The optimisation of image quality in medical imaging techniques is a significant factor in favourable patient prognoses. The number of counts in a nuclear medicine image is one factor in determining the diagnostic value of the image. The current study aims to determine the variation in counts in whole-body bone scan images with patient height and weight. Three separate studies were undertaken as part of the investigation. First, 65 whole-body bone scans were analysed together with patient height, weight, age and sex. Weight was found to the most important anatomy influence on image counts. However, significant influences from patient sex and age meant that a useful relationship between image counts and patient anatomy based solely on height and weight could not be determined. For the second study, a model of General Electric Millennium MG gamma camera was created and validated within the SIMIND Monte Carlo software. The results indicate that the model is an accurate representation of the gamma camera. Third, the 4D NCAT whole-body patient phantom was modified to represent the average male and female clinical study participants. The phantoms were used in conjunction with the gamma camera model to simulate the whole-body bone scan procedure. The counts in the simulated images were consistent with the average measured counts of the clinical study indicating that it is feasible to use the NCAT phantom for nuclear medicine bone imaging. However, the phantom’s method of activity distribution should be refined to allow a more realistic distribution of activity throughout the skeleton.

<p>Patients undergoing cardiac catheterization are potentially at risk of radiation-induced health effects from the interventional fluoroscopic X-ray imaging used throughout the clinical procedure. The amount of radiation exposure is highly dependent on the complexity of the procedure and the level of optimization in imaging parameters applied by the clinician. For cardiac catheterization, patient radiation dosimetry, for key organs as well as whole-body effective, is challenging due to the lack of fixed imaging protocols, unlike other common X-ray based imaging modalities. </p><p>Pediatric patients are at a greater risk compared to adults due to their greater cellular radio-sensitivities as well as longer remaining life-expectancy following the radiation exposure. In terms of radiation dosimetry, they are often more challenging due to greater variation in body size, which often triggers a wider range of imaging parameters in modern imaging systems with automatic dose rate modulation. </p><p>The overall objective of this dissertation was to develop a comprehensive method of radiation dose estimation for pediatric patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. In this dissertation, the research is divided into two main parts: the Physics Component and the Clinical Component. A proof-of-principle study focused on two patient age groups (Newborn and Five-year-old), one popular biplane imaging system, and the clinical practice of two pediatric cardiologists at one large academic medical center. </p><p>The Physics Component includes experiments relevant to the physical measurement of patient organ dose using high-sensitivity MOSFET dosimeters placed in anthropomorphic pediatric phantoms. </p><p>First, the three-dimensional angular dependence of MOSFET detectors in scatter medium under fluoroscopic irradiation was characterized. A custom-made spherical scatter phantom was used to measure response variations in three-dimensional angular orientations. The results were to be used as angular dependence correction factors for the MOSFET organ dose measurements in the following studies. Minor angular dependence (< ±20% at all angles tested, < ±10% at clinically relevant angles in cardiac catheterization) was observed.</p><p>Second, the cardiac dose for common fluoroscopic imaging techniques for pediatric patients in the two age groups was measured. Imaging technique settings with variations of individual key imaging parameters were tested to observe the quantitative effect of imaging optimization or lack thereof. Along with each measurement, the two standard system output indices, the Air Kerma (AK) and Dose-Area Product (DAP), were also recorded and compared to the measured cardiac and skin doses – the lack of correlation between the indices and the organ doses shed light to the substantial limitation of the indices in representing patient radiation dose, at least within the scope of this dissertation.</p><p>Third, the effective dose (ED) for Posterior-Anterior and Lateral fluoroscopic imaging techniques for pediatric patients in the two age groups was determined. In addition, the dosimetric effect of removing the anti-scatter grid was studied, for which a factor-of-two ED rate reduction was observed for the imaging techniques. </p><p>The Clinical Component involved analytical research to develop a validated retrospective cardiac dose reconstruction formulation and to propose the new Optimization Index which evaluates the level of optimization of the clinician’s imaging usage during a procedure; and small sample group of actual procedures were used to demonstrate applicability of these formulations.</p><p>In its entirety, the research represents a first-of-its-kind comprehensive approach in radiation dosimetry for pediatric cardiac catheterization; and separately, it is also modular enough that each individual section can serve as study templates for small-scale dosimetric studies of similar purposes. The data collected and algorithmic formulations developed can be of use in areas of personalized patient dosimetry, clinician training, image quality studies and radiation-associated health effect research.</p> / Dissertation

Une dizaine de compagnies s’efforcent actuellement au Japon d’améliorer le réalisme d’ersatz humains commercialisés comme poupées sexuelles sous le nom de love doll. L’enquête, principalement menée au sein de la firme Orient Industrie – leader sur le marché des reproductions de corps féminins – porte sur le travail de recherche mené par les designers, les ingénieurs et les commerciaux pour donner aux poupées, sur le plan technique, esthétique et marketing, l’apparence d’êtres conscients, dotés d’une vie intérieure. Quels procédés mettent-ils en œuvre pour créer un « effet de présence »? En évitant de reproduire l’humain à l’identique, ils élaborent une créature imaginaire qui questionne ce qu’est l’humain, au-delà de la forme. Cette créature, dont la fonction première est de susciter le désir, s’offre paradoxalement comme une sorte de véhicule vacant, absent, en attente, qui simule l’humain en s’en faisant le miroir… renvoyant ses créateurs, ses utilisateurs et peut-être aussi la société tout entière à la problématique de la personne comme réceptacle. La thèse se compose de trois parties qui abordent la love doll sous ses aspects principaux : en tant que « substitut » (migawari), en tant que « miroir » (kagami), en tant que « double » (bunshin). Ces trois termes sont, dans l'ordre, les plus souvent évoqués par ses créateurs autant que par ses utilisateurs. Ils correspondent à trois discours qui contribuent à faire de la love doll le produit d’un travail collectif et interactif visant, sous couvert de jeu, à construire la notion même d’humain. / Most of the artificial life systems produced in Japan are designed to create a humanlike presence. My researches target the market of life-size dolls equipped with articulated skeleton and a silicone flesh truer than nature. More precisely, it relates to these love doll that less than a dozen companies are currently improving, establishing themselves as the world leaders in this pioneer field. One company particularly got my attention : Orient Industry – the first company in the history of japanese doll business – plays a key role in driving innovation. I focused on the manufacturing process of these products marketed as “substitute wives”, trying to understand how engineers, designers and trade marketing specialists give the doll the appearance of a thinking and feeling being. It appeared that they did not try to create an exact reproduction of a person, but – on the contrary –, something unreal, empty and incomplete. My goal was ultimely to understand the way interaction with objects could be made possible in Japan, through dolls developed as “vacant vehicles”… The study of these realistic bodies led me to understand how Japanese succeed in creating life and consciousness out of inanimate objects. The thesis is composed of three parts which deal with the main aspects of the love doll : she is talked about as a “substitute” (migawari), as a “mirror” (kagami) and as a “double” (bunshin). These three words are the most oftenpronounced by its creators as much as by its users. They correspond to three discourses which contribute to brand the love doll as collective and interactive work aiming, in the guise of game, to build the concept of human.

abstract: As robots are increasingly migrating out of factories and research laboratories and into our everyday lives, they should move and act in environments designed for humans. For this reason, the need of anthropomorphic movements is of utmost importance. The objective of this thesis is to solve the inverse kinematics problem of redundant robot arms that results to anthropomorphic configurations. The swivel angle of the elbow was used as a human arm motion parameter for the robot arm to mimic. The swivel angle is defined as the rotation angle of the plane defined by the upper and lower arm around a virtual axis that connects the shoulder and wrist joints. Using kinematic data recorded from human subjects during every-day life tasks, the linear sensorimotor transformation model was validated and used to estimate the swivel angle, given the desired end-effector position. Defining the desired swivel angle simplifies the kinematic redundancy of the robot arm. The proposed method was tested with an anthropomorphic redundant robot arm and the computed motion profiles were compared to the ones of the human subjects. This thesis shows that the method computes anthropomorphic configurations for the robot arm, even if the robot arm has different link lengths than the human arm and starts its motion at random configurations. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Mechanical Engineering 2013

The Ancient Mesopotamian society is often pictured as the cradle of society. It is surroundedby the rivers Euphrates and Tigris and has given life to an agricultural civilization that hasproduced the oldest preserved literary writing of our time, the Epic of Gilgamesh. In thisqualitative research paper, I intend to explore similar stories to expand the understanding ofthe Mesopotamian religion and its deities.Metaphorical literature, as with the Epic of Gilgamesh, represent society’s understanding ofits surroundings and thus portrays deities as reflections of its values and cognitive thinking.As an example, kingships of Mesopotamia were depicted as gods, and gods as kings, duringthe third millennia B.C. The prevailing political setting of monarchs demanded protection ofits citizens against outside threats. Wars were common during this era and thus walls werebuilt around the cities. The deities acted as protectors of the citizens as well as the kings. So,the metaphorical literature created during this time reflected upon this societal system.The analysis of the paper does not only intend to investigate the understanding of deities inrelation to the physical world, but also intends to elaborate the current understanding of thosedeities. Previous research has tried to explain and understand the Mesopotamianpandemonium in its completion despite the religion having produced nothing that can beexplained in a systematic structure. Instead, I argue, that the anthropomorphic Mesopotamiangod system needs to be further analyzed in relation to the society itself. Many metaphoricstories do not separate mankind to gods, and so this paper’s purpose is to further specify thecurrent Mesopotamian definition according to such keystones.

Lower leg injuries commonly occur in both automobile accidents and underbody explosive blasts, which can be experienced in war by mounted soldiers. These injuries are associated with high morbidity. Accurate methods to predict these injuries, especially in the foot and ankle, must be developed to facilitate the testing and improvement of vehicle safety systems. Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) are one of the tools used to assess injury risk. These mimic the behavior of the human body in a crash while recording data from sensors in the ATD. Injury criteria for the lower leg have been developed with testing of the leg in a neutral posture, but initial posture may affect the likelihood of lower leg injury. In this thesis, the influence of initial posture on key injury assessment criteria used in crash testing with ATDs was examined. It was determined that these criteria are influenced by ATD leg posture, but further work is necessary to determine if the changes in outcome correspond to altered injury risk in humans when the ankle is in the same postures. In order to better quantify the forces acting on various areas of the foot and correlate those with injury, allowing for development of new criteria, a purpose built force sensor was created. An array of these sensors was incorporated into a boot and used to instrument an ATD leg during impact testing. The sensors provided useful information regarding the force distribution across the sole of the foot during an impact. A numerical simulation of the active material in the sensor was also created to better understand the effect of shear loading on the sensor. This work furthers the understanding of lower leg injury prediction and develops a tool which may be useful in developing accurate injury criteria for the foot and lower leg. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / This work investigates how the posture of the lower leg of a crash test dummy can influence the interpretation of crash test results. A tool was created to measure forces acting on the foot during testing. The force measurement uses a material which changes resistance when it is compressed.

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Robot manipulators are commonly used in today's industrial applications. In this report a 3D-printed anthropomorphic robot arm with three degrees of freedom was constructed. The robot arm operates with the use of a microcontroller and servomotors. Through utilizing the Denavit-Hartenberg method and inverse kinematics the robot’s end effector is able to reach a specified point in space. This report has found that the accuracy of the constructed robotic manipulator reaching a specific coordinate depends on the distance of the end effector from its base. The relative error of the constructed robot’s positioning falls within 1.3- 6.9%, with a 99% confidence. / Robotmanipulatorer är idag vanligt förekommande i industriella applikationer. I denna rapport konstrueras en 3D-printad antropomorf robotarm med tre frihetsgrader. Robotarmen styrs med hjälp av en mikrokontroller och servomotorer. Baserat på DenavitHartenberg metoden och inverskinematik kan robotens ändpunkt ta sig till en specificerad punkt i rummet. Vidare har rapporten funnit att den konstruerade robotens exakthet beror på avståndet emellan robotens manipulator och dess bas. Det relativa felet av robotens positionering ligger inom intervallet 1.3-6.9% med en 99% konfidens.

Injuries to the lower extremity are frequent and severe in frontal automotive collisions, often leading to pain and long-term impairment. Most injury criteria developed for the lower extremity are conducted with the foot and ankle in a neutral posture, do not take into account footwear, and assess injury risk to the entire lower extremity at the tibia. An instrumented boot, designed to address some of these challenges, was calibrated over a range of impact energies expected in frontal automotive collisions. A dynamic calibration method was developed to convert changes in voltage across a piezoresistive polymer to the applied axial force. The instrumented boot was then used to examine the axial impact response of two commonly used Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) lower legs, under altered ankle postures. Both posture and ATD model were found to affect the load distribution on the foot, highlighting the need to establish injury limits for non-neutral postures as well as selecting the appropriate ATD model. The instrumented boot provided regional loading information that was not reflected in standard industry metrics, emphasizing the importance of increased instrumentation in this area. A technique was developed for mounting cadaveric feet to ATD tibia shafts, in order to gather industry-relevant load data while examining the impact characteristics of the foot. Load data were collected at the plantar surface of the foot using the instrumented boot, as well as the tibia load cells in the ATD shaft, that highlighted differences in load transmission through cadaveric and ATD feet. Understanding the impact characteristics of ATDs under non-standard ankle postures as well as examining the load transmission through cadaveric feet highlighted some shortcomings with current injury assessment techniques. The results of this work can be used to improve future collision testing practices, in order to reduce the incidence of lower extremity injuries. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / Foot and ankle injuries are common in automotive collisions and often lead to pain and long-term impairment. Experimental work on these types of injuries is traditionally conducted with the foot and ankle positioned in a neutral ankle posture, which does not reflect the range of ankle postures individuals may assume in a car crash. The purpose of this work was to use biomechanical tools to assess foot/ankle injury risk. Impact testing was performed on two commonly used crash test dummy lower legs in conditions relevant to those experienced in car crashes. A technique was developed to mount cadaveric feet to crash test dummy tibias to gather injury information of the foot, while also collecting load data in the tibia shaft – relevant metrics for industry crash testing. The results of this work outline the shortcomings of traditional injury assessment methods and may be used to improve future practices.

Ballistic shields are used by defense teams in dangerous situations as protection against threats such as gunfire. When a ballistic shield is struck, the shield material will deform to absorb the kinetic energy of the incoming projectile. The rapid back-face deformation of the shield can contact the arm, which can impart a large force over an extremely short duration. This work modified an Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) to be used for the characterization of behind ballistic shield blunt impact loading profiles. The modified ATD was instrumented to measure impacts at the hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow to compare the force transfer at different locations of impact. A custom jig was designed to support the ATD behind a ballistic shield, provide a high degree of adjustability, and be subjected to impact testing. Two ballistic shield models, both with the same protection rating, were tested and showed to have statistically different responses to the same impact conditions, indicating further need for shield safety evaluation. To apply these loading profiles to future injury criteria development tests, a pneumatic impacting apparatus was re-designed that will allow the high energy impact profiles to be re-created in the McMaster Injury Biomechanics lab. Understanding the ballistic impact conditions, as well as the response of different ballistic shield models provided insight into the possible methods available to reduce upper extremity injury risk. This work has provided essential data for informing a future standard for shield safety evaluation. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc) / When a ballistic shield is impacted by a bullet it deforms to absorb the incoming energy. The high-speed deformation of the shield material can impact the arm leading to fracture and possible life-threatening risks if the shield is dropped due to this injury. At the time of this work, there were no standards that limited the amount of allowable back-face deflection or tools available that could measure the force transferred to the arm in this scenario. The purpose of this work was to develop a measurement device that could measure the force transferred to the arm from the behind shield impact. An existing crash test dummy arm was modified to provide measurement capabilities for this loading scenario. Ballistic shield testing was conducted where two different ballistic shield models were impacted to observe how the impact force changed with shield design, as well as the distance the device was placed behind the shield. A pneumatic impacting apparatus was then re-designed in the McMaster Injury Biomechanics lab that will allow the ballistic impact conditions to be re-created for evaluating the injury tolerance of the arm. The results of this work will be used to inform the future development of a ballistic shield evaluation standard.