In a synchronous electric grid the consumption of electricity must always be met by an equal amount of generation. In the Nordic power system, this balance is first and foremost kept by the balance responsible parties in the electric markets. However, from one hour before delivery, it is the Swedish Transmission System Operator (TSO), Svenska kraftnät (Svk) together with its Nordic counterparts, who take over the responsibility. They achieve this by for example purchasing ancillary services such as Frequency Restoration Reserves (FRR) to compensate for frequency deviations. A way of explaining the frequency deviations that would have occurred without the TSO taking actions, is that they are caused by imbalances. Imbalances are the difference between measured and traded energy volumes in the bidding areas, where volumes equals HVDC-connections, consumption and different kinds of power production. In the future, these imbalances will be one of the dimensioning factors of FRR. The purpose of this thesis is to study the imbalances caused by wind power production and to create a model that can simulate future wind power imbalances. The long term goal is that the model will be part of a larger project whose purpose is predicting the future need of FRR. The model has been designed to use future market data, such as traded volumes and spot prices to make the predictions. The model has been developed using statistical methods in MATLAB together with another master student, who has studied consumption imbalances. Due to lack of deterministic correlations, the final model created was an Autoregressive-Moving-Average (ARMA) model together with a linear correlation between quarterly average traded volumes and quarterly standard deviations of the wind power imbalances. The model can recreate the historical autoregressive behaviour and the historical distribution of the imbalances to a satisfactory degree, as well as scaling up the imbalances with a correlation of 0.92. Applying future market data on the model, imbalances are expected to increase by 50\% to 180\% from today to the year 2023, depending on bidding area. However, there are uncertainties due to yearly variations in the wind power production. One conclusion is therefore that a windy year probably also will increase the required need of FRR. Before applying the model to evaluate the future need for FRR, the reliability used in the traded data for developing the model should be checked. A final validation of the total simulated imbalances, not just wind power imbalances, against historic data should also be performed. To develop the model further, a suggestion is to study possible spatial correlations of the imbalances between bidding areas.

Article / This work proposes a biometric identification system that works together with a palm vein reader sensor and a hand-clenching support, designed to perform the capture the back of the hand. Several processing steps were performed: extraction of the region of interest, binarization, dilation, noise filtering, skeletonization, as well as extraction and verification of patterns based on the measurment of coincidence of vertical and horizontal displacements of skeletonized and dilated images. The proposed method achieved the following results: processing time post capture of 1.8 seconds, FRR of 0.47% and FAR of 0,00%, with a referential database of 50 people from a total of 1500 random captures.

This diploma thesis deals with different ways of grayscale image processing of veins in a finger of human hand. The process consists of vein structure extraction, and then this structure is compared with collection of provided snapshots. First of all we introduced problem of biometric systems and image processing. There are presented also some commercial solutions from the same field. Within the detailed description of image processing we suggested different modifications in adaptive thresholding algorithm, feature extraction, which continues into comparison of vein structures. Thesis is closed by testing and final review.

The goal of the thesis is the finger-print authentication support within the Linux operating system and the K Desktop Environment (KDE). Theoretical part of the thesis firstly explains main IT security terms and ways to proof the identity. Secondly it describes biometric systems and types of processed biometric characteristics. Lastly the features of finger-prints, their markants as well as types of scanners used in scanning the finger-prints and ways to analyze the scanned material have been elaborated. Practical solution part of the thesis develops and establishes finger-print management application and plugin for KDM graphics login manager.

M. Tech. (Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Computer based assessments have become one of the largest growing sectors in both nonacademic and academic establishments. Successful computer based assessments require security against impersonation and fraud and many researchers have proposed the use of Biometric technologies to overcome this issue. Biometric technologies are defined as a computerised method of authenticating an individual (character) based on behavioural and physiological characteristic features. Basic biometric based computer based assessment systems are prone to security threats in the form of fraud and impersonations. In a bid to combat these security problems, keystroke dynamic technique and facial biometric recognition was introduced into the computer based assessment biometric system so as to enhance the authentication ability of the computer based assessment system. The keystroke dynamic technique was measured using latency and pressure while the facial biometrics was measured using principal component analysis (PCA). Experimental performance was carried out quantitatively using MATLAB for simulation and Excel application package for data analysis. System performance was measured using the following evaluation schemes: False Acceptance Rate (FAR), False Rejection Rate (FRR), Equal Error Rate (EER) and Accuracy (AC), for a comparison between the biometric computer based assessment system with and without the keystroke and face recognition alongside other biometric computer based assessment techniques proposed in the literature. Successful implementation of the proposed technique would improve computer based assessment’s reliability, efficiency and effectiveness and if deployed into the society would improve authentication and security whilst reducing fraud and impersonation in our society.

This doctoral thesis focuses on the evaluation of the World Bank (WB) performance in delivering development aid to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). For this purpose, an extensive research was performed to analyze a set of 790 Implementation Completion and Results reports for key economic and financial indicators. Results of this research provide various insights for the appraisal and the results stage of project delivery of the LDCs in different continents. In the final part of the economic and financial analysis the minimum Social Return on Investment (SROI) of the LDCs including all project costs was calculated. This SROI ratio outcome of 1 and 1.06 in the weighted and 1.3 and 1.72 in the unweighted case indicate that projects delivered by the WB have a positive effect on the poor countries. In the second part of this research project the data set of the ICR reports was qualitatively researched for negative ratings according to 3 core assessment categories for the overall project performance: Sustainability, bank performance and borrower performance. As a result the most critical categories respectively risks were outlined. In conclusion, the research analyses and findings support the general demand to provide even more development assistance to poor countries.:Table of Tables and Figures List of Equations List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction to the Topic 1.2 Assessing Poverty Problems and Achieving Economic Growth 1.3 Millennium Development Goals 1.4 Development Aid 2 Research Approach 2.1 Objective 2.2 Structure 2.3 Least Developed Countries 2.4 World Bank 2.5 Data Access and Relevance 2.5.1 Data Basis 2.5.2 Implementation Completion and Results Reports 2.5.3 Project Types 2.6 Term “Performance” 2.7 Study and Research Questions 2.8 Challenges of this Doctoral Thesis 2.9 Contribution of this Thesis 3 Economic and Financial Analysis 3.1 SROI Concept 3.1.1 SROI Definition 3.1.2 SROI Process and Impact Map 3.1.3 Cost-Benefit-Analysis 3.1.4 SROI Calculation 3.2 SROI of World Bank Projects 3.2.1 Purpose of the Cost-Benefit-Analysis 3.2.2 Indicators of the SROI Calculation 3.2.2.1 Net Present Value 3.2.2.2 Capital and Recurring Costs 3.2.2.3 Project Dates and Duration 3.2.2.4 NPV-horizon 3.2.2.5 Discount Rate 3.2.3 Types of NPV-Cost-Ratios 3.2.3.1 Pro-Rata-Capital-Costs Ratio 3.2.3.2 Total-Capital-Costs Ratio 3.2.3.3 Pro-Rata-Capital plus Recurring-Costs Ratio 3.2.3.4 Total-Capital plus Recurring-Costs Ratio 3.2.4 Calculation of the proper SROI Ratio 3.2.5 Portfolio Analysis 3.2.6 Sensitivity Analysis 3.3 Additional Economic and Financial Indicators 3.3.1 Economic Rate of Return 3.3.2 Benefit-Cost-Ratio 3.3.3 Net Benefit 3.3.4 Financial Net Present Value 3.3.5 Financial Rate of Return 4 Results of the Economic and Financial Analysis 4.1 Analysis Approach and Setup 4.2 NPV Outcomes at the Appraisal Stage 4.2.1 Appraisal NPVs of the LDCs 4.2.2 Appraisal NPV Continent Comparison 4.3 NPV Outcomes of the Result Stage 4.3.1 Result NPVs of the LDCs 4.3.2 Result NPV Continent Comparison 4.4 Appraisal vs. Result NPVs 4.4.1 Results of the LDCs 4.4.2 Continent Comparison 4.5 Economic Rate of Return Result Values 4.5.1 Results of the LDCs 4.5.2 Continent Comparison 4.6 Additional Economic and Financial Indicator Result Values 4.6.1 Benefit-Cost-Ratio and Net Benefit 4.6.2 Financial Net Present Value and Financial Rate of Return 4.7 Overall Project Performance 4.7.1 Definition 4.7.2 Overall Project Performance Ratings 4.7.3 Outcome Calculation for Non-Financial Indicator Projects 4.7.4 Verification of Outcomes and Conclusion 4.8 NPV-Cost-Ratios and SROI Calculation 4.8.1 NPV-Cost-Ratios of the ICR Reports 4.8.1.1 Overall Results 4.8.1.2 Continent Comparison 4.8.2 Standardized NPV-Cost-Ratios 4.8.2.1 Overall Results 4.8.2.2 Continent Comparison 4.8.3 Calculating the Minimum SROI Ratio 4.8.3.1 Overall Results of the Capital SROI Ratio 4.8.3.2 Continental Comparison of the Capital SROI Ratio 4.8.3.3 Overall Results of the Minimum SROI Ratio 4.8.3.4 Continental Comparison of the Minimum SROI Ratio 4.8.4 Making Meaning of the Results 4.9 Summary and Conclusion 5 Qualitative Data Analysis 5.1 Content Analysis 5.2 Sustainability 5.2.1 Sustainability Rating Definition 5.2.2 Sustainability Rating Categories 5.3 Bank Performance 5.3.1 Bank Performance Definition 5.3.2 Bank Performance Categories 5.4 Borrower Performance 5.4.1 Borrower Performance Definition 5.4.2 Borrower Performance Categories 6 Results of the Qualitative Data Analysis 6.1 Sustainability 6.1.1 Quantitative Assessment of Sustainability Ratings 6.1.2 Outcome of the Content Analysis 6.1.2.1 Types of Reasons 6.1.2.2 Overall Results 6.1.2.3 Results in Haiti 6.1.2.4 Continent Comparison 6.1.3 Excursus: Positive NPV Projects 6.1.4 Summary and Conclusion 6.2 Bank Performance 6.2.1 Quantitative Assessment of Bank Performance Ratings 6.2.2 Outcome of the Content Analysis 6.2.2.1 Types of Reasons 6.2.2.2 Overall Results 6.2.2.3 Results in Haiti 6.2.2.4 Continent Comparison 6.2.3 Summary and Conclusion 6.3 Borrower Performance 6.3.1 Quantitative Assessment of Borrower Performance Ratings 6.3.2 Outcome of the Content Analysis 6.3.2.1 Types of Reasons 6.3.2.2 Overall Results 6.3.2.3 Results in Haiti 6.3.2.4 Continent Comparison 6.3.3 Summary and Conclusion 7 Overall Summary and Conclusion 8 Critical Acclaim and Recommendations 9 Outlook and Future Research List of Appendices Appendix References