Despite the controversy over environmental sustainability, salmon aquaculture in British Columbia is economically important for many coastal communities and is reported as being the largest agricultural export product for the province. This thesis examined the welfare status of commercially produced Atlantic salmon smolts during transport from freshwater farms to the saltwater net pens using physiology and behaviour to assess transport stress. Smolts were transported first by truck from the freshwater farm to the dock, and then in the flow-through cargo holds of a live-haul vessel to the saltwater net pens. Fish and water were sampled before and after truck transport, and several times aboard the vessel. Assessment of stress was based on measurement of plasma cortisol, glucose, lactate, potassium, sodium and chloride concentrations, as well as behavioural observations made on underwater video footage. Seven transports of fish originating from two different hatcheries were sampled; one was a land-based tank hatchery that required a 30-min drive to the dock, and the other a lake net pen facility that was 90 min to the dock. Analysis of plasma constituents supported previous studies that recovery from the stress accumulated during loading and truck transport can be quite rapid in a live-haul vessel. Underwater video footage, recorded at the freshwater farms and in the cargo holds of the Sterling Carrier, also suggested recovery onboard in that for the most part, behaviour onboard was similar to behaviour at the freshwater farms. There were some significant differences between fish from the two types of hatcheries, particularly in the original hatchery conditions and in their behavioural responses to transport conditions; however, post-transport growth and mortality rates reported by the saltwater farms showed no significant difference. Although fish were subjected to moderately stressful conditions during part of the process, smolt transport as currently carried out by our industry partners reflects good husbandry practices and fish welfare. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Maintenance cost is one of the important issues in railway heavy-haul operations. In most of the cases, these costs are majorly referring to reprofiling and changing the wheels of the locomotives and the wagons. The main reason of the wheel damages is usually severe wear and/or surface initiated rolling contact fatigue (RCF).This work tries to enhance and improve the knowledge of the wheel wear and RCF prediction models using dynamic simulations. While most of the contents of this study can be generalised to other operational networks, this study is focused on the locomotives and wagons of the Swedish iron-ore company LKAB. The trains are operating on the approximately 500 km long IORE line from Luleå to Narvik in the north of Sweden and Norway respectively.Firstly, a literature survey of dynamic modelling of the wagons with various three-piece bogie types is presented. Then, with concentrating on the standard three-piece bogies, parameter studies are carried out to find out what the most important reasons of wheel damages are. Moreover, the long-term stability of wheel profiles of the IORE wagons is analysed. This is done by visualising the wear and RCF evolution on the wheel profiles over 150,000km of simulated running distance.Most of the calculations for the wagons are repeated for the locomotives. However, traction and braking are also considered in the simulation model and their effects on wheel damages are briefly studied. To improve the accuracy of the wheel damage analysis, a newly developed algorithm called FaStrip is used to solve the tangential contact problem instead of FASTSIM. The damage prediction model developed in the thesis is used to study the effects of increasing axle load, correcting the track gauge, limiting the electro-dynamic braking and using a harder wheel material on the wheel life. Furthermore, a new method is developed to predict the running distance between two consecutive reprofilings due to severe surface initiated fatigue. The method is based on shakedown analysis and laboratory tests.Most of the research works in wear calculation are limited to two approaches known as wear number and Archard methods. The correlation between these two methods is studied. The possibility of using the relation between the two methods for the wear calculation process is investigated mainly to reduce the calculation time for wheel profile optimisation models. / <p>QC 20171219</p>

A reliable transportation network is key to economic development and social well-being of communities. Since 19th century, rail transport has provided the most efficient link between South African’s wealthy mineral heartland and the seaports. In developing this rail network, a considerable number of railway tunnels were built due to the topography of the coastal regions. These tunnels are ageing, their operational and environmental conditions are constantly changing. Thus, their management practice should be optimised to adequately respond to the needs of the organisations managing them and for them to continue providing a safe and sustainable service. Therefore, this study reviewed the current railway tunnels management practice in South Africa and proposed an approach to improve it, considering the existing structures management systems. Further, it focuses on the concrete structural elements and their related defects due to the harsh environments of these tunnels. Therefore, the Procedures to enhance tunnels management applied consisted in outlining the gaps uncovered in the current railway tunnels management practice in South Africa and enhance this practice considering the structures management systems reviewed. This is done by improving the components of each module and integrating them in the proposed railway tunnels management system in South Africa. First, it dealt with the inventory module, designed inventory forms for items and for concrete structural elements and their components to record, inspect and monitor. Second, it designed a Tunnel Inspection Programme that set the inspection intervals, the requirements for the inspection team members, the tools and techniques and procedures to apply. This programme specified also the method of evaluating the defects and the definition of the score and the relative score of the components of elements and the health of the tunnel. Third, it developed a Tunnel Monitoring System that targeted the most critical and vulnerable elements and set the techniques and tools to monitor them. Finally, it integrated all the modules in the system designed. As results, this research has proposed a computerised tunnel management system that enhances the current practice in South Africa. This arises from the scrutinised practice in light of the existing structures management systems reviewed. From the analysis of the existing inventory data on railway tunnels and on the heavy haul lines in South Africa, relevant information was obtained. Thus, an inventory module has been developed comprising tunnel inventory forms that classify the items to be recorded and inspected. This module also described the concrete structural elements and their specific components. A Tunnel Inspection Programme has been designed, specifying the frequency of inspections based on the condition of tunnels, their ages, and the unpredictability and the harshness of their environments. This programme has also promoted the relevant techniques to be applied to inspect concrete structural elements and the appropriate tools to be used. Additionally, the requirements for inspection team concerning the qualifications and experience of each member have been provided. This programme has also recommended the use of the current DER rating system, emphasising that the scope of this study refers to concrete structural elements that should all be rated and recorded. Additionally, it has designed a Tunnel Monitoring System specific to the most critical and vulnerable concrete structural elements of railway tunnels. This system includes a set of tunnel monitoring strategies, the setting up of the system and the sensory system. It finally integrated all these sub-systems into the main Railway Tunnel Management System in South Africa. In conclusion, this research proposes the integrated computerised railway tunnel management system for South Africa. It also set the “big picture” of the overall tunnel structures and the tunnels on the heavy haul lines currently managed by Transnet TFR in South Africa. Additionally, it sustains the current DER rating system and proposes its application to all the defects on the concrete structural elements, instead of the worst defect on the inspected element. As recommendations, the railway tunnels authority should adopt a monitoring system for each tunnel on the heavy haul lines. Also, the authority should make available information on all existing monitoring systems on railway tunnels and the most critical data collected. Moreover, the authority should make available the previous railway tunnels inspection files to be uploaded to the proposed system. Apart from this, we recommend a further comprehensive study to integrate the inspection of non-structural elements to the proposed system. Finally, we recommend to the management authority to organise a comprehensive study of the water leakage issues on railway tunnels to better understand and adequately respond to them.

The purpose of this thesis has been to investigate the phenomenon of shopping-hauls from a consumer perspective. Along with exploring ifconsumers’ purchasing behavior is affected by shopping-hauls, the aim is to provide insights into the phenomenon and how it affects consumers. In particular, the study aspires to understand whether consumers perceive shopping-hauls as a possible substitute for the need for touch. If so, shopping-hauls could be used to decrease uncertainty online. This thesis was conducted using a qualitative research method, with semi-structured interviews. The respondents in the interviews were consumers living in Sweden with knowledge of shopping-hauls. Twenty-five consumers participated in the interviews for the thesis, and they are all anonymous. The thesis has followed an inductive research approach to gain deeper understanding of the phenomena of shopping-hauls and receive new insights based on the respondents’ experiences. The literature review in this thesis includes theories about influencer marketing, sensory marketing, and online consumer behavior. Furthermore, the conceptual framework demonstrates the relationship between the mentioned theories. The empirical results of the thesis highlights challenges and opportunities which might occur when consumers make purchases online, as well as provides insights into how shopping-hauls are perceived by consumers. Based on these results, we created a three-step model for developing a strategy where shopping-hauls are used to reduce the consumer’s uncertainty when shopping online. The three steps are: Selection of influencer, identify the consumer, and evaluation.

Ingeniero Civil de Minas / El presente estudio busca determinar las posibilidades de mercado del nuevo LHD híbrido diésel eléctrico, 18HD, en la industria minera en Chile. Para establecer las posibilidades primero se compara la tecnología híbrida con las tecnologías presentes hasta ahora en la industria y posteriormente se hace un análisis de mercado de los equipos subterráneos en Chile. La industria minera en general, y particularmente en Chile, ha estado dominada por los equipos con accionamiento mediante Diésel, mientras que la participación de los equipos eléctricos ha estado bastante restringida debido a sus limitaciones operacionales. La principal desventaja de los equipos diésel es la alta emisión de material particulado y contaminante. Esta desventaja sumada a los nuevos desafíos de la minería que buscan aumentar la productividad, confiabilidad y mantenibilidad han impulsado a las empresas proveedoras de equipos a desarrollar de nuevas tecnologías que permitan entregar soluciones acordes a los desafíos de la actualidad. Un ejemplo de esto es el equipo híbrido desarrollado por Joy Global, el cual tiene un sistema de accionamiento diésel eléctrico. Entre los principales beneficios de este equipo destacan: recuperación de energía de frenado, mayor aceleración, menores costos de mantenimiento, menor uso de combustible y requerimientos de mantención, aumento de la disponibilidad mecánica, entre otros. Este equipo ha completado su etapa de prototipo y se someterá a una prueba industrial en una operación en Chile para cuantificar todos los posibles beneficios que entrega. El mercado de los equipos en Chile está principalmente dominado por grandes proveedores mundiales de la minería subterránea como los son Atlas Copco, Sandvik y Caterpillar. Los clientes se dividen en dos grandes grupos; la gran minería, principalmente aquellas minas explotadas por block caving, las cuales tienen un gran poder de negociación al momento de comprar equipos; y la mediana minería, la cual se ha visto afectada en mayor parte por la situación del mercado. Para que el equipo pueda ser comercializado con éxito debe aprovechar las oportunidades que ofrece el mercado, las cuales son; el envejecimiento de la flota de equipos en Chile, la construcción de grandes proyectos y la recuperación del precio. Además, debe destacar por sobre la competencia en cuanto a los servicios entregados.

Maintenance cost is one of the important issues in railway heavy haul operations. For the iron-ore company LKAB, these costs are mainly associated with the reprofiling and changing of the wheels of the locomotives and wagons. The main reason for the wheel damages is usually surface initiated rolling contact fatigue (RCF) on the wheels.The present work tries to enhance and improve the knowledge of the vehicle-track interaction of the Swedish iron-ore freight wagons and locomotives used at Malmbanan. The study is divided into two parts. Firstly, it is tried to get into the roots of RCF using the simulation model of the iron ore wagon (Paper A). Secondly, the study is focused on predicting wear and RCF on the locomotive wheels also via a dynamic simulation model (Paper B).In the first paper, some key issues of the dynamic modelling of the wagons with three piece bogies are first discussed and then parameter studies are carried out to find the most important reasons of wheel damages. These parameter studies include track design geometry, track irregularities, wheel-rail friction level, cant deficiency and track stiffness. The results show a significant effect of the friction level on the amount of RCF risk.As the locomotive wheel life is much shorter than that of the wagons, LKAB has decided to change the locomotive wheel profile. Two final wheel profiles are proposed; however, one had to be approved for the field tests. In the second paper, the long term evolution of the two profiles is compared via wear simulation analysis. Also, the RCF evolution on the wheel profiles as a function of running distance is discussed. The process is first carried out for the current locomotive wheel profiles and the results are compared with the measurements. Good agreement is achieved. Finally, one of the proposed profiles is suggested for the field test because of the mild wear and RCF propagation. / <p>QC 20150210</p>

No description available.

Road freight transportation is important for the development of the global economy and, at the same time, one of the most destructive businesses when it comes to the environment and human health. As societies evolve, the need for freight transportation increases and the transport demand cannot in a sustainable way be fulfilled with the use of diesel trucks as it is done today. For the sake of our environment, the electrification transition needs to ramp up. However, when it comes to covering long distances with an electric truck, problems arise due to the lack of sufficient driving strategies, technology, and infrastructure adapted to the needs for long-distance electrified transportation. Therefore, different battery-electric truck solutions need to be evaluated to identify an economically, socially, and environmentally friendly way of operating. Consequently, the purpose of this master's thesis is the following:  From a carrier operation perspective, identify different solutions for electrified long-haul transportation and evaluate how cost competitive they are based on triple bottom line. To fulfill this purpose the study was divided into two steps, where the first one was to, through literature and interviews, identify different solutions for electric long-haul transportation and external parameters affecting these solutions. The parameters and solutions were then combined with different distances into focus cases. The second step consisted of identifying both internal and external cost drivers, which were used to create a cost model that considered environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The cost model was then used to evaluate the different focus cases to determine their competitiveness. The solutions were based on wire charging, a 300-, 450-, or 624 kWh battery, and were operated either through trailer swap or point-to-point. The external parameters that were the most important ones were battery degradation, the electricity market, and prerequisites for effective logistics. These were all combined into focus cases which were evaluated on the distances 300-, 400-, 500-, and 600 km. The cost model that was used included both internal and external costs to cover the economic, environmental, and social perspectives in the evaluation. To evaluate the focus cases and be able to compare it to a diesel solution the model considered the costs that differ between a battery electric truck and a diesel truck, which at an overall level was electricity cost, charging infrastructure, batteries, salary when charging, environmental, and social costs. For the distance of 300 km, the most competitive combination was wire charging, 300 kWh battery, and trailer swap. For the distances 400- and 500 km the best combination was wire charge, 450 kWh battery, and trailer swap. The best solution for 500 km was wire charge, 624 kWh battery, and trailer swap. The conclusion is, from a carrier operation perspective, that the most competitive solution to use is based on trailer swap, including a battery with a capacity that is adapted to the distance where the batteries can be charged through wire charging at a charger with a high utilization factor. Finally, for shorter distances, a battery electric truck is cost-competitive against a diesel truck. However, at longer distances a battery electric truck's competitiveness in comparison to a diesel truck gets worse, but at all distances the battery electric truck solution is both socially and environmentally beneficial in comparison to a diesel alternative.

Den engelska kompositören Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) komponerade vokalmusik med stor skicklighet och kvalitet men hennes verk är inte allmänt kända. I detta konstnärliga examensarbete analyseras ett av hennes viktigaste verk för soloröst och piano; The Seal Man (1922). Det är en romans som är baserad på en gammal keltisk legend om en man som är till hälften säl. Studien riktar fokus på Clarkes impressionistiska kompositionsstil och textens relation till musiken. Detta analyseras metodiskt genom instudering av partitur och läsning av författaren John Masefields (1878–1964) text som Clarkes The Seal Man är baserad på. Studiens resultat påvisar Clarkes skicklighet att i sin komposition gestalta olika karaktärer och stämningar i texten genom musikaliska medel samt influenser från Claude Debussy som var en av impressionismens främsta kompositörer. För mig som sångerska har noggrann analys av Clarkes stil och textens relation med musiken varit till stor hjälp för att uppnå min egna konstnärligt mogen interpretation av sången The Seal Man. / <p>Programm:</p><p>Rebecca Clarke - The Seal Man</p><p>Gösta Nystroem - Själ och landskap 1. Vitt land, 2. Önskan, 3. Bara hos den...</p><p>Benjamin Britten - On this Island Op. 11, 1. Let the florid music praise!, 2. Now the leaves are falling fast, 3. Seascape, 4. Nocturne, 5. As it is, plenty</p><p></p><p>Emmi Kauppinen, sopran</p><p>Chiara Schmidt, piano</p>

<p> This thesis deals with the limiting factors in the design of a long-haul fiber-optic communication system, and the techniques used to suppress their resulting impairments. These limiting factors include both linear and nonlinear effects, such as fiber chromatic dispersion and the Kerr nonlinearity, and the modulator-induced nonlinearity. </p> <p> In Chapter 3, the conditional probability density function (PDF) of the received elect rical signal given transmitted bit '1 '/'0' for a coherent fiber-optic transmission system based on binary phase shift keying (BPSK) is mathematically derived. Both amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise and fiber nonlinearity are taken into account . The results show that the conditional PDF of given bit '1' or '0' is asymmetric when intrachannel four-wave mixing (IFWM) is dominant, while it becomes nearly symmetric when the variance of ASE is much larger than that due to IFWM. The standard deviation of the received signal is calculated analytically. The system parameters, including optimum dispersion map and pre-compensation ratio, are optimized by analytically calculating variance of IFWM. Significant computation efforts can be saved using this approach as compared to full numerical simulations of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation, without losing much accuracy. </p> <p> In Chapter 4, an improved 4-f time-lens configuration is proposed. Fourier transform (FT) and inverse Fourier transform (IFT) can be realized using time lenses such that there is no need for time reversal at the end. A typical 4-f configuration consists of two 2-f systems and a temporal filter. The first 2-f system consisting of a time lens and two dispersive elements produces the Fourier transform (FT) of the input signal. The temporal filter modifies the spectrum. The next 2-f system produces the inverse Fourier transform (IFT). A wavelength division demultiplexer and a higher-order dispersion compensator based on 4-f configuration are numerical implemented. One of the advantages of the time-lens-based temporal filtering technique is that the transfer function of the temporal filter can be dynamically altered by changing the input voltage to the temporal filter (amplitude/phase modulator) and therefore, this technique could be used for dynamic switching and multiplexing in optical networks. </p> <p> In chapter 5, a direct-detection optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DD-0-0FDM) is realized using time lenses. Typically, in OFDM systems, discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is used at the transmitter and inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) is used at the receiver. In this chapter, it is proposed to use continuous Fourier transform (FT) and inverse Fourier transform (IFT) using time lenses that replace DFT and IDFT in the electrical domain. The third- and higher-order dispersive effects can be considerably reduced using the proposed DD-0-0FDM scheme. </p> <p> In Chapter 6, a coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (C0-0-0FDM) scheme using time lenses is analyzed. The comparison of performance between the proposed scheme and the conventional optical OFDM scheme using fast Fourier transform (FFT) and inverse FFT in the electrical domain is made. Both the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) induced and fiber induced nonlinearities are investigated. Results show that the time-lens-based C0-0-0FDM performs almost the same as the FFT-based C0-0-0FDM when the message signal launched to MZM is low so that MZM operates in the linear region. The nonlinearity of MZM degrades the performance of FFT-based C0-0-0FDM drastically when the power of message signal becomes sufficiently large, but only has negligible impact on the time-lens-based C0-0-0FDM. A periodical driving voltage has been proposed to set up the time lens such that the maximally required driving voltage level is kept low within the time frame. The advantages using the time-lens-based C0-0-0FDM are that (i) FT can be done in optical domain almost instantaneously, whereas the FFT in digital domain is slow and requires significant computational efforts, (ii) optical domain Fourier transform has a large bandwidth (~THz) and therefore, FT /IFT can be performed at a large symbol rate. </p> <p> In Chapter 7, the digital backward propagation (DBP) has been studied both in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing ( OFDM) and single-carrier (SC) fiber-optic transmission systems. 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is used for both systems with the bit rate of 100 Gbjs. The results show that OFDM and SC with Nyquist pulses (SC-Nyquist) have a superior performance as compared to SC with raisedcosine pulses (SC-NRZ) when the DBP is used. The impact of electrical filter bandwidth and nonlinear phase/amplitude noise has also been investigated. The performance of perfect-BP-based OFDM/SC initially improves when the electrical filter bandwidth increases at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The comparison of the effects of nonlinear phase/amplitude noise among OFDM, SC-Nyquist and SC-NRZ systems is made and it is shown that SC-NRZ systems significantly suffer from the effects of nonlinear phase/amplitude noise, which explains the performance advantage of OFDM/SC-Nyquist over SC-NRZ when the DBP used. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)