The Rheology of Striated Muscles

Striated muscles are actuators of animal bodies. They are responsible for several biomechanical functions critical to survival and these include powering the cardiovascular system and modulating the mechanical interactions the body has with its surroundings. Nearly two centuries of active research on muscle phenomena has led to detailed insights into its microscopic composition, but accurate predictive models of muscle at larger scales remain elusive. This thesis reports on efforts to accurately capture the mechanical properties of striated muscles based on current knowledge of actomyosin dynamics. Specifically, this thesis derives the rheology of striated muscles from the dynamics. Muscle rheology is a characterization of the forces that it develops in resistance to externally imposed changes to its length, i.e. its mechanical behavior as a material. For example, the rheology of elastic solids is stiffness and that of viscous fluids is a damping coefficient. Detailed analyses of actomyosin dynamics suggest that the smallest functional units of striated muscles, half-sarcomeres, are viscoelastic and can function as either a solid-like struct or a fluid-like damper depending on time-durations of interest and neural inputs. Such adaptability may underlie the vastly different biomechanical functions that striated muscles provide to animal bodies. Furthermore, muscles are active structures because their properties require metabolic energy and depend on neural inputs. Striated muscles can therefore exhibit rheologies and functions that elastic springs and viscous fluids cannot. The analysis presented in this thesis may extend beyond muscles and biomedical applications. It may help to engineer muscle-like actuators based on principles of tunable properties and to understand the physics of other materials that can similarly transition between being solid-like and fluid-like

Development and Implementation of a Computational Modeling Tool for Evaluation of THA Component Position

The human body is a complicated structure with muscles, ligaments, bones, and joints. Modeling human body with computational tools are becoming a trend [1]. More importantly, using computational tools to evaluate human body is a non-invasive technique that could help surgeons and researchers evaluate implant products [2]. Therefore, the development of a model which can analyze both implant sizing suggestion and kinematics of subject specific data could prove valuable. For total hip arthroplasty, one common complication is in vivo separation and dislocation of the femoral head within the acetabular cup [3] [4]. Developing a successful computational tool to address this issue includes developing a dynamic model of hip joint, implementing implant sizing suggestion algorithms and computing component alignments. Due to advancement in technology, the current focus has been to develop patient-specific solutions, a combined program of both hip model and implant suggestion model has been developed. In this dissertation, the primary objective is to develop a fully functional hip analysis software that not only can suggestion and template the implant sizing and position, but the software can also utilize the patient specific data to run simulation with different activities. The second objective of this dissertation is to conduct hip analysis studies using hip analysis software. Overall, the results in this dissertation discuss the effect of different stem positions and surgeon preferences on the outcome of the Total Hip Arthroplasty

A Genetic Algorithm for Power-Aware Virtual Machine Allocation in Private Cloud

Energy efficiency has become an important measurement of scheduling algorithm for private cloud. The challenge is trade-off between minimizing of energy consumption and satisfying Quality of Service (QoS) (e.g. performance or resource availability on time for reservation request). We consider resource needs in context of a private cloud system to provide resources for applications in teaching and researching. In which users request computing resources for laboratory classes at start times and non-interrupted duration in some hours in prior. Many previous works are based on migrating techniques to move online virtual machines (VMs) from low utilization hosts and turn these hosts off to reduce energy consumption. However, the techniques for migration of VMs could not use in our case. In this paper, a genetic algorithm for power-aware in scheduling of resource allocation (GAPA) has been proposed to solve the static virtual machine allocation problem (SVMAP). Due to limited resources (i.e. memory) for executing simulation, we created a workload that contains a sample of one-day timetable of lab hours in our university. We evaluate the GAPA and a baseline scheduling algorithm (BFD), which sorts list of virtual machines in start time (i.e. earliest start time first) and using best-fit decreasing (i.e. least increased power consumption) algorithm, for solving the same SVMAP. As a result, the GAPA algorithm obtains total energy consumption is lower than the baseline algorithm on simulated experimentation.Comment: 10 page

Transcalar Urban Governance: Planning and Development in the “Oil-City” of Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

In 2007, Ghana located commercial quantities of oil and gas off its Western coast, near the city of Sekondi-Takoradi. This discovery galvanised different groups wishing to benefit from these natural resources. With a view on Sekondi-Takoradi, this thesis examines how urban governance is exercised in relation to planning and development outcomes where there are multiple actors each with their own motivations, interests and agendas. In the wake of the oil discoveries, this thesis shows how the state, civil society and transnational corporate actors contest, negotiate and converge to shape future possibilities in the city in a transcalar manner across local, national and international scales of power. This research builds on network approaches to urban governance, particularly urban regime theory. Rather than view power as concentrated and held by a dominant force, urban regime theory asserts that multiple actors leverage different resources and skills to forge crosssector governing arrangements which can both enable and disable development. This thesis makes the following contributions: First, it argues for including and localising the role of transnational corporations in urban regimes in an African context. Despite the financial power of corporations (e.g. transnational oil companies), corporations rely on local socialpolitical networks and city resources for their business activities. Second, this thesis brings forward a postcolonial intervention to urban regime theory, by focusing on the agency of the local state and civil society actors to shape urban development outcomes. Far from a weak state, it shows how the local state in Sekondi-Takoradi (i.e. city government and traditional authorities) builds governing capacity by convening local and transnational actors through planning processes and development management. Third, this thesis shows how civil society organisations in Sekondi-Takoradi expand local state capacity by participating in legislative and planning processes to co-produce inclusive development outcomes, while also challenging state and corporate authority. This thesis thus argues that these distinctive actors—the local state, civil society, and transnational corporations—are mutually constitutive of one another through the transcalar governance of urban development

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationExtant studies have been showing that online user generated content (UGC) plays an important role in product adoption. I expand this research by considering the roles of online UGC in both product development and product adoption processes. Moreover, the interrelationship between these two processes is investigated under a theoretical framework of double-sided adverse selection in which both developers and users are uncertain about the future of a product. I model product development and adoption processes over the product lifecycle, capturing the direct and indirect effects of online UGC on both processes. Data for the study are taken from a longitudinal dataset covering 63 months for 11,648 open source projects registered on Sourceforge.net, one of the largest open source software development platforms. The results of this study reveal that online UGC has a positive effect on both the initiation and the completion of product development activities. Moreover, product adoption helps amplify that positive effect. Those results are consistent with the theory that online UGC can provide ideas and solutions for development activities and that developers capitalize on those ideas and solutions to initiate and to complete development activities. In addition, the results also show that product development and product adoption affect each other positively. Those results are consistent with the theory that product development and adoption signal developers' commitment in developing the product and users' interest in the product, respectively. Hence, it is suggested that transparency between developers and users creates a positive feedback loop between product development and product adoption. Since this study investigates the behaviors of both developers and users, it implies applications for users, developers, as well as platform owners who want to design a competitive ecosystem to attract and satisfy both users and developers

Efecto de los TLC de nueva generación en la innovación de productos sostenibles: evidencia empírica de empresas textiles vietnamitas quecotizan en bolsa

Introduction: The covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed consumption habits, with by cutting unnecessary spending on fashion products, and focusing on sustainable products. Therefore, greener textile innovation is currently a rapidly growing trend, bringing new sales and flexible production capabilities. The article presents impact of new generation FTA like EVFTA, CPTPP on sustainable textile product innovation. Problem: Greener production is dominant in several export industries. After the Covid-19 pandemic shifting from fast fashion to sustainable fashion is more and more changing. Objective: The aim of this study is to examine impact directly as well as indirectly the relationship between FTA expectation on SPIC via 2 mediating variable such as environmental regulation and CEO’s perception. Methodology: The study is exploratory research, it was modeled using PLS-SEM to test the relationships in the model. Results: Both Environment Regulation and CEO\u27s perception play an important role as partial mediation in the relationship between FTA expectation and sustainable product innovation capability. Conclusion: This project seeks to generate a change in the behavior of the use towards efficiency and modification of user practices to favor the sustainability standard of the textile and garment firm. Originality: Through this research, integrated and sustainable textile and garment management strategies are formulated for green marketing strategies in Vietnam. Limitations: The lack of information provided by the municipality and access to the sampling points.Introducción: Este documento es el producto de la investigación “Efecto de los TLC de nueva generación en la innovación de productos sostenibles: evidencia empírica de empresas textiles cotizadas en Vietnam” desarrollada en la Universidad de Thuongmai (TMU) y la Universidad de Industria de Hanoi (HaUI) entre 2021 y 2023. La pandemia de COVID-19 ha cambiado significativamente los hábitos de consumo hacia la reducción de gastos innecesarios en productos de moda y centrándose en productos sostenibles. Por lo tanto, la innovación textil más ecológica es actualmente una tendencia de rápido crecimiento, que genera nuevas ventas y capacidades de producción flexibles. El artículo presenta los impactos de los acuerdos de libre comercio (TLC) de nueva generación como el Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre la Unión Europea y Vietnam (EVFTA) y la Asociación Transpacífica Integral y Progresista (CPTPP) en la innovación de productos textiles sostenibles. Problema: La producción más ecológica es dominante en varias industrias de exportación. Después de la pandemia de COVID-19, el cambio de la moda rápida a la moda sostenible es cada vez más urgente. Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio es examinar los impactos directos e indirectos de las expectativas del FTA en la capacidad de innovación de productos sostenibles (SPIC) a través de dos variables mediadoras, como las regulaciones ambientales y la percepción del CEO. Metodología: El estudio involucra una investigación exploratoria, utilizando PLS-SEM para probar las relaciones en el modelo. Resultados: Tanto la regulación ambiental como la percepción del CEO juegan un papel importante como mediación parcial en la relación entre la expectativa de TLC y la capacidad de innovación de productos sostenibles.  

Investigation on the effect of cross beams in single span bridges under dynamic aspect by using finite element method

In the 1980s and 1990s, most bridges in Vietnam employed simple beam for short-span river crossings that did not need navigation and mainly used the reinforced concrete T-beams or pre-stressed concrete. While the T-frame structure that has hang single span is widely applied for rivers that require navigation...The single girder is a basic span made of pre-stressed reinforced concrete T or I cross section, with spacing ranging from 2.2m to 2.6m, and the absence of diaphragms was a common feature of bridges built during this time period. All horizontal crashes almost have happened on the spans that did not have diaphragms. As a result, the impact force is concentrated mostly on the lateral girders, leading to total damage. Thus, researches to evaluate the effect of diaphragms in the distribution of horizontal impact forces as well as minimizing the damage in the span structures are crucial. This study focuses on simulating and studying the influence of the number and position of the diaphragms in terms of stress, deformation and damage when a collision occurs in order to propose additional and repair solutions to enhance the horizontal resistance of span

REMOVAL OF FLOUROQUINOLONE ANTIMICROBIALS (CIPROFLOXACIN AND NORFLOXACIN) FROM SHRIMP POND SEDIMENT DURING COMPOSTING

This study aimed to investigate the removal of ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin from shrimp pond sediment during composting process with different antimicrobial concentrations. The results showed that after 40 days of composting, temperature varied from 25 to 55 oC. The highest temperature was on the day 20th. The pH values reduced along with composting time from weak base to neutral. During the composting processes, the removal efficiency of norfloxacin found in the range of 32.5–87.5 % depends on the initial antimicrobials concentrations. For ciprofloxacin, after 20 days of composting, the removal efficiency obtained was around 55 and 45 % and pH was 8.5 and 5.0. Salinity significantly affected ciprofloxacin removal that created remarkably efficiency reduction of ciprofloxacin in salty water as compared to fresh- and brackish water. However, no differences in removal efficiency of norfloxacin were observed between fresh and brackish water. The composted fertilizer was dark brown in color and odorless, contained 15.7-18.8 % C; 2.05 – 2.15 % N; and C/N ratio was 7.5–10.95. This indicated that compost fertilizer was completely decomposed.