Power has been proven to be an important factor for sport performance, especially in sports where accelerations, decelerations, jumping or throwing are of great importance. Post activation potentiation (PAP) induced by heavy exercise has been reported as an acute and effective method in improving individuals’ power output. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of PAP during warm up on strength and power among elite junior athletes. Methods; 12 elite junior athletes from Kuortane sports gymnasium, Finland, participated in this study. Participants were allocated in two groups (Intervention’s and Control group) in a counterbalanced order. All participants performed a 1RM bench press test and a power-velocity test pre and post a 6-weeks training period. During the training period performed Intervention’s group 2 sets of 3 reps benchpress at 90% of 1RM during the warm up of each strength training session, while Control group performed the same supplement at the end of the strength training sessions.  Results:Results didn’t show any significant increases in 1RM bench press for either the intervention’s group or the control group. There were no significant increases observed in the power velocity test in any of the test groups either. 35% 1RM (C= -9, I= +45, P=0,13), 45% 1RM (C= +10, I= +25, P=0,57), 55% 1RM (C= -25, I= +36, P=0,008), 65% 1RM (C= -1, I= +40, P=0,26) samt 75% 1RM (C= -18, I= +30, P=0,14). (Watt, mean value) Discussion:1RM and power velocity did not differ significantly neither between groups nor in the pre vs. post measurements. Intervention’s group showed a larger improvement in power-velocity on 55% of 1RM compared to the control group but the effect size was rather low and therefore no significant conclusions can be drawn. Statistics have clearly shown that larger testing groups or/and a longer training period are needed in order to test the PAP hypothesis. / Power är en fysisk faktor som är viktig för prestation i de flesta idrotter, framförallt där aktioner i form av hopp, kast och accelerationer är väsentliga. Post activation potentiation (PAP) har i ett flertal studier visat sig kunna förbättra effektutvecklingen i musklerna under en kortare tid hos tränade individer. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det genom applicering av PAP i uppvärmning inför styrketräningen går att förbättra utfallet av styrka och powerökning hos elit juniorer. Metod: 12 Elitidrottsjuniorer från Kuortane idrottsgymnasiet, Finland deltog i studien. Deltagarna delades upp i två grupper (en interventions- och en kontrollgrupp) och de fick utföra ett 1RM bänkpress test samt power-velocitytest före och efter en träningsperiod på 6 veckor. Interventionsgruppen utförde två set bänkpress med 3 reps på 90% av 1RM inför varje styrkepass, medan kontrollgruppen utförde en likadan intervention vid slutet av varje styrkepass. Statistiska analyser genomfördes genom two way ANOVA.  Resultat: Resultatet visade ingen signifikant ökning i 1RM bänkpress i varken interventionsgruppen eller kontrollgruppen. Det visade heller ingen signifikant förbättring på någon av belastningarna i power-velocitytestet. 35% av 1RM (K= -9, I= +45, P=0,13), 45% av 1RM (K= +10, I= +25, P=0,57), 55% av 1RM (K= -25, I= +36, P=0,008), 65% av 1RM (K= -1, I= +40, P=0,26) samt 75% av 1RM (K= -18, I= +30, P=0,14). (Watt, medelvärde) Diskussion: Studien visade ingen signifikant förändring mellan före och eftertesterna mellan de två testgrupperna, varken i 1RM testet eller power-velocitytestet efter de 6 träningsveckorna. Interventionsgruppen visade en större ökning än kontrollgruppen i power-velocitytestet på 55% av 1RM men eftersom effect size är så låg kan resultaten inte anses som signifikanta. Statistiken visar att större testgrupper och/eller längre träningsperiod behövs för att PAP hypotesen skall kunna testas.

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abstract: During the downswing all golfers must roll their forearms and twist the club handle in order to square the club face into impact. Anecdotally some instructors say that rapidly twisting the handle and quickly closing the club face is the best technique while others disagree and suggest the opposite. World class golfers have swings with a range of club handle twist velocities (HTV) from very slow to very fast and either method appears to create a successful swing. The purpose of this research was to discover the relationship between HTV at impact and selected body and club biomechanical characteristics during a driver swing. Three-dimensional motion analysis methods were used to capture the swings of 94 tour professionals. Pearson product-moment correlation was used to determine if a correlation existed between HTV and selected biomechanical characteristics. The total group was also divided into two sub-groups of 32, one group with the fastest HTV (Hi-HTV) and the other with the slowest HTV (Lo-HTV). Single factor ANOVAs were completed for HTV and each selected biomechanical parameter. No significant differences were found between the Hi-HTV and Lo-HTV groups for both clubhead speed and driving accuracy. Lead forearm supination velocity at impact was found to be significantly different between groups with the Hi-HTV group having a higher velocity. Lead wrist extension velocity at impact, while not being significantly different between groups was found to be positive in both groups, meaning that the lead wrist is extending at impact. Lead wrist ulnar deviation, lead wrist release and trail elbow extension velocities at maximum were not significantly different between groups. Pelvis rotation, thorax rotation, pelvis side bend and pelvis rotation at impact were all significantly different between groups, with the Lo-HTV group being more side bent tor the trail side and more open at impact. These results suggest that world class golfers can successfully use either the low or high HTV technique for a successful swing. From an instructional perspective it is important to be aware of the body posture and wrist/forearm motion differences between the two techniques so as to be consistent when teaching either method. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Exercise Science 2014

Pour satisfaire les exigences environnementales et d'agrément de conduite, le moteur automobile a évolué en une vingtaine d'années en un système très complexe combinant de nombreux composants de haute technologie avec des stratégies de contrôle très élaborées. L’optimisation et le contrôle de ce système sont alors devenus de véritables challenges pour les constructeurs automobiles. Ces derniers points sont aujourd'hui d'autant plus complexes que le contexte actuel de raréfaction des ressources impose de plus en plus le couplage ou le remplacement des carburants conventionnels par des carburants alternatifs tels que l’éthanol, le gaz naturel ou encore l’hydrogène. Ces nouveaux carburants présentent, en plus de leur intérêt économique, un certain nombre de propriétés physico-chimiques favorisant un meilleur rendement du moteur ainsi que la réduction des gaz à effet de serre. L’élaboration de ces nouveaux moteurs est finalement rendue possible par l'utilisation de dispositifs physiques et numériques de plus en plus sophistiqués. Dans ce contexte, les outils de simulation système destinés aux groupes motopropulseurs se sont démocratisés et peuvent aujourd'hui être utilisés à toutes les étapes de développement des moteurs, du choix de l’architecture au développement des stratégies de contrôle et à la calibration. Cependant, l'efficacité de tels outils demande encore à être améliorée afin de fournir un haut niveau de prédictivité couplé à un temps de calcul proche du temps réel. Les travaux réalisés lors de cette thèse ont visé à contribuer au développement du modèle de combustion 0-dimensionnel CFM1D (Coherent Flame Model) afin d’améliorer la prédiction du dégagement d'énergie, des polluants et des phénomènes d'auto-inammation (AI) dans les moteurs à allumage commandé lorsque des variations de la composition du carburant sont considérées. Le formalisme CFM distingue deux zones : les gaz frais et les gaz brûlés qui sont séparés par un front de flamme et qui sont entièrement décrits par leur masse, température et composition. Dans ce formalisme, le taux de consommation des espèces est directement lié aux processus de combustion et de post-oxydation assujettis aux mécanismes de chimie et de turbulence. Dans la version initiale du CFM1D, ces mécanismes sont représentés par des approches simples pouvant souffrir d'un manque de prédictivité. Ainsi, la prédiction de la formation de polluants peut être limitée par les chimies simples ou réduites la décrivant. Ces dernières sont en effet généralement définies dans des domaines de validité restreints en température, pression et composition. De la même manière, le calcul de la vitesse de flamme laminaire, de l'étirement de la flamme ou encore des éventuels délais d'auto-inammation intervenant dans l'évaluation du dégagement d'énergie met en jeux des corrélations phénoménologiques initialement développées sur un nombre limités de points de validation. Toutes ces limitations peuvent finalement entraîner une mauvaise réaction du modèle de combustion à des variations thermodynamiques ou de compositions et ont donc nécessite un certain nombre d'améliorations présentées dans ce manuscrit. L'originalité des développements réside dans l'intégration de chimie complexe dans le modèle CFM1D en utilisant des méthodes inspirées de récents travaux de CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) 3D. / A promising way to reduce green house gases emissions of spark ignition (SI) engines is to burn alternative fuels like bio-mass-derived products, hydrogen or compressed natural gas. However, their use strongly impacts combustion processes in terms of burning velocity and emissions. Specific engine architectures as well as dedicated control strategies should then be optimized to take advantage of these fuels. Such developments are today increasingly performed using complete engine simulators running in times close to the real time and thus requiring very CPU efficient models. For this purpose, 0-dimensional models are commonly used to describe combustion processes in the cylinders. These models are expected to reproduce the engine response for all possible fuels, which is not an obvious task regarding the mentioned CPU constraints. Works performed in this thesis aimed at developing the 0-dimensional combustion model CFM1D (Coherent Flame Model) to improve the prediction of heat release, pollutants emissions and auto-ignition phenomena in SI engines when fuel composition variations are considered. The CFM formalism distinguishes two zones: the fresh and the burnt gases, which are separated by a flame front and are both described by their temperature, mass and composition. In this formalism, the rate of consumption of species is directly linked to the combustion and post-oxidation processes highly dependent on chemistry and turbulence mechanisms. In the original version of CFM1D, these mechanisms are represented by simple approaches which can suffer from a lack of predictivity. The prediction of pollutant formation can therefore be limited by the simple or reduced chemistries used to describe kinetics in the chamber. These latter are indeed defined in very restrictive validity domains in terms of temperature, pressure and composition. In the same way, the flame velocity, wrinkling or potential auto-ignition delays stepping in the heat release computation are defined by phenomenological correlations initially developed under a limited number of validation points. All these limitations can finally lead to a wrong behavior of the combustion model to thermodynamic and compositions variations and therefore required a number of improvements presented in this manuscript. The originality of the model derives from the fact it is based on the integration of complex chemistry in CFM1D using methods inspired from recent 3D (Computational Fluid Dynamics) CFD works.

Este trabalho debate o direito ao esquecimento em uma sociedade amplamente mediada por tecnologias digitais. Entre os principais quesitos, será possível verificar que a aceleração das comunicações está baseada no imperativo de velocidade que se fortaleceu ainda mais com a cibernética, sendo a viga-mestra da cibercultura. Tal aceleração conduzirá o estudo para a avaliação dos discursos identitários, bem como sobre a privacidade, sua invasão e evasão, além do assédio violento e sutil da velocidade para que os indivíduos explicitem seus gostos e características que serão usados como artefatos de memória digital, construindo bancos de dados interconectados que conforto e praticidade, mas por outro lado também podem ser convertidos em tecnologias de vigilância e controle. Neste sentido, a inversão do custo das memórias e do custo do esquecimento pautará o debate que pretende explicitar algumas barreiras contemporâneas para que o esquecimento continue a desempenhar seu papel social, além da dificuldade de compreender o poder dos filtros algorítmicos quando se está submerso na cibercultura pantópica. / This paper discusses the right to be forgotten in a society largely mediated by digital technologies. Among the main questions, it will become possible to verify that the acceleration of communications is based on the imperative of velocity that was strengthened even more with cybernetics, and the frame-work of cyberculture. Such acceleration will lead the study for the evaluation of identity discourses as well as on privacy, its invasion and evasion , in addition to violent and subtle harassment from velocity to individuals to release their wills and characteristics that will be used as digital memory artifacts, building interconnected databases to provide comfort and practicality, but which can also be converted into surveillance and control technologies. In this sense, the cost inversion of remembering and oblivion will guide this debate that aims to clarify some contemporary barriers to oblivion continues to play its social role, besides the difficulty of understanding the power of algorithmic filters when one is submerged in the pantopic cyberculture.

[pt] Descreve-se o controle em malha fechada por malha pequena de um motor de passo de imã permanente (MIPIP), de forma a obter posicionamento preciso em tempo mínimo. A malha pequena é utilizada para, aplicar o modo de controle de alta velocidade (HISPEED); consegue-se dessa forma atingir velocidades muito superiores às obtidas em malha aberta. O principio de controle adotado pelo controlador de malha externa baseia-se na utilização de tabelas que possuam dados sobre as curvas de aceleração e desaceleração do MPIP. Dependendo do número de passos que faltam para atingir o alvo e da velocidade de rotação do eixo, as tabelas indicarão o modo de controle adequado de forma a não ultrapassar o alvo e atingi-lo em tempo mínimo. Um microcomputador implementa o controlador da malha externa e indica ao controle da malha interna o modo de operação adequado. / [en] This work describes the use of an inner loop for closed loop control of a permanent magnet step motor to achieve precise positioning in minimal time. The inner loop is used to apply a high speed control; this method gives speeds higher than those obtained with the open loop control. The outer loop controller is based on the use of acceleration and deceleration data of the motor. Depending on the number of steps needed to reach the desired position, and the actual speed, these tables indicate the best control mode to get to the target in minimal time and without overshooting it. This controller is implemented in a microcomputer.

Nachdem der weitere Ausbau der Stromerzeugung aus Windenergie an Land an seine Grenzen stösst, rücken die küstennahen Bereiche der Seegebiete in den Mittelpunkt der Planungen. Aufgrund seiner Komplexität sind die Vorhersagen der relevanten Größen im Zeitbereich bis 48 Stunden in diesen Gebieten oftmals ungenau. Mittels systematischer Vergleiche von Prognosen und Messreihen meteorologischer Größen wurde untersucht, ob sich charakteristische Muster der Abweichung der Windprognose von der Messung in Abhängigkeit meteorologischer Größen und Prognosezeit finden und sich die Abweichungen verringern lassen. / After the further development of the generation of current by wind energy on land areas is pushed to the borders the near-shore areas of the see regions moves into the center of plannings. Because of the complex behavior of such areas the prediction of the required meteorological values often becomes uncertain within the forecast range of 48 hours. Measurements of meteorological values and forecasts were compared systematically. By means of this comparisons it was examined, whether characteristical pattern of the deviation between measurements and forcasts, dependent on other meteorological values and forecast time, can be found. The possibility to reduce this deviations was verified.

Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié les propriétés électroniques de WS2 et WSe2 par µ-PL, spectroscopie Raman, absorption optique inter bande et µ-PL résolue en temps combinées avec des champs magnétiques intenses. Nous montrons que l'émission de l'exciton par rapport au trion dans les monocouches de WS2 et WSe2 est fonction de la puissance du laser utilisé pour l'excitation de la µ-PL. De plus, nous montrons que l'intensité de l'émission du trion peut être contrôlée indépendamment en utilisant une énergie d'excitation plus basse que la bande interdite. Il s'agit d'une preuve du contrôle de la densité de porteurs dans ces systèmes 2D. Nous avons également étudié la diffusion Raman en résonance dans une monocouche de WS2. Nous observons un mode acoustique (2LA), seulement 4cm-1 en-dessous du mode E12g. Nous montrons qu'en fonction du rapport des intensité et la largeur de ligne de chacun de ces deux pics, toute analyse qui néglige la présence de la mode 2LA peut conduire à une estimation incorrecte du nombre de couche. Les propriétés électroniques de chaque vallée d'une monocouche de WSe2 ont été sondées par µ-PL via l'étude de l'émission et de la polarisation des excitons neutres et chargés. Nous montrons que le temps de diffusion de l'exciton entre les vallées de K+ et K- est de l'ordre de plusieurs ps. Enfin, grâce à la magnéto-spectroscopie, nous mettons en évidence différents types de porteurs de charges entre la monocouche et le cristal massif. Nous montrons que dans la monocouche, les porteurs de charge se comportent comme des fermions massifs Dirac, tandis que dans le monocristal de WSe2 nous observons un comportement excitonique, décrit par le modèle de l'atome d'hydrogène / In this thesis, we have studied tungsten dichalcogenides (WS2 and WSe2) by means of steady-state µ-photoluminescence (µ-PL) and Raman spectroscopy, optical interband absorption and time-resolved µ-PL techniques in the visible spectral range combined with high magnetic fields. We demonstrate that the ratio between the trion and exciton emission can be tuned by varying the power of the laser used for excitation of the µ-PL in ungated monolayer WS2 and WSe2 samples. Moreover, the intensity of the trion emission can be independently tuned using additional sub band gap illumination. This is a direct evidence that we can control the density of carriers in a 2D system. We have investigated the resonant Raman scattering in a WS2 monolayer. We observe a second order longitudinal acoustic mode (2LA) at only 4cm-1 below the first order E12g mode. We demonstrate, that depending on the intensity ratio and the respective line widths of these two peaks, any analysis which neglects the presence of the 2LA mode can lead to a potentially incorrect assignment for the number of layers. The valley dynamics in monolayer WSe2 has been probed by monitoring the emission and polarization dynamics of neutral and charged excitons in µ-PL. We demonstrate that the exciton inter valley scattering between the K+ and K- valleys is in the order of several picoseconds. Finally, using magneto-spectroscopy studies, we reveal the very different nature of carriers in monolayer and bulk dichalcogenides. We demonstrate that in monolayer WSe2, the carriers behave as massive Dirac fermions, while in bulk WSe2 we observe a distinctly excitonic behavior which is best described within the hydrogen model

Cosmology has become a precision science due to a wealth of new precise data from various astronomical observations. It is therefore important, from a methodological point of view, to develop new statistical and numerical tools to study the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation and Large Scale Structure (LSS), in order to test different models of the Universe. This is the main aim of this thesis. The standard inflationary -dominated Cold Dark Matter ( CDM) model is based on the premise that the Universe is statistically isotropic and homogeneous. This premise needs to be rigorously tested observationally. We study the angular correlation function C(θ) of the CMB sky using the WMAP 5-year data, and find that the low-multipoles can be reconstructed from the data outside the sky cut. We apply a Bayesian analysis and find that S1/2 statistic (S1/2 = R [C(θ)]2d cos θ, used by various investigators as a measure of correlations at large angular scales) cannot exclude the predictions of the CDM model. We clarify some issues concerning estimation of correlations on large angular scales and their interpretation. To test for deviation from statistical isotropy, we develop a quadratic maximum likelihood estimator which we apply to simulated Planck maps. We show that the temperature maps from Planck mission should be able to constrain the amplitude of any spherical multipole of a scaleinvariant quadrupole asymmetry at the 1% level (2σ). In addition, polarization maps are also precise enough to provide complimentary constraints. We also develop a method to search for the direction of asymmetry, if any, in Planck maps. B-mode polarisation of the CMB provides another important test of models of the early Universe. Different classes of models, such as single-field inflation, loop quantum cosmology and cosmic strings give speculative but testable predictions. We find that the current ground-based experiments such as BICEP, already provided fairly tight constraints on these models. We investigate how these constraints might be improved with future observations (e.g. Planck, Spider). In addition to the CMB related research, this thesis investigates how peculiar velocity fields can be used to constrain theoretical models of LSS. It has been argued that there are large bulk flows on scales of & 50 Mpc/h. If true, these results are in tension with the predictions of the CDM model. We investigate a possible explanation for this result: the unsubtracted intrinsic dipole on the CMB sky may source this apparent flow, leading to the illusion of the tilted Universe. Under the assumption of a superhorizon isocurvature fluctuation, the constraints on the tilted velocity require that inflation lasts at least 6 e-folds longer (at the 95% confidence interval) than that required to solve the horizon problem. Finally, we investigate Cosmic Mach Number (CMN), which quantifies the ratio between the mean velocity and the velocity dispersion of galaxies. We find that CMN is highly sensitive to the growth of structure on scales (10, 150) Mpc/h, and can therefore be used to test modified gravity models and neutrino masses. With future CMN data, it should be possible to constrain the growth factor of linear perturbation, as well as the sum of the neutrino mass to high accuracy.

(i) Hydrogen Bonding Studies - The nature of hydrogen bonding in solutions of alcohols, ROH, in various solvents has been studied using nuclear resonance techniques. Data obtained from dilution-shift curves for the OH protons in alcohols have been combined with information derived from infra-red investigations of the OH stretching regions in these compounds. The information obtained has been interpreted in terms of three effects, (i) The electronic effects of the group R. (ii) The steric effects of the group R. (iii) Effects due to other forms of molecular association. On this basis, deductions have been made concerning the degree and type of association in these compounds. The relative hydrogen bonding strengths have been predicted in some instances. The importance of steric inhibition of hydrogen bonding by bulky substituent groups has also been demonstrated. Some dilution-shift studies of acrylic acid in various solvents have been carried out. Studies of the effect of temperature on the OH proton resonances of alcohols have led, amongst other things, to a value for the average hydrogen bond energy in a methanol / carbon tetrachloride solution. The temperature-shift curves for a variety of ortho-substituted phenols have also been obtained and discussed in the light of existing infra-red spectral evidence concerning the nature of hydrogen bonding in these substances. The relation between the association shifts and the integrated absorption intensities of alcohols has been discussed. A correlation between these two quantities was found for alcohols of a similar type. (ii) Studies of Unstable Positive Ions. (a) Triphenyl Carbonium Ions. The NMR spectra of a variety of substituted triphenyl carbonium ions in a trifluoroacetic acid trifluoroacetic anhydride solvent have been obtained at 40 Mc and 60 Mc. No unequivocal evidence as to the structures of these compounds has been obtained, i.e. no distinction between 'symmetrical propeller’ and assymetric forms was possible, due to the presence of exchange effects. The data have given information about the changes in electron density in the aromatic rings due to the various substituent groups. Partial assignments of the aromatic proton spectra have been given. The importance of hyperconjugative electron release by aliphatic substituents is indicated. Some preliminary investigations of the protonated form of 1,1-Di-p-anisylethylene have also been carried out. (b) The l⁺ Ion. The NMR spectra of solutions of iodine in oleum have been investigated to try and shed light on the possibility of the existence of the l⁺ ion in such systems. The measured broadenings and shifts of the oleum proton resonances at various iodine concentrations have been interpreted in terms of the presence of this species, which should be paramagnetic. A value for the magnetic moment of this ion has been obtained. Other evidence for the existence of the l⁺ ion has been fully discussed. / Science, Faculty of / Chemistry, Department of / Graduate