Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Exercise associated muscle induced bone strain has potential osteogenic effects that may increase skeletal density, bone cross-sectional area and structural strength. Whether the effects of exercise and the muscle-bone relation are similar in weight bearing and nonweight bearing bones remains to be determined. This study compared bone density, geometry and biomechanical properties, and bone and muscle cross-sectional areas of 13 elite adolescent male cross-country skiers with height, weight, age and maturity matched non-athletic controls. Total bone mineral density (BMDror), and trabecular bone mineral density and total bone cross-sectional area (CSAror) were measured at the distal 4% of the radius (DR) of the dominant (D) and non-dominant (ND) arms, and tibia (DT) using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT); BMDror, CSAror, cortical BMD, cortical thickness (CrtTH) and area (CSAcoRr), stress-strain index polar, x, y, polar moment of inertia, axial moment of inertia, and muscle cross-sectional area (mCSA) were measured at the 66% length of the proximal tibia (PT) and proximal radius (PR) of the D and ND arms. Whole body BMD, whole body bone area, and hip areal bone mineral density were measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Speed of sound along the bone was measured using quantitative ultrasound (QUS) at the 1/3 DR and PT. There were no differences between the skiers and controls for any of the descriptive measures, however, there was a trend (p=0.06) for skiers to have lower percent body fat than controls. There were no differences between skiers and controls for the bone outcome measures using pQCT, DXA or QUS, except for CrtTH at the PT which was significantly higher in skiers (5.42±0.25mm, p=0.03) than controls (5.18±0.28mm). Cross-country skiers had increased CrtTH at the PT suggesting little differential effect of mechanical loading on bone density, geometry or biomechanical properties associated with skiing. / Thesis / Master of Science in Kinesiology

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A spherometer is often used to precisely measure the radius of curvature of a spherical surface. It can also measure the vertex radius of a more complex surface such as an off-axis parabola (OAP). This paper provides a reliable algorithm to find the vertex radius of an OAP by solving a few equations based on the test geometry. This algorithm can also be easily expanded to any conic surface with high-order aspheric coefficients. The algorithm was verified by measuring an 8-inch diameter OAP and comparing the results with its known prescription. Results show good agreement. An example of measuring the vertex radius of a 4-m diameter OAP is also presented. In addition to this, a calculation was done to show that the coma and astigmatism are independent of the clocking of the spherometer on the optic. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

The spectral radius of a matrix is a widely used concept in linear algebra. It expresses the asymptotic growth rate of successive powers of the matrix. This concept can be extended to sets of matrices, leading to the notion of "joint spectral radius". The joint spectral radius of a set of matrices was defined in the 1960's, but has only been used extensively since the 1990's. This concept is useful to study the behavior of multi-agent systems, to determine the continuity of wavelet basis functions or for expressing the capacity of binary codes. Although the joint spectral radius shares some properties with the usual spectral radius, it is much harder to compute, and the problem of approximating it is NP-hard. In this thesis, we first review theoretical results that lead to basic approximations of the joint spectral radius. Then, we list various specific cases where it is effectively computable, before presenting a specific type of sets of matrices, for which we solve the problem of computing it with a polynomial computational cost.

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Variation of the center of gravity of a golf club head will influence the initial velocity and rotation of speed of a ball after the golf ball is struck by golf club head. After fixing the weight of 200g of a golf head, the researcher changes the volume of golf head and the horizontal curvature of radius. He also distribute counterpoise to investigates the effect of launching of a golf ball. This thesis summarizes the ball of three-dimensional flight trajectory and offset distance. For the volume of the golf head is 400 cc, the best level of the radius of horizontal curvature is 11 in, in the 430 cc should use a radius of horizontal curvature of 12 in, and the 460 cc head club can chose a radius of horizontal curvature of 13 in. The distribution of counterpoise can effectively improve the play¡¦s habits, so the trajectory of a golf ball can be appropriately adjusted. By finite element method, the physical behavior of a series of the lunching ball can be predicted. The trajectory of golf ball can be measured by substituting the inertial value of ball into the three-dimension equations of motion. According to the trajectory of golf ball flight by this study, this study provides the characteristics for designing a golf club head.

This thesis documents the linear mixed model developed for vehicle speed along two-lane two-way rural horizontal curves in the outside lane. Speed data at each curve was collected at four points along the curve including the midpoint of the curve for a minimum of 48 hours during weekdays. Vehicle speed was analyzed separately for day and night conditions. The horizontal curves were categorized into different groups using different methods using side friction demand, radius and pavement edgeline marking retroreflectivity. In the speed prediction model, radius, superelevation at the midpoint of the curve, deflection angle, posted speed limit and pavement edgeline marking retroreflectivity were used to predict the vehicle speed at the midpoint of the horizontal curve. The regression analysis indicates that all of these variables are statistically significant in predicting the vehicle speed at the midpoint of horizontal curves with a 95 percent confidence interval. The linear model determined that the vehicle speed has a positive relation with the radius of the curve, superelevation and posted speed limit but has a negative relation with the deflection angle and pavement edgeline marking retroreflectivity. Curves were categorized based on side friction demand or radius and retroreflectivity of pavement edgeline marking. ANOVA was used to compare the day and night time speed. The comparisons reveal that vehicle speed at the horizontal curves decreases as the side friction demand value of the curves increases. Another finding of this research was that even though the posted speed limit is incorporated into the calculation of side friction demand, it may be necessary to analyze the impact of posted speed limit on vehicle speed for both daytime and nighttime. Previous literature determined that drivers may drive at an unsafe speed during nighttime at high levels of retroreflectivity. The results of this study could not confirm this statement as data from this study suggests that for curves with pavement edgeline marking retroreflectivity greater than 90 mcd/m2/lx, the effects of retroreflectivity on speed was determined to be minimal. This is based on the finding that the daytime and nighttime speeda were basically the same as the daytime and nighttime speed difference was both statistically and practically insignificant.

With the development of urban areas and the constant need to change or improve the existing structures, a need for creative and less destructive soil reinforcement processes has occurred. Jet-grouting is one possible ground improvement technique. The behavior of the soil improved by jet-grouting is still not well understood. In this thesis, the mechanical behavior of the injected soil is modeled in order to determine the different parameters needed for the engineering design of a soil reinforcement based on jet-grouting. At first several models are presented in order to determine the extent of the injected zone within the soil mass, based on engineering parameters (cement poroelastic properties, injection rate). A model based on an energetic balance is proposed to compute the lower bound of the injection radius. The second part of the thesis focuses on the characterization of the uniaxial compressive strength of the soilcrete created in the injected area determined in the first part. Three different methods have been adapted to the problem. A hollow sphere model has been calibrated against published data. After calibration, both Eshelby's and averaging methods proved to provide results close to the reference data. The last part of this report presents numerical studies of the pile and of a group of piles. The study of the group of piles focuses on the effect of arching between soilcrete columns to reduce the vertical settlements due to urban tunneling at the surface. It appears that the values obtained for settlements in the presence of jet-grouted columns are much less important than in usual tunneling problems (with no reinforcement).