Maintaining a physically active lifestyle has shown to decrease the risks of falling by slowing down the degenerative changes that occur with aging adults. But despite these physical changes, research has recognized the development of the fear of falling (FOF) as also attributing to the aging adults’ risk of falling. Furthermore, increases the risk of falling and subsequently increases the loss of independency. This study aimed to: 1) examine the relationships between the levels of physical activity, degree of FOF, and fall risk using quantitative approach; and 2) explore the changes of FOF and understand its cause using qualitative approach. Data was collected from participants through various assessments including the Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity (RAPA) for measuring physical activity, shortened version of Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) for measuring FOF, and semi-structured one-on-one interviews. As data is being analyzed, participants who increased their physical activity levels were identified to having lowered their level of FOF and those who had a decrease of physical activity levels showed an increase with their FOF. It was also translated that the notion of being aware played a key role on the individuals FOF from 46% of the 13 participants interviewed and over 80% also stated not having talked to their doctor about their risks of falling and prevention. The importance of maintaining a physical activity level not only continues to prove the benefits it has on the individual’s risk of falling but how it also plays a role on the individuals fear of falling.

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The elderly population is increasing at a rapid rate each year, and with the increase in the elderly population there is a need for better medical assistance and devices. The greatest problem this demographic is facing is the ability to age in place. More elderly people are being placed in nursing homes, assisted living homes, moving in with relatives due to disabilities or fear of disabilities caused by a life threaten event such as heart disease, stroke, falling/fainting, or uncontrolled glucose levels. Falling is the number one leading cause of deaths, injuries and incapacity in the elderly. Stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S; it is the 2nd leading cause worldwide. Rapid change in glucose levels is another leading cause of disabilities and deaths. Heart disease is the 2nd leading cause of death in the elderly. These life threatening events can be prevented and if treated early enough can allow the person to have a full recovery and continue to age in place. A device was proposed that could monitor these four life threatening events: heart disease, stroke, falling/fainting and changes in glucose levels. This device will monitor the user continuously. Research was conducted to see what other products are on the market and how they detect these events and how reliable they are for the user. A literature review was performed to understand what other people are doing to solve the aging in place problem. Using this and needs assessment of the elderly, the system architecture for the wrist worn device was designed along with a testing plan and procedure. More research needs to be done in certain areas to better improve solutions and technology in the area aging in place of the elderly. Before this device can bridge some of the gaps between the current issues and the solution the device will have to be tested for several things such as its ability to differentiate between stimulated falling/fainting and fall like activities such as sitting then lying. The orientation and position will be tested to see if the device can actually tell where the person is located. The device will have to be tested against well-known devices and see if it gives similar precise and accurate readings in real time. / Master of Science

When bonds between copper and printed circuit board laminates are subjected to impulsive forces, the need arises to characterize fracture energies corresponding to related, high-speed failure events. Work (or energy) is required to create new surface area—with associated dissipation events—during fracture, and this energy (for a given material system) is dependent on the speed of crack propagation, the locus of failure, and the temperature of the bond when it is broken. Since the 90° peel test has been widely employed in quasi-static fracture testing of film adhesion for printed circuit board applications, this test was first used as a basis to which other test results could be compared. A test fixture was designed and built for quasi-static peel testing that accommodated peeling at different angles and temperatures. A similar test was then desirable for the direct comparison of dynamic fracture events to those quasi-static results. The “loop peel test” was thus developed to mimic the common 90° peel test and to quantify the time- and temperature-dependent fracture energies of peel specimens during low-velocity impact. This test has been successfully used to determine the apparent critical strain energy release rate of copper/epoxy bonds for low-velocity impact conditions (1-10 m/s), for a case of near-interfacial failure. The falling wedge test has also been adapted to estimate the apparent critical strain energy release rate at similar fracture conditions. Four types of printed circuit boards have been analyzed with the above impact test methods as well as with their corresponding quasi-static tests, and the fracture energies measured with the impact tests have been compared to those obtained using quasi-static tests. Fracture energies of the material systems considered were dependent on time (speed of fracture), temperature, and the amount of moisture migration, as determined via humidity conditioning parameters. / Master of Science

PURPOSE. To determine the influence of cataractous and refractive blur on postural stability and limb-load asymmetry (LLA) and to establish how postural stability changes with the spatial frequency and contrast of the visual stimulus. METHODS. Thirteen elderly subjects (mean age, 70.76 ± 4.14 [SD] years) with no history of falls and normal vision were recruited. Postural stability was determined as the root mean square [RMS] of the center of pressure (COP) signal in the anterior¿posterior (A-P) and medial¿lateral directions and LLA was determined as the ratio of the average body weight placed on the more-loaded limb to the less-loaded limb, recorded during a 30-second period. Data were collected under normal standing conditions and with somatosensory system input disrupted. Measurements were repeated with four visual targets with high (8 cyc/deg) or low (2 cyc/deg) spatial frequency and high (Weber contrast, ¿95%) or low (Weber contrast, ¿25%) contrast. Postural stability was measured under conditions of binocular refractive blur of 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 D and with cataract simulation. The data were analyzed in a population-averaged linear model. RESULTS. The cataract simulation caused significant increases in postural instability equivalent to that caused by 8-D blur conditions, and its effect was greater when the input from the somatosensory system was disrupted. High spatial frequency targets increased postural instability. Refractive blur, cataract simulation, or eye closure had no effect on LLA. CONCLUSIONS. Findings indicate that cataractous and refractive blur increase postural instability, and show why the elderly, many of whom have poor vision along with musculoskeletal and central nervous system degeneration, are at greater risk of falling. Findings also highlight that changes in contrast sensitivity rather than resolution changes are responsible for increasing postural instability. Providing low spatial frequency information in certain environments may be useful in maintaining postural stability. Correcting visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive error and cataracts could be a useful intervention strategy to help prevent falls and fall-related injuries in the elderly.

Petróleo Brasileiro S/A / It is unusual practice, in national projects of new pavements and restorations, the consideration of viscoelastic behavior and non-linear elastic of materials that compound or will compound the layers of pavement. However, the linear elastic response is a simplification of the actual behavior of the pavements layers, since the materials used in the structure have dependent stiffness of the stress state (granular layers and subgrades) or temperature and load application time (asphalt concrete). Therefore, it was aimed to study the behavior of the pavements structures of three monitored sections in the city of Santa Maria/RS. For this, tests were performed with the equipment FWD applying four different loads in each stake that compounds the extension of the three sections. It was found from deflection basins and backcalculated resilient moduli the nonlinear elastic behavior of granular layers (base and sub-base) of the sections 1 and 2, with resilient modulus directly proportional to the increase of the confining pressure. The subgrades of both sections exhibited varied behavior and can be simplified by the linear elasticity without considerable loss. The same happened to the asphalt concrete of section 1. On the other hand, the coating of the section 2 resulted in resilient modules dependent of the increase of vertical surface tension in the center of the load plate. In relation to section 3, the results related only to deflection measures indicated mostly behavior near of linearity in all evaluated reading distances, except for that carried out under the load application. Sequentially to load pulses, also were determined deflections with the Benkelman beam, aiming to find a local correlation between the results obtained from different equipments. The deflections basins indicated higher values, measured with the beam, in relation to those determined by FWD. Consequently, the resilient modules were higher when determined from the backcalculation of the readings taken with FWD, in relation to Benkelman beam. In parallel, it was verified and quantified the influence of bounding conditions between the layers and correction, total or partial, of deflections basins, depending on the temperature, in backcalculated resilient moduli. It was found that the assignment of total bounding in the interfaces between the layers reduces considerably the backcalculated resilient moduli of granular materials. Regarding to the temperature correction, it is appropriate the determination of the rigidity of the granular materials and the subgrade by performing backcalculation without any adjustment in the field basins. Taking these values as a basis, it was considered appropriate to repeat the iterative procedure, with adjustment of the deflections depending on the temperature in the initial readings, thereby determining the new asphalt concrete resilient moduli. / Não é prática usual, em projetos nacionais de pavimentos novos e restaurações, a consideração do comportamento viscoelástico e elástico não linear dos materiais que constituem, ou que irão constituir as camadas do pavimento. Todavia, a resposta elástica linear é uma simplificação do comportamento real das camadas dos pavimentos, já que os materiais empregados na estrutura possuem rigidez dependente do estado de tensões (camadas granulares e subleitos) ou da temperatura e tempo de aplicação de carga (concretos asfálticos). Em vista disso, buscou-se estudar o comportamento das estruturas dos pavimentos de três trechos monitorados, na cidade de Santa Maria/RS. Para isso, foram realizados ensaios com o equipamento FWD, aplicando quatro diferentes carregamentos em cada estaca que compõe a extensão dos três trechos. Verificou-se, a partir das bacias deflectométricas e dos módulos de resiliência retroanalisados, o comportamento elástico não linear das camadas granulares (base e sub-base) dos Trechos 1 e 2, com módulo de resiliência diretamente proporcional ao incremento da tensão confinante. Os subleitos de dois trechos exibiram comportamento variado, podendo ser simplificados pela elasticidade linear, sem prejuízo considerável. O mesmo aconteceu para o concreto asfáltico do Trecho 1. Já o revestimento do Trecho 2 resultou em módulos resilientes dependentes do incremento da tensão vertical na superfície no centro da placa de carga. Em relação ao Trecho 3, os resultados, referentes apenas às medidas deflectométricas, indicaram comportamento majoritariamente próximo da linearidade em todas as distâncias de leitura avaliadas, com exceção daquela medida abaixo do centro da placa de carga. Sequencialmente aos pulsos de carga, foram determinadas também as deflexões com a viga Benkelman, objetivando encontrar uma correlação local entre os resultados obtidos a partir dos diferentes equipamentos. As bacias deflectométricas indicaram valores superiores, medidos com a viga, em relação àqueles determinados pelo FWD. Consequentemente, os módulos de resiliência foram maiores quando determinados a partir da retroanálise de leituras efetuadas com o FWD, em relação à viga Benkelman. Em paralelo, foi verificada e quantificada a influência das condições de aderência entre as camadas e da correção, total ou parcial, das bacias deflectométricas, em função da temperatura, nos módulos de resiliência retroanalisados. Constatou-se que a atribuição de aderência total nas interfaces entre as camadas reduz consideravelmente os módulos de resiliência retroanalisados dos materiais granulares. Em relação à correção de temperatura, verificou-se adequada a determinação da rigidez dos materiais granulares e subleito mediante a realização da retroanálise sem nenhum ajuste nas bacias de campo. Tomando estes valores como base, julgou-se pertinente a repetição do procedimento iterativo, com ajuste das deflexões em função da temperatura nas leituras iniciais, determinando assim o novo módulo de resiliência do revestimento.

In order to avoid the occurrence of early-age damage, cement-treated base (CTB) materials must be allowed to cure for a period of time before the pavement can be opened to traffic. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the utility of the soil stiffness gauge (SSG), heavy Clegg impact soil tester (CIST), portable falling-weight deflectometer (PFWD), dynamic cone penetrometer, and falling-weight deflectometer for assessing early-age strength gain of cement-stabilized materials. Experimentation was performed at four sites on a pavement reconstruction project along Interstate 84 near Morgan, Utah, and three sites along Highway 91 near Richmond, Utah; cement stabilization was used to construct CTB layers at both locations. Each site was stationed to facilitate repeated measurements at the same locations with different devices and at different curing times. Because of the considerable attention they have received in the pavement construction industry for routine quality control and quality assurance programs, the SSG, CIST, and PFWD were the primary focus of the research. Statistical techniques were utilized to evaluate the sensitivity to curing time, repeatability, and efficiency of these devices. In addition, the ruggedness and ease of use of each device were evaluated. The test results indicate that the CIST data were more sensitive to curing time than the SSG and PFWD data at the majority of the cement-treated sites during the first 72 hours after construction. Furthermore, the results indicate that the CIST is superior to the other instruments with respect to repeatability, efficiency, ruggedness, and ease of use. Because the CIST is less expensive than the SSG and PFWD, it is more likely to be purchased by pavement engineers and contractors involved with construction of CTBs. For these reasons, this research suggests that the CIST offers greater overall utility than the SSG or PFWD for monitoring early-age strength gain of CTB. Further research is needed to identify appropriate threshold CIST values at which CTB layers develop sufficient strength to resist permanent deformation or marring under different types of trafficking.