Aim. The take-off is regarded as the most important phase of the pole vault yet there is an insufficient amount of research on the ground reaction forces of the pole vault takeoff. At this time there is not any scientific research comparing force and time between takeoffs that are out, on and under. The purpose of this study is to compare the differences in ground reaction forces between pole vault take-offs that are out, on or under. Methods. Over five days, 15 male and female college pole vaulters completed 226 vaults on a (AMTI Accupower) force plate. The jumps were put into categories of out, on and under and analyzed by Accupower, and Dartfish software. Separate mixed modal ANOVAs (SAS 9.3) were applied (P≤.05) for comparison between jump types. Conclusions. There is no significant difference between ground reaction forces of the three jump types.

This thesis investigates the use of an active anti-roll bar as a means of improving the handling of an off-road vehicle. The active anti-roll bar consists of a stiff anti-roll bar and a hydraulic actuator at the one end between the anti-roll bar and the rear axle of the vehicle. The system is designed so that the anti-roll bar can be preloaded in both directions by the actuator. The displacement of the hydraulic actuator is close loop controlled to be a function of the lateral acceleration of the vehicle, which is measured by an accelerometer. For this study, full vehicle simulations were done in ADAMS/View to predict the response of the proposed solutions. A Land Rover Defender 110 was used as the test vehicle to verify the results of the simulations. Constant radius tests and the severe double-lane-change manoeuvre, which are standard handling tests, were used to determine the vehicle’s handling performance. Handling performance was quantified by measuring the body roll angle during the manoeuvre and noting the maximum roll angle. The effect of the active anti-roll bar on ride comfort was measured by driving over Belgian paving at a constant speed. The results show that the proposed system reduces the body roll angle to zero up to a lateral acceleration of 0.4 g during steady state handling and provided a 74% improvement in maximum body roll angle during a double-lane-change-manoeuvre at 70 km/h. The system has no detrimental effect on the ride comfort of the vehicle. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

Vehicle dynamic simulations form a significant part of the design and development process of vehicles. These simulations are used to study and improve the vehicle’s durability, ride comfort and handling capabilities. All forces acting on the vehicle are either generated in the tyre-road interface or are due to aerodynamic effects, where at low speeds the latter one can be ignored. The accuracy of the tyre model describing the forces on the tyre-road interface is thus of exceptional importance. It ensures that the simulation model is an accurate representation of the actual vehicle. Various approaches are adopted when developing mathematical tyre models. Many of these models are developed to study the handling capabilities of passenger cars over a smooth road. Passenger car tyres are the focal point as larger tyres introduce some difficulties due to their size and load rating. Off-road truck tyres also differ in their construction which will influence force and moment generation of the tyre. Research efforts are increasing to meet the need of tyre models that can describe the behaviour of the tyre over uneven terrain with sufficient accuracy. This thesis addresses the question of whether existing mathematical tyre models can accurately describe the forces and moments generated by a large off-road tyre while driving over rough terrain. The complexity of different mathematical tyre models varies greatly, as does the parameterisation efforts required to obtain the model parameters. The parameterization of most tyre models relies on some experimental test data that is used to extract the necessary information to fit model parameters. The selection of a suitable tyre model for a simulation is often dependent on the availability of such experimental data and the effort to identify the required parameters. In this study the parameterisation process for four different tyre models, are discussed in detail to highlight the difficulties in acquiring the test data and the effort to parameterize the model. The models considered are the One Point Contact, 3D Equivalent Volume contact, 3D Enveloping Contact and FTire model. Experimental measurements are conducted on a 16.00R20 Michelin XZL tyre. Laboratory tests, as well as field tests, over discrete obstacles and uneven hard surfaces are used for parameterisation and validation purposes. Simulation results are compared to experimental test data to determine whether the models could be used to describe the tyre road interactions with sufficient accuracy. Recommendations are made for tyre model selection and model accuracy for simulations over rough off-road surfaces. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

Ingeniero Civil Industrial / En Chile los emprendimientos de base tecnológica universitarios (EBTU o Spin-Offs) enfrentan grandes desafíos al buscar financiamiento en etapas tempranas de desarrollo, pues a diferencia de la mayoría de los emprendimientos, que tienen un riesgo de mercado, estos tienen además un riesgo tecnológico, asociado a los costos e incertidumbres por pasar de una prueba de concepto a un producto comercialmente viable. En la transferencia tecnológica universitaria y en particular a través de los EBTU existe un gran potencial de creación de empleo, aumento de la inversión, diversificación productiva y bienestar social, y la Universidad en los últimos tres años ha participado exitosamente en esta forma de transferencia, habiendo logrado la creación de 15 EBTU. Sin embargo, uno de los problemas críticos ha sido el financiamiento en etapas tempranas, y esto no es solo en la Universidad de Chile, es un tema nacional. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este trabajo es diseñar una estrategia para gestionar de manera efectiva y eficaz el financiamiento en etapas tempranas de emprendimientos de base científica y tecnológica de la Universidad de Chile. Para lo anterior se levantaron las mejores prácticas internacionales con el objetivo de definir criterios de diseño de modelos de desarrollo para el financiamiento de los EBTU y se realizó un diagnostico institucional de la Universidad de Chile, para determinar la institucionalidad necesaria para el financiamiento y desarrollo gobernable de los EBTU mediante la vinculación con inversionistas de riesgo en etapas tempranas. Luego se elaboró una estrategia y planes de acción a partir del análisis del atractivo de la industria del financiamiento de riesgo en etapas tempranas en Chile. La estrategia propone la creación de una nueva Unidad Funcional enfocada en apoyar a los EBTU, y entre los resultados esperados se proyecta duplicar la cantidad de los emprendimientos del plan estratégico actual al año 2020, generando un importante impacto en el empleo, aumento de la inversión, diversificación productiva y bienestar social.

The challenge of managing the present and projected electricity energy needs along with targets of mitigating CO2 emissions leads to the need for energy systems to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and rely on more energy from renewable sources. The integration of more renewable energy technologies to meet present and future electricity demand leads to more challenges in matching the trade-o between economic, resilient, reliable and environmentally friendly solutions. Energy storage technologies can provide temporal resilience to energy systems by solving these challenges. Energy storage systems can improve the reliability of energy systems by reducing the mismatch between supply and demand due to the intermittency of renewable energy sources. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of various energy storage systems, analyzing their speci c characteristics including capital cost, e ciency, lifetime and their usefulness in di erent applications. Di erent hybrid energy systems are designed to analyze the impacts of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and energy storage systems in residential on-grid and o -grid buildings and districts. An optimization analysis is performed to determine which technology combinations provide the most economic solution to meet electric energy demands. The optimization analysis is solved using the "energy hub" model formulation which optimizes energy system operation and capacity of di erent technologies. Di erent energy systems can be optimized by using energy hub model, including multiple input energy carriers that are converted to multiple energy outputs. The analysis in this thesis employs a building simulation tool to model residential building, and real data sets to explore the di erent electricity pro le e ects on the results. The environmental e ect of hybrid energy systems comparing with base cases of conventional energy systems or grid connection are also analyzed. Results show that the feasibility of energy storage systems is a factor of di erent variables including capital cost of energy converters and energy storage systems, cost of input streams (grid electricity in on-grid systems and diesel fuel in o -grid systems, energy demand pro les and availability of renewable energy sources. The on-grid single and district buildings do not select storage technologies at current costs due to cheap grid electricity. Reduction in the cost of renewable energy technologies and/or energy storage systems (e.g. Li-ion batteries) results in more energy storage installations. In o -grid systems (single buildings and districts), Li-ion battery and pumped hydro are the main storage systems that can balance the daily and seasonal energy demands. / Graduate / 2021-03-13

Hur stor påverkan skattemässiga hänsyn har på bolags kapitalstrukturer har i forskningen länge varit omdebatterat. Sverige införde 2019 en begränsning av de avdrag bolag tidigare har kunnat göra på sina negativa räntenetton, vilket i sin tur minskat den skattemässiga fördelen av en hög skuldsättning. Denna studie undersöker hur svenska bolag anpassat sin kapitalstruktur vid införandet av de nya ränteavdragsbegränsningsreglerna som infördes 2019. Genom att studera data från alla bolag från Stockholmsbörsen, göra ett urval utifrån relevanta faktorer och konstruera jämförelseindex som mäter förändringen av ett flertal relevanta kvoter har förändringen av bolagens kapitalstruktur observerats mellan åren 2018 och 2019. Studiens resultat visar att de svenska börsbolagen överlag inte anpassat sina kapitalstrukturer efter att de nya ränteavdragsbegränsingarna införts 2019. Istället har en procentuell ökning av skuldsättningsgrad och räntekostnader som andel av både tillgångar och EBITDA kunnat observerats, i motsats till vad tidigare forskning visat på.

Good bond strength between overlay and substrate is a key factor in performance of concrete repairs. This thesis was aimed at studying the evaluation of bond strength between repair material and substrate at the interface. Many factors such as surface roughness, existence of micro cracks, compaction, curing etc influence the bond strength. The quality assurance of the bond strength requires test methods that can quantify the bond strength as well as identify the failure mode. There have been numerous investigations led to development of different test methods. The forces which are applied in each test and the failure mode are important in order to choose the proper test. An interpretive study on test methods is presented. While this study can provide individually useful information on bond strength and bond characterization, it also contains discussions about each test and comparison of test methods.

RNA interference (RNAi) is widely used to specifically silence the expression of any gene to study its function and to identify and validate therapeutic targets. Despite the popularity of this technology, recent studies have shown that RNAi may also silence non-targeted genes. Here we demonstrate the utility of a quick, efficient and robust approach to directly validate the specificity of RNAi as an alternative to indirect validation of RNAi through gene expression profiling. Our approach involves reversing (complementing) the RNAi-induced phenotype by introducing a synthetic version of the target gene that is designed to escape silencing. This synthetic gene complementation approach can also be used for mutational analysis of the target gene, or to provide a functional version of a defective protein after silencing the defective gene by RNAi. Using this approach we demonstrate that the loss of systemic acquired resistance, a form of innate immunity in plants, is indeed due to the silencing of salicylic acid-binding protein 2 rather than to off-target effects.

This project was done at Mälardalens University at the school of Innovation, Design & Engineering. The project is a thesis of 15hp for the program in innovation and product design, the project began in spring 2018 and was completed in the summer 2020, its focus on design and construction with regards to, among other things, the environment. The work covers a project development process where a self-sufficient accommodation inside of a shipping container is designed and constructed with a goal to end in an overall construction. The project is not for a company but comes from an individual idea where the result is presented in the form of a report and a entailed CAD-assembly of the accommodations different parts. The content and construction of the accommodation is produced with the first phases of the project development processes, information is collected, concepts are created, and solutions are designed. These phases are iterated so that the result generates a as solid base as possible. Through the work process, the environment and cost are of great importance. The result of the project was an accommodation, which for a week is self-sufficient in electricity and water usage for one person. The resulting accommodation includes; bathroom with shower and toilet, kitchen with sink and gas-hob, electricity and water central where electricity and water is stored and processed, and bed, table and storage. All these functions are located on a floor area of 9,3 m2. The accommodation is constructed in CAD, where its different systems have been developed and designed at a basic level for easy further work at a detail level. The accommodation is not fully designed/constructed but provides an overall plan on how this type of accommodation can be created and its approximate cost, 95´000:-. The solutions and costs may differ in the realization of the accommodation as certain delimitations were made so that this work could be carried out. The project har several development directions where the focus can be within; detail development, selfsufficient living, or temporary conventional accommodation. / Detta examensarbete gjordes på Mälardalens Högskola på akademin för Innovation, Design Teknik. Arbetet är ett examensarbete på 15hp för programmet i innovation och produktdesign, arbetet påbörjades våren 2018 och slutfördes sommaren 2020, det är inriktat på design och konstruktion med avseende på bland annat miljö. Arbetet består av en produktutvecklingsprocess där ett självförsörjande boende inuti en container designas och konstrueras med avseende att sluta i en övergriplig konstruktion. Arbetet sker inte mot ett företag utan kommer från en individuell idé där resultatet presenteras i form av en rapport och en medförande CAD-sammanställning som utgör boendets olika delar. Boendets innehåll och konstruktion har tagitsfram med hjälp av produktutvecklingsprocessens första faser, insamlad information leder till koncept som leder till lösningar. Dessa faser itereras för att resultatet ska generera en så ordentlig bas som möjligt. Genom arbetets gång har miljö och kostnad stor vikt. Resultatet blev ett boende vilket under en veckas period är självförsörjande av el och vatten för en person. Boendet inkluderar; badrum med dusch och toalett, kök med diskho och gasolplatta, el-och vatten-central där el och vatten förvaras och processas, och säng, bord och förvaring. Alla dessa funktioner ligger på en golvyta av 9,3 m2.Boendet är konstruerat i CAD där dess olika delsystem tagits fram och designats på grundnivå för enkelt vidarearbete av detaljnivå. Boendet är inte designat/konstruerat till fullo utan ger en övergriplig plan om hur ett boende av denna typ kan skapas och dess ungefärliga kostnad, 95 ́000:-. Boendets lösningaroch kostnader kan skilja sig vid förverkligandet av boendet då vissa avgränsningar gjordes för att detta arbete skulle kunna genomföras. Arbetet har flera potentiella utvecklingsriktningar där fokus kan ligga inom; detaljutveckling, självförsörjning, eller portabelt temporärt konventionell boende.

With the development of digital technology during the last decade and the improvement of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), it has become easier for various scientific fields to predict and extrapolate data. Various organisations and institutions continuously develop algorithms and software to assist with specific challenges in multiple fields of science. These technologies and principles have also been effectively applied in the soil science field of pedology. Traditional soil mapping, although effective, is time consuming, arduous and expensive. It is thus important to develop methods whereby the soil forms of an area can be identified faster while providing accurate information to the reader/ user. Conservation areas, such as Phinda Private Game Reserve (Phinda), which covers a large area (greater than 28 000 ha) can benefit from a soil map. The importance of a proper soil map has a great many uses in conservation, but not every organisation or individual can afford it. This is where digital soil mapping (DSM) or Predictive Soil Mapping (PSM) comes into its own. Substantial research and development have been done in the form of methodology and software systems for DSM although it has not been effectively applied to conservation management. By applying these techniques, accurate and interactive soil maps were developed without the burdensome expenses or dangers associated with traditional soil observations in a conservation area. The application of DSM and the use of the soil land inference model (SoLIM) at Phinda resulted in maps based on the Fey soil-form classification as well as a soil sensitivity index (SSI). The SSI was developed based on the various soil forms present at Phinda and the factors that determine its sensitivity to various types of degradation. These digital maps indicated accuracies of 71% (Fey classification) and 72% for the SSI. The kappa values indicated a substantial agreement (0.63) for the Fey classification map and a moderate agreement (0.57) for the SSI map. The SSI was then combined with the predator sightings and the location of infrastructure and commercial lodges to derive the agreement of activities, game drives, which includes off-road driving (ORD) on sensitive soils. As erosion is a concerning problem, predominantly caused by human activities within Phinda, it was necessary to use the SSI map as a base of comparison. This digitally produced soil map will be presented to the conservation management at Phinda whereby planning can be conducted, literally, from the ground up. Proper planning will thus prevent a loss of soil and consequently a loss of biodiversity. All the information was then combined to developed recommendations for Phinda as to improve the overall road network by upgrading, removing and rehabilitating certain roads and provide advice concerning ORD. These decisions, in turn, prevent long-term soil and biodiversity loss while still providing clients with a true African bush experience. / College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences