new method of soil modification using recycled EPS beads as a swell-shrink modifier and desiccation crack controller. The innovative application of recycled EPS as a soil modifier will minimise the quantity of waste EPS destined to the landfill considerably. An extensive experimental investigation has been carried out using laboratory reconstituted expansive soils - to represent varied plasticity indices - consisting of fine sand and sodium bentonite. Three soils notated as SB16, SB24 and SB32 representing 16%, 24% and 32% of bentonite contents respectively were tested with four EPS contents of 0.0%, 0.3%, 0.6% and 0.9%. The tests performed include compaction, free swell, swell pressure, shrinkage, desiccation, shear strength and hydraulic conductivity. All the tests have been performed at the respective maximum dry unit weight and optimum moisture content of the mixes. It has been observed that by mixing of recycled EPS beads with the reconstituted soil, a lightweight geomaterial is produced with improved engineering properties in terms of dry unit weight, swelling, shrinkage and desiccation. The EPS addition depends on the moulding moisture content of the soil. With increasing moisture content, additional EPS can be added. Also, there is a reduction in dry unit weight with the addition of EPS. Furthermore, the reduction of swell-shrink potential and desiccation cracking in soils, for example, is related to the partial replacement of soil particles as well as the elasticity of the EPS beads. There is a reduction in shear strength with the addition of EPS to soils. However, mixing of chemical stabilisers along with EPS can enhance the strength in addition to improved overall properties.

Solid Energy New Zealand plans to mine a 6 to 10m thick coal seam below the Mt. Augustus and Mt. Fredrick ridgeline at Stockton Mine near Westport, NZ. The coal is covered by up to 30m of overburden, which requires removal to access 4 million tones of high quality coal. However, the Coal Mining Lease boundary (CML) is located just below the basal coal measures and the neighbouring land is owned by the Department of Conservation (DoC). In addition, the neighbouring DoC estate is Powelliphanta Augustus snail habitat. It is necessary to remove the overburden without releasing any material above natural discharge levels onto the DoC land. In order to control the rockfall risk at the site, the largest design-build rockfall protection project in the southern hemisphere was constructed using a high-capacity dynamic rockfall barrier installed along the length of the ridgeline. During the design phase of the project, it was evident that current methods to determine the coefficient of restitution (normal and tangential) are subjectively based on the designer's judgement. Currently, there is limited quantitative information available for the determination of dampening coefficients (restitution coefficients) for use in rockfall computer simulation programs. Accurate parameters are necessary for the design and dimensioning of rockfall protection structures. This project investigates an objective method to calculate these parameters for use in rockfall modelling based on field measurements of the slope. The first stage of the project is a review of current rockfall simulation programs and rockfall mechanics. This is followed by a review of the design of the rockfall protection measures installed at Stockton Mine. The site is revisited and detailed investigations are performed to further classify the slope conditions and observe current ridgeline mining methodology and effectiveness. Included in this are detailed geotechnical investigations of the slope (soil and rock) materials. The majority of the slopes below the ridgeline mining are heavily vegetated. This project investigates the interrelation of rockfall and vegetation. A series of laboratory tests are conducted using rock and soil samples from the ridgeline-mining project. Overburden samples were cut into spheres and cubes to investigate the influence of shape and rockfall trajectory. A rockfall simulation device was fabricated to drop samples of various shapes onto rock slabs and soil beds. The drop test trajectories were filmed using high-speed video recordings and used for rebound calculations. The purpose of these tests was to observe the effect of impact angle (slope angle) and shape on the coefficients of restitution. Also investigated was the influence of soil moisture and density on rockfall impacts. Observations from the field investigations and laboratory experiments were then used to calibrate the original rockfall design parameters at the site. This included comparing several common commercially available rockfall simulation programs for trajectory analysis. Recent rockfall events that have occurred during the ridgeline mining were compared to original estimates of volume and block-size to actual rockfall events (both natural and mining-induced).

Thèse (Ph. D.)--Freie Universität, Berlin, 2004. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 10 mai 2008). In Coutts MyiLibrary, SpringerLink Business & Economics.

Ce travail de thèse concerne la synthèse de commandes référencées capteur pour les robots non holonomes, dans le cadre de l'approche par fonctions transverses, ainsi que l'étude de la robustesse de ces lois de commande. La commande de robots non holonomes a été très étudiée ces quinze dernières années. Cependant, lorsque l'on souhaite stabiliser la pose complète du robot, la synthèse de lois de commande robustes vis-à-vis d'erreurs d'estimation de l'état du robot (qui dans la pratique découlent typiquement d'erreurs sur les modèles des capteurs) reste un problème ouvert. La problématique principale de cette thèse se situe à ce niveau. Les résultats développés dans cette thèse portent essentiellement sur deux aspects. Le premier concerne la façon d'utiliser les signaux capteurs pour la synthèse de lois de commande. Plusieurs méthodes de synthèse de commande sont proposées dans ce travail, en particulier, par analogie avec la commande des robots manipulateurs, nous proposons une synthèse directe dans l'espace des signaux capteurs. La deuxième partie de ce travail, plus fondamentale, porte sur l'analyse et l'évaluation des propriétés de robustesse des schémas de commande vis-à-vis d'incertitudes sur les modèles de capteurs. Des résultats théoriques de stabilité sont établis, puis validés et complétés par des simulations ainsi que par des résultats expérimentaux.

Dans cette thèse nous avons étudié différents aspects pour le contrôle de systèmes hyperboliques.Tout d'abord, nous nous sommes intéressés à des systèmes hyperboliques à commutations. Cela signifie qu'il existe une interaction entre une dynamique continue et une dynamique discrète. Autrement dit, il existe différents modes dans lesquels peut évoluer la dynamique continue: ces modes sont dictés par la dynamique discrète. Ce changement de mode peut être contrôlé (dans le cas d'une boucle fermée), ou non-contrôlé (dans le cas d'une boucle ouverte). Nous nous sommes intéressés au premier cas. Par une analyse Lyapunov nous avons construit trois règles de commutations capables de stabiliser le système. Nous avons montré comment modifier deux d'entre elles pour obtenir des propriétés de robustesse et de stabilité entrée-état. Ces règles de commutations ont été testées numériquement.Ensuite, nous avons considéré la génération de trajectoire pour des systèmes hyperboliques linéaires 2x2 par backstepping. L'étape suivante a été de considérer une action Proportionnelle-Intégrale pour stabiliser la solution du système autour de la trajectoire de référence. Pour cela nous avons construit une fonction Lyapunov non-diagonale. Nous avons montré que l'action intégrale est capable de rejeter des erreurs distribuées et frontières.Enfin, nous avons considéré des aspects numériques pour l'analyse Lyapunov. Les conditions pour la stabilité et la conception de contrôleurs obtenues par des fonctions de Lyapunov quadratiques font intervenir une infinité d'inégalités matricielles. Nous avons montré que cette complexité peut être réduite en considérant une sur-approximation polytopique de ces contraintes.Les résultats obtenus ont été illustrés par des exemples académiques et des systèmes dynamiques physiques (comme les équations de Saint-Venant et les équations de Aw-Rascle-Zhang). / In this thesis we have considered different aspects for the control of hyperbolic systems.First, we have studied switched hyperbolic systems. They contain an interaction between a continuous and a discrete dynamics. Thus, the continuous dynamics may evolve in different modes: these modes are imposed by the discrete dynamics. The change in the mode may be controlled (in case of a closed-loop system), or may be uncontrolled (in case of an open-loop system). We have focused our interest on the former case. We procedeed with a Lyapunov analysis, and construct three switching rules. We have shown how to modify them to get robustness and ISS properties. We have shown their effectiveness with numerical tests.Then, we have considered the trajectory generation problem for 2x2 linear hyperbolic systems. We have solved it with backstepping. Then, we have considered the tracking problem with a Proportionnal-Integral controller. We have shown that it stabilizes the error system around the reference trajectory with a new non-diagonal Lyapunov function. The integral action has been shown to be able to reject in-domain, as well as boundary disturbances.Finally, we have considered numerical aspects for the Lyapunov analysis. The conditions for the stability and design of controllers by quadratic Lyapunov functions involve an infinity of matrix inequalities. We have shown how to reduce this complexity by polytopic embeddings of the constraints.Many obtained results have been illustrated by academic examples and physically relevant dynamical systems (as Shallow-Water equations and Aw-Rascle-Zhang equations).

DNA damage or replication stress during S-phase can activate the S-phase checkpoint which executes a variety of responses, such as the inhibition of origin firing and replication fork stabilisation. Deregulation of the S-phase checkpoint leads to genomic instability, which has been implicated in diseases such as cancer. In this thesis, I aimed to address whether the S-phase checkpoint is regulated outside of S-phase, and how the S-phase checkpoint targets its substrates in budding yeast. Although this checkpoint has thus far been associated exclusively with S-phase, it remains unknown whether its responses such as inhibition of origin firing can also occur in other phases of the cell cycle. To investigate this, the targets of the S-phase checkpoint for the inhibition of origin firing were analysed outside of S-phase upon DNA damage. Interestingly, I showed that the S-phase checkpoint effector kinase Rad53 phosphorylates its targets to inhibit origin firing outside of S-phase upon DNA damage when there is no replication. I then set out to test whether inhibition of origin firing by Rad53 outside of S-phase might be important for faithful DNA replication. Having shown that the checkpoint response is not specific for any cell cycle phases, I then tested how the specificity of Rad53 for its substrates might be determined. After demonstrating that the essential replication protein Cdc45 is required for Rad53 to phosphorylate the initiation factor Sld3, the key residues of Cdc45 necessary for Rad53 interaction were identified. A Cdc45 allele was produced by mutating the identified residues. This allele of Cdc45 is a separation-of-function mutant which prevents Sld3 phosphorylation upon DNA damage, but retains its function in DNA replication. Because Cdc45 travels with the replication fork, it is possible that Cdc45 also targets Rad53 to the replication fork to stabilise it upon replication stress. Overall, this thesis provides evidence that the S-phase checkpoint can function throughout the cell cycle and that Cdc45 targets Rad53 to some of its substrates, and possibly plays a role in replication fork stabilisation.

No description available.

Afin de garantir la pérennité des ouvrages en bois, ce matériau naturellement dégradable par de nombreux organismes biologiques, doit généralement subir des traitements de protection. L'usage de produits biocides est actuellement la solution la plus employée pour conférer au bois une durabilité supplémentaire. Cependant, devant la problématique environnementale qu'ils soulèvent, l'utilisation de substances biocides est de plus en plus limitée par la réglementation. Des alternatives à l'emploi de biocides ont été développées pour augmenter la durabilité du bois : le traitement thermique et la modification chimique. Le traitement thermique consiste en la dégradation contrôlée des macromolécules du bois, pour le rendre plus hydrophobe, plus stable dimensionnellement et plus résistant à l'attaque des champignons de dégradation. Cependant ce type de traitement affaiblit les propriétés mécaniques du matériau. La modification chimique consiste en l'imprégnation de molécules au sein du matériau, lesquelles vont ensuite réagir avec les constituants du bois pour modifier sa structure chimique. Au cours de cette thèse, des traitements à base de molécules bio-sourcées ont été développés. Ainsi, les traitements opérés sur du hêtre, essence particulièrement sensible à la biodégradation et dimensionnellement instable, ont permis d'améliorer sensiblement ces propriétés. La formation in situ de polyesters de glycérol et de différents acides carboxyliques engendre un matériau plus résistant mécaniquement que les bois traités thermiquement, tout en apportant également une stabilité dimensionnelle et une durabilité renforcées. Les différents acides carboxyliques employés ont, de plus, induit des comportements différents au regard des différentes propriétés étudiées, mettant en lumière l'importance de la structure chimique des réactifs employés. Le traitement le plus prometteur a fait l'objet d'une étude économique montrant la viabilité de l'industrialisation du procédé, qui permettrait alors l'obtention d'un bois modifié utilisable en classe d'emploi 3, tout en valorisant une ressource abondante et sous-exploitée / In order to guarantee the sustainability of structure made of wood, this material, which is naturally degradable by many biological organisms, must generally undergo protection treatments. The use of biocidal products is currently the most employed solution to confer the wood additional durability. However, facing of the environmental problem they raise, their use tends to be increasingly limited by regulation. Alternatives to the use of biocides have been developed to increase the durability of wood: heat treatment and chemical modification. Heat treatment consists of the controlled degradation of wood macromolecules to make it more hydrophobic and therefore more dimensionally stable and more resistant to the attack of the fungi of degradation, but weakens its mechanical properties. Chemical modification involves the impregnation of molecules within the material, which then react with the constituents of the wood to modify its chemical structure. During this thesis, treatments based on bio-based molecules have been developed. Thus, the treatments carried out on beech, a species which is particularly sensitive to biodegradation and dimensionally unstable, have made possible to improve substantially these properties. The in situ formation of polyesters of glycerol and various carboxylic acids produces a material more resistant mechanically than thermally treated wood, while also providing enhanced dimensional stability and durability. The various carboxylic acids employed have also induced different behavior with regard to the various properties studied, highlighting the importance of the chemical structure of the reagents employed. The most promising treatment was the subject of an economic study showing the viability of the industrialization of the process, which would then make it possible to produce a modified wood that can be used in use class 3, while enhancing an abundant under-exploited resource