Of back problems experienced in adolescence, scoliosis is the most frequent (Bradford et al, 1987; Lancard-Dusek et al, 1991). Several studies have been conducted to determine the effect of exercise on back pain. The results indicated that certain regimes are more successful than others. The purpose of this study was to determine wether a corrective exercise programme, which was intensively and aggressively applied, will have a positive effect on adolescent scoliosis subjects. The subjects were divided, randomly, into a control and rehabilitation group. The rehabilitation group followed an eight week programme comprising 24 sessions. Both groups were evaluated at session zero (0) and session twenty four (24). A t-test for homogeneity was done at day zero, between the two groups for the variables V3 to V8. The results indicated homogeneity (P>0-05). A paired t-test was done for group one; indicating that there was a meaningful difference in all the variables; except for standing height (P>0*05). For group two the test indicates a meaningful difference for degrees, standing height and lateral flexion. A t-test at day 24 indicated a meaningful difference for degrees and lateral flexion. This indicates that the group which had followed the programme had improved whilst the control group had deteriorated. AFRIKAANS : Van die rug probleme ondervind by jeugdiges,, is skoliose die mees veelvuldig (Bradford et al, 1987; Lancas-Dusek et al, 1991). Verskeie studies is reeds gedoen wat die effek van oefening op die rug evalueer. Die resultate dui aan dat van die programme meer suksesvol is as ander. Die doel van die studie was om te bepaal of 'n korrektiewe oefenings program, wat intensief en aggresief toegepas is, 'n positiewe effek op geringe ado1essent skoliose individue sal hê. Die individue was willekeurig ingedeel in 'n kontrole en 'n rehabilitasie groep. Die rehabilitasie groep het 'n agt weke program gevolg van 24 sessies. Beide groepe was tydens sessie nul en sessie 24 ge-evalueer. 'n Toets vir homogeniteit was gedoen by dag nul, tussen die twee groepe, vir die veranderlikes V3 tat V8. Die resultate was homogeen (p>0-05). 'n Gepaarde t-toets vir groep een het aangedui dat daar 'n betekenisvolle verskil vir al die verander1ikes was; behalwe staande 1engte (p>0-05). Vir groep twee was daar 'n betekenisvolle verskil in grade, staande lengte en laterale fleksie. 'n T-toets op dag 24 het 'n betekenisvolle verskil vir laterale fleksie aangedui. Dit dui aan dat die groep wat die program gevolg het verbeter het, terwyl die kontrole groep agteruit gegaan het. Copyright / Dissertation (MA (MHS))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Arts, Languages and Human Movement Studies Education / unrestricted

Title: Comparative analysis of the crawl pattern and specific exercises. Purpose: The aim of the dissertation is to evaluate the coordination similarity ratio of involvement of selected muscles during the crawl swimming cycle as a target movement with imitation movement acts. Methods: The research study has the character of an intra-individual and inter- individual comparative analysis of the coordination characteristics of the movement system. This is a sequential triangulation of a quantitative-qualitative approach and an intragroup case study with an experimental way of getting data. Results: Muscle activation of selected muscles during the crawl did not show a significant difference in effect size compared to the imitation movements on the Biokinetic swimming simulator and exercising with swimming expanders. Keywords: Biokinetic, expanders, surface electromyography, swimming, swimming simulator,

Title: Changes in fitness levels and fitness parameters for water polo players during ATC 2012/2013 Objectives: The aim of the work determine the current performance through changes in competition and the transition period for players (n = 12, mean age 22.22 years + - 5, 6 years) water polo. Methods: To obtain a personal history of the probands was chosen method of qualitative structured interview with closed questions. From the basic anthropometrics values measured body height, weight and circuit parameters. Non-standard specific test for swimming biokinetic was at water polo players performed twice. The first test in the racing season (24th 3. 2013, 26th 3. 2013, 2nd 4. 2013), the second under the same conditions (10th 9. 2013), in a transitional period of annual training cycle (ATC) 2012/ 2013. The content of the selected non-standard specific test was compared test1 and test 2, which ran without the possibility of resting players were only interrupted by 40 seconds when tested probands carried leaps with throw up arms slightly bent at the elbows. This test was measured actual performance changes in ATC 2012/2013. Furthermore, fatigue was observed between test 1 and test 2 in the race and the transition period. During the trial, the parties all observed repeatedly drawn lactate. Results: All...

Title: Comparison of parameters for measuring the movement of the upper limbs on land and water. The Aim: The aim of this work is to compare selected parameters of swimming performance and technique, obtained in a 25m pool, in a pool with countercurrent (Flum) and on a biokinetic simulator Biokinetic. The Methods: The data used in the diploma thesis were obtained by direct measurements in the swimming pool, in Flum and by means of the Biokinetic swimming simulator. SmartPaddles were used to collect data. The data were then evaluated by Trainsense software and processed into tables and graphs. The Results: Based on the results, we can state that the highest power (W) was always delivered on the Biokinetic. The biggest difference between the average performances of upper limb was in the right hand during the crawl, when the hand on the Biokinetic (257 N) gave 701% of the performance of the right hand in the pool (42.53 N). The results of the average force of the upper limb propulsion for Butterfly in the pool were 19.08 N for the right hand and 17.21 N for the left hand. For Butterfly in the Flum were 13.68 N for the right hand and 11.93 N for the left hand. During the crawl, the proband generated 12.66 N with the right hand and 13.96 N with the left hand. When swimming in Flum, the force values for...

Thesis (Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Acid rock drainage (ARD) is one of the most severe environmental challenges currently faced by the mining industry worldwide. ARD is formed from the oxidation of sulphide-bearing minerals, particularly pyrite, in the presence of water and oxygen. ARD generation is accelerated by the presence of naturally occurring iron and sulphur-oxidizing micro-organisms, which regenerate leaching agents that facilitate sulphide mineral oxidation. ARD pollution is characterized by a high concentration of metals and sulphates in solution, low pH and a high salt content (salinity) in the environment, contaminating soil and groundwater. In South Africa, ARD is a major challenge in the gold and coal mining industries, where millions of tons of sulphide waste rock and overburden are generated and discarded. Characterization of these waste materials is required to develop an appropriate disposal strategy to minimise the risk of pollution and the generation of ARD. Potential ARD generation prediction from waste rock depends on the precise characterization of ARD potential using Biokinetic tests. Commonly used ARD prediction methods are static and long-term kinetic tests. Static tests provide data for a worst-case scenario focussing on strong acid chemical leaching potential to give an overall acid forming potential of a sample. Such kinetic tests provide data illustrating the rate of the net acid generation capacity of mine waste. However, these tests are capital intensive and time-consuming and fail to provide adequate information on the effect of micro-organisms on the overall net acid generation capacity of mine waste. The Biokinetic test reported herein and developed at the University of Cape Town, focusses on addressing a worst case scenario provided by static tests in a cost-effective manner and reduced time frames provided for by conventional kinetic tests. This test primarily provides relative rates of ARD generation in the presence of micro-organisms within 90 days. However, the Biokinetic test is at the developmental stage and thus far, has not been consistently used for different waste ores to determine a standardised approach. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of microbial consortia and to develop a standardisation approach for the test for ARD formation potential using gold-bearing and copper-bearing waste rock. Additionally, to refine the Semi-continuous Biokinetic test simulation, a flow-through system where there is minimal seepage in the waste deposit, was also developed. The sulphur content of the gold and copper-bearing samples used in this study was between 2.3 and 3.15%, respectively. These waste rock samples were found to be potentially acid- forming. In the Biokinetic test, finely milled waste rock samples were slurrified, inoculated with consortia and cultured under standard bioleaching conditions. Leaching and acidification rates were monitored.

Two computer programs were developed and used to determine the optimum operating parameters of a fedbatch and a continuous two-stage process for fermentation of recombinant bacteria. The study was conducted in three phases: (a) developing two computer programs for simulation and optimization of the above processes, (b) conducting batch culture fermentations to verify the performance of the biokinetic model, and (c) conducting fedbatch and two-stage continuous fermentation experiments to closely examine the simulation and optimization results. The Miao and Kompala (1992) biokinetic model was used for simulation of the bacterial growth and cloned gene expression. The Pattern-Search method, developed by Hooke and Jeeves (1962), was incorporated in the programs to determine the optimum values of the parameters. Extensive studies of the optimization results showed 30-40% higher productivities for the two stage continuous process over the fedbatch process when using the same media in both processes. In addition, increasing the number of stages in the continuous two-stage process resulted in very limited improvement in the productivity of the process (10-12%). The information from the process optimization was then used to design batch, fedbatch nd two stage continuous experiments. Recombinant <i>E. coli </i>(strain BL21DE3) with an inducible gene (sensitive to IPTG, isopropyl-â-D-thiogalactopyranoside) was used throughout the experiments. The experimental results from the fedbatch and two stage continuous processes clearly showed good agreement with the simulation and optimization results $(\cong$15% deviation). The experiments also revealed that the maintenance of plasmid harboring cells over the long-term operation could be an important barrier in achieving the predicted high productivity in the two stage continuous process. Finally, in addition to computer programs for optimization of genetically modified microorganisms, a new computer program with a generic algorithm for optimization of multiple CFSTR fermentation with any kind of biokinetic model was developed. The program was used to optimize multiple CFSTRs with the cybernetic biokinetic model for the first time. Besides finding the optimum residence times for multiple CFSTRs operation, the effect of inaccuracies in different cybernetic model parameters on the overall productivity of the process was investigated. The simulation results illustrated that, a single CFSTR was more sensitive in its operation to inaccuracies in the biokinetic constants as compared to optimized CFSTRs in series (2-8 times more sensitive).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T18:39:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2145.pdf: 2206472 bytes, checksum: 5295597725f34bdf5560d6cda8af7446 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-27 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococo) is a pathogenic bacterium that causes several infections which are aggravated by the increase of serotypes with antibiotics resistance. The development of an effective vaccine against this pathogen is crucial for the prevention of the neumococcal illnesses. Conjugated vaccines, consisting of the capsular polysaccharide joined to a carrier protein, are more efficient in the stimulation of the immunologic memory. The capsular polysaccharide (PS) is present in the capsule that involves the cell. Thus, the conjugated vaccine elaboration involves bacterial cells cultivation for its production. As the organism is cultivated in the oxygen absence, the lactate production is inevitably high, leading to growth inhibition due to lactate accumulation in the medium. To minimize the inhibitory effects of the lactate accumulation and to increase the PS production it is necessary to monitor the process and adequately control the addition of supplementary medium along with the withdrawal of saturated medium. This kind of operation can be performed by carrying out a fed-bath cultivation in a bioreactor connected to a perfusion system. The success on the monitoring, control and optimization of this bioprocess depends on the efficiency of the modeling and simulation resources employed. This research work considers the uses intelligent computational techniques, specifically the technique of heuristical search called simulated annealing (SA) combined with neural networks for the state inference and the optimization of S. pneumoniae cultivations. The proposal was implemented as a computational system that: a) uses the SA for the identification of the values for a set of parameters associated to unstructured models and; b) uses neural networks (individually and grouped as a committee) for the state inference of a culture. The work presents and discusses the results of the system for data sets experimentally obtained and highlights the importance of the proposal for achieving a higher efficiency in the culture control processes. / Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococo) é uma bactéria patogênica causadora de várias infecções que são agravadas pelo aumento de cepas com resistência aos antibióticos. O desenvolvimento de uma vacina efetiva contra este patógeno é crucial para a prevenção das doenças pneumocócicas. Vacinas conjugadas, constituídas pelo polissacarídeo capsular ligado a uma proteína carregadora, são mais eficientes no estímulo da memória imunológica. O polissacarídeo capsular (PS) está presente na cápsula que envolve a célula e, desta forma, a elaboração de vacinas conjugadas envolve o cultivo da bactéria para a produção do mesmo. Como o microrganismo é cultivado na ausência de oxigênio, a produção de lactato é inevitavelmente elevada e o seu acúmulo no meio provoca a inibição do crescimento. Para minimizar os efeitos inibitórios da acumulação de lactato e aumentar a produção de PS é necessário monitorar o processo e controlar adequadamente a adição de meio suplementar e a retirada de meio saturado em cultivos operados em batelada alimentada, utilizando biorreatores acoplados a sistema de perfusão. O sucesso no monitoramento, no controle e na otimização deste bioprocesso depende da utilização de recursos de modelagem e de simulação que sejam eficientes. Este trabalho de pesquisa propõe o uso de técnicas computacionais inteligentes, especificamente a técnica de busca heurística chamada de simulated annealing (SA) aliada a redes neurais, para a inferência de estado e a otimização de cultivos de S. pneumoniae. A proposta foi concretizada via desenvolvimento de um sistema computacional que: a) faz uso do SA para a identificação do conjunto de valores de parâmetros associados a modelos não estruturados e; b) usa redes neurais (individualmente e em regime de comitê) para a inferência de estado de um cultivo. O trabalho apresenta e discute os resultados do sistema em conjuntos de dados obtidos experimentalmente e evidencia a importância da proposta para uma maior eficiência no controle de processos de cultivo.