This dissertation explores the emergence of surf tourism as a significant aspect of rural communities. It uses an inductive qualitative approach focused on Tofino, British Columbia, Canada as an example to provide an in-depth exploration of a rural community effected by this phenomenon. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a snowball sample of key informants to address the following research objectives: (1) What factors have influenced the evolution of surf tourism in Tofino; (2) How might the evolution of surf tourism in this case study relate to the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC); (3) What is the impact of surf tourism on the broader community development of Tofino? Analysis of the Tofino data elicited following themes: (1) For some, surfing is a desirable lifestyle, reflecting in some ways the concepts of specialization, serious leisure, and community’s identity; (2) Surf shops are a community hub for local surfers and surf tourists; (3) Pacific Rim National Park plays a critical role in the region, contributing to surfing and the surf tourism industry, but has yet to fully engage with surfers or the surfing industry; (4) New and more affordable equipment technology has brought increased access to cold-water surf and surf tourism, reducing what may have constrained the early development of surf tourism; (5) Considerable increases in the supply and demand for surfing in Tofino have occurred, tempered by the increased number of surfing competitions and other new tourism segments that exist in the community; (6) Increasing safety issues may undermine the growth of surf tourism; (7) Limits to surf tourism growth are evident regarding facility and physical carrying capacity; (8) As a result of the considerable growth of surfing in Tofino, recreational crowding, and conflict are in evidence, as are coping mechanisms; (9) ‘Localism’ exists in Tofino, but perhaps less so than in other destinations which have a fixed beach break; (10) Surf tourism has the potential for positive and negative impacts on First Nations communities in the region; and (11) Local government plays an important role. These themes were then analyzed and linked to the following theoretical concepts: serious leisure; specialization; leisure constraints; localism; violence; conflict; crowding, carrying capacity, amenity migration, the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC); and, rural tourism. This led to some intriguing findings. For example, unlike most other popular surf tourism destinations, crowding is not so apparent in the surf because the surf breaks in the Tofino area are primarily beach breaks that constantly shift as the bathymetry of the ocean floor changes with tides and currents, resulting in constant wave changes. This contrasts with fixed break conditions found elsewhere, so in Tofino it is easier to avoid other surfers by simply moving to another part of the wave. When the Tofino findings were compared with TALC, some similarities and differences were noted. Factors that appear to be consistent with the TALC model are: increasing numbers of tourists, changing type of tourists (e.g. more mass tourists, compared to the early days of surf tourism), increasing numbers of tourism facilities, increased levels of marketing, increased levels of interaction between visitors and local communities (perhaps leading to instances of conflict, and localism), and increased economic benefits to the community. However, one possible departure from the expected trajectory is impacts on the natural environment, which have increased in some ways, but are improved in other ways. There has been some environmental change in terms of the growth in the town of Tofino, and with the development of lodgings near to the surrounding beaches. However, much of the larger landscape, remains largely intact or less impacted than what might have occurred without the presence of Pacific Rim National Park, and the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve. Further, the TALC model suggests that the development of tourism will lead to lesser local control of development. The Tofino findings suggest that there remains a great deal of local control and that local government support the tourism industry, including surf tourism. It was noted that the emerging surf tourism refers to several concepts found in the general nature tourism literature, such as crowding, conflict and carrying capacity, but the surf tourism literature tends to overlook the complexity of some of these concepts. For example, future surf tourism research might consider more explicit examination of the various dimensions of conflict described in this study, including in group and outgroup conflict, interpersonal conflict and social values conflict. There is little evidence of the incorporation of these concepts in the surf tourism literature. Finally, the data exposed a high level of social capital within the surf community and also between surfers and non-surfers as a facet of a close-knit rural community dependent to a degree on surf tourism as a social driver manifesting in mutual cooperation, trust and reciprocity occurring in social institutions such as surf-shops. / Graduate

This thesis presents the development of a novel numerical model capable of evaluating suspended sediment dynamics under breaking waves, and is based in the open source Computational Fluid Dynamics software, OpenFOAM®. The hydrodynamics were determined by solving the incompressible, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations for a two-phase fluid using the Finite Volume method, along with a Volume of Fluid scheme that modelled the interface between the air and water phases. A new library of five turbulence models was developed to include weakly compressible effects through the introduction of density variations in the conservation equations. This library was thoroughly evaluated against existing physical data for surf zone dynamics. A skill score was applied, based on the MSE, to rank the models, with the nonlinear k−ε performing best overall, and the k−ω predicting turbulent kinetic energy most accurately. Furthermore, the numerical model was shown to predict the near-bed hydrodynamics well, through comparison with new in-house physical data obtained in the COAST laboratory. Suspended sediment concentrations were determined using an advection-diffusion methodology, with near-bed processes modelled using a flux based approach that balances entrainment and deposition. The model was validated against existing experimental data for steady state flow conditions, as well as for regular and breaking waves. The agreement was generally good, with the results indicating that the model is capable of capturing complicated processes such as sediment plumes under plunging breakers. The validated model was applied to investigate the properties of the sediment diffusivity, which is a vital parameter in suspended sediment dynamics. In physical experiments, sediment diffusivity is commonly estimated implicitly, based on the vertical concentration profile. In this work, this approach was applied to the numerical concentration predictions, and compared with the value directly determined within the model. The estimated value was generally acceptable providing that large horizontal concentration gradients were not present, and diffusion dominated flow advection. However, near the breaking point of waves, large errors were observed at mid-depth of the water column, which strongly correlates with a region of large flow advection relative to diffusion. Therefore, when using this estimation, caution is recommended since this approach can potentially lead to substantial discrepancies.

M.Sc. (Computer Science) / A video conference is an interactive meeting between two or more locations, facilitated by simultaneous two-way video and audio transmissions. People in a video conference, also known as participants, join these video conferences for business and recreational purposes. In a typical video conference, we should properly identify and authenticate every participant in the video conference, if information discussed during the video conference is confidential. This prevents unauthorized and unwanted people from being part of the conference and exposing any confidential information during the video conference. Present existing video conferencing systems however, have problems in this area, resulting in some risks. These risks relate precisely to the lack of facilities to properly identify and authenticate participants, making it possible for unwanted/unauthorised participants to join the conference or masquerade as another participant. It is especially a problem, when facilitators or organisers are the only participants that know the authorised participants, or participants allowed in a video conference. In this dissertation, we review the risks that are present in video conferencing, and create a security system, (called BioVid) that mitigates the identification and authentication risks in video conferences. BioVid uses a Speeded-Up Robust Features or SURF-based face recognition approach, to identify and authenticate any participant in a video conference. BioVid continuously monitors the participants to check if masquerading has occurred and when it does detect an unauthorised participant, it informs the Service Provider. The Service Provider can then deal with the problem by either kicking the participant or asking the other participants to vote the unauthorised participant out of the video conference.

In this thesis a method is presented to provide a 3D visualization of the human kidney and surrounding tissue during kidney surgery. The method takes advantage of the high detail of 3D X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) and the high time resolution of Ultrasonography (US). By extracting the geometry from a single preoperative CT scan and animating the kidney by tracking its position in real time US images, a 3D visualization of the surgical volume can be created. The first part of the project consisted of building an imaging phantom as a simplified model of the human body around the kidney. It consists of three parts: the shell part representing surrounding tissue, the kidney part representing the kidney soft tissue and a kidney stone part embedded in the kidney part. The shell and soft tissue kidney parts was cast with a mixture of the synthetic polymer Polyvinyl Alchohol (PVA) and water. The kidney stone part was cast with epoxy glue. All three parts where designed to look like human tissue in CT and US images. The method is a pipeline of stages that starts with acquiring the CT image as a 3D matrix of intensity values. This matrix is then segmented, resulting in separate polygonal 3D models for the three phantom parts. A scan of the model is then performed using US, producing a sequence of US images. A computer program extracts easily recognizable image feature points from the images in the sequence. Knowing the spatial position and orientation of a new US image in which these features can be found again allows the position of the kidney to be calculated. The presented method is realized as a proof of concept implementation of the pipeline. The implementation displays an interactive visualization where the kidney is positioned according to a user-selected US image scanned for image features. Using the proof of concept implementation as a guide, the accuracy of the proposed method is estimated to be bounded by the acquired image data. For high resolution CT and US images, the accuracy can be in the order of a few millimeters.

Now a days. additive Manufacturing is becoming a major part of the manufacturing industries all around the world. Even, it is still a developing field.Its main advantage is its ability to print different types of shapes, in different sizesand good quality. The additive manufacturing technologies is capable of bring down the costs of the manufacturing when compared to other traditional methodsof manufacturing. This technology gives the flexibility to making complex shapesaccording to the clients and customers requirements also this technology canreduce time and human effort/involvement needed in the manufacturing industries. Now 3D printing has more influence in Swedish market more than ever and thisthesis is a part of a project of DiSAM – Digitalization of supply chain in Swedish Additive Manufacturing to implement 3D Printing into Swedish market. This thesis describe how advance materials and new manufacturingtechnologies can play a very important role in building the future and from thisstudy we are trying to find out whether the additive manufacturing technology can replace the traditional manufacturing process like injection molding. The main aim of the thesis is to design and fabricate a simple mould geometry for producing Silicone Rubber products using additive manufacturing and to assess the quality ofthe obtained product in terms of surface topography. Our project partner UnimerPlast & Gummi AB who is a major producer of plastics and rubber products is facing a problem in the production of silicone rubber products. They want to produce a mould for producing silicone rubber products using additivemanufacturing. In this thesis we had made the study in two parts, a design part and ananalysis part. In the design part we sorted out one material which is suitable for our application that is to produce a mould for making silicone products while in analysis part we made a study about the surface topology and its quality to see whether 3D printed moulds could produce silicone rubber products with same or better surface quality than the one which are produced using conventional injection moulding process. As a result of our study we came to know that high temperature resin can be used for making moulds to produce silicone products and only factor affecting the quality of the surface of mould or silicone product is built orientation and other factors like layer thickness, curing temperature and time does not have any impact on the surface quality.

El presente documento se presentará la idea de negocio que se desarrolló a lo largo del curso, la cual es Surf Place Perú que busca impulsar la industria del surf y llevar la experiencia del tablista a otro nivel mediante una plataforma online que brinda un espacio donde el tablista pueda seguir su experiencia de surfear una vez que sale del mar. Esto mediante los diversos métodos de investigación, tales como entrevistas y encuestas; se plantearon hipótesis para conocer la viabilidad del proyecto. Asimismo, conocer el mercado objetivo es muy importante y es por ello por lo que se realizó un estudio con el fin de conocer a qué segmento se dirigían los esfuerzos de ventas teniendo en cuenta los problemas y las necesidades que poseen estos segmentos. Finalmente, mediante el análisis financiero proyectado se confirmará el cumplimiento de los objetivos tanto a corto, mediano y largo plazo, así como la escalabilidad; asegurando un crecimiento en el transcurso de los años. / This document will present the business idea that was developed throughout the course, which is Surf Place Peru that seeks to promote the surf industry and take the surfer's experience to another level through an online platform that provides a space where the surfer can follow his surfing experience once he leaves the sea. This through the various research methods, such as interviews and surveys; Hypotheses were raised to know the viability of the project. Likewise, knowing the target market is very important and that is why a study was carried out in order to know which segment the sales efforts were directed at, taking into account the problems and needs of these segments. Finally, through the projected financial analysis, the fulfillment of the short, medium and long term objectives will be confirmed, as well as scalability; ensuring growth over the years. / Trabajo de investigación

El Perú es un lugar bendecido con muchas rompientes naturales a lo largo de su costa. Existe una gran cantidad de personas que practican el surf a lo largo de nuestro litoral, pero carecen de un lugar en el cual puedan llevar sus habilidades a un nivel de competición mundial. Este centro será un lugar en el cual el usuario pueda tener un entrenamiento de alto nivel, y al mismo tiempo tener una fuerte conexión con el océano / Peru is a place blessed with many natural breaks along its coast. There are a large number of surfers along our coastline, but they lack a place where they can take their skills to a level of world competition. This center will be a place where the user can have a high level training, and at the same time have a strong connection with the ocean. / Tesis

Esta investigación está orientada a la exploración de toda información cualitativa y cuantitativa necesaria para poder establecer los criterios básicos que sostengan y apoyen el diseño arquitectónico de un Centro de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo dirigido a uno de los deportes más sobresalientes de nuestro país. Perú, al ser un paraíso costeño, representa para el mundo un foco importante para el desarrollo de deportes acuáticos y en los últimos años, la disciplina del surf ha tenido un crecimiento exponencial situándose como capital latinoamericana de las grandes competencias internacionales y siendo esa una gran motivación para el desarrollo de un Centro de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo y Difusión del surf. Por lo tanto, este centro sería un hito, no solo en las costas peruanas sino también a nivel latinoamericano porque sería el único de la región. Sabemos que el centro de alto rendimiento es una instalación deportiva cuya finalidad es albergar, entrenar y educar al deportista de élite durante todo su proceso de formación para poder afrontar competencias internacionales. Es por ello por lo que en la arquitectura encontramos una herramienta para crear un entorno equilibrado entre el entrenamiento controlado dentro de instalaciones deportivas y el entrenamiento no controlado bajo las condiciones cambiantes que el mar representa. Es decir, esta instalación deportiva sería fundamental para optimizar y mejorar el rendimiento físico de nuestros deportistas de élite. / This research is oriented to the exploration of all the qualitative and quantitative information necessary to be able to establish the basic criteria that sustain and support the architectural design of a High-Performance Sports Centre addressed to one of the most outstanding sports in our country. Peru, as a coastal paradise, represents for the world an important focus for the development of water sports and in recent years, the discipline of the Surfing has had an exponential growth placing itself as Latin American capital of the big international competitions and being this a great motivation for the development of a High-Performance Sports Centre and Diffusion of the Surfing. Consequently, this centre would be a milestone, not only on the Peruvian coast but also in Latin America because it would be the only one in the region. We know that the High-Performance Centre is a sports establishment whose purpose is to harbor, train and educate the elite athlete during his training process in order to be able to face international competitions. That is why in the architecture we find a tool to create a balanced environment between controlled training inside sports installations and uncontrolled training under the changing conditions that the sea represents. In other words, this sports centre would be essential to optimise and improve the physical performance of our elite athletes. / Tesis

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