Master of Science

thesisThis thesis aims to measure th e difference in sea ted normal and sh e a r stre sse s based upon different types of wheelchair propulsion types. Previous studies have me asured biomechanical influence of wheelchair propulsion a t the u p p e r extremities. This study intends to measure the biomechanical differences a t the seating surface where wheelchair users are vulnerable to deep tissue and skin breakdowns. P ressure ulcers have been studied to form based upon a num b e r of factors, specifically: too much pressure, friction, shear, and h e a t/m o is tu re buildup. However, very little re se a rch has been performed me asuring seating stre sse s in vivo based upon wheelchair propulsion. Multiple metrics w ere used to measure the normal and sh e a r stre sse s in 10 ambulatory subjects (5 male and 5 female). To me asure normal p re ssure, p re ssu re mapping w as used. To measure the sh e a r stresses, a Molten Predia was used to measure shear. Two dramatically different wheelchair cushions w ere used: an air adjustable cushion and an HR-42 Foam block of similar size. Two different types of manual wheelchair propulsion w ere used: the traditional hand-rim wheelchair and the developmental lever-arm wheelchair. It was hypothesized th a t th e combination of the lever-arm wheelchair and the pro p e rly adjusted air cushion would significantly reduce the normal p re ssu re and sh e a r stre sse s associated with chair propulsion. The data showed a significant difference for the normal p re s su re for 9 of the 10 subjects in favor of th e air cushion over th e foam cushion. However, the sh e a r data did n o t show a significant difference for a reduction of sh e a r for any configuration of testing

[arra]stre - a Data-driven Ballet

[arra]stre is a data-driven ballet performance that makes extensive use of visualisation with data generated from the choreography and dancers. Whilst visualisations of this kind are not uncommon in performance dance, what marks this work out is that the visualisation and choreography were treated as equal actors in the exploration of the theme rather than the visualisation either becoming the dominant character in the performance (with the dancers simply providing a trigger) or being completely passive - an echo of the movement

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A PATIENT\u27S STRESS LEVEL DURING HOSPITALIZATION AND HIS PERCEPTION OF HIS SIGNIFICANT FAMILY MEMBER\u27S ROLE IN PROVIDING SUPPORT

A descriptive study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between a patient\u27s stress level during hospitalization and his perception of his significant family member\u27s role providing support. The following subproblems were also addressed: (1) What types of activities, presently or potentially performed by a significant family member, does the patient perceive as supportive? (2) What types of nursing activities, as perceived by the patient, are being done to encourage/discourage performance of family support activities? (3) What other factors does the patient perceive as encouraging/discouraging performance of these family role-related activities? The Hospital Stress Rating Scale (Volicer and Bohannon, 1975) was administered to 30 adult surgical patients on the third postoperative day to determine stress levels associated with hospitalization. An investigator developed semi-structured interview was also administered to these subjects to determine the patient\u27s perception of his significant family member\u27s role in providing support. The data obtained from the subjects were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics and the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient. Application of the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient revealed the finding that there was no statistically significant association between a patient\u27s stress level and his perception of his family\u27s role in providing support. Resuits of this study suggested, however, that the family does play an important supportive role during the hospitalization phase of illness

Spatio-temporal Modelling of Remote-sensing Lake Surface Water Temperature Data

Remote-sensing technology is widely used in environmental monitoring. The coverage and resolution of satellite based data provide scientists with great opportunities to study and understand environmental change. However, the large volume and the missing observations in the remote-sensing data present challenges to statistical analysis. This paper investigates two approaches to the spatio-temporal modelling of remote-sensing lake surface water temperature data. Both methods use the state space framework, but with different parameterizations to reflect different aspects of the problem. The appropriateness of the methods for identifying spatial/temporal patterns in the data is discussed

Progress toward the Determination of Complete Vertex Operators for The IIB Matrix Model

We report on progress in determining the complete form of vertex operators for the IIB matrix model. The exact expressions are obtained for those emitting massless IIB supergravity fields up to sixth order in the light-cone superfield, in which the conjugate gravitino and conjugate two-form vertex operators are newly determined. We also provide a consistency check by computing the kinematical factor of a four-point graviton amplitude in a D-instanton background. We conjecture that the low-energy effective action of the IIB matrix model at large N is given by tree-level supergravity coupled to the vertex operators.Comment: 34 page

Complex valued Ray-Singer torsion

In the spirit of Ray and Singer we define a complex valued analytic torsion using non-selfadjoint Laplacians. We establish an anomaly formula which permits to turn this into a topological invariant. Conjecturally this analytically defined invariant computes the complex valued Reidemeister torsion, including its phase. We establish this conjecture in some non-trivial situations.Comment: Fixed two sign mistakes and added a few more details here and ther

Correlating overrepresented upstream motifs to gene expression: a computational approach to regulatory element discovery in eukaryotes

Gene regulation in eukaryotes is mainly effected through transcription factors binding to rather short recognition motifs generally located upstream of the coding region. We present a novel computational method to identify regulatory elements in the upstream region of eukaryotic genes. The genes are grouped in sets sharing an overrepresented short motif in their upstream sequence. For each set, the average expression level from a microarray experiment is determined: If this level is significantly higher or lower than the average taken over the whole genome, then the overerpresented motif shared by the genes in the set is likely to play a role in their regulation. The method was tested by applying it to the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using the publicly available results of a DNA microarray experiment, in which expression levels for virtually all the genes were measured during the diauxic shift from fermentation to respiration. Several known motifs were correctly identified, and a new candidate regulatory sequence was determined.Comment: Published version available from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/3/

Gauge-fixing, semiclassical approximation and potentials for graded Chern-Simons theories

We perform the Batalin-Vilkovisky analysis of gauge-fixing for graded Chern-Simons theories. Upon constructing an appropriate gauge-fixing fermion, we implement a Landau-type constraint, finding a simple form of the gauge-fixed action. This allows us to extract the associated Feynman rules taking into account the role of ghosts and antighosts. Our gauge-fixing procedure allows for zero-modes, hence is not limited to the acyclic case. We also discuss the semiclassical approximation and the effective potential for massless modes, thereby justifying some of our previous constructions in the Batalin-Vilkovisky approach.Comment: 46 pages, 4 figure