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The Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method has become a very powerful tool for the analysis of propagating electromagnetic waves. It involves the discretization of Maxwell's equations in both time and space that leads to a numerical solution of the wave propagation problem in the time domain. The technique's main benefits are that it permits the description of wave propagation in non-uniform media, it can easily accommodate a wide range of boundary conditions, and it can be used to model nonlinear effects as well as the wave behaviour near localized structures or material defects. In this study, we extend this technique to mechanical wave propagation in piezoelectric crystals. It is observed to give large reflection artefacts generated by the computational boundaries which interfere with the desired wave propagation. To solve this problem, the renowned absorbing boundary condition called perfectly matched layer (PML) is used. PML was first introduced in 1994 for electromagnetic wave propagation. Our research has further developed this idea for acoustic wave propagation in piezoelectric crystals. The need to improve the large reflection artefacts by introducing a finite thickness PML has reduced acoustic wave reflection occurring due to practical errors to less than 0.5 %. However, it is found that PML can generate numerical instabilities in the calculation of acoustic fields in piezoelectric crystals. Theses observations are also discussed in this report. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Purpose: the objective of this research is to get a better understanding of luxury consumption in today’s society and the connection to sustainability. Consumers are no longer asking but demanding more sustainable practices from the fashion industry, especially the fast-fashion companies, calling any minor error or threat of “Greenwashing” (Joshi and Rahman 2019). Although, when it comes to luxury brands the level of exigence seems to be different. The aim is to understand the influence of sustainability when consumers are acquiring new pieces, in particular luxury ones. The purpose is to answer in which ways these two concepts are affected by each other and consequently if they will affect the luxury consumers. Method: An inductive approach was used by the researchers. 15 semi structured interviews were conducted to people from 10 different countries with ages between 22 to 60. The duration of these interviews was between 20 to 45 minutes and a questionnaire was designed in order to have a structure but also new questions were made as follow up or elaboration on what interviewees mentioned, where particular themes are defined and the questions are formulated during the interviews to extract the desirable answers in accordance with the themes (Bryman et al. 2021). Findings: Six themes were detected after the analysis of the results. First, the contemporary luxury consumer situation, followed by the feelings that occur after consuming luxury fashion products where there are mixed emotions of pleasure and shame. In the same sector, the current brand perception, arised the conversation about the lack of brand love. From this angle, the mixed consumption patterns that revealed the emerging phenomenon of consuming both luxury and fast-fashion came to support the absence of brand love. Lastly, in the context of sustainability, the view of sustainability among luxury consumers and the transition to more sustainable practices in purchasing fashion products were the other two themes that were discovered. Managerial Implications: the matter of the absence of brand love seems of great significance for executives and managers in luxury brands. Another aspect is the fact that managers could further capitalise on the quality that is provided by their brands since all participants expressed their preference in luxury products attributable to their endurance, managers could make their pivotal point, in the marketing efforts, the exceptional quality. Another contribution to get a better insight to the people involved in the industry, from designers to managers is to obtain a deeper understanding on how much sustainability efforts could affect or benefit their business.

The purposes of this dissertation were to examine the physical and technical demands of collegiate NCAA D-I male soccer players over the course of a competitive season. The following are the major findings of the dissertation: Study 1 – GPS normative data was calculated by position using data from 5 seasons (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). GPS data was compared by position for 5 different GPS-derived metrics. No statistically significant differences were found in any field or lab testing data by position. Statistically significant relationships were found between physical match performance variables of TD and SPR with both YYIRT-1 and 20m sprint time, as well as between IMA-A and 20m sprint time. These results suggest that both the YYIRT-1 and the 20m sprint test is related to match performance in soccer players of this population. Study 2 – Normative data was provided for technical-tactical variables retrieved via WyScout®, a video analysis software used to tag technical actions of soccer games. Normative technical-tactical data are presented as mean ± SD. Statistically significant low to moderate negative correlations were found between total volume of technical actions and GPS variables. No statistically significant relationships were found between the strength-power lab tests measures and any of the total volume measures of technical actions. Statistically significant low to moderate correlations were found between speed and endurance field tests and total volume of technical actions. Study 3 – The relationship between training load and physical capabilities was examined by using appropriate testing. Bootstrapped ANOVA results showed statistically significant changes in pre and post testing for Static Jump Peak Power in the loaded condition. No other significant changes in lab testing results were found. Statistically significant changes in Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test scores were found in pre- and post-testing. The relationship between GPS training load metrics and percentage of change in the administered test was found to be statistically significant between HSR distance and YYIRT distance, CMJ Peak Power and both TD and IMA-D. Physical capacity of NCAA D-I male soccer players seems to deteriorate over the season, but not differ statistically from baseline measurements. Physical changes could be context-dependent and a consequence of the specific training plan. Overall, soccer performance at the NCAA D-I level is multi-factorial and an analysis of the in-season demands of this population of athletes appears to yield some counterintuitive results.

Title: Analysis of load referee during basketball games in different age and performance level. Objectives: Record heart rate, run the distance, match time, load zone of selected referee during basketball games. Gathered data compare between different competition levels. Methods: Analysis of outcomes gathered based on measurements of basketball referee during basketball games using sport tester RS800 and Nike iPod sensor. Measurements where gathered during season 2014/15 in the range of 48 measurements. Results: Research prove that the heart rate of basketball referee differ based on what level and competition she supervised. Expected hypothesis was proved that with growing category grow average heart rate, consequences of this fact is longer distance run during the game which means faster pace of the game and growing mental load which impact the referee. Keywords: rules, match, sport tester, heart rate, load zone, nervousness, player, coach, match time, category, competition

Syfte och frågeställningar Studiens syfte är att undersöka relationen mellan ungdomsmålvakters resultat i vanligt förekommande standardtester som är avsedda att mäta fysisk kapacitet och deras prestation i matchlika aktioner. Syftet är också att undersöka om resultaten skiljer sig mellan målvakter i två olika ålderskategorier. Frågeställningar: Vad är korrelation mellan resultat i standardtester och matchlika aktioner? Skiljer sig resultaten mellan ungdomsmålvakter på U17 och U19 nivå? Metod För att svara på studiens frågeställningar skapades ett testbatteri innehållande fysiska tester designade för fotbollsmålvakter, utifrån deras rörelsemönster och aktioner (verklighetsnära tester), som jämförs med tester som används av dagens fotbollsklubbar (standardtester). Med hjälp av aktuellt forskningsläge tillsammans med information som mottagits från tränare och målvakter, utfördes 6 tester, på 15 målvakter, som registrerades med mätinstrument och höghastighetskameror. Resultatet analyserades med dubbelsidig t-test för att finna en statistisk signifikans mellan två åldersgrupper och Spearmans test för att finna en korrelation mellan standard- och verklighetsnära testerna. Resultat Resultatet från t-testet visade ingen signifikant skillnad mellan U17:s och U19:s målvakter på samtliga tester (p> 0,05). Spearmans test visade ingen statistiskt signifikant korrelation mellan testerna. Slutsats Både standard- och verklighetsnära testerna har sina fördelar men är syftet att utvärdera målvaktens fysiska kapacitet i matchlika situationer genom tester, bör dessa vara utformade utifrån målvaktens agerande under match. Enligt resultaten från denna studie visar detta att man inte enbart kan använda standardtester utan dessa bör kompletteras med tester specifikt utformade för måvakter. / Aim The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between youth goalkeepers' results in commonly used standard tests that are intended to measure physical capacity and their performance in match-like actions. The purpose is also to investigate whether the results differ between goalkeepers in two different age categories. Research questions: What is the correlation between results in standard tests and match-like actions? Do the results differ between youth goalkeepers at U17 and U19 level? Method To answer the study's questions, a test battery was created containing physical tests designed for football goalkeepers based on their movement patterns and actions (match-like actions) compared to tests used by today's football clubs (standard tests). With the help of research, together with information we received from coaches and goalkeepers, 6 tests were designed and performed, on 15 goalkeepers, which were recorded with measuring instruments and high-speed cameras. The results were analyzed with two tailed t-test to find a statistical significance between the two age groups and Spearman's test to find a correlation between the standard and realistic tests. Results The results of the t-test show no significant difference between the U17 and U19 goalkeepers on all tests (p> 0.05). Spearman's test shows that there was no statistic significant correlation between the tests. Conclusions Both standard and realistic tests have their advantages, but if the purpose is to evaluate the goalkeeper's physical capacity in match-like actions through tests, should these be designed based on the goalkeeper's actions during the match. According to the results of this study, this shows that you should not just use standard tests, but these should be supplemented with tests specifically designed for goalkeepers.

Future wireless communication devices must support multiple standards and features on a single-chip. The trend towards software-defined radio requires flexible and efficient RF building blocks which justifies the adoption of broadband receiver front-ends in modern and future communication systems. The broadband receiver front-end significantly reduces cost, area, pins, and power, and can process several signal channels simultaneously. This research is mainly focused on the analysis and realization of the broadband receiver architecture and its various building blocks (LNA, Active Balun-LNA, Mixer, and trans-impedance amplifier) for multi-standard applications. In the design of the mobile DTV tuner, a direct-conversion receiver architecture is adopted achieving low power, low cost, and high dynamic-range for DVB-H standard. The tuner integrates a single-ended RF variable gain amplifier (RFVGA), a current-mode passive mixer, and a combination of continuous and discrete-time baseband filter with built-in anti-aliasing. The proposed RFVGA achieves high dynamic-range and gain-insensitive input impedance matching performance. The current-mode passive mixer achieves high gain, low noise, and high linearity with low power supplies. A wideband common-gate LNA is presented that overcomes the fundamental trade-off between power and noise match without compromising its stability. The proposed architecture can achieve the minimum noise figure over the previously reported feedback amplifiers in common-gate configuration. The proposed architecture achieves broadband impedance matching, low noise, large gain, enhanced linearity, and wide bandwidth concurrently by employing an efficient and reliable dual negative-feedback. For the wideband Inductorless Balun-LNA, active single-to-differential architecture has been proposed without using any passive inductor on-chip which occupies a lot of silicon area. The proposed Balun-LNA features lower power, wider bandwidth, and better gain and phase balance than previously reported architectures of the same kind. A surface acoustic wave (SAW)-less direct conversion receiver targeted for multistandard applications is proposed and fabricated with TSMC 0.13?m complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The target is to design a wideband SAW-less direct coversion receiver with a single low noise transconductor and current-mode passive mixer with trans-impedance amplifier utilizing feed-forward compensation. The innovations in the circuit and architecture improves the receiver dynamic range enabling highly linear direct-conversion CMOS front-end for a multi-standard receiver.