Cricket has evolved from a traditional and conservative sport to a fast-paced, vigorous game. As a result of this the physical conditioning programmes of players have changed drastically with regular fitness tests that are now an integral part of these programmes. In spite of this, no studies have made an attempt to determine the exact relationship between the physical and motor ability parameters of batsmen and their performance. The purpose of this study was, therefore, firstly to determine which physical and motor ability parameters discriminate between successful and less successful provincial academy batsmen and secondly, to determine how much these parameters contribute to the batting performance of provincial academy batsmen. Twenty-two batsmen from the Gauteng and North-West cricket academies in South Africa were used in this study. Thirteen batsmen (20.15 +- 1.41 years) participated during the 2004 season whilst nine batsmen (21.11 +- 1.83 years) took part during the 2005 season. The players were subjected to 23 physical and motor ability tests, whilst 72 isokinetic measurements were also taken. The data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics, cluster analyses, forward stepwise discriminant analyses and finally forward stepwise multiple regression analyses. The discriminant analyses showed that right (RKEPT) and left knee extensor peak torque (LKEPT), right knee extensor average power (RKEAP), left knee extensor total work (LKETW) and left knee flexor peak torque (LKFPT) (all at 30°/sec), as well as LKEPT, RKEPT and L.KEAP (all at 24O°/sec ), left (LIRAP) and right shoulder internal rotator average power (RIRAP). right shoulder external/internal rotator peak torque ratio (REIRPTR) and right shoulder internal rotator peak torque (RIRPTJ (all at 24O°/sec) as well as left shoulder internal rotator total work (LIRTW) (60°/sec) discriminated non-significantly between the successfu1 (top 5 ranked batsmen of both seasons) and less successful academy batsmen. The physical and motor ability parameters which were identified as discriminators were left 505 agility, shuttle run aerobic endurance and IRM (repetition-maximum) hack squat strength (all significant) (p 5<= 0.05) whilst left grip strength and abdominal muscle strength discriminated non-significantly. The forward stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that RKEPT 30' (16%). LKEPT 30' (7%), RKEAP 30' (7%), LKFPT 30' (7%), LKEAP 240" (6%), RKFPT 240" (5%). LKETW 30" (5%) and LKEPT240° (4%) were the isokinetic knee strength parameters which contributed non-significantly to batting performance. The isokinetic shoulder strength parameters which also contributed non-significantly to batting performance were: RIRPT240° (28%). LIRAP 240' (16%), REZRPTR 240' (8%). LIRTW 60° (5%) and RIRAP 240' (4%). Vertical jumping power (13%) (p 50.05), left 505 agility (9%) (p 50.05), abdominal muscle strength (5%) (p 50.05), aerobic capacity (10%). IRM bench press strength (7%), IRM hack squat strength as well as left shoulder internal rotation flexibility (4% each) were the physical and motor ability parameters which contributed to batting performance. The conclusion that can, therefore, be drawn is that physical and motor ability parameters contribute to the performance of provincial academy batsmen and that these components should be included in the physical conditioning programmes of batsmen / Thesis (M.Sc. (Human Movement Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The development of glass substrates for use as an alternative to printed circuit boards (PCBs) attracts significant industrial attention, because of the potential for low cost but high performance interconnects and optical connection. Electroless plating is currently used to deposit conductive tracks on glass substrates and the quality of copper / glass adhesion is a key functional issue. Without adequate adhesive strength the copper plating will prematurely fail. Existing studies have covered the relationship between surface roughness and adhesion performance, but few of them have considered the detail of surface topography in any depth. This research is specifically considering the mechanical contribution of the glass surface texture to the copper / glass adhesive bond, and attempting to isolate new ISO 25178 areal surface texture parameters that can describe these surfaces. Excimer laser machining has been developed and used to create a range of micro pattern structured surfaces on CMG glass substrates. Excimer mask dimensions and laser operation parameters have been varied and optimized according to surface topography and adhesion performance of the samples. Non-contact surface measurement equipment (Zygo NewView 5000 coherence scanning interferometry) has been utilized to measure and parameterize (ISO 25178) the surface texture of the glass substrates before electroless copper metallization. Copper adhesion quality has been tested using quantitative scratch testing techniques, providing an identification of the critical load of failure for different plated substrates. This research is establishing the statistical quality of correlation between the critical load values and the associated areal parameters. In this thesis, the optimal laser processing parameter settings for CMG glass substrate machining and the topographic images of structured surfaces for achieving strong copper / glass plating adhesion are identified. The experimental relationships between critical load and areal surface parameters, as well as the discussions of a theoretical approach are presented. It is more significant to consider Sq, Sdq, Sdr, Sxp, Vv, Vmc and Vvc to describe glass substrate surface topography and the recommended data value ranges for each parameter have been identified to predict copper / plating adhesion performance.

A framework for assessing the key statistical parameters of complex flows in choosing appropriate turbulence prediction methods on a quantitative basis is developed. These parameters characterise flow/modelling matching conditions quantified in this work. Matching conditions are important in classifying complex turbulent flows in order to frame best practice for model predictions to inform computational aerodynamics design optimisation in the context of virtual test beds. In the incompressible low Reynolds number shear flows considered here, the boundaries of the 'conforming domain' within which turbulence models are valid need to be defined, based on basic mechanisms of turbulence, and the statistical parameters. This has led to a new guideline ‘localness map’ for standard model applications. Since the choice of turbulence model depends on the complexity of the flows considered, it is useful if systematic sets of the parameters indicate the type of flow. They are that of residence time, the degree of spatial non-locality, the straining, and the non-Gaussianity, each of which is appropriately normalised. It can be demonstrated that the quantified map, in particular that of localness for the shear flows, provides a firm foundation for evaluating a wider range of Underlying Flow Regimes, including locating the Underlying Flow Regimes on the generalised localness modeling map as a framework for best practice guidelines. This work produces 7 sets of quantitative localness-structural parameters, which are used as baseline sets for grouping the Underlying Flow Regimes, and hence it opens the possibility of having complete modelling maps for Application Challenges to assess the need for zonal modelling.

The redshift drift of objects moving in the Hubble flow has been proposed as a powerful model-independent probe of the underlying cosmology. A measurement of the first- and second-order redshift derivatives appears to be well within the reach of upcoming surveys using as the Extremely Large Telescope high resolution spectrometer (ELT-HIRES) and the Square Kilometer Phase 2 Array (SKA). Here we show that an unambiguous prediction of the R-h = ct cosmology is zero drift at all redshifts, contrasting sharply with all other models in which the expansion rate is variable. For example, multiyear monitoring of sources at redshift z = 5 with the ELT-HIRES is expected to show a velocity shift Delta v = -15 cm s(-1) yr(-1) due to the redshift drift in Planck I > CDM, while Delta v = 0 cm s(-1) yr(-1) in R-h = ct. With an anticipated ELT-HIRES measurement error of +/- 5 cm s(-1) yr(-1) after 5 yr, these upcoming redshift drift measurements might therefore be able to differentiate between R-h = ct and Planck I > CDM at similar to 3 sigma, assuming that any possible source evolution is well understood. Such a result would provide the strongest evidence yet in favour of the R-h = ct cosmology. With a 20-yr baseline, these observations could favour one of these models over the other at better than 5 sigma.

Many physical theories beyond the Standard Model predict time variations of basic physics parameters. Direct measurement of the time variations of these parameters is very difficult or impossible to achieve. By contrast, measurements of fundamental constants are relatively easy to achieve, both in the laboratory and by astronomical spectra of atoms and molecules in the early universe. In this work, measurements of the proton to electron mass ratio mu and the fine structure constant alpha are combined to place mildly model-dependent limits on the fractional variation of the quantum chromodynamic scale and the sum of the fractional variations of the Higgs vacuum expectation value (VEV) and the Yukawa couplings on time-scales of more than half the age of the universe. The addition of another model parameter allows the fractional variation of the Higgs VEV and the Yukawa couplings to be computed separately. Limits on their variation are found at the level of less than 5 x 10(-5) over the past 7 Gyr. A model-dependent relation between the expected fractional variation of a relative to mu tightens the limits to 10(-7) over the same time span. Limits on the present day rate of change of the constants and parameters are then calculated using slow roll quintessence. A primary result of this work is that studies of the dimensionless fundamental constants such as a and mu, whose values depend on the values of the physics parameters, are excellent monitors of the limits on the time variation of these parameters.

Matter near a gravitational lens galaxy or projected along the line of sight (LOS) can affect strong lensing observables by more than contemporary measurement errors. We simulate lens fields with realistic threedimensional mass configurations (self-consistently including voids), and then fit mock lensing observables with increasingly complex lens models to quantify biases and uncertainties associated with different ways of treating the lens environment (ENV) and LOS. We identify the combination of mass, projected offset, and redshift that determines the importance of a perturbing galaxy for lensing. Foreground structures have a stronger effect on the lens potential than background structures, due to nonlinear effects in the foreground and downweighting in the background. There is dramatic variation in the net strength of ENV/LOS effects across different lens fields; modeling fields individually yields stronger priors for H-0 than ray tracing through N-body simulations. Models that ignore mass outside the lens yield poor fits and biased results. Adding external shear can account for tidal stretching from galaxies at redshifts z >= z(lens), but it requires corrections for external convergence and cannot reproduce nonlinear effects from foreground galaxies. Using the tidal approximation is reasonable for most perturbers as long as nonlinear redshift effects are included. Even then, the scatter in H0 is limited by the lens profile degeneracy. Asymmetric image configurations produced by highly elliptical lens galaxies are less sensitive to the lens profile degeneracy, so they offer appealing targets for precision lensing analyses in future surveys like LSST and Euclid.

The Milky Way (MW) and M31 both harbour massive satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and M33, which may comprise up to 10 per cent of their host's total mass. Massive satellites can change the orbital barycentre of the host-satellite system by tens of kiloparsec and are cosmologically expected to harbour dwarf satellite galaxies of their own. Assessing the impact of these effects crucially depends on the orbital histories of the LMC and M33. Here, we revisit the dynamics of theMW-LMC system and present the first detailed analysis of the M31-M33 system utilizing high-precision proper motions and statistics from the dark-matter-only Illustris cosmological simulation. With the latest Hubble Space Telescope proper motion measurements of M31, we reliably constrain M33' s interaction history with its host. In particular, like the LMC, M33 is either on its first passage (t(inf) < 2 Gyr ago) or if M31 is massive (>= 2 x 10(12) M-circle dot), it is on a long-period orbit of about 6 Gyr. Cosmological analogues of the LMC and M33 identified in Illustris support this picture and provide further insight about their host masses. We conclude that, cosmologically, massive satellites such as the LMC and M33 are likely completing their first orbits about their hosts. We also find that the orbital energies of such analogues prefer an MW halo mass similar to 1.5 x 10(12) M-circle dot and an M31 halo mass >= 1.5 x 10(12)M(circle dot). Despite conventional wisdom, we conclude it is highly improbable that M33 made a close (< 100 kpc) approach to M31 recently (t(peri) < 3 Gyr ago). Such orbits are rare (< 1 per cent) within the 4s error space allowed by observations. This conclusion cannot be explained by perturbative effects through four-body encounters amongst the MW, M31, M33, and the LMC. This surprising result implies that we must search for a new explanation for M33' s strongly warped gas and stellar discs.

We present cosmological constraints from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) using a combined analysis of angular clustering of red galaxies and their cross-correlation with weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies. We use a 139 deg(2) contiguous patch of DES data from the Science Verification (SV) period of observations. Using large-scale measurements, we constrain the matter density of the Universe as Omega(m) = 0.31 +/- 0.09 and the clustering amplitude of the matter power spectrum as sigma(8) = 0.74 +/- 0.13 after marginalizing over seven nuisance parameters and three additional cosmological parameters. This translates into S-8 = sigma(8)(Omega(m)/0.3)(0.16) = 0.74 +/- 0.12 for our fiducial lens redshift bin at 0.35 < z < 0.5, while S-8 = 0.78 +/- 0.09 using two bins over the range 0.2 < z < 0.5. We study the robustness of the results under changes in the data vectors, modelling and systematics treatment, including photometric redshift and shear calibration uncertainties, and find consistency in the derived cosmological parameters. We show that our results are consistent with previous cosmological analyses from DES and other data sets and conclude with a joint analysis of DES angular clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing with Planck Cosmic Microwave Background data, baryon accoustic oscillations and Supernova Type Ia measurements.

We present results from a survey of the internal kinematics of 49 star-forming galaxies at z similar to 2 in the CANDELS fields with the Keck/MOSFIRE spectrograph, Survey in the near-Infrared of Galaxies with Multiple position Angles (SIGMA). Kinematics (rotation velocity V-rot and gas velocity dispersion sg) are measured from nebular emission lines which trace the hot ionized gas surrounding star-forming regions. We find that by z similar to 2, massive star-forming galaxies (log M-*/M-circle dot less than or similar to 10.2) have assembled primitive disks: their kinematics are dominated by rotation, they are consistent with a marginally stable disk model, and they form a Tully-Fisher relation. These massive galaxies have values of V-rot sg that are factors of 2-5 lower than local well-ordered galaxies at similar masses. Such results are consistent with findings by other studies. We find that low-mass galaxies (log M-*/M-circle dot less than or similar to 10.2) at this epoch are still in the early stages of disk assembly: their kinematics are often dominated by gas velocity dispersion and they fall from the Tully-Fisher relation to significantly low values of V-rot. This "kinematic downsizing" implies that the process(es) responsible for disrupting disks at z similar to 2 have a stronger effect and/or are more active in low-mass systems. In conclusion, we find that the period of rapid stellar mass growth at z similar to 2 is coincident with the nascent assembly of low-mass disks and the assembly and settling of high-mass disks.

The Banner University Medical Center's (BUMC) renal transplant program relies on the LifePort Kidney Transporter to optimize marginal kidney organs via hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) prior to transplantation. Hemodynamic parameters produced by the device followed over the duration of support, combined with clinical experience, guide decisions in determining the acceptability of a donor kidney for implantation. Thus far, statistical evidence supporting ideal parameters remain undefined. The purpose of this study is to create a logistic model that will ascertain the post-implant sustainability of LifePort® supported kidneys and predict clinical outcomes. My hypothesis is that the statistical models constructed based on retrospective LifePort® parameters and clinical outcome data will successfully predict donor organ vascular health for transplantation and the optimal support duration. A successful model will contribute to increased efficiencies in the kidney transplant process as well as improved patient outcomes. An overview of the institution’s success was weighed using a survival analysis, with delayed graft function (DGF) as the endpoint. A logistic regression model and forecast model were built to predict the outcome for rejecting or accepting the organ for transplant, as well as to predict the hemodynamic parameters hours after the start of infusion. Results concluded a flow greater than 80 mL/min had a 90% probability of transplantation. The forecast model was capable of predicting flow for up to five hours. The calculated flow was in a 10 mL/min range of the actual flow, when up to one hour parameters were entered into the model. The study concluded practicality in the clinical setting, in kidney transplantation.