Resistance exercise during hindlimb unloading in rats mitigates disuse-induced bone loss

Disuse-related bone loss affects various populations of individuals including astronauts, bedridden patients, those with spinal cord injuries, and, to not as drastic a degree, the increasing population living sedentary lifestyles. The lack of mechanical stimulation on bones can lead to bone loss and an increased risk of low bone mass, osteoporosis, and fractures. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine the effects of resistance exercise on bone during a period of disuse in skeletally mature rodents. Male rats were placed into three different groups, hindlimb unloading, (HU), hindlimb unloading with resistance training (HU+RE), and cage control (CC), for 4 weeks. Resistance exercise was accomplished by jump training 3 days a week with progressive increases in weights added to a vest placed on the rat (10% - 40% body weight in added weight). The right tibia of each rat was harvested and bone mass parameters were measured using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) scans of the proximal metaphysis and midshaft tibia. At the proximal tibia, HU rat means were significantly lower than those of CC in total mineral content, cortical content, and cancellous density (p\u3c0.05). HU+RE had significantly higher total bone content, trabecular content, cancellous density, and cortical content than the HU group (p\u3c0.01). Total content was significantly different between CC and HU+RE (p\u3c0.05). No differences were seen among group means for any variable at the midshaft tibia (100% cortical bone). Resistance exercise can mitigate bone loss during a period of disuse, especially in the cancellous-rich compartment of metaphyseal bone. This highlights the importance of resistance training during periods of disuse, as well as demonstrating the importance of regular loading of bone for individuals leading sedentary lifestyles

An investigation into the use of intuitive control interfaces and distributed processing for enhanced three dimensional sound localization

This thesis investigates the feasibility of using gestures as a means of control for localizing three dimesional (3D) sound sources in a distributed immersive audio system. A prototype system was implemented and tested which uses state of the art technology to achieve the stated goals. A Windows Kinect is used for gesture recognition which translates human gestures into control messages by the prototype system, which in turn performs actions based on the recognized gestures. The term distributed in the context of this system refers to the audio processing capacity. The prototype system partitions and allocates the processing load between a number of endpoints. The reallocated processing load consists of the mixing of audio samples according to a specification. The endpoints used in this research are XMOS AVB endpoints. The firmware on these endpoints were modified to include the audio mixing capability which was controlled by a state of the art audio distribution networking standard, Ethernet AVB. The hardware used for the implementation of the prototype system is relatively cost efficient in comparison to professional audio hardware, and is also commercially available for end users. The successful implementation and results from user testing of the prototype system demonstrates how it is a feasible option for recording the localization of a sound source. The ability to partition the processing provides a modular approach to building immersive sound systems. This removes the constraint of a centralized mixing console with a predetermined speaker configuration

Matrix elements of atomic interaction operators for d sup n configurations

Tabulation of matrix elements of atomic interaction operators for various configuration

A Generalised Quantifier Theory of Natural Language in Categorical Compositional Distributional Semantics with Bialgebras

Categorical compositional distributional semantics is a model of natural language; it combines the statistical vector space models of words with the compositional models of grammar. We formalise in this model the generalised quantifier theory of natural language, due to Barwise and Cooper. The underlying setting is a compact closed category with bialgebras. We start from a generative grammar formalisation and develop an abstract categorical compositional semantics for it, then instantiate the abstract setting to sets and relations and to finite dimensional vector spaces and linear maps. We prove the equivalence of the relational instantiation to the truth theoretic semantics of generalised quantifiers. The vector space instantiation formalises the statistical usages of words and enables us to, for the first time, reason about quantified phrases and sentences compositionally in distributional semantics

Development of improved asbestos reinforced phenolic insulating composites (optimization of physical properties as a function of molding technique and post cure conditions)

Detailed data are presented on phenolic-glass and phenolic-asbestos compounds which compare the effect of compression molding without degas to the effects of four variations of compression molding. These variations were designed to improve elimination of entrapped volatiles and the volatile products of the condensate reaction associated with the cure of phenolic resins. The utilization of conventional methods of degas plus degas by vacuum and directional heat flow methods are involved. Detailed data are also presented on these same compounds, comparing the effect of changes in post-bake time, and post-bake temperature for the five molding techniques