A problem with the widley usedanticoagulant medicine Warfarin hasalways been that the therapeutic dosevaries from person to person and thatthere has not been any methods toestimate individually-based dosingregimens. By using a new populationmodeldescribing the relationship betweenWarfarin dose and INR(internationalnormalized ratio) response fordifferent individuals based on their age,weight and genotypes, a user friendly,dose estimating program has beendeveloped in Java. The applicationestimates the INR given the individualparameters and dosing, but it's alsopossible to estimate the predicted dosegiven the desired INR. The applicationmakes it possible for others to take partof the model, and to give a moreindividualized Warfarin treatment inclinical practice.

The first part of this thesis presents a novel design for DRAMs to provide self-refreshing cycles which vary with temperature dynamically to reduce power dissipation in a standby mode. The proposed design monitors the data loss of a memory cell which is resulted from the leakage current, and then adjusts the period of the self-refreshing cycles. The second part presents two fast half-swing CMOS circuits for NOR-NOR PLA implementation. An additional 1/2VDD voltage source and buffering transmission gates are inserted between the NOR planes of PLAs to erase the racing problem and shorten the rise delay as well as the fall delay of the output response such that the speed is enhanced.

The thesis aims to investigate the golf swing dynamic behaviors by a suitable computer simulation. The FEM analysis software DYNA was used to analyze the golf swing motion. The swing model was made by driving moment at two revolving joints to provide torque of golf swing. The point is to set the model under the three-dimension gravity field to analyze the influences of club head speed, loft angle, lie angle and stresses in the shaft caused by different shaft flexes and club head weights. Form the finding of the study, the dynamic response and the shaft flex play important parts in swing motion. Comparing the results of the experiments of other research, the relationship among swing motion factors and their dynamic responses were conducted. It is believed that this thesis will provide some reliable computer stimulation data for the reference in sport science.

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Objective As part of this work, two preliminary studies were conducted that identified three possible swings used at the elite level of volleyball and the resulting ball velocities created using these swings. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to explore the kinematic aspects of the different spike attack arm swings (straight ahead (SA), cross body (CB) and outside (OS)) where each different swing was broken down into its constituent parts. Methods Six elite-level varsity players participated in this study. A motion tracking system was used to collect motion data which was used to calculate the kinematics of the upper arm during each of the swing types. A number of minimums and maximums were then calculated including maximum hand speed. To compare means between swings one-way ANOVA’s were used. Results Few differences were found between the swing types. The only difference seen between the SA CB swings was a more pronounced wrist flexion during the CB swing. It is possible that this helped propel the ball across the body during the CB. The OS swings differed from the CB and SA swings in that the OS was less horizontally adducted and there was a more pronounced external rotation during CB than during OS. These differences are likely to be responsible for the ball being hit away from the midline of the body during the OS swing. Typically, the hand speed results agreed with those of the study done previously concerning resulting ball speeds when these swings were employed. Conclusions Between the SA, CB and OS swing types, only the OS was consistantly different throughout the three studies. It is recommended that future studies attempt to examine the whole body during these types of swings. Also, it appears that elite-level players may be quite different kinematically, and each one should be treated as a separate case in a training situation. The findings of these studies may help coaches, trainers and athletes develop better training, injury prevention and rehabilitation programs in the sport. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-16 12:10:06.42

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Los Torque teno sus virus (TTSuV) son virus ADN que pertenecen a la familia Anelloviridae y que infectan los cerdos. Son virus con genoma circular, de cadena simple, y hasta hoy se han descrito 4 especies diferentes: TTSuV1a y TTSuV1b, miembros del género Iotatorquevirus, y TTSuV2 y TTSuVk2b, miembros del género Kappatorquevirus. En los últimos años se ha sugerido que los TTSuVs podrían ser agentes que actuarían conjuntamente con otros patógenos y participar como posibles desencadenadores de enfermedad. En concreto, se ha descrito que podrían estar involucrados en la patogenia de enfermedades causadas por circovirus porcino tipo 2 (PCV2). No obstante, este tema continúa siendo controvertido, con lo cual el estudio de la infección por TTSuV en el cerdo se ha convertido en un foco de interés por parte de científicos durante los últimos años. Los estudios descritos en la siguiente tesis van en la línea de estudios previos con el objetivo de contribuir con más argumentos sobre el papel de los TTSuVs en enfermedades porcinas. En el primer estudio se cuantificó la carga viral de TTSuV1 y TTSuV2 en suero de cerdos afectados por dos PCVDs, concretamente el síndrome multisistémico de emaciación post-destete o circovirosis porcina (PMWS) y el síndrome de dermatitis y nefropatía porcino (PDNS). Dicho estudio se llevó a cabo por medio del desarrollo de una nueva técnica de PCR cuantitativa a tiempo real (qPCR). Los resultados de este estudio mostraron que ambos TTSuVs fueron altamente prevalente entre los cerdos estudiados. La carga viral de TTSuV2 fue significativamente mayor en los animales afectados por PMWS, confirmando así la previa asociación sugerida entre este virus y PMWS. Por el contrario, la prevalencia y la carga en suero de TTSuV1 no se relacionaron con la ocurrencia de las PCVDs estudiadas. En el segundo estudio, la prevalencia y la carga viral de los TTSuVs fueron evaluadas en el contexto de una infección experimental con un aislado de virus de la peste porcina clásica (VPPC) de alta virulencia. Las muestras de suero, procedentes de 54 animales, fueron analizadas por medio de una PCR cuantitativa (qPCR) para TTSuV1 y TTSuV2 antes y después (entre 6 y 13 días después) del desafío con el VPPC. Basándose en de la evolución post- infección de la sintomatología clínica y de la respuesta inmune frente el VPPC, los animales se dividieron en dos grupos: grupo I, incluyendo cerdos con una respuesta inmune adecuada contra el VPPC y sin signos clínicos en el día de la necropsia, y el grupo II, sin ninguna respuesta inmune detectable frente a VPPC y presencia de signos clínicos moderados a graves. Los resultados de la cuantificación de los TTSuVs indicaron que la carga viral del TTSuV2 aumentó significativamente después de la exposición con VPPC en el grupo de cerdos con signos clínicos, específicamente en aquellos con un curso moderado de la enfermedad. Esta situación no se dio para TTSuV1. Por tanto, este estudio pone de relieve el comportamiento diferente de ambos TTSuVs, como ya se había visto en el contexto de PMWS, y además apoya la asociación de TTSuV2 con la presentación de enfermedad. En el tercer estudio, las cargas virales y la prevalencia de TTSuV1 y TTSuV2 se evaluaron en muestras de pulmón fijadas en formol y embebidas en parafina (FFPE) que mostraban diferentes tipos de lesiones inflamatorias. Para ello se utilizó una técnica cuantitativa en tiempo real PCR optimizada para su uso en tejidos FFPE. Los resultados demostraron que ambos TTSuVs estaban presentes en el pulmón. Sin embargo, TTSuV2 tuvo mayor carga viral y la prevalencia en todos los grupos estudiados en comparación con TTSuV1. La carga viral media de TTSuV2 también fue mayor en los pulmones con lesiones compatibles con un origen viral en comparación con los pulmones normales o aquellos con evidencia de infecciones causadas por bacterias. Este resultado sugiere un posible papel de TTSuV2 en el mecanismo patogénico de lesiones inflamatorias de los pulmones compatibles con una infección viral. A la luz de estos resultados, y teniendo en cuenta que en el transcurso de las enfermedades estudiadas existen alteraciones significativas del sistema inmunológico, se ha especulado que esta afectación favorezca una mayor capacidad de replicación de TTSuV2. Por tanto, se considera que este virus probablemente es un agente secundario en el contexto de distintas enfermedades que alteran la respuesta inmunitaria. Aparentemente el TTSuV2 sería capaz de causar lesiones pulmonares, aunque leves. / Torque teno sus viruses (TTSuVs) belong to the family Anelloviridae, and are circular, single-stranded DNA viruses infecting pigs. So far, 4 different TTSuV species have been described: TTSuV1a and TTSuV1b members of the genus Iotatorquevirus, and TTSuV2 and TTSuVk2b, members of the genus Kappatorquevirus. In recent years, it has been suggested that TTSuVs could act together with other pathogens and participate as triggering factor for disease occurrence. Specifically, it has been described that they could be involved in the pathogenesis of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) associated diseases (PCVDs). However, this subject remains controversial, thus the study of TTSuV infection in the pig has become a focus of scientific interest in recent years. The studies described in the following thesis go with the same line of previous studies with the aim to contribute with more clues on TTSuVs role in swine disease. In the first study, TTSuV1 and TTSuV2 viral loads were quantified in serum of pigs affected by two PCVDs, postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) and porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS). Such study was carried out by means of a newly developed real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) method. Results from this study showed that both TTSuVs were highly prevalent among studied pigs. TTSuV2 viral loads were significantly higher in PMWS affected animals, further supporting the previously suggested association between TTSuV2 and PMWS. On the contrary, TTSuV1 prevalence and loads were not related with the occurrence of studied PCVDs. In the second study, TTSuVs prevalence and viral load were assessed in the context of an experimental infection with a highly virulent classical swine fever (CSF) virus (CSFV) isolate. Serum samples from 54 animals were analysed by means of a quantitative PCR (qPCR) for TTSuV1 and TTSuV2 before and after (between 6 and 13 days post-inoculation) the CSFV challenge. Based on the post-infection clinical evolution and immune responses against CSFV, the animals were divided into two groups: group I, with protecting immunity against CSFV and no clinical signs at the day of necropsy, and group II, with no detectable immune responses against CSFV and moderate to severe clinical signs. TTSuVs qPCR results indicated that TTSuV2, but not TTSuV1, load in serum increased significantly after challenge with CSFV in the group of pigs with clinical signs, specifically in those with a moderate course of the disease. Therefore, this study emphasizes the different behaviour of both TTSuVs, as already found in the previous work with PMWS, and further supports the association of TTSuV2 with disease occurrence. In the third study, TTSuV1 and TTSuV2 loads and prevalence were evaluated in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) lung samples displaying different types of inflammatory lesions. Such measurements were made by means of a real time quantitative PCR technique optimised for its use on FFPE tissues. Results from the present study demonstrated that both TTSuVs were present in lung. However, TTSuV2 had higher viral load and prevalence in all the studied groups when compared to TTSuV1. TTSuV2 mean load was also higher in lungs with lesions attributed to a viral background when compared to normal lungs or to those with lesions of bacterial origin. This result suggests a possible role of TTSuV2s in the pathogenic mechanism of inflammatory lesions of lungs compatible with viral infection. In light of these results, and taking into account that significant alterations of the immune system are recorded in most of the studied diseases, it has been speculated that TTSuV2 replication up-regulation would be controlled by the immune system. Therefore, it is considered that this virus, but not TTSuV1, is likely a secondary agent in the context of various diseases that alter the immune response. The capabilities of TTSuV2 for causing pulmonary lesions by itself are apparently real, although of low severity.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Exercise Sciences, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Submitted by Isaac Francisco de Souza Dias (isaac.souzadias@ufpe.br) on 2016-04-06T19:20:21Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO MARINA TEIXEIRA.pdf: 1252410 bytes, checksum: 065ec5fce4387fd98cdcbdc02991b2dd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-06T19:20:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO MARINA TEIXEIRA.pdf: 1252410 bytes, checksum: 065ec5fce4387fd98cdcbdc02991b2dd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-27 / Contemporaneamente tem-se assistido a um crescimento vertiginoso de adeptos e curiosos do swing, também conhecido como troca de casais. Tal fenômeno é acompanhado de toda uma produção discursiva. A academia começa a tomar parte nesse debate, em particular as Ciências Sociais nos estudos de gênero, sexualidade, família e modernidade. Este trabalho faz parte desse esforço. Por se constituir num campo de investigação ainda pouco explorado, a pesquisa buscou etnografar as dificuldades específicas de executar um estudo numa área em que se misturam segredo, exposição, intimidade, publicidade, militância e mercado. Pela natureza do objeto, a escolha do método etnográfico também se fez oportuna para apreender as subjetividades e emoções envolvidas nessa prática, além de poder contrastar o discurso institucionalizado swing com falas, relatos, dinâmicas e expressões corporais dos seus participantes. A partir dos swings observados, não é possível caracterizar o swing como uma atividade praticada por casais. Para além dos casais de fato, há tanto casais arranjados quanto participantes desacompanhados. Também caracterizar o swing como ideologia ou prática libertária seria negar a realidade dos swings observados que se mostraram, salvo exceções, muito mais como um reflexo ampliado das relações sociais que os swingers criticam. Por outro lado, não é possível afirmar que toda a diversidade de motivações e tipos de participantes constituem realidades paralelas ao “verdadeiro swing”, objeto de disputa dos swingers, e sim que todas elas são constitutivas do swing e essenciais para o seu entendimento. Se à primeira vista o swing, devido a seus discursos e à própria natureza da atividade, parece contestar a monogamia e a institucionalização do casamento, a observação de campo aponta em sentido oposto. O swing se mostra como uma atividade de atualização do casamento monogâmico heterossexual enquanto norma social e, principalmente, como protótipo da institucionalização da reprodução das relações de gênero. Partindo dessa contradição, é possível entender a ambiguidade de imagens projetadas dentro e fora do swing sobre seus participantes, tornando suas identidades dicotômicas e fluidas, ora portadores de um segredo ou de um estigma, ora de um traço distintivo; são eles, a um só tempo, revolucionários e amantes da ordem. Também é a partir do entendimento do swing como prática em prol do casamento, e levando em conta também sua abertura para o mercado, que se pode compreender suas características, ambiguidades e contradições constitutivas. Por fim, é possível afirmar que o swing, ou troca de casais, não se mostrou uma prática que se realiza mediante a troca de casais, ao menos não nos swings pesquisados. A mulher, no swing, independente do seu status de esposa, namorada, amiga, amante, acompanhante, é virtualmente uma esposa e se constitui num atributo masculino, índice de virilidade, necessário ao homem para participar das trocas simbólicas com seus pares, que mantêm a estrutura de gênero ativa. / Recently, there has been a marked increase in the number of people who practice swinging, also known as partner exchange, or who are curious about it. Such a phenomenon is coupled with the development of an entire discourse. The Academia is starting to participate in this debate, especially in gender, sexuality, family and modernity studies within the social sciences. The present work is part of this effort. Since this is a field of investigation that has not yet been well explored, the present work aimed at making an ethnographic investigation of the specific barriers to carrying out a study on a topic where secrecy, exposure, intimacy, advertising, activism and the marketplace are mixed together. Due to the nature of the topic, the choice of an ethnographic method was also well suited for grasping the subjectivities and emotions related to this practice and to contrasting the established discourse on swinging against the accounts, reports, dynamics and body expression of its participants. Based on the swinging events observed, it is not possible to characterize swinging as an activity of couples. In addition to established couples, it includes both arranged couples and singles. Likewise, to characterize swinging as an ideology or a libertarian practice would be to deny the observed reality of swinging, which, with a few exceptions, was much more of an amplified reflection of the same social relationships criticized by the swingers. Nevertheless, one cannot proclaim that all the different motivations and kinds of participants constitute parallel realities in relation to “genuine swinging”, which is a source of contention among swingers; all of them are components of swinging and are key to understanding it. If, at first, swinging seems to go against monogamy and the institution of marriage, due to the discourse and nature of this activity, field observations point in the opposite direction. Swinging manifests itself as a renovation of the heterosexual monogamous marriage as the social norm, and it is primarily a prototype of the institutionalization of the reproduction of gender relations. Based on this contradiction, it is possible to understand the ambiguity of the image of swingers projected within and outside of swinging circles, which makes their identities dichotomous and fluid. Sometimes they are carriers of a secret or a stigma, and sometimes they have a distinctive trait; they are, at once, revolutionaries and lovers of order. It is also from an understanding of swinging as a practice carried out in the name of marriage, and of its entry into the marketplace, that its constituent characteristics, ambiguities and contradictions may be understood. Lastly, swinging or couple exchange was not proved to be based on mate swapping, at least according to the swinging events observed in this research. The female swinger, regardless of her status as a wife, girlfriend, friend, lover or escort, is effectively a wife, and becomes an attribute of the male, an indicator of virility that allows the man to participate in symbolic exchanges with his peers, which maintain the active gender structure.

The presented dissertation is focused on the applications of statistical methods and ap-proaches applied in the energy business. The need for the modeling of energy risks arose only recently when the energy business was opened to competition. Therefore, the prima-ry aim of the dissertation is to clarify the main principles of the energy business which are necessary for understanding both risk principles and motivation of the proposed models. I am largely focused on retail risks, i.e., the risks associated with delivery to end-consumers. In particular, I deal with energy contracts providing volume flexibility, recalled as swing options in the literature. Therefore, the second issue on which I am focusing is a group of demand-driven swing options whose more systematic analysis in the portfolio context has not been published so far. Examining the risk, I apply the deductive (probabil-istic) analysis which reveals interesting relations between correlations. The practical ap-plications also require inductive considerations resulting in the construction of statistical estimators relying on historical data. I propose an estimator of the volumetric correlation based on a classical theory whose bias is investigated via MC simulation. To analyze a par-ticular volume-price correlation, I introduced the notion of robust dependency. Applying bootstrap procedures, robust dependency can be used both for testing purposes and for sensitivity analysis of the sample correlation. There are many works available devoted to energy price models which are different from the price models applied on financial markets. Therefore, the third target of the dis-sertation is an empirical statistical analysis of both power and natural gas Czech spot pric-es which can serve as a basis for the development of price models adapted to the Czech market environment. Finally, the fourth aim is the evaluation of power contracts which is very specific. The outputs of the model are both a synthetic market price and a hedging strategy. The model is designed to provide flexibility in practical applications.