The modern auditor is, because of an increased complexity, dependent on the use of experts. Simultaneously different scandals have occurred where the auditor in fact have been using experts. Although the auditor is using an expert, the auditor alone is responsible for the statement that the expert makes. Research simultaneously indicates that the auditor’s use of experts is a difficult task. Because of the scandals that have occurred and that research in this specific area is limited it would be interesting to investigate the affects on comfort. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the auditor’s use of experts affects comfort. To fulfill this purpose, this paper builds on a deductive approach. A model have been developed based on previous research containing various factors such as; Risk, “structure/judgment”, “trust”, information asymmetry and auditor overconfidence. This model has been empirically tested through the use of interviews with auditors and experts. The results from this study indicate that the use of experts have a positive affect on the auditors perceived comfort. The conclusions drawn indicate, among other things, that the customer perspective is a vital part in the auditor’s work and that this seems to have an affect on comfort. This study also is considered to demonstrate the importance of the concept trust for the creation of comfort. It has also appeared that the auditors’ control of the expert evaluation sometimes is inadequate. The contributions made by this paper is mainly that it illuminates an area that is relatively unexplored, as no earlier research seems to have investigated the use of experts from a comfort perspective. This paper also contributes in highlighting the problems with the auditor’s lack of controlling the expert, when the auditors mission is to bring comfort to the public / Den moderna revisorn är nuförtiden, på grund av en ökad komplexitet, beroende av användningen av experter. Olika skandaler har samtidigt inträffat där det visats sig att revisorn har använt sig av experter i revisionen. Trots att revisorn använder experter står denna ensamt ansvarig för det utlåtande som experten ger. Forskning ger samtidigt indikationer på att revisorns användande av experter innebär en svår situation. På grund av de skandaler som skett och att forskning inom området är begränsad gör det intressant att undersöka hur detta påverkar revisorns komfort. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur revisorns användning av experter påverkar komforten. För att kunna uppfylla detta syfte har denna studie baserats på en deduktiv ansats. En modell har utvecklats baserad på tidigare forskning innehållande olika faktorer såsom; risk, structure/judgement, ”trust”, informationsasymmetri och revisorns övertro. Denna modell har sedan testats empiriskt genom intervjuer med revisorer och experter. Resultaten från denna studie indikerar att användningen av experter har en positiv effekt på revisorns komfort. Slutsatserna som dragits innefattar bland annat att indikationer på att kundperspektivet har en central del i revisorns arbete och att detta är något som tycks ha en påverkan på komforten. Denna studie anses även visa på betydelsen av begreppet ”trust” för skapandet av komfort. Det har även framkommit att revisorns kontroll av expertens bedömning ibland är bristande. Uppsatsens bidrag är framförallt att den belyser ett forskningsområde som är tämligen outforskat, då ingen tidigare forskning tycks ha undersökt användandet av experter ur komfortperspektivet. Uppsatsen bidrar även i form av att den belyser problematiken med att revisorn brister i kontrollen av experten trots att revisorns uppdrag är att skapa komfort hos allmänheten.

In recent years, many strides have been achieved in the area of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), which is leading to constant innovations in the types of applications that WSNs can support. Much advancement has also been achieved in the area of smart homes, enabling its occupants to manually and easily control their utility expenses. In this thesis, both areas of research will be colluded for a simple, yet critical application: efficient and economical comfort control in smart residential spaces. The goal is to design a central, modular energy consumption control system for residential spaces, which manages energy consumption in all aspects of a typical residence. This thesis is concerned with two facets of energy consumption in residences. The first facet is concerned with controlling when the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning unit (HVAC) operates for each room separately. This is in contrast to a typical HVAC system where comfort is provided across the floor as a whole. The second facet is concerned with controlling the lighting in each room so as to not exceed a certain input value. The communication network that supports the realization of these coveted goals is based on Zigbee interconnected sensor nodes which pour data unto a smart thermostat which does all the required calculations and activates the modules required for comfort control and energy management, if needed. A Java-based discrete event simulator is then written up to simulate a floor of a typical Canadian single-family dwelling. The simulation assumes error-less communication and proceeds to record certain room variables and the ongoing cost of operation periodically. These results from the simulator are compared to the results of the well known simulator, created by DesignBuilder, which describes typical home conditions. The conclusion from this analysis is that the Comfort Control and Energy Management Algorithms (CEMA) are feasible, and that their implementation incurs significant monetary savings.

This thesis reports a new set of experimental data and presents an in-depth analysis of the flow physics of a jet stream produced by a large quarter-round corner-mounted displacement diffuser. The air velocity, temperature and turbulence intensity inside the displacement ventilation (DV) jet have been thoroughly analyzed and compared with the reported findings of previous studies and model predictions. Furthermore, thermal comfort has been analyzed using the measured data following the ASHRAE standard. This thesis also aims at establishing an accurate numerical approach for simulating the heat and fluid flow in a room ventilated by a DV system. The supply boundary condition has been thoroughly investigated, which includes tests of the conventional box and momentum modeling methods, and proposal of a more accurate modeling approach. In addition, the predictive accuracy of the standard k-ϵ, RNG k-ϵ, SST k-ω and RSM turbulence models has been examined against the experimental data.

This dissertation examines how Victorians used the word “queer” as associated with senses of “counterfeit” and “eccentricity” in selected Victorian novels. The word was popularly used, by Victorian writers of both genders and in various and diverse circumstances, to mean the unfamiliar, the unconventional, the incomprehensible, and the non-normal. Unlike the contemporary uses of the word, which are oriented toward a relatively particular meaning, the non-normal sexual, Victorian uses of the word had been fluid, unstable, and indeterminate, yet referring to or associating with the non-normal aspects in things and people. Knowing how the Victorians used the word helps us to understand that a concept of marginality can be extended to the extent of tolerating Otherness in marginalized positions and minority identities. Victorian novels including Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Aurora Floyd (1863), Wilkie Collins’s Hide and Seek (1854), and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) demonstrate how the word “queer” is indeterminately used and also represent how queer marginality is appreciated or rejected, and tolerated or discriminated against. As queerness is defined as the status of counterfeitabilty, a counterpart of authenticity, queer subjects are described to provoke a feeling of repulsion and tend to be criminalized or pathologized. On the other hand, as queerness is defined as the status of eccentricity, queer subjects are sympathized and defended in the narrative. Manifestations of eccentricities in queer subjects are occasionally reprimanded, but admired for queer subjects’ uncommon or distinguished individuality. Victorian novels demonstrate that queer marginality can be employed as a self-fashioning identity or social status for any non-normal individual to deal with social pressure of conformity.

Most LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings are commercial office buildings and multi-use buildings. As of October 2009, 35,000 projects were registered in the LEED system, "comprising over 4.5 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 91 countries." However, as of April 30, 2009, only 43 healthcare projects had achieved LEED certification. Currently, most studies focus on the economic benefits and energy consumption of LEED certified buildings, rather than human factors. A small gain in productivity can result in a heftier financial gain. Even modest improvements in productivity and absenteeism can substantially outweigh the energy cost. This study surveyed 164 staff in the two healthcare settings for case study, and 146 staff in the six LEED certified healthcare settings for the main study in climate zone 2 and 3. Telephone interviews with the six facility managers were used to verify the survey results and further examine the healthcare facilities? performance and the effectiveness of the LEED strategies from facility managers' perspectives. Independent t-test was used to examine the difference between the LEED and Non-LEED hospitals in one healthcare system and results showed that building performance were rated higher by staff in LEED certified hospital than Non-LEED hospital. MANOVA was conducted to compare the staff's ratings between Silver and Gold certification levels, male and female, and also explore the possibility of interaction effect. Multilevel regression modeling was used to test how the building performance variables affect the overall comfort and productivity. Study results showed that staff in the Gold certified hospital had significant higher ratings in most the performance variables. Gold certified healthcare settings were significant better in rated building overall, overall comfort and controllability than Silver certified healthcare settings. And males felt more comfortable in temperature than females in healthcare facilities. Regarding the overall comfort and productivity, building design, efficiency of the space use, temperature comfort and controllability over building system were significant predictors for staff overall comfort; and lighting comfort, temperature comfort and controllability over building system had significant positive relationship with perceived productivity. LEED certified healthcare settings appear to have a good environment and building performance for occupants. Controllability, lighting, temperature, use of space, building design were important factors in staff comfort and productivity.

The primary purpose of the current research was to implement a numerical model to investigate the interactions between the energy consumption in Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems and occupants’ thermal comfort in commercial buildings. A numerical model was developed to perform a thermal analysis of a single zone and simultaneously investigate its occupants’ thermal sensations as a non-linear function of the thermal environmental (i.e. temperature, thermal radiation, humidity, and air speed) and personal factors (i.e. activity and clothing). The zone thermal analyses and thermal comfort calculations were carried out by applying the heat balance method and current thermal comfort standard (ASHRAE STANDARD 55-2004) respectively. The model was then validated and applied on a single generic zone, representing the perimeter office spaces of the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), to investigate the impacts of variation in occupants’ behaviors, building’s envelope, HVAC system, and climate on both energy consumption and thermal comfort. Regarding the large number of parameters involved, the initial summer and winter screening analyses were carried out to determine the measures that their impacts on the energy and/or thermal comfort were most significant. These analyses showed that, without any incremental cost, the energy consumption in both new and existing buildings may significantly be reduced with a broader range of setpoints, adaptive clothing for the occupants, and higher air exchange rate over the cooling season. The effects of these measures as well as their combination on the zone thermal performance were then studied in more detail with the whole year analyses. These analyses suggest that with the modest increase in the averaged occupants’ thermal dissatisfaction, the combination scenario can notably reduce the total annual energy consumption of the baseline zone. Considering the global warming and the life of a building, the impacts of climate change on the whole year modeling results were also investigated for the year 2050. According to these analyses, global warming reduced the energy consumption for both the baseline and combination scenario, thanks to the moderate and cold climate of Vancouver.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Calvin Theological Seminary, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006.

This work aims the analysis of two typologies of the most used industrial buildings in the region of the Municipality of Panambi-RS, one with Shed Cover and the other with Continuous Vent Cover. A survey on constructive characteristics was conducted, relating them to the thermal performance, of the buildings and to the thermal comfort conditions which were obtained from measurements of the ambient variables of air temperature, radiant medium temperature, relative humidity and air velocity for summer and winter periods. The human variables, metabolic rate of heat production and clothing used by the workers, were also analyzed. With the results obtained, the thermal performance was analyzed relating to the temperature outside the buildings, and an evaluation of the thermal comfort was conducted inside the working environments. Two alternatives were then presented to enhance the environments of these buildings mainly concerning to decrease the thermal transmittance and the absorption coefficient of evolving solar radiation of buildings and also improvements of thermal conditions of external air. The study offers important inputs and boundaries for future projects of industrial pavilions. / Esse trabalho objetiva a análise de duas tipologias de pavilhões industriais mais comumente encontradas na região do Município de Panambi-RS, uma em Cobertura Shed e a outra em Cobertura Lanternim. Realizou-se o levantamento das características construtivas, relacionado as ao desempenho térmico dos pavilhões e às condições de conforto térmico, as quais foram obtidas à partir de medições das variáveis ambientais de temperatura do ar, temperatura média radiante, umidade relativa e velocidade do ar para os períodos de verão e inverno. As variáveis humanas, taxa metabólica de produção de calor e a vestimenta utilizada pelos funcionários, também foram avaliadas. Com os resultados obtidos foi analisado o comportamento térmico dos pavilhões em relação a temperatura externa, e efetuado uma avaliação do conforto térmico no interior dos ambientes de trabalho. Foram então apresentadas alternativas para a melhoria dos ambientes desses pavilhões, principalmente com relação à redução da transmitância térmica e do coeficiente de absorção da radiação solar da envolvente dos pavilhões, e melhoria das condições de ventilação e das condições térmicas do ar externo. O trabalho fornece subsídios e condicionantes importantes para projetos futuros de pavilhões industriais.

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-27T18:58:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CANTON_JOSÉ_ADRIANO_2015.pdf: 15071237 bytes, checksum: f755fd1f0dfa04c0f5cf1a1a86ef3751 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-28T11:13:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CANTON_JOSÉ_ADRIANO_2015.pdf: 15071237 bytes, checksum: f755fd1f0dfa04c0f5cf1a1a86ef3751 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-28T11:15:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CANTON_JOSÉ_ADRIANO_2015.pdf: 15071237 bytes, checksum: f755fd1f0dfa04c0f5cf1a1a86ef3751 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-28T12:07:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CANTON_JOSÉ_ADRIANO_2015.pdf: 15071237 bytes, checksum: f755fd1f0dfa04c0f5cf1a1a86ef3751 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-03 / Não recebi financiamento / This research, elaborated from theoretical grounds in the area of design and ergonomics, has as its object of study an improvement project implemented in a producer of cellulosic fiber packaging (molded pulp) for packaging eggs and fruit, located inside the State of São Paulo. This project aimed to improve the operation conditions of the workers who took care of finishing activities at the apple trays production line. The research question is to discuss how the use of the Ergonomics concepts in the development of workspace design projects can help to prevent against new constrains on the development of activities. Specifically, it seeks to highlight the need of using tools that provide to the design process deep details about the activities involved in carrying out the tasks of the workspace where the improvement project will be implemented. Considering that the Ergonomics in workspace design can contribute for the collective construction to solve problems related to work reducing the probability of new constraints following the implementation of the project. It was used the approach of Situated Ergonomics, the Future of Activity Analysis and the method of Ergonomic Work Analysis. The obtained results showed that the design process used was not built with the effective participation of the users and the interaction between the actors involved in the operation lacked from an important knowledge about “how to do” of the operation. It was observed that the new situation brought difficulties in the development of activity as well as the creation of new constrains. It was concluded that the Ergonomics applied in the development of projects promotes the collective construction between the different actors in the process, resulting in a deep detail of the activities involved to develop the tasks and, as a consequence, better information being possible to design systems that meet the workers needs. / Esta pesquisa, elaborada a partir de embasamentos teóricos na área de Projetos e Ergonomia, tem como objeto de estudo um projeto de melhoria implementado em uma empresa fabricante de embalagens de fibra celulósica (polpa moldada) para acondicionamento de ovos e frutas localizada no interior do estado de São Paulo. Esse projeto teve como objetivo melhorar as condições operacionais dos trabalhadores que se ocupavam das atividades de acabamento da linha de produção de bandejas para o acondicionamento de maçã. O problema da presente pesquisa é discutir como o uso dos conceitos da Ergonomia no desenvolvimento de projetos de concepção de espaço de trabalho pode contribuir para evitar o aparecimento de novos constrangimentos no desenvolvimento das atividades. Especificamente, busca-se evidenciar a necessidade do uso de ferramentas que proporcionem um maior aprofundamento das atividades envolvidas para a realização das tarefas do espaço de trabalho onde se deseja um projeto de melhoria. Partiu-se do pressuposto de que a Ergonomia nos projetos de concepção pode favorecer a construção coletiva de soluções para problemas relacionados ao trabalho e com isso reduzir o aparecimento de novos constrangimentos após a implantação do projeto. Utilizou-se a abordagem da Ergonomia Situada, da Análise da Atividade Futura e o método da Análise Ergonômica do Trabalho. Os resultados obtidos evidenciaram que o processo de projeto utilizado não foi construído com a efetiva participação do usuário e a interação entre os atores envolvidos careceu de conhecimentos importantes sobre “o fazer” da operação. Observou-se que a nova situação trouxe dificuldades para o desenvolvimento da atividade, bem como a criação de novos constrangimentos. Concluiu-se que a Ergonomia aplicada no desenvolvimento do projeto favorece a construção coletiva, entre os diferentes atores do processo, resultando em um maior detalhamento das atividades envolvidas no posto de trabalho e, como consequência, melhores dados para que se possa projetar sistemas que atendam as necessidades do trabalhador.