Most pediatric orthopaedic interventions are intended to improve or preserve physical function, yet their outcomes have been assessed using primarily surrogate measures (e.g., radiographic indices) that may not accurately represent patients'function. Physical function may be more appropriately measured with activity-based scales, but these have been infrequently applied in surgical studies. The purpose of this study was to identify existing activity-based physical-function scales appropriate for pediatric orthopaedics, to present criteria useful for scale selection, and to discuss the special problems of measuring physical function in children. Twenty-one scales relevant to pediatric orthopaedics are described according to their target population, purpose, method of administration, content, and quality of standardization. These scales have been further classified according to a new taxonomy. The unique aspects of measuring physical function in children are discussed and include the effect of age and development, method of reporting, and question formats. Standardized measures of physical function based on physical-activity ability exist and should be used more frequently to assess pediatric orthopaedic interventions

The aims of this research were to 1) demonstrate the validity of using a personally-worn micro-camcorder (PWMC) method to assess in-store parent-child food-purchasing interactions and environmental factors related to these behaviors; 2) examine the relationship between child at-home TV-exposure, home food availability/accessibility, parent dietary modeling, and child-feeding style with the healthfulness of child in-store food purchasing requests; and 3) examine the relationship between parent weight status, parent diet quality, food purchasing intentions, perceived relative cost of healthy food, and the use of nutrition facts labels with the healthfulness of parent responses to child in-store food purchasing requests. A total sample of 40 parent-child dyads completed the study. Parents were a mean age of 36.5 years (±6.3), and children were a mean age of 3.8 years (±1.1). Dyads were met at their usual grocery store and shopping time. Children wore a micro-camcorder or eButton on a hat to capture what they saw. Parents also completed a questionnaire about nutrition behaviors and the home food environment based on validated questions from the literature. Coded personally worn micro-camcorder (PWMC) data were highly correlated (rho = 0.345-0.911, p<0.01) with in-person observational data for assessing in-store behavioral and environmental factors, and the method demonstrated a high degree of reliability for assessing purchasing decisions compared to receipt data (Cohen's kappa = 0.787). Also, inter-rater reliability for assessing environmental/behavioral variables ranged from moderate to almost perfect (Cohen's kappa = 0.466-0.937). Children whose parents reported high levels of unhealthy dietary modeling had lower odds of a food request being healthy (OR=0.50, P=0.021), and having parents who report non-directive child-feeding had increased odds of a request being healthy (OR=1.66, P=0.028). Healthy weight parents were more likely to make healthy responses to child food purchasing requests than overweight/obese parents (OR=2.06, P=0.022). Behavioral interventions that seek to improve the healthfulness of food purchasing in families with young children should include components to promote non-directive feeding styles, discourage unhealthful dietary modeling, provide additional resources to target overweight/obese parents' responses to child requests, and use the PWMC method for efficient measurement of these behaviors. / text

Due to a signifikant development of computer networks in the last few years the demands for measurement of network metrics increased. This master´s thesis is dealing with standards for testing and test techniques used for the measurement of network metrics. Further it compares the existing free accessible measurement tools and metrics measures them. Finaly the thesis draws up a web application for measurement of the basic network metrics.

Noise is a growing health concern as urban residents increases rapidly and more reports of noise causing sleep disturbances and increasing the risk of cardiovascular health problems are published. Noise has a negative influence on life quality. This life quality deficiency also shows in housing and office pricing in noisy environments. Housing and office prices are often higher in quiet areas than in noisy areas. Therefore noise is both a health issue and has big economic consequences. The biggest contributor to the road traffic noise is the tire/road noise at speeds above 50km/h. Therefore this is an important aspect to monitor and the problem has to be alleviated. In this thesis the client Ramböll has gotten many contracts concerning the state of the roads from governmental institutes. As a part of the evaluation of the roads they want to implement the noise emission as a factor. This gives the government institutions another parameter that helps in the decision of which part of the road network to refurbish first. In the effort to decide what is best way for Ramböll to measure noise a new setup for measuring noise has been developed. The most used ways of measuring tire/road-noise is the close proximity (CPX) -method and the statistical pass-by (SPB) -method. These methods both give accurate results but they have drawbacks. The SPB measurements are time consuming and only give noise levels for a small patch of a road. CPX measurement on the other hand require costly and time consuming development of a measurement trailer. Certifying the trailer and maintenance work of it is expensive. So this report shows a first step in how to build a measurement setup and what aspects were taken into consideration when it was designed. A close proximity measurement setup in the form of a tube with a microphone placed inside it was built and installed underneath the measurement vehicle. The  measurement setup designed and built was named the Tube-CPX measurement setup in this report. The measurements performed with this Tube-CPX measurement setup show promising results. Similarities between CPX measurement setup and the Tube-CPX setup have been found both in the frequency spectrum as well as in the relation with pass-by measurement noise levels. The repeatability of the Tube-CPX measurements is even better than the compared CPX measurements. Although results are promising more work is required before the Tube-CPX setup can be seen in operation at Ramböll. In particular the question which source causes which sound pressure is required to understand the measured levels. And also more controlled pass-by measurements have to be performed to determine the relation of the absolute values measured at the tire/road impact spot to the values that are most interesting, namely the sound pressure levels that the human at the side of the road depicts.

Recently, some new technologies (e.g., downsizing, turbocharging) have been widely used in spark-ignition (SI) engines to achieve higher efficiencies and less emissions. However, the improved power density and in-cylinder pressure promote more engine knock, causing violent pressure oscillations and threatening engine integrity. Therefore, it is imperative to study engine knocking combustion more than ever; In-depth understandings of knock mechanism and characteristics are of utmost importance for controlling knock. With this emphasis, this thesis implements systematic studies to bridge the gap between knocking combustion characteristics and knock suppressing strategies. To investigate knock with optical and laser diagnostics, an optical compression-ignition (CI) engine was modified to operate under SI mode. A home-made metal liner with multiple spark plugs was used to trigger more controllable knock events via different spark strategies. Up to six pressure sensors were installed to collect the pressure signals from different sides. Next, the relationships between in-cylinder pressure, knock intensity, pressure fluctuation, heat release, and measurement location are analyzed to study the knock mechanism, influential factors, and measurement methods. The findings indicate a trade-off between the mass fraction and temperature of end-gas. The effects of compression ratio and fuel octane number are also explored. Moreover, the multichannel pressure monitoring is synchronized with high-speed imaging to investigate the flame propagation and knock development processes regarding the different spark strategies. The results give insights into the in-cylinder temperature inhomogeneity and how it affects the spatial distribution of auto-ignition sites. Furthermore, a new method is proposed to detect the local pressure fluctuations by setting a series of virtual flame monitors instead of pressure sensors. The results validate that this method provides a convenient and reliable way to study knock oscillations. Finally, this study presents a hydraulically actuated VCR (variable compression ratio) piston design to address knock challenges. The numerical simulation results show this VCR piston has a good adaptability and could help achieve high engine efficiencies, while keeping reasonable peak pressure to avoid heavy knock at high loads. However, more analysis work still needs to be implemented on its practical applications, e.g., the thermal stress and frictions under different operating conditions.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第19807号 / 人博第778号 / 新制||人||187(附属図書館) / 27||人博||778(吉田南総合図書館) / 32843 / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)教授 立木 秀樹, 准教授 櫻川 貴司, 教授 日置 尋久, 教授 阪上 雅昭 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

It is critical for researchers to be confident of the quality of survey data. Problems with data quality often relate to measurement method design, through choices made by researchers in their creation of standardised measurement instruments. This is known to affect the way respondents interpret and respond to these instruments, and can result in substantial measurement error. Current methods for removing measurement error are post-hoc and have been shown to be problematic. This research proposes that innovations can be made through the creation of measurement methods that take respondents' individual cognitions into consideration, to reduce measurement error in survey data. Specifically, the aim of the study was to develop and test a measurement instrument capable of having respondents individualise their own rating-scales. A mixed methodology was employed. The qualitative phase provided insights that led to the development of the Individualised Rating-Scale Procedure (IRSP). This electronic measurement method was then tested in a large multi-group experimental study, where its measurement properties were compared to those of Likert-Type Rating-Scales (LTRSs). The survey included pre-validated psychometric constructs which provided a baseline for comparing the methods, as well as to explore whether certain individual characteristics are linked to respondent choices. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the survey data. Whilst no strong associations were found between individual characteristics and respondent choices, the results demonstrated that the IRSP is reliable and valid. This study has produced a dynamic measurement instrument that accommodates individual-level differences, not addressed by typical fixed rating-scales.

Práce se zabývá problematikou měření momentu u velmi vysokootáčkových strojů. Z důvodů vysokých rychlostí jsou tradiční metody měření momentu nepoužitelné, z tohoto důvodu je nutno vyvinout novou bezkontaktní metodu. Pro měření je zvolena metoda zatěžování vířivou brzdou, pro kterou je proveden analytický výpočet jejích vlastností pomocí Maxwellových rovnic a je vytvořen model vířivé brzdy v programu FEMM a Ansys/Maxwell 2D. Na závěr jsou výsledky simulací a výpočtů porovnány s měřením na prototypech brzdy.

The aim of this thesis is the development of the workplace for the complex permittivity measurement by free space method. At the beginning of this thesis, the method is described. Further attention is focused on the discussions concerning electromagnetic properties of materials, comparison of the methods used for complex permittivity measurement, interactions of planar electromagnetic wave with planar infinite dielectric slab of general environment and description of radiation patterns of microwave antennas. In the rest of the thesis, the measuring workplace for the free space method is designed and fabricated. A pyramidal horn antenna is selected as a radiator. The antenna is designed with coax to waveguide transition in CST Microwave Studio, and than fabricated in two samples and measured. Finally, the fabricated measuring workplace is exploited for the complex permittivity measurement.

It is critical for researchers to be confident of the quality of survey data. Problems with data quality often relate to measurement method design, through choices made by researchers in their creation of standardised measurement instruments. This is known to affect the way respondents interpret and respond to these instruments, and can result in substantial measurement error. Current methods for removing measurement error are post-hoc and have been shown to be problematic. This research proposes that innovations can be made through the creation of measurement methods that take respondents¿ individual cognitions into consideration, to reduce measurement error in survey data. Specifically, the aim of the study was to develop and test a measurement instrument capable of having respondents individualise their own rating-scales. A mixed methodology was employed. The qualitative phase provided insights that led to the development of the Individualised Rating-Scale Procedure (IRSP). This electronic measurement method was then tested in a large multi-group experimental study, where its measurement properties were compared to those of Likert-Type Rating-Scales (LTRSs). The survey included pre-validated psychometric constructs which provided a baseline for comparing the methods, as well as to explore whether certain individual characteristics are linked to respondent choices. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the survey data. Whilst no strong associations were found between individual characteristics and respondent choices, the results demonstrated that the IRSP is reliable and valid. This study has produced a dynamic measurement instrument that accommodates individual-level differences, not addressed by typical fixed rating-scales.