Virtual reality is a rapidly growing innovation that has many real-world applications inengineering, healthcare, education and much more. More startups are emerging, and someof these companies are developing virtual reality simulators that allows the user toimmerse themselves completely in the virtual world with the use hardware devices.Companies like Infinadeck and Omnifinity have developed one such hardware known asthe walking simulator. This paper studied virtual reality and the barriers that occur whenlaunching a virtual reality walking simulator in the US for the entertainment industry. Theresearch was conducted on B2B companies that manufacture and use virtual realitywalking simulators with the addition of an industry outside of the entertainment industryto allow for comparison of the barriers. This study was a qualitative and comparativestudy based on a theoretical framework combined with empirical findings gathered fromeleven interviews with individuals from the manufacturers, entertainment center and themilitary. By analyzing and comparing the findings throughout this study, the authors canconclude that there are several barriers that can occur and affect launching a virtual realitywalking simulator process negatively. The barriers identified were price, hesitation to tryand reliability. These findings when analyzed with the theoretical framework identified that the emergence of these barriers was due to VR being such advanced technology. Thecustomers understanding of the value it creates is a determining factor when deciding tomake the purchase which showed to be highly complex with the VR walking simulator.The study also offers suggestions that can be taken for future research.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic concerning regulation of launching medical devices onto the market with regard to the analysis of key regulatory framework. The aim of the thesis is to find out if the legal framework really fulfils its de lege ferenda objectives. The purpose of this thesis is to confirm or disprove a hypothesis that the regulation of launching medical devices onto the market is sufficient and effective from the point of view of consumer protection and interests of other stakeholders. Secondary aim of this diploma thesis is to confirm or disprove a hypothesis that the harmonization of legal framework in the EU is appropriate and effective. These hypothesis are to a certain extent following up the verification of four essential goals that should be reached by the regulation. One of the key aims is assuring the safety of the products, enabling them to move freely in terms of the internal market of the EU and assuring that the consumer isn't misled when deciding about his optimal situation. Besides that the regulation shouldn't unnecessarily slow down the activities of businesses and inappropriately limit their innovation potential. The diploma thesis has a critical point of view concerning some aspects of this regulation and in the end the author suggests some proposals in order to improve the current practice.

At the present time, the young adult transition into adulthood has been extended, which has also extended the launching stage. One result of the extended launching stage is that parents are now involved in active parenting longer than before. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the extended launching stage in key areas (the parent- child relationship and parent support) on parental emotional wellbeing. The contribution of this research is that it adds to the limited body of knowledge about normative launching stage parenting practices and outcomes. This dissertation is a three chapter manuscript that uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations. Chapter one provides the background for the dissertation. Chapter two, using cross-sectional analyses, examines the effect of parent support and the parent-child relationship on parental emotional wellbeing between two parent cohorts—1985 and 2005. Chapters three and four are longitudinal studies that use cross-sectional regressions and fixed effect models to estimate parent role changes involving parental role evaluation and wellbeing at four time waves—1994, 1997, 2000, and 2005. Chapter three focuses on the effect of changes in parent support on parents’ emotional wellbeing. Chapter four investigates the impact of the parent-child relationship on parent role evaluation. The results of the analyses show that compared to their parents at the same point in their life course, contemporary parents have a lower quality of life. Results also find that over time, wellbeing is impacted by the quality of the parent-child relationship, but supporting young adult offspring does not impact self-esteem.

Detta arbete ämnar undersöka förändringar i olycksstatistiken mellan 1990 till 2000 och 2001 till 2014 vid sjösättning och återställning av snabbgående beredskapsbåtar. Genom att göra en litteraturstudie, där huvudsakliga källan innebar sekundärdata i form av olycksrapporter från brittiska haverikommissionen kunde en sammanställning av antal olyckor, olycksorsak och personskador mellan 2001 och 2014 utföras. Detta resultat jämfördes sedan mot en tidigare studie som undersökte samma ämne mellan 1990 och 2000. Resultatet i jämförelseanalysen visade en minskning av antalet olyckor som inträffar vid sjösättning och återställning av snabbgående beredskapsbåtar. Utrustning som används vid olyckstillfällena tyds har blivit säkrare sedan förra studien utfördes då utrustningen tidigare var den största orsaken till olyckor. Resultatet i denna studie visar istället att det är besättningens agerande vid sjösättning och återställning som leder tills flest olyckstillbud. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes behind accidents at the launching and recovery phase of fast rescue boats on RO/RO passenger ships between 2001 and 2014. The purpose was also to examine what the consequences may be for the crew in this type of accident. When the objective of this study was achieved, it was decided that a depression on the topic would be performed by making a statistical comparison to investigate how this types of accidents has changed since 1990-2000. The study was done as a literature study where secondary non-experimental data was used as the material for the compilation of the results. The material obtained in the form of accident summaries from the British Marine Accident Investigation Branch.  This source was chosen to be used because the previous study was based on the same commission’s statistics of accident in the result United Kingdom FRB Working Group presented in 2001. After the result in this study had been compiled and was able to present how many accidents that have occurred within the period covered, and what had caused the accidents was decided a comparison study with previous research was conducted. Comparative results of the analysis showed that the total number of accidents has decreased since the last study was conducted. From the results it can be inferred that the main reason of the accidents has decreased, probably is because the equipment used in this kind of operation has become safer.

The issue of launching medical devices on the market became more intense in the last few decades in connection to the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry and legal area. This legal area is still mostly undescribed and it stands in the shadow of known and more discussed medical products. Proper legal theoretical analysis is often completely absent. This master thesis aims to complexly describe and analyse theoretical bases of current legislative regulating the launching of the medical devices on the market, including other processes related to this issue. Emphasis is places on the concept of medical device, the responsibility of the manufacturer and the nature of notified body. The author focuses on the subsequent conformity assessment process and process of registration. The process of notification and exemption from this obligation and administrative nature of selected documents. The thesis is divided into eleven chapters and the introductory chapter focuses on a general introduction to the field of pharmaceutical law, namely the regulation of medical devices, including the definition of basic questions in the work under study. The second chapter deals with the analysis of sources of legal regulation of medical devices. The chapter is divided into sources of the law of the Czech Republic and...

The thesis analyses process of launching a new financial product of Conseq Investment Management, a.s. The new product is Investment mortgage. Theoretical part describes parts of the launching, process of adaptation and marketing mix. In practical part is introduced company Conseq Investment Management, a.s. and its basic products. There is described process of launching the product Investment mortgage. At the conclusion there are suggested a few recommendations for the company.

Straßenbrücken im Bestand bilden einen beachtlichen Teil des Anlagevermögens der bundesdeutschen Verkehrsinfrastruktur. Diese existierenden Brücken stellen die verantwortlichen Behörden vor erhebliche Herausforderungen. Einen großen Anteil am Bestand nehmen Brücken in Spannbetonbauweise ein. Viele der heute noch existierenden Konstruktionen sind in der Zeit des wirtschaftlichen Aufschwungs nach den 1960er Jahren in der BRD entstanden. Die Spannbetonbauweise wurde parallel zur Anwendung erforscht und weiterentwickelt. Bestimmte Bauweisen und Bauverfahren bildeten sich heraus, die bis in die Gegenwart angewendet werden. Heute sind diese Brücken veränderten Anforderungen ausgesetzt. Ältere Brücken stehen unter immer höheren Belastungen. Die statische Nachrechnung ist ein Hilfsmittel für Ingenieure zur Beurteilung bestehender Brückenbauwerke. Im Jahre 2011 wurde dazu vom Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung eine Richtlinie zur Nachrechnung von Straßenbrücken herausgegeben. Erfahrungen und Ergebnisse in der Anwendung wurden veröffentlicht. Bei vielen Spannbetonbrücken wurden damit rechnerische Defizite ausgewiesen, die zu einer Einschränkung der weiteren Nutzungsdauer führen. Damit können solche Spannbetonbrücken nicht mehr so lange genutzt werden, wie ursprünglich geplant. Verantwortlich dafür kann u. a. der statische Nachweis der Dekompression sein, bei dem im Beton keine bzw. unter Anwendung der gegenwärtigen Fassung dieser Richtlinie nur sehr geringe Zugspannungen auftreten dürfen. Es werden Spannbetonbrücken betrachtet, die im Taktschiebeverfahren hergestellt wurden. Diese weisen bestimmte Konstruktionsmerkmale auf, sodass hauptsächlich allein der Nachweis der Dekompression noch maßgeblich für die Einschränkung der Nutzungsdauer sein kann. Die Grundlagen des Nachweises der Gebrauchstauglichkeit basierend auf dem bewährten Konzept der zulässigen Spannungen in der früheren deutschen Spannbetonnorm werden erläutert. Diese frühere Norm wird dem Konzept der europäischen Mustervorschrift (Model Code) bis zu den heute gültigen Eurocodes gegenübergestellt. Auf der Einwirkungsseite werden die früheren Lastfälle in das heute nach Eurocode gültige Konzept der Einwirkungskombinationen im Grenzzustand der Gebrauchstauglichkeit eingeordnet. Die Hintergründe der früher zulässigen Spannungen im Beton auf Zug auf der Widerstandsseite werden beschrieben. Die früheren Grenzwerte werden kritisch beurteilt. Es wird herausgearbeitet, dass die gegenwärtige Regelung der Richtlinie beim Nachweis der Dekompression zu ungünstig ist. Ein differenzierteres Nachweisverfahren auf Basis des Eurocodes wird vorgeschlagen. Damit soll die Verkürzung der Nutzungsdauer aufgehoben werden. Wenn sonst keine Einschränkungen bestehen, können mit diesem Vorschlag solche Spannbetonbrücken wenigstens solange genutzt werden, wie ursprünglich vorgesehen. Bei der Anwendung sind Einschränkungen zu beachten. Die Übertragung auf andere Bauweisen von Spannbetonbrücken wäre möglich.

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Current propogation models are no longer sufficient for wireless network planning. They are neither accurate (empirical) nor fast enough (deterministic) to be applicable in the applications of Automated Cell Planning. This thesis focuses on the development of a new method, namely Intelligent Ray Launching Algorithm (IRLA), which is based on a fast, accurate and robust algorithm that is especially suitable for wireless network planning. The infrastructure of IRLA is thoroughly analysed in this thesis and the results are presented. Foster's design methodology has been used to parallelise the new model. Various scenarios for outdoor, indoor, indoor-to-outdoor and outdoor-to-indoor settings have been employed to test the effectiveness and efficiency of IRLA. The field strengths (path loss) and multipath information were calculated, which were used to demonstrate the application of IRLA. The accuracy of IRLA is guaranteed via the use of a meta-based heuristics calibration procedure. In order to achieve a simulation within a realistic time scale, acceleration techniques such as avoid double marking, multi-threading and the use of Parallel Object-Oriented Programming C++ have been employed. Since multipath for a large number of receiver locations can be easily obtained via IRLA, the study of delay spread has been presented. The success of the integration with a wireless network planning platform exemplifies that IRLA is suitable for wireless network planning and optimisation, which is beneficial to relevant academics and industries. Testing demonstrated that depending on various scenarios, IRLA obtains industrially-recognised accuracy ranging from 5 to 8 dB Root-Mean-Square-Error. This model is highly-efficient because its required runtime for most simulations is from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Sounding rockets find applications in multiple fields of scientific research including meteorology, astronomy and microgravity. Indigenous sounding rocket technologies are absent on the African continent despite a potential market in the local aerospace industries. The UKZN Phoenix Sounding Rocket Programme was initiated to fill this void by developing inexpensive medium altitude sounding rocket modeling, design and manufacturing capacities. This dissertation describes the development of the Hybrid Rocket Performance Simulator (HYROPS) software tool and its application towards the structural design of the reusable, 10 km apogee capable Phoenix-1A hybrid sounding rocket, as part of the UKZN Phoenix programme. HYROPS is an integrated 6–Degree of Freedom (6-DOF) flight performance predictor for atmospheric and near-Earth spaceflight, geared towards single-staged and multi-staged hybrid sounding rockets. HYROPS is based on a generic kinematics and Newtonian dynamics core. Integrated with these are numerical methods for solving differential equations, Monte Carlo uncertainty modeling, genetic-algorithm driven design optimization, analytical vehicle structural modeling, a spherical, rotating geodetic model and a standard atmospheric model, forming a software framework for sounding rocket optimization and flight performance prediction. This framework was implemented within a graphical user interface, aiming for rapid input of model parameters, intuitive results visualization and efficient data handling. The HYROPS software was validated using flight data from various existing sounding rocket configurations and found satisfactory over a range of input conditions. An iterative process was employed in the aerostructural design of the 1 kg payload capable Phoenix-1A vehicle and CFD and FEA numerical techniques were used to verify its aerodynamic and thermo-structural performance. The design and integration of the Phoenix-1A‟s hybrid power-plant and onboard electromechanical systems for recovery parachute deployment and motor oxidizer flow control are also discussed. It was noted that use of HYROPS in the design loop led to improved materials selection and vehicle structural design processes. It was also found that a combination of suitable mathematical techniques, design know-how, human-interaction and numerical computational power are effective in overcoming the many coupled technical challenges present in the engineering of hybrid sounding rockets. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.