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Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:38:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 05581.pdf: 1858679 bytes, checksum: 40e224a27b1e68838662dfa34b14949f (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

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Obesity has reached epidemic proportions, highlighting the need to better understand contributors to under-exercise and overeating. Anxiety Sensitivity (AS) is hypothesized to amplify negative affect and avoidance motives, and has been linked to maladaptive coping behaviors such as eating pathology as well as distress during and avoidance of exercise. The current series of studies was designed to extend research that relied on self-report assessments, and investigate the role of AS in objectively-assessed eating and exercise behavior across three community samples. The first two studies examined eating in the context of experimentally-induced negative affect in a sample representing all weight categories (N = 57); and distress, perceived exertion, and affect changes during exercise in normal and obese weight groups (N = 38). The third study extended this investigation to a naturalistic setting, using actigraphy, affect, and dietary monitoring across a three-day period in normal and obese weight groups (N = 32). The hypotheses were that AS would predict more eating in the context of negative affect; greater perceived exertion and distress during exercise, as well as avoidance of exercise, with findings most pronounced in obese participants. Results were as follows. In the first study, more calories consumed following a negative affect induction was predicted by the interaction between a dimension of AS (mental concern) and the expectancy of loss of control from eating in overweight/obese participants. In the second study, there was no significant association between AS and ratings of exertion or distress during exercise; however, a trend suggested the expected affective benefits of acute exercise were not evident in obese participants with greater AS and exertion. The final study found that AS was associated with more calories consumed across the monitoring period in women but not men (who were equally represented across AS and weight groups), and was also predictive of more calories consumed in the context of negative affect. Additionally, high AS predicted less engagement in moderate-intensity exercise in obese participants and more in normal weight participants. Overall, these studies provide support for the hypothesis that AS is a predictor of both exercise avoidance and overeating behavior.

Not much is known about hawkfish worldwide including those that occur in the understudied Red Sea reef system. Hawkfishes are small reef predators that perch in ambush-ready positions and shelter within or on various substrates including live and dead coral. The aim of this study was to look at the distribution and abundance patterns of Red Sea hawkfishes across an inshore and offshore gradient and to investigate the use of benthic habitats. This study was conducted on three inshore, four midshore, and two offshore reefs with surveys at 8 meters and along the reef crest. In total, three species were documented: Paracirrhites forsteri, Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus, and Cirrhitus spilotoceps. We found clear distinctions between depth zones and between continental shelf positions. Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus only occurs at the reef slope and Cirrhitus spilotoceps is only found on reef crests. Paracirrhites forsteri was the most abundant species across all reefs and was found in four varying color morphs. Morph 1 showed the most evidence of being a generalist as it utilized the greatest number of substrates. All three species were more abundant on midshore and offshore reefs which have healthier, intact coral communities. Coral cover is a good indicator of hawkfish abundance even when the species in question does not utilize live coral directly.

A better understanding of the performance in precision of physical parameterizations in NWP models is necessary for improving forecasts of tornadic outbreaks. For this study, WRF simulations of tornadic outbreaks were run using configurations of three microphysics, three convective physics, and two PBL physics schemes. Each configuration was subjected to ten iterations of SKEBS. The means of the ten perturbation members of each parameterization configuration were bootstrapped for SB CAPE, SB CIN, and 0-3km SRH to find 95% confidence interval widths at each grid point. Maps of these spreads provided a spatial analysis of the uncertainty. Analyses on correlations and clusters were performed to determine how the configurations related spatially and in magnitude. These uncertainties were further bootstrapped to compare the mean of each configuration in boxplots. The effect on the uncertainty produced by each configuration varied according to the diagnostic variable being analyzed.

Sensitivity analysis is essential for the hydrologic models to help gain insight into model’s behavior, and assess the model structure and conceptualization. Parameter estimation in the distributed hydrologic models is difficult due to the high-dimensional parameter spaces. Sensitivity analysis identified the influential and non-influential parameters in the modeling process, thus it will benefit the calibration process. This study identified, applied and evaluated two sensitivity analysis methods for the APEX model. The screening methods, the Morris method, and LH-OAT method, were implemented in the experimental site in North Carolina for modeling runoff, sediment loss, TP and DP losses. At the beginning of the application, the run number evaluation was conducted for the Morris method. The result suggested that 2760 runs were sufficient for 45 input parameters to get reliable sensitivity result. Sensitivity result for the five management scenarios in the study site indicated that the Morris method and LH-OAT method provided similar results on the sensitivity of the input parameters, except the difference on the importance of PARM2, PARM8, PARM12, PARM15, PARM20, PARM49, PARM76, PARM81, PARM84, and PARM85. The results for the five management scenarios indicated the very influential parameters were consistent in most cases, such as PARM23, PARM34, and PARM84. The “sensitive” parameters had good overlaps between different scenarios. In addition, little variation was observed in the importance of the sensitive parameters in the different scenarios, such as PARM26. The optimization process with the most influential parameters from sensitivity analysis showed great improvement on the APEX modeling performance in all scenarios by the objective functions, PI1, NSE, and GLUE.

No description available.

An electron multiplier has been developed which has increased the sensitivity of an existing mass spectrometer toy a factor of 10^5. This increased sensitivity has permitted determination of fission yields of substances that have undergone little fission. Two such samples, for which the rare gas isotopes have been analysed, are Bohemian pitchblende and the products resulting from the neutron fission of Th232, The Bohemian ore exhibited more neutron fission than any uranium deposit previously analysed. An explanation of this effect may be obtained by considera­tion of the geological and chemical nature of the deposit. The neutron fission of thorium, which shows fine structure in both the xenon and krypton regions, is similar to the patterns of u235 U235 and pu239, / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

With an ever-increasing population both in Canada and globally, an improved quality of life will depend on having access to energy. The non-renewable, carbon-based, sources of energy that presently provide a major amount of the world's energy supply are depleting and therefore will be expensive in the future. Nuclear technology is a relatively new technology which can fulfill future energy needs but requires highly specialized skills and knowledge to continue to make it safer, cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable. Thus the nuclear industry puts lots of efforts to develop and improve the next generation of nuclear power plants. The Supercritical Water Reactors (SCWRs) are one of the Generation IV nuclear-reactor systems. The SCWRs, to a large extent, are very similar to light water reactors, but with a simpler design. The main advantage of SCWRs is their higher thermal efficiency. The Canadian SCWR has adopted an innovative fuel concept which is a mixture of plutonium and thorium oxides (Th, Pu) O2. The role of nuclear data in fuel development and reactor-physics analysis is quite significant. With the development of nuclear data files over the years, nuclear cross sections and other parameters are widely available, but their accuracy is still a concern. Also the accuracy of nuclear data is more reliable for uranium-based fuels than for thorium-based fuels. It is not known how the uncertainties in the nuclear data will impact the fuel depletion in a SCWR. Thus a sensitivity analysis tool has been developed to evaluate the impact of uncertainties in the neutron cross-sections of the actinides present in SCWR fuel. This document provides the details on the theory and methodology used to develop this tool (FICST). The objective of this work is to develop a code, not any specific calculation done with it. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)