Purpose: It is necessary for disabled people to be treated equally, according to regulation 2001:526 § 1, therefore must everyone have the same terms and conditions. It is important to know people's different conditions and needs in order to create an accessible and useful environment. The Swedish standard contains both normal level and an increased level of accessibility. Studies have shown that normal levels of accessibility are not enough for a comfortable home for disabled persons. Ignorance and economic factors are the reason why there is lack of improvements in accessibility. The aim of the study is therefore to develop knowledge about accessibility that can be used to develop effective floor plans or improve existing floor plans. Method: The methods that is used in this study are poll survey, interviews, literature study and document analysis. Literature study and document analysis increased the writer's knowledge about this subject. Interviews and poll surveys increased the writer's information about the experiences and improvement of comfort in homes for people with disabilities. Findings: The majority of disabled individuals from the interview survey are satisfied with usefulness thanks to housing adjustment measures. Improvements in usability that are desired are, for example, threshold-free areas, installation of automatic doorway, height-adjustable kitchen cabinet and kitchen counter. The study showed that the majority of disabled individuals want increased accessibility in bathroom, kitchen and the hallway in order for the home to be comfortable and useful. An ideal home should have movable and open surfaces with a turning radius of at least 1.5 meters. The dwelling must have an open floor plan with a division into a private and social zone. Implications: The conclusions from this study are that one should strive for well thought-out planning solutions from the beginning in order to avoid large costs afterwards. In addition, big focus should be placed on the kitchen, the bathroom and the hallway, as these rooms are used most and are given high priority. For a usable housing for disabled individuals, these rooms should be built according to the height level of accessibility. A closet/storage room is also required for extra storage. In addition, big focus should be placed on the functions of housing, that is, how the different rooms are linked to each other. For instance, it is better to have an open floor plan because there are fewer partitions, which gives the feeling of an open space and larger housing. Limitations: To limit the study, only accessibility indoors is examined. Ground requirements and technical property requirements are not investigated in the study. The focus is on individuals with reduced ability to move, where mental disabilities are not discussed in this study. Improvements to Vätterhems’ floor plans are only made for the apartment with 3 REK. When sketching the ideal floor plans, the focus has only been on designing an apartment with 2 REK. / Syfte: Eftersom alla människor ska kunna leva med samma villkor och samma förutsättningar, enligt förordning 2001:526 § 1, krävs det att funktionshindrade behandlas på lika sätt. För att skapa en tillgänglig och användbar miljö är det viktigt att känna till människors olika förutsättningar och behov. Svensk standard innehåller både normal nivå och höjd nivå på tillgängligheten. Undersökningar har visat att normalnivå inte är tillräcklig för att en bostad ska vara bekväm för funktionshindrade individer. Orsaken till bristande förbättringar på tillgänglighet är okunskap och ekonomiska faktorer. Målet med studien handlar därför om att ta fram kunskap om tillgänglighet som kan användas för att ta fram effektiva planlösningar eller förbättra befintliga planlösningar. Metod: Enkät, intervjuer, litteraturstudie och dokumentanalys har använts som metod till denna studie. Litteraturstudie och dokumentanalys ökade skribenternas kunskap inom ämnet. Intervjuer och enkäter bidrog med ökad information om funktionshindrades upplevelser och önskemål i bostaden Resultat: Majoriteten av funktionshindrade individer från intervjuundersökningen är nöjda med användbarheten tack vare bostadsanpassningsåtgärder. Förbättringar av användbarheten som önskas är exempelvis tröskelfria områden, installation av automatisk dörröppning, höj- och sänkbart köksskåp och köksbänk. Studien visade att majoriteten av funktionshindrade individer vill ha utökad tillgänglighet i badrum, kök och hallen för att bostaden ska vara bekväm och användbar. En ideal bostad ska ha rörliga och öppna ytor med en vändningsradie på minst 1,5 meter. Bostaden ska ha en öppen planlösning med en uppdelning på privat och social zon. Konsekvenser: Slutsatserna som undersökningen har tagit fram är att man ska sträva efter välgenomtänkta planlösningar redan från början för att slippa stora kostnader i efterhand. Dessutom ska det läggas stor fokus på köket, badrummet och hallen eftersom dessa rum används mest och prioriteras högt. För en användbar bostad till funktionshindrade individer ska dessa rum byggas enligt hög tillgänglighetsnivå. Det krävs även en klädkammare/förråd för extra förvaring. Dessutom ska det läggas stor fokus på bostäders funktioner, det vill säga hur de olika rummen är kopplade till varandra. Det är exempelvis bättre med en öppen planlösning för det är färre mellanväggar vilket ger en känsla av en öppen yta och större bostad. Begränsningar: För att begränsa studien undersöks endast tillgängligheten inomhus. Tomtkrav och tekniska egenskapskrav utreds inte i studien. Fokuset ligger på individer med nedsatt rörelseförmåga där psykisk funktionsförmåga ej avhandlas i denna studie. Förbättringar på Vätterhems planlösningar utförs endast för bostaden med 3 ROK. Vid skissning av de ideala planlösningarna har fokuset endast varit att designa en bostad med 2 ROK.

The European Union has adopted a plan to decrease 20 % of total energy consumption through improved energy efficiency by 2020. One way of achieving this challenging goal may be to use efficient water-based heating systems supplied by heat pumps or othersustainable systems. The goal of this research was to analyze and improve the thermalperformance of water-based baseboard heaters at low-temperature water supply. Both numerical (CFD) and analytical simulations were used to investigate the heat efficiency of the system. An additional objective of this work was to ensure that the indoor thermal comfort was satisfied in spaces served by such a low-temperature heating system. Analyses showed that it was fully possible to cover both transmission and ventilation heatl osses using baseboard heaters supplied by 45 °C water flow. The conventional baseboards, however, showed problems in suppressing the cold air down-flow created by 2.0 m high glazing and an outdoor temperature of – 12 °C. The draught discomfort at ankle level was slightly above the upper limit recommended by international and national standards. On the other hand, thermal baseboards with integrated ventilation air supply showed better ability to neutralize cold downdraught at the same height and conditions. Calculations also showed that the heat output from the integrated system with one ventilation inlet was approximately twiceas high as that of the conventional one. The general conclusion from this work was that low-temperature baseboards, especially with integrated ventilation air supply, are an efficient heating system and able to be combined with devices that utilize the low-quality sustainable energy sources such as heat pumps. / <p>QC 20101029</p>

Purpose: The purpose of this Qualitative Descriptive study was to describe the experience of hospitalized adults during the pandemic who did not have COVID-19. Specific Aims: The specific aims of the study were to: Describe the hospital experience, including but not limited to, interactions with hospital staff, visitation, isolation, physical and emotional stressors, and the environment. Identify perceived comfort needs during hospitalization and perceptions of the nurse’s role in providing comforting interventions. Examine the ability to achieve physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural, and environmental comfort during hospitalization despite the required infection control measures. Framework: This study was guided by Kolcaba’s Theory of Comfort (1994). Design: This was a qualitative descriptive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interview questions focused on the overall hospital experience, the nurse’s role in their experience, comfort needs, and the experience of having comfort needs met during the hospitalization. Results: Twenty participants took part in this study. Conventional content analysis revealed five main themes. The themes are: I don’t expect the hospital to be comfortable, I was always tense, Wanting human connection, Communication is important, and Nurses are busy. Conclusion: The findings identified a need for targeting education, research, and policy development to improve patient comfort (physical, psycho-spiritual, sociocultural, and environmental). This is important as we look toward improving the overall patient experience during hospitalization.

Due to climate change, extreme weather and heatwaves will become more frequent inSweden. Heatwaves have been proven all around the world to cause increased sickness and death rates in populations. Even in the Nordic countries heatwaves can cause negative health effects and sickness already in the current climate. Because of this, it´s important to know what building companies are doing to prevent overheating in their buildings and how they adapt their buildings for a changed future climate. The purpose of this study was to examine how Swedish building companies adapt their buildings to prevent future overheating and what method they are using to do so. The result showed that most of the interviewed companies prioritized adapting their buildings to prevent overheating. Companies which did not prioritize this issue argued that they follow customer demands or that they have not perceived overheating as a problem. There were no significant differences between companies in southern and northern Sweden in which methods the companies decide to use to lower temperatures inside buildings. To avoid risks related to overheated apartments in the future every company in the building sector needs to prioritize these problems and government agencies needs to construct stricter laws regarding indoor temperatures. Thus, the companies that are working based on customer request would also need to adapt to a changed future climate.

The comfort of the public transport user is of vital importance to guarantee a pleasant service. The driver's style on coaches and buses is a significant factor that influences the comfort of the users. The driver of a vehicle is clearly implicated in the production of motion sickness since it is the driver who regulates the accelerations than cause passenger sickness (Mark Turner &amp; Michael J. Griffin, 1999). Therefore it is necessary to explain the relationship between passenger comfort and driver behaviour. The driver’s driving style has been described by recording the accelerations (X-Y-Z directions) of a bus with an accelerometer. This data has been processed afterwards to obtain four indicators that describe the driving style of the driver. The four indicators are: 1) Longitudinal acceleration and braking levels, 2) Longitudinal jerks, 3) Lateral cornering acceleration levels, and 4) uneven speed, so-called "Pump driving". Comfort ratings from the passengers has been collected on board different buses from the Södertälje and Kallhäll areas where passengers were asked to grade their experience during their current journey. This information has been analysed together with the indicators. The final result is an algorithm that provides a comfort rating by analysing the acceleration of a bus.

Active secondary suspension in trains has been studied for a number of years, showing promising improvements in ride comfort. However, due to relatively high implementation and maintenance costs, active technology is not being used in service operation to a large extent. The objective of this study is to develop an active lateral secondary suspension concept that offers good ride comfort improvements and enables centring of the carbody above the bogies when negotiating curves at unbalanced speed. Simultaneously, the active suspension concept should be a cost-effective solution for future series production. The thesis consists of an introductory part and three appended papers. The introductory part describes the concept of active secondary suspension together with different actuator types and control methods. Further, the present simulation model and applied comfort evaluation methods are presented. The introductory part also comprises a summary of the appended papers, an evaluation of track forces and suggestions for further work. Paper A presents the initial development of an active lateral secondary suspension concept based on sky-hook damping in order to improve vehicle dynamic performance, particularly on straight tracks. Furthermore, a Hold-Off-Device (HOD) function has been included in the suspension concept in order to centre the carbody above the bogies in curves and hence avoid bumpstop contact. Preparatory simulations as well as the subsequent on-track tests in the summer of 2007 showed that the active suspension provides improved passenger ride comfort and has significant potential to be a cost-effective solution for future implementation. In Paper B, measurement results from on-track tests performed in 2008 are presented. The active secondary suspension concept was slightly modified compared to the one presented in the first paper. One modification was the implementation of a gyroscope in order to enable detection of transition curves and to switch off the dynamic damping in these sections. Ride comfort in the actively suspended carbody was significantly improved compared to that in the passively suspended car. The satisfactory results led to implementation of the active suspension system in long-term tests in service operation in the beginning of 2009. In Paper C, a quarter-car model in MATLAB has been used to investigate a more advanced control algorithm: H∞ instead of sky-hook. H∞ control provides more flexibility in the design process due to the possibility to control several parameters. In particular, this is done by applying weight functions to selected signals in the system. When comparing the two control strategies through simulations, the results show that H∞ control generates similar carbody accelerations at the same control force as sky-hook; however, the relative displacement displacement is somewhat lower.

No description available.

This degree project is about designing sustainable, comfortable and aesthetically pleasingunderwear. The market does not currently offer many options for those who want to feelattractive and comfortable at the same time. Users have a hard time finding the perfect fit,since sizing systems are problematic. In addition, most panties are made of non sustainabletextiles, which does not live up to users wishes. In this essay we investigate which factorsinfluence panty fit, as well as an exploration of materials to find a suitable proposal forunderwear. The process is based upon a user-focused approach. We worked closely togetherwith a focus group and arranged a large quantitative study of users needs and preferences. This resulted in the thong Venusa, in sizes XS-XL, made out of ribbed Tencel™ fabric. Thethong has a differently designed crotch to better fit women’s genitals. The seams aresewn on the outside of the fabric, to avoid chafing against skin and placed for the bestcomfort possible. While developing the concept and making decisions we have relied onour requirement specification as well as the goal to create sustainable, comfortable andaesthetically pleasing underwear.

The Swedish government in the 1960th initiated “The Million Program” to build million residentialunits to cover the housing shortage between 1965 to 1975. Tjärna Ängar neighborhood in Borlängemunicipality was built during the million-program period, where these residential units became old,and the indoor environment is uncomfortable for the residents.Recently, there have been extensive energy-efficient renovations to improving the energyefficiency,indoor air quality, and thermal comfort of these buildings. The renovation project, withcooperation between Dalarna University and the local housing company (Stora Tunabyggen)started in 2015 by renovating three buildings in the Tjärna Ängar neighborhood.This study was conducted at one of these three retrofitting buildings (Kornstigen 25) to investigatethe thermal comfort in the building following energy retrofit. The assessment of the thermalcomfort in this study is based on Fanger's model with the use of predicted mean vote (PMV) andpredicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) to assess the obtained measurements.An online questionnaire survey with building occupants was conducted to give a betterunderstanding of the current situation of the retrofitting building before and after the renovationregarding thermal comfort. Based on the measurement, the thermal sensation of the occupants isslightly cool according to the standard’s sensation scale during the period of the measurement. Anonline questionnaire survey assures that the occupants were feeling slightly cool during someperiods of the day inside the apartments.

The main objective of the research was to study the effect of the Stenotaphrum secundatum and Zoysia japonica grasses on the higher and lower environment temperature and lower relative humidity; the secondary objective was to compare whether the Stenotaphrum secundatum grass has a greater impact on the environment parameters of comfort than the Zoysia japonica species. Six materials were used for the extensive green roof, each one forming a layer of the system, which were placed on the concrete slab and in an upward direction, including: PVC geomembrane, Polyester asphalt carpet, Pumice stone, Planar geodren, Prepared soil with guano, compost, muss, and Substrate. In order to make measurements of the higher and lower ambient temperature, a digital thermometer and lower relative humidity meter was used. Stenotaphrum secundatum and Zoysia japonica were used as grass species, as they were the most representative of the grasses used in extensive green roofs. The experimentation was carried out for 2 months from September to October of 2021, having built 3 modules of 1000x600mm roofs, including 1module of the concrete roof with ceramic covering and 2 modules of extensive green roof with two types of grass: Stenotaphrum secundatum and Zoysia japonica. The readings of the environment temperature and relative humidity of the higher and lower part were taken in six points of each module to have a greater number of representative measurements. The watering of the 2 green roof modules with grass was carried out twice a week, applying 5L of water per module. The results indicate that the Zoysia japonica grass is the one that presents a better behavior before the higher ambient temperature and that the Stenotaphrum secundatum grass behaves better before the lower ambient temperature and lower relative humidity. The conclusions indicate that the Stenotaphrum secundatum grass behaves better temperature and relative humidity; the two grass types exhibit different behavior.