Seniorer är en utsatt grupp under covid-19-pandemin då de riskerar att drabbas av allvarlig sjukdom eller död till följd av covid-19. Samtidigt innebär de restriktioner som har införts för att skydda mot covid-19 stora förändringar i människors vardag och riskerar att påverka den psykiska likväl som den fysiska hälsan negativt. Naturen påverkar däremot hälsan positivt på en rad olika sätt och människan tenderar att återhämta sig mer gynnsamt i kontakt med naturen. Naturen kan även utgöra en resurs för att hantera stress under en kris på ett bättre sätt. Den salutogena teorin känsla av sammanhang (KASAM) med delarna begriplighet, hanterbarhet och meningsfullhet, Attention Restoration Theory samt Supportive Environment Theory har använts som teoretiska ramverk i studien. Träffpunkten flyttar ut var en intervention med syfte att öka förekomsten av enkla friluftsaktiviteter i närnatur bland seniorer med mål att främja hälsan. I studien har tolv seniorer som deltog i träffpunkter förlagda utomhus deltagit i en semistrukturerad intervju. Materialet har analyserats med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med induktiv ansats. Resultatet visar att seniorerna påverkades positivt socialt, fysiskt och psykiskt på ett holistiskt sätt genom interventionen, att naturen hade en gynnsam effekt för välmående och slutligen att seniorerna hade olika förhållningssätt i pandemin. Förhållningssätten utgjordes av inre och yttre strategier där samhörighet och sysselsättning framkom som yttre strategier där träffpunkten hade en betydande roll. Implikationen är att interventioner som använder naturen som arena kan utgöra en preventiv och hälsofrämjande åtgärd för seniorer som är betydelsefull för att främja folkhälsan i en kris såsom covid-19-pandemin. / Seniors are a vulnerable group during the COVID-19 pandemic as they are at risk of suffering from serious illness or death from COVID-19. At the same time, the restrictions that have been introduced to protect against COVID-19 have implied major changes in people's everyday lives and risk affecting the mental as well as the physical health negatively. Nature has a positive effect on health in various ways and humans tend to recover more favorably in contact with nature. Nature can also be a resource for dealing with stress during a crisis. The salutogenic theory Sense of Coherence (SOC) including the aspects of comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness, has been used as a theoretical framework in the study. Twelve semi-structured interviews have been carried out with seniors who participated in meeting places outdoors. The material has been analyzed with a qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. The results show that the seniors were influenced positively socially, physically, and mentally in a holistic way through the intervention. Furthermore, it emerged that nature has a beneficial effect for well-being and that different attitudes emerged in the pandemic among the seniors. The attitudes consisted of internal and external strategies where cohesion and carrying out activities emerged as external strategies where the meeting point had a significant role. The implication is that interventions using nature as an arena can constitute a preventive and health-promoting measure for seniors that is important for improving public health in a crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic.

Bland undersköterskor inom äldreomsorgen kan arbete utifrån ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv vara att föredra för att kunna minska risken för en dålig psykosocial arbetsmiljö. Tidigare studier visade att motivationen ökade när både trivsel och arbetsglädje fanns på arbetsplatsen.  Syftet med denna studie var att utifrån ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv undersöka hur undersköterskor inom äldreomsorgen upplever sin psykosociala arbetsmiljö. Studien hade en kvalitativ ansats med fokusgrupper som metod. Sammanlagt utfördes tre fokusgruppsintervjuer på två olika äldreboenden. Totalt deltog 19 undersköterskor i studien. I analysen framkom tre teman som belyste viktiga aspekter av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Dessa kategorier var motivation till arbetet, ett engagerat ledarskap och arbetsglädje. Resultatet visade att studiens deltagare överlag ansåg sig vara nöjda med sin arbetsmiljö. De upplevde en bra gemenskap på arbetet och balans mellan de krav som ställdes på dem och de resurser som fanns att tillgå. Resultatet visade också att ledningen i en arbetsgrupp fick stor betydelse för personalens välbefinnande. Flertalet undersköterskor uppgav även att omvårdnadsarbetet med vårdtagarna var meningsfullt och att motivation fanns för att hjälpa andra människor. Då vården är en arbetsplats som ständigt möts av sparkrav genom hårt pressade budgetar och organisationsförändringar, så behövs mer fokus på undersköterskornas arbetsmiljö. Inför framtida hälsofrämjande interventioner inom äldreomsorgen är det viktigt att öka välbefinnandet hos personalen samt fortsättningsvis finna lösningar för en hållbar vårdkvalité. / Among assistant nurses in the elderly care setting, the health-promoting perspective may be preferable to reduce the risk of a poor psychosocial work environment. Previous studies showed that work motivation increase if both well-being and job satisfaction exist. The aim of this study was to investigate how assistant nurses experience their psychosocial work environment from a health promoting perspective. The study had a qualitative approach with focus group interviews as a method. In total, three focus group interviews were performed with assistant nurses at two different elderly homes. There were 19 participants in the study. The analysis showed three themes that illustrated important aspects of the psychosocial environment. The categories were work motivation, a committed leadership and job satisfaction. The assistants nurses were generally satisfied with their working environment. They described a good fellowship at work and experienced a balance between the demands placed on them and the available resources. The results also showed that the workplace leadership was of great importance for the well-being of the staff. Most assistant nurses considered the nursing work with caretakers meaningful and that it felt motivating to help others. Since their workplaces are constantly being met by saving demands through hard-pressed budgets and organizational changes, a focus on the work environment of assistent nurses is recommended. Prior to future health promotion interventions in the elderly care, it is important to increase the well-being of the staff and to continue to find solutions for a sustainable quality of care.

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No description available.

Electric vehicles have received substantial attention in the past few years since they provide a more sustainable, efficient, and greener transportation alternative in comparison to conventional fossil-fuel powered vehicles. Lithium-Ion batteries represent the most important component in the electric vehicle powertrain and thus require accurate monitoring and control. Many challenges are still facing the mass market production of electric vehicles; these challenges include battery cost, range anxiety, safety, and reliability. These challenges can be significantly mitigated by incorporating an efficient battery management system. The battery management system is responsible for estimating, in real-time, the battery state of charge, state of health, and remaining useful life in addition to communicating with other vehicle components and subsystems. In order for the battery management system to effectively perform these tasks, a high-fidelity battery model along with an accurate, robust estimation strategy must work collaboratively at various power demands, temperatures, and states of life. Lithium ion batteries are considered in this research. For these batteries, electrochemical models represent an attractive approach since they are capable of modeling lithium diffusion processes and track changes in lithium concentrations and potentials inside the electrodes and the electrolyte. Therefore, electrochemical models provide a connection to the physical reactions that occur in the battery thus favoured in state of charge and state of health estimation in comparison to other modeling techniques. The research presented in this thesis focuses on advancing the development and implementation of battery models, state of charge, and state of health estimation strategies. Most electrochemical battery models have been verified using simulation data and have rarely been experimentally applied. This is because most electrochemical battery model parameters are considered proprietary information to their manufacturers. In addition, most battery models have not accounted for battery aging and degradation over the lifetime of the vehicle using real-world driving cycles. Therefore, the first major contribution of this research is the formulation of a new battery state of charge parameterization strategy. Using this strategy, a full-set of parameters for a reduced-order electrochemical model can be estimated using real-world driving cycles while accurately calculating the state of charge. The developed electrochemical model-based state of charge parameterization strategy depends on a number of spherical shells (model states) in conjunction with the final value theorem. The final value theorem is applied in order to calculate the initial values of lithium concentrations at various shells of the electrode. Then, this value is used in setting up constraints for the optimizer in order to achieve accurate state of charge estimation. Developed battery models at various battery states of life can be utilized in a real-time battery management system. Based on the developed models, estimation of the battery critical surface charge using a relatively new estimation strategy known as the Smooth Variable Structure Filter has been effectively applied. The technique has been extended to estimate the state of charge for aged batteries in addition to healthy ones. In addition, the thesis introduces a new battery aging model based on electrochemistry. The model is capable of capturing battery degradation by varying the effective electrode volume, open circuit potential-state of charge relationship, diffusion coefficients, and solid-electrolyte interface resistance. Extensive experiments for a range of aging scenarios have been carried out over a period of 12 months to emulate the entire life of the battery. The applications of the proposed parameterization method combined with experimental aging results significantly improve the reduced-order electrochemical model to adapt to various battery states of life. Furthermore, online and offline battery model parameters identification and state of charge estimation at various states of life has been implemented. A technique for tracking changes in the battery OCV-R-RC model parameters as battery ages in addition to estimation of the battery SOC using the relatively new Smooth Variable Structure Filter is presented. The strategy has been validated at both healthy and aged battery states of life using driving scenarios of an average North-American driver. Furthermore, online estimation of the battery model parameters using square-root recursive least square (SR-RLS) with forgetting factor methodology is conducted. Based on the estimated model parameters, estimation of the battery state of charge using regressed-voltage-based estimation strategy at various states of life is applied. The developed models provide a mechanism for combining the standalone estimation strategy that provide terminal voltage, state of charge, and state of health estimates based on one model to incorporate these different aspects at various battery states of life. Accordingly, a new model-based estimation strategy known as the interacting multiple model (IMM) method has been applied by utilizing multiple models at various states of life. The method is able to improve the state of charge estimation accuracy and stability, when compared with the most commonly used strategy. This research results in a number of novel contributions, and significantly advances the development of robust strategies that can be effectively applied in real-time on-board of a battery management system. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

I media under de senaste åren har en mörk bild av unga svensk-somalier vuxit fram bland annat kopplat till gängkriminalitet. Det påverkar även de unga svensk-somalier som inte hamnat snett. Som en kontrast till dem som hamnat i kriminalitet, arbetslöshet och utanförskap lyfts svensk-somaliska högskolestudenter fram i denna studie. Syftet var att skapa förståelse för deras identitetsskapande och upplevelse av meningsfullhet samt hur det påverkar deras välbefinnande. Studien utgick ifrån ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv och analyserades med hjälp av teorierna KASAM och social identitetsteori samt begreppen etnicitet, mellanförskap och dubbel kulturell tillhörighet. Metoden var kvalitativ och kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 10 respondenter. Respondenterna var högskolestuderande med svensk-somalisk ursprung i åldern 21-24 år. Resultatet visade att etnicitet, religionstillhörighet, familj, vänner och föreningsliv varit viktigt i identitetsskapandet. Religion, familj och målmedvetenhet beskrevs som viktiga delar för att skapa meningsfullhet. Dessutom var det vanligt att motgångar och negativt bemötande vändes till en motivationskälla. De framgångsfaktorer för välbefinnande som framkom var gemenskap, socialt stöd, tro, målmedvetenhet och att vända motgångar till motivation. / In the media in the recent years, a negative picture of young Somali-Swedes has emerged, among other things linked to gang crime. It also affects the young Somali-Swedes who have not gone astray. As a contrast to those who ended up in crime, unemployment and exclusion, Somali-Swedish university students are highlighted in this study. The aim was to create an understanding of their identity formation and experience of meaningfulness and how it affects their well-being. The study was based on a social psychological perspective and has been analyzed with the help of the theories Sense of Coherence (SOC) and Social Identity Theory (SIT) as well as the concepts of ethnicity, in-betweenness and dual cultural belonging. The method was qualitative and qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten respondents. The respondents were university students of Somali-Swedish origin aged 21-24. The results showed that ethnicity, religious affiliation, family, friends and participation in civic society were important in the formation of identity. Religion, family and sense of purpose were described as important elements in creating meaning. In addition, it was common that adversity and negative treatment were turned into a source of motivation. The factors of success for well-being that were found were community, social support, faith, purposefulness and turning adversity into motivation.

蓄電池は携帯機器，電気自動車をはじめ，自然エネルギー有効利用に至るまで広範囲に利用され，その重要性はますます高まっている。これら機器の使用時間や特性は蓄電池の特性に大きく依存することから，電池自体の特性改善に加え，劣化を診断してより効率的に電池を運用することが求められている。本論文は，非線形情報処理を得意とする人工知能を用いた2次電池の劣化診断法を開発し，エネルギーの有効利用に資する技術を確立した。機器動作時の電池電圧・電流波形と電池劣化特性との関連性を，人工知能を用い学習することにより，機器稼働時に電池の劣化を診断することができる。なお，この関連性は非線形で複雑であるが，非線形分析を得意とする人工知能は劣化診断に適している。学習には時間を要するものの，診断は短時間になし得ることから，提案法は稼働時劣化診断に適している。本論文では，この特徴を生かし，電池の等価回路（ECM）を導出し，充電率（SOC），容量維持率（SOH）を推定している。また，本論文では現在産業応用分野で用いられている，リチウムイオン電池，ニッケル水素電池，鉛蓄電池を対象とし，提案法はあらゆる電池使用機器に応用可能である。また，提案法を電池状態監視装置（BMU）や，マイコンなどを用いた組み込みシステムに応用可能とし，実証している。以上のことから，本論文は，新たな蓄電池の劣化診断法の確立し，その有効性を確認している。 / The importance of rechargeable batteries nowadays is increasing from the portable electronic devices and solar energy industry up to the development of new EV models. The rechargeable batteries have a crucial role in the storage system, mostly in mobile applications and transportation, because the period of its usage and the flexibility of the function are determined by the battery. Due to the black box approach of the ANN it is possible to connect the complex physical phenomenon with a specific physical meaning expressed with a nonlinear logic between inputs and output. Using specific input data to relate with the desired output, makes possible to create a pattern connection with input and output. This ability helps to estimate in real time the desired outputs, behaviors, phenomes and at the same time it can be used as a real time diagnosis method. / 博士(工学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

The aim of this study is to get a deeper understanding, from a Swedish context, of how you can do social work with vulnerable and orphaned children in a developing country such as Uganda. We have investigated this through the example WEBALE, an NGO working in a context where among other things HIV/AIDS, poverty and a defective social safety net have led to social problems affecting children. Further, we have also aimed at acquiring a deeper understanding of what it is that motivates the volunteers and the director to work with vulnerable children at WEBALE. In order to fulfil this aim, the research has the following two key questions: What is the motivation for the teacher volunteers and the manager to work with vulnerable children at WEBALE? How do the teacher volunteers perceive the social work with the children in everyday life at WEBALE and what experiences do they have from this? The study is a field study with a phenomenological and ethnological approach. We were present at and took part in the everyday life of the informants at the school and orphanage in Uganda for eight weeks. The investigation uses a qualitative method where four interviews and participant observations were carried out. The results are analyzed in connection with theories on social work defining preventions and interventions, where theories on risk- and protection factors and the salutogenetic theory on SOC have been used. The analysis is also connected to theories on social work with children from a developmental-ecological and attachment-theoretical perspective. The results show what it is that motivates the volunteers and manager to work as volunteers in this specific contest through personal accounts of their background. Our observation is that the motivation of the volunteers and the manager to work with orphaned and vulnerable children is closely connected to their own background and childhood. The biggest reason for this kind of a life choice seems to be a sense of coherence and the largest motivating factor is that the work they do feels meaningful. The results further highlight the social work that is carried out and how the volunteers perceive their work at WEBALE. The study shows that the volunteers (who mainly consist of teachers) carry out what can be called social work, according to the definitions of interventions and preventions within various fields, such as health, education, emotional and behavioural development, ability to take care of oneself, social behaviour, family and social relations, and identity.

The technology evolution and complexity of new circuit applications involve emerging reliability problems and even more sensitivity of integrated circuits (ICs) to electrostatic discharge (ESD)-induced damage. Regardless of the aggressive evolution in downscaling and subsequent improvement in applications' performance, ICs still should comply with minimum standards of ESD robustness in order to be commercially viable. Although the topic of ESD has received attention industry-wide, the design of robust protection structures and circuits remains challenging because ESD failure mechanisms continue to become more acute and design windows less flexible. The sensitivity of smaller devices, along with a limited understanding of the ESD phenomena and the resulting empirical approach to solving the problem have yielded time consuming, costly and unpredictable design procedures. As turnaround design cycles in new technologies continue to decrease, the traditional trial-and-error design strategy is no longer acceptable, and better analysis capabilities and a systematic design approach are essential to accomplish the increasingly difficult task of adequate ESD protection-circuit design. This dissertation presents a comprehensive design methodology for implementing custom on-chip ESD protection structures in different commercial technologies. First, the ESD topic in the semiconductor industry is revised, as well as ESD standards and commonly used schemes to provide ESD protection in ICs. The general ESD protection approaches are illustrated and discussed using different types of protection components and the concept of the ESD design window. The problem of implementing and assessing ESD protection structures is addressed next, starting from the general discussion of two design methods. The first ESD design method follows an experimental approach, in which design requirements are obtained via fabrication, testing and failure analysis. The second method consists of the technology computer aided design (TCAD)-assisted ESD protection design. This method incorporates numerical simulations in different stages of the ESD design process, and thus results in a more predictable and systematic ESD development strategy. Physical models considered in the device simulation are discussed and subsequently utilized in different ESD designs along this study. The implementation of new custom ESD protection devices and a further integration strategy based on the concept of the high-holding, low-voltage-trigger, silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) (HH-LVTSCR) is demonstrated for implementing ESD solutions in commercial low-voltage digital and mixed-signal applications developed using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) technologies. This ESD protection concept proposed in this study is also successfully incorporated for implementing a tailored ESD protection solution for an emerging CMOS-based embedded MicroElectroMechanical (MEMS) sensor system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology. Circuit applications that are required to operate at relatively large input/output (I/O) voltage, above/below the VDD/VSS core circuit power supply, introduce further complications in the development and integration of ESD protection solutions. In these applications, the I/O operating voltage can extend over one order of magnitude larger than the safe operating voltage established in advanced technologies, while the IC is also required to comply with stringent ESD robustness requirements. A practical TCAD methodology based on a process- and device- simulation is demonstrated for assessment of the device physics, and subsequent design and implementation of custom P1N1-P2N2 and coupled P1N1-P2N2//N2P3-N3P1 silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)-type devices for ESD protection in different circuit applications, including those applications operating at I/O voltage considerably above/below the VDD/VSS. Results from the TCAD simulations are compared with measurements and used for developing technology- and circuit-adapted protection structures, capable of blocking large voltages and providing versatile dual-polarity symmetric/asymmetric S-type current-voltage characteristics for high ESD protection. The design guidelines introduced in this dissertation are used to optimize and extend the ESD protection capability in existing CMOS/BiCMOS technologies, by implementing smaller and more robust single- or dual-polarity ESD protection structures within the flexibility provided in the specific fabrication process. The ESD design methodologies and characteristics of the developed protection devices are demonstrated via ESD measurements obtained from fabricated stand-alone devices and on-chip ESD protections. The superior ESD protection performance of the devices developed in this study is also successfully verified in IC applications where the standard ESD protection approaches are not suitable to meet the stringent area constraint and performance requirement.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur brobyggare beskriver sitt arbete med att bygga tillit till socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsvård (BoU). Brobyggare är personer som har god förankring i det svenska samhället, samtidigt som de delar språk och kulturell bakgrund med en specifik minoritet och som därför kan fungera som en bro mellan minoritetsgruppen och samhällets institutioner. Studiens empiri består av kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med tolv brobyggare. Materialet har bearbetats med Braun och Clarkes (2006) metod för tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att de föräldrar brobyggarna möter känner sig utpekade av socialtjänsten på grund av sin invandrarbakgrund vilket även förstärker den osäkerhet som många upplever i sitt föräldraskap. Detta, tillsammans med den informationsbrist som råder kring socialtjänstens arbetssätt bidrar till en djupgående rädsla för BoU i brobyggarnas målgrupper. Vidare visar studien att brobyggarnas tillitsskapande arbete möjliggörs av den relation de bygger med sin målgrupp. Relationen byggs delvis med hjälp av en delad kulturell identitet med målgruppen men även genom brobyggarnas flexibilitet att vara där det behövs när det behövs. Med relationen till målgruppen som bas kan brobyggaren bidra till att minska avståndet till socialtjänsten. Ett viktigt verktyg är kulturtolkandet som möjliggör ömsesidig förståelse mellan socialtjänstens personal och målgrupp. / The purpose of this study is to examine how link workers describe their work with building trust in child protective services (CPS). Link workers are persons who are well established within Swedish society while sharing language and cultural background with a specific minority. This enables them to act as a bridge between the minority group and the institutions of society. The study's empirical data consists of qualitative semi-structured interviews with twelve link workers. The data has then been processed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) method for thematic analysis. Our results show that the link workers’ target groups feel particularly singled out by CPS due to their immigrant background, which also reinforces the uncertainty that many experience in their role as parents. Additionally, the lack of information about the working methods of CPS exacerbates the situation further and results in a deep-seated fear of CPS. The study also finds that the link workers' trust-building is made possible by the relationships they build with their target groups. This is facilitated partly through a shared cultural identity but also through the link workers' ability to be flexible with where and when they meet parents. With these relationships as a starting point, the link workers aid in bridging the gap between their target groups and CPS. An important part of this work is intercultural mediation, which enables mutual understanding between social service employees and the target groups.