TRA-944: UNION PEARSON EXPRESS SPUR AND T1 STATION

The Union Pearson Express Spur and station in Terminal 1 is a Design-Build-Finance pursuit by Infrastructure Ontario on behalf of the client/owner, Metrolinx. The rail passenger service line branches off the existing GO Georgetown Rail corridor and connects to Toronto Pearson International Airport with a new passenger station at Terminal 1. The Spur alignment is elevated over its entire length and crosses above major existing airport access roads and existing bridges, and connects to a new UP Express Terminal 1 Station in-line with the existing Automated People Mover Station. The Spur Elevated Guideway is a 3 km long, multi span structure carrying two railway tracks. The tracks are made of continuous welded rail (CWR), directly fixed to the concrete deck. The deck is supported by pre-stressed concrete beams creating composite action. The substructure consists of seventy single column piers with “hammer head” cap supported on augured caissons; and eleven existing bents that carry both UP Express Spur and Automated People Mover. To understand and assess the structural behavior between the CWR and the structure, Rail-structure interaction design of the Guideway was performed using non-linear 3D finite-element analysis of the entire structure. The analysis and modelling included all Guideway superstructure and substructure elements, and track structure including direct-fixation rail fasteners with non-linear behavior. The results were used to optimize the design of individual Guideway components. This innovative approach allowed staged design delivery to meet an accelerated schedule in a design-build environment

Administration of a low-cost quantitative continuous measurement of movements of the extremities of people with Parkinson’s disease

A low-cost quantitative continuous measurement of movements in the extremities of people with Parkinson’s disease was developed to enhance the gold-standard structured assessment of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) assessed by the visual observation by the examiner of the person with PD (Goetz, et al., 2008) with the recorded output of signals to document the three dimensions of the positions in space of the finger and wrist or the toe and ankle of the participant performing tasks that may be impaired in people with PD (McKay, et al., 2019). The accelerometers were taped to the dorsal surface of the second (middle) phalanx of the index finger and the dorsum of the arm midway between the radius and the ulna two inches from the wrist joint to measure the movements in the upper extremity and to the dorsal surface of the proximal phalanx of the first (big) toe and the anterior surface of the tibia two inches proximal to the medial malleolus to measure the movements of the lower extremity (McKay, et al.,2019). The examiner instructed the participant how to perform each task. The examiner demonstrated the movements. The examiner did not continue to perform the movements while the participant was performing them. After the participant began the task, the examiner instructed the participant to perform each movement as quickly and fully as possible. The examiner encouraged the participant to execute each motion with the maximal speed and range of motion. The examiner sought to capture at least ten optimal repetitions for each motion. In order to attain a minimum of ten top-notch repetitions the examiner asked the participant to perform many more repetitions. The ten optimal repetitions could later be extracted for further analysis. The data shows a trained examiner administering the procedures to a healthy 68-year-old male participant with typical development. A videographer recorded the performance of the procedure by the participant.The data from this procedure performed on cohorts of individuals with Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy and healthy age- and sex-matched individuals with typical development have been published (Harrigan, et al., 2020)