The restoration of arm-free standing in paraplegic individuals can be accomplished with the help of functional electrical stimulation (FES). The key component of such a system is a controller that can modulate FES induced muscle contractions in real-time, such that artificially produced forces in the legs and abdominal muscles are able to generate stable standing posture. A 57 year-old individual with chronic ASIA-A (American Spinal Injury Association), T3/4 level spinal cord injury (SCI) participated in this study. The objective was to determine if a proportional-derivative (PD) or proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller could be used to regulate FES induced muscle contractions in the ankle joint to allow it to maintain balance of the entire body during quiet standing, while exhibiting physiological dynamics seen in able-bodied individuals while doing so.

The actin and microtubule cytoskeleton plays a critical role in the establishment of cell polarity. Cell processes like mitosis and migration rely on the reorganization of the cytoskeleton to properly function. One driver of cell polarity is the formin, Inverted Formin-1 (INF1). INF1 is able to induce F-actin formation, activate the Serum Response Factor (SRF) pathway, stabilize microtubules, associate with microtubules, and disperse the Golgi body. Regulation of INF1 is unique, since it does not possess conserved formin regulatory domains. However, INF1 does possess many potential phosphorylation sites. In this study, we demonstrate that INF1’s ability to induce F-actin stress fibers and activate SRF is inhibited by Microtubule-Affinity Regulating Kinase 2 (MARK2). Inhibition of INF1’s actin polymerization activity by MARK2 likely occurs near INF1’s C-terminus. However, MARK2 was unable to inhibit INF1’s ability to stabilize microtubules, associate with microtubules, and disperse the Golgi. Furthermore, we show that INF1 overexpression is associated with primary cilium absence and in some cases, the presence of long cilia, suggesting that INF1 plays a role in primary cilium formation.

Increasing global energy demands and diminishing supplies of conventional fuels are forcing the world to focus more on alternative power sources that are both renewable and ecologically benign. Solar energy is clean, regularly available and can be harvested without sacrificing valuable land space. Due to the associated cost of solar cells, however a very small portion of the world’s energy needs are supplied by the sun. Solution-processable organic photovoltaics (OPVs) offer the promise of lower production costs relative to conventional (silicon) solar cell technology. Solution-processing can be performed using reel-to-reel manufacturing, with printing and coating techniques that are significantly cheaper than current processing methods for inorganic semiconductors. Although OPV efficiency values currently remain inferior to those of conventional solar cells, the rate of improvement is much higher in OPVs than in other solar cell technologies. Recently an efficiency exceeding 10% was reported for organic solar cells. An important difference between organic and conventional solar cells is the charge carrier mobility of the semiconductors, which tends to be relatively low in organic semiconductors. Recent advances in molecular design have led to polymer semiconductor materials that possess hole mobility values similar to that of amorphous silicon. The present study investigates potential improvements in OPV devices that can be achieved through the application of high hole mobility polymer semiconductor donors. Two diketopyrrolopyrrole-based polymers, PDQT and PDBFBT, were selected for the role of electron donor in OPV devices due to their high mobilities and their optimum optical and electrical properties. Optimization of the process parameters was performed using PC61BM as the acceptor. A relatively high quantity of PC61BM (3 - 4 × the weight of the donor) is required in the donor-acceptor blends of both polymers in order to balance the high hole mobility. For these donor-acceptor blends, a solvent system consisting of chloroform/ortho-dichlorobenzene (4:1 v/v) is necessary for proper solubility, and an additive, 1,8-diiodooctane, is required to achieve an acceptable morphology. The main benefit expected from the use of high mobility semiconductors is reduced charge recombination. This was studied in relation to the active layer thickness in standard and inverted OPV devices prepared using PC61BM as the acceptor. Normally the thickness of the active layer is required to be low (~100 nm) due to the poor charge transport mobility of the carriers. In this study, rather consistent power conversion efficiencies were achieved throughout a wide range of active layer thicknesses (~100 nm to ~800 nm). A comparison between standard and inverted device configurations demonstrates that the inverted configuration is more suitable for achieving thicker active layers when a high hole mobility donor is used. This is attributed to the longer hole collection path in the inverted structure, which can benefit from using a high hole mobility material. Increasing the absorption spectra of the donor-acceptor blend was studied by substituting PC71BM for PC61BM. The improved absorption leads to greater charge generation. In PDQT devices, the increase in absorption that is contributed by PC71BM appears to be of greatest benefit when active layers are not very thick. Therefore, when thick active layers (>500 nm) are required, the use of PC61BM is sufficient, in conjunction with a high mobility donor. Finally, an increase in a polymer’s crystallinity can often lead to greater mobility. This can be accomplished through various annealing techniques. The improved crystallinity of PDBFBT that occurs as a result of thermal annealing was studied in OPV applications. Although hole mobility of PDBFBT in the lateral direction improves with thermal annealing, mobility in the vertical direction decreases with increasing temperature. This suggests that the crystallinity of PDBFBT is oriented in the lateral direction as opposed to the vertical direction, thereby directing charge flow horizontal to the surface. With thermal annealing, an optimal amount of PC61BM added to PDBFBT can increase the vertical mobility to fairly high values. Nevertheless, the efficiency of standard and inverted OPV devices decreases with increased annealing temperature. This is attributed to agglomeration of PC61BM that occurs from an increase in annealing temperature. The results of this study demonstrate that thermal annealing is not beneficial for PDBFBT:PC61BM films in OPV applications due to the vertical orientation of devices. All of the studies presented in this work involve the use of high hole mobility polymer semiconductors as donor materials for OPV applications. This work will provide a deeper understanding of the properties required for the development of new semiconductor materials in OPV applications. Furthermore, this work will be very useful for the design of device structures for more feasible manufacturing of large area OPV devices via high speed roll-to-roll printing processes.

This thesis investigates the presence of multiple (quasi-TEM) modes in inverted embedded microstrip lines. It has already been shown that parasitic modes do exist in inverted embedded microstrips due to field leakage inside the dielectric substrate, especially for high dielectric constants (like Silicon). This thesis expands upon that work and characterizes those modes for a variety of geometrical dimensions. Chapter 1 focuses on the theory behind the different transmission line modes, which may be present in inverted embedded microstrips. Based on the structure of the inverted embedded microstrip, the conventional microstrip mode, the quasi-conventional microstrip mode, and the stripline mode are expected. Chapter 2 discusses in detail the techniques used to decompose the total probed field into the various modes present in the inverted embedded microstrip lines. Firstly, a short explanation of the finite-difference time-domain method, that is used for the simulation and modeling of inverted microstrips up to 50 GHz is provided. Next, a flowchart of the process involved in decomposing the modes is laid out. Lastly, the challenges of this approach are also highlighted to give an appreciation of the difficulty in obtaining accurate results. Chapter 3 shows the results (dispersion diagrams, values/percentage of the individual mode energies ) obtained after running time-domain simulations for a variety of geometrical dimensions. Chapter 4 concludes the thesis by explaining the results in terms of the transmission line theory presented in Chapter 1. Next, possible future work is mentioned.

Αρχικά θα μελετήσουμε κάποιες έννοιες σχετικές με το δίκτυο της κινητής τηλεφωνίας και θα ασχοληθούμε πιο συγκεκριμένα με τα υποσυστήματα που μεταφέρουν τα γραπτά μηνύματα κινητής τηλεφωνίας. Κύριο μέλημά μας όμως αποτελεί η ανάλυση του τρόπου αποθήκευσης των μηνυμάτων σε συσκευές κινητής τηλεφωνίας και πιο συγκεκριμένα σε συσκευές που έχουν εγκατεστημένο το λειτουργικό σύστημα Android. Θα μελετήσουμε το λειτουργικό σύστημα Android και θα δούμε ποια είναι τα σημαντικότερα πλεονεκτήματά του, ώστε ένας χρήστης να επιλέξει το συγκεκριμένο λειτουργικό σύστημα για τη συσκευή του, αλλά και γιατί αποτελεί πλέον κυρίαρχο λειτουργικό σύστημα για την ανάπτυξη μικροεφαρμογών από τους προγραμματιστές. Ως προς το λειτουργικό Android θα αναλύσουμε εκτενέστερα τον τρόπο αποθήκευσης των γραπτών μηνυμάτων και θα δούμε πως το Android δομεί το κείμενο των μηνυμάτων και τις διάφορες πληροφορίες που παρέχονται από το ίδιο το δίκτυο της κινητής τηλεφωνίας. Θα αναλύσουμε τα σύντομα γραπτά μηνύματα κινητής τηλεφωνίας, γνωστά και ως sms, που είναι η υπηρεσία σύμφωνα με την οποία οι χρήστες ανταλλάσσουν αποκλειστικά κείμενο διατυπώνοντας συναισθήματα, σκέψεις, καθώς και σημαντικές πληροφορίες. Οι πληροφορίες αυτές αποθηκεύονται στη συσκευή κάθε χρήστη και κάθε συσκευή αποτελεί το μοναδικό οικιακό αποθηκευτικό μέσο σε όλο το δίκτυο της κινητής τηλεφωνίας. Οι πληροφορίες που αποθηκεύεται στα sms, αποτελεί σύνθετο πρόβλημα ανάλυσης, καθώς απαρτίζεται από ελλιπής προτάσεις, μεικτό περιεχόμενο ελληνικών και greeklish γραμμάτων, καθώς και συντομογραφίες που ακολουθούν ένα προσωπικό τρόπο γραφής κάποιων λέξεων δίχως να ακολουθείται κάποια νόρμα σύνταξης, ορθογραφίας και συλλαβισμού στο κείμενο. Θα δούμε πως μπορούμε με κατάλληλο φιλτράρισμα της πληροφορίας των γραπτών μηνυμάτων να προσεγγίσουμε όσο το δυνατόν περισσότερο την ανθρώπινη λογική γραφής. Θα αναλύσουμε τα φιλτραρισμένα δεδομένα και θα περιγράψουμε πως μπορεί και ο ίδιος ο χρήστης να συμβάλλει σημαντικά στο φιλτράρισμα αυτό αποκλείοντας λέξεις της αρεσκείας του από τα σύνολο των δεδομένων που θα χρησιμοποιηθούν για ευρετηριοποίηση και πως αυτό επηρεάζει σημαντικά την απόδοση της αναζήτησης. Θα επικεντρωθούμε στις πιο διαδεδομένες δομές δεδομένων που χρησιμοποιούνται για ευρετηριοποίηση και θα αναλύσουμε ποια είναι η κατάλληλότερη δομή που πρέπει να χρησιμοποιηθεί στην περίπτωσή μας και πως αυτή τροποποιήθηκε για το σκοπό της μελέτης μας. Θα αναλύσουμε πως η μετατροπή αυτή αποτέλεσε σημαντική εξέλιξη στην απόδοση του ευρετηρίου μας και πως η αναζήτηση με τη χρήση του ανεστραμμένου ευρετηρίου που αναπτύξαμε απογειώνει την ταχύτητα ανάκτησης των δεδομένων των μηνυμάτων. Τέλος, παραθέτουμε την εφαρμογή που αναπτύξαμε με τη χρήση της γλώσσας προγραμματισμού Java για το λειτουργικό σύστημα Android που ενσωματώνει το ανεστραμμένο ευρετήριο που αναπτύξαμε και βοηθά στην αναζήτηση οποιασδήποτε πληροφορίας από τα γραπτά μηνύματα είτε απευθείας από τη βάση των μηνυμάτων του Android είτε χρησιμοποιώντας το ευρετήριο. / In the current thesis an inverted index was designed for Adroid sms messages which is speeding the information retrieval from the sms database.

abstract: This thesis describes an approach to system identification based on compressive sensing and demonstrates its efficacy on a challenging classical benchmark single-input, multiple output (SIMO) mechanical system consisting of an inverted pendulum on a cart. Due to its inherent non-linearity and unstable behavior, very few techniques currently exist that are capable of identifying this system. The challenge in identification also lies in the coupled behavior of the system and in the difficulty of obtaining the full-range dynamics. The differential equations describing the system dynamics are determined from measurements of the system's input-output behavior. These equations are assumed to consist of the superposition, with unknown weights, of a small number of terms drawn from a large library of nonlinear terms. Under this assumption, compressed sensing allows the constituent library elements and their corresponding weights to be identified by decomposing a time-series signal of the system's outputs into a sparse superposition of corresponding time-series signals produced by the library components. The most popular techniques for non-linear system identification entail the use of ANN's (Artificial Neural Networks), which require a large number of measurements of the input and output data at high sampling frequencies. The method developed in this project requires very few samples and the accuracy of reconstruction is extremely high. Furthermore, this method yields the Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) of the system explicitly. This is in contrast to some ANN approaches that produce only a trained network which might lose fidelity with change of initial conditions or if facing an input that wasn't used during its training. This technique is expected to be of value in system identification of complex dynamic systems encountered in diverse fields such as Biology, Computation, Statistics, Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2011

This study involved experimental and equivalent computational investigations into the automobile-type 3―D flow physics of a diffuser bluff body in ground-effect and novel passive flow-control methods applied to the diffuser flow to enhance the diffuser’s aerodynamic performance. The bluff body used in this study is an Ahmed-like body employed in an inverted position with the slanted section together with the addition of side plates along both sides forming the ramped diffuser section. The first part of the study confirmed reported observations from previous studies that the downforce generated by the diffuser in proximity to a ground plane is influenced by the peak suction at the diffuser inlet and subsequent static pressure-recovery towards the diffuser exit. Also, when the bluff body ride height is gradually reduced from high to low, the diffuser flow as indicated by its force curve and surface flow features undergoes four distinct flow regimes (types A to D). The types A and B regimes are reasonably symmetrical, made up of two low-pressure core longitudinal vortices travelling along both sides of the diffuser length and they increase downforce and drag with reducing ride height. However, below the ride heights of the type B regime, types C and D regimes are asymmetrical because of the breakdown of one vortex; consequently a significant loss in downforce and drag occurs. The second part of the study involved the use ― near the diffuser exit ― of a convex bump on the diffuser ramp surface and an inverted wing between the diffuser side plates as passive flow control devices. The modification of the diffuser geometry with these devices employed individually or in combination, induced a second-stage pressure-drop and recovery near the diffuser exit. This behaviour was due to the radial pressure gradient induced on the diffuser flow by the suction surface ii curvature of the passive devices. As a result of this aerodynamic phenomenon, the diffuser generated across the flow regimes additional downforce, and a marginal increase in drag due to the profile drag induced by the devices.

Falls are one of the most serious problems among the elderly, resulting in fatal physical injuries. Early identification of people at a high risk of falling is needed to facilitate rehabilitation to reduce future fall risk. The overall goal of this dissertation was to develop biomechanical models that identify dynamic limits of balance control in daily functional activities associated with falling, including sit-to-stand (STS) movement, standing (stance perturbation), and walking. Poor performance of STS movement has been identified as one of the risk factors of falls among elderly individuals. We proposed a novel method to identify dynamic limits of balance control during STS movement using whole body center of mass (COM) acceleration and assessed its feasibility to differentiate individuals with difficulty in STS movement from healthy individuals. The results demonstrated that our model with COM acceleration could better differentiate individuals with difficulty in STS movement from healthy individuals than the traditional model with COM velocity. Poor postural control ability is also a risk factor of falls. Postural recovery responses to backward support surface translations during quiet standing were examined for healthy young and elderly adults. The results demonstrated that functional base of support (FBOS) and ankle dorsiflexor strength could be sensitive measures to detect elderly individuals with declined balance control. Our biomechanical model, which determines a set of balance stability boundaries, showed a better predictive capability than the statistical model for identifying unstable balance recovery trials, while the statistical model better predicted stable recovery trials. Lastly, walking requires a fine momentum control where COM acceleration could play an important role. Differences in control of dynamic stability during walking were examined with our proposed boundaries of dynamic stability. Elderly fallers adapted a more conservative gait strategy than healthy individuals, demonstrating significantly slower forward COM velocity and acceleration with their COM significantly closer to the base of support at toe-off, which could be indicative of a poor momentum control ability. Overall, this study demonstrated that COM acceleration would provide further information on momentum control, which could better reveal underlying mechanisms causing imbalance and provide an insightful evaluation of balance dysfunction. This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material.

Neste trabalho é apresentada a avaliação da inversão da sacarose em um sistema constituído de um Evaporador de filme descendente com promotor de película. Foi feita a modelagem da inversão considerando-se os balanços de massa e de entalpia e a cinética de inversão no tubo de evaporação. Os principais parâmetros considerados foram: constante cinética (k), taxa de evaporação(mv), concentração de açúcares totais (C), vazão do líquido no tubo de evaporação (q), pH, temperatura (T) e tempo de residência no tubo de evaporação (T). Usaram-se dois métodos para a resolução do modelo, a primeira através da integração numérica do modelo (Runge Kutta de 4ta ordem) e a outra através de equacionamento simplificado a partir valores médios das propriedades, pH, e calculando as constantes cinéticas nas temperaturas efetivas em cada zona do tubo de evaporação, Tefa (zona de aquecimento) e Tefe (zona de evaporação), possibilitando assim, a integração analítica do modelo. Foram calculados os valores do volume do líquido (V) através dos dois métodos. Os resultados foram expressos em função da vazão do líquido (q). Verificou-se que os resultados calculados pelos dois métodos foram muito próximos. Os modelos desenvolvidos podem ser aplicados para a otimização do processo de evaporação visando à minimização da inversão da sacarose. O método desenvolvido possibilita a determinação do tempo de residência no tubo de evaporação. / In this work the evaluation of sucrose inversion in a system formed by falling film Evaporator with Promoter of film is presented. The modeling was made considering: mass and enthalpy balances and the kinetic of inversion in the evaporation tube. The mean parameters investigated were: kinetic constant (k), evaporation rate (mv), concentration of total sugars (C), volumetric velocity of the liquid in the evaporation tube (q), pH, temperature (T) and residence time in the evaporation tube (T). Two methods was used to solve the model, the first by numeric integration (Runge Kutta 4th Order) and the other by analytic integration of simplified model considering mean values of properties and pH, and the kinetic constant calculates at effective temperatures in each zone of the evaporation tube, Tefa and Tefe, allowed the analytic integration of the model. The volume of liquid in the evaporation tube (V) was calculated by the two methods (numeric integration and simplified methods). The results were expressed as a function of liquid flow rate (q). It was verified that the values obtained by the two methods were very closed. These models can be used for the optimization of the evaporation process emphasizing the minimization of the sucrose inversion. The methodology could be used for the determination of the residence time in the evaporation tube.

A busca por documentos relevantes ao usuário é um problema que se torna mais custoso conforme as bases de conhecimento crescem em seu ritmo acelerado. Este problema passou a resolvido por sistemas distribuídos, devido a sua escalabilidade e tolerância a falhas. O desenvolvimento de sistemas voltados a estas enormes bases de conhecimento -- e a maior de todas, a Internet -- é uma indústria que movimenta bilhões de dólares por ano no mundo inteiro e criou gigantes. Neste trabalho, são apresentadas e discutidas estruturas de dados e arquiteturas distribuídas que tratem o problema de indexar e buscar grandes coleções de documentos em sistemas distribuídos, alcançando grande desempenho e escalabilidade. Serão também discutidos alguns dos grandes sistemas de busca da atualidade, como o Google e o Apache Solr, além do planejamento de uma grande aplicação com protótipo em desenvolvimento. Um projeto próprio de sistema de busca distribuído foi implementado, baseado no Lucene, com idéias coletadas noutros trabalhos e outras novas. Em nossos experimentos, o sistema distribuído desenvolvido neste trabalho superou o Apache Solr com um vazão 37,4\\% superior e mostrou números muito superiores a soluções não-distribuídas em hardware de custo muito superior ao nosso cluster. / The search for relevant documents for the final user is a problem that becomes more expensive as the databases grown faster. The solution was brought by distributed systems, because of its scalability and fail tolerance. The development of systems focused on enormous databases -- including the World Wide Web -- is an industry that involves billions of dollars in the world and had created giants. In this work, will be presented and discussed data structures and distributed architectures related to the indexes and searching in great document collections in distributed systems, reaching high performance and scalability. We will also discuss some of the biggest search engines, such as Google e Apache Solr, and the planning of an application with a developing prototype. At last, a new project of a distributed searching system will be presented and implemented, based on Lucene, with ideas from other works and new ideas of our own. On our tests, the system developed in this work had throughput 37.4\\% higher than Apache Solr and revealed higher performance than non-distributed solutions in a hardware more expensive than our cluster.