International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The use of remote ground stations for telemetry data-relay in space launch applications is costly and limits the geographic locations for launches of future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) systems. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space-based Telemetry and Range-Safety (STARS) Study is investigating the use of satellite data relay systems as a replacement or supplement for ground-based tracking and relay stations. Phase-1 of STARS includes flight testing that evaluates satellite data-relay feasibility, defines satellite system performance limitations, and generates requirements for the development of future satellite telemetry data relay systems. STARS Phase-1 ground-test results and goals for the Phase-2 system development and flight-testing are also presented.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Missile Flight Test Safety Managers (MFTSM) and other flight safety personnel at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) constantly monitor the realtime space position of missile and airborne target vehicles and the telemetered missile and target vehicle performance parameters during the test flight to determine if these are about to leave Range boundaries or if erratic vehicle performance might endanger Range personnel, Range support assets or the nearby civilian population. WSMR flight safety personnel rely on the vehicle telemetry system to observe the Flight Termination System (FTS) parameters. A realtime closed loop that involves the ground command-destruct transmitter, the vehicle command-destruct receiver (CDR), other FTS components, the missile S-band telemetry transmitter, and the ground telemetry acquisition/ demultiplex system is active when the vehicle is in flight. The FTS engineer relies upon telemetry to provide read-back status of the flight termination system aboard the vehicle. WSMR flight safety personnel use the telemetry system to assess realtime airborne vehicle systems performance and advise the MFTSM. The MFTSM uses this information, in conjunction with space position information provided by an Interactive Graphics Display System (IGDS), to make realtime destruct decisions about missiles and targets in flight. This paper will aid the missile or target developer in understanding the type of vehicle performance data and FTS parameters WSMR flight safety personnel are concerned with, in realtime missile test operations.

I present a spectroscopic study of the molecular gas in the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and the Antennae Galaxies (NGC 4038/39) using data from the Herschel Space Observatory (Herschel) and the Atacama Large Millime- ter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Using data from the Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), I perform an excitation analysis to determine the physical characteris- tics (temperature, density, column density) of the cold and warm molecular gas across both systems. I do not find significant variation in the cold molecular gas across an individual system or between the systems. The warm molecular gas temperature is greater in NGC 4038/39 than in M51, while the density in both M51 and the nucleus of NGC 4038 is greater than the rest of the Anten- nae system. Both galaxies exhibit a similar fraction of warm to cold molecular gas. I compare Herschel SPIRE-FTS data to models of photon dominated regions (PDRs) to determine the strength of the background far ultraviolet field (G0) within both systems and find little variation across each system. I find that PDRs alone can explain the observed Herschel SPIRE-FTS data in both systems. Using ALMA observations of dense molecular gas tracers in NGC 4038/39, I investigate the physical processes affecting the dense molecular gas. Ratios of various molecular gas tracers suggest that the contributions of mechanical heating relative to PDR heating are similar across the entire system. The dense gas fraction in the nucleus of NGC 4038 and the nucleus of NGC 4039 is higher than in the overlap region, which I attribute to an increase in the stellar potential within the two nuclei. Furthermore, I find evidence for an increased cosmic ray rate in the overlap region of NGC 4038/39 relative to the two nuclei, which I attribute to an increased supernova rate in the overlap region. Most of the molecular gas in M51 and NGC 4038/39 is in the form of PDRs, while the increased temperature of the warm molecular gas in NGC iii 4038/39 compared to M51 is likely due to an increase in the mechanical heating from both supernova and stellar winds and the ongoing merger. Furthermore, a comparison of these results to previous studies of the interacting galaxy M82 and the late-stage merger Arp 220 suggests that mergers and interactions have a greater effect on the warm molecular gas compared to the cold molecular gas. The results from this thesis help to further our understanding of the effects of merging and interacting galaxies on molecular gas, while helping understand differences between interacting galaxies and merging galaxies. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemical Engineering / Placidus B. Amama / The continued depletion of fossil fuels and concomitant increase in greenhouse gases have encouraged worldwide research on alternative processes to produce clean fuel. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is a heterogeneous catalytic reaction that converts syngas (CO and H₂) to liquid hydrocarbons. FTS is a well-established route for producing clean liquid fuels. However, the broad product distribution and limited catalytic activity are restricting the development of FTS. The strong interactions between the active metal catalyst (Fe or Co) and support (Al₂O₃, SiO₂ and TiO₂) during post-synthesis treatments of the catalyst (such as calcination at ~500°C and reduction ~550°C) lead to formation of inactive and unreducible inert material like Fe₂SiO₄, CoAl₂O₄, Co₂SiO₄. The activity of FTS catalyst is negatively impacted by the presence of these inactive compounds. In our study, we demonstrate the use of a modified photo-Fenton process for the preparation of carbon nanotube (CNT)-supported Co and Fe catalysts that are characterized by small and well-dispersed catalyst particles on CNTs that require no further treatments. The process is facile, highly scalable, and involves the use of green catalyst precursors and an oxidant. The reaction kinetic results show high CO conversion (85%), selectivity for liquid hydrocarbons and stability. Further, a gaseous product mixture from FTS (C1-C4) was utilized as an efficient feedstock for the growth of high-quality, well-aligned single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) carpets of millimeter-scale heights on Fe and (sub) millimeter-scale heights on Co catalysts via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Although SWCNT carpets were grown over a wide temperature range (between 650 and 850°C), growth conducted at optimal temperatures for Co (850°C) and Fe (750°C) yielded predominantly SWCNTs that are straight, clean, and with sidewalls that are largely free of amorphous carbon. Also, low-temperature CVD growth of CNT carpets from Fe and Fe–Cu catalysts using a gaseous product mixture from FTS as a superior carbon feedstock is demonstrated. The efficiency of the growth process is evidenced by the highly dense, vertically aligned CNT structures from both Fe and Fe–Cu catalysts even at temperatures as low as 400°C–a record low growth temperature for CNT carpets obtained via conventional thermal CVD. The use of FTS-GP facilitates low-temperature growth of CNT carpets on traditional (alumina film) and nontraditional substrates (aluminum foil) and has the potential of enhancing CNT quality, catalyst lifetime, and scalability. We demonstrate growth of SWCNT carpets with diameter distributions that are smaller than SWCNTs in conventional carpets using a CVD process that utilizes the product gaseous mixture from Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS-GP). The high-resolution transmission electron microscopic (HR-TEM) and Raman spectroscopic results reveal that the use of a high melting point metal as a catalyst promoter in combination with either Co (1.5 nm ± 0.7) at 850ºC or Fe (1.9 nm ± 0.8) at 750ºC yields smaller-diameter SWCNT arrays with narrow diameter distributions. Scalable synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and onion like carbon (OLC) in a batch reactor using supercritical fluids as a reaction media is demonstrated. The process utilizes toluene, ethanol, or butanol as a carbon precursor in combination with ferrocene that serves as a catalyst precursor and a secondary carbon source. The use of supercritical fluids for growth does not only provide a route for selective growth of a variety of carbon nanomaterials, but also provides a unique one-step approach that is free of aggressive acid treatment for synthesis of CNT-supported metallic nanoparticle composites for catalysis and energy storage applications.

In the early 1990s the South African automotive sector was regarded as ineffective, uncompetitive and dependent on heavy tariff protection for survival. The government’s policy support through the Motor Industry Development Programme lowered tariffs and provided strong support for exports, while the production incentives of the Automotive Production Development Programme reinforced the vision that the long-term development of the sector will best be served through considerable increases in production volumes and accelerated growth. The population consisted of the seven OEMs and the 110 First Tier Suppliers. The results indicate a difference in government support between the vulnerable and non-vulnerable suppliers. The government has shown its commitment to the future of the automotive industry by policy interventions such as the Motor Industry Development Programme and the Automotive Production Development Programme. The question arises as to what extent the government’s guarantees are keeping the domestic automotive manufacturing industry sustainable? The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between government support and the sustainability of the South African automotive industry. The conclusion of the study is that the South African automotive industry and its suppliers would not be able to survive without continued government support. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), as one of the temporal logic, can generate a fully automated correct-by-design controller synthesis approach for single or multiple autonomous vehicles, under much more complex missions than the traditional point-to-point navigation.In this master thesis, a framework which combines model- checking-based robot motion planning with action planning is proposed based on LTL for-mulas. The specifications implicitly require both sequential regions for multi-agent to visit and the desired actions to perform at these regions while avoid-ing collision with each other and fixed obstacles. The high level motion and task planning and low level navigation function based collision avoidance controller are verified by nontrivial simulation and implementation on real quadcopter in Smart Mobility Lab.

Bakgrund: Kapital på börsen förflyttas fram och tillbaka mellan olika tillgångar, vilket ären naturlig del av diversifieringen i portföljer. När osäkerheten ökar i marknaden väljerinvesterare normalt att förflytta kapital från aktier till säkrare tillgångar som exempelvisobligationer, vilket beskrivs som Flight to Quality (FTQ). Däremot har räntorna efter denglobala finanskrisen 2008 varit historiskt låga och under vissa perioder negativa, vilket i sintur försvagar förflyttningen. Sverige har här utmärkt sig, genom att till skillnad från USA,fortsatt att sänka räntan och legat på låga nivåer under en väldigt lång tid. Därmed uppstårfunderingar kring hur förflyttningar av kapital har sett ut i Sverige de senaste 30 åren, samthur det senaste lågränteklimatet påverkar. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka förhållandet mellan avkastningen på noteradeobligationer och aktier i Sverige från 1993 till 2022. Studien ska även undersöka hur enlågräntemiljö påverkar förhållandet. Metod: OMXSPI samt BMSD10Y har använts för att beräkna avkastningen på aktierrespektive obligationer från databaserna Refinitiv Eikon samt Refinitiv Datastream. Urvaleti studien uppgick till 7271 respektive 1526 observationer. Genom en kvantitativ metod ochdeduktiv ansats har studien utgått från teorin gällande FTQ för att undersöka hurkorrelationen förändrats. Vidare har regressioner använts för att säkerställa påverkan pånivån av korrelationen samt hur ett lågränteklimat påverkar styrkan i FTQ. Slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisar att korrelationen mellan aktier och obligationer undertidsperioden har varit svagt negativ med fyra olika strukturella förändringar under perioden.Vidare visar studiens resultat att ett lågränteklimat under perioden har försvagat styrkan iFTQ:er som inträffat i Sverige mellan 1993 och 2022. Studien bidrar till litteraturen inomområdet korrelation mellan aktier och obligationers avkastningar, samt litteraturen kringlågränteklimats påverkan på finansiella marknader. / Background: Capital on the stock exchange is moved back and forth between differentassets, which is a natural part of the diversification of portfolios. When uncertainty increasesin the market, investors normally choose to move capital from equities to safer assets such asbonds, which is described as Flight to Quality (FTQ). On the other hand, interest rates afterthe global financial crisis in 2008 have been historically low and in some cases negative,which in turn weakens the capital movement. Sweden has distinguished itself, in that unlikethe United States, it has continued to lower its interest rates and have kept them at low levelsfor a very long time. This raises concerns about how capital movements over the past 30 yearshave developed in Sweden, and how the recent low interest rate climate is affecting. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between returns onstocks and bonds in Sweden from 1993 to 2022. The study will also investigate how a lowyield environment effects the relationship. Method: OMXSPI and BMSD10Y have been used to calculate the return on stocks andbonds from the databases Refinitiv Eikon and Refinitiv Datastream, respectively. The samplein the study amounted to 7271 and 1526 observations. Through a quantitative method anddeductive approach, the study has been based on the theory regarding FTQ to investigatehow the correlation has changed. Furthermore, regressions have been used to ensure theimpact on the level of the correlation and how a low interest rate climate affects the strengthof the FTQ. Conclusion: The result shows a weak negative correlation between returns on stocks andbonds during the time period, with four different structural breaks during the period.Furthermore, the results show that a low yield environment has weakened the strength of theFlights to Quality that have occurred in Sweden between 1993 and 2022. This studycontributes to the literature in the field of stock-bond return correlation and the field of lowyield effects on financial markets.

The research in permanent magnet thin films focuses on the search of new materials and methods to increase the prevalent data storage limit. In the recent past the work towards the application of these films to micro systems have also gained momentum. Materials like samarium cobalt with better magnetic properties and temperature stability are considered to be suitable in this regard. The essential requirement in miniaturization of these films is to deposit them on silicon substrates that can alleviate the micro fabrication process. In this work, an effort has been made to deposit SmCo films with better magnetic properties on silicon substrates. In the deposition of SmCo, the composition of the deposited films and the structural evolution are found to play an important role in determining the magnetic properties. Proper control over these parameters is essential in controlling the magnetic properties of the deposited films. SmCo being a two component material the composition of the films is dependent on the nature of the source and the transport of the material species from source to substrate. On the other hand, structural evolution is dependent on the energetical considerations between the SmCo lattice and substrate lattice. This most often is dominated by the lattice match between the condensing lattice and the substrate lattice. As such Si does not provide good lattice match to SmCo lattice. Hence suitable underlayers are essential in the deposition of these films. Materials like W, Cu, Mo and Cr were used as underlayers. Out of all these Cr is found to provide good lattice match and adhesion to SmCo lattice. Sputtering being the common deposition tool, SmCo could be sputtered either from the elemental targets of Sm and Co or from the compound target of SmCo5. Sputtering of elemental targets of Sm and Co provides the flexibility of varying the composition whereas sputtering from the SmCo alloy target provides to flexibility of controlling the structural evolution by different process parameters. In this work two different techniques namely Facing Target Sputtering (FTS) and Ion Beam Sputter Deposition (IBSD) were followed in depositing SmCo films. In FTS technique, SmCo films were directly deposited on silicon substrates by simultaneous sputtering of samarium and cobalt targets facing each other. This sputtering geometry enabled to achieve films with a wide composition range of 55 – 95 at. % of cobalt in single deposition. The resulting composition variation and material property variation were investigated in terms of process parameters like pressure, temperature, SubstrateTarget Distance (STD) and InterTarget Distance (ITD). The composition distribution of the films was found to be dependent on the thermalisation distances and the mean free path available during the transport. To explain the process and the composition variation, a simulation model based on Monte Carlo method has been employed. The simulated composition variation trends were in good agreement with that of the experimental observations. IBSD, known for its controlled deposition, was employed to deposit both Cr (as an underlayer) and SmCo films. Cr with close epitaxial match with SmCo induces structural evolution in deposited films. The initial growth conditions were found to play a dominant role in the structural evolution of these Cr films. Hence, initial growth conditions were modified by means of oblique incidence and preferential orientation of (200) plane was obtained. With three different angles of incidence, three different surface orientations of Cr films were achieved. These films were then used as structural templates in the deposition of SmCo films. The influence of parameters like composition, impurities, film thickness, beam energy, ion flux, annealing, angles of incidence and underlayer properties on the structural and magnetic properties of SmCo was studied. The structural evolution of SmCo has been found to depend on the structural orientation of Cr underlayers. This followed the structural relation of SmCo(100)||Cr(110)||Si(100) and SmCo(110)||Cr(100)||Si(100). A mixed surface plane orientation was observed in the case of mixed orientation Cr template. The magnetic coercivities were found to increase from 50 Oe to 5000 Oe with the change in the structure of the deposited films.

Die Fahrzeuglokalisierung ist im Bereich der Fahrerassistenzsysteme von entscheidender Bedeutung und Voraussetzung fur verschiedene Anwendungen der Robotik, wie z.B. Navigation oder Kollisionsvermeidung fur fahrerlose Transportsysteme (FTS). In dieser Arbeit wird ein Verfahren zur Lokalisierung mittels Landmarken vorgestellt, die eine Orientierung bezuglich einer Karte ermoglichen. Dabei werden der Erweiterte- Kalman-Filter und der Partikel-Filter fur diese Aufgabe untersucht und verglichen. Ein Schwerpunkt dieser Betrachtungen stellt dabei der Partikel-Filter dar. Die besondere Problematik der Initialisierung wird ausfuhrlich fur beide Filter dargestellt. Simulationen und Versuche zeigen, dass sich der Partikel-Filter fur eine robuste Lokalisierung der Fahrzeugposition verwenden lasst. Im Vergleich dazu kann der Erweiterte-Kalman-Filter nur im begrenzten Maße eingesetzt werden. / The localization of vehicles is of vital importance in the field of driver assistance systems and a requirement of different applications for robotics, i.e. navigation or collision avoidance for automatic guided vehicle systems. In this thesis an approach for localization by means of landmarks is introduced, which enables an orientation regarding a map. The extended Kalman filter and the particle filter are analyzed and compared. The main focus for this consideration is on the particle filter. The problematic for initialization is discussed in detail for both filters. Simulations and tests prove that the particle filter is suitable for robust localization of the vehicle position. Compared to this, the extended Kalman filter can only be used to a certain extend.

Nano-scaled carbons were produced by thermal treatment of pine wood chips and bio-char. The influence of temperature, heating rate, pyrolysis time, and type and flow rate of purge gas on the production of nano-carbons was investigated. Using TEM and SEM, different carbon-based nanomaterials were observed in the prepared samples. The effect of metal ion doping on the bio-char was also investigated. Highly functionalized nano carbonaceous materials were synthesized by low temperature hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) using glucose, sucrose, xylose, and cellulose. Carbon-encapsulated iron (Fe@C) core-shell particles were also synthesized by the HTC method and used as catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce liquid hydrocarbons from syngas; it showed excellent activity. Nano-structured Co-Mo carbides over several nano-sized carbon materials were prepared using the carbothermal reduction and carbothermal hydrogen reduction methods. Nano-structured Co-Mo carbides derived from Vulcan® XC-72 were used as the catalyst to produce higher alcohols.