abstract: Background: Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in the United States (US). Assisted Cycling Therapy (ACT) incorporates the use of an electric motor to enhance the rotations per minute (rpm). ACT of about 80 rpm, has been associated with improvements in motor, cognitive, and clinical function. The acute effects of ACT on motor and cognitive function of persons with stroke induced deficits have not been investigated. Purpose: To compare the acute effects of ACT, voluntary cycling (VC), and no cycling (NC) on upper and lower extremity motor function and executive function in adults with chronic stroke (age: 60 ± 16 years; months since stroke: 96 ± 85). Methods: Twenty-two participants (gender: female = 6, male = 16; types: ischemic = 12, hemorrhagic = 10; sides: left lesion = 15, right lesion = 7) completed one session of ACT, one session of VC and one session of NC on separate days using a 3 x 3 crossover design. Results: ACT lead to greater improvements in lower and upper extremity function on the paretic and non-paretic side than VC or NC (all p < 0.05), except in the non-paretic lower extremity where ACT and VC produced similar improvement (both p < 0.05). ACT and VC, but not NC, were associated with improvements in inhibition (p < 0.05). A positive relationship between cadence and motor function (P < 0.05) was found. Ratings of perceived exertion shared an inverted-U shaped relationship with measures of processing speed (p < 0.05) and a negative linear relationship with measures of executive function (p < 0.05). Conclusion: ACT appears to benefit paretic and non-paretic motor function globally whereas the benefits of VC are more task specific. Faster cycling cadence was associated with greater improvements in global motor function. ACT and VC seem to carry similar acute benefits in inhibition. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physical Activity, Nutrition and Wellness 2017

A technique for decomposing the Optical Transfer Function (OTF) into a novel set of basis functions has been developed. The decomposition provides insight into the performance of optical systems containing both wavefront error and apodization, as well as the interactions between the various components of the pupil function. Previously, this technique has been applied to systems with circular pupils with both uniform illumination and Gaussian apodization. Here, systems with annular pupils are explored. In cases of annular pupil with simple defocus, analytic expressions for the OTF decomposition coefficients can be calculated. The annular case is not only applicable to optical systems with central obscurations, but the technique can be extended to systems with multiple ring structures. The ring structures can have constant area as is often found in zone plates and diffractive lenses or the rings can have arbitrary areas. Analytic expressions for the OTF decomposition coefficients again can be determined for ring structures with constant and quadratic phase variations. The OTF decomposition provides a general tool to analyze and compare a diverse set of optical systems.

Vibration measurement and analysis has been an accepted method since decades to meet a number of objectives - machinery condition monitoring, dynamic qualification of any designed structural components, prediction of faults and structural aging-related problems, and several other structural dynamics studies and diagnosis. However, the requirement of the vibration measurement at number of locations in structures, machines and/or equipments makes the vibration measurement exorbitant if conventional piezoelectric accelerometers are used. Hence, there is a need for cheaper and reliable alternative for the conventional accelerometers. The Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers are one such cheap alternative. However, a significant deviation in the performance of the MEMS accelerometers has been observed in earlier research studies and also confirmed by this presented study when compared with well known conventional accelerometer. Therefore, two methods have been suggested to improve the performance of the existing MEMS accelerometers; one for correction in time domain and other in frequency domain. Both methods are based on the generation of a characteristic function (CF) for the MEMS accelerometer using well known reference accelerometer in laboratory tests. The procedures of both methods have been discussed and validations of these methods have been presented through experimental examples. In addition, a Finite Element (FE) model of a typical MEMS accelerometer has been developed and modal analysis has been carried out to understand the dynamics of capacitive type MEMS accelerometer and to identify the source of errors. It has been observed that the moving fingers behave like a cantilever beam while the fixed fingers showed rigid body motion. This cantilever type of motion seems to be causing non-parallel plates effect in the formed capacitors between moving and fixed fingers which results in errors in the vibration measurement. Hence, design modifications on finger shape have been suggested to remove the cantilever motion and results showed remarkable improvement. Moreover, the effect of using synchronous amplitude modulation and demodulation in the readout circuit has been studied. The experimental study showed that this circuit also introduces errors in amplitude and phase of the output signal compared with the input signal. Thus, in the new design of MEMS accelerometers, improvements in both mechanical design and electronic circuit are required.

This thesis is concerned with finding meromorphic extensions to a half-plane containing zero for certain generating functions. In particular, we generalise a result due to Morita and use it to show that the zeta function associated to the geodesic flow over a quotient of a Schottky group can be meromorphically extended to a half-plane containing zero. Moreover, we show that the special value at zero can be calculated. These results are then generalised to obtain meromorphic extensions past zero for L-functions defined on quotients of Schottky groups and to provide an expression for the special value at zero. Finally we show that Morita's method can be adapted to provide a meromorphic extension to a half-plane containing zero for Poincaré series defined for a Schottky group, and that in special circumstances the value at zero can be calculated.

Background: Although several reports have shown an adverse cardiovascular and metabolic risk profile associated with childhood obesity, few reports have examined the effects of childhood obesity on pulmonary function. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of obesity on pulmonary function in Navajo and Hopi children. Methods: Subjects included 256 (110 males, 16 females) Hopi children 6-12 years of age and 557 (274 males, 283 females) Navajo children 6-12 years of age (N=813). The body mass index was used to classify subjects as normal weight, overweight, or obese on the basis of international reference values. Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expired volume in one second (FEVl), FEV1% (FEV1 to FVC ratio; FEV1/FVC), and forced expiratory flow between 25%-75% of vital capacity (FEF25-75) were determined according to the American Thoracic Society recommendations. Results: Approximately 26% of Navajo and Hopi children were defined as overweight (26.0% of boys and 25.6% of girls) and an additional 16% (14.6% of boys and 17.7% of girls) were defined as obese. In general, the patterns showed an increase in pulmonary function between normal weight and over-weight children and a decrease in pulmonary function of obese children. Significant differences among groups existed for FEV1% and FEF25-75 in boys and FVC and FEV1 in girls. Conclusions: The results indicate the pulmonary consequences of obesity in children and provide further evidence of the adverse consequences, of pediatric obesity among Native Americans.

No description available.

Heat therapy may be an alternative or adjunct intervention to exercise training for improving cardiovascular function and health. However, its prescription must be refined in order to overcome the feasibility and tolerability issues associated with current whole-body heating modes. There is substantial evidence to support the beneficial effects of high doses (e.g., frequency, duration, and intensity) of heating typically achieved using whole-body modes, but there is limited knowledge on whether lower doses of heating administered through local hot water immersion of the limbs can still have an impact on vascular function. All studies were conducted in heathy young men and women. In the first study, we found that regardless of whether local heating was applied to the lower limbs up to the ankles or knees, upper limb endothelial function and lower limb arterial stiffness improved acutely. In the second study, we proceeded to prescribe ankle-level heating in a chronic intervention and compared its effects to that of moderate-intensity cycling exercise training. We observed no changes in endothelial function, but decreases in central arterial stiffness and increases in cardiorespiratory fitness in those who performed heat therapy and exercise training combined with heat therapy. In the third study, we evaluated the ability of acute vascular function responses to predict chronic vascular function responses with heating and exercise interventions, and found significant positive associations between the acute and chronic responses for absolute and relative brachial artery flow-mediated dilation and femoral-foot pulse wave velocity. These findings suggest that, in healthy young men and women, local heating through ankle-level hot water immersion can improve indices of cardiovascular function both acutely and chronically, alone or combined with exercise training. Further, acute responses may be used to determine an individual’s chronic responsiveness to a heat therapy and/or exercise training intervention. More research in larger, more diverse samples and with a longer duration of therapy and/or training should be conducted to determine if the results are replicable. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Regular participation in whole-body heat therapy can extend health and life span, but it is used infrequently because of a lack of feasibility from a cost, accessibility, and tolerability standpoint. This thesis explored whether local heat therapy in young healthy men and women would be effective for improving blood vessel health defined as endothelial function and arterial stiffness, both of which are linked to the risk of developing many chronic diseases. Furthermore, the effects of local heat therapy were compared to that of exercise training. We found that there were beneficial short- and long-term effects of lower limb hot water immersion that manifested in different areas of the body. Local heat therapy improved upper limb endothelial function and lower limb arterial stiffness immediately after a session, whereas with repeated exposure, it may have improved central arterial stiffness and cardiorespiratory fitness. Exercise training only had beneficial effects on the blood vessels when combined with heat therapy. Finally, short-term vascular responses can predict long-term vascular responses to both heat therapy and/or exercise training. Overall, our findings suggest that there may be some utility for local heat therapy to promote healthy blood vessels, but more work must be done to replicate our findings and explore its effects on other populations.

No / The aim of this paper is to introduce the Systems State Flow Diagram as a structured approach to high level solution-independent function based decomposition of a complex multi-disciplinary system. The approach is discussed in the context of existing function modelling frameworks and in relation to current practice in industry. A generic case study is used to introduce the approach and to highlight the salient features, followed by an illustration on its application to the analysis of an electric vehicle powertrain. Experience with the practical application of the approach with engineering teams is discussed.

No description available.

While the physical health benefits of exercise are well established, mental health benefits remain unclear. The literature reports reduced stress and improved cognitive function in rodent exercise studies, and improved mood scores in humans. However, though mood disorders are characterized by poor response to treatment, studies rarely evaluate difficult-to-treat patients or functional outcomes. Therefore, we evaluated the impact of 12-week, group-based exercise programs (running or yoga) on mood and functional outcomes including health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and social and cognitive functioning. Methods: Study 1 was a retrospective review of mood and stress outcomes in participants with difficult-to-treat mood disorders. In Study 2, we measured functional outcomes before and after the running program in a subsample from Study 1. Improved friendship and high injury rates in the running group inspired Study 3, a randomized control trial to evaluate mood and functional outcomes in a non-clinical sample using yoga, a low-impact exercise program that included cognitive control. Results: In Study 1 (n=46), depression (p<0.0001) and stress (p=0.01) scores improved over time, and improved friendship levels were predictive of improved mood scores (p<0.04). In Study 2 (n=18), we found improved scores on several HRQOL subscales, including social functioning (p-values<0.01) and weak improvements in working memory and processing speed (p-values<0.04). In Study 3, yoga participants (n=20) had improved stress (p=0.02), loneliness (p=0.002), and HRQOL (p-values<0.03) scores, compared to wait-list controls (n=8). Yoga participants improved on tasks reflecting hippocampal memory (p-values<0.006) and attention and inhibitory control (p=0.03). Regression and mediation analyses suggest that social support mediates the stress-reducing impact of yoga (p-values<0.0005). Discussion: Group-based exercise programs impart benefits across mental health and functional outcomes for participants with and without mood disorders. Exercise may be an effective adjunctive treatment for mood disorders, and more data is needed on how social support impacts clinical outcomes. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation examines the impact of exercise across multiple indications of mental health and functioning including mood scores, stress, cognitive function, social function and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in participants with and without mood disorders. Youth and adults engaged in 12-week group-based exercise interventions of running or yoga and completed comprehensive mental health and neurocognitive assessments. Results: Participation in a structured exercise program was associated with improved stress and depression, social functioning, physical and mental HRQOL domains and limited improvements in cognitive function. Results also support therapeutic benefits of structured high- and low-intensity exercise programs across multiple symptoms in patients with difficult-to-treat mood disorders, and further suggest that reduced stress and increased social functioning play key roles in the mental health benefits observed. These results represent a new standard for mood disorders research, to better understand the how lifestyle strategies are effective for the treatment of mental illness.