This paper improves upon the methods for modelling the determinants of PGA TOUR golfers’ performance-based earnings by incorporating the most recent and accurate PGA TOUR statistics while controlling for year and individual fixed effects. Using a panel of golfers from the 2004 through 2011 PGA TOUR seasons, I find that a one standard deviation improvement in putting renders the average golfer 27 percent additional earnings; meanwhile, the same degree of improvement in driving distance offers only 14 percent more earnings. Even as PGA TOUR golf course yardages and driving distances continue to grow, this study shows that improved driving distance yields are no greater than those to scrambling, greens in regulation, or strokes gained-putting.

Title: Selected performance indicators of professional golf players. Objectives: The aim is to identify and describe the functional characteristics of elite golf players on the selected parameters of a body composition, a postural stability and a grip strength. Methods: The theoretical part has been processed on the basis of literature search. Participants were professional golf players and coaches (n = 36). Parameters of body composition were measured by the In Body 3.0 and the Datainput BIA 2000, the postural stability was measured by the pressure plate Footscan and the grip strength was measured by the hand dynamometer T.K.K. 5401. Results: In selected parameters of body composition and postural stability achieve elite golfer's good results. Especially in the parameters body mass index (BMI) and % fat came good to excellent results. The grip strength of hand located below on the "grip" is larger than the strength of hand located above on the "grip". The relation between game performance (level of HCP) and selected parameters was not confirmed. Only a slight relation between the HCP and the handgrip strength of hand based above on the "grip" were found. Keywords: Golf, performance, body composition, postural stability, grip strength.

Master of Science / Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Shuting Lei / Polyglycolic acid (PGA) is an important polymer in the field of tissue engineering. It has many favorable properties such as biocompatibility, bioabsorbability, high melting point, low solubility in organic solvents, high tensile strength and is used in a variety of medical related applications. Currently there are various methods such felting, stitching, use of binder/adhesive for joining the non woven meshes of PGA polymer in order to make suitable three dimensional scaffolds. The existing methods for joining the non woven meshes of PGA polymer are usually time consuming and not very flexible. Thus there is a need for a better technique that would overcome the drawbacks of the existing methods. Laser welding offers potential advantages such as high welding rates, easy to automate, improved seam and single sided access such that welds can be performed under various layers of fabric. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to conduct a fundamental study on laser welding of non woven PGA scaffold felts. An experimental setup for spot welding is built that would assist in the formation of tubular structures. A factorial design of experiments is used to study the effects of the operating parameters such as laser power, beam diameter, time duration and pressure on the weld quality. The weld quality is assessed in terms of weld strength and weld diameter. Based on the parametric study, a regression analysis is carried out to form correlations between weld quality and the operating parameters, which could be used to select the optimal operating conditions. The successful welds obtained by the laser welding process have no discoloration and are stronger than the tensile strength of the original non woven sheets of PGA biofelt.

The subject of the thesis is study of possible applications of isoform of glutamic acid polymer (-PGA). The theoretical part is focused on the properties of this biopolymer and potential applications in various areas. Producers and mechanisms of biosynthesis are also mentioned. In the experimental part, the polymer was firstly characterised by following methods: FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA, DSC and SEC-MALS. Its isoelectric point, antimicrobial activity and solubility in various solvents were also determined. The biopolymer was also precipitated by divalent cations and its interaction with oppositely charged CTAB surfactant was studied. The main experimental study was researching the effect of -PGA on viability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus rhamnosus under stress conditions by flow cytometry. The performed stresses included ethanol exposure, high temperature and freezing stress, in which its effects were compared to conventional cryoprotectants. The cells of the mentioned microorganisms were also stressed osmotically and exposed to model gastrointestinal juices - gastric, pancreatic and bile. The protective effects of -PGA on the cells were recorded in ethanol stress on Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Its excellent cryoprotection properties were confirmed and its protective effect of gastric juice exposure on Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells was also observed. At the end of the experimental part, -PGA/alginate beads suitable for encapsulation of probiotic bacteria and -PGA/chitosan nanoparticles for encapsulation of biologically active substances.

This study examines the different skills necessary for PGA tour players to succeed at specific annual tournaments, in order to create a predictive model for DraftKings PGA contests. The model takes into account data from the PGA Tour ShotLink Intelligence Program. The predictive model is created each week based on past results from the specific tournament in question, with the hope of predicting a group of twenty-five players who should be successful based on their statistical profile. The results of the model are detailed in this paper, which covers the first nine weeks of the 2017 PGA Tour season, with a net profit of $45,070. Despite a positive profit there is not enough information to prove significance, so the model would need to be carried out for many more weeks to be conclusive. Ultimately, the study shows that each PGA Tour course is slightly different, which means certain players should be more successful at certain courses, which is valuable information for predicting future outcomes.

Each year the top 125 players on the PGA TOUR money list receive fully exempt status for the upcoming season. Past literature looks at the determinants that led to success for the top professionals on the PGA TOUR. Instead, I look at the determinants of finishing inside the top 125 on the PGA TOUR money list and retaining one’s TOUR card. I analyze the difference both statistically and in future earnings between finishing 100-125th on the money list and 126-150th. This paper finds that greens and regulation and putting have the largest effect on retaining a TOUR card while driving distance and accuracy are significant but at a much lower level. Future studies should look into the tradeoff between playing on the PGA TOUR and less marque tours like the Web.com as it can affect one’s earnings greatly.

A Pressão intracraniana (PIC) é um dos principais parâmetros fisiológicos em animais e humanos e sua morfologia é extremamente importante. Entretanto, todos os métodos de monitoramento existentes no mercado são invasivos, existindo uma ampla demanda por sistemas não invasivos, expandindo assim o campo de pesquisas acerca desse importante parâmetro neurológico, que só não é melhor estudado devido a forma invasiva de ser monitorado. A motivação é fazer com que o monitoramento da PIC seja tão comum e tão essencial quanto é hoje o monitoramento da pressão arterial, facilitando o diagnóstico e até prognóstico de diversas doenças. Este trabalho analisa e implementa melhorias de um sistema não invasivo de monitoramento da pressão intracraniana, baseado em extensometria. Um dos objetivos, no que tange o desenvolvimento do produto, é analisar o equipamento como um todo - Sensor, Hardware, Firmware e Software - e propor melhorias a partir dos testes realizados. Os testes realizados In vivo mostraram uma boa correlação do sinal com um sistema Gold Stardard, evidenciando o potencial promissor do método. / The intracranial pressure (ICP) is one of the main physiological parameters in animals and humans and its morphology is extremely important. However, all monitoring methods available in the market are invasive and there is a large demand for non-invasive systems, thus expanding the scope of research on this important neurological parameter, that just is not further studied because of the invasive method of monitoring. The motivation is to make monitoring the ICP as common and as essential, as monitoring the blood pressure is nowadays, facilitating diagnosis and even prognosis of various diseases. This work analyzes and implements improvements in a non-invasive intracranial pressure monitoring system based on extensometer. One of the goals, regarding product development, is to analyze the unit as a whole- Sensor, Hardware, Firmware and Software- and propose improvements from the tests. The in vivo tests showed a good correlation with a Gold Stardard system signal showing the promising potential of the method.

A Pressão intracraniana (PIC) é um dos principais parâmetros fisiológicos em animais e humanos e sua morfologia é extremamente importante. Entretanto, todos os métodos de monitoramento existentes no mercado são invasivos, existindo uma ampla demanda por sistemas não invasivos, expandindo assim o campo de pesquisas acerca desse importante parâmetro neurológico, que só não é melhor estudado devido a forma invasiva de ser monitorado. A motivação é fazer com que o monitoramento da PIC seja tão comum e tão essencial quanto é hoje o monitoramento da pressão arterial, facilitando o diagnóstico e até prognóstico de diversas doenças. Este trabalho analisa e implementa melhorias de um sistema não invasivo de monitoramento da pressão intracraniana, baseado em extensometria. Um dos objetivos, no que tange o desenvolvimento do produto, é analisar o equipamento como um todo - Sensor, Hardware, Firmware e Software - e propor melhorias a partir dos testes realizados. Os testes realizados In vivo mostraram uma boa correlação do sinal com um sistema Gold Stardard, evidenciando o potencial promissor do método. / The intracranial pressure (ICP) is one of the main physiological parameters in animals and humans and its morphology is extremely important. However, all monitoring methods available in the market are invasive and there is a large demand for non-invasive systems, thus expanding the scope of research on this important neurological parameter, that just is not further studied because of the invasive method of monitoring. The motivation is to make monitoring the ICP as common and as essential, as monitoring the blood pressure is nowadays, facilitating diagnosis and even prognosis of various diseases. This work analyzes and implements improvements in a non-invasive intracranial pressure monitoring system based on extensometer. One of the goals, regarding product development, is to analyze the unit as a whole- Sensor, Hardware, Firmware and Software- and propose improvements from the tests. The in vivo tests showed a good correlation with a Gold Stardard system signal showing the promising potential of the method.

This study compares the predictive ability of newly introduced strokes gained measures on PGA Tour earnings performance with that of more conventional golf statistics. It is found that the strokes gained measures explain slightly more of the variability in the distribution of earnings. Strokes gained on the approach shot are determined to be the most valuable relative to the other strokes gained metrics.

<p>Due to rapid growth of home entertainment consumer market, video technology has been continuously pushed to deliver sharper pictures with higher resolution. This has brought about stringent requirements on the video analog front end, which often coupled with the low power and low voltage regulations had to deal with short channel effects of the deep submicron CMOS processes.</p><p>This thesis presents the design of a fully differential programmable gain amplifier, as a subcircuit of a larger video digitizing IC designed at division of Electronic Systems. The switched capacitor architecture of the PGA does not only buffer the signal, but performs compensation for the sync-tip of analog video signal.</p><p>The pseudo differential OTA eliminates tail current source and maintains high signal swing and has efficient common mode feedforward mechanism. When coupled with a similar stage provides inherent common moode feedback without using an additional SC-CMFB block.</p><p>The PGA has been implemented using a 65 nm digital CMOS process. Expected difficulties in a 1.2 V OTA design make themselves evident in 65 nm, which is why cascaded OTA structures were inevitable for attaining gain specification of 60 dB. Nested Miller compensation with a pole shifting source follower, stabilizes the multipole system. The final circuit attains up to 200 MHz bandwidth and maintains high output swing of 0.85 V. High slew rate and good common mode and power supply rejection are observed. Noise requirements require careful design of input differential stage. Although output source follower stabilized the system, it reduces significant bandwidth and adds to second order non-linearity.</p>