In the field of structural engineering it is of vital importance that the condition of an ageing structure is monitored to detect damages that could possibly lead to failure of the structure. Over the past few years various methods for monitoring the condition of structures have been proposed. With respect to civil and mechanical structures several methods make use of modal parameters such as, natural frequency, damping ratio and mode shapes. In the present work four methods for modal parameter estimation and two methods for have been evaluated for their application to multi degree of freedom structures. The methods evaluated for modal parameter estimation are: Wavelet transform, Hilbert-Huang transform, parametric system identification and peak picking. Through various numerical simulations the effectiveness of these methods is studied. It is found that the simple peak-picking method performs the best and is able to identify modal parameters most accurately in all the simulation cases that were considered in this study. The identified modal parameters are then used for locating the damage. Herein the flexibility and the rotational flexibility approaches are evaluated for damage detection. The approach based on the rotational flexibility is found to be more effective. / Master of Science

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Due to the increased demand for electricity in recent years and the estimated demand in the future it has become clear that the capacity of the Swedish electrical grid is insufficient, and the grid is not able deliver the amount of power that is demanded by the market. The crucial points in the grid where the grid capacity is insufficient could be several. It could be in the transmission system but also at locations in the distribution system, such as congestion points for residential areas for example. For the grid to be able to meet the new demands large investments are needed to renew electricity grid. This will cost a lot of money and it will take several years before the grid capacity is up to scale. A problem is that the grid must be dimensioned for the highest power peaks that could be expected even though these might occur just a few times every year. As a response to this a new market for flexibility solutions in the grid has arisen. An example of a flexibility solution is a method called peak-shaving. Peak-shaving is a method that levels out the overall load-profile and so on reduces the highest power-peaks. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how integrated power systems with battery storageinstalled in household villas could implement peak-shaving with the purpose of providing a flexibility-service to the grid. The study includes theoretical simulations, as well as practical experiments and performance analyses of installed systems. The study also includes an investigation how the current price model and tax rules create incentives for costumers to provide this flexibility service. Firstly, a theoretical simulation model in MATLAB was developed that could make a virtual simulation of the result from implementation of peak-shaving based on historical data of the power profile of the household. After this, experimental tests were conducted for three households where peak-shaving was implemented. With the data from the experiments the performance and potential deficiency of the installed systems could be analysed. With the recorded data from the experiments and with collected data of the hourly based price for electricity it could be studied what impact peak-shaving has on the costs for the household and so on what incentives the price model and tax rules creates to implement peak-shaving.What could be concluded in the study was that peak-shaving has a good potential to reduce power-peaks and provide flexibility to the grid. The results from the tests showed that the power-peaks were able to be reduced but the power systems did however have some observed deficiencies that reduced their performance. It could also be concluded that the current price model and tax rules often increases the costs when implementing peak-shaving and so on create poor incentives to provide this flexibility service.

With the growing interest in converting a wide variety of biomass-based feedstocks to biofuels, there is a need to develop effective procedures for the design and optimization of multi-feedstock biorefineries. The unifying goal of this work is the development of systematic methodologies and procedures for designing flexible multifeedstock biorefineries. This work addresses four problems that constitute building blocks towards achieving the unifying goal of the dissertation. The first problem addresses the design and techno-economic analysis of an integrated system for the production of biodiesel from algal oil. With the sequestration of carbon dioxide from power plant flue gases, algae growth and processing has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Algae are a non-food oil feedstock source and various pathways and technologies for obtaining algal oil were investigated. Detailed economic and sensitivity analysis reveal specific scenarios that lead to profitability of algal oil as an alternative feedstock. In the second problem, a new safety metric is introduced and utilized in process design and selection. A case study was solved to assess the potential of producing biodiesel from sewage sludge. The entire process was evaluated based on multiple criteria including cost, technology and safety. The third problem is concerned with incorporating flexibility in the design phase of the development of multi-feedstock biofuel production processes. A mathematical formulation is developed for determining the optimal flexible design for a biorefinery that is to accommodate the use of multiple feedstocks. Various objective functions may be utilized for the flexible plant depending on the purpose of the flexibility analysis and a case study is presented to demonstrate one such objective function. Finally, the development of a systematic procedure for incorporating flexibility and heat integration in the design phase of a flexible feedstock production process is introduced for the fourth problem. A mathematical formulation is developed for use in determining the heat exchange network design. By incorporating the feedstock scenarios under investigation, a mixed integer linear program is generated and a flexible heat exchange network scheme can be developed. The solution provides for a network that can accommodate the heating and cooling demands of the various scenarios while meeting minimum utility targets.

Performance of a series of eccentric contractions produces adverse effects including muscle weakness, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), fluid accumulation and decreased muscle function. The repeated bout effect is a physiological adaptation observed when a single-bout of eccentric exercise protects against muscle damage from subsequent eccentric bouts. Similar to the repeated bout effect, increases in flexibility have been linked to attenuations in acute muscle damage, muscle fatigue and strength loss after eccentric exercise. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the muscle physiological responses to eccentric strength training after first priming the muscles with either a period of static flexibility training or a single intense bout of eccentric exercise performed weeks earlier; and compare these to the responses from eccentric strength training when no prior intervention is administered. Methods: Twenty-five participants were randomly assigned to a flexibility (F) (n=8), a single-bout (SB) (n=9), or a control (C) (n=8) group. The design consisted of two 4-week phases; 1) priming intervention, 2) eccentric training. The priming intervention included static stretching (3x/week; 30mins/day) (F), a single-bout of eccentric exercise (SB) or no priming intervention (C). All groups proceeded to complete eccentric training of the knee flexors using isotonic contractions (%load progressively increased over training period) on a dynamometer following the priming intervention phase. Testing was completed at baseline, post-priming intervention and post-eccentric training, in conjunction with data being collected during the acute eccentric training phase (0hr, 24hr, 48hr; post-bout 1 and 4). Dependent measures included muscle thickness, isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), eccentric and concentric MVC, optimal angle, active range of motion (ROM), passive ROM, maximal power, electromyography (EMG) and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Results: Acute data during the eccentric training phase revealed a significant reduction in DOMS for both the F and SB groups compared to the C following the first bout of eccentric exercise (p<0.05). The F also had reduced soreness in comparison to both the SB and C post fourth bout of eccentric exercise (p<0.05). The F group demonstrated attenuated loss in isometric strength (post fourth bout) and maximal power (post first bout) during eccentric training compared to the C group (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between groups across all dependent variables following the eccentric training phase. Conclusion: This is the first study to directly compare the protective effects observed with static flexibility training to that of a single-bout of eccentric exercise throughout a subsequent eccentric training regime. Although differences in muscle soreness, strength and maximal power occurred during the acute stages of eccentric training, there appeared to be no significant advantage of either protective priming method at the end of eccentric training.

Submitted by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-09-21T12:34:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-09-21T12:34:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2011-09-21T12:35:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-09-21T12:35:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SMAHA_H,_Trabalho_e_Familia_no_contexto_do_teletrabalho_-_EBAPE_2009.pdf: 583842 bytes, checksum: 93c08cd34875730dc91984239e6832c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo contribuir para o conhecimento sobre o teletrabalho, especialmente, sobre a dinâmica da realização do trabalho na esfera familiar, a partir do home-office telework. Investigou-se de que maneira os teletrabalhadores e sua família dão sentido aos dilemas, oportunidades e exigências da realização do trabalho no ambiente familiar, à luz de suas práticas discursivas. Para tanto, entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com 25 teletrabalhadores e seus co-residentes e analisadas sob a ótica da análise de conteúdo. A pesquisa revela que quando a casa dá lugar às atividades profissionais do indivíduo, as relações entre as demandas pessoais, familiares e profissionais se tornam mais próximas, diluídas e entrelaçadas. A aproximação das esferas de trabalho e não-trabalho conduz a uma ruptura nas dinâmicas espaciais, temporais e psicológicas desses domínios, proporcionando aos indivíduos oportunidades de desenvolvimento pessoal. No entanto, as mudanças pelas quais os mesmos terão de passar apresentam potencialidades contraditórias. Ao mesmo tempo em que o teletrabalho proporciona uma oportunidade de integração com a família e flexibilidade para o melhor aproveitamento do tempo de trabalho e não-trabalho, a dificuldade de equilibrar dois mundos construídos sobre discursos diversos, o mundo da casa e da rua, pode despontar uma crise, dependendo do preparo de cada família para essa situação de trabalho. A fim de auxiliar na interpretação dos resultados, os pontos de conteúdo mais expressivos, os quais ilustram o exposto acima, foram expostos em quatro temas relacionados ao telehomework: espaço, flexibilidade de tempo, gênero e equilíbrio trabalho-vida pessoal. / This research aims at fostering understanding of telework, especially its dynamic when working is carried out at home domains, through the practice of the home-based telework. It explores how teleworkers make sense out of the dilemmas, opportunities and demands of teleworking from home, through the analysis of their discursive practices. Therefore, semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of 25 teleworkers and their respective coresidents and analyzed using the method of content analysis. The study reveals that when the home gives place to the professional activities of an individual, the relationship among the personal, family and professional demands become closer, blurred and interlaced. The merging of the working and non-working spheres conducts to a rupture of the spatial, temporal and psychological contours of these domains, bringing the individuals selfdevelopment opportunities. However, the transformations that these individuals will have to face represent contradictory potentialities. Whilst telework brings an opportunity of family integration and flexibility for the better use of working and non-working time, the difficulty of balancing two cultural systems constructed over distinct discourses, the private sphere and the public sphere, may lead to a crisis, depending on the preparation of each family to receive this mode of working from home. In order to contribute to the interpretation of the results, the most expressive topics, which illustrate the above exposed, were presented in four themes related to telehomework: space, time flexibility, gender and work-life balance.

THE INFLUENCE OF STRETCHING EXERCISES ON THE RANGE OF JOINT FLEXIBILITY IN STUDENTS AT JAN EVANGELISTA PURKYNĚ UNIVERSITY IN ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM The dissertation evaluates the influence of stretching exercises on the range of joint flexibility in students of the study programme Physical Education and Sport at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. In total, 128 students aged 21 - 25 (78 women, 50 men) enrolled in the subject Basic Gymnastics took part in the experiment, conducted in the period from February to May of the academic year 2008/2009. Of these, 59 students were excluded by a physiotherapist - i.e. hypermobile men and hypermobile women as well as women with normal flexibility (excluded purposefully) subject to the results of the Thomayer test. In total, data from 39 men and 30 women were used. From April 2009, over a period of six weeks (before the end of the summer term tuition), an intervention flexibility programme including the Anderson static stretching method and the PNF stretching method by Sölveborn were applied for the research file. To evaluate the level of joint flexibility, the Sit and Reach Test and credit exercise to estimate joint flexibility were used. In a controlled interview, out-of-school activities were analysed, which contained stretching exercises with a...

Labor reform and counter-reform in Argentina, simple chronic of a pendulum processAfter placing it in the context of the processes of labor reforms produced in Latin America in the early 90’s (its inspiration, its dynamics, its actors), the article considers in particular the case of Argentina. Inthat assignment, it examines the labor reforms that took place there from dominant perspectives - external flexibility, internal flexibility, reduction and variation of costs, collective labor relations - confirming a strong deregulated activism in the field of individual relations, while it was verified a high administrative interventionism of decentralized bias with a limited institutional transformation in collective relations.At the end of that decade, it had already been clear that those strategies haven’t had a virtuous effect on the social labor situation or the labor market. In this context, a new government that comes into power in 2003, leaves without effect a good part of those reforms and instead it undertakes a process of institutional reconfiguration of the legal system of labor protection: a systematic increase of the Living Wage, strengthening of the collective wage bargaining - with the consequent tendential improvement of wages of workers in the formal sector - and, by virtue of parliamentary initiatives, a sequence of introduction of micro-reforms always oriented to increase the protection of workers, which as a whole would have to involve a remarkable recovery of the tutelary bias of labor regulations. / El artículo analiza la reforma argentina en el contexto de los procesos de las reformas laborales producidas en América Latina en la década de los noventa (su inspiración, su dinámica, sus actores). En ese cometido, examina las reformas laborales que tuvieron lugar allí desde las perspectivasdominantes —la flexibilidad externa, la flexibilidad interna, la reducción y variabilización de los costos, las relaciones colectivas del trabajo— constatándose un fuerte activismo desregulador en el campo de las relaciones individuales, en tanto se verificaba un alto intervencionismo administrativo de sesgo descentralizador con escasa transformación institucional en el de las relaciones colectivas.Al final de aquella década había quedado ya en evidencia que esas estrategias no habían tenido un efecto virtuoso sobre la situación socio-laboral ni sobre el mercado de trabajo. En ese contexto, un nuevo Gobierno, que accede al poder en 2003, deja sin efecto buena parte de aquellas reformas y emprende en cambio un proceso de reconfiguración institucional del sistema legal de protección del trabajo: incremento sistemático del Salario Mínimo Vital, fortalecimiento de la negociación colectiva salarial —con la consiguiente tendencial mejora de los salarios de los trabajadores del sector formal– y, envirtud de iniciativas parlamentarias, una secuencia de introducción de microreformas siempre orientadas a intensificar la protección de los trabajadores que en su conjunto habrían de implicar una notable recuperación del sesgo tutelar del ordenamiento laboral.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to contribute to a broader understanding regarding of how and whether flexible working conditions in terms of time and space affect the balance and the boundary between personal and work life for employees with a creative work. The study also aims to investigate if there are any clashes between the employee's personal and work life and where such clashes occur. Literature review: The study is based on previous organisational research. In the section we present flexible working conditions, creative work, boundaries, balance and strategies. Method: The study is a qualitative study with mainly deductive elements. Some inductive approaches have also been used during the study. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the study's empirical data. The interviews were transcribed to ease the presentation of the results and to thematize the key concepts for the analysis. Results: The results section of the study presents the themes that are relevant for managing an analysis together with the literature review. Conclusions: The conclusions that are presented in the study are that there are few clashes between personal and working life. Mainly because the worker has difficulty to tell what is imbalance and what is a matter of course, but also that the worker actually is satisfied with the work situation. How the clashes are handled in order to reduce the a potential crash is through clear boundaries regarding both personal and working life. It turned out that the limits for the personal life were stronger towards the sphere of working life than working life is towards the sphere of personal life. / Syfte: Syftet med studien är att bidra med ökad förståelse för hur och om flexibla arbetsförhållanden vad gäller tid och rum, påverkar balansen och gränsdragningen mellan privatliv och arbetsliv för arbetstagare med ett kreativt arbete. Studien syftar också till att undersöka om det uppstår krockar mellan privatliv och arbetsliv för arbetstagaren och var dessa krockar i sådant fall uppstår. Litteraturgenomgång: Studien baseras på tidigare forskning i ett format om vetenskapliga artiklar. Under avsnittet presenteras litteratur kring flexibla arbetsförhållanden, det kreativa arbetet, gränsdragning, balans och strategier. Metod: Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär med främst deduktivt inslag. Viss mån av induktivt angreppssätt har även använts under studiens gång. Fem semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes för insamlandet av studiens empiri. Intervjuerna transkriberades för att underlätta vid framställningen av resultatet samt tematiseringen av nyckelbegrepp för analysen. Resultat: I studiens resultatavsnitt presenteras de teman som är av relevans för genomförandet av analysen tillsammans med litteraturgenomgången. Slutsatser: De slutsatser som presenteras i studien är att att det förekommer få krockar mellan privatliv och arbetsliv. Främst därför att arbetstagaren har svårt att urskilja vad som är obalans och vad som är en självklarhet, men därför också att personen ifråga är tillfreds med sin arbetssituation. För att minska kollisionen hanteras krockarna genom tydlig gränsdragning gällande privatlivet och arbetslivet. Det har visat sig att privatlivets gränser är starkare gentemot arbetslivets pol än vad arbetslivets dito är gentemot privatlivets pol.