The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of ultra-distance runners' experiences of running ultra-distance races. The study is based on six interviews with participants who have ever run an ultra-distance race, a race with a distance longer than 42,195 meters. Through a qualitative approach, a semi-structured interview guide and thematic analysis as an analysis tool, the collected data has been generated in four themes; nutrition and energy - to physically cope all the way, social support and cooperation during the race - a sense of belonging, goal-oriented behavior and self-control to confirm self-efficacy and test boundaries. The first theme aims to tell about the participants' reflections on energy and nutrition to cope all the way, as the stomach is often a common reason why you need to interrupt a race. The second theme explains the importance of social support and cooperation during the course of, among other things, the distraction of other challenges. The third theme describes goal-oriented behavior and the need for self-control among the participants. The fourth and final theme explains testing limits, which includes their need to test the body's mental and physical abilities to the limit. The study's conclusion shows that the participants' experiences have many common aspects in terms of their experiences. Their experience is characterized by stressors in the form of physical pain, lack of energy, mental strain and doubt. At the same time, social support and cooperation was the clearest theme throughout all interviews. Their experiences of running ultra-races stand out when it comes to testing limits. They seek to get through challenges and to test what the body can accomplish, and are happy to do so in community or in collaboration with others. It is based on confirmation of one's own ability to cope with something that is difficult and to feel group affiliation with other ultra runners. / Syftet med studien var att få en djupare förståelse om ultradistanslöpares upplevelser av att springa ultradistanslopp. Studien utgår ifrån sex stycken intervjuer med deltagare som någon gång har sprungit ett ultradistanslopp, alltså ett lopp med längre distans än 42195 meter. Genom kvalitativ ansats, semistrukturerad intervjuguide och tematisk analys som analysverktyg har den insamlade datan genererat i fyra teman; näring och energi - för att fysiskt klara hela vägen, socialt stöd och samarbete under loppet - en känsla av samhörighet, målinriktat beteende och självkontroll för att bekräfta självförmågan och testa gränserna.   Det första temat avser berätta om deltagarnas reflektioner kring energi och näring för att klara hela vägen, då magen ofta är en vanligt orsak till att man behöver avbryta ett lopp. Det andra temat förklarar vikten av socialt stöd och samarbete under loppet för bland annat distraktion av andra utmaningar. Det tredje temat beskriver målinriktat beteende och behovet av självkontroll hos deltagarna. Det fjärde och sista temat förklarar att testa gränser, vilket omfattar deras behov av att testa kroppens mentala och fysiska förmågor till det yttersta.    Studiens slutsats visar att deltagarnas upplevelser har många gemensamma aspekter vad det gäller deras upplevelser. Deras upplevelse präglas av stressorer i form av fysisk smärta, bristande energi, psykisk påfrestning och tvivel. Samtidigt som socialt stöd och samarbete var det mest tydligt genomgående temat i alla intervjuer. Deras upplevelser av att springa ultralopp utmärker sig vad det gäller att testa gränser. De söker att ta sig igenom utmaningar och att testa vad kroppen klarar av att åstadkomma, och gör det gärna i gemenskap eller i samarbete med andra. Det grundar sig i bekräftelse av den egna förmågan att klara av något som är svårt samt att känna gruppsamhörighet med andra ultralöpare.

Health coaching is a relatively new integrated health role in which practitioners use a combination of behavioral interventions to evoke health-related behavior changes; however, there is a lack of valid evidence to support health-based claims. We investigated the effect of an approximation of a health coaching intervention on three college students' number of steps per day. We provided participants with weekly telehealth coaching sessions focused on goal-setting and feedback and used Fitbits to track the results. We used a multiple baseline across participants design to compare daily steps across four phases; self-monitoring, self-monitoring with experimenter-set goals and feedback, self-monitoring with participant-set goals and feedback, and finally, a choice phase in which participants could continue to set their own goals or have the experimenter set goals for them. All experimenter-set goals were selected using a weekly percentile schedule. In aggregate, all participants took more steps in the goal-setting phases than during the self-monitoring only phase. However, there was no notable difference between self-set goals and experimenter-set goals. When offered, all participants chose to continue the intervention for an additional one to two weeks.

Crashes categorized as running red light or left turning are most likely to occur at signalized intersections and resulted in substantial severe injuries and property damages. This dissertation mainly focused on these two types of vehicle crashes and the research methodology involved several perspectives. To examine the overall characteristics of red-light running and left-turning crashes, firstly, this study applied 1999-2001 Florida traffic crash data to investigate the accident propensity of three aspects of risk factors related to traffic environments, driver characteristics, and vehicle types. A quasi-induced exposure concept and statistical techniques including classification tree model and multiple logistic regression were used to perform this analysis. Secondly, the UCF driving simulator was applied to test the effect of a proposed new pavement marking countermeasure which purpose is to reduce the red-light running rate at signalized intersections. The simulation experiment results showed that the total red-light running rate with marking is significantly lower than that without marking. Moreover, deceleration rate of stopping drivers with marking for the higher speed limit are significantly less than those without marking. These findings are encouraging and suggesting that the pavement marking may result in safety enhancement as far as right-angle and rear-end traffic crashes at signalized intersections. Thirdly, geometric models to compute sight distances of unprotected left-turns were developed for different signalized intersection configurations including a straight approach leading to a straight one, a straight approach leading to a curved one, and a curved approach leading to a curved one. The models and related analyses can be used to layout intersection design or evaluate the sight distance problem of an existing intersection configuration to ensure safe left-turn maneuvers by drivers.

The rise of cryptocurrencies has brought with it new math problems with new sets of constraints. The MEV problem entails solving for the ordering of pending trades that maximizes a block creator's profit. In decentralized finance, time is a big constraint, so an exhaustive search of all possible orderings is impossible. I propose a solution to the MEV problem that gives a near optimal result that can be solved in a reasonable amount of time. I layout the method and the formulas required for my solution. Additionally, I test my solution on synthesized data to show that it works as desired.

Genome-wide association studies have identified adenylyl cyclase type 5 (ADCY5) as candidate gene for diabetes-related quantitative traits and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Mice with a whole-body deletion of Adcy5 (Adcy5–/–) do not develop obesity, glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, have improved cardiac function and increased longevity. Here, we investigated Adcy5 knockout mice (Adcy5–/–) to test the hypothesis that changes in adipose tissue (AT) may contribute to the reported healthier phenotype. In contrast to previous reports, we found that deletion of Adcy5 did not confer any physiological or biochemical benefits. However, this unexpected finding allowed us to investigate the effects of Adcy5 depletion on AT independently of lower body weight and a metabolically healthier phenotype. Adcy5–/– mice exhibited an increased number of smaller adipocytes, lower mean adipocyte size and a distinct AT gene expression pattern with midline 1 (Mid1) as the most significantly downregulated gene compared to control mice. Our Adcy5–/– model challenges previously described beneficial effects of Adcy5 deficiency and suggests that targeting Adcy5 does not improve insulin sensitivity and may therefore limit the relevance of ADCY5 as potential drug target.

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A multi-body simulation study was undertaken to investigate the running behavior of a rail grinder vehicle with newly developed Ganz bogies. The main purpose of the simulations was to forecast and support the vehicle acceptance tests and support the ongoing development. A multi-body model was built in Simpack and the most critical force elements were isolated and validated by tests. Derailment safety was assessed based on both European and Australian standards. The vehicle's running stability was carried out for both standard (1435mm) and broad gauge (1676mm) versions. Vehicle sway characteristics were determined through the calculation of flexibility coefficient both numerically and analytically. A parametric study for primary vertical damper was undertaken to assess the empirically selected dampers and optimize the performance. The results show that the damping coefficient can be greatly reduced while maintaining acceptable running behavior, thus the lifetime of dampers can be increased. Based on stability investigations, yaw damper installation is not necessary, though the bracketry for the possibility of later installation will remain on the prototype bogie. / En flerkroppssimulering genomfördes med hjälp av Simpack med syfte att undersöka gångegenskaperna hos ett järnvägsslipfordon, med boggi som nyligen utvecklats av Ganz. Huvudsyftet bakom simuleringarna var att förutspå - och underlätta godkännandet av fordonets acceptanskrav samt underlätta pågående utveckling.  En flerkroppsmodell konstruerades och de mest kritiska kraftbärande elementen undersöktes - och verifierades separat med hjälp av tester. Säkerhetsaspekterna kring urspårning undersöktes utifrån både europeiska och australiska standarder. Fordonets gångstabilitet bedömdes med både standard - samt bred spårviddsvarianter. Fordonets svängningsegenskaper bestämdes genom att genomföra beräkningar av flexibilitetskonstanten både numeriskt och analytiskt.  En parameterstudie genomfördes för fordonets primära vertikala dämpare med avsikt att evaluera empiriskt valda dämpare samt optimera prestanda. Resultaten visar att dämpningskoefficienten avsevärt kan minskas samtidigt som acceptabel rullningsförmåga behålls, vilket därmed förlänger dämparens livstid. Installation av girdämpare är inte nödvändigt, baserat på stabilitetsundersökningar, dock behålls fästen på boggi-prototypen för att möjliggöra framtida monteringar av sådana element.

Using an ecological perspective, the current research developed a theoretical framework that suggests that environmental and personal resources related to physically active leisure, as well as the interactions between them, contribute to well-being. A distance-running event was examined as an environmental resource for enhancing global life satisfaction, a key measure of subjective well-being. In contrast, the constructs of behavioral involvement and psychological involvement were used to measure personal resources resulting from physically active leisure. The proposed framework was tested with a set of three studies in which participants were recruited through a survey panel from a 10-mile distance-running event in the US. Study 1 performed a partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis to examine whether the distance-running event contributed to behavioral and psychological involvement and whether such involvement, in turn, promoted global life satisfaction. By using longitudinal data over a 5-month period, Study 2 used a latent growth modeling approach to investigate whether the distance running event was able to enhance participants' psychological involvement and whether such change promoted global life satisfaction. Study 3 conducted a moderated mediation analysis to examine the influence of personality, behavioral and psychological involvement, and two environmental resources of the distance running event and an organized running club on global life satisfaction. The results of the three studies suggest that a distance-running event can serve as an environmental resource that promotes participants' behavioral involvement and psychological involvement in the activity. The results also indicate that psychological involvement plays an important role in promoting global life satisfaction, whereas behavioral involvement may be insufficient to promote global life satisfaction. Overall, the current research contributes to the sport management and leisure literature by providing scholars with a new way of understanding the benefits of physically active leisure. The findings from the current research also provide practical implications for government and community leaders to enhance people's well-being by promoting physically active leisure in their cities and communities. / Tourism and Sport