In this study, we examined how hill running affects the Achilles tendon, which is a common location for injuries in runners. Twenty females ran for 10 min on three randomly selected grades (-6%, 0%, +6%). Achilles tendon (AT) cross-sectional area (CSA) was imaged using Doppler ultrasound and peak vertical forces were analyzed using high-speed (240 Hz) videography. A metabolic cart and gas analyzer ensured a similar metabolic cost across grades. Data were analyzed using a forward selection regression. Results showed a decrease in AT CSA from pre-run to post-run (p = .0001). Peak vertical forces were different across grades (p = .0001) with the largest occurring during downhill running and smallest during uphill running. The results suggest that the Achilles tendon is affected by running and a decrease in CSA appears to be a normal response. The AT CSA does not differ between grade conditions when metabolic cost of running is matched, suggesting an adaptive effect of the AT. Coaches and athletes can use this knowledge to develop workout protocols that transition runners to downhill running and allow them to adapt to these greater forces.

District heating is considered an environmentally friendly, efficient and cost-effective way of providingheat to buildings but even so, the industry will be facing several challenges in the upcoming years. Acombination of higher operating costs, growing demand, competition from alternative heatingtechnologies, national and international climate and energy goals and the need for transparency towardscustomers places high requirements on many thermal energy suppliers. One path to try to meet many ofthe demands is to introduce heat load control in the shape of thermal inertia in buildings as a short-termthermal energy storage. Several pilot tests have been performed in the matter but no study regardinglarge scale implementation and effects on the network has been performed. Adding to this, severaldifferent thermal energy suppliers are developing similar technologies alongside each other but there iscurrently no documentation on different approaches on the matter.Stockholm Exergi, a thermal energy supplier in Stockholm, have just started a project regarding heatload control and wanted deeper understanding in the matter. The overall purpose of this thesis hastherefore been to evaluate how heat load control could be performed successfully by Stockholm Exergito continue to promote competitive and sustainable delivery of district heat. This was done throughanalysis of other heat load control projects which resulted in eight key performance indicators. Thesewere; revenue, costs, fuel mix, greenhouse gas emissions, customer satisfaction, energy demand,available capacity and peak load. The key performance indicators were used to evaluate one ongoingtest run of heat load control performed by Stockholm Exergi to determine the profitability of theapproach. The test consisted of a control period of three hours in four buildings. The base of the studyconsists of a literature study and interviews performed both internally and externally.From the data analysis it was concluded that the energy savings due to heat load control were between13-19% for the individual buildings. The average total energy saving compared the entire day was 15.8%and the average total energy saving during the control period was 57.3%. It could also be concluded thatthe average total available capacity for all four buildings due to heat load control was 410 kWhcorresponding to 20.34Wh/m2 floor area.With the current price agreements, it was found that customers could save 0.145% on their monthly billdue to this reduction. For Stockholm Exergi, cost savings took the shape of avoided fuel costs and thetotal average cost savings were during the control period 0.072% with heat pumps as marginalproduction. Due to lack of data it was not possible to calculate other costs. The avoided GHG emissionsdue to the reduction in generation was 3.4 kg CO2-equivalents. During the control, the indoortemperature was reduced by a maximum of 0.587⁰C but no residents in the test buildings complainedabout bad indoor conditions.It was concluded that the current method and process for heat load control at Stockholm Exergi showsimilar results as other heat load control projects. Even though it is too soon to know for certain, it wasalso found that it has the potential to be economically, socially and ecologically successful in large scale.The thesis also concluded a list of recommendations for the future development of the heat load controlproject within Stockholm Exergi that would contribute to increase the probability of a successfulimplementation.Lastly, it was found that Stockholm Exergi is in the forefront of the development of heat load controlon large scale and are therefore in a position of trial and error where caution is paramount. / Fjärrvärme anses vara ett miljövänligt, effektivt och ekonomiskt lönsamt sätt att tillhandahålla värmetill byggnader men fjärrvärmeindustrin kommer ändå att stå inför flera utmaningar under de kommandeåren. En kombination av högre driftskostnader, ökad efterfrågan, konkurrens från alternativauppvärmningstekniker, nationella och internationella klimat- och energimål samt behovet av öppenhetgentemot slutanvändarna ställer höga krav på många fjärrvärmeleverantörer. Ett sätt att försöka mötadessa krav är att införa värmelastkontroll i form av termisk tröghet i byggnader som en kortsiktigvärmeenergilagring i fjärrvärmenätet. Flera pilot tester har gjorts inom området men ingen studierörande storskalig implementering och effekter på nätverket har utförts. Vidare utvecklar flera olikafjärrvärmeleverantörer liknande tekniker parallellt med varandra, men det finns för närvarande ingendokumentation gällande de olika metoderna.Stockholm Exergi, en fjärrvärmeleverantör i Stockholm, har nyligen påbörjat ett projekt inomvärmelastkontroll och har önskat djupare förståelse inom ämnet. Det övergripande syftet med dennaavhandling har därför varit att utvärdera hur kontroll av värmelasten kan genomföras framgångsrikt avStockholms Exergi för att fortsätta främja konkurrenskraftig och hållbar leverans av fjärrvärme.Detta gjordes genom analys av andra projekt rörande värmelastkontroll vilket resulterade i åtta nyckeltal.Dessa var; vinster, kostnader, bränslemix, växthusgasutsläpp, kundnöjdhet, energibehov, tillgängligkapacitet och toppbelastning. Dessa användes för att utvärdera en pågående testkörning avvärmelastkontroll i Stockholms Exergis fjärrvärmenät för att bestämma lönsamheten med metoden.Testkörningen gjordes i fyra byggnader under en kontrollperiod på tre timmar. Avhandlingen hade singrund i en omfattande litteraturstudie och interna samt externa intervjuer.Från dataanalysen drogs slutsatsen att energibesparingen var mellan 13–19% för de enskildabyggnaderna. Den genomsnittliga totala energibesparingen jämfört hela dagen var 15,8% och dengenomsnittliga totala energibesparingen under kontrollperioden var 57,3%. Den genomsnittliga totalatillgängliga kapaciteten på grund av värmelastkontroll blev därigenom 410 kWh vilket motsvarade 20,34Wh/m2 golvyta.Med de nuvarande prisöverenskommelserna konstaterades det att kunderna kunde spara 0,145% på sinmånatliga faktura på grund av denna minskning. För Stockholm Exergi fanns kostnadsbesparingar iform av undvikna bränslekostnader för spetsproduktion. Den genomsnittliga besparingen för undviknabränslekostnader var under kontrollperioden 0,072% med värmepumpar som marginalproduktion. Ingaandra kostnader kunde beräknas på grund av begränsad data. De undvikna växthusgasutsläppen på grundav denna minskning var 3,4 kg CO2-ekvivalenter. Under kontrollen reducerades innertemperaturen somhögst med 0,587 °C men inga boende klagade över försämrade inomhusförhållanden.En slutsats var att den nuvarande metoden och processen för kontroll av värmelasten utförd avStockholms Exergi visar liknande resultat som andra projekt inom samma område. Det kunde ävenfastställas att det har god potential att vara ekonomiskt, socialt och ekologiskt framgångsrikt i stor skalai framtiden. Avhandlingen fastställde också en lista med rekommendationer för den framtidautvecklingen av värmelastkontroll inom Stockholms Exergi. Dessa rekommendationer ska bidra tillökad sannolikhet för en framgångsrik implementering.Slutligen konstaterades det att Stockholms Exergi ligger i spetsen för utvecklingen av värmelastkontrolli stor skala. Detta innebär att de är i en position där det gäller att försiktigt och långsamt prova sig fram.

The number of mobile wireless devices on the market has increased substantially over the last decade. The frequency spectrum has become crowded due to the number of devices demanding radio traffic and new modulation schemes have been developed to accommodate the number of users. These new modulation schemes have caused very poor efficiencies in power amplifiers for wireless transmission systems due to high peak-to-average power ratios (PAPR). This thesis first presents the issue with classical power amplifiers in modern modulation systems. A brief overview of current attempts to mitigate this issue is provided. A new RF power amplifier topology is then presented with supporting simulations. The presented amplifier topology utilizes the concept of negative conductance and load modulation. The amplifier operates in two stages, a low power stage and a high power stage. A negative conductance amplifier is utilized during peak power transmission to modulate the load presented to the input amplifier. This topology is shown to greatly improve the power added efficiency of power amplifiers in systems with high PAPR.

Bandlimited optical intensity channels, arising in applications such as indoor infrared communications and visible light communications (VLC), require that all signals satisfy a bandwidth constraint as well as average, peak and non-negative amplitude constraints. However, the signaling designed for conventional radio frequency (RF) electrical channels cannot be applied directly, since they take energy constraints into consideration instead of amplitude constraints. In addition, conventional transmission techniques optimized for broad-band optical channels such as fiber optics, terrestrial/satellite-to-satellite free-space optical (FSO) communications are typically not bandwidth efficient. In this thesis, a two-dimensional signal space for bandlimited optical intensity channels is presented. A novel feature of this model is that the non-negativity and peak amplitude constraints are relaxed. The signal space parameterizes the likelihood of a negative or peak amplitude excursions in the output. Although the intensity channel only supports non-negative amplitudes, the impact of clipping on system performance is shown to be negligible if the likelihood of negative amplitude excursion is small enough. For a given signal space, a tractable approximation approach using a finite series is applied to accurately compute the likelihood of clipping under average and peak optical power constraints. The uncoded asymptotic optical power and spectral efficiencies using two-dimensional lattice constellations are computed. The Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation results show that for a given average or peak optical power, schemes designed in the presented signal space haver higher spectral efficiency than M-ary pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) using previously established techniques. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Semiclassical theories have proven to be a versatile tool in ultrafast strong field science. In this thesis, the power of classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) and quantum trajectory Monte Carlo (QTMC) simulations is celebrated by applying them in various strong field ionization settings. One question to be addressed concerns the way nonadiabaticity in the ionization process manifests itself. It will be shown how the assumption of a vanishing initial longitudinal momentum is the reason for the strong broadening of the initial time spread claimed in a popular nonadiabatic theory. Moreover, it will become clear how the broader time spread of this theory and the non-zero initial longitudinal momenta of another widely applied nonadiabatic theory approximately compensate each other during propagation for typically studied nonadiabatic parameters. However, parameters in the nonadiabatic but still experimentally relevant regime will be found where this approximation breaks down and the two different theories lead to distinguishably different momentum distributions at the detector after all, thus allowing to test which theory describes the situation at the tunnel exit more accurately. After having tunneled through the barrier formed by the laser and Coulomb poten-tial, the electron does not necessarily leave the atom for good but can be captured in a Rydberg state. A study of the intensity-dependence of the Rydberg yield will reveal, among other things, nonadiabatic effects that can be used as an independent test of nonadiabaticity in strong field ionization. Moreover, it will be shown that the duration of the laser pulse can be used to control both the yield and principal quantum number distribution of Rydberg atoms. The highly enhanced and spatially inhomogeneous fields close to a nanostructure are another setting in which atoms can be ionized. Here, the emergence of a prominent higher energy structure (HES) in the spectrum of photoelectrons will be reported. The narrow time-window in which the corresponding electrons are released suggests a promising method for creating a localized source of electron pulses of attosecond duration using tabletop laser technology. Having such potential applications in mind, analytical expressions are derived to describe the electrons’ motion in the inhomogeneous field, thus being able to control the spectral position and width of the HES. Moreover, a unifying theory will be developed in which the recently reported experimental finding of a low-energy peak (LEP) can be understood to arise due to the same mechanism as the theoretically predicted HES, despite those two effects having been found in different energy regimes so far. This unifying theory will show how the well-established experimental technique in which the LEP was reported, i.e. ionization directly from the nanotip rather than from atoms in its vicinity, should allow the realization of a prominent and narrow peak at higher energies as it was theoretically described in the framework of the HES. Despite being much weaker, the spatial inhomogeneity of the Coulomb potential can influence the photoelectron spectrum as well. It will be shown how the asymmetric Coulomb potential of a tilted diatomic molecule introduces an asymmetry in the photoelectron momentum distribution at the detector. The degree of asymmetry depends on whether the electron is born at the up- or downfield atom. This information is then used to quantify the ratio of ionization from the up- and downfield site from experimental photoelectron momentum distributions.

Semiclassical theories have proven to be a versatile tool in ultrafast strong field science. In this thesis, the power of classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) and quantum trajectory Monte Carlo (QTMC) simulations is celebrated by applying them in various strong field ionization settings. One question to be addressed concerns the way nonadiabaticity in the ionization process manifests itself. It will be shown how the assumption of a vanishing initial longitudinal momentum is the reason for the strong broadening of the initial time spread claimed in a popular nonadiabatic theory. Moreover, it will become clear how the broader time spread of this theory and the non-zero initial longitudinal momenta of another widely applied nonadiabatic theory approximately compensate each other during propagation for typically studied nonadiabatic parameters. However, parameters in the nonadiabatic but still experimentally relevant regime will be found where this approximation breaks down and the two different theories lead to distinguishably different momentum distributions at the detector after all, thus allowing to test which theory describes the situation at the tunnel exit more accurately. After having tunneled through the barrier formed by the laser and Coulomb poten-tial, the electron does not necessarily leave the atom for good but can be captured in a Rydberg state. A study of the intensity-dependence of the Rydberg yield will reveal, among other things, nonadiabatic effects that can be used as an independent test of nonadiabaticity in strong field ionization. Moreover, it will be shown that the duration of the laser pulse can be used to control both the yield and principal quantum number distribution of Rydberg atoms. The highly enhanced and spatially inhomogeneous fields close to a nanostructure are another setting in which atoms can be ionized. Here, the emergence of a prominent higher energy structure (HES) in the spectrum of photoelectrons will be reported. The narrow time-window in which the corresponding electrons are released suggests a promising method for creating a localized source of electron pulses of attosecond duration using tabletop laser technology. Having such potential applications in mind, analytical expressions are derived to describe the electrons’ motion in the inhomogeneous field, thus being able to control the spectral position and width of the HES. Moreover, a unifying theory will be developed in which the recently reported experimental finding of a low-energy peak (LEP) can be understood to arise due to the same mechanism as the theoretically predicted HES, despite those two effects having been found in different energy regimes so far. This unifying theory will show how the well-established experimental technique in which the LEP was reported, i.e. ionization directly from the nanotip rather than from atoms in its vicinity, should allow the realization of a prominent and narrow peak at higher energies as it was theoretically described in the framework of the HES. Despite being much weaker, the spatial inhomogeneity of the Coulomb potential can influence the photoelectron spectrum as well. It will be shown how the asymmetric Coulomb potential of a tilted diatomic molecule introduces an asymmetry in the photoelectron momentum distribution at the detector. The degree of asymmetry depends on whether the electron is born at the up- or downfield atom. This information is then used to quantify the ratio of ionization from the up- and downfield site from experimental photoelectron momentum distributions.

The conversion of audio from the digital to analog domain has the potential to result in distortion due to converter overload. This occurs because some peaks in the signal cannot be defined digitally and only become problematic during the conversion into the analog domain, exceeding the level that can be represented by the converter, causing it to overload. Although True Peak limiting and metering can prevent and monitor this issue, some professional mastering engineers choose not to do so. The study tested claims made against overload prevention, including the adequacy of headroom in modern D/A converters and the inaudibility of the distortion caused by overload. Preference was also added to the audibility claim. Measurements show that there is not enough headroom in modern D/A converters to avoid overload, but the distortion created by overload is generally inaudible in an uncompressed WAVE format hard rock song. Additionally, there is no clear preference. The measurements found that overload only occurs when the device's volume is raised to its maximum output.

Electric vehicles, which have both energy storage capability and mobility capability, can provide a new solution for electricity sharing between different building communities (i.e., a group of buildings connected with a microgrid). This comes to the community-to-community (C2C) energy sharing network. The C2C energy sharing networks have the potential to not only minimize the effects of electric vehicle integration into the energy grid, but also improve the electricity grid efficiency as a whole. In this thesis, a coordinated smart charging method of electric vehicles (EVs) is proposed for the C2C model. The proposed method considers the power regulation needs in both the present parking community and the next destination community. Then, based on the needs of both communities, the control method will decide the optimal amount of electricity that can be delivered by EV, so that the energy performances in both communities can be the best. The developed coordinated control has been compared with a base case (without any smart charging) and an uncoordinated control case under two control strategies: minimizing the peak energy exchanges with the grid and maximizing the renewable self-utilization. The genetic algorithm tools in MATLAB software are used for the optimization of the model. Meanwhile, to test the robustness of this C2C model, different combinations of building communities have been studied, namely residential-workplace, residential-university, and residential-workshop communities. The case study reveals that the C2C model is effective in improving energy performance under both control strategies. Peak reduction control strategies work most effectively for smaller systems with lower electricity demand and production. With C2C energy sharing, the annual mean peak reduction ranged from 39 % at the smallest community and 20 % at the largest community. Self-consumption maximization strategies work best for systems with a larger surplus of electricity production. With C2C energy sharing, the annual self-consumption increase ranged from 50 % at the community with the largest production surplus, to 7 % at the community with the smallest production surplus. The residential-workshop community studied in this thesis benefited the most from C2C charging control due to its production surplus and the relatively low electricity demands of the communities.

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