<p>Commercial buildings consume more than 19% of the total energy consumption in the United States. Most of this energy is consumed by the HVAC and shading/lighting systems inside these buildings. The main purpose of such systems is to provide satisfactory thermal and visual environments for occupants working inside these buildings. Providing satisfactory thermal/visual conditions in indoor environments is critical since it directly affects occupants’ comfort, health and productivity and has a significant effect on energy performance of the buildings. </p> <p>Therefore, efficiently learning occupants’ preferences is of prime importance to address the dual energy challenge of reducing energy usage and providing occupants with comfortable spaces at the same time. The objective of this thesis is to develop robust and easy to implement algorithms for learning and eliciting thermal and visual preferences of office occupants from limited data. As such, the questions studied in this thesis are: 1) How can we exploit concepts from utility theory to model (in a Bayesian manner) the hidden thermal and visual utility functions of different occupants? Our central hypothesis is that an occupant’s preference relation over different thermal/visual states of the room can be described using a scalar function of these states, which we call the “occupant’s thermal/visual utility function.” 2) By making use of formalisms in Bayesian decision theory, how can we learn the maximally preferred thermal/visual states for different occupants without requiring unnecessary or excessive efforts from occupants and/or the building engineers? The challenge here is to minimize the number of queries posed to the occupants to learn the maximally preferred thermal/visual states for each occupant. 3) Inferring preferences of occupants based on their responses to the thermal/visual comfort-based questionnaire surveys is intrusive and expensive. Contrary to this, how can we learn the thermal/visual preferences of occupants from cheap and non-intrusive human-building interactions’ data? 4) Lastly, based on the observation that the occupant population decompose into different clusters of occupants having similar preferences, how can we exploit the collective information obtained from the similarities in the occupants’ behavior? This thesis presents viable answers to the aforementioned questions in the form of probabilistic graphical models/frameworks. In future, I hope that these frameworks would prove to be an important step towards the development of intelligent thermal/visual systems which would be able to respond to occupants’ personalized comfort needs. Furthermore, in order to encourage the use of these frameworks and ensure reproducibility in results,various implementations of this work (namely GPPref, GPElicit and GPActToPref) are published as open-source Python packages.</p><br>

<p>Most of the heavy-duty machines, in particular construction vehicles, employ hydraulically actuated functions that are used to perform multiple tasks with elevated power requirements. Such high-power demand motivates the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to minimize the costs associated with energy consumption through the design of such hydraulic systems. The human-machine interaction (human factors) and the efficiency of the hydraulic control system are considered key elements towards a successful design. The interaction between the operator and the machine considerably affects the performance of construction machines. In order to maintain high levels of productivity, the operators require comfort and effortless controllability of the multiple hydraulic functions. The comfort requirement can include limited shocks and oscillations while operating the machines (while driving and controlling the implement motion), cabin accessories (AC, radio, cameras, etc.) and accessibility to the instrumentation. Besides, the operators have to control multiple functions simultaneously in an efficient manner while maintaining high levels of productivity. Consequently, the operators require smooth controllability of such functions. Such demand can largely affect the efficiency of the expected hydraulic control system and can induce additional costs and complexity. The OEMs are therefore forced to find a balance between efficiency and operators’ requirements to be competitive on the market. As a result, the currently adopted hydraulic architectures rely on purely hydraulic components to ensure robustness and functionality of the hydraulic functions at the expenses of limited performance and high-power consumption. In this dissertation, electro-hydraulic components are employed to induce improvements of the commercially available solutions while still complying with the operators’ demands and energy efficiency. To this end, this work tackles the weaknesses of traditional hydraulic architectures and it proposes alternative solutions to overcome their limitations. Two full-size wheel loaders are used to study the behavior of the existing system and later to implement the proposed variations. First, the development of an innovative ride control feature to improve the operators’ comfort is presented. Experimental results show the proposed strategy having better comfort performances compared to the purely hydraulic solution. Besides, the electro-hydraulic alternative does not demand the costly additional components the commercial solution instead requires. Second, this work faces the concern for efficiency of the present hydraulic architecture. The most diffused hydraulic system for the studied category of construction machines, commonly known as Load Sensing (LS), is sized to work most efficiently for elevated power conditions. During this work, an electronically controlled hydraulic supply unit and a flow-sharing method are used to reduce the hydraulic power consumption in the regions where the traditional LS system is less efficient. With a simple and cost-effective modification, the presented control strategy can induce an efficiency improvement over a wide range of operating conditions. Third, this dissertation proposes an operator-assistance feature to potentially increase the overall productivity and reduce the operator’s stress. An online estimation algorithm was developed to predict the payload weight of the transported material inside the bucket and the pushing forces during a typical loading cycle. The calculated payload mass provides an estimate of the user’s productivity level and it is extremely advantageous when the loaded material should reach a certain target weight. The developed estimation algorithm can also support an optimized autonomous excavation process, which can progressively limit the operator-machine interaction.</p>

A minority of patients with end-stage disease are referred to palliative medicine for consultation in advanced heart failure. Educating stakeholders, including primary care, cardiology, and critical care of the benefits of hospice and palliative medicine for patients with poor prognosis, may increase appropriately timed referrals and improve quality of life for these patients. This article reviews multiple tools useful in prognostication in the setting of advanced heart failure.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is a modality of electrotherapy which is aiming to restore and improve muscle function by injecting small levels of current into the muscle using different types of electrodes. Advantages are seen in using textile electrodes which can be integrated into wearables. Previous research has been done for the development of textile stimulation electrodes. However, the focus has not been on the electrode construction itself. Therefore, the influence of electrode construction parameters of knitted electrodes as well as of the electrode condition, i.e. wet or dry, on the skin-electrode impedance and on the perceived stimulation comfort were analysed. Further, the application of pressure to the electrode was investigated. It was found that the electrode condition is the most important parameter for the electrode performance as a wet electrode showed a lower impedance and an improved stimulation comfort with a better skin contact. Followed by this, the pressure was the second most important factor, especially for dry electrodes. A higher pressure reduced the skin-electrode impedance and improved the skin contact in dry condition. Nevertheless, dry electrodes with a high applied pressure still performed worse than wet electrodes. Regarding the electrode design, the most important factor was the electrode size. A bigger size reduced the impedance. Nevertheless, for the application in NMES, a smaller electrode size is to be preferred as it improved the stimulation selectivity and thus, a lower NMES level was required to induce a plantarflexion without affecting the stimulation comfort. The other investigated construction parameters (binding, yarn density, shape) only showed minor influences on the electrode performance. Therefore, the possibilities of applying pressure to the electrode to improve the performance of dry textile electrodes should be further investigated.

Den globala uppvärmningen är en stor utmaning för världen att hantera och därför har länder som Sverige och unioner som EU kommit överens om olika klimatmål. Fram till 2020 är planen att utsläppen av växthusgaser skall sänkas med 20% jämfört med nivåerna 1990 och sen 2050 skall det reduceras med 80%. För att kunna möta dessa miljömål måste energiproduktionen inom EU-länderna bli mer miljövänlig. Ett sätt att producera sådan energi är med biobränslen vilket kan göras genom förbränning av biobränslena i en fjärrvärmeanläggning. Därmed blir det viktigt att alla energiproducenter strävar åt att gå mot en mer miljövänlig energiproduktion. Utöver att energiomvandlingen måste göras på ett miljövänligt sätt för att uppnå ett hållbart samhälle måste bra arbetsklimat också erhållas på anläggningarna. För om ett bra arbetsklimat inte infinner sig kan hälsan hos dem anställda riskeras med hälsoproblem som till exempel illamående och i värsta fall hjärtproblem. Dåligt arbetsklimat kan uppkomma på olika sätt men två exempel är vid för höga inomhustemperaturer eller dålig luftkvalitet. För att utvärdera hur bra ett inomhusklimat är finns olika typer av komfortindex, i denna studie har PMV-metoden använts för att utvärdera komfortnivåerna på Lersäters värmeverk som är en del av Kils Energi AB. Genom att samla in klimatdata inne i tre lokaler som används vid fjärrvärmeproduktionen kunde komfortnivåer för samtliga våningar beräknas. Dessutom har luftflöden i ventilationssystemet beräknats för vardera lokal och don för att säkerställa att anläggningen möter de rekommenderade kraven för ventilation från Arbetsmiljöverket. Ett av sätten att säkerställa ett bra arbetsklimat i lokaler är att ha ett väl fungerande ventilationssystem. Finns många olika tillvägagångssätt för att få en lokal väl ventilerad där vissa är energikrävande och vissa inte. Lersäters värmeverk har ett tilluftsventilationssystem som har pannan som utflöde ur pannhuset. PMV:s som beräknades fram i Lersäters värmeverk varierade kraftigt beroende på vilken lokal och vilken våning som undersöktes. När spjällen var stängda i pannhuset blev det beräknade PMV högre än 3 på våning 5 och 6 i pannhuset vilket är över det maximala värdet för PMV-metoden. Längre ner i pannhuset sjönk PMV till mer acceptabla nivåer där det gick mellan 1–2 för resten av anläggningen. Två olika fallstudier utfördes där olika fläktfrekvenser på ventilationssystemet och med öppna eller stängda spjäll i pannhuset. När spjällen var öppna blev komforten bättre i pannhuset. På våning 5 och 6 i pannhuset ökade komforten avsevärt när spjällen var öppna i jämförelse mot vid stängda spjäll. PMV minskade till runt 2 istället för 3–4 vid stängda spjäll. Pannhuset hade upp till 18 gånger högre luftomsättning än rekommenderade värden för inomhusklimat men stor del av denna luft blev stillastående på de lägsta våningarna där komforten blev god men på bekostnad av låga komfortnivåer på de övre våningarna. På dem två översta våningarna i pannhuset vid grundfallet var PMV till och med högre än det maximala värdet PMV-metoden normalt kan ge. En undersökning av vad de anställda tyckte om klimatet utfördes med hjälp av ett frågeformulär, se bilaga 3. Resultaten från formuläret visade att stora delar av mätresultaten stämde överens med dem anställdas åsikter. Personliga preferenser varierar alltid från person till person men genomsnittet bekräftade många av resultaten utöver komfortnivåerna i lagerlokalen 108an. I lagerlokalen 108an visade mätningarna en god komfort medan dem anställda ansåg den vara väldigt varm. Anledningen till denna skillnad är att lagerlokalen 108an påverkas mer av vilken säsong det är. För i beräkningarna visas bara resultatet från våren när utomhustemperaturen var låg medan de anställda bygger uppfattningen på hela året. Eftersom alla in- och utflöden för ventilationen sitter monterat på samma sida av pannhuset blir luftomrörningen dålig trots det aktiva ventilationssystemet som är monterat på anläggningen. Vilket rökanalyserna bevisar då bara ett par meter ifrån utflöden som spjäll eller insugen till pannan avtar lufttransporten mot dessa. Placering av utflödena i pannhuset är dessutom monterade på samma sida och dessutom sitter spjäll 1 och primär- och sekundärinsuget till pannan precis ovanför varandra. Detta leder till att trots höga flöden av friskluft tillgodoses in i lokalen blir utbytet av den förorenade luften bristfällig. För att förbättra komforten i pannhuset måste luftomrörningen förbättras. Det kan göras på flera olika sätt men till exempel genom att installera fler spjäll på väggarna och installera ställbara takluckor för att bättre kunna ventilera ut den varma stillastående luften runt taket. / The global warming is a big challenge for the world to handle and therefore have countries such as Sweden and unions agreed on different climate goals. Before 2020 the goal is to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by 20% compared to the levels at 1990 and then before 2050 reduce it to 80%. To achieve these climate goals the energy production within the EU gas to become more environmentally friendly. One way of producing such energy is with biofuels which can be done by burning biofuels in a district heating. Therefore, it’s important that energy producers try to become more environmentally friendly. To reach a more sustainable society the energy production must become environmentally friendly and make sure that the workers have good working conditions. Because if bad working conditions are not achieved the workers could get health problems, such as nausea and in worst case heart problems. Bad working conditions can be for example to high temperature indoors or poor air quality. To evaluate how good an indoor climate is there are different types of comfort index, in this study the PMV-method has been used to evaluate the comfort levels at Lersäters värmeverk which is a part of Kils Energi AB. Through climate data collection from inside of three different buildings that are used at the production facility could the comfort levels for all stories be calculated. Also, the flow of fresh air in the different rooms and from each diffuser was measured to secure that enough air was supplied to the buildings. One was of securing that good working conditions is achieved is to have a well-functioning ventilations system. There are many ways of making a building will well ventilated, there are some that require energy and some that don’t. Lersäters värmeverk have an active ventilation system which transport fresh air into the buildings through ducts. The calculated PMVs for Lersäters värmeverk varied heavily depending on which building and story that was evaluated. The calculated PMVs on Lersäters värmeverk varied largely depending on which building and what floor was evaluated. When the dampers were closed the PMV on floor 5 and 6 in the boiler room was higher than 3 which is normally the maximum value for the PMV-method. Further down in the boiler room the PMV decreased to more acceptable levels and was between 1 and 2 for the rest of the facility. Two different case studies were done where different frequencies on the ventilation system was used and if the dampers were open or closed in the boiler room. When the dampers were open the comfort was improved in the boiler room. On story 5 and 6 in the boiler room the comfort was greatly improved when the dampers were opened compared to when they were closed. The PMV went from above maximum to around 2. For the case studies different frequencies for the ventilation fan was tested and how open or shut dampers impacted the comfort levels.   When the dampers were open like in case 2 the comfort in the boiler room was improved. For story 5 and 6 in the boiler room the comfort was greatly improved with open dampers which was lowered to around 2 instead of 3-4 in the standard-case. The boiler room up to 18 times higher air intake than the minimum requirement for indoors climate but large part of this are became stagnant at the lower stories which made the comfort good there but at the cost of the comfort of the higher stories. With the comfort levels above maximum for the PMV-method at story 5 and 6 in the boiler room. A survey of what the employees at Lersäters värmeverk thought about the climate at the facility was done with a questionnaire. The results from the survey confirmed a lot of the calculated values for the comfort. But personal preferences always differ from person to person, but the averages confirmed the results except for the warehouse building called warehouse 108. In warehouse 108 the calculated values showed good comfort, but the employees thought it was a lot warmer. The reason for this difference is probably that this building is on a higher degree effected by seasonal changes and the employees evaluate the total comfort level for the building while the calculations only show results during the spring while the outdoor temperature is still low. All intake and outtake of air is located at the same side in the boiler room which makes the air circulation bad even though an active ventilation system is installed. Which the smoke analysis confirmed by noticing that the transport of air towards the outtakes reduces to almost zero just a few meters away from an air outtake. The placements of the outflows are also placed on the same side in the boiler room and damper 1 is placed right above the primary and secondary intake to the boiler. This led to that even though lots of air is supplied into the building the exchange between the contaminated air and the fresh air was far from good. To improve this exchange the air circulation must improve. This can be done in several ways, one way of doing it is the install more dampers and controllable hatches in the ceiling to be able to ventilate out the hot air around the ceiling.

Despite hospice and palliative care services being available for patients at the end-of-life, it remains an easily accessible health care service which has been mostly underutilized and/or misunderstood. For this project, the practice problem was underutilization of hospice and palliative care services. A systematic review of the literature which focused on under usage of end-of-life care was conducted. MEDLINE, CINAHL, and ProQuest Nursing and Allied Source databases were searched (2005 to 2017). Studies that evaluated interventions for increasing hospice and palliative care services were selected. Conceptual variables included studies that addressed the under usage of end-of-life care. Kolcoba's comfort theory, Parse's theory of human becoming and Chochinov's dignity model was included to identify the issue, gather the data, and help transfer researched data into practice. The tools applied for analysis and synthesis were the appraisal of guidelines research and evaluation and the grading of recommendations, assessment, development and evaluation. The under usage of hospice and palliative care according to this systematic review, has resulted in (a)suffering negative effects on patients at the end of life, who do not receive adequate palliative or comfort care, (b) additional distress for families dealing with grief and denial, and (c) may result in unneeded acute care, adding significantly to the cost of care. This doctoral project formed a cogent set of recommendations consisting of, communication guidance and community education for a local hospice agency and the community. The contribution of positive social change in this community was through education and knowledge to bridge the gap into practice and improve end-of-life care in the community.

abstract: Thermal extremes are responsible for more than 90% of all weather-related deaths in the United States, with heat alone accounting for an annual death toll of 618. With the combination of global warming and urban expansion, cities are becoming hotter and the threat to the well-being of citizens in urban areas is growing. Because people in modern societies (and in particular, vulnerable groups such as the elderly) spend most of their time inside their home, indoor exposure to heat is the underlying cause in a considerable fraction of heat-related morbidity and mortality. Notably, this can be observed in many US cities despite the high prevalence of mechanical air conditioning in the building stock. Therefore, part of the effort to reducing the overall vulnerability of urban populations to heat needs to be dedicated to understanding indoor exposure, its underlying behavioral and physical mechanisms, health outcomes, and possible mitigation strategies. This dissertation is an effort to advance the knowledge in these areas. The cities of Houston, TX, Phoenix, AZ, and Los Angeles, CA, are used as test beds to assess exposure and vulnerability to indoor heat among people 65 and older. Measurements and validated whole-building simulations were used in conjunction with heat-vulnerability surveys and epidemiological modelling (of collaborators) to (1) understand how building characteristics and practices govern indoor exposure to heat among the elderly; (2) evaluate mechanical air conditioning as a reliable protective factor against indoor exposure to heat; and (3) identify potential impacts from the evolving building stock and a warming urban climate. The results show strong associations between indoor heat exposure and certain health outcomes and highlight the vulnerability of elderly populations to heat despite the prevalence of air conditioning systems. Given the current construction practices and urban warming trends, this vulnerability will continue to grow. Therefore, policies promoting climate adaptive buildings features, as well as better access to reliable and affordable AC are needed. In addition, this research draws attention to the significant potential health consequences of large-scale power outages and proposes the implementation of passive survivability in regulations as one important preventative action. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Engineering 2019

With increasing knowledge about the indoor climate in recent years, preventive methods to avoid health problems caused by deficient building performance may become preferable to reactive methods. Benefits from preventive actions have been suggested for late building design phases, construction, and building operations, however, few data are available that demonstrate the benefits of preventive actions in early planning phases. In a case study, expected building performance in respect to indoor air quality and thermal conditions in a large judicial facility in North America was evaluated retrospectively at the end of the schematic design and substantial completion phases. A process for evaluation of building performance at schematic design is developed from existing procedures for building diagnostics in operating buildings. Criteria for evaluation of expected building environmental quality at schematic design as available from standards and guidelines are presented. The results of the study show that building diagnostics at schematic design can be an effective mean of prevention of occupant health problems. Further findings indicate that the assurance of indoor environmental quality can be improved, if the criteria for expected building performance are defined and complied with from early on. It is concluded that implementation of building diagnostics in early project phases can reduce the likelihood of adverse health effects in operating buildings. / Master of Science

Barnets gråt är en naturlig del i utvecklingen och minskar när barnet blir äldre. Föräldrarnas hälsa och självförtroende påverkas negativt av den fortsatta gråten och gråten är en av de vanligaste frågorna föräldrarna lyfter inom barnhälsovården. Syftet med studien var att beskriva föräldrars upplevelse av att trösta sitt gråtande barn under två år. Studien utfördes som en systematisk litteraturstudie med en induktiv ansats och innehåller 11 vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultatet visar att föräldrarna oftast är oförberedda på hur de upplever gråten och utvecklar olika strategier och metoder för att trösta barnet. Stöd från familj och utomstående, samt stöd från distriktssköterskan hade stor betydelse för föräldrarna. Föräldrarna sökte aktivt information via internet. När gråten blev överväldigande kunde en oro hos föräldrarna för att skada barnet finnas. Många föräldrar upplevde dock ett bristande stöd från distriktssköterskan och saknade ett mer lätt överskådligt informationsmaterial kring gråten. Förslag på en ökad kunskap hos distriktssköterskan och en utveckling av befintligt material, för att möta föräldrarnas behov av stöd. / The baby's cry is a natural part of its development but decreases as the child ages. Parents' health and self-confidence are negatively affected by the continued crying and crying is one of the most common questions parents raise with child health care. The studies purpose was to describe parents' experience of comforting their crying child under two years. The study was conducted as a systematic literature study with an inductive approach and contains 11 scientific articles. The results show that parents are often unprepared for how they experience crying and develop different strategies and methods to comfort the child. Support from family and outsiders, as well as support from the district nurse was of great importance to the parents. Parents actively sought information through the internet. When the crying became overwhelming, there could be a concern among the parents about harming the child. Many parents, however, experienced a lack of support from the district nurse and a more manageable information material about crying. Suggestions for an increased knowledge in the district nurse and a development of existing material, to meet the parents' need for support.

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