The motivation of this research is to carry out the control and operation of smart inverters and voltage source converters (VSC) for distributed energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV), battery, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). The main contribution of the research includes solving a couple of issues for smart grids by controlling and implementing multifunctions of VSC and smart inverter as well as improving the operational scheme of the microgrid. The work is mainly focused on controlling and operating of smart inverter since it promises a new technology for the future microgrid. Two major applications of the smart inverter will be investigated in this work based on the connection modes: microgrid at grid-tied mode and autonomous mode. \indent In grid-tied connection, the smart inverter and VSC are used to integrate DER such as Photovoltaic (PV) and battery to provide suitable power to the system by controlling the supplied real and reactive power. The role of a smart inverter at autonomous mode includes supplying a sufficient voltage and frequency, mitigate abnormal condition of the load as well as equally sharing the total load's power. However, the operational control of the microgrid still has a major issue on the operation of the microgrid. The dissertation is divided into two main sections which are: 1- Low-level control of a single smart Inverter. 2- High-level control of the microgrid. The first part investigates a comprehensive research for a smart inverter and VSC technology at the two major connections of the microgrid. This involves controlling and modeling single smart inverter and VSC to solve specific issues of microgrid as well as improve the operation of the system. The research provides developed features for smart inverter comparing with a conventional voltage sourced converter (VSC). The two main connections for a microgrid have been deeply investigated to analyze a better way to develop and improve the operational procedure of the microgrid as well as solve specific issues of connecting the microgrid to the system. A detailed procedure for controlling VSC and designing an optimal operation of the controller is also covered in the first part of the dissertation. This section provides an optimal operation for controlling motor drive and demonstrates issues when motor load exists at an autonomous microgrid. It also provides a solution for specific issues at operating a microgrid at autonomous mode as well as improving the structural design for the grid-tied microgrid. The solution for autonomous microgrid includes changing the operational state of the switching pattern of the smart inverter to solve the issue of a common mode voltage (CMV) that appears across the motor load. It also solves the issue of power supplying to large loads, such as induction motors. The last section of the low-level section involves an improvement of the performance and operation of the PV charging station for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) at grid-tied mode. This section provides a novel structure and smart controller for PV charging station using three-phase hybrid boost converter topology. It also provides a form of applications of a multifunction smart inverter using PV charging station. The second part of the research is focusing on improving the performance of the microgrid by integrating several smart inverters to form a microgrid. It investigates the issue of connecting DER units with the microgrid at real applications. One of the common issues of the microgrid is the circulating current which is caused by poor reactive power sharing accuracy. When more than two DER units are connected in parallel, a microgrid is forming be generating required power for the load. When the microgrid is operated at autonomous mode, all DER units participate in generating voltage and frequency as well as share the load's power. This section provides a smart and novel controlling technique to solve the issue of unequal power sharing. The feature of the smart inverter is realized by the communication link between smart inverters and the main operator. The analysis and derivation of the problem are presented in this section. The dissertation has led to two accepted conference papers, one accepted transaction IEEE manuscript, and one submitted IET transaction manuscript. The future work aims to improve the current work by investigating the performance of the smart inverter at real applications.

<p dir="ltr">Decades of semiconductor technology scaling and breakthroughs in communication technology have miniaturized computing, embedding it everywhere, enabling the development of smart things connected to the internet, forming the Internet of Things. Further miniaturization of devices has led to an exponential increase in the number of devices in and around the body in the last decade, forming a subset of IoT which is increasingly becoming popular as the Internet of Bodies (IoB). The gradual shift from the current form of human-electronics coexistence to human-electronics cooperation, is the vision of Internet of Bodies (IoB). This vision of a connected future with devices in and around our body talking to each other to assist their day-to-day functions demands energy efficient means of communication. Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication (EQS-HBC) has been proposed as an exciting alternative to traditional Radio Frequency based methodologies for communicating data around the body. In this dissertation, we expand the boundaries of wearable and implantable IoB nodes using Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication and Powering by developing advanced channel models and demonstrating novel applications.</p><p dir="ltr">Leveraging the advanced channel models developed for wearable EQS-HBC, we demonstrate wearable applications like ToSCom which extend the use cases of touchscreens to beyond touch detection and location to enable high-speed communication strictly through touch. We further demonstrate an application of EQS Resonant Human Body Powering to demonstrate Step-to-Charge, allowing mW-scale wireless power transfer to wearable devices. With increasing connected implanted healthcare devices becoming a part of the IoB space, we benchmark RF-based technologies for In-Body to Out-of-Body (IBOB) communication using novel in-vivo experiments. We then explore EQS-HBC in the realm of IBOB communication using advanced channel modeling, revealing its potential for low-power and physically secure data transfer from implantable devices to wearable nodes on the body, demonstrating its potential in extending the battery life span of implantable nodes. Finally, an overview of the potential of IoB devices is analyzed with the use of EQS-HBC where we propose a human-inspired distributed network of IoB nodes which brings us a step closer to the potential for perpetually operable devices in and around the body.</p>

We employ a variant of optical absorption spectroscopy, namely in situ differential reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), for an analysis of the structure-properties relations of thin epitaxial organic films. Clear correlations between the spectra and the differently intense coupling to the respective substrates are found. While rather broad and almost structureless spectra are obtained for a quaterrylene (QT) monolayer on Au(111), the spectral shape resembles that of isolated molecules when QT is grown on graphite. We even achieve an efficient electronic decoupling from the subjacent Au(111) by inserting an atomically thin organic spacer layer consisting of hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) with a noticeably dissimilar electronic behavior. These observations are further consolidated by a systematic variation of the metal substrate (Au, Ag, and Al), ranging from inert to rather reactive. For this purpose, 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) is chosen to ensure comparability of the molecular film structures on the different metals, and also because its electronic alignment on various metal surfaces has previously been studied with great intensity. We present evidence for ionized PTCDA at several interfaces and propose the charge transfer to be related to the electronic level alignment governed by interface dipole formation on the respective metals. / Zur Analyse der Struktur-Eigenschafts-Beziehungen dünner, epitaktischer Molekülfilme wird in situ differentielle Reflexionsspektroskopie (DRS) als Variante der optischen Absorptionsspektroskopie verwendet. Klare Zusammenhänge zwischen den Spektren und der unterschiedlich starken Kopplung zum jeweiligen Substrat werden gefunden. Während man breite und beinahe unstrukturierte Spektren für eine Quaterrylen (QT) Monolage auf Au(111) erhält, ist die spektrale Form von auf Graphit abgeschiedenem QT ähnlich der isolierter Moleküle. Durch Einfügen einer atomar dünnen organischen Zwischenschicht bestehend aus Hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronen (HBC) mit einem deutlich unterschiedlichen elektronischen Verhalten gelingt sogar eine effiziente elektronische Entkopplung vom darunter liegenden Au(111). Diese Ergebnisse werden durch systematische Variation der Metallsubstrate (Au, Ag und Al), welche von inert bis sehr reaktiv reichen, untermauert. Zu diesem Zweck wird 3,4,9,10-Perylentetracarbonsäuredianhydrid (PTCDA) gewählt, um Vergleichbarkeit der molekularen Filmstrukturen zu gewährleisten, und weil dessen elektronische Anordnung auf verschiedenen Metalloberflächen bereits eingehend untersucht worden ist. Wir weisen ionisiertes PTCDA an einigen dieser Grenzflächen nach und schlagen vor, dass der Ladungsübergang mit der elektronischen Niveauanpassung zusammenhängt, welche mit der Ausbildung von Grenzflächendipolen auf den entsprechenden Metallen einhergeht.

We employ a variant of optical absorption spectroscopy, namely in situ differential reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), for an analysis of the structure-properties relations of thin epitaxial organic films. Clear correlations between the spectra and the differently intense coupling to the respective substrates are found. While rather broad and almost structureless spectra are obtained for a quaterrylene (QT) monolayer on Au(111), the spectral shape resembles that of isolated molecules when QT is grown on graphite. We even achieve an efficient electronic decoupling from the subjacent Au(111) by inserting an atomically thin organic spacer layer consisting of hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) with a noticeably dissimilar electronic behavior. These observations are further consolidated by a systematic variation of the metal substrate (Au, Ag, and Al), ranging from inert to rather reactive. For this purpose, 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) is chosen to ensure comparability of the molecular film structures on the different metals, and also because its electronic alignment on various metal surfaces has previously been studied with great intensity. We present evidence for ionized PTCDA at several interfaces and propose the charge transfer to be related to the electronic level alignment governed by interface dipole formation on the respective metals. / Zur Analyse der Struktur-Eigenschafts-Beziehungen dünner, epitaktischer Molekülfilme wird in situ differentielle Reflexionsspektroskopie (DRS) als Variante der optischen Absorptionsspektroskopie verwendet. Klare Zusammenhänge zwischen den Spektren und der unterschiedlich starken Kopplung zum jeweiligen Substrat werden gefunden. Während man breite und beinahe unstrukturierte Spektren für eine Quaterrylen (QT) Monolage auf Au(111) erhält, ist die spektrale Form von auf Graphit abgeschiedenem QT ähnlich der isolierter Moleküle. Durch Einfügen einer atomar dünnen organischen Zwischenschicht bestehend aus Hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronen (HBC) mit einem deutlich unterschiedlichen elektronischen Verhalten gelingt sogar eine effiziente elektronische Entkopplung vom darunter liegenden Au(111). Diese Ergebnisse werden durch systematische Variation der Metallsubstrate (Au, Ag und Al), welche von inert bis sehr reaktiv reichen, untermauert. Zu diesem Zweck wird 3,4,9,10-Perylentetracarbonsäuredianhydrid (PTCDA) gewählt, um Vergleichbarkeit der molekularen Filmstrukturen zu gewährleisten, und weil dessen elektronische Anordnung auf verschiedenen Metalloberflächen bereits eingehend untersucht worden ist. Wir weisen ionisiertes PTCDA an einigen dieser Grenzflächen nach und schlagen vor, dass der Ladungsübergang mit der elektronischen Niveauanpassung zusammenhängt, welche mit der Ausbildung von Grenzflächendipolen auf den entsprechenden Metallen einhergeht.

<div>Decades of scaling in semiconductor technology has resulted in a drastic reduction in the cost and size of unit computing. This has enabled computing capabilities in small form factor wearable and implantable devices. These devices communicate with each other to form a network around the body, commonly known as the Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). Radio wave transmission over air is the commonly used method of communication among these devices. However, the human body can be used as the communication medium by utilizing its electrical conductivity property. This has given rise to Human Body Communication (HBC), which provides higher energy efficiency and enhanced security compared to over the air radio wave communication enabling applications like remote health monitoring, secure authentication. In this thesis we characterize the human body channel characteristics at low frequencies, utilize the insight obtained from the channel characterization to build high energy-efficiency, interference-robust circuits and demonstrate the security and selectivity aspect of HBC through a Common Off the Shelf (COTS) component-based system. First, we characterize the response of the human body channel in the 10KHz1MHz frequency range with wearable transmitter/ receiver to study the feasibility of using it as a broadband communication channel. Voltage mode measurements with capacitive termination show almost at-band response in this frequency range, establishing the body as a broadband channel. The body channel response is also measured across different interaction scenario between two wearable devices and a wearable and a computer. A bio-physical model of the HBC channel is developed to explain the measurement results and the wide discrepancies found in previous studies.We analyze the safety aspect of different type of HBC by carrying out theoretical circuit and FEM based simulations. A study is carried out among multiple subjects to assess the effect of HBC on the vital parameters of a subject. A statistical analysis of the results shows no signicant change in the vital parameters before and during HBC transmission, validating the theoretical simulations showing >!000x safety margin compared to the established ICNIRP guidelines. Next, an HBC transceiver is built utilizing the wire-like, broadband human body channel to enable high energy efficiency. The transceiver also provides robustness to ambient interference picked up by the human body through integration followed by periodic sampling. The transceiver achieves 6.3pJ/bit energy effciency while operating at a maximum data rate of 30Mbps, while providing -30dB interference tolerant operation. Finally, a COTS based HBC prototype is developed, which utilizes low frequency operation to enable selective and physically secure communication strictly during touch for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) between two wearable devices for the rst time. A thorough study of the effect of different parameters such as environment, posture, subject variation, on the channel loss has also been characterized to build a robust HBC system working across different use cases. Applications such as secure authentication (e.g. opening a door, pairing a smart device) and information exchange (e.g. payment, image, medical data, personal profile transfer) through touch is demonstrated to show the impact of HBC in enabling new human-machine interaction modalities.</div>

Human body is a complex system organized at different levels such as cells, tissues and organs, which contributes to 11 important organ systems. The functional efficiency of this complex system is evaluated as health. Traditional healthcare is unable to accommodate everyone's need due to the ever-increasing population and medical costs. With advancements in technology and medical research, traditional healthcare applications are shaping into smart healthcare solutions. Smart healthcare helps in continuously monitoring our body parameters, which helps in keeping people health-aware. It provides the ability for remote assistance, which helps in utilizing the available resources to maximum potential. The backbone of smart healthcare solutions is Internet of Things (IoT) which increases the computing capacity of the real-world components by using cloud-based solutions. The basic elements of these IoT based smart healthcare solutions are called "things." Things are simple sensors or actuators, which have the capacity to wirelessly connect with each other and to the internet. The research for this dissertation aims in developing architectures for these things, focusing on IoT-based smart healthcare solutions. The core for this dissertation is to contribute to the research in smart healthcare by identifying applications which can be monitored remotely. For this, application-specific thing architectures were proposed based on monitoring a specific body parameter; monitoring physical health for family and friends; and optimizing the power budget of IoT body sensor network using human body communications. The experimental results show promising scope towards improving the quality of life, through needle-less and cost-effective smart healthcare solutions.

<p> </p><div> <div> <div> <p> </p><div> <div> <div> <p> </p><div> <div> <div> <p>The current state of the art in biopotential recordings rely on radiative electromagnetic (EM) fields. In such transmissions, only a small fraction of this energy is received since the EM fields are widely radiated resulting in lossy inefficient systems. Using the body as a communication medium (similar to a ’wire’) allows for the containment of the energy within the body, yielding order(s) of magnitude lower energy than radiative EM communication. The first part of this work introduces Animal Body Communication for untethered rodent biopotential recording and for the first time this work develops the theory and models for animal body communication circuitry and channel loss. In vivo experimental analysis proves that ABC successfully transmits acquired electrocardiogram (EKG) signals through the body with correlation greater than 99% when compared to traditional wireless communication modalities, with a 50x reduction in power consumption. The second part of this work focusses on the analysis and design of an Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication (EQS-HBC) system for simultaneous sensing and transmission of biopotential signals. In this work, detailed analysis on the system level interaction between the sensing and transmitting circuitry is studied and a design to enable simultaneous sensing and transmission is proposed. Experimental analysis was performed to understand the interaction between the Right Leg-Drive circuitry and the HBC transmission along with the effect of the ADC quantization on signal quality. Finally, experimental trials proves that EKG signals can be transmitted through the body with greater than 96% correlation when compared to Bluetooth systems at extremely low powers. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Between the 1850s to the 1960s, the department store emerged as a prominent retail format worldwide. As a retail format, the department store model broke away from pre-existing retailer and consumer conceptions of shopping and the shopping environment. Store leaders placed their focus on creating an uplifting mode of consumerism that perpetuated the department store as an ‘experience.’ However, behind the department store’s ‘magical’ façade, store management preplanned and manipulated consumer interactions with every part of the store. The managerial techniques managers used allowed these institutions to become an epicentre of consumerism and urban culture globally. The department store has lost its reputation as a vibrant shopping location in the digital age, and retailers and consumers alike have disregarded it as solely a monument of retail nostalgia. Nonetheless, today’s retailers still have much to learn from the ways department store leaders innovated. The management techniques used in department stores can provide insight into these institutions’ successes and pitfalls when navigating changing retail circumstances. If the department store is used as a tool of managerial know-how for retailers in the digital age, it could allow other retailers to sustain a semblance of the department store’s longevity, commercially and culturally. Hudson’s Bay, a remaining store in the Canadian department store industry, features as a case study to highlight the extent to which department store leaders designed and managed their stores. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines the department store’s legacy as a tool of managerial know-how for retailers in the digital age. From the 1890s to the 1960s, department stores were an epicentre of consumerism and urban culture in locales worldwide. Department store management crafted store environments to create a ‘magical’ atmosphere for customers while calculating every consumer interaction with the store behind the scenes. Over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, increased retail competition has forced many stores to close, often leaving visual façades as the sole reminders of some defunct stores. Yet, the extensive management techniques used inside and outside stores provide insight into how this retail format achieved prominence, how its leaders responded to competitors, and how department store management techniques can contribute to current retail discussions despite its continued decline.

We have measured the optical properties of films of the organic semiconductors PTCDA (3,4:9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic dianhydride) and HBC (peri-hexabenzocoronene), prepared by Organic Molecular Beam Expitaxy (OMBE), on different substrates by means of Differential Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS). The optical setup enables us to directly follow the thickness dependent optical properties of the organic films, starting from submonolayer coverage up to thicker films on the order of 20 monolayers (ML) film thickness. Due to the different optical nature of the different substrates used, i.e., mica, glass, Au(111), and HOPG, the direct interpretation of the DRS signal is not feasible. Therefore, we have proposed a method by which the calculation of the optical constants n (index of refraction) and k (absorption index) of thin films on arbitrary substrates from just one spectral measurement (in our case the DRS) becomes possible. The results fulfill a priori a Kramers-Kronig consistency and no specific model is needed to express the spectral behavior of the optical constants. Based on our method, we have successfully calculated the optical constants, and therefore the absorption behavior, of films of different thickness of PTCDA on mica, glass, Au(111), and HOPG, as well as of HBC on mica, glass, and HOPG. Extrinsic effects due to island growth or the presence of a polarizable substrate (screening) have been accounted for. We have introduced a finite dipole model which considers the extended geometry and anisotropy of the organic molecules. The calculated absorption behavior is discussed in great detail in terms of spectral changes with varying film thickness, different growth modes, degree of ordering of the films, interactions with the substrates and oscillator strength. A direct observation of a monomer-dimer transition in solid films could be observed for the first time. Our results indicate an exciton delocalization over about 4 molecules for both molecules.

The topic of this work is the structural characterization and theoretical modeling of organic single and heterolayers. The growth of sub-monolayers and monolayers (ML) of the two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons quaterrylene (QT) and hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) on Ag(111) and Au(111) was investigated. A transition from a disordered, isotropic phase to an ordered phase with increasing coverage was found. The lattice of the ordered phase turned out to be coverage dependent. The intermolecular potential was modeled including Coulomb and van der Waals interaction by a force-field approach. The postulated repulsive character of the potential could be connected to the non-uniform intramolecular charge distribution and to a screening of the van der Waals forces. Furthermore, the influence of the variable lattice constant on the epitaxial growth of HBC was studied. The second part of this work deals with a ML of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) on a ML of HBC. In dependency on the initial lattice constant of HBC, a total of three line-on-line (LOL) and point-on-line coincident phases of PTCDA (with respect to HBC) was found. Following an analysis of the general properties of LOL coincident systems via force-field calculations, a new method to predict the structure of such systems is introduced. / Thema dieser Arbeit ist die strukturelle Charakterisierung von organischen Einfach- und Heterolagen sowie deren theoretische Beschreibung und Modellierung. Es wurden Submonolagen und Monolagen (ML) der polyzyklischen Kohlenwasserstoffe Quaterrylen (QT) und Hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronen (HBC) auf Ag(111) und Au(111) Einkristallen untersucht und ein Übergang von einer ungeordneten, isotropen Phase zu einer geordneten Phase mit steigender Bedeckung beobachtet. Die geordnete Phase wies dabei bedeckungsabhängige Gitterkonstanten auf. Das intermolekulare Potential wurde unter Berücksichtigung von Coulomb und van der Waals Anteilen mittels Kraftfeldmethoden modelliert. Der postulierte repulsive Charakter des Potentials konnte auf die Ladungsverteilung im Molekül und eine Abschwächung des van der Waals Potentials zurückgeführt werden. Weiterhin wurde der Einfluss der variablen HBC Gitterkonstante auf die epitaktische Relation des Gitters zum Metallsubstrat untersucht. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit widmet sich der Untersuchung einer ML 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydrid (PTCDA) auf einer ML HBC. Dabei wurden, in Abhängigkeit von der HBC Gitterkonstante, insgesamt drei verschiedene Typen von line-on-line bzw. point-on-line Epitaxie nachgewiesen. Im Anschluss an eine Analyse der generellen Eigenschaften solcher epitaktischer Lagen mittels Kraftfeldrechnungen wird eine neue Methode zur Vorhersage der Struktur konkreter Systeme vorgestellt.