*page 147 not removed from text / According to postmodern philosophy, the great political errors and crimes of the modern period may be traced back to the essentialism of modern thought. Modernity sought to base universal political projects upon a universal definition of humanity as a rationally self-determining species. However, such a view of humanity is opposed to the real cultural differences which characterize real communities. The essentialist picture of human being, far from furthering the work of freedom, legitimates the suppression of any differences judged to be unessential. Postmodernism hopes to overcome the suppression of differences by rejecting the notion of subjecthood upon which modernity rested. However, by giving up the idea that humanity is essentially self-determining, postmodern politics become incoherent. The concern for the oppressed which animates postmodern philosophy pre-supposes what postmodern critique denies-a real, universal human capacity to alter circumstances in accordance with self-given plans. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Two experiments were carried out. The first study was designed to investigate the effects of percentage of reinforcement and the number of correct acquisition trials, when combined, on the number of responses to extinction and rate of lever-pulling of human subjects. The second study was designed to investigate the effects off percentage of reinforcement combined with number of reinforcements on the same dependent variables. Analysis of the data revealed: (1) resistance to extinction in both experiments, was inversely related to the percentage of reinforcement; (2) resistance to extinction was inversely related to the number of reinforcements but was not affected by the number of correct acquisition trials; (3) the mean rate of responding was inversely related to the number of reinforcements but was not affected by either percentage of reinforcement or number of correct acquisition trials; and (4) the number of responses per unit of time increased during acquisition and decreased during extinction in both studies. The results were discussed in relation to theories stemming from previous partial reinforcement studies. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that lead to a progressive loss of vision in the majority of the cases due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness after cataract. According to the National Eye Institute's report, there were almost 2.7 million detected cases in the United States in 2010.Everybody older than 40, African Americans and Hispanics at any age, are at high risk and would need frequent IOP measurement in order to diagnose the disease at an early stage. Majority of the existing tonometers measure the IOP through the cornea and their operation requires clinical professionals. As a result, the measurement has to take place at the doctor's office and requires local anesthesia. This work demonstrates a novel multi-probe tactile-tonometer, which is operated by the patients and measures the IOP through their eyelid. Finite element (FE) models were used to estimate the static, mechanical response of the eye, due to indentation at different IOPs. The models include hyperelastic behavior of the sclera and cornea. The thickness variation of the sclera, throughout the geometry was also considered. Volumetric constraint was applied on the eye cavity, but its actual anatomic structure was neglected. In-vitro indentation tests were performed on enucleated porcine eyeballs, as a proof of concept of tactile-tonometry. Eye/patient specific calibration method was demonstrated, in order to further improve accuracy ("Forward Biomechanics"), and in-vivo estimation of biomechanical properties of the eye ("Inverse Biomechanics"). The method uses simplified FE models and a feed forward artificial neural network (ANN). The tactile-tonometer was implemented for human use, and clinical studies were performed on a small number (10) of human subjects. Based on the measurements from the recruited 10 patients (3 females, 7 males) with a mean age ±SD of 43±19.33 and the measured IOP range of 9.25-21.25mmHg, the novel technique has a mean of differences of ≈ 0mmHg and its 95% limits of agreement are ±4.84mmHg with respect to the Goldmann Applanation Tonometer.

The purpose of this study is to discover the relationship between the specifications of medical institutes, FERCAP (Forum for Ethical Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific), TJCHA IRB Accreditation (Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, TJCHA) and the practice of IRBs. By using questionnaires, and comparing the differences between all these medical institutes, we would have the information Research Ethics and the differentials in all the medical institutes. In this study, 268 completed questionnaires to the most southern region (64.7%), Medical Center (66.4%), physicians (36.9%), research assistants (21.3%), nurses (14.6%) and so on. About 60¢H can answer correctly of the knowledge of Human Research Ethics. We found that different medical institutions (Medical Centers and non-medical centers) and distinction (north, south and other regions) score differences in terms of cognition, in "human trials testing program information must be saved after three years", "IRB memberlist should be submitted to DOH", "study of individual or group characteristics or behavior (such as feeling, cognition, motivation, identity, language, communication, cultural beliefs or habits and social behavior, etc.) is expetided review " and "IRB membership and minutes should be open" have significantly difference (p <0.05). Also, we need to pay attention that only 30¢H of IRB members and staff have correct answer of "IRB memberlist should be submitted to DOH". Medical Centers and non-medical centers score differences in terms of attitude, in ¡uunit IRB that the information provided sufficient for you to understand the operation of the IRB¡v,¡uIRB promote education in human trials of great help to the project execution¡v,¡uIRB review process can focus on the implementation of the risk-benefit plans to provide specific advice¡v and ¡uyou are familiar with the regulations of the Department of Health ¡isuch as GCP, Medical Law and Research collected by the human body provides¡j¡vhave significantly difference (p <0.05). And expect the future to have further information for health policy evaluation and questionnaire data will be cross-comparison analysis of human trials to confirm the operation of the Board to provide further quality assurance and the IRB timely help.

No description available.

During walking, arm swing helps maintain postural balance and stability, but it does not aid in body propulsion. Human bipedal locomotion makes the upper limbs passively swing without engaging much upper limb muscle force or effort. The central idea of this thesis is to capture the kinetic energy of the arm swing during walking and transfer it to the lower limbs via a wearable exosuit to reduce the lower limb muscle efforts during walking. The Arm-Leg Interactive Coupling Exosuit (ALICE) is designed with cable-pulley system to harness shoulder and elbow movements to support the hips and ankles during walking. ALICE employs two coupling methods, shoulder-hip coupling and elbow-ankle coupling. The shoulder is coupled with the hip contralaterally, while the elbow is coupled with the ankle ipsilaterally to match the natural walking pattern. Therefore, shoulder flexion results in hip flexion, and elbow flexion initiates plantarflexion of the ankle during toe-off. The proposed concept was validated through human subject experiments involving 15 healthy young adults who walked on a treadmill for 5 minutes with and without the device. Walking kinematics, muscle activity, foot pressure, and metabolic cost were recorded to compare differences in walking biomechanics and energetics between three conditions - BL, S1 (device worn but disengaged) and S2 (device worn and engaged). A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post hoc analysis was used to identify the effects of shoulder-hip coupling, elbow-ankle coupling, and their combined effects. The results indicate that the proposed concepts indeed generate the expected outcomes of reducing lower limb muscle activity in exchange for the increased effort of upper limb muscles.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Steven J. Eckels / The research presents the investigation of personal cooling systems (PCS) and their effects on humans from a thermodynamic perspective. The original focus of this study was to determine the most appropriate PCS for dismounted U.S. Army soldiers in a desert environment. Soldiers were experiencing heat stress due to a combination of interrelated factors including: environmental variables, activity levels, and clothing/personal protective equipment (PPE), which contributed to the buildup of thermal energy in the body, resulting in heat stress. This is also a common problem in industry, recreation, and sports. A PCS can serve as a technological solution to mitigate the effects of heat stress when other solutions are not possible. Viable PCS were selected from the KSU PCS database, expanded to over 300 PCS in the course of this study. A cooling effectiveness score was developed incorporating the logistical burdens of a PCS. Fourteen different PCS configurations were tested according to ASTM F2370 on a sweating thermal manikin. Four top systems were chosen for ASTM F2300 human subject testing on 22 male and 2 female soldiers in simulated desert conditions: dry air temperature = 42.2 ºC, mean radiant temperature = 54.4 ºC, air velocity = 2.0 m/s, relative humidity = 20%. Subjects wore military body armor, helmets and battle dress uniforms walking on treadmills at a metabolic rate of approximately 375-400W. All the PCS conditions showed significant reductions in core temperature rise, heart rate, and total sweat produced compared to the baseline (p<0.05). The expected mean body temperature was higher in the human subjects than expected based on the cooling obtained from the sweating manikin test. Lowered sweat production was determined to be the likely cause, reducing the body’s natural heat dissipation. The ASHRAE two-node model and TAITherm commercial human thermal models were used to investigate this theory. A method to account for fabric saturation from dripping sweat was developed and is presented as part of a new model. This study highlights that the response of the human body is highly complex in high-activity, high-temperature environments. The modeling efforts show the PCS moved the body from uncompensable to compensable heat stress and the body also reduced sweating rates when the PCS was used. Most models assume constant sweating (or natural heat loss) thus the PCS sweat reduction is the likely cause of the higher than expected core temperatures, and is an important aspect when determining the purpose of a PCS.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Steven J. Eckels / The research presents the investigation of personal cooling systems (PCS) and their effects on humans from a thermodynamic perspective. The original focus of this study was to determine the most appropriate PCS for dismounted U.S. Army soldiers in a desert environment. Soldiers were experiencing heat stress due to a combination of interrelated factors including: environmental variables, activity levels, and clothing/personal protective equipment (PPE), which contributed to the buildup of thermal energy in the body, resulting in heat stress. This is also a common problem in industry, recreation, and sports. A PCS can serve as a technological solution to mitigate the effects of heat stress when other solutions are not possible. Viable PCS were selected from the KSU PCS database, expanded to over 300 PCS in the course of this study. A cooling effectiveness score was developed incorporating the logistical burdens of a PCS. Fourteen different PCS configurations were tested according to ASTM F2370 on a sweating thermal manikin. Four top systems were chosen for ASTM F2300 human subject testing on 22 male and 2 female soldiers in simulated desert conditions: dry air temperature = 42.2 ºC, mean radiant temperature = 54.4 ºC, air velocity = 2.0 m/s, relative humidity = 20%. Subjects wore military body armor, helmets and battle dress uniforms walking on treadmills at a metabolic rate of approximately 375-400W. All the PCS conditions showed significant reductions in core temperature rise, heart rate, and total sweat produced compared to the baseline (p<0.05). The expected mean body temperature was higher in the human subjects than expected based on the cooling obtained from the sweating manikin test. Lowered sweat production was determined to be the likely cause, reducing the body’s natural heat dissipation. The ASHRAE two-node model and TAITherm commercial human thermal models were used to investigate this theory. A method to account for fabric saturation from dripping sweat was developed and is presented as part of a new model. This study highlights that the response of the human body is highly complex in high-activity, high-temperature environments. The modeling efforts show the PCS moved the body from uncompensable to compensable heat stress and the body also reduced sweating rates when the PCS was used. Most models assume constant sweating (or natural heat loss) thus the PCS sweat reduction is the likely cause of the higher than expected core temperatures, and is an important aspect when determining the purpose of a PCS.

Nowadays, the Human Machine System (HMS) is considered to be a proven technology, and now plays an important role in various human activities. However, this system requires that only a human has an in-depth understanding of the machine operation, and is thus a one-way relationship. Therefore, researchers have recently developed Human Adaptive Mechatronics (HAM) to overcome this problem and balance the roles of the human and machine in any HMS. HAM is different compared to ordinary HMS in terms of its ability to adapt to changes in its surroundings and the changing skill level of humans. Nonetheless, the main problem with HAM is in quantifying the human skill level in machine manipulation as part of human recognition. Therefore, this thesis deals with a proposed formula to quantify and classify the skill of the human operator in driving a car as an example application between humans and machines. The formula is evaluated using the logical conditions and the definition of skill in HAM in terms of time and error. The skill indices are classified into five levels: Very Highly Skilled, Highly Skilled, Medium Skilled, Low Skilled and Very Low Skilled. Driving was selected because it is considered to be a complex mechanical task that involves skill, a human and a machine. However, as the safety of the human subjects when performing the required tasks in various situations must be considered, a driving simulator was used. The simulator was designed using Microsoft Visual Studio, controlled using a USB steering wheel and pedals, as was able to record the human ii path and include the desired effects on the road. Thus, two experiments involving the driving simulator were performed; 20 human subjects with a varying numbers of years experience in driving and gaming were used in the experiments. In the first experiment, the subjects were asked to drive in Expected and Guided Conditions (EGC). Five guided tracks were used to show the variety of driving skill: straight, circular, elliptical, square and triangular. The results of this experiment indicate that the tracking error is inversely proportional to the elapsed time. In second experiment, the subjects experienced Sudden Transitory Conditions (STC). Two types of unexpected situations in driving were used: tyre puncture and slippery surface. This experiment demonstrated that the tracking error is not directly proportional to the elapsed time. Both experiments also included the correlation between experience and skill. For the first time, a new skill index formula is proposed based on the logical conditions and the definition of skill in HAM.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andre Luiz Boccato de Almeida.pdf: 1364728 bytes, checksum: 6372540ca1da73b1bd6d3bf784215bdd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-10 / The initial point of this dissertation is, in the first place, to analyze the postmodernity with its implications on moral conscience. The complex postmodernity reality takes us to rethink the problems concerning conscience to beyond the traditional paradigms making us to think of an (a type of) ethic of virtues which grants us a triple challenge: to discern, to decide and to act amongst ethical relativisms and fundamentalisms. For this purpose, we emphasize a panoramic view of postmodernity with its theoretical and anthropological challenges, generators of a new culture and value opposing to the whole Christian anthropology. The moral conscience, discernment stage, decision and action of the human being, feeling this opposition, is called to rethink its deeper structure. For this purpose, we have passed a look over the Christian tradition of conscience accentuating the major biblical, theological and historical themes under it. It emphasizes the positive comprehension of the council present in Gaudium et Spes , nº 16, we stress its concise and coherent importance to the moral-theological reflection. We propose an ethic of virtues looking at the old ethical paradigms, but aiming the contemporary human subject who lives a crisis of sense, history and acting. Finding himself fragmented and ethically confuse in front of the countless ethical proposals, seductive and ephemeral, we want to show that an ethic of virtues is profoundly pedagogical and evangelical when to this human subject offers means to form and educate his conscience. Rescuing the theological and cardinals virtues under the stimulating and creative inspiration of St. Thomas, we want to present ways capable of generating the humanization and integration of the postmodern human subject. It is up to the human subject to form his conscience with creativity in an open-minded spirit by the discernment to decide and act in times of ethical relativisms and fundamentalisms, proposing to himself and to his environment a beyond of moralisms and immoralisms / O ponto de partida desta dissertação é, primeiramente, analisar a pós-modernidade com suas implicações sobre a consciência moral. A complexa realidade pós-moderna nos leva a repensar a problemática da consciência para além dos paradigmas tradicionais, fazendo-nos a pensar uma ética das virtudes que propicie um triplo desafio: discernir, decidir e agir. Para este objetivo, destacamos uma visão panorâmica da pós-modernidade com seus desafios teóricos e antropológicos, geradores de uma nova cultura e valores impactantes à antropologia integral cristã. A consciência moral, instância de discernimento, decisão e ação do ser humano, sentindo estes impactos, é chamada a repensar sua estrutura mais profunda. Para isso repassamos um olhar sobre a tradição cristã da consciência, destacando os grandes temas bíblicos, teológicos e históricos subjacente a ela. Enfatizando a positiva compreensão conciliar presente na Gaudium et Spes, nº 16, ressaltamos sua concisa e coesa importância para a reflexão teológico-moral. Propomos uma ética das virtudes olhando os paradigmas éticos antigos, mas focando ao sujeito contemporâneo que vive uma crise de sentido, da história e do agir. Encontrando-se fragmentado e eticamente confuso diante de inúmeras propostas éticas sedutoras e efêmeras, queremos mostrar que uma ética das virtudes é profundamente pedagógica e evangélica quando a este sujeito oferece meios para formar e educar sua consciência. Resgatando as virtudes teologias e cardeais, queremos apresentar caminhos humanizantes e integradores ao sujeito pós-moderno. Cabe ao sujeito formar sua consciência com criatividade num espírito de abertura pelo discernimento, decidir e agir em tempos de relativismos e fundamentalismos éticos, propondo para si um além os moralismos e imoralismos