The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if a periodized strength and conditioning program resulted in long-term adaptations in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball athletes, and if these changes related to the team’s competitive performance. Specifically, this dissertation serves to: 1.) describe the changes in body composition and performance variables of 2 female volleyball athletes over a 4-year collegiate career, 2.) determine the degree and magnitude of change in performance variables after about 1, 2, and 3 years of periodized resistance training, and 3.) infer if volleyball performance characteristics are related to a team’s competitive success. The following are major findings of this dissertation. 1.) Positive changes in vertical jump height, strength, and explosiveness may be possible throughout 4 years of collegiate volleyball training even with increased body mass and percent body fat. Moreover, impaired ability to perform heavy lower-body resistance training exercises due to chronic injury negatively impacts long-term physical performance adaptations over 4 years. 2.) A combination of traditional resistance training exercises and weightlifting variations at various loads, in addition to volleyball practice, appear to be effective at increasing maximal strength by 44% and vertical jump height by 20%-30% in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball athletes after about two and half years of training. Furthermore, these characteristics can be improved in the absence of additional plyometric training outside of normal volleyball-specific practice. 3.) A rating percentage index RPI ranking ratio and unweighted match score ratio appear to be better predictors of overall team competitive season success than a weighted match score ratio. On the contrary, a weighted match score ratio may be better for determining an association between team match performance and volleyball-specific fitness. A considerable amount of research is needed to develop a volleyball-specific performance index that best quantifies team performance and whether or not a measurable association exists between improved fitness characteristics and increased overall team competitive success. The findings of this dissertation provide evidence that analyzing and monitoring volleyball-related performance variables over time can assist the sport performance group in making training based decisions as well as promote the successful development of an athlete.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Statistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / TheEllisrasLongitudinalStudy(ELS)openedthepossibilitiesforunderstandingthegrowthvariationsamongchildreninruralSouthAfrica. Theaimofthe study was to analyse the growth spurt in height and weight of children using the ELS. This is part of the on going ELS and this study followed secondary analytical longitudinal study using data collected from November 1996 to November 2003. All children underwent a series of anthropometric measurements of height and weight according to the standard procedures recommended by the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. The descriptive statistics was done for age, height, weight, velocity and acceleration by gender amongst rural children in Ellisras. Thelinearmixedmodelwasusedto analyse data. Based on the smallest values of AIC and BIC, the best model to fit the ELS data which was found to be the unstructured covariance structure model was chosen. The interaction between age and gender, which was significant at 5% level suggested that the relationship of age with growth varies depending on gender. There was also a significant positive linear relationship of age with distance. The onset of growth spurt for rural children in Ellisras was at 12.05 years for boys and at 12.32 years for girls, while the Senegalese boys took off earlier at 11.02 years. Ellisras rural boys and USA boys had their onset of growth spurt almost at the same age at 13 years for USA boys and 12.05 years for Ellisras rural boys. USA girls had their onset of growth spurt earlier at 11 years than Ellisras rural girls at 12.32 years. Newcastle upon Tyne adolescents reached ii their PHV at 14 and 12 years for boys and girls respectively, similarly with Ellisras rural children at 14.21 and 11.80 years for boys and girls respectively. Ellisras rural girls had their PHV at 11.80 years earlier than Ellisras rural boys at 14.21 years. Children in rural Ellisras in the ELS and their growth variations do not differ that much compared with other children across the world. Key words: Growth spurt, peak height velocity, boys, girls. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

The purpose of this study was to compare the phase characteristics of the countermovement jump (CMJ) force-time (F-t) curve between athletes based on jumping ability. An initial sample of one-hundred fifty Division-I collegiate athletes were ranked based on CMJ height. Three performance groups were then formed by taking the top, middle, and lower 30 athletes (15 men and 15 women) from the sample. Phases of the CMJ F-t curve were determined and then characterized by their duration, magnitude, area (impulse), and shape (shape factor). A series of 3-way mixed analysis of variance were used to determine statistical differences in phase characteristics between performance groups as well as between male and female athletes. Statistically significant phase-by-performance group interactions were observed for relative phase magnitude (p < 0.001), relative phase impulse (p < 0.001), and shape factor (p = 0.002). Phase-by-sex interactions were statistically significant for both relative phase magnitude (p < 0.001) and relative phase impulse (p < 0.001). Post hoc comparisons indicated that higher jumpers exhibited larger relative magnitude and impulse in the phases contained within the positive area of the F-t curve. Similarly, relative phase magnitude and impulse were the only phase characteristics to be statically different between men and women. Finally, the relative shape of the phase representing the initial rise in force was found to relate to jump height. These results provide some information regarding the diagnostic value of qualitative analysis of the CMJ F-t curve.

The use of pasture to provide low cost feed for dairy and other farm animals is an important factor in the success of livestock operations. Some of the factors which influence the income from pasture land are: management, pasture mix, and climate. The management of a pasture can determine to a great extent the value of pasture in a farming enterprise. Irrigating the pasture at the right time, using the right fertilizer, and proper methods of harvesting are examples of some of the management problems facing the grassland farmer.

Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM), Metal-Insulator-Insulator-Metal (MIIM), and Metal-Insulator-Insulator-Insulator-Metal (MIIIM) quantum tunneling diodes have been designed, fabricated, and characterized. The key interest of this work was to develop tunneling diodes capable of operating and detecting THz radiation up to 30THz, which is well beyond the operation ranges of other semiconductor-based diodes. Al2O3, HfO2 and TiO2 metal oxides were employed for studying the behavior of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and metal-insulator-insulator-metal (MIIM) quantum tunneling diodes. Specifically, ultra-thin films of these oxides with varied thicknesses were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) as the tunneling junction material that is sandwiched between platinum (Pt) and titanium (Ti) electrodes, with dissimilar work functions of 5.3 eV and 4.1 eV, respectively. Due to the unique and well-controlled tunneling characteristic of the ALD ultra-thin films, reproducible MIM and MIIM diode devices have been developed. The DC characteristics of MIM and MIIM tunneling junctions with different junction areas and materials were investigated in this work. The effects of the different compositions and thicknesses of the tunneling layer on the diodes were studied systematically. Through the introduction of stacked dual tunneling layers, it is demonstrated that the MIIM and MIIIM diodes exhibited a high degree of asymmetry (large ratio between forward and reverse currents) and a strong nonlinearity in their I-V characteristics. The characterization was performed on diodes with micro and nano-scale junction areas. The MIM diodes reported herein exhibited lower junction resistances than those reported by prior works. Moreover, a study was conducted to numerically extract the average barrier heights by fitting the analytical model of the tunneling current to the measured I-V responses, which were evaluated with respect to the thickness of the constituent tunneling layer. RF characterization was performed on the MIM diodes up to 65GHz, and its junction impedance was extracted. A rigorous procedure was followed to extract the diode equivalent circuit model to obtain the intrinsic lumped element model parameters of the MIM diodes.

Abstract not available

The reach of the patent system has substantially broadened in recent decades. Subject matter extensions were not introduced by parliaments, but by individual judges considering specific cases, often between private parties. The focus in this thesis is whether these changes create a net economic benefit to society. Because of the lack of data on patents, it is not possible to address this question directly. The thesis therefore focuses on a critical aspect of patents: their inventiveness.¶ The main contribution of this thesis is a detailed empirical assessment of the inventiveness of patents. This assessment breaks new ground by using the actual claims in the patent specification as the basis for a qualitative assessment against the yardstick of whether there is any new contribution to knowledge. This yardstick is used because a key social benefit from private invention is the spillovers from new knowledge. In addition a low inventive threshold encourages monopoly grants for inventions that would have occurred absent patents, and thus increases social costs without any offsetting benefits.¶ A small universe of 72 recently granted Australian business method patents is assessed on this basis. Of these, one possibly contributes new knowledge, and three others possibly contribute new ideas, but without any associated new knowledge. It is hard to find any contribution in the rest of the dataset. The data suggest that the large majority of currently granted patents produce no benefit to society, and do not meet the normal definition of the concept of “invention”.¶ The detailed analysis shows the underlying problems to include identifying previous knowledge, an issue already suggested by the literature, but more extensively documented here. The legal judgement rules developed through case law are shown to be very poor yardsticks for implementation of an important economic policy. The narrow legal doctrines result in, for example, the computerisation of well-known methods being judged both novel and inventive. They also allow obvious combinations of old ideas, and trivial variations on old ideas to be granted patent monopolies. Despite the analogous use doctrine, patents are granted for the application of known methods to new areas for which they are well suited.¶ A number of proposals are put forward for reform of patent policy. The underlying theme is that there should be a good chance, and clear evidence, that the patent system enhances national economic well-being. Specific proposals include writing the objective of patent policy into the statute so that judges have clear guidance in their decision-making, limiting the grant of patents to science and technology based inventions, requiring the patent applicant to demonstrate novelty and inventiveness beyond reasonable doubt, setting the inventiveness standard in the context of a balance between benefits and costs, and introducing a defence of independent invention.¶ As the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) mandates no discrimination under patent law between fields of technology, the results of this investigation may be generalisable to other technology fields. They may also be generalisable to the inventiveness standards in other jurisdictions: of the 72 Australian patents, 32 have already received at least one overseas grant (18 if New Zealand is excluded).

<p>The wave field in the Baltic Sea has been modelled for a two-year period with the spectral wave model HYPAS. There is a large seasonal variation in the field and a minor annual one, both reflect the wind variation in the area. Since the Baltic Sea is fetch limited, the dominant wind direction is important for the maximum wave heights.</p><p>By studying the modelled wave energy density in combination with bottom type maps, the effect of the wave field on the sediment surface is examined. Up to half the bottoms in the Baltic Sea are affected ~25% of the time. A statistical relation between wave energy density and bottom types is found for the Gulf of Riga, but in the rest of the area the sediment maps were to coarse. It is, due to this, not possible to say if the result is valid for the whole area or if it is site specific.</p><p>During resuspension events the remineralisation is increased since deposited organic material is reintroduced into the watermass and there exposed to higher levels of oxygen. This process could act as an increased regional source of nitrogen in nutrient budgets and thus influence the conditions for nitrogen fixation and perhaps explain some of the geographical differences in the nitrogen fixation rates.</p>

<p>Detta examensarbete undersöker forensisk längdmätning i bild, t ex längduppskattning av människor i bilder rörande brottsmål. Problemen identifieras och några av dagens befintliga längdmätningsmetoder diskuteras.</p><p>Den metod som bäst uppfyller de i arbetet ställda kraven, d v s snabb handläggning, minimal systeminformation, minimalt arbete på plats och exakthet, har valts ut, anpassats och utvärderats. Metoden bygger på att hitta s k gränspunkter och grundplanets gränslinje i bilden och utifrån en i världen känd referenslängd beräkna den sökta längden. Den bakomliggande teorin presenteras och metoden beskrivs i detalj. Funktioner, algoritmer och ett användargränssnitt har implementerats i beräkningsprogrammet MatLab. Tester har utförts för att validera metodens noggrannhet och parameterberoende. Metoden visar sig ge mycket bra resultat då rätt förutsättningar ges, men har konstaterats vara känslig för variation på gränslinjen. En rad förbättringsförslag presenteras för att utveckla metoden och stabilisera resultatet.</p><p>Examensarbetet omfattar 20 högskolepoäng och utgör ett obligatoriskt moment i utbildningsprogrammet civilingenjör i datateknik som ges av Linköpings universitet. Arbetet är utfört vid och på uppdrag av Statens kriminaltekniska laboratorium (SKL) i Linköping.</p>

As part of the ONR sponsored Coupled Boundary Layer/Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) experiment, data from the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft measurements into major Hurricanes in the 2002-2004 seasons are analyzed to investigate the structure of the boundary layer. The turbulent fluxes of momentum and enthalpy are derived using the eddy correlation method. For the first time, the momentum and enthalpy fluxes were directly measured in the boundary layer of a hurricane with wind speeds up to 30 m/s. A new bulk parameterization of the momentum and enthalpy flux is developed. The vertical structure of turbulence and fluxes are presented for the entire boundary layer in the rain free region between the outer rainbands. The turbulent kinetic energy budget was estimated for the hurricane boundary layer between the outer rainbands. The universal spectra and cospectra of the wind velocity, temperature and humidity are also derived. A case study on the effects of roll vortices on the turbulent fluxes is conducted, which confirmed the existence of the boundary layer rolls and gave the first estimate of their modulation of the momentum and sensible heat flux. The CBLAST data provided an invaluable perspective on the evaluation and development of the boundary layer parameterization suited for the hurricane models. Studies on entrainment processes above of the mixed layer and turbulent transport processes induced by the inflow are recommended in the future.