The underestimation of depth in virtual environments at mediumield distances is a well studied phenomenon. However, the degree by which underestimation occurs varies widely from one study to the next, with some studies reporting as much as 68% underestimation in distance and others with as little as 6% (Thompson et al. [38] and Jones et al. [14]). In particular, the study detailed in Jones et al. [14] found a surprisingly small underestimation effect in a virtual environment (VE) and no effect in an augmented environment (AE). These are highly unusual results when compared to the large body of existing work in virtual and augmented distance judgments [16, 31, 36–38, 40–43]. The series of experiments described in this document attempted to determine the cause of these unusual results. Specifically, Experiment I aimed to determine if the experimental design was a factor and also to determine if participants were improving their performance throughout the course of the experiment. Experiment II analyzed two possible sources of implicit feedback in the experimental procedures and identified visual information available in the lower periphery as a key source of feedback. Experiment III analyzed distance estimation when all peripheral visual information was eliminated. Experiment IV then illustrated that optical flow in a participant’s periphery is a key factor in facilitating improved depth judgments in both virtual and augmented environments. Experiment V attempted to further reduce cues in the periphery by removing a strongly contrasting white surveyor’s tape from the center of the hallway, and found that participants continued to significantly adapt even when given very sparse peripheral cues. The final experiment, Experiment VI, found that when participants’ views are restricted to the field-of-view of the screen area on the return walk, adaptation still occurs in both virtual and augmented environments.

I dagens samhälle tillbringar människan ca 90 procent av sin tid inomhus, vilket innebär att människan befinner sig i konstgjort inomhusklimat. Då människan tenderar att befinna sig inomhus är det stor vikt att ventilationen ska fungera så bra som möjligt och att inomhusklimatet är tillfredsställande för vårt välmående och välbefinnande på arbetsplatsen. Tidigare studier visar att nästan hälften av svenskar är missnöjda med ventilationen i deras arbetsmiljö (kontor). Ett bra inomhusklimat i kontorsmiljöer ökar tillfredställandet hos personalen, ökar produktiviteten samt minskar sjukfrånvaron. Detta leder till att organisationen/företaget besparar pengar i slutändan, då personalen arbetar mer effektivt och har mindre sjukfrånvaro. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka klimatet i kontorsmiljön med fokus på termisk komfort samt se hur ventilation systemen påverkar inomhusklimatet. Vidare kommer sambanden mellan dessa att analyseras. Målet är undersöka hur komforten på kontoret påverkar människors hälsa, produktivitet och välmående. Målet är även att identifiera om det råder bristfällig ventilation samt att presentera eventuella förbättringar. I studien genomförs en undersökning av sex kontor på Brinellvägen 23. I undersökningen tillämpas en enkätstudie och ett antal olika mätningar, flödesmätningar, koldioxidsmätningar, temperaturmätningar och den relativa fuktigheten. I flödesmätningarna mäts till – och frånluften på samtliga kontor. Medan koldioxidmätningarna mäter även temperaturen och relativa fuktigheten. Koldioxidsmätningarna pågick i två timmar i 4 kontor, medan i de två resterande kontoren fortsatte mätningarna under en hel arbetsdag. Enkätstudien tilldelades ut till personalen i kontoren i syfte att ta del av subjektiva åsikter kring miljön i kontoren. Resultaten från mätningarna och enkätundersökningen visar att klimatet i kontoren i överlag inte var tillfredställande och obehag upplevdes utav personerna som arbetar där. Endast ett kontor uppfyllde det projekterade tilluftsflödet, medan de resterande kontoren varken uppfyllde projekterade flödena eller BBR:s krav för mängden flöde i kontorsmiljöer. Koldioxidhalten i kontoren med en person klarade av gränsen under 1000 ppm. Dock är kontoren projekterade för två personer och när två personer arbetade i kontoren översteg koldioxidhalten till ca 1200 ppm. Då koldioxidhalten överstiger 1000 ppm bör ventilationen kontrolleras, vilket behövs i detta fall. / In today's society, humans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, in an artificial indoor climate. As people tend to be indoors more and more, it is important that the ventilation work as well and efficiently as possible, and that the indoor climate is pleasing for our well-being at the workplace. Previous studies show that almost half of Swedes are dissatisfied with the ventilation in their work environment (offices). A good indoor climate in offices increases employee satisfaction, increases productivity, and reduces absenteeism. This causes the organization / company to save money in the end, as staff work more efficiently and have less sick leave. The purpose of this study is to investigate the climate in office environment, focusing on thermal comfort and to see how ventilation systems affect the indoor climate. Furthermore, the relationships between these will be analyzed. The aim is to investigate how the comfort in the office affects human health, productivity and well-being. The goal is also to identify if there is insufficient ventilation to the offices that will be investigated and to eventually present possible improvements. In this report a study of six offices on Brinellvägen 23 was carried out. In the study, a number of flow measurements are carried out for each office's supply and exhaust air, carbon dioxide measurements, temperature and the relative humidity for four hours in four of the offices, with open and closed doors. While in two of the offices, the measurements continued for a whole working day, 6-8h. In addition to these measurements, surveys were distributed to the staff in the offices in order to share subjective opinions about the environment in the offices. The results from the measurements and the survey showed that the overall climate was not satisfactory, and discomfort was experienced by the people working there. Only one office met the projected supply airflow, while the remaining offices neither met the projected flows nor BBR requirements for the amount of flow in office environments. The carbon dioxide levels in the offices with one person was acceptable, they did not pass the limit of 1000 ppm. However, the offices were projected for two persons and when two persons worked in the offices, the carbon dioxide levels exceeded about 1200 ppm. When the carbon dioxide level exceeds 1000 ppm, it is recommended that the ventilation be checked, as needed in this case.

The use of waste (or recycled) wood as a fuel in heat and power stations is becoming more widespread in Sweden (and Europe), because it is CO2 neutral with a lower cost than forest fuel. However, it is a heterogeneous fuel with a high amount of chlorine, alkali and heavy metals which causes more corrosion than fossil fuels or forest fuel. A part of the boiler which is subjected to a high corrosion risk is the furnace wall (or waterwall) which is formed of tubes welded together. Waterwalls are made of ferritic low-alloyed steels, due to their low price, low stress corrosion cracking risk, high heat transfer properties and low thermal expansion. However, ferritic low alloy steels corrode quickly when burning waste wood in a low NOx environment (i.e. an environment with low oxygen levels to limit the formation of NOx). Apart from pure oxidation two important forms of corrosion mechanisms are thought to occur in waste environments: chlorine corrosion and alkali corrosion. Although there is a great interest from plant owners to reduce the costs associated with furnace wall corrosion very little has been reported on wall corrosion in biomass boilers. Also corrosion mechanisms on furnace walls are usually investigated in laboratories, where interpretation of the results is easier. In power plants the interpretation is more complicated. Difficulties in the study of corrosion mechanisms are caused by several factors such as deposit composition, flue gas flow, boiler design, combustion characteristics and flue gas composition. Therefore, the corrosion varies from plant to plant and the laboratory experiments should be complemented with field tests. The present project may thus contribute to fill the power plant corrosion research gap. In this work, different kinds of samples (wall deposits, test panel tubes and corrosion probes) from Vattenfall’s Heat and Power plant in Nyköping were analysed. Coated and uncoated samples with different alloys and different times of exposure were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and light optical microscopy (LOM). The corrosive environment was also simulated by Thermo-Calc software. The results showed that a nickel alloy coating can dramatically reduce the corrosion rate. The corrosion rate of the low alloy steel tubes, steel 16Mo3, was linear and the oxide scale non-protective, but the corrosion rate of the nickel-based alloy was probably parabolic and the oxide much more protective. The nickel alloy and stainless steels showed good corrosion protection behavior in the boiler. This indicates that stainless steels could be a good (and less expensive) alternative to nickel-based alloys for protecting furnace walls. The nickel alloy coated tubes (and probe samples) were attacked by a potassium-lead combination leading to the formation of non-protective potassium lead chromate. The low alloy steel tubes corroded by chloride attack. Stainless steels were attacked by a combination of chlorides and potassium-lead. The Thermo-Calc modelling showed chlorine gas exists at extremely low levels (less than 0.1 ppm) at the tube surface; instead the hydrated form is thermodynamically favoured, i.e. gaseous hydrogen chloride. Consequently chlorine can attack low alloy steels by gaseous hydrogen chloride rather than chlorine gas as previously proposed. This is a smaller molecule than chlorine which could easily diffuse through a defect oxide of the type formed on the steel. / <p>QC 20130423</p>

Wir stehen im fächerübergreifenden Dialog inner- und außerhalb der Universität und sind auch Ansprechpartner zu den wichtigen Fragestellungen der Zukunft – sei es in Lehre und Studium, in der Forschung, in der Ausbildung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses oder im Transfer von Wissen und technologischem Know-how in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Exemplarische Einblicke in die Chemnitzer Arbeit zu Themengebieten, die auf deutscher und europäischer Ebene als zukunftsweisend diskutiert werden, gibt diese Broschüre. / We invite you with this brochure to join us in the dialogue about our shared future.

Wir stehen im fächerübergreifenden Dialog inner- und außerhalb der Universität und sind auch Ansprechpartner zu den wichtigen Fragestellungen der Zukunft – sei es in Lehre und Studium, in der Forschung, in der Ausbildung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses oder im Transfer von Wissen und technologischem Know-how in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Exemplarische Einblicke in die Chemnitzer Arbeit zu Themengebieten, die auf deutscher und europäischer Ebene als zukunftsweisend diskutiert werden, gibt diese Broschüre. / We invite you with this brochure to join us in the dialogue about our shared future.