Interaction between stress and immunity during a week leading to competition in young athletes

This study examined changes in the salivary concentrations of immunoglobulin A (sIgA), cortisol (sC), testosterone (sT) and testosterone-to-cortisol ratio (T/C) in 23 competitive swimmers, 11-15 years old, during a week leading to competition as compared to a control (non-competitive) week. Results showed no effect of week or day, and no significant week-by-day interaction for sIgA, sC and T/C. In contrast, sT significantly decreased during the week of competition, along with a 7%, non-significant decrease in the weekly T/C. The latter suggests that the swimmers were in a catabolic state due to their training, but this did not have a negative effect on their performance Since sC did not change over the two weeks and according to the sport anxiety scale, competition stress was relatively low in these peri-pubertal athletes, it is concluded that in the absence of high cortisol levels mucosal immunity is unaffected in young athletes prior to competition

Performance of unbound aggregate bases and implications for inverted base pavements

The current economic situation has severely affected the US road infrastructure and funding has become inadequate for either maintenance or future growth. The inverted base pavement structure is a promising alternative to achieve high quality roads at considerably lower cost than conventional pavements. The proximity of the unbound granular base layer to the tire load makes the response of the granular base critical to the performance of the pavement structure. Therefore extensive material characterization is conducted on the granular materials that make the base. In particular, a true triaxial chamber is developed to study the mechanical response and the stress-dependent stiffness of granular bases compacted at different water contents. A novel method is developed to assess the as-built stress-dependent anisotropic stiffness of granular bases in-situ using both crosshole and uphole test configurations. The two inverted base pavements built in Georgia at the Morgan County quarry haul road and the Lagrange south Loop are tested as part of this study. A nonlinear orthotropic constitutive model is selected to capture the deformational behavior of compacted granular bases. The response of the pavement is analyzed by implementing this constitutive behavior in a three-dimensional finite-element model. Different pavement structures are simulated. It is shown that thin asphalt concrete layers resting directly on granular bases deform as membranes. Finally, numerical simulations are extended to compare inverted base pavements to conventional pavements used in practice. Results highlight the inadequacy of ASSHTO’s structural layer coefficient for the analysis of inverted base pavement structures as well as the potential economic advantages of inverted base pavements.Ph.D

The role of physical activity and exercise training in modulating clinical, physiological, and psychological outcomes in men with prostate cancer on active surveillance

Background: High levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with a less aggressive tumour phenotype and a lower risk of prostate cancer (PCa) mortality. This is especially important for men with PCa on active surveillance (AS); a disease management strategy for low-risk disease that defers treatment until the tumour progresses. The aim of this thesis was to assess the role of PA and exercise training in improving clinical, physiological, and psychological outcomes in men on AS for PCa. In study 1, we assessed whether high levels of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) influence the time to AS discontinuation. Study 2 examined the association between total PA, quality of life (QOL), and emotional well-being (EWB) during AS. In study 3, we conducted a feasibility randomized controlled trial of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or resistance training (RT) versus usual care (UC). Methods: For Studies 1 and 2, we retrieved longitudinal data from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. To examine the influence of PA on AS discontinuation and the associations between PA, QOL, and EWB, we used Cox regression models and generalized estimated equations, respectively. For Study 3, we recruited men with PCa on AS from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and randomized them to 8 weeks of HIIT or RT or UC. Participants completed self-report measures, physical fitness assessments, and provided blood samples at baseline and upon completion of the intervention period. Results: In Study 1, high MVPA levels did not predict AS discontinuation for clinical and/or non-clinical reasons. In Study 2, achieving >1000 MET-min/wk was associated with higher QOL and EWB over time relative toPh.D

Metaplastic rocking response of 1-DoF system: experimental investigation

111 σ.Αυτό το κομμάτι του έργου επιχειρεί να ρίξει περισσότερο φως στην ιδέα του λικνισμού θεμελίωσης και πιο συγκεκριμένα τον έλεγχο αυτής της συμπεριφοράς μέσα από την εξυγίανση του εδάφους μέσω ρηχής βελτίωσης. Για το σκοπό αυτό, μια σειρά από οριζόντιες μονότονη και αργή δοκιμές pushover κυκλική διεξήχθησαν στο εργαστήριο Εδαφομηχανικής του Εθνικού Μετσόβιου Πολυτεχνείου (ΕΜΠ). Πιο αναλυτικά, αυτή η πτυχιακή εργασία θα διερευνήσει: • Η μονοτονική και αργή κυκλικής φόρτωσης των κατασκευώνπέρα από ελαστικό όριο συμπεριφορά τους. • Η επίδραση του FSV στην λικνιστική απόκριση της κατασκευής, είτε με τη σύγκριση της ίδιας κατασκευής σε διαφορετικά στρώματα του εδάφους, ή διαφορετικών κατασκευών που βρίσκεται στον ίδιο εδαφικό σχηματισμό. • Η ανταπόκριση των κατασκευών του ίδιου FSV, επιτυγχάνεται με την τοποθέτηση διαφορετικών κατασκευών σε διαφορετικά στρώματα του εδάφους. •η απόκριση της ίδιας κατασκευής οταν υπόκεινται σε διαφορετικά πρωτόκολλα φόρτισης. • Η επίδραση της ρηχής βελτίωσης του εδάφους που εκτείνεται σε διάφορα βάθη στην απόκριση της κατασκευής. Αυτό θα γίνει για τις διάφορες κατασκευές που κάποιος θα προέβλεπε αρχικά διαφορετική συμπεριφορά για την κάθε μία.This piece of work attempts to shed some more light to the idea of foundation rocking and more specifically controlling this behaviour through shallow soil improvement. To this end, a series of horizontal monotonic and slow cyclic pushover tests were conducted in the laboratory of soil mechanics of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In detail, this diploma thesis will investigate: • The Monotonic and slow cyclic loading of structures well beyond their elastic behaviour threshold. • The effect of the vertical factor of safety FSv on the rocking response of the construction, either by comparing the same construction lying on different soil strata, or different structures lying on the same soil deposit. • The response of structures of the same FSv, achieved by placing different structures on different soil strata. • The response of the same structure subjected to different loading protocols. • The effect of shallow soil improvement stretching to various depths on the response of the structure. This will be done for various structures that one would initially predict different behaviour for each.Ευθύμιος Γ. Παπαδόπουλο

Improved Active and Reactive Control of a Small Wind Turbine System Connected to the Grid

This paper deals with the interconnection of a small wind turbine with the low voltage distribution grid and the implementation of an improved control scheme, which also serves educational purposes. Initially the subsystems—wind turbine, rectifying bridge, interleaved boost converter, three-phase inverter, interconnection inductors, lifting transformer, filtering capacitors—are investigated, in order to explain their selection, based on the LEMEC (Laboratory of Electromechanical Energy Conversion, Department of Electrical Engineering, UoP) educational policy. Afterwards, the three-phase inverter control scheme, which is responsible for controlling its input voltage (voltage of the DC Bus) and consequently the active power, as well as the reactive power injected into the grid (VQ control) is analyzed. This is accomplished through DQ transformation and PI controllers which are responsible for generating the appropriate reference signals, to generate the required Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) pulses to drive the semiconductor switches of the inverter. In addition, it is explained how this particular control method can compensate reactive power in the grid, even in apnea, by automatically charging the DC Bus. Finally, simulation and experimental results are given to prove the proposed control method effectiveness

A Reappraisal of the Destructive Earthquake (Mw5.9) of 15 July 1909 in Western Greece

Studies on earthquakes that occurred in the early instrumental period of seismology are of importance for the seismic hazard assessment and are still under investigation since new data are being increasingly revealed. We study the case of a moderate-to-strong earthquake that occurred on 15 July 1909 in NW Peloponnese, Greece. Although the earthquake event was quite destructive, it remains little-known so far in the seismological tradition. We compiled a variety of documentary sources and showed that the earthquake caused extensive building destruction in Chavari and in many other villages with an estimated maximum intensity IX (in EMS-98 scale) and a death toll as high as 55. We also assigned macroseismic intensities in several observation points and drew isoseismal lines by applying the nearest-neighbor technique. From empirical relationships between magnitude and intensities, we estimated the macroseismic magnitude of proxy Ms5.9. Our examination also revealed a variety of earthquake associated phenomena including several types of precursors and abundant co-seismic hydrological changes and ground failures, such as soil liquefaction, surface ruptures, and rock falls. Since no surface fault-trace was reported, the determination of the causative blind fault remains an open issue for future investigation

A Reappraisal of the Destructive Earthquake (M_w5.9) of 15 July 1909 in Western Greece

Studies on earthquakes that occurred in the early instrumental period of seismology are of importance for the seismic hazard assessment and are still under investigation since new data are being increasingly revealed. We study the case of a moderate-to-strong earthquake that occurred on 15 July 1909 in NW Peloponnese, Greece. Although the earthquake event was quite destructive, it remains little-known so far in the seismological tradition. We compiled a variety of documentary sources and showed that the earthquake caused extensive building destruction in Chavari and in many other villages with an estimated maximum intensity IX (in EMS-98 scale) and a death toll as high as 55. We also assigned macroseismic intensities in several observation points and drew isoseismal lines by applying the nearest-neighbor technique. From empirical relationships between magnitude and intensities, we estimated the macroseismic magnitude of proxy Ms5.9. Our examination also revealed a variety of earthquake associated phenomena including several types of precursors and abundant co-seismic hydrological changes and ground failures, such as soil liquefaction, surface ruptures, and rock falls. Since no surface fault-trace was reported, the determination of the causative blind fault remains an open issue for future investigation

Sensitivity of a mountain basin flash flood to initial wetness condition and rainfall variability

The sensitivities of runoff generation to rainfall variability and initial wetness conditions were examined for a major flash flood event that occurred during August 29, 2003 on the upper Tagliamento river basin in the eastern Italian Alps. The Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator (tRIBS) distributed hydrologic model was used to simulate the hydrologic response over a range of sub-basins. The model was calibrated for the single flash flood event based on the observed hydrograph at the outlet of the basin examined (Fella basin) and was validated based on the available observed hydrographs at interior points of the basin. A series of hydrologic simulations were performed for different initial soil moisture conditions and rainfall forcing resolutions in order to evaluate the sensitivity of runoff generation to those variables. Evaluation of the results suggests that both initial wetness and rainfall resolution affect significantly the simulated peak flow and runoff volume during the flash flood event. Sensitivity to initial wetness exhibits a scale dependence with the sensitivity increasing with basin scale. The bias introduced to the basin-averaged rainfall due to aggregation had a significant effect on runoff generation for all basin scales, while the effect of variability smoothing was important only for the larger scale basins. Finally, the sensitivity of the flood hydrograph to rainfall aggregation was shown to be more important for drier initial wetness states