Gynaecological cancer survivorship has been addressed in only a limited body of research. After completion of treatment, women with gynaecological cancer face many challenges. It is pertinent that we understand the wellbeing and morbidity issues of this group of survivors, as well as their supportive care needs and use. With this understanding, it will be possible to better target health care initiatives and services to those gynaecological cancer survivors who require help. Accordingly, the objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of site-specific morbidities, support being utilised, and unmet needs, as well as to determine the correlates of supportive care needs and use. To address this, a cross-sectional mail survey of 1774 Queensland gynaecological cancer survivors three months to five years post-diagnosis was conducted in 2004 (56.5% response rate, n=802 of 1420 eligible participants). Women were recruited from the Queensland Gynaecological Cancer Registry, which covered approximately 85% of all gynaecological cancer patients in Queensland at the time of this study. The questionnaire measured a range of factors to reflect a social-ecological perspective. This broader perspective was utilised to extend the current understanding which is limited to a biopsychosocial approach. Main outcomes were measured with standardised and validated instruments where possible, including the Supportive Care Needs Survey, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire and the Active Australia Survey. The results of this survey showed that while quality of life was high on average (median 91, range 30-108), some women experienced debilitating site-specific conditions. Ten percent reported being diagnosed with lower limb lymphoedema and eight percent of women reported that their gynaecological cancer had made sexual relations too difficult or too uncomfortable. Women accessed multiple sources of support within their communities including a variety of support services (54%) and complementary therapies (29%). Characteristics associated with use of support services include: younger age, being retired, having been diagnosed with a gynaecological cancer other than uterine, having had open bowel resection, having been treated at multiple centres, being in remission, being obese. On average, women reported having excellent social support (median 37, range 8-40). Some women made changes to healthier behaviours following their cancer diagnosis, such as increasing their fruit and vegetable intake (23%) or physical activity levels (10%) or decreasing their alcohol consumption (24%) or cigarette smoking (10%); however, nearly half (44%) of women decreased their physical activity level. A population comparison of health behaviours between gynaecological cancer survivors and Queensland women highlighted the significantly lower level of sufficient physical activity and higher level of obesity in the cancer survivor population, as well as the low levels of adequate vegetable intake in both populations. Forty-three percent of gynaecological cancer survivors reported having at least one moderate or high level unmet supportive care need. In particular, needing help with fear about the cancer spreading, concerns about the worries of those close to them, uncertainty about the future, lack of energy/tiredness, and not being able to do things they used to do, were most important to this group. These leading need items were all within the psychological and physical/daily living supportive care domains. Some unmet sexuality and health system/information needs were also reported. Groups with higher odds of unmet needs included those women who more recently completed treatment, whose disease was still present, who had children still living in the home, who had diagnosed lymphoedema, who experienced treatment-related menopause, who were unable to work due to illness and who lived in rural and remote regions of Queensland. These results indicate that women with gynaecological cancer in Queensland are doing quite well overall; however, there is still room for improvement in a few key areas of public health importance. In line with the social-ecological model, resources need to be targeted at all levels of support including personal, social, health care and broader organisational, community, policy and media levels. In particular, the following recommendations are made: 1. Assistance with the particular reported unmet psychological and physical/daily living needs is a priority. Support services should be tailored to the identified groups of survivors who had higher odds of unmet needs, both in terms of development of written materials that reflect these groups' circumstances and implementation of programs or workshops specific to these groups. In particular, the development of a number of programs or workshops are recommended that discuss the specific psychological and physical/ daily living outcomes of women who a) live with cancer, b) live with children after cancer treatment, c) live with lymphoedema, d) have had treatment-related menopause or e) are unable to work due to illness, and how and where women can get help with managing these. These programs should be implemented by support organisations in the period closely following treatment completion and should consider technologies such as video-conferencing to reach women who are in rural and remote areas. 2. More specific written information for cancer survivors about things they can do to help themselves get well is needed, in lay-person friendly format. This information should address the value of particular dietary items, complementary therapies and types of physical activities that are safe and beneficial to cancer survivors' quality of life. 3. An evidenced-based physical activity intervention, targeting overweight and obese gynaecological cancer survivors is recommended, to reduce the weight issues of this population. 4. To facilitate the triage of cancer survivors to appropriate health care information and other support initiatives, cancer survivors' awareness of the Queensland Cancer Fund needs to be raised substantially. Practitioner education and discharge planning directives are recommended to ensure information about the Queensland Cancer Fund is disseminated. 5. To address the substantially unmet information and physical/ daily living needs specific to lymphoedema sufferers, it is recommended that self-management information and referral information for suppliers and services for lymphoedema management be given to women in high lymphoedema risk groups, as part of the hospital discharge procedure, as well as when symptoms are diagnosed, to ensure a continuum of care is maintained. 6. Clinical practice guidelines for cancer care and, correspondingly, support programs, need to expand from acute care to managing the long-term psychological, physical and sexual health consequences. Several topics for research are likely to be important in the future, including more specific research into why uterine cancer survivors reported higher odds of unmet psychological needs and yet were less likely to use support services, what specific help women with unmet needs would prefer, the effects of lower limb lymphoedema on survivors' quality of life, and why there isn't greater use of existing support services, especially among women with morbidity such as lymphoedema and issues associated with treatment-related menopause.

Thèses (M.Sc.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 1997. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 20 juin 2006). Publié aussi en version papier.

Th. Univ.--Métallurgie--Paris 6, 1989. / Bibliogr. p. 127-130.

Th. Univ.--Chimie moléculaire--Paris-Sud, 1990. / Résumé en anglais. Notes bibliogr.

Sensitive thermogravimetric equipment was used to monitor the oxidation rates of A1-1 to 9% Mg alloys in 0.21 oxygen/0.79 helium mixtures with and without 0.03 atm water vapour pressure, in the temperature range 500-725°C which include their respective solid, semi-liquid and liquid states. These measurements were supported by structural and topographical studies of oxide films using SEM, X-ray diffraction, and TEM with electron diffraction and EDX techniques. The objective was to provide information in the context of dross formation during melting operations. The only oxidation product observed was MgO. The oxidation rates do not follow simple rate laws. The rate normally increases as the temperature is raised except for a curious inverse relationship for liquid alloys just above the liquidus temperatures due to the formation of undulating surfaces. An amorphous MgO film formed on liquid alloys restricted the initial oxidation but, following an incubation period, crystallisation of the film induced breakaway oxidation. The crystallisation was promoted by high magnesium contents, high temperatures and moist atmospheres. The oxidation rates for alloys in the semi-liquid state were as follows: (i) for < 50% liquid, the rates were faster than those for wholly solid alloys due to preferential oxidation of magnesium-enriched liquid fractions along grain boundaries; (ii) for > 50% liquid, the rates were initially faster than those for wholly liquid alloys due to the presence of solid phase particles which acted both as disruptive stress-raisers and as sources of nuclei for crystallisation of the amorphous oxide film over the liquid phase. For the moist atmosphere: (i) wholly solid alloys and semi-liquid alloys with < 50% liquid oxidised initially faster but eventually slower than in the dry atmosphere. These effects are explained by enhanced initial oxidation but suppressed subsequent nucleation of tertiary MgO particles and by the injection of OH - ions into the oxide; (ii) wholy liquid alloys and semi-liquid alloys with > 50% liquid oxidised faster than in the dry atmosphere because of the injection of OH- ions into the oxide with consequent disruptive effects caused by hydrogen absorption by the alloy. The addition of 0.003% Be to Al-8% Mg alloy decreased the oxidation rate markedly by toughening the MgO films preventing cracking and hence the nucleation of tertiary MgO. Small additions of Mn or Zr offset the effect of Be and probably enhanced the Mg 2+ ion conductivity in the oxide by the 4+ injection of Mn 2+ , Mn 4+ or Zr ions. For alloys with Be, although breakaway eventually occurred it was not initiated by crystallisation of the amorphous film and moisture in the atmosphere increased the oxidation throughout the temperature range, 500-725°C.

Les dispositifs électroniques modernes comportent souvent une ou plusieurs phases de veille, dans lesquelles elles attendent un ordre de réveil de la part d’un actionneur distant (une télécommande). Ces types de dispositifs ont tendance à être de plus en plus présents dans les habitations et dans les bâtiments tertiaires, en particulier dans le domaine de la domotique. Les phases de veille sont caractérisées par des niveaux de consommations très inférieures aux consommations en mode actif des dispositifs, mais les durées de veille sont généralement grandes devant les périodes actives. Ce fait, combiné à la multiplication des dispositifs, mène à des consommations annuelles qui peuvent dépasser 10 % de la facture d’électricité des ménages. Cette étude propose une nouvelle approche de réveil des dispositifs en veille. Au lieu d’avoir une écoute permanente en réception et d’envoyer une trame d’informations de réveil, le récepteur est complètement endormi et est réveillé à travers une impulsion d’énergie transmis par d’ondes électromagnétiques. Une fois que l’étage d’interprétation des données est alimenté, un envoi d’informations est effectué pour valider l’ordre de réveil. En vue des portées attendues pour le système et des contraintes normatives liées aux expositions des personnes aux champs électromagnétiques, une faible quantité d’énergie est disponible en réception pour le réveil du dispositif. Plusieurs topologies de circuits de rectification RF-DC (rectenna) en technologies microstrip sont étudiées à travers des simulations circuit et électromagnétiques. La topologie choisie a été optimisée pour fournir un bon niveau de tension DC pour des faibles niveaux de puissance RF incidente. Une adaptation entre le convertisseur et l’antenne de réception différente de 50 W a été utilisée. Tous ces résultats ont été validés expérimentalement. Au niveau du circuit de réception des données, plusieurs scénarios de fonctionnement ont été comparés. L’étage de démodulation utilise la rectenna comme détecteur à diodes, pour réduire au maximum la consommation et la complexité de mise en œuvre. Le système global a été testé et des gains substantiels sont constatés sur le bilan de consommation annuelle de plusieurs types des dispositifs, comparé à un fonctionnement classique. En parallèle, une architecture de récepteur d’énergie électromagnétique reconfigurable est proposée. Il offre l’avantage de pouvoir exploiter une large gamme de puissance incidente, ce qui n’est pas le cas des structures de rectennas classiques. Des rectennas en technologies discrètes et intégrées sont utilisées, connectées à une antenne commune à travers un switch d’antenne intégrée. Le système proposé est adaptatif et les résultats des tests montrent des améliorations notables de la quantité d’énergie collectée par rapport à des rectennas individuelles. Enfin, le phénomène de l’inversion de la tension dans une association déséquilibrée de rectennas est mis en évidence et des solutions sont proposées. / Modern electronic devices often include one or more phases of stand-by, where they waiting for a wakeup order from a distant actuator (remote control). These devices tend to be increasingly present in homes and in commercial buildings, especially in the field of building automation systems. Stand-by periods are characterized by consumption levels well below those in active mode, but stand-by periods are generally large compared to active periods. This fact, combined with the proliferation of devices, leads to annual consumption which may exceed 10% of the annual household electricity bill. This study proposes a new approach to waking up of stand-by devices. Instead of continuous monitoring of the arrival of the wake-up signal, the receiver is completely asleep and woke up through a pulse of energy transmitted via electromagnetic waves. Once the data receiver module is activated, information is sent to validate the wake-up order. In view of the expected ranges for the system and normative constraints related to exposures to electromagnetic fields, only a small amount of energy is available at receiver level for performing the wake-up. Several RF-DC rectification circuit (rectenna) topologies in microstrip technology are studied through circuit and electromagnetic simulation. The chosen topology has been optimized to provide a good level of DC voltage at low levels of incident RF power. A matching impedance other than 50 W between the converter and the receiving antenna was used. All these results have been validated experimentally. For the data receiver circuit, several operating scenarios were compared. The demodulation stage uses the rectenna as a diode detector to minimize consumption and complexity of implementation. The overall system has been tested and substantial gains are obtained for several types of devices, in terms of annual consumption, compared to classical stand-by devices. At the same time, a reconfigurable electromagnetic energy receiver architecture is proposed. It offers the advantage of exploiting a wide range of incident power, which is not the case of conventional rectenna structures. Rectennas fabricated in discrete and integrated technology are used, connected to a common antenna through an integrated antenna switch. The proposed system is self-adaptive and the test results show significant improvements in the amount of energy collected compared to individual rectennas. Finally, the phenomenon of voltage reversal in unbalanced rectenna associations is highlighted and possible solutions are proposed.

Actuellement, les lasers bleus et UV sont utilisés dans de nombreux domaines d'application (médecine, stockage optique de données, micro-usinage, etc.). La conversion de fréquence à l'aide de cristaux non-linéaires apparaît comme une bonne solution pour obtenir de telles sources de lumière cohérente à partir de lasers solides usuels émettant dans l'IR, aucun effet laser UV n’étant possible dans quelque cristal que ce soit. Dans ce cadre, nous avons étudié trois matériaux (K3Li2-xNb5+xO15+2x; Ca5(BO3)3F et Bi2ZnB2O7) qui possèdent des propriétés optiques non-linéaires prometteuses. Nous avons étudié dans cette thèse deux diagrammes de phase : K2O-Li2O-Nb2O5 et CaO-B2O3-CaF2 afin de déterminer et optimiser les conditions de croissance des cristaux correspondants. Nous avons montré que la micro-goutte pendante est une méthode appropriée pour la croissance de cristaux à fusion non congruente (CBF) ou de cristaux de solution solide (KLN). Les fibres cristallines obtenues étaient transparentes, homogènes en composition et de bonne qualité cristalline. L’étude de la croissance de fibres de KLN a montré qu'il est très difficile d'obtenir des cristaux orientés selon l'axe a avec la technique utilisée. En ce qui concerne CBF, la viscosité du liquide impose de déterminer le couple vitesse de tirage/diamètre du capillaire le plus adéquat afin d’obtenir des cristaux transparents. Quant à BZBO, la couleur jaune-rouge des fibres obtenues est probablement une conséquence de la présence d'une autre phase plus riche en bismuth / Blue and UV lasers are currently used for many applications as data storage, medicine, micromachining, etc. The frequency conversion by means of non-linear crystals appears as a good solution to obtain coherent light sources from usual solid lasers emitting in the IR, no UV laser effect can be produced in any crystal. In this frame, we studied three materials (K3Li2-xNb5+xO15+2x (KLN), Ca5(BO3)3F (CBF) and Bi2ZnB2O7 (BZBO)) which possess promising non-linear optical properties. In this work, we studied two phase diagrams: K2O-Li2O-Nb2O5 and CaO-B2O3-CaF2 in order to determine and optimize the growth conditions of the corresponding crystals.We showed that µ-PD is a good technique for growing non congruently melting crystals (CBF) and crystals originating from a solid solution (KLN). The obtained single crystal fibres were transparent, homogeneous in composition and had a good crystalline quality. The study of the growth of KLN fibers showed that it is very difficult to obtain crystals oriented along the a axis with the used technique. With regard to CBF, the viscosity of the liquid requires to determine the most appropriate couple pulling rate/capillary diameter to obtain transparent crystals. For BZBO, the yellow-red colour of the obtained fibres is probably a consequence of the presence of another phase richer in bismuth.

<p> This dissertation describes an experimental study of the simultaneous mass transfer and chemical reaction at a plane liquid-liquid interface involving the saponification of simple esters transferring into aqueous caustic solutions. The transfer experiments were carried out with both liquid phases stirred and unstirred respectively.</p> <p> Special emphasis was placed on the stagnant-phase systems. Turbulent reaction layer propagation rates were measured for ester phases (pre-saturated with water) in contact wiith aqueous caustic solutions (at various concentration levels). The distortion of the moire pattern was used to indicate the position of the propagating layer front. The cause and nature of the turbulent layer were elucidated. An apparatus, capable of withdrawing small samples of the liquid with probes precisely located in the aqueous phase, was constructed. Experimental techniques were developed to measure the abnormal concentration profiles of the reactants and the products within the turbulent layer. From the component concentration distribution data, the turbulent layer thicknesses, the reaction zone (within the turbulent layer) thicknesses, the mass transfer rates, and the enhancement factors were deduced. The effects of turbulence in the aqueous phase were estimated in terms of the derived eddy diffusivities and of the differences between the experimentally measured and the theoretically predicted (by molecular diffusion with reaction equation) enhancement factors.</p> <p> In the steady state transfer study using stirring in both phases, transfer rate data and enhancement factor data were obtained for three formate-sodium hydroxide systems.</p> <p> In addition to the mass transfer studies, a preliminary investigation on the diffusion coefficient measurement in binary and ternary liquid systems employing the moire pattern method was carried out. A diffusion cell was designed and built to enable the quick acquisition of the experimental data with reasonable accuracy.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

An unusual behavior of anaphors is to occur in embedded subject positions and bebound across a finite clause boundary by a matrix subject. This thesis, however, demonstrates that such constructions exist in Malki Arabic, besides other languages. First, this thesis shows that the clause size of the embedded clause in which subject anaphors are allowed is CP and not always a TP. Second, in light of current reductionist approaches to binding domains of the classical binding theory to phase theory, a cross-clausal binding relation bears issues to those approaches, as a long-distance antecedence relation crosses a phase boundary. Taking long-distance bound subject anaphors as the main empirical focus in this thesis, I show that the cross-clausal binding relation in Malki Arabic is not bona fide evidence against reducing binding domains to phases. Following Wurmbrand (2019) and Lohninger et al. (2022), I propose that constructions with long-distance bound subject anaphors theoretically resemble cross-clausal A-dependencies, like hyperraising and long-distance agreement, for undergoing movement to a position in the edge of the embedded clause and showing similar properties. Third, I show that reducing binding domains to whole phases is plausible, but taking spell-out domains as binding domains is untenable. Finally, the proposal suggested in this thesis also sheds lights on the possibility of the anaphor agreement effect as an interface condition, in addition to highlighting an account for the accusative-marked embedded subject in Modern Standard Arabic.

No description available.