Piezoelectric relay

Bimorph configurations reduce sensitivity to shock and vibration and yet respond to weak electric fields. Two bimorphs provide sum of individual movements, simulating double length

Principles for tuning heat zone controllers in a belt furnace through modeling and simulation

In this thesis the heating area of a belt furnace for annealing metal powder has been modeled. The model was extended with PI-controllers for controlling the energy added to the model. It was simulated with differently tuned controllers to test tuning principles for finding suitable control parameters for the process. The most promising tuning principles was then written as a manual with the aim for process engineers at Höganäs AB. The process is running on a daily basis with control parameters that causes unnecessary overshoots and oscillations in the system.With updated and more suitable control parameters, the furnace is believed to be more efficient. Höganäs has several processes of the same type which the manual could be applied to. The process consists of non-linear thermal radiation, conduction and convection. It is very slow and has approximately no dead time, thus excluding many tuning principles that rely on the dead time. The most promising tuning principle to apply is the lambda-tuning principle which is often used in the process industry [Åström and Hägglund, 2006]. Due to the accuraccy of the model, the design parameter was choosen to ensure stability and monotonic setpoint changes. The manual can be found in Appendix D

Factors Contributing To An Elite High School Football Program

The research question addressed in this project was, what factors contribute to an elite high school football program. The motivating factor for this capstone was one teacher-coach’s desire to understand what differentiates lasting levels of on-the-field success for high school football programs. This capstone was designed to ask high school football coaches their perspectives and methods in their respective high school football program. Previous studies on the definition of elite, organizational culture and support, coaches, and athletes aided the researcher in obtaining background information of successful organizations in various domains. Five high school football coaches, who met the criteria of elite, and four non-elite high school football coaches participated in the in-depth interview research. Participants responded to questions that asked for information regarding the categories of: background information of the head coach; assistant coaches; personnel and their use; philosophy and schematic approaches; practice structure; community interaction; perceptions of elite success; and challenges faced. The responses to the interview questions with elite and non-elite football coaches show that the four main thematic findings across all questions and categories on factors contributing to an elite high school football program were: 1) mentorship beyond the game; 2) organizational and cultural alignment; 3) staffing; 4) simple focus

Weak Implementation of Boundary Conditions for the Finite-Volume Method

The Euler equations consist of conservation laws and describe a fluid in motion without viscous forces and heat conduction. They are non-linear and the solutions are often discontinuous. Therefore proofs of convergence are hard to give and the existing results are lacking. A new concept are weakly imposed characteristic boundary conditions, where a priori given boundary data only enter the scheme via ingoing characteristics. Thus a numerical solution for the boundary points is obtained as well. In combination with the node-centred finite-volume method, approximations of two-dimensional steady conservation laws can be made stable. Weakly imposed characteristic boundary conditions are compared to weakly imposed prescribed fluxes for the steady Euler equations, where the residuals converged to 10^-11 and 10^-3, respectively. The performance of these boundary conditions is investigated further for different grid sizes and the unsteady Euler equations.Se bilaga (sid iv-v) under "Files & Access"

Female NCAA Division I Women\u27s Ice Hockey Head Coaches: Keeping Women in the Game

In 1972, the federal law Title IX altered the path toward equity and equal opportunity for girls and women in education and sport. Despite this legislation, the journey towards equality continues forty-seven years later. While support, opportunity, and growth for women in sport has increased, the decline and underrepresentation of female head coaches in collegiate athletics has decreased. Similar to the overall decline of collegiate female head coaches, women’s collegiate ice hockey at the NCAA Division I level has also experienced a decline and underrepresentation of female head coaches. While there is research on the decline of women coaches, there is little specifically on female collegiate head women’s ice hockey coaches. This research study will add to the literature on female coaches currently available. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences of current female head coaches of NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey programs. Six female coaches of NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey programs agreed to participate in this study. Findings from this study, connected to the research questions, revealed themes of personal and professional career trajectories; personal and professional costs or barriers; personal and professional benefits and advantages; experiences with institutions and athletic administrators; insight on the decline of women coaches; and mentorship opportunities. The study ends with suggestions and recommendations for female coaches, aspiring female head coaches, and female athletes who desire to become coaches. In addition, insight is provided to athletic administrators and institutions regarding the importance of female role models, and ways in which they can support, retain, and mentor female coaches

Adipocyte size and function in the epididymal and inguinal fat depots

Nearly 60% of the worlds adult population is projected to be overweight or obese by 2030. The prevalence of obesity- related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), has increased markedly in the past decades. The adipose tissue plays an important role in disease progression of T2D. Adipocyte insulin sensitivity, adipose tissue’s ability to expand, and accumulation of subcutaneous rather than visceral fat, are all important factors for adipose tissue function and systemic metabolic health.This thesis aims to broaden the understanding of adipose tissue function, focusing on the importance of adipocyte cell-size and differences between visceral and subcutaneous adipocytes. This knowledge may in the future contribute to novel treatments that focus on improving function of specific fat depots.Our first project (Paper I) examines the importance of EHD2, a caveolae-associated protein, and its influence on different fat depots by using knockout (Ehd2-/-) mice. Ehd2-/- mice display impaired expansion of epididymal fat, most likely caused by weakened hyperplastic growth, while the inguinal adipocytes exhibit impaired lipolytic response. The results indicate that EHD2 is required for healthy fat expansion since both impaired lipolysis and reduced hyperplastic growth are associated with dysfunctional adipose tissue.In Paper II, we examine the effect of the anti-diabetic drug, rosiglitazone, on hypertrophic adipocytes, and suggest a new mechanism of action for improving insulin-sensitivity in adipocytes. We propose that remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM), results in reduced stress-induced intracellular signaling, reduced filamentous (F)-actin and improved insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. The improvement in glucose uptake from rosiglitazone-treated mice are greater in epididymal adipocytes compared to inguinal, which is also reflected in larger changes in ECM expression, intracellular stress signaling and level of F-actin.The last project (Paper III) examines the plasticity of adipose tissue, focusing on cell-size and actin dynamics during weight gain and weight loss. We examine differences between the inguinal and epididymal depots using temporal resolution and correlate the findings to changes in systemic insulin sensitivity. Our data suggest that there are fat depot-specific differences in cell-size plasticity during weight gain, but not during weight loss. Epididymal adipocytes expand in size early during weight gain (after 4 weeks) while inguinal adipocytes expand at a later timepoint (after 12 weeks). During weight loss, both fat depots display intact plasticity, regarding cell-size, weight, and level of F- actin, for short interventions (4 and 8 weeks) but not following prolonged overfeeding (12 weeks).The inguinal depot, in comparison to the epididymal depot, displays stronger correlation between insulin sensitivity and number of hypertrophic adipocytes, suggesting that hypertrophic inguinal adipocytes may contribute to the progression of insulin resistance in mice

Perspectives on The Passion According to the Gospels of Matthew and John

My thesis covers the materials and methods of my composition, The Passion According to the Gospels of Matthew and John. It features an extensive analysis of Penderecki's Passio et mors Domini nostri Iesu Christi secundum Lucam. The research also covers some history of the Passion genre and its development. The second half of the paper presents a background and analysis of my work. It details many of the creative processes and methods I employed

Hierarchial digital communication processing in a multi-access tele-communication environment

This paper is concerned with the application of hierarchial and parallel computing structures to digital data communications processing in a multi-access telecommunications environment. Designs are analyzed and evaluated in terms of data collected from remote access tele-communications traffic and in terms of the application to several processing problems in the field of multiaccess tele-communications