Globally, aircraft emissions represent 2-3% of total CO2 emissions. Due to an increase in passenger and freight transport, the climate's impact is increasing. To solve that problem there are several different solutions, one of them is the use of an optimal cost index during flight. The purpose of this work is to analyze the cost index and its shortcomings and to develop solutions to create an Environment Cost Index. ECI contains strategies that make cost index more optimal with focus on environment, fuel consumption and emissions. However, this thesis only deals with the Boeing 737-800 (winglets) aircraft type. The work process began with a wide search of current climate problems and aviation emissions, with a deep search in cost index and previous studies on the subject. In order to link theory with reality, an interview was conducted with Lars Andersen Resare, SAS Sustainability Manager. The result showed that the theory is in line with Lars Andersen's answers. In addition to different strategies that can be followed during the flight to reduce fuel consumption, the ultimate solution is a dynamic module. A dynamic module has all sources packed in a system and updates the pilot with information during a flight, as the system is connected to the network. With an ECI, airlines can save 5-6% fuel during one flight. As an airplane is often in the air, the strategies give an environmental gain, as well as a saving up to 5 million dollars a year, without noticeable changes in the timetable. As the aircraft emissions increase every year, and the FN Climate Panel has set a goal to zero the growth of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, ECI is one of the solutions that reduces the climate impact. It would therefore be of great benefit to both environment and costs if the airlines used the tool.

Bakgrund: Övervikt är ett växande problem i samhället. I Sverige är 20–25% av landets 10-åringar överviktiga och ca 3% lider av fetma. Det finns få studier som visar huruvida den funktionella kapaciteten hos barn med övervikt påverkar deras uppfattning om sin övervikt som ett problem. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det förelåg ett negativt samband mellan funktionell kapacitet och upplevelsen av övervikt som ett problem hos barn på en överviktsmottagning. Studien syftade också till att undersöka om det fanns ett samband mellan funktionell kapacitet och kroppssammansättning respektive energiförbrukning samt om ett samband mellan energiförbrukning och individens upplevelse av övervikt som ett problem förelåg. Metod: En icke-experimentell, retrospektiv, deskriptiv och korrelerande tvärsnittsstudie. Studien baserades på insamlade data från nybesök på Akademiska barnsjukhusets överviktsmottagning. 58 deltagare i åldrarna 7–17 år inkluderades. Utfallsmåtten var sex minuters gångtest, Physiological cost index, kalipermätning och självskattade överviktsproblem. Resultat: Inget samband förelåg mellan funktionell kapacitet och självskattade överviktsproblem eller mellan funktionell kapacitet och energiförbrukning. Det fanns ett svagt samband (r=-0.55 p=0,03) mellan funktionell kapacitet och total fettmassa. Slutsats: Sambandet mellan funktionell kapacitet och total fettmassa överensstämde med tidigare studier. Andra mätmetoder bör övervägas vid uppföljande studier för att få ett säkrare resultat och undersöka de bakomliggande faktorerna till självskattade överviktsbesvär. / Background: Overweight is an increasing problem in today’s society. Approximately 20-25% of all 10-year old’s in Sweden are considered overweight and 3% are considered obese. There are few studies that show how the physical capacity in children with overweight can affect their perception of the overweight as an issue. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between physical capacity, energy cost, body composition and the child’s rating of their overweight as a problem Method: Retrospective study of data from admittance tests at Akademiska barnsjukhuset. Regression analysis of variables to study correlation. Subjects aged 7-17 with available data from Six-minute walk test, Physiological cost index, caliper measurements and rating of overweight as a problem. 58 subjects were studied. Results: There was no correlation between physical capacity, the child’s rating of their overweight as a problem and energy cost. A negative correlation was found between physical fitness and the body fat percentage (r=-0,55. p=0,03). Conclusion: The correlation between physical capacity and body fat percentage is consistent with previous studies. Other methods should be considered in future studies to better understand the underlying factors of the children’s rating of their overweight as a problem.

A proper understanding of the local construction market is essential for making appropriate project budgeting and planning decisions. State highway agencies typically use highway construction cost indexes (HCCIs) to understand the current market conditions. In the U.S. highway construction industry, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) pioneered the concept of a HCCI as an indicator of the national construction market. State Departments of Transportation (DOT) also started developing their state level HCCIs to better represent their state level construction markets. But, some state DOTs noted the lack of guidance to develop and update their HCCIs. This paper summarizes literature review and nationwide questionnaire survey results to identify the current practices of calculating and using HCCIs. There are two methods to generate basket of construction items for HCCI calculation: a) categorized market basket and b) item level market basket. The Fisher index is the most popular indexing formula among the state DOTs and is also recommended by the FHWA and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Despite many potential users of HCCIs, the current use of HCCIs is very limited in state DOTs.

Building cost indices are widely used in construction industry to measure the rate of change of building costs as a combination of labor and material costs. Cost index forecast is crucial for the two main parties of construction industry, contactor, and the client. Forecast information is used to increase the accuracy of estimate for the project cost to evaluate the bid price. The aim of this study is to develop time series models to forecast building cost indices in Turkey and United States. The models developed are compared with regression analysis and simple averaging models in terms of predictive accuracy. As a result of this study, time series models are selected as the most accurate models in predicting cost indices for both Turkey and United States. Future values of building cost indices can be predicted in adequate precision using time series models. This useful information can be used in tender process in estimation of project costs, which is one of the critical factors affecting the overall success of a construction project. Better cost estimates shall enable contractors to produce cash flow forecasts more acurately. Furthermore accurate prediction of future prices is very useful for owners in budget allocations / moreover can help investors to evaluate project alternatives adequately.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-06-17Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:12:44Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barros_bsx_me_botfca.pdf: 2519973 bytes, checksum: cb7506db19aa9077c3c5e884388266a3 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / A coleta de preços da cesta básica é importante para a população e com base na coleta e processamento desses dados calcula-se o Índice de Custo de Vida (ICV) entre outros índices, auxiliando o consumidor a fazer compras mais racionais e com uma visão mais clara da incidência de cada produto sobre seu orçamento doméstico, não somente os produtos alimentares, mas também os produtos de limpeza e higiene pessoal. Atualmente, no município de Botucatu - SP, o projeto de levantamento de preços dos produtos da cesta básica é realizado semanalmente através de uma planilha. Outros municípios, como por exemplo Tupã e Jaboticabal, desenvolveram outros métodos de coleta, porém desistiram devido a falta de um sistema otimizado de levantamento e processamento dos dados. Esse trabalho envolveu a linguagem de programação Visual Basic 6.0 e banco de dados Microsoft Access para a etapa do computador de mesa. Assim como, o universo da tecnologia móvel e suas ferramentas de desenvolvimento, com o uso da plataforma “.NET” - Compact Framework e a linguagem Visual Basic “.NET” para a etapa do computador de mão, tornando possível o desenvolvimento de um sistema usando técnicas de programação orientada a objetos, ganhando velocidade e confiabilidade na escrita dos códigos. Os equipamentos utilizados foram: um computador de mesa HP Pavilion dv3 e um computador portátil Eten glofish X500+. Ao término do desenvolvimento do sistema computacional, da coleta, armazenamento e processamento das informações trabalhadas, buscadas e exibidas em forma de relatório, eliminou-se, assim, a etapa de anotação in loco em planilhas de papel, e constatou-se que todo o processo ganhou velocidade, consistência, segurança, disponibilidade das informações e eficiência / The collection of prices for basic goods supply is very important for the population, based on the collection and processing of these data the CLI (Cost Living Index) is calculated among others, helping consumers to shop more rationally and with a clearer view of each product impact of each product on their household budget, not only food, but also cleaning products and personal hygiene ones. Nowadays, the project of collection of prices for basic goods supply is conducted weekly in Botucatu - SP through a spreadsheet, Tupã and Jaboticabal for example, already had the experience to develop other methods of collection, but dropped out due the lack of an optimized system of survey and data processing. This work utilized the programming language Visual Basic 6.0 and database Microsoft Access for the personal computer phase. The world of mobile technology and development tools, through the platform “.NET” - Compact Framework and programming language Visual Basic “.NET” was used in the handheld phase, enabling to develop a system using techniques of object oriented programming, with higher speed and reliability in the codes writing. A HP Pavilion dv3 personal computer and an Eten glofish x500+ handheld computer were used. At the end of the software development, collection, data storing and processing in a report, the phase of in loco paper spreadsheets were eliminated and it was possible to verify that the whole process was faster, more consistent, safer, more efficient and the data were more available

Resumo: A coleta de preços da cesta básica é importante para a população e com base na coleta e processamento desses dados calcula-se o Índice de Custo de Vida (ICV) entre outros índices, auxiliando o consumidor a fazer compras mais racionais e com uma visão mais clara da incidência de cada produto sobre seu orçamento doméstico, não somente os produtos alimentares, mas também os produtos de limpeza e higiene pessoal. Atualmente, no município de Botucatu - SP, o projeto de levantamento de preços dos produtos da cesta básica é realizado semanalmente através de uma planilha. Outros municípios, como por exemplo Tupã e Jaboticabal, desenvolveram outros métodos de coleta, porém desistiram devido a falta de um sistema otimizado de levantamento e processamento dos dados. Esse trabalho envolveu a linguagem de programação Visual Basic 6.0 e banco de dados Microsoft Access para a etapa do computador de mesa. Assim como, o universo da tecnologia móvel e suas ferramentas de desenvolvimento, com o uso da plataforma ".NET" - Compact Framework e a linguagem Visual Basic ".NET" para a etapa do computador de mão, tornando possível o desenvolvimento de um sistema usando técnicas de programação orientada a objetos, ganhando velocidade e confiabilidade na escrita dos códigos. Os equipamentos utilizados foram: um computador de mesa HP Pavilion dv3 e um computador portátil Eten glofish X500+. Ao término do desenvolvimento do sistema computacional, da coleta, armazenamento e processamento das informações trabalhadas, buscadas e exibidas em forma de relatório, eliminou-se, assim, a etapa de anotação in loco em planilhas de papel, e constatou-se que todo o processo ganhou velocidade, consistência, segurança, disponibilidade das informações e eficiência / Abstract: The collection of prices for basic goods supply is very important for the population, based on the collection and processing of these data the CLI (Cost Living Index) is calculated among others, helping consumers to shop more rationally and with a clearer view of each product impact of each product on their household budget, not only food, but also cleaning products and personal hygiene ones. Nowadays, the project of collection of prices for basic goods supply is conducted weekly in Botucatu - SP through a spreadsheet, Tupã and Jaboticabal for example, already had the experience to develop other methods of collection, but dropped out due the lack of an optimized system of survey and data processing. This work utilized the programming language Visual Basic 6.0 and database Microsoft Access for the personal computer phase. The world of mobile technology and development tools, through the platform ".NET" - Compact Framework and programming language Visual Basic ".NET" was used in the handheld phase, enabling to develop a system using techniques of object oriented programming, with higher speed and reliability in the codes writing. A HP Pavilion dv3 personal computer and an Eten glofish x500+ handheld computer were used. At the end of the software development, collection, data storing and processing in a report, the phase of in loco paper spreadsheets were eliminated and it was possible to verify that the whole process was faster, more consistent, safer, more efficient and the data were more available / Orientador: Saulo Philipe Sebastião Guerra / Coorientador: Fernando Goulart de Andrade e Souza / Banca: Kléber Pereira Lanças / Banca: Carlos Roberto P.Padovani / Mestre

This master's thesis analyzes the sports and ski resort Špičák. It examines not only the economic factors of the resort, but also describes its history, marketing activities and evaluates the SWOT and financial analysis. At the end there is a comparison with selected competitive resorts using a variety of tools such as Ski Cost Index or special categorization of ski resorts. The aim was primarily to evaluate the complex as a stand-alone unit and to make a comparison with its closest competitors.

This diploma thesis is focused on cost index. Cost index is one of the method, which is used for cost optimalization in airline operation. Cost index compare time-related costs during flight and cost of fuel. Value of cost index influences cruise speed and fuel consumption, the higher cost index, the higher speed. Costs classification into fixed, variable and time-related costs is very important for cost index calculation. Goal of thesis is decribe importance of using cost index and advantages resulting from correct cost index application in airline operations. Practical part is focued on fuel consumption of Boeing 737 on specific routes and its evaluation. The goal is to compare calculated and real fuel consumption and find, if an airline is able to achieve calculated consumption in real operation.

A highway construction cost index (HCCI) is an indicator of the purchasing power of a highway agency. Thus, it must reflect the actual construction market conditions. However, current methods used by most state departments of transportation are not robust enough to meet this primary goal due to (1) a significantly insufficient sample size of bid items used in HCCI calculation; and (2) inability to address the need to track highway construction market conditions in specific submarket segments such as, but not limited to, various project types, sizes, and locations. This study proposes an advanced methodology to overcome these apparent limitations using two new concepts: (1) dynamic item basket; and (2) multidimensional HCCIs. The dynamic item basket process identifies and utilizes an optimum amount of bid-item data to calculate HCCIs in order to minimize the potential error due to a small sample size, which leads to a better reflection of the current market conditions. Multidimensional HCCIs dissect the state highway construction market into distinctively smaller sectors of interest and thus, allow state Departments of Transportation to understand the market conditions with much higher granularity. A framework is developed to integrate these two concepts and a standalone prototype system, named the Dyna-Mu-HCCI System, is developed to automate the data-processing part of the framework. The historical bid data of the Montana Department of Transportation are used to evaluate the performance of the Dyna-Mu-HCCI System and measure the effects of the dynamic item basket (DIB) and multidimensional HCCIs. The results show an eightfold increase in terms of the number of bid items used in calculating HCCIs and at least a 20% increase in terms of the total cost of bid items used. In addition, the multidimensional HCCIs reveal different cost-change patterns from different highway sectors. For example, the bridge construction market historically shows a very different trend compared with the overall highway construction market. The new methodology is expected to aid state Departments of Transportation in making more-reliable decisions in preparing business plans and budgets with more accurate and detailed information about the construction market conditions. Further, the prototype Dyna-Mu-HCCI System is expected to significantly facilitate the HCCI calculation process and rapidly implement this new system.

Optimization of flight operations is a way to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment and make the use of airspace more effective. Reductions in fuel consumption and flight time are further desired by airlines to minimize operational costs. The flight planning tools of today optimize the vertical profile with the knowledge of wind conditions at different altitudes. Cost optimal speeds are however currently selected by the aircraft computer itself. Because this selection is performed locally and with limited data, e.g., weather, there is reason to believe speeds could be further optimized for an overall lower cost. This work presents a model constructed to optimize speeds through the implementation of modified cost indices along the cruise phase of a flight for minimized cost including fuel and time consumption. First, the effects of different parameters on the economical speed chosen by the aircraft are presented. A brute force approach is then used to establish optimal cost index selection when all possible paths are evaluated. From this, a speed optimizing dynamic programming model is constructed to find optimized cost index paths. Results of the model show reductions in flight costs, presented as either a fuel or a time reduction. Conclusions are derived from the test results to suggest improvements of the model and the next steps for aircraft flight speed optimization. / Optimering av flygverksamhet är ett sätt att minska påverkan av flygindustrin på miljön och effektivisera användandet av luftrummet. Minskningar av bränsleförbrukning och flygtid är vidare efterfrågat av flygbolag för minimering av flygverksamhetskostnader. Dagens planeringsverktyg optimerar den vertikala flygprofilen med information om vindförhållanden på olika altituder. Kostoptimala hastigheter väljs däremot av flygmaskinen själv i nuläget. I och med att dessa val utförs lokalt och med begränsad information, bland annat om väder, finns det anledning att ana att hastigheter kan optimeras ytterligare för att sänka helhetskostnader. Detta arbete presenterar en modell skapad för att finna optimerade hastigheter som implementeras med modifierade kostindex längs sträckflygningsfasen av en flygning för minimerad kostnad inkluderande bränsle- och tidkonsumption. Först presenteras effekten av olika parametrar på den ekonomiska hastigheten vald av flygdatorn. En brute force-metod används sedan för att fastställa den optimala kostindex banan då samtliga möjliga vägar utvärderas. Utifrån detta skapas en dynamisk programmeringsmodell för hastighetsoptimering för att finna en optimal kostindex bana. Resultat från modellen visar minskade flygkostnader i form av antingen bränsle- eller tidsbesparingar. Slutsatser dras utifrån testresultaten för att föreslå förbättringar av modellen och nästa steg för optimering av hastighet för flygplan.