Orientador: Roberto Carlos Burini / Banca: Kátia Cristina Portero McLellan / Banca: Ismael Forte Freitas Junior / Banca: Alex Antonio Florindo / Banca: Aguinaldo Gonçalves / Resumo: A busca pela estratégia mais eficaz capaz de prevenir, modificar e controlar fatores de risco e doenças crônicas por meio de mudança no estilo de vida (MEV) tornou-se um grande desafio, além de conseguir a adesão, em longo prazo, e principalmente sem supervisão, aos bons hábitos adquiridos durante a intervenção com MEV. Diante disso, o objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar o efeito da participação e do desligamento do programa de mudança do estilo de vida sobre nível de atividade e aptidão física, percepção de saúde e presença de Síndrome Metabólica em adultos da comunidade de Botucatu-SP. Estudo do tipo transversal com base na comunidade contou com 153 indivíduos previamente participantes de programa de MEV e alocados em grupos Controle, Adesão e Não-Adesão. As avaliações incluíram medidas antropométricas (peso corporal e estatura para cálculo do índice de massa corporal (IMC), circunferência abdominal, percentual de gordura, massa muscular e índice de massa muscular (IMM)), aptidão física (flexibilidade de tronco (sentar e alcançar) e força de preensão manual (dinamometria)) e nível de atividade física e estado de saúde (IPAQ longo, versão 8). Amostra sanguínea de jejum foi utilizada para análise bioquímica (glicemia, HDL-C e triglicerídios), aferição da pressão arterial (técnica auscultatória) e o diagnóstico da Síndrome Metabólica (SM) seguiu as recomendações do NCEP-ATPIII (2001) com adaptação da glicemia (≥ 100 mg/dL) em três momentos (pré-participação (M0), após intervenção de seis meses (M1) e após desligamento (M2) do programa de MEV). Análise de variância e modelo linear generalizado em medidas repetidas para comparação entre momentos e grupos, qui-quadrado, teste de proporção e modelo de regressão logística com nível de significância de 5%. O programa de MEV... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The search for more effective strategy able to prevent, control and modify risk factors and chronic diseases through lifestyle change (LSC) has become a major challenge, beyond to achieving the adherence in long term, especially without supervision, the good habits acquired during the LSC intervention. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the participation and disconnexion effects of lifestyle change program on physical activity level and fitness, on self-perceived health and metabolic syndrome presence in adults from Botucatu-SP's community. Cross-sectional study of community-based had 153 subjects previously LSC program participants and allocated in Control, Adherence and Non-Adherence. The assessments included anthropometric measurements (weight and height to calculate body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, fat percentage, muscle mass and muscular mass index (MMI)), fitness (trunk flexibility (sit and reach) and handgrip strength (dynamometry)) and physical activity level and health status (IPAQ long version 8). Fasting blood sample was used for biochemical analysis (glucose, HDL-C and triglycerides), blood pressure measurement (auscultatory technique) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) diagnosis followed the NCEP-ATPIII (2001) recommendations with glucose adaptation (≥ 100 mg / dL) in three moments (pre-participation (M0), six months after intervention (M1) and after LSC program disconnexion (M2)). Variance analysis and generalized linear model for repeated measures to compare moments and groups, chi-square and proportions test and logistic regression model with 5% significance level. The LSC program significantly reduced work and housework physical activity, poor health perception and low physical activity level and increased leisure physical activity and flexibility, beyond to attenuate... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Context: Knee injury is a common problem for runners. Knee pain is a common symptom in knee injury and is associated with alterations in knee and hip muscle activation and hip joint angles. Relieving pain through intervention may help to restore neuromuscular function. Objective: To examine the effects of ice and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) combination treatment on perceived knee pain, hip frontal plane angle, and muscle activation during running in individuals with experimental knee pain (EKP). Design: Crossover. Setting: Laboratory. Subjects: 19 participants (11 males and 8 females, 23.2 ± 1.9 y, 176 ± 11.6 cm, 71.5 ± 16.9 kg; right leg dominant). Interventions: Hypertonic saline was infused into the infrapatellar fat pad for 74 minutes (total 11.1 mL). Subjects underwent 2 treatment conditions (sham; ice/TENS combination). Measurements were recorded during running at 4 time points (preinfusion, postinfusion, posttreatment, and postinterval). Main Outcome Measures: Perceived knee pain on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS), knee and hip muscle peak electromyography (EMG) amplitude, and hip adduction angles. Results: Hypertonic saline infusion increased perceived anterior knee pain in all participants. The average of peak perceived knee pain was 28 mm on a 100-mm VAS in EKP application. While the increased perceived knee pain level stayed consistent across time in the sham session, ice/TENS combination treatment significantly reduced perceived knee pain by 35% at 6 minutes after the treatment start (p = 0.049), and the reduced knee pain lasted for 22 minutes (p > 0.05). Peak EMG amplitude of the gluteus medius was decreased by 13.5% and 14.3% (p = 0.023; p = 0.013) during running after EKP in sham and treatment sessions, respectively. However, the peak EMG amplitude was not restored to pain-free level during running after the treatment (p = 0.026). No other muscles changed their peak EMG amplitude due to EKP or treatment. Hip adduction angles during running were also not altered by EKP or treatment (p > 0.3) in both sham and treatment sessions. Conclusions: EKP increased perceived knee pain and decreased peak muscle activation of the gluteus medius during running. Ice/TENS combination treatment reduced perceived knee pain quickly, but did not restore neuromechanics during running.

In Würzburg wird seit 1997 ein Hörscreening unter Verwendung akustisch evozierter Potentiale durchgeführt. Der zu Anfang verwendete Click-Reiz wurde im März 2006 durch den auf dem Cochlea-Modell beruhenden Chirp-Reiz ersetzt. Für diesen Reiz werden auf Grund der Kompensation der Wanderwellenverzögerung der Cochlea größere Potentialamplituden beschrieben. Für diese Arbeit wurden die akustisch evozierten Potentiale von 96 Neugeborenen mit dem Maico-MB11-BERAphon aufgezeichnet. Ausgewertet und verglichen wurden die bei 40 dB HL und 60 dB HL mittels Click und Chirp generierten Potentiale I, III und V hinsichtlich ihrer Auswertbarkeit sowie ihrer Latenzzeiten und Amplitudenwerte. Besonderes Interesse galt den Latenzzeiten des Chirp und dabei der Fragestellung, in wie weit sich die Reizstruktur des Chirps in einer Verkürzung der Latenzzeiten auswirken würde. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Chirp im Vergleich zum Click zu einer deutlichen Verkürzung der Latenzen der akustisch evozierten Potentiale führt. Bei allen untersuchten Potentialen ergaben sich beim Chirp kürzere mittlere Latenzen als beim Click. Die Unterschiede erwiesen sich als statistisch signifikant. Der Chirp bewirkt eine Vergrößerung der Antwort-Amplituden. Die Mittelwerte aller Amplituden waren bei Verwendung des Chirp-Reizes größer. Eine Verbesserung der Auswertbarkeit wurde für alle untersuchten Potentiale I, III und V nachgewiesen. Zusammenfassend lässt sich feststellen, dass nach Chirp-Reizung die einzelnen Wellen der akustisch evozierten Potentiale also deutlicher, mit größerer Amplitude und mit kürzerer Latenz zur Darstellung kommen als nach Click-Reizung. Die in dieser Untersuchung im Standard-BERA-Verfahren ermittelten Unterschiede zwischen den Reizen Click und Chirp unterstreichen die Vorteile des Chirp auch für den Einsatz beim Hörscreening und der Hörschwellenbestimmung. Die durch diesen Reiz evozierte Potentialantwort führt bei kürzeren Messzeiten zu deutlich zuverlässigeren Ergebnissen, was eine Verbesserung der Qualität der Hörschwellenbestimmung und der Hörscreening-Untersuchung darstellt. / Since 1997 there is a Hearingscreening established in Wuerzburg which is based on auditory evoked potenials. In March 2006 the formerly used click-stimulus was substituted by a chirp-stimulus based on the cochlea-model. For this stimulus larger amplitudes of the potentials are discribed due to a compensation of travelling wave delay. For this study the auditory evoked potentials of 96 newborns were recorded with the Maico-MB11-BERAphon. Potentials I, III and V were evaluated and compared in terms of evaluability as well as latency and amplitude values. The latencies of the chirp-stimulus and the question, to which extent the structure of the chirp-stimulus would result in a reduction of latency times were of main interest. The results show that compared to the click the chirp-stimulus causes a clear shortening of latencies of auditory evoked potentials. For all examined potentials the chirp-stimulus showed shorter mean-latencies than the click. The differences were statistically significant. The chirp causes an increase in response amplitudes. Mean values of amplitudes were larger when using the chirp stimulus. An improvement of the evaluability was demonstrated for all investigated potentials I, III and V. In summary it can be seen that after Chirp excitation the individual waves of auditory evoked potentials occur more clearly, with greater amplitude and shorter latency than after click excitation. The differences between the click and chirp stimuli identified in these standard ABR procedures also emphasize the benefits of the chirp-stimulus for use in hearing screening and the defining of hearing thresholds. The potential response evoked by this stimulus leads to more reliable results implying significantly shorter measuring times and thus improves the quality of the defining of hearing thresholds and hearing screening examination.

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is the largest cause of natural deaths in the USA, accounting for over 300,000 deaths annually. The major reason for SCD is Ventricular Arrhythmia (VA). Therefore, there is need for exploration of approaches to predict increased risk for VA. Alternans of the T wave in the ECG (TWA) is widely investigated as a potential predictor of VA, however, clinical trials show that TWA has high negative predictive value but poor positive predictive value. A possible reason that TWA has a large number of false positives is that a pattern of alternans known as concordant alternans, may not be as arrhythmogenic as another pattern which is discordant alternans. Currently, it is not possible to discern the pattern of alternans using clinical ECGs. Prior studies from our group have showed that alternans of the maximum rate of depolarization of an action potential also can occur when Action Potential Duration (APD) alternans occurs and the relationship between these two has the potential to create spatial discord. These results suggest that exploration of the co-occurrence of depolarization and repolarization alternans has the potential to stratify the outcome of TWA tests. In order to investigate the link between depolarization alternans and changes in ECGs, we used a mathematical model created previously in our research group which simulated ECGs from the cellular level changes observed in our experimental studies. These results suggest that the changes in ECGs should appear as alternating pattern of the amplitude of the R wave. Because there are a variety of factors which may also cause the R wave amplitude to change, we used signal analysis and statistical modeling to determine the link between the observed changes in R wave amplitude and depolarization alternans. Results from ECGs recorded from patients show that amplitude of the R wave can change as predicted by our experimental results and mathematical model. Using TWA as the marker of repolarization alternans and R Wave Amplitude Alternans (RWAA) as the marker of depolarization alternans, we investigated the phase relation between depolarization and repolarization alternans in clinical grade ECG and observed that this relationship does change spontaneously, consistent with our prior results from animal studies. Results of the present study support further investigation of the use of RWAA as a complementary method to TWA to improve its positive predictive value.

Diffuse knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) is an introduced annual or short-lived perennial from Eurasia that has become a threat to native rangelands in the Pacific Northwest. Military training activities on the Yakima Training Center (YTC) increase the likelihood that knapweed will expand its range at YTC. This study, conducted in a major watershed at YTC, focused on: 1) how a variety of environmental variables influences knapweed distribution, 2) the use of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery to map existing knapweed populations, and 3) the use of a logistic regression model and geographical information systems (GIS) to create a potential knapweed habitat map. Topographic and climatic factors had the greatest influence on knapweed distribution. Knapweed has a competitive advantage over those which may have some water stress due to increased temperatures (i.e., lower elevations and south slopes). Lower shrub density, greater percent bare ground, and lower percent perennial aerial cover also made for ideal knapweed habitat. Knapweed density decreased as slope steepness, pH, and percent rock cover increased. Using TM imagery to define existing knapweed populations was unsuccessful because most knapweed stands were less than 30 m X 30 m and had little effect on the TM image values. However, the TM imagery was useful in defining potential knapweed habitat along with other variables. Sixty percent of the Selah watershed has the potential to support knapweed. Approximately 68 % of the potential knapweed habitat was infested with knapweed. Denser patches (> 1 plant per m2) were limited to 21% of the potential habitat.

This master’s thesis covers the design and implementation of a monopulse directionof arrival (DOA) estimation algorithm on an FPGA. The goal is to implement a complete system that is capable of estimating the bearing of an incident signal. In order to determine the estimate quality both a theoretical and practical noise analysis of the signal chain is performed. Special focus is placed on the statistical properties of the transformation from I/Q-demodulated signals with correlated noise to a polar representation. The pros and cons for three different methods of calculating received signal phasors are also covered.The system is limited to two receiving channels which constrains this report to a 2D analysis. In addition the used hardware is limited to C-band signals. We show that an FPGA implementation of monopulse techniques is definitely viable and that an SNR higher than ten dB allows for a gaussian approximation of the polar representationof an I/Q signal.

Increased attention towards threatening stimuli in both the external and internal environments is thought to be a factor in the causation and maintenance of pathological anxiety. Attentional biases for threatening information have been demonstrated in anxiety disorders, however the cortical mechanisms involved remain unclear. In this investigation, an Emotional Stroop task consisting of neutral, positive, depression-related and anxietyrelated words, was used to investigate attentional biases in 14 Panic Disorder patients and 32 psychiatrically healthy controls. The standard colour-word Stroop was also performed to determine whether any general cognitive deficits exist in Panic Disorder. Steady-state probe topography (SSPT), a brain electrical activity imaging methodology, was used to investigate participants' brain activity during performance of the tasks. It was hypothesised that Panic Disorder is associated with specific biases for disorder-specific information and thus patients would exhibit increased interference for anxiety-related words only, compared to neutral words. Mean reaction times for the Standard Stroop was similar for the two groups. For the Emotional Stroop task, neither group showed an interference effect for any emotional category. However, Panic Disorder patients performed the Emotional Stroop significantly more slowly than the Controls. The SSPT data suggest that the Standard and Emotional Stroop tasks are associated with different patterns of brain activity in the Control and Panic Disorder groups despite the similarities in the reaction time data. Specifically, the Standard Stroop was marked by strong temporo-parietal excitation in the Panic Disorder group only. In addition, anterior SSVEP patterns further differentiated between the Control and Panic Disorder groups. The most striking finding for the Emotional Stroop was strong sustained bilateral temporo-parieto-occipital excitation in the Panic Disorder group. In addition, a subgroup of the Controls exhibited increased interference for anxiety-related words and therefore the brain activity for this group and the remainder of Controls who did not show interference was analysed separately. It was found that the presence of interference for anxiety-related words was associated with right prefrontal inhibition prior to response. Other time-varying changes in the SSVEP further distinguished between the subgroup of Controls who showed an interference effect and those who did not.

L'objectif de cette étude, réalisée en collaboration avec l'Agence d'Essais Ferroviaire (AEF) de la SNCF, est de proposer une méthode de calcul de durée de vie sous chargements complexes (chargements multiaxiaux d'amplitude variable) en fatigue à grande durée de vie. La première partie du document présente une analyse critique de différentes méthodes de la littérature dans ce domaine. La seconde partie du document présente la base de données expérimentales établie en vue de l'identification et de l'évaluation de la méthode proposée. Cette base de données est constituée d'essais sur éprouvettes lisses sous une large gamme de sollicitations à complexité croissante (les essais vont de la traction d'amplitude constante à des essais de flexion-torsion hors phase d'amplitude variable) mais également sur roue de TGV à échelle 1 (essais réalisés à l'AEF, sous chargements d'amplitude variable inspirés d'enregistrements en service). La suite du document présente une nouvelle méthode de calcul de durée de vie sous chargements multiaxiaux d'amplitude variable. En conservant une base énergétique et la notion de seuil de "non endommagement" définies au cours des précédents travaux menés au LAMEFIP, cette proposition prend en compte l'effet, sur la durée de vie, de la répartition spatiale des contraintes dans la pièce. Basée sur une définition incrémentale du travail de déformation fourni au matériau, cette proposition s'affranchit de toute méthode de comptage de cycle et est apte à prévoir la durée de vie d'une structure soumise à une sollicitation quelconque d'amplitude variable. Les prévisions de cette méthode sont confrontées à des résultats de différents essais de la littérature, notamment obtenus sur des éprouvettes entaillées, et aux résultats expérimentaux de l'étude. Enfin la méthode proposée est appliquée à un cas industriel : la prévision de la tenue en fatigue de la toile d'une roue de train à grande vitesse sous chargements d'amplitude constante ou par blocs. Les prévisions de la méthode, appliquée en post-processeur des résultats de calculs éléments finis sur la roue, sont en bon accord avec les résultats d'essais.

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<p>Two new methods for calculating the double differential scattering cross-section (DDSCS) in electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) have been developed, allowing for simulations of sample geometries which have been unavailable to earlier methods of calculation. The new methods concerns the calculations of the <em>thickness function</em> of the DDSCS. Earlier programs have used an analytic approximation of a sum over the lattice vectors of the sample that is valid for samples with parallel entrance and exit surfaces.The first of the new methods carries out the sum explicitly, first identifying the unit cells illuminated by the electron beam, which are the ones needed to be summed over. The second uses an approach with Fourier transforms, yielding a final expression containing the <em>shape amplitude</em>, the Fourier transform of the <em>shape function</em> defining the shape of the electron beam inside the sample. Approximating the shape with a polyhedron, one can quickly calculate the shape amplitude as sums over it’s faces and edges. The first method gives fast calculations for small samples or beams, when the number of illuminated unit cells is small. The second is more efficient in the case of large beams or samples, as the number of faces and edges of the polyhedron used in the calculation of the shape amplitude does not need to be increased much for large beams. A simulation of the DDSCS for magnetite has been performed, yielding diffraction patterns for the L₃ edge of the three Fe atoms in its basis.</p>