Background: Climate changes and global warming call for behaviour changes from mankind and for new business models to introduce sustainable innovations. Financial analysis plays an important role in guiding the choice of these business models. However, assumptions and uncertainties pose challenges to the use of financial analysis in business modelling. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a proactive systematic approach of financial analysis in business modelling. Accounting for the important role of assumptions and uncertainty factors, the approach should guide the choices of capital structure, revenue model, and strategic partnerships in the business model. Methodology: The developed approach combines the use of different methods to assess different business models for a public fast-charging stations for electric heavy-duty vehicles in Sweden. The used techniques are DCF analysis, What-If analysis, Tornado diagram, Monte-Carlo simulation, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results and analysis: Applied to the case of a public fast-charging station for electric heavy-duty vehicles, the approach leads to the identification of potential viable business models. Under the condition of using financial leverage through debt, additional revenue sources such as per-charge event user fee and advertising as well as partnership with the public sector in the form of grants, it is possible to achieve a viable business model. Conclusions: A systematic proactive approach of the use of financial analysis in business modelling was successfully developed and applied to the case of fast-charging stations for electric heavy-duty vehicles. The identified viable business models rely on financial leverage through debt, additional revenue sources and partnership with the public sector in the form of grants. Recommendations for future research: Simulations with more input parameters as well as combinations with observational studies of existing business models can be further investigated.

Fire Works is a cultural center that will seem durable, welcoming and useful. The Culture center will serve as an extension of the central fireplace in the building. Something that gives light and life to the city with the activity created by the presence of the citizens. The building remains within the framework of the environment that surrounds it, a million program area with material dominance of concrete, glass and steel. / Fire Works är ett kulturcenter som ska verka tåligt, välkomnande och användbart. Kulturhuset ska fungera som en förlängning av den centrala eldstaden i byggnaden. Något som ger ljus och liv åt staden med den aktivitet som skapas av människans närvaro. Byggnaden håller sig inom ramarna för den miljö som omger den, ett miljonprogramsområde med materiell dominans av betong, glas och stål.

Understanding the pulsed discharge behavior of low-rate lithium coin cells in wireless sensing systems is critical to prolong the operating life and/or reduce the size of battery-powered WSs. This dissertation presents the battery transient analysis for a sensor duty cycle, experimental studies for sustained pulse discharge cycling, and investigation on recharge strategies for a battery/power harvesting hybrid system for WSs. The transient behavior of the lithium coin cells during pulse discharge and subsequent relaxation was investigated with single-pulse experiments and theoretical analysis. The voltage response for a pulsed discharge had two parts: a region of rapid voltage change and a region of slower change. The magnitude of the rapid voltage losses was associated with ohmic and interfacial resistances. Solid phase diffusion in the cathode was found to be the major contributor to the "slow" transient voltage change that occurred during and after a pulse. An analytical model was developed to describe the time-dependent voltage and the corresponding non-uniform concentration distribution for the thick porous electrode. A fit of the analytical model to experimental data permitted an estimate of the solid phase diffusivity. Independent fitting of the pulse data and relaxation data both yielded a diffusivity of D ~ 4×10-11 cm2/s, which agreed well with measured values reported in literature. The interactive effect of battery characteristics and WS operating conditions was investigated during sustained pulsed-discharge cycling. At low standby currents (≤50 μA), the influence of the standby current on the operating voltage and battery capacity was negligible. The pulse current had a significant impact on the lower voltage and determined the maximum capacity that could be extracted from a battery regardless of the duty cycle factor. For each pulse length studied, the battery capacity increased as the standby time increased, until a maximum capacity was reached, which could not be increased by further increase in the standby time. The minimum standby time for full (or near full) relaxation for duty cycles with different pulse length was found to correlate well with ratio ts/tp2. Battery pulse discharge-recharge cycling as would occur in a hybrid power system was investigated, and the recharge strategies were evaluated in terms of capacity loss over cycling and energy efficiency. Results from the cycling tests suggested the importance of a rest period between the discharge and charge step of a cycle. PRCR cycling with a 2 s rest period could lower the capacity loss to 25% or less of that of PC cycling with no rest period over 10,000 cycles. Cycling the battery at 80% SOC rather than at 100% SOC (3.1 V) significantly reduced the capacity loss during cycling.

Wading is the phenomenon where a vehicle drives through water with a relatively deep water level. Sincea large portion of the vehicle is submerged in water it can affect the driveability and function of individualcomponents. Wading is therefore an important phenomenon to be aware of especially today where society moves towards alternative energy sources. This includes water sensitive components when contact with water can generate major consequences. Previous knowledge and experience of wading has been from performing physical tests, but using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to examine the phenomenon can accelerate the iterative design process. In this thesis, numerical method of wading simulations on complete heavy-duty vehicles using the software STAR-CCM+ are developed. Furthermore, the results from the numerical methods are validated against results from physical tests performed at Scania’s test facility in Södertälje. The numerical methods are divided into a simplified model of a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) and a detailed geometry of a gas-driven vehicle from Scania. Beside dividing the wading scenario into the geometries, two different methods are developed, Wave and Wading. The Wave-method includes the vehicle standing still while a water wave is fed in through the inlet of the domain, i.e. allowed to flush over the vehicle, with a velocity of 3.6 km/h and 8 km/h. This method is implemented for both a generic simplified BEV truck and a detailed real-life Scania truck. For the Wading-method, motion is applied to the vehicle where itis driving with a velocity of 3.6 km/h through a digital twin of the water trench available at the test facility. This method is further divided into two cases, Zero Gap and Floating, where the difference is the distance between the tires of the vehicle and ground of the domain. The Floating-case includes a 10 cm distance and the Zero Gap-case has no gap between the tires and ground. The Wading-method is only implemented for the simplified geometry due to the computational cost and complexity. All methods use the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method for multiphase modelling and the Zero Gap-case uses Overset Mesh for modelling motion. The validation of the simulations focuses on the water behaviour such as water surface topology and water flowing inside the vehicle while wading. The results for the Wave-method with both the simplified and detailed truck at 8 km/h shows similarities in the water surface topology between the numerical model and the physical test. The simulations of the Wading-method is not visualising any similarities since the visible wave pattern are few and unclear in the numerical model. An isosurface is used to visualise the surface of the water which generated a smooth topology since no other options, such as vector fields, are added. It is found that the water movement inside the vehicle will affect water sensitive areas, e.g. on the battery packs. It is concluded that the derived methods are a first draft and should be directed towards future development in optimising the methods to lower the computational cost, but also to improve the capturing of the interface between the two phases. Due to instability and computational cost the detailed geometry is not implemented in the Wading-method. The methods are adapted to use different vehicle types since the simplified and detailed geometry are a BEV and a gas-driven truck respectively.

The transport industry is in the middle of a conceptual shift driven by delivering the targets set by the Paris Agreement. Proactive heavy-duty vehicle companies seek to further gather knowledge in a structured way on environmental impacts of its products and services. The method to be implemented is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). For implementation of LCA certain organisational and operational factors pre-requirements need to be addressed. The study takes key factors of Life Cycle Management (LCM) as a framework for assessing the readiness of Scania CV AB to implement LCA. Said key factors of LCM are analysed through company-based case study observations and literature review. The results indicate the company is in the process of introducing majority of the key factors of LCM. The case study tested the possibilities of the company for LCA, and attempted second phase of LCA, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). The greatest challenge to LCA is low availability and format of data for LCA. However, the case study deeply tested the data limits and offers good insight in actions to be taken.

Road transport is responsible for a significant share of the global GHG emissions. In order to address the increasing trend of road vehicle emissions, due to its heavy reliance on oil, Nordic countries have set ambitious goals and policies for the reduction of road transport GHG emissions. Despite the fact that the latest developments in the passenger car segment are leading towards the progressive electrification of the fleet, the decarbonization of heavy-duty vehicle segment presents significant challenges that are yet to be overcome. This study focuses, on the first part, on the regulatory framework of fuel economy standards of road vehicles, highlighting the absence of a European regulation on fuel efficiency for the heavy-duty sector. Energy efficiency technologies can be grouped mainly in vehicle technologies, driveline and powertrain technologies, and alternative fuels. The fuel efficiency of HDVs can be positively improved at different vehicle levels, but the technology benefit and its economic feasibility are heavily dependent on the vehicle type and the operational cycle considered. The electrification pathway has the potential of reducing the carbon emission to a great extent, but the current battery technologies have proven to be not cost efficient for the heavy vehicles, because of the high purchase price and the low range, related to the battery cost and inferior energy density compared to conventional liquid fuels.   A scenario development model has been created in order to estimate and quantify the impact of future developments and emission reduction measures in Finland, Sweden and Norway for the timeframe 2016-2050, with a focus on 2030 results. Two scenarios concerning the powertrain developments of heavy-duty vehicles and buses have been created, a conservative scenario and electric scenario, as well as vehicle efficiency improvements and fuel consumption scenarios. Additional sets of parameters have been estimated as input for the model, such as national transport need and load assumptions. The results highlight the challenges of achieving the national GHG emission reduction targets with the current measures in all three countries. The slow fleet renewal rates and the high forecasted increase of transport need limit the benefits of alternative and more efficient powertrains introduced in the fleet by new vehicles. The heavy-duty transport is expected to maintain its heavy reliance on diesel fuel and hinder the improvements of the light-duty segments. A holistic approach is needed to reduce the GHG emissions from road transport, including more efficient powertrains, higher biofuel shares and progressive electrification.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston University

Nivå: Examensarbete på kandidatnivå i företagsekonomi Författare: Maria Andersson och Aryanaz Farhadi Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2024 januari Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka huruvida små aktiebolag i branscher där företagen typiskt är mer benägna att begå ekonomisk brottslighet, är mindre benägna att ha revision än företag i andra branscher. Metod: Kvantitativ regressionsanalys med hjälp av data som hämtats från Retriever Business. Analys har utförts både manuellt och med hjälp av regression, för att en jämförelse skulle kunna genomföras. Populationen bestod av små aktiebolag som omfattas av reformen för frivillig revision, med urval gjort av företag i 4 specifika branscher. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av denna studie visar att företag i de branscher som anses mer benägna att begå ekonomisk brottslighet i större utsträckning använder sig av revision än företag i andra branscher. Detta kan komma sig av att företag i branscher förknippade med ekonomisk brottslighet känner ett större behov av att visa sig legitima, detta på grund av ryktet som branschen har. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens resultat är ett starkt avsteg från både de rapporter som svenska myndigheter släppt, likväl som tidigare forskning, och indikerar att branschtillhörighet inte har den negativa påverkan som myndigheterna påstår. Studien visar även på att Sveriges låga tröskelvärde kan vara av stor vikt vid valet av revision eller ej, något som bör beaktas i diskussioner om regeländringar. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Om en mer omfattande studie med samtliga aktiebolag som omfattas av reformen genomförs kunde generaliseringen bli bättre och därmed ge än mer pålitliga resultat. Dessutom kunde en liknande studie genomförd i EU ge mer information kring hur tröskelvärdena påverkar valen kring revision.

In 2019 the European Union presented a new directive, Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and the council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. An EU-directive needs to be implemented into the national law of every member state, which for Sweden resulted in a new law regarding whistle-blowing: Law (2021:819) about protection for persons reporting misconduct, or in Swedish, Lag (2021:819) om skydd för personer som rapporterar om missförhållanden. The directive is a minimum directive, which means that all of its content needs to be implemented into national law, but there is no stopping member states from giving further protection than the directive. This paper aims to analyse the new Swedish law, how it differs from the directive and earlier Swedish law regarding whistleblowing, how it interacts with other Swedish regulations and most importantly if and how the new law strengthens the protection of whistleblowers. Our focus will be on the perspective of the employee and what the new law can mean for them, along with discussing differences in protection between the public and private sector.  In order to fulfil our purpose we will in our legal investigation first present some background information surrounding whistleblowing to create an understanding of the concept and its importance. Then we will follow the legal hierarchy and firstly present information surrounding international and EU-law, then present relevant Swedish regulations that are of importance to whistleblowing. Furthermore there will be a presentation of both the old Swedish law regarding whistleblowing and the new Swedish law and how it is based off of the directive. During the legal investigation some case law, both from the European Court of Human Rights and the Swedish court, will be presented to explain some background to the origin of the EU-directive and to analyse if and how the new Swedish law could be of help in the Swedish case. Finally there will be an analysis based on our legal investigation where we answer and discuss our research question.

Background and problem: Since the abolition of the audit obligation for small limited companies in 2010, non obligated companies can decide for themselves whether they want to hire an auditor or not. The majority of these companies opt out of audit due to high audit costs, auditbut approximately 3040 percent of these companies still want to be audited even though they are not covered by the audit obligation. The government's ongoing investigation into the possible reintroduction of the law from 2010 makes it even more interestin g and contributes to our wanting to investigate the motives behind the voluntary audit of these companies. Aim: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze whether and why a selection of companies in the study with loyalty systems that are not sub ject to audit duty choose to hire an auditor. Questions: 1. 2. Are there companies among the sample in this study that choose to engage the auditor without being subject to audit duty? Why do small limited companies with loyalty systems that are not subject to choose to engage the auditor? Method: audit duty The study is based on a quantitative method with a deductive approach. The method is based on primary data collected through a questionnaire survey in which 68 nonsmall limited companies par auditobligated ticipated. The collected data was then analyzed using various statistical models. Results and conclusion: The study's results show that 73 procent of respondents choose voluntary audit. The motives that, according to the study's empirical analysis, may lie behind this decision are the company's development, the company's profitability, the auditor's advice and the auditor's insurance. This result cannot be generalized.