<p>Dynamic muscle strength (1 RM), symptom limited treadmill endurance, and bone mineral density and content, were compared among three groups (5 males and 5 females in each group) of elderly subjects (mean age of72.5 years) who had either continued to weight train twice per week for 5 years (TR), ceased to weight train after 2 years (DETR), or had acted as controls throughout (CON). The TR and DETR trained hard (progressing up to 3 sets at up to 80% of I RM) for 2 years; the TR continued training for an additional 3 years at a maintenance level (2-3 sets at 60-70% 1RM), whereas the DETR stopped training; the 10 CON subjects did not train for the duration of the study but took part in identical testing procedures. After two years of resistance training, dynamic strength in the TR and DETR groups increased significantly above the baseline and CON values for all exercises (p<0.0001). Following 3 years of maintenance level training, leg press, arm curl, and bench press 1 RM (sum of both limbs) in the TR remained 21.6kg (17%), 15.7kg (82%), and 8.3kg (34%) above baseline values respectively. The I RM in the DETR were 18.4kg (14%), 5.3kg (24%), and 1.4kg (9"10) above baseline for leg press, arm curl, and bench press after 5 years, whereas the CON declined over the 5 year period by 18.4kg (9.7%), 4.4kg (19"10), and 3.5kg (6%) respectively. There were non-significant improvements in treadmill performance in the TR and DETR and decline in the CON after 2 years of resistance training. Treadmill performance declined between years 2 and 5 in all groups. Bone mineral density and content were not different among the groups across all time points. We conclude that: 1) The strength gains from long-term resistance training in the elderly are not entirely lost even after 3 years of detraining, 2) The effects are specific to the exercises performed in the training program.</p> / Master of Science (MS)

<p>Thirty women (20-22 y) were randomly assigned to 3 groups of 10: a total body (TB) and a split body (SB) training groups and control group. The SB group performed 4 strength training sessions per week (two upper and two lower body), while the TB group trained both upper and lower body muscle groups together, twice weekly. It took 45-60 minutes to complete training either the upper or lower body muscle groups. Training consisted of five sets of 6-12 repetition maximum (RM) per exercise for 20 weeks. In comparison to the control group, the trained groups decreased relative fat mass (dual-energy x-ray densitometry, -1. 2%, P < 0.006) and increased whole body (3.3%, P < 0.001) and combined arm lean mass (10.0%, P < 0.007) as well as 1 RM (P < 0.0005) arm curl (73%), bench press (28%) and leg press (22%) strength. In contrast, training caused no increase in electrically evoked twitch peak torque or motor unit aotivation (interpolated twitch method) for right knee extension or elbow flexion. Only elbow flexion increased in maximum voluntary isometric strength. Arms were more responsive to training than legs. There appeared to be a trend toward greater gains in strength and muscle size with TB training. However, these differences were not statistically significant. No advantage resulted when a total body strength training session of less than 2 hours was split into separate upper and lower body workouts. Key Words: weight training; training specific and non-specific strength; muscle hypertrophy</p> / Master of Science (MS)

This thesis presents the development of a novel hybrid pneumatic-electric actuator which combines the advantages of both pneumatic and electrical actuator. The hybrid actuator consists of a pneumatic cylinder and a DC motor. They are connected in parallel using gears. The components are sized to provide the torque required to rotate a single-link robot arm vertically upwards. On/off solenoid valves are used rather than servo valves to keep the hardware cost low. A mathematical model of the nonlinear actuator dynamics is derived using a combination of physical laws and empirical curve fitting. The dynamics of the mechanical, electrical and pneumatic elements are included. Then a novel discrete-valued model-predictive control plus integral compensator algorithm is created for controlling the position of the pneumatic cylinder using the on/off valves. The control algorithm for the hybrid actuator is completed by using a conventional PD algorithm to control the electric motor. Experiments shows the hybrid actuator outperform pneumatic actuator in every aspect. Conversely, the DC motor added a faster acting and finer quantized force to the pneumatic cylinder force, which greatly improved the dynamic position control performance of the hybrid actuator. In experiments, the mean root-mean-square error and the maximum absolute error improved by 84% and 77%, respectively. / Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

<p>Maximal weight-lifting performance, isometric strength, isokinetiic torque, whole muscle and individual fibre cross-sectional areas, and muscle evoked contractile properties were assessed in 14 elderly males before and after 12 weeks of weight-lifting training. Dynamic elbow flexion training of one arm resulted in a significant 48% mean increase in the maximal load that could be lifted once (1 RM) and a smaller improvement in isokinetic torque (8. 8%) but no change in isometric strength. In the contralateral control arm, 1 RM and isokinetic torque increased by 12.7 and 6. 5 %, respectively, but isometric strength did not change. The interpolated twitch technique confirmed complete motor unit activation during a maximal isometric contraction of the elbow flexors before and after training. Bilateral leg press training effected mean increases of 17 and 23% in isokinetic torque and dynamic lifting capacity, respectively. The mean maximal cross-sectional area of the elbow flexors (biceps brachii and brachialis) increased by 17.4% in the trained arm but did not change in the control arm. The increase in the mean area of the Type II fibres in the biceps brachii muscle in the trained arm (30.2%) was greater than the corresponding change in the control arm (10.7%, P< 0.05). The most significant change in the the evoked contractile properties of the trained elbow flexors was the increase in twitch half-relaxation time. It is concluded that older individuals retain the potential for significant increases in strength performance and upper limb muscle hypertrophy in response to overload training.</p> / Master of Science (MS)

<p>To study and (1) to describe the history of the elderly offender who have committed an indictable offense in Canada (or felony in the U.S.A.) and who have used the insanity defense; (2) to begin to gather statistics on the prevelance of this group in the criminal justice system, and (3) to address the social policy issue of which system benefits from labelling the elderly offender mentally ill. In terms of the latter point, this work will attempt to show the consequences of the elderly offender being labelled insane. The aims of this study is to investigate "The Elderly offender and the Insanity Defense in Canada and the United States, implications for criminal law reform and mental health states (status) evaluation practice." This work follows the elderly offender and their processing, labelling, consequences of being reforms and future social policies affecting elderly offenders aged 55 and over. The results show that the elderly offender is subject to a "ping-pong" scenario via the criminal justice system to mental health institutions to nursing homes, general hospital, or community group homes to the street where a small percentage recidivate activating another "ping-pong" scenario.</p> / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p>Four experiments were undertaken to identify properties of differential reinforcement relevant to response differentiation. Differential reinforcement was given for the length of "runs" of pigeons' key pecks, the length of a run being defined as the number of responses on a key preceding a spatially different terminal response.</p> <p>In Experiment I, a criterion run-length was assigned each subject and each subject was reinforced only following emission of a run-length which exceeded its criterion. Criterion run-lengths of 5, 10 and 20 responses were assigned to different groups. Mean run-lengths (N) were related to criteria (n) by a power function:N = 2.63 n^0.69. The fractional exponent of this function implies that the proportion of responses exceeding criterion was lower for higher criterion values. Because reinforced response values were confined to an extreme of the dis tribution, a lower proportion of reinforced response values indicated a greater difference between the distribution of values of the response emitted by a subject and the distribution of values reinforced. Since higher criterion values produced higher asymptotic mean run-lengths, the differential between emitted and reinforced run-lengths was also related to asymptotic run-length.</p> <p>A similar relationship between mean run-length and the proportion of responses exceeding a criterion was obtained in Experiments II and III. These experiments used a differential reinforcement paradigm in which thecriterion was continuously adjusted for each subject so that a constant proportion of its distribution of run-lengths exceeded its criterion. In Experiment II, the proportion of the distribution exceeding the criterion was set at 15%, 30% or 45%, for different groups. However, only a random half of the run-lengths exceeding the criterion for animals in the 30% group, and one-third of those for the 45% group were actually reinforced, so that the overall probability of reinforcement was constant at 0.15 for all groups. Increases in the mean length of runs were obtained for all groups, with the 15% group exhibiting a more rapid change and a higher asymptotic mean run-length than the 30% group, which in turn exceeded the 45% group.</p> <p>In Experiment III, pigeons were reinforced only for run-lengths in the most extreme 30% of their run-length distributions. One group received reinforcement for a random half of these run-lengths, while others received reinforcement for all of the run-lengths in this range. The relative extremeness of run-lengths selected for reinforcement was therefore constant (30%) 'vhile the overall probability of reinforcement was either 0.30 or 0.15. Increases in mean run-length were obtained, but no differences in the rate of change or asymptotic mean run-length were found between groups.</p> <p>The results of Experiments II and III suggest that the relative extremeness of run-lengths selected for reinforcement, that is the differential between emitted and reinforced run-lengths, determines the rate and extent of changes in values of a response. The relationship between the relative extremeness of reinforced response values and the rate and extent of changes in emitted response values was further</p> <p>demonstrated in Experiment IV. Reinforcement was provided for a fixed area of the distribution of run-lengths closest to a specified target value. For one group, the area of the distribution reinforced was 15%, while another group was reinforced for a random half of run-lengths in the closest 30% to the target. Reinforcement probability was thus held constant at 0.15. Mean run-lengths changed in the direction of the target at a rate dependent on the difference between the mean run-length and the target run-length. An asymptote was reached (rate of change = 0) when mean run-length approached the target value (differential = 0). The relationship between asymptotic mean run-length and target run-length was nearly linear for both 15% and 30% groups.</p> <p>The results of this series of experiments were discussed in terms of a hypotnetical differentiation process emphasizing the differential between the central tendencies of the distributions of emitted and reinforced response values, expressed in percentage units. When a differential exists, a change in the distribution of response values occurs in a direction which tends to reduce the differential, and at a rate proportional to the magnitude of the differential. When no differential exists, no change occurs. Since change in many dynamic response properties is resisted in a way which suggests an opponent process (e.g.iLaw of Least Effort), the asymptote reached after differential reinforcement represents an equilibrium between differential reinforcement and its opponent process. The increased effectiveness of differential reinforcement when relatively more extreme response values are reinforced would thus not only result in greater rates of change, but would also overcome the resistance of the opponent process to a greater extent,shifting the equilibrium point to a higher value.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Master of Applied Science (MASc)

<p>Part A:</p> <p>The purpose of this report is to study the validity of the Rutherford Scattering Law. Both the angular and energy dependence of the . scattering cross-section are checked, also comparison between the absolute cross-section determined experimentally and the theoretical cross-section is made.</p> <p>Here we study the scattering of helium and oxygen ions with energies varying from 0.5 to 2.0 MeV from thin bismuth targets made by implanting 40 keV bismuth ions in low Z(silicon) substrate to doses of 10¹⁶ ions/cm². The implantation process was made on the Isotope Separator and the scattering experiments were made on the Van-de-Graff accelerator of the SSS branch of the AECL. The scattering angles considered here range from 90˚ to 160˚ and a special geometrical arrangement was used to enable us to measure the scattering angle accurately. Also the report contains a brief description of the different sources of errors during target preparation (implantations) and the scattering experiments.</p> <p>Part B:</p> <p>As an introduction to a larger study of ion bombardment phenomena on metal surfaces, we apply the Monte-carlo technique to calculate the range distribution and back-scattering of keV ions from metal surfaces. Lindhard theory is used to calculate both the ion-metal atom scattering and the electron stopping power. The program can be used over a wide range of reduced energies (.1 < ɛ < 30) limited only by the validity of the Lindhard theory. A sample calculation of hydrogen scattering from aluminum is presented.</p> / Master of Engineering (ME)

<p>The RISS (Relational Inquiry and Storage System) data base management system was first implemented at Forest Hospital in Des Plaines, Illinois. It was originally written in BASIC-PLUS to run under the RSTS/E operating system on a DEC PDP-II minicomputer. The RISS system used the relational data base structure because of its basic simplicity and because of the ease with which new relations may be added to the data base without disturbing existing applications.</p> <p>The aim of this project was to convert the existing RISS software from BASIC-PLUS to CBASIC-2 to run on the Dynabyte microcomputer under the CP/M operating system, for use in the McMaster University Faculty of Business. A simple application program was also developed to demonstrate the converted RISS system.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>This report is concerned with an investigation into a software system designed to allow effect utilization of FORTRAN application programs from a library. The components of this system consist of an interpreter program to manipulate character strings and provide overall control, an evaluator program to carry out operations on numeric data and to provide for the calling of library programs, and an associative memory to store and retrieve facts about the environment or field of study in which the system is being used. Details involving how to use each component and how each component works are discussed. Possible improvements to the system and the relationship of the system to the field of control structures are also considered. The implementation of the system is discussed and this leads to an examination of the algorithms used in the operation of the system. Control is easily maintained so systems constructed from the components may be modified or extended by any user. Thus, these components form a basis for a class of extendable systems.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)