Our society is changing. The role which information and communication technologies (ICT) play in our society is growing rapidly and meanwhile the world’s population is ageing. ICT has enabled social network sites (SNS), which are often targeted towards younger people and is therefore less suitable for seniors who find themselves displaced again and again. Through a design research oriented study, we explored the theories of non-traditional computing to find alternative ways of using technology to better meet the needs of seniors. We have found bridging technologies to be a promising domain that could help address the life-changing consequences of population ageing. We have identified four design principles to support the design of bridging technologies, geared towards enabling seniors to interact with social network sites. These principles constitute our final contribution.

Recently in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam, policymakers have started to see generalized trust as an indicator of societal cohesion, which is taken to be endangered by participating in ethnically homogenous or bonding organizations. However, there is no study that supports this negative socialization effect. Existing surveys in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam lack either appropriate data on ethnic minorities or do not allow this question to be properly addressed. They do not contain the relevant variables or do not have a multilevel structure, since the latter requires one to sample many responses from the same organization rather than collect data that is representative of individuals. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by juxtaposing Turkish (bonding) associations with organizations whose membership consists of different ethnic groups (bridging). I surveyed 40 non-profit organizations in Amsterdam and collected responses from around 450 participants. I subsequently describe different bonding and bridging practices within and between organizations, and demonstrate that Turkish, as compared to mixed organizations, are internally focused on their own group, but externally are more involved in bridging networks. Thus contact within Turkish organizations is confined to fellow ethnics and this allows for testing the contact hypothesis. This thesis employs a multilevel model and distinguishes individual attributes from organizational factors (ethnic composition). However, the variance in generalized trust at the organizational level is only 4%, which indicates that the context of voluntary organizations has not much influence on it. Secondly, I test an interaction effect between the mixed ethnic composition of an organization and the length of participation in years in order to test for a socialization effect (the contact hypothesis). However, this interaction effect is not statistically significant. Finally, I test for another interaction effect, namely the effect of having a close tie in a mixed organization, in order to test for a sufficient but not necessary condition of the contact hypothesis, which might turn contact into attitude change. Again, this interaction is not statistically significant. Beyond bridging and bonding, there are complementary mechanisms which might have affected generalized trust. I, therefore, extend my model to include cognitive evaluations about one’s humanitarian values, negative life experiences and socio-economic factors. Three theoretical frameworks are tested: psychological; norm driven; and social success. The findings suggest that differences in generalized trust are best explained by individual processes rather than contact between ethnically diverse groups in voluntary organizations. Optimism has the strongest effect size on generalized trust. Other key factors are educational levels, and to some extent older age as well as having been widowed or lost one’s partner due to divorce. Younger people who adhere to humanitarian values are also among the high generalized trusters. The effect of education, age and the experience of divorce or separation is also found in other Dutch representative national samples and support the consensus around social success theories in explaining generalized trust.

Bridge fault extractors are tools that analyze chip layouts and produce a realistic list of bridging faults within that chip. FedEx, previously developed at Texas A&M University, extracts all two-node intralayer bridges of any given chip layout and optionally extracts all two-node interlayer bridges. The goal of this thesis was to further develop this tool. The primary goal was to speed it up so that it can handle large industrial designs in a reasonable amount of time. A second goal was to develop a graphical user interface (GUI) for this tool which aids in more effectively visualizing the bridge faults across the chip. The final aim of this thesis was to perform FedEx output analysis to understand the nature of the defects, such as variation of critical area (the area where the presence of a defect can cause a fault) as a function of layer as well as defect size.

Reading comprehension (RC) is a complex, dynamic process by which readers interact with text to construct meaning. It relies on word-level decoding and vocabulary skills, text-level skills such as inference, and general-purpose cognitive processes such as working memory (WM). Bridging inferences, which connect different parts of text to maintain semantic coherence, are necessary for comprehension. WM is thought to provide the mental workspace that allows readers to comprehend text, including making bridging inferences. This dissertation includes two studies that investigate related but unique questions regarding inference-making, WM, and RC in school aged children. The first study demonstrated that bridging inference making increased with age and was affected by text distance such that inferences across larger chunks of text were more difficult to make than those between adjacent sentences. Bridging inferences were also affected by knowledge domain such that affective inferences based on character goals, desires, or motivations were made correctly less often than were concrete inferences based on concrete, causal information. Semantic updating, an aspect of WM that involves efficiently revising the contents of WM, predicted variance in the far-concrete inferencing condition. Semantic reactivation, an aspect of WM that involves bringing previously processed information back into WM, predicted variance in the far inferencing conditions regardless of knowledge domain. The second study investigated the word-level and text-level skills and general purpose cognitive processes that support performance on three different standardized RC measures. Semantic updating and semantic reactivation predicted variance on the RC tool considered to measure mental model building (WJIII-PC, Woodcock-Johnson-III passage comprehension subtest). Semantic reactivation also predicted variance on the RC tool considered to measure the ability to build and then reflect upon the mental model (WIAT-II-RC, Wechsler Individual Test of Achievement reading comprehension subtest). A measure of verbal WM predicted performance on one RC measure in the presence of word-level and text-level skills but only when the hypothesized components of WM (updating and reactivation) were not included in the model. Additionally, bridging inference making uniquely predicted performance on all three RC measures. The findings suggest readers coordinate different cognitive processes depending on the comprehension task. / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

No description available.

Myocardial bridging is a congenital coronary anomaly with normal epicardial coronary artery taking an intra-myocardial course also described as tunneled artery. The majority of patients with this coronary anomaly are asymptomatic and generally it is a benign condition. However, it is an important cause of myocardial ischemia, which may lead to anginal symptoms, acute coronary syndrome, cardiac arrhythmias and rarely sudden cardiac death. There are numerous studies published in the recent past on understanding the pathophysiology, diagnostic and management strategies of myocardial bridging. This review highlights some of the recent updates in the diagnosis and management of patients with myocardial bridging. We discuss the role of various non-invasive and invasive diagnostic methods to evaluate functional significance of bridging. In addition, role of medical therapy such as beta-blockers, percutaneous coronary intervention with stents/bioresorbable scaffolds and surgical unroofing in patients unresponsive to medical therapy is highlighted as well.

No description available.

Currently, pallets are designed assuming that the load is distributed evenly on the top of the pallet. When pallets are loaded with packages such as corrugated boxes or returnable plastic containers, due to their physical shape, packages, are not capable of deforming freely with the pallet and a bridging phenomenon occurs. During this load bridging phenomenon, a portion of the vertical forces are redistributed as horizontal forces which causes the redistribution of the vertical compression stresses on the pallet towards the support. As a result, the deflection of the pallet can decrease and the load capacity of the pallet can increase significantly. The second chapter of this paper investigates the effect of package content on pallet deflection. The study concluded that package content did not have a significant effect on pallet deflection within the boundary conditions of the experiment. The third part of this paper considers how a specific pallet characteristic could affect the way a corrugated box performs. Standard box design procedures include adjustments of estimated compression strength for relative humidity, overhang on pallets, vibration, and alignment of boxes. However, there is no adjustment factor for pallet stiffness. The objective of the study described in this thesis is to find an answer for how the compression strength of a box is affected by pallet stiffness and top deckboard twist. The study concluded that the pallet stiffness and top deckboard twist do not have an effect on the compression strength of the box until less than 12% of the area box is supported. / Master of Science

Pallets and corrugated boxes are ubiquitous in the global supply chain. However, the interactions that exist between the boxes and pallet are ignored during the pallet design process resulting in an over design of pallet performance and the waste of raw materials. The goal of this research is to understand how pallet performance is affected by headspace, box size, and base design across multiple support conditions using block class wooden pallets. Headspace and base design had no effect on pallet deflection for the experimental weights used throughout testing. The effect of box size was significant on pallet deflection across multiple support conditions. The effect was greatest for lower stiffness pallets and low stiffness support conditions (RAW) with up to a 50% reduction in pallet deflection observed by switching from small to large boxes on a very low stiffness pallet. Evaluation of pressure mat data showed an increase in the redistribution of pressure away from the center of the pallet and towards the supports as box size increased. The redistribution of pressure towards the supports is known as load bridging and validates the observed reduction in pallet deflection as a function of box size. The results indicate that incorporating the effect of packages into current pallet design practices could result more effective and cheaper pallet designs. / Master of Science / Transportation and storage of material goods at a national and international level is an integral part of our economy with pallets and corrugated boxes making up the majority of packaging materials. Currently, the interactions that exist between the boxes and pallet are ignored during pallet design resulting in an over design of pallet performance and a waste of raw materials. Understanding the interactions that exist in a unit load is important in optimizing pallet performance, reducing the amount of raw materials used, and ultimately reducing cost. This research project is specifically focused on the interactions between corrugated boxes and block class wooden pallets. The effect of headspace (the gap between the products and the top of the box) and box size was investigated as a function of pallet stiffness, support condition, and bottom deck design. Both pallet deflection and the pressure distribution on the top surface of the pallet were examined to evaluate pallet performance. It was found that headspace does not have an effect on pallet deflection unless the weight of the unit load exceeds 3,500 lbs. for small boxes and 1,750 lbs. for large boxes. Base design showed no significant effect on pallet deflection for all of the support conditions evaluated. The effect of box size had a major effect on the deflection of the pallet. Large boxes showed the greatest change especially when lower stiffness pallets were used. Increasing the box size can reduce the deflection of the pallet as much as 50% which means that pallets supporting larger boxes could support much more weight than currently estimated. Evaluation of pressure mat data showed that when the size of the boxes increased, more pressure is distributed towards the supports. More pressure is applied to the pallet section on the top of the supports; therefore, less pressure is available to cause pallet bending. This finding validates the observed reduction in pallet deflection as a function of box size. The obtained results help pallet designers to incorporate the interactions between the packages and the pallet into their design process which will allow them to reduce the amount material used for pallet.

<p>The adsorption of cationic polyacrylamide (C-PAM) and silicananoparticles onto a model surface of silicon oxide wascompared with the adsorption of C-PAM to fibres and theirinfluence on flocculation of a fibre suspension. An increase inionic strength affects the polyelectrolyte adsorption indifferent ways for these two systems. With the silica surface,an increase in the ionic strength leads to a continuousincrease in the adsorption. However, on a cellulose fibre, theadsorption increases at low ionic strength (1 to 10 mM NaCl)and then decreases at higher ionic strength (10 to 100 mMNaCl). It was shown that the adsorption of nanoparticles ontopolyelectrolyte-covered surfaces has a great effect on both theadsorbed amount and the thickness of the adsorbed layer. Theresults showed that electrostatic interactions were thedominating force for the interaction between both the fibresand the polyelectrolytes, and between the polyelectrolytes andthe silica particles. Furthermore, at higher NaClconcentrations, a significant non-ionic interaction between thesilicon oxide surface/particles and the C-PAM was observed.</p><p>The adsorption rate of C-PAM onto fibres was rapid andquantitative adsorption was detected in the time range between1 and 8 s at polyelectrolyte addition levels below 0.4 mg/g.Conversely, an increase in the amount of added polymer leads toan increased polymer adsorption up to a quasi-static saturationlevel. However, after a few seconds this quasi-staticsaturation level was significantly lower than the level reachedat electrostatic“equilibrium”. The adsorbed amountof charges at full surface coverage after 1 to 8 s contact timecorresponded to only 2 % of the total fibre charge, whereasafter 30 minutes it corresponded to 15 % of the total fibrecharge. This shows that a full surface coverage at shortcontact times is not controlled by surface charge. Based onthese results, it is suggested that a combination of anon-equilibrium charge barrier against adsorption and ageometric restriction can explain the difference between theadsorption during 1 to 8 s and the adsorption after 30 minutes.With increasing time, the cationic groups are neutralised bythe charges on the fibre as the polyelectrolyte reconforms to aflat conformation on the surface.</p><p>The addition of a high concentration of C-PAM to a fibresuspension resulted in dispersion rather than flocculation.This behaviour is most likely due to an electrostericstabilisation of the fibres when the polyelectrolyte isadsorbed. Flocculation of the fibre suspension occurred at lowadditions of C-PAM. A maximum in flocculation was found ataround 50 % surface coverage and dispersion occurred above 100% surface coverage. It was also shown that for a given level ofadsorbed polymer, a difference in adsorption time between 1 and2 seconds influenced the flocculation behaviour. An optimum inflocculation at 50 % surface coverage in combination with theimportance of polymer reconformation time at these shortcontact times showed that the C-PAM induced fibre flocculationagrees with La Mer and Healy’s description of bridgingflocculation.</p><p>A greater degree of flocculation was observed with theaddition of silica nanoparticles to the fibre suspension thanin the single polyelectrolyte system. Flocculation increased asa function of the concentration of added nanoparticles until0.5 mg/g. At higher additions the flocculation decreased againand this behaviour is in agreement with an extended model formicroparticle-induced flocculation. An increase in flocculationwas especially pronounced for the more extended silica-2particles. This effect is attributed to the more extendedpolyelectrolyte layer, since the adsorbed amount wasessentially the same for both silica particles.</p><p>Finally it was found that fines from the wood fibres had asignificant effect on the flocculation. When fines were added,a greater degree of flocculation was detected. Furthermore, itwas also more difficult to redisperse the fibres with polymerin the presence of fines.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Adsorption, bridging, cationic polymers,cellulose fibres, electrosteric stabilisation flocculation,ionic strength, nanoparticle, polyelectrolyte, reconformation,retention aids and silica</p>