Whole-body vibration (WBV) was recently introduced as a potential modality for strengthening bones, and this thesis was set out to investigate whether it plays a role in the prevention of postmenopausal bone loss. First, effects of WBV on bone mineral density (BMD) were systematically evaluated in previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in postmenopausal women. Second, a RCT of 202 postmenopausal women with primary osteopenia not on bone medications was conducted to investigate the effects of WBV at 0.3g and 90 Hz versus 0.3g and 30 Hz versus controls on various bone outcomes, as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT), and quantitative ultrasound (QUS). In the systematic evaluation of previous RCTs, statistically significant increase in areal BMD (aBMD) at the hip was found in postmenopausal women receiving WBV versus controls, but the effect was small and may have been due to study bias. Also, WBV was not found to influence aBMD at the lumbar spine or volumetric BMD (vBMD) at the distal tibia in the systematic evaluation. In the RCT conducted in this thesis, no statistically significant effects of WBV were found on aBMD at the femoral neck, total hip or lumbar spine, as measured by DXA, or on vBMD or bone structure parameters at the distal tibia or distal radius, as measured by HR-pQCT. Further in this RCT, a statistically significant decrease was observed in QUS attenuation at the calcaneus in women receiving 90 Hz or 30 Hz WBV compared to controls. This may have been due to heel bone or soft tissue damage, although the effect was small and may not be clinically important. In conclusion, this investigation of postmenopausal women did not find clinically relevant benefits of WBV on osteoporotic-prone skeletal sites, including the hip, spine, tibia or radius, while potentially harmful effects on heel bone and/or soft tissue was observed in response to WBV. Thus based on this thesis, WBV is currently not recommended for the prevention of bone loss in community-dwelling postmenopausal women with primary osteopenia.

Humans often learn to manipulate objects by observing other people. In much the same way, robots can use imitation learning to pick up useful skills. A system is detailed here for using imitation learning to teach a robot to grasp objects using both hand and whole-body grasps, which use the arms and torso as well as hands. Demonstration grasp trajectories are created by teleoperating a simulated robot to pick up simulated objects. When presented with a new object, the system compares it against the objects in a stored database to pick a demonstrated grasp used on a similar object. Both objects are modeled as a combination of primitives—boxes, cylinders, and spheres—and by considering the new object to be a transformed version of the demonstration object, contact points are mapped from one object to the other. The best kinematically feasible grasp candidate is chosen with the aid of a grasp quality metric. To test the success of the chosen grasp, a full, collision-free grasp trajectory is found and an attempt is made to execute in the simulation. The implemented system successfully picks up 92 out of 100 randomly generated test objects in simulation. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:23:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00617.pdf: 4446323 bytes, checksum: 2472e6b6e02afc6e4ba94b64e17ccf87 (MD5) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IEA/T / Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo - FM/USP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:28:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:32:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:10:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 11282.pdf: 1648241 bytes, checksum: 1f0ef077bda3085781976b769a4136a9 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:28:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Ao implementar uma técnica de tratamento, as características do feixe nas condições de irradiação precisam ser bem conhecidas e estudadas. Cada um dos parâmetros utilizados para cálculo de dose deve ser medido e validado antes da utilização dos mesmos na rotina clínica. Isso se torna ainda mais necessário quando se tratam de técnicas especiais. Neste trabalho estão descritos todos os parâmetros e medidas necessárias para a implementação da irradiação de corpo inteiro numa instalação projetada para tratamentos convencionais, e que faz uso de geometrias não convencionais para gerar os tamanhos de campos alargados. Além disso, são apresentados os dados de comissionamento desta modalidade no Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo utilizando a comparação de três tipos de detectores para medidas de dose de entrada durante tratamentos de irradiação de corpo inteiro. / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:32:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:10:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 11282.pdf: 1648241 bytes, checksum: 1f0ef077bda3085781976b769a4136a9 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Limited research has been conducted on inconsistencies relating to whole-body vibration (WBV) field assessments. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate a certain possible contributor to inconsistencies in vibration assessment work, namely averaging intervals. To our knowledge, this was the first study investigating the effect of multiple averaging approaches on WBV results. WBV parameters were measured for a driver operating a vehicle on a preselected test route utilising ISO 2631-1:1997. This was achieved utilizing a Quest HavPro vibration monitor with a fitted tri-axial Integrated Circuit Piezoelectric (ICP) accelerometer pad mounted on the driver’s seat. Furthermore, in an attempt to decrease differences between observed WBV results, an outlier detection method, part of the STATA software package was utilised to clean the data. Statistical analyses included hypothesis testing in the form of one-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks to determine significant differences between integration intervals. Logged data time-series durations showed a W0 = 0.04, therefore indicating unequal variance. Omission of 60s from statistical analyses showed a W0 = 0.28. The observed difference occurs when data is averaged over longer intervals, resulting in portions of data not being reflected in the final dataset. In addition, frequency-weighted root mean squared acceleration results reflected significant differences between 1s, 10s, 30s, 60s and SLOW averaging approaches, while non-significant differences were observed for crest factors and instantaneous peak accelerations. Vibration Dose Value results reflected non-significant differences after omission of 60 second averaging interval data. Cleaned data showed significant differences between various averaging approaches as well as significant differences when compared with raw vibration data. The study therefore outlined certain inconsistencies pertaining to the selection of multiple integration intervals during the assessment of WBV exposure. Data filtering could not provide a conclusion on a suitable averaging period and as such, further research is required to determine the correct averaging interval to be used for WBV assessment. / Dissertation (MPH)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH) / MPH / Unrestricted

Vibrations are often experienced in the workplace and may influence performance and executive function. Research has shown that vibrations may have an affect effect on drowsiness and tests related to inhibitory control. Previous work investigating whole body vibrations (WBV) and their effect was evaluated to inform the decisions for this study. WBV effects on cognitive abilities were examined and the different tests used in these studies were identified and compared. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and event related potentials (ERP) were selected to be used to measure inhibitory and cognitive processes. The N2 ERP, which reflects inhibitory control processes, was examined as well as the dominant frequency of the Fourier fast transform (FFT). A total of 94 participants between the ages of 18-55 (Mage = 20.49 SDage = 1.68) completed this study (51 female, 38 male and 5 with no gender listed). A go/no-go task was used to elicit the N2 ERP after WBV and a simultaneous EEG recording while the participants experienced WBV was used to gather the needed data. Stimulus frequencies used for the N2 ERP included 15 Hz, 20 Hz, and 40 Hz. During the simultaneous recording stimulus frequency varied every 30 seconds by 10 Hz from 20 Hz to 110 Hz. Data were analyzed using both a linear mixed effects model for normally distributed data and a generalized linear mixed effects model for data taken as percentages. It was hypothesized that there would be an effect on performance as measured in the raw go/no-go results, that this change in performance showing improved accuracy would be linked to inhibitory control, and be seen as a decrease in the magnitude of the N2 ERP. It was also hypothesized that the exploratory FFT portion of the study would produce a shift from a higher to a lower frequency in the dominant waveform . The results show that there were no main effects in either the behavioral performance or in the N2 ERP of the participants but that there was a significant interaction at 40 Hz with improved simple go trial activity and decreased no-go inhibition. The results also show that there was a statistically significant shift in neural oscillation activity but that this shift was not real-world relevant within the context of this study.

The measurement of total body volume (V) (excluding lung volume) together with total body mass (m) is required in order to determine body density (d = m/V). From this, and using certain simplifying assumptions, it is possible to derive body composition in terms of fat mass (FM) and fat free mass (FFM) for the two-compartment model. The standard method for determining body volume (and hence body composition) is the densitometric (underwater weighing) technique based on Archimedes' principle. Three variables, notably residual lung volume (RV), total body mass (m) and submerged body mass are measured. RV is normally determined using a gas dilution technique while total body mass is simply measured using an accurate weighing scale. The submerged body mass is measured while the subject is totally submerged in a tank of water. This method, although relatively accurate, requires substantial apparatus and is time consuming. An alternative method, based on a polytropic thermodynamic process, is described for body volume measurement and thereby for body composition assessment. Previous use of this method by Taylor, et al. (1985) and Gundlach and Visscher (1986) were successful, but complex in terms of operating system. The described system comprises of a Perspex, sealed chamber. A cycling piston communicates with the chamber and imposes a minute sinusoidal pressure variation which is then measured. With a subject situated inside the chamber an increased pressure variation, caused by the decreased chamber volume, is then measured and processed to yield the displaced, or body volume. Subject comfort, above all, is greatly enhanced, in comparison to the underwater weighing method. A substantial advantage of the method appears to be that RV need no longer be measured. Variables such as a rise of temperature and humidity caused by the subject, as well as pressure variations due to respiration, were expected and found. These were analyzed both theoretically and experimentally and where necessary the data were modified to account for these variables using a personal computer. Calibration and preliminary validation of the instrument has been carried out using underwater weighing, bioimpedance and skinfold analyses and the error of measurement assessed. It appears that the described plethysmographic method is capable of measuring body volume and thus compares favourably to the underwater weighing method. Even though other groups have succeeded in employing similar principles, a substantially simpler mechanism has been used here.