In response to challenging situations physiological and psychological adaptations result in elevated levels of arousal and when these levels are 'optimal' performance is enhanced. There are however, limitations to the amount of physiological and mental stimulation one can tolerate, with cumulative fatigue effects being the outcome when stressful conditions are imposed on the individual over an extended period of time. As a result of the extreme physical and cognitive demands placed on military forces while in combat, with soldiers being thrust into battle and required to make critical life-or-death determining decisions followed by appropriate motor responses, the physical and psychological capabilities of the troops are pushed to maximal limits, often resulting in undesirable decrements in physical and mental performance, with consequential human and materiel losses. Thirty-two soldiers participated in a battery of combat-related field and laboratory tests, first under 'normal' conditions with no prior physical activity and then immediately after the participation of an intensive bout of exercise. Physiological and perceptual responses plus standard of performance were measured at various stages of testing. Results of the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE), Body Discomfort Scale and heart rate responses revealed significantly higher levels of psychophysical strai,n in response to the strenuous physical activity. Despite these findings, the electromyographic (EMG) activity and efficiency of the combat-related skills were not negatively affected. Rather, nominal improvements in post-activity performance were noted, specifically response time, and this was attributed to elevated arousal and activation as a result of the exercise that was of sufficient duration to enhance arousal without imposing long term cumulative fatigue effects.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6205.pdf: 2336021 bytes, checksum: b971a8778dbff307fad1956ff6cf6272 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-24 / The School Marching Band is characterized currently as a group of students involved in artistic activities at school. It was developed in schools in the Brazilian military period. It is characterized as a group of students enrolled in artistic activities among them, music and choreography. Such activities provide students with an educational plan that conveys values as discipline, determination, confidence, respect, camaraderie, fellowship and friendship. For these reasons among others, can school bands provide motivating inclusive practice recognition of differences and appreciation of diversity in regular school? The objective of this research was to analyse the participation of students from a percussion band with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) from a special school included in a marching band of a regular school during rehearsals and public performances. This research was under the proposed of a study case, a participant observation was used as the main source of evidence for data collection and the data analysis was a qualitative study using content analysis. A pilot study was conducted aiming to determine the version of the search to be performed helping to collect the data to be tested. The survey was conducted in a school of basic education that has a marching band. Survey participants were: (i) 12 students of the special school of both genders aged 11-12 , (ii) 12 students in a regular school of both genders aged 10 to 21 ( total 22 students), and (iii) a conductor. The criteria used for the sample of the research were: (i) being a student with school age from a special school for ID and participant in the school band for over 12 months, (ii) being a student of school age up to 21years old, being a current student or former one of public regular school participating actively of the school band; and (iii) being the conductor of the chosen school band included in the survey. The data collected were organized into frames for easier viewing and analysis. The results of these analyses could provide the material needed to investigate the effects and implications of the inclusion of students with ID school marching band in the process. The data were compared and analysed and they have shown that the work performed with bands of regular schools is a valuable tool to motivate the value of diversity in regular schools. The participation of students with ID in these artistic activities promotes support and recognition of their differences. Thus, the inclusive practice is effective. / Desenvolvida nas escolas brasileiras por meio dos militares no período republicano, a Banda Marcial Escolar caracteriza-se, atualmente, como um grupo de estudantes envolvidos com atividades artísticas na escola, dentre elas, música e coreografia. Tais atividades oferecem aos alunos um desígnio educacional que transmite valores como a disciplina, a determinação, a autoconfiança, o respeito, o coleguismo, o companheirismo e a amizade. Por essas, entre outras características, será que bandas escolares podem se oferecer como instrumento de prática inclusiva motivadora do reconhecimento das diferenças e da valorização da diversidade na escola regular? Nesse sentido, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar a participação de alunos com Deficiência Intelectual (DI) de uma banda de percussão de uma escola especial, incluídos em uma banda marcial de uma escola de ensino regular durante os ensaios e apresentações públicas. A realização desta pesquisa foi sob a proposta de estudo de caso; como principal fonte de evidência para a coleta de dados, utilizou-se a observação participante e a análise de dados foi de cunho qualitativo por meio da análise de conteúdo. Foi feito o estudo piloto que teve o objetivo de apurar a versão da pesquisa a ser realizada, sendo útil para ser testado o instrumento construído para o auxilio no levantamento de dados. A pesquisa foi realizada em uma escola de ensino básico que possui uma banda marcial. Os participantes da pesquisa foram: (i) 12 alunos da escola especial de ambos os gêneros na faixa etária de 11 a 22 anos; (ii) 12 alunos de uma escola regular de ambos os gêneros na faixa etária de 10 a 21 anos (total de 22 alunos); e (iii) um regente. Os critérios utilizados para a amostra do estudo da pesquisa foram: (i) ser aluno em idade escolar, estudante de uma escola especial para DI e participante da banda da escola há mais de 12 meses; (ii) ser aluno em idade escolar de até 21 anos de idade, estudante ou ex-estudante de escola regular de ensino público participante ativamente da banda da escola; e (iii) ser o regente da banda escolar incluída na pesquisa. Os dados coletados foram organizados em quadros para melhor visualização e análise. Os resultados obtidos dessas análises puderam fornecer o material necessário para investigar os efeitos e implicações do processo de inclusão de alunos com DI na banda marcial escolar. Os dados obtidos foram comparados e analisados e mostram que o trabalho realizado com bandas nas escolas regulares de ensino é um valioso instrumento para motivar a valorização da diversidade nas escolas regulares. A participação de estudantes com DI nessas atividades artísticas promovem o apoio dos colegas e o reconhecimento de suas diferenças. Assim, a prática inclusiva se efetiva.

Visualization of volumetric data has always been useful in big va- riety of ways, for example computer tomography (CT) and magnet resonance tomography (MRT) are two major applications of this sorts of algorithms. Since volumetric data has no limitation regarding the shape of the object that ordinary mesh algorithms has we can fully reconstruct anything using the Marching cubes algorithm. New tech- niques allow us to implement this algorithm by new and exible means. Here we will use the latest of DirectX technology to run marching cubes in realtime using compute shaders. / kristoffer.swe@gmail.com

Conversion of discrete volumetric data to boundary representation is quite common operation. Standard approach to resolve this problem is to use well-known Marching cubes algorithm, which although simple and robust, generates low-quality output that requires subsequent post-processing. This master's thesis deals with uncommon algorithms used for isosurface extraction from volumes. The reader will be acquainted with fundamental principles of Hierarchical Iso-Surface Extraction method, that was independently implemented and tested in this work.

Cette thèse associe analyse d’image et modélisation physico-chimique afin de caractériser l’infiltrabilité d’un milieu poreux. Infiltrabilité signifie : « propension d’un milieu poreux à se laisser pénétrer par un fluide apportant un dépôt solide ». Une application est la fabrication de composites à matrice céramique par dépôt chimique en phase gazeuse (CVI). Des études ont montré que l’agencement des fibres d’un matériau composite a un impact sur sa densité finale. Nous proposons d’étudier l’évolution du milieu poreux au cours de l’infiltration pour des architectures complexes. La première étape consiste en la segmentation et la caractérisation de composites déjà densifiés obtenus par micro-tomographie. Les objets à segmenter sont des fibres quasi-cylindriques. Deux outils ont été développés : un estimateur optimal de l’orientation vers l’axe de cylindres, et un algorithme de détection et de caractérisation d’objets quasi-cylindriques. Appliquée aux composites fibreux, cette étape fournit un bloc contenant les fibres. Il constitue le milieu poreux complexe dont on cherche à caractériser l’infiltrabilité. La seconde étape est la modélisation à l’échelle des fibres du procédé CVI. Elle utilise des marcheurs aléatoires, avec une gestion de l’interface du solide par « marching cube simplifié». L’algorithme proposé est novateur car il prend en compte simultanément les réactions chimiques, le transport de gaz en régime raréfié ou continu et l’évolution temporelle de la morphologie d’un milieu poreux. Le couplage des deux étapes permet de comparer le dépôt issu de la segmentation à celui résultant de la simulation dans divers régimes physiques. Il est alors possible d’effectuer une analyse inverse des conditions d’élaboration à partir de la morphologie du dépôt. Les outils proposés permettent aussi de comparer l’infiltrabilité de différentes architectures fibreuses. / This thesis connects image processing and physicochemical modeling to characterize the infiltrability of porous media. Infiltrability means “ability of a porous medium to receive a solid deposit brought by penetration of a carrier fluid”. A practical case is the preparation of ceramic-matrix composites by Chemical Vapor Infiltration (CVI). Various studies have proved that the fiber arrangement in preforms of composite materials affects the density of the material at the final stage. In this work, the morphological evolution of complex 3D porous media during the gas-phase infiltration is studied. The first step consists in the segmentation and characterization X-ray Micro Tomography of the infiltrated composite. The objects to be segmented are quasi cylindrical fibers. Two tools have been developed: an optimal estimator of the orientation toward the axis; and an algorithm to detect and characterize quasi cylindrical objects. Applied on images of fiber-reinforced composites, this approach makes it possible to obtain the block containing the fibers. This block is the complex porous medium used for infiltrability characterization. The second step addresses the fiber-scale modeling of CVI. It is based on random walkers and fluid / solid interface management by a simplified marching cube. Our algorithm is innovative since it handles simultaneously chemical reactions, gas transport in rarefied and continuum regimes, and the morphological evolution of porous structure. By combining these two steps, we can compare the deposit obtained by segmentation to simulated deposits obtained in various physicochemical regimes. This allows performing an inverse analysis of the actual deposition conditions from the morphology of the deposit. The provided computational approach also allows the comparison of different porous textures with respect to their infiltrability.

Image segmentation is a process to identify regions of interest from digital images. Image segmentation plays an important role in medical image processing which enables a variety of clinical applications. It is also a tool to facilitate the detection of abnormalities such as cancerous lesions in the brain. Although numerous efforts in recent years have advanced this technique, no single approach solves the problem of segmentation for the large variety of image modalities existing today. Consequently, brain MRI segmentation remains a challenging task. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate brain MRI segmentation for delineation of tumors, ventricles and other anatomical structures using Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK) routines as the foundation. ITK is an open-source software system to support the Visible Human Project. Visible Human Project is the creation of complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of the normal male and female human bodies. Currently under active development, ITK employs leading-edge segmentation and registration algorithms in two, three, and more dimensions. A goal of this thesis is to implement those algorithms to facilitate brain segmentation for a brain cancer research scientist.

What personal traits are desirable in the band director? What educational qualifications should be required? How much experience should he have before assuming the position of college band director? What should be the organization of the component parts of the band? Who should compose the personnel? What credit should be given for such services? Who should support the organization and supply such equipment as uniforms, library, and instruments?

Modern reservoir management typically involves simulations of geological models to predict future recovery estimates, providing the economic assessment of different field development strategies. Integrating reservoir data is a vital step in developing reliable reservoir performance models. Currently, most effective strategies for traditional manual history matching commonly follow a structured approach with a sequence of adjustments from global to regional parameters, followed by local changes in model properties. In contrast, many of the recent automatic history matching methods utilize parameter sensitivities or gradients to directly update the fine-scale reservoir properties, often ignoring geological inconsistency. Therefore, there is need for combining elements of all of these scales in a seamless manner. We present a hierarchical streamline-assisted history matching, with a framework of global-local updates. A probabilistic approach, consisting of design of experiments, response surface methodology and the genetic algorithm, is used to understand the uncertainty in the large-scale static and dynamic parameters. This global update step is followed by a streamline-based model calibration for high resolution reservoir heterogeneity. This local update step assimilates dynamic production data. We apply the genetic global calibration to unconventional shale gas reservoir specifically we include stimulated reservoir volume as a constraint term in the data integration to improve history matching and reduce prediction uncertainty. We introduce a novel approach for efficiently computing well drainage volumes for shale gas wells with multistage fractures and fracture clusters, and we will filter stochastic shale gas reservoir models by comparing the computed drainage volume with the measured SRV within specified confidence limits. Finally, we demonstrate the value of integrating downhole temperature measurements as coarse-scale constraint during streamline-based history matching of dynamic production data. We first derive coarse-scale permeability trends in the reservoir from temperature data. The coarse information are then downscaled into fine scale permeability by sequential Gaussian simulation with block kriging, and updated by local-scale streamline-based history matching. he power and utility of our approaches have been demonstrated using both synthetic and field examples.

Cartesian grids offer a valuable option to simulate aerodynamic flows around complex geometries such as multi-element airfoils, aircrafts, and rockets. Therefore, an adaptively-refined Cartesian grid generator and Euler solver are developed. For the mesh generation part of the algorithm, dynamic data structures are used to determine connectivity information between cells and uniform mesh is created in the domain. Marching squares and cubes algorithms are used to form interfaces of cut and split cells. Geometry-based cell adaptation is applied in the mesh generation. After obtaining appropriate mesh around input geometry, the solution is obtained using either flux vector splitting method or Roe&rsquo / s approximate Riemann solver with cell-centered approach. Least squares reconstruction of flow variables within the cell is used to determine high gradient regions of flow. Solution based adaptation method is then applied to current mesh in order to refine these regions and also coarsened regions where unnecessary small cells exist. Multistage time stepping is used with local time steps to increase the convergence rate. Also FAS multigrid technique is used in order to increase the convergence rate. It is obvious that implementation of geometry and solution based adaptations are easier for Cartesian meshes than other types of meshes. Besides, presented numerical results show the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm by especially using geometry and solution based adaptation. Finally, Euler solutions of Cartesian grids around airfoils, projectiles and wings are compared with the experimental and numerical data available in the literature and accuracy and efficiency of the solver are verified.

This thesis deals with image segmentation problems that arise in various computer vision related fields such as medical imaging, satellite imaging, video surveillance, recognition and robotic vision. More specifically, this thesis deals with a special class of image segmentation technique called Snakes or Active Contour Models. In active contour models, image segmentation is posed as an energy minimization problem, where an objective energy function (based on certain image related features) is defined on the segmenting curve (contour). Typically, a gradient descent energy minimization approach is used to drive the initial contour towards a minimum for the defined energy. The drawback associated with this approach is that the contour has a tendency to get stuck at undesired local minima caused by subtle and undesired image features/edges. Thus, active contour based curve evolution approaches are very sensitive to initialization and noise. The central theme of this thesis is to develop techniques that can make active contour models robust against certain classes of local minima by incorporating global information in energy minimization. These techniques lead to energy minimization with global considerations; we call these models -- 'Non-local active contours'. In this thesis, we consider three widely used active contour models: 1) Edge- and region-based segmentation model, 2) Prior shape knowledge based segmentation model, and 3) Motion segmentation model. We analyze the traditional techniques used for these models and establish the need for robust models that avoid local minima. We address the local minima problem for each model by adding global image considerations.