Thesis (M.Tech.: Chiropractic)-Dept. of Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2007 xi, 60 leaves, Annexures 1-9 / The Transversus Abdominis (TrA) muscle is recognised in the literature as playing a vital and protective role in maintaining a healthy core and aiding lumbar biomechanics in the dampening of external forces applied to the lumbar spine. Pilates purports to employ the principles of core training yet there remains a deficit in the literature despite its popularity in rehabilitation and fitness industries. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Pilates method in training the TrA in comparison to a moderately active population that regularly exercises in a gym environment, as well as a sedentary control.

No description available.

Glycine receptor antibodies have been identified in a few patients with progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity and myoclonus (PERM), a highly disabling disorder characterised by rigidity, spasm and brainstem symptomatology. The clinical characteristics of patients with glycine receptor antibodies have not yet been fully described and it is not clear whether GlyR-Abs are pathogenic or just an epiphenomenon. This study examined the clinical features and immunotherapy responses of 45 patients; characterised the GlyR-Ab pathogenicity, subunit specificity and binding to different brain region in vitro, and examined mice injected with GlyR-Abs to model the disease in vivo. Most of the patients were classified as PERM but some patients had symptomatology beyond the classical motor manifestations and there were four patients with tumours (thymomas and lymphomas). GlyR-Ab titres were varied in serum and CSF, but there was intrathecal synthesis in the six patients with suitable samples. Most patients were very disabled but almost all showed excellent responses to immunotherapies. The antibodies were mainly IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses, activated complement on glycine receptor-transfected HEK cells at room temperature, and caused internalisation and lysosomal degradation of the glycine receptors at 37°C. GlyR-Abs bound to rodent spinal cord and brainstem co-localising with monoclonal antibodies to GlyRα1 on the surface of neurons. GlyR-IgG injected intra-peritoneally led to impairment in forced walking ability, sensorimotor function and coordination. Analysis of the brain showed that animals injected with patients' IgG, but not control IgG, had antibodies bound to the brainstem, spinal cord, cerebellum and caudate, co-localising with GlyRα1 monoclonal antibody. Intra-cerebroventricular injection of GlyR-IgG caused an anxiety-like behaviour in mice but no evident motor disturbances. These results provide the first evidence of in vitro and in vivo pathogenicity of the GlyR-Abs, supporting the use of long term immunosuppression in these patients to provide them with a good prognosis.

Neste trabalho nós encontramos condições suficientes para que dois homeomorfismos do círculo, f e g, \'C POT. 2+\' por pedaços serem \'C POT. 1\' conjugados. Além de restrições sobre a combinatória dessas aplicações (nós assumimos que elas tem algum tipo de combinatória limitada) e uma condição necessária sobre as derivadas laterais nos pontos onde f e g não são diferenciáveis, nós também assumimos que a não-linearidade média de f e g é zero. A prova é baseada no estudo detalhado da renormalização de transformações de intercâmbio de intervalos generalizadas de genus um com certas restrições combinatoriais / In this work we find sufficient conditions for two piecewise \'C POT. 2+\' homeomorphisms f and g of the circle to be \'C POT. 1\' conjugate. Besides the restrictions on the combinatorics of the maps (we assume that the maps have the same bounded combinatorics) and necessary conditions on the one-side derivatives of points where f and g are not differentiable, we also assume zero mean nonlinearity for f and g. The proof relies on the detailed study of the renormalizations of genus one generalized interval exchange maps with certain restrictions on their combinatorics

O presente trabalho é uma contribuição para o esclarecimento e a quantificação das influências na deformabilidade e na capacidade portante de elementos unidimensionais de concreto armado em solicitação plana, decorrentes da não-linearidade física dos materiais concreto e aço, bem como da fissuração e do enrijecimento da armadura tracionada, também na sua fase plástica. Para aplicações práticas determinam-se a rigidez à flexão e a capacidade de rotação plástica dos elementos estruturais, o que permite limitar com mais precisão e coerência a demanda de rotação plástica obtida na análise. De início, descrevem-se os comportamentos não-lineares do concreto e do aço, aplicando-se conceitos da Mecânica da Fratura, bem como a atuação conjunta destes materiais, sob os aspectos de aderência e de fissuração. O núcleo deste trabalho concentra-se na obtenção do diagrama momento-curvatura e dos seus pontos principais, e na subseqüente determinação da capacidade de rotação plástica dos mencionados elementos. Consideram-se as seções geradas a partir da seção duplo T assimétrico, com várias camadas de armadura, sujeitas à flexão composta normal. Com dados deste diagrama e através do modelo da viga equivalente simétrica, posteriormente estendido à viga equivalente assimétrica e às vigas contínuas de pórticos planos, determina-se a capacidade de rotação plástica, considerando-se nesta suas múltiplas influências. Por fim, comparam-se os resultados teóricos e experimentais da capacidade de rotação plástica, e resumem-se as principais conclusões encontradas e os pontos que exigem subseqüente desenvolvimento. / The present study is a contribution to the enlightenment and evaluation of the influences on deformability and load carrying capacity of one-dimensional elements of reinforced concrete subject to in-plane loading, arisen from the constitutive non-linearity of concrete and steel, as well as from the concrete cracking and the tension stiffening of the reinforcement, prior and after yielding. For practical applications, the flexural rigidity and the plastic rotation capacity of structural elements are determined, which makes it possible to limit, more precisely and coherently, the plastic rotation demand coming from the analysis. Firstly, the non-linear behaviors of concrete and steel are described, applying concepts of Fracture Mechanics, and then the joint action of both materials concerning bond and cracking is studied. The core of this study lies on obtaining the bending moment-curvature diagram, specially its main points, and on the subsequent determination of the plastic rotation capacity of the aforementioned elements. The cross-sections generated from an asymmetric double T cross-section are considered, with several layers of reinforcement, acted upon simple or combined bending about one principal axis. With data based on this diagram and through the model of equivalent symmetric beam, later extended to equivalent asymmetric beam and to continuous beams of plane frames, the plastic rotation capacity is determined, considering its multiple influences. Finally, theoretical and experimental results of plastic rotation capacity are compared, and the main conclusions and points in need of subsequent development are summarized.

As estruturas de madeira composta com alma em compensado já vem sendo amplamente utilizadas em diversos países onde as estruturas de madeira estão tecnologicamente mais desenvolvidas, oferecendo aos engenheiros civis mais uma opção de sistema construtivo eficiente, seguro e duradouro. Nesse trabalho são apresentados estudos teóricos e experimentais referentes às estruturas de madeira compostas utilizando compensado nas almas, e em especial as estruturas cuja ligação alma mesa é feita por pinos metálicos. O objetivo desse trabalho é desenvolver critérios de dimensionamento dessas estruturas para serem aplicados no Brasil. Vários critérios de dimensionamento de elementos compostos foram encontrados na bibliografia, alguns com simplificações que desconsideram efeitos de composição parcial e outros mais completos, que consideram deformações por cisalhamento, composição parcial etc. Com os resultados dos ensaios de vigas compostas pregadas foi possível comparar valores experimentais com resultados teóricos, concluiu-se que os critérios de dimensionamento do EUROCODE 5 são adequados. Os ensaios de rigidez de nó de pórtico de seção composta permitiram o desenvolvimento de metodologia para o cálculo da rigidez dessas ligações, visto que não existe formulação equivalente na bibliografia internacional. Concluiu-se que as ligações por pinos metálicos apresentam boa eficiência para serem utilizadas nas seções compostas com alma em compensado. As ligações de nó de pórtico com ligação alma/mesa pregadas podem ser consideradas rígidas na maioria dos casos estudados. / Plywood webbed structures have been applied in at several countries where timber structures are commonly used, giving civil engineers and builders one more option when looking for a safe, efficient and durable construction system. This work presents theoretical and experimental studies about plywood-webbed structures, with emphasis on nailed plywood webbed structures. The aim of this work is to develop design criteria for these structures to be used in Brazil. Several design criteria where found in the bibliography, some of them using simplifications for shear deflexions and joint deformations. Experimental results of nailed plywood webbed beams were compared with theoretical values from formulations found in the bibliography, concluding that EUROCODE 5 gives the best design criteria for nailed composite beams. Based on plywood webbed knee joints tests, a methodology to calculate the joint rigidity was proposed. The conclusions show the efficiency of this system and that nailed plywood webbed knee joints can be considered fixed for the majority of the specimens tested.

Le but de cette thèse est d'étendre l'état de l'art par des contributions sur le comportement collectif d'un groupe de robots volants, à savoir des quadrirotors UAV. Afin de pouvoir sûrement naviguer dans un environnement, ces derniers peuvent se reposer uniquement sur leurs capacités à bord et non sur des systèmes centralisés (e.g., Vicon ou GPS). Nous réalisons cet objectif en offrant une possible solution aux problèmes de contrôle en formation et de localisation à partir de mesures à bord et via une communication locale. Nous abordons ces problèmes exploitant différents concepts provenant de la théorie des graphes algébriques et de la théorie de la rigidité. Cela nous permet de résoudre ces problèmes de façon décentralisée et de proposer des algorithmes décentralisés capables de prendre en compte également des limites sensorielles classiques. Les capacités embarquées que nous avons mentionnées plus tôt sont représentées par une caméra monoculaire et une centrale inertielle (IMU) auxquelles s'ajoute la capacité de chaque robot à communiquer (par RF) avec certains de ses voisins. Cela est dû au fait que l'IMU et la caméra représentent une possible configuration économique et légère pour la navigation et la localisation autonome d'un quadrirotor UAV. / The aim of this Thesis is to give contributions to the state of the art on the collective behavior of a group of flying robots, specifically quadrotor UAVs, which can only rely on their onboard capabilities and not on a centralized system (e.g., Vicon or GPS) in order to safely navigate in the environment. We achieve this goal by giving a possible solution to the problems of formation control and localization from onboard sensing and local communication. We tackle these problems exploiting mainly concepts from algebraic graph theory and the so-called theory of rigidity. This allows us to solve these problems in a decentralized fashion, and propose decentralized algorithms able to also take into account some typical sensory limitations. The onboard capabilities we referred to above are represented by an onboard monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) in addition to the capability of each robot to communicate (through RF) with some of its neighbors. This is due to the fact that an IMU and a camera represent a possible minimal, lightweight and inexpensive configuration for the autonomous localization and navigation of a quadrotor UAV.

Nous étudions des propriétés de rigidité et des propriétés de non-rigidité forte d'actions de groupes sur des espaces Lp non-commutatifs. Récemment, des variantes de la propriété (T) de Kazhdan et de la propriété de point fixe (FH) ont été introduites, appelées respectivement propriété (TB) et propriété (FB), et énoncées en termes de représentations orthogonales sur un espace de Banach B. Nous nous intéressons au cas où B est un espace Lp non-commutatif Lp(M), associé à une algèbre de von Neumann M. Dans un premier temps, nous montrons qu'un groupe possédant la propriété (T) possède la propriété (TLp(M)) pour toute algèbre de von Neumann M. On en déduit que les groupes de rang supérieur ont la propriété (FLp(M)). Nous montrons que pour certaines algèbres, comme par exemple M=B(H), les propriétés (T) et (TLp(M) sont équivalentes. A l'opposé, nous caractérisons les groupes possédant la propriété (Tlp), et montrons que cette classe de groupes est strictement plus grande que celle avec la propriété (T). Dans un second temps, nous introduisons des variantes de la propriété (H) de Haagerup, les propriétés (HLp(M)) et l' a-FLp(M)-menabilité, définies en termes d'actions sur l'espace Lp(M). Nous décrivons les liens entre la propriété (H) et sa variante (HLp(M)) suivant l'algèbre M considérée. Nous montrons que les groupes possédant (H) sont a-FLp(M)-menables pour certaines algèbres M, comme par exemple le facteur II infini hyperfini. / We studied rigidity properties and strong non-rigidity properties for group actions on non-commutative Lp spaces. Recently, variants of Kazhdan's property (T) and fixed-point property (FH) were introduced, respectively called property (TB) and property (FB), and described in terms of orthogonal representations on a Banach space B. We are interested in the case where B is a non-commutative Lp space Lp(M), associated to a von Neumann algebra M. In a first part, we show that if a group has property (T), then it has property (TLp(M)) for any von Neumann algebra M. We deduce that higher rank groups have property (FLp(M)). We show that for some algebras, such as M=B(H), properties (T) and (TLp(M)) are equivalent. By contrast, we characterize groups with property (Tlp), and show that this class of groups is larger than the one with property (T). In a second part, we introduce variants of the Haagerup property (H), namely properties (HLp(M)) and a-FLp(M)-menability, defined in terms of actions on the space Lp(M). We describe relationships between property (H) and its variant (HLp(M)) for different algebras M. We show that groups with property (H) are a-FLp(M)-menable for some algebras M, such as the hyperfinite II infinite factor.

Neste trabalho nós encontramos condições suficientes para que dois homeomorfismos do círculo, f e g, \'C POT. 2+\' por pedaços serem \'C POT. 1\' conjugados. Além de restrições sobre a combinatória dessas aplicações (nós assumimos que elas tem algum tipo de combinatória limitada) e uma condição necessária sobre as derivadas laterais nos pontos onde f e g não são diferenciáveis, nós também assumimos que a não-linearidade média de f e g é zero. A prova é baseada no estudo detalhado da renormalização de transformações de intercâmbio de intervalos generalizadas de genus um com certas restrições combinatoriais / In this work we find sufficient conditions for two piecewise \'C POT. 2+\' homeomorphisms f and g of the circle to be \'C POT. 1\' conjugate. Besides the restrictions on the combinatorics of the maps (we assume that the maps have the same bounded combinatorics) and necessary conditions on the one-side derivatives of points where f and g are not differentiable, we also assume zero mean nonlinearity for f and g. The proof relies on the detailed study of the renormalizations of genus one generalized interval exchange maps with certain restrictions on their combinatorics

La législation irakienne définit le contrat comme étant l’union d'une offre faite par la partie contractante avec l'acceptation d'une autre partie et ce de manière à établir les effets dans l'objet du contrat. Ainsi, la place occupée par le contrat de vente en droit irakien est importante. Lorsque les parties relèvent d’ordres juridiques différents, leurs rapports sont régis par le droit international privé, qui détermine le tribunal apte à trancher le litige. Cette thèse de doctorat vise alors à vérifier la capacité à appliquer les règles de conflit de compétence internationale en droit irakien sur des contrats « virtuels » ou dématérialisés. Comme nous le verrons, dans ce domaine, « virtuel » ne veut pas pour autant dire que ce contrat n’est pas réel, comme le spécifie très clairement la loi irakienne. Il reste rattaché au territoire. Le problème est que le droit irakien, en ignorant les notions de frontière et de territorialité, ne reconnaît pas sa propre « immatérialité ». Cette réalité dans les textes et la pratique implique que les opérations qui se produisent sur Internet ne sont pas prises en compte par les règles de conflits de compétence internationale. C’est la raison pour laquelle nous avons souhaité vérifier et comprendre la capacité et l’effectivité des règles de conflit de compétence internationale dans le cadre de litiges sur Internet. Ce faisant, nous espérons mettre en lumière les règles les plus appropriées, qui correspondent le mieux à la nature du contrat virtuel, à savoir son immatérialité. Pour ce faire, nous entreverrons quelques développements sur les litiges de l’Internet. Ainsi nous disposons de deux domaines de recherche : un premier au niveau de la législation nationale, comme le droit français et le droit américain ; un deuxième au niveau des conventions internationales, comme les conventions des Nations-Unies en 2005, la convention de la Haye en 2005, la convention de Bruxelles en 1968 ou encore les règlements de Bruxelles 2000 et 2012. / Iraqi law defines the contract as the union of an offer made by the contracting party with the acceptance of another party and that in order to establish the effects in the contract. The place of the sales contract under Iraqi law is important. When the parties come from different legal orders, their relations are governed by the private international law which determines the court will decide. This thesis research aims to test the ability to apply the international rules of conflict of jurisdiction under Iraqi law on the virtual contract, which is paperless. We shall see, this is not to mean however that the contract is not real, as clearly specifies Iraqi law. It remains attached to the territory. In contrast, the Iraqi law does not recognize its immaterial that meanwhile ignores borders and notions of territoriality. This reality in the texts and practices therefore makes transactions that occur on the Internet are not taken into account by the rules of international jurisdiction conflicts. That is why, we wanted to check and understand the capacity and effectiveness of international jurisdiction conflict rules in the context of Internet disputes. So we will try to find the most appropriate rules, consistent with the nature of the virtual contract, namely its immateriality. This search will reveal developments in litigation of the Internet. Thus, it takes two directions: first at the national legislation, such as French and US law. Second, at the stage of international conventions such as the United Nations Conventions 2005, Hague Convention, the Brussels Convention 1968 and the 2000 and 2012 regulations.