El tubo capilar con intercambio de calor líquido-succión (CT-LSHX) es un componente ampliamente utilizado en refrigeradores domésticos. Trabajos recientes han indicado que la entrada del tubo capilar era bifásica, aunque condiciones subenfriadas estaban medidas a la salida del condensador. El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es examinar las condiciones reales a la entrada del tubo capilar de un refrigerador doméstico mediante el uso de un banco de pruebas innovador. Se instalaron tubos transparentes a la salida del condensador y a la entrada del tubo capilar con el fin de visualizar el flujo. La campaña de visualización experimental revela que el flujo a la entrada del tubo capilar era bifásico a pesar de la medición de un cierto subenfriamiento, independientemente de la posición del filtro instalado a la entrada del capilar (horizontal o vertical), la dirección del flujo (hacia arriba o hacia abajo) y la carga de refrigerante. Este estudio demuestra también que el filtro no estaba actuando como un acumulador ya que el nivel de líquido del capilar siempre siguió la entrada del tubo capilar, independientemente de la longitud del tubo capilar dentro del filtro. Se plantearon dos hipótesis para explicar el fenómeno: una condición de no equilibrio del refrigerante y/o un desequilibrio entre el caudal másico del compresor y del capilar, es decir, el sistema estaría equipado con un capilar no bastante restrictivo en comparación con las necesidades del compresor. El condensador original refrigerante-aire fue reemplazado por un condensador refrigerante-agua para evaluar, a partir del balance de calor en el condensador de agua, las condiciones del refrigerante a la salida del condensador y, por lo tanto, a la entrada del tubo capilar. Las mediciones indican un flujo bifásico no equilibrado compuesto de vapor y líquido subenfriados a la entrada del tubo capilar. Para verificar si la presencia de flujo bifásico se debía a un desequilibrio entre el caudal másico del compresor y del capilar, el diseño del banco de prueba se modificó utilizando un diámetro de tubo capilar más pequeño y aumentando la velocidad del compresor. Con esta nueva configuración, se alcanzó a llenar de líquido el filtro y, por lo tanto, tener condiciones exclusivamente líquidas a la entrada del tubo capilar. Se realizó una comparación de prestaciones entre un flujo bifásico y un flujo únicamente líquido a la entrada del capilar. Los resultados revelan que el COP fue mayor cuando la entrada del capilar era sólo líquida. / El tub capil·lar amb intercanvi de calor líquid-succió (CT-LSHX) és un component àmpliament utilitzat en refrigeradors domèstics. Treballs recents han indicat que l'entrada del tub capil·lar era bifàsica, encara que condicions sub-refredades estaven mesurades a l'eixida del condensador. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi doctoral és examinar les condicions reals a l'entrada del tub capil·lar d'un refrigerador domèstic mitjançant l'ús d'un banc de proves innovador. Es van instal·lar tubs transparents a l'eixida del condensador i a l'entrada del tub capil·lar amb la finalitat de visualitzar el flux. La campanya de visualització experimental revela que el flux a l'entrada del tub capil·lar era bifàsic malgrat el mesurament d'un cert sub-refredament, independentment de la posició del filtre instal·lat a l'entrada del capil·lar (horitzontal o vertical), la direcció del flux (cap amunt o cap avall) i la càrrega de refrigerant. Aquest estudi demostra també que el filtre no estava actuant com un acumulador ja que el nivell de líquid del capil·lar sempre va seguir l'entrada del tub capil·lar, independentment de la longitud del tub capil·lar dins del filtre. Es van plantejar dues hipòtesis per a explicar el fenomen: una condició de no equilibri del refrigerant i/o un desequilibri entre el cabal màssic del compressor i del capil·lar, és a dir, el sistema estaria equipat amb un capil·lar no bastant restrictiu en comparació amb les necessitats del compressor. El condensador original refrigerant-aire va ser reemplaçat per un condensador refrigerant-aigua per a avaluar, a partir del balanç de calor en el condensador d'aigua, les condicions del refrigerant a l'eixida del condensador i, per tant, a l'entrada del tub capil·lar. Els mesuraments indiquen un flux bifàsic no equilibrat compost de vapor i líquid sub-refredats a l'entrada del tub capil·lar. Per a verificar si la presència de flux bifàsic es devia a un desequilibri entre el cabal màssic del compressor i del capil·lar, el disseny del banc de prova es va modificar utilitzant un diàmetre de tub capil·lar més xicotet i augmentant la velocitat del compressor. Amb aquesta nova configuració, es va aconseguir omplir de líquid el filtre i, per tant, tindre condicions exclusivament líquides a l'entrada del tub capil·lar. Es va realitzar una comparació de prestacions entre un flux bifàsic i un flux únicament líquid a l'entrada del capil·lar. Els resultats revelen que el COP va ser major quan l'entrada del capil·lar era només líquida. / Capillary tube with liquid-to-suction heat exchanger (CT-LSHX) is a component widely used in household refrigerators. Recent works have indicated that even when measuring subcooled conditions at the condenser outlet, the actual capillary tube inlet is two phase-flow. The aim of this PhD thesis is to examine the actual conditions at the capillary tube inlet of a household refrigerator by using an innovative test bench. Transparent tubes were set up at the condenser outlet and capillary tube inlet. The experimental visualisation campaign reveals that the capillary tube inlet was two-phase flow despite the measurement of a certain subcooling, regardless of the filter position (horizontal or vertical), flow direction (upward or downward) and refrigerant charge. This study also demonstrates that the filter was not acting as an accumulator since the liquid level of the capillary always followed the capillary tube entrance, regardless of the capillary tube length inside the filter. Two hypotheses were then posed to explain the phenomenon: a non-equilibrium condition of the refrigerant and/or an unbalanced matching between compressor and capillary tube, that is, the system would be equipped with a capillary tube with a notably large expansion capacity compared to the needs of the compressor. The original refrigerant-to-air condenser was replaced by a refrigerant-to-water condenser to assess, from the heat balance at the water condenser, the refrigerant conditions at the condenser outlet and therefore, at the capillary tube inlet. Measurements indicate a non-equilibrium two-phase flow composed of subcooled vapour and liquid at the capillary tube inlet. To verify if the presence of two-phase flow was due to unbalanced matching between the capillary tube and compressor, the test bench design was modified by using a smaller capillary tube diameter and increasing compressor speed. Fully liquid conditions at the capillary tube inlet were reached with this new configuration. A performance analysis comparison between a capillary tube inlet composed of vapour and liquid and a capillary tube inlet composed of only liquid was also performed. Results reveal that COP were higher in cases of fully liquid conditions at the capillary tube inlet. / Bardoulet, LV. (2018). Non-adiabatic capillary tubes in high efficiency household refrigerator: an experimental study [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/113170 / TESIS

全文ファイル差し替え（2021-07-01） / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 乙第13250号 / 論地博第22号 / 新制||地||94(附属図書館) / (主査)教授 水野 広祐, 教授 安藤 和雄, 教授 速水 洋子 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

The present study aimed at analysing the role of socioeconomic factors in the unequal access to health care among Kenyans. Content analysis was utilised as the principal data analysis methodology, while systems theory guided the process of addressing the research question. Relevant data was obtained from scholarly sources published in credible databases. The findings identified several socioeconomic factors accounting for unequal access to health care in Kenya. Large household size, female-headed households, and lower social class were identified as the chief social factors contributing to this problem. Poverty, low family income, low level of education, and living in informal settlements were revealed as the main economic contributors of unequal health care access. Overall, the current study affirmed that health care disparities have become a substantial human right issue in Kenya due to a combination of socioeconomic variables, such as household size, household head, social class, living conditions, education level, and place of residence.

In Sweden, the municipalities are responsible for a good living environment, and today most municipalities work actively with climate change mitigation intending to decrease their emissions of greenhouse gases. Municipalities must decrease consumption-related emissions to achieve this. Further, this is a relatively new area that has gained focus within local governance, which asks the question, how are municipalities working to govern resident’s consumption behavior? This thesis investigate how a Swedish municipality works to steer their household consumption to become more sustainable and the experienced challenges. Bulkely & Kern (2006) three different mode of local governance: governing by authority, governing by provision, and governing through enabling will be employed to analyze how local government steer household consumption.  This thesis was carried out as a qualitative, in-depth case study, analyzing the experiences of civil servants operating in a Swedish municipality through semi-structured interviews and analyzing policy documents. Research findings show that measures to steer household consumption were performed mainly by deploying enabling governance by the municipality through information-based measures to promote sustainable consumption. The main obstacles identified are municipalities' lack of agency over household consumption behavior and the inherent complexity of environmental sustainability issues and lack of resources.

<p>Preschoolers in the US are not meeting dietary guidelines, which is concerning since experience with foods during early childhood may influence food preferences in later life. To better understand why preschoolers are not meeting dietary guidelines it is necessary to understand the factors that influence why parents offer their children specific foods. The purpose of this study was to use the means-end framework and the laddering interview technique to better understand <i>why </i>parents of preschoolers decide to offer their children certain foods and <i>why</i> certain feeding strategies are helpful. A total of 33 parents of preschoolers (3–5-year-olds) completed one-on-one phone interviews regarding the foods they typically offer their child. Laddering data were elicited for three food groupings: foods parents typically offer, foods parents typically avoid, and foods parents prefer to offer. The resulting data were analyzed and summarized in a series of hierarchical value maps (HVMs). Parent and child-centric themes emerged as factors that influenced the foods parents offered their preschooler. The results of this study provide insight into the meanings and beliefs that impact the food decisions and feeding strategies used by parents of preschoolers.</p>

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine households attitudes and commitment to demand side flexibility as well as the various actors perceptions of the division of responsibilities in the electricity market and the information available to households. Research questions:                   – What are the main factors for private electricity customers to be able to contribute with demand side flexibility to the electricity system? – What challenges and opportunities can be identified with increased demand side flexibility? Method: The study was based on an abductive approach, where the collection of primary data is of a quantitative and qualitative nature. The qualitative part was collected through 9 semi-structured interviews with actors linked to the electricity market. Collection of quantitative data was done through a survey aimed at households with a total of 110 respondents. The results of the data collection have been analyzed thematically together with the theoretical framework. Conclusions: The main factors for increased demand flexibility are, firstly, a clear division of responsibilities between authorities, households and other players in the electricity market. Secondly, well-developed information channels are required that can be made possible through new technology. Finally, an electricity market is required that allows new actors such as an aggregator. The challenges include engaging households, currently low profitability for demand side flexibility and a set of regulations and tariffs that are lagging behind in development. The opportunities are future changes in the electricity price that speak in favor of increased profitability for demand side flexibility and a change to more dynamic and flexible electricity network tariffs.

This diploma thesis deals with insurance fraud committed in both civil household insurance and real estate insurance. The actuality of insurance fraud and also the fact that this theme is very intriguing, is what drawn me to this topic. The first theorethical chapter offers a general description of insurance fraud. The second chapter then deals with the analysis of national statistics of insurance fraud in all areas of insurance, as well as the estimated numbers in a surveyed area of insurance. The aim was to determine factors leading to insurance fraud and evaluate risk groups of these crimes. These findings could be used to propose preventative measures. The third chapter therefore examines the attitude of modern society toward insurance fraud. It also explores the use of an online questionnaire in an attempt to build a profile of the average insurance fraud offender. Following chapter outlines the preventive and repressive measures, while the fifth chapter describes the detection and investigation of insurance fraud in practice. The sixth chapter presents specific cases of insurance fraud detected in surveyed area of insurance fraud. In the conclusion, the thesis summarizes findings and reserves as well as suggestions for improvement.

The purpose of this study is to explore the processes of family resilience within a grandmother-headed household, caring for orphaned grandchildren, in a low socio-economic South African community. To do so, the researcher posed questions relating to the existing family processes, resources and how those are utilised to grow from adverse situations. A qualitative methodological design was followed to allow the accounts of the sample to emerge. A single grandmother-headed household was chosen to take part in a focus group. The transcriptions from the focus group was analysed using an in-depth inductive thematic analyses in order to induce themes that emerged from their experiences. These themes were then analysed in relation to the current literature on family resilience in grandmother-headed households. This study forms part of a larger longitudinal project headed by Dr R. Mampane, namely: Building resilience in families: The role of care workers in mitigating family risk factors. The themes that emerged as a result of the inductive thematic analysis were: spirituality; family resilience processes (communication, problem solving, roles and role reversal, emotional attachment, involvement, managing behaviour, and knowledge and respect of the individual); resources (inter-familial resources and external resources); the family’s perceptions (definition of the family and definition of adversity); and finally adversities (males, physical impairments, and inter- and intra-familial conflict, amongst others less pronounced). These findings answered questions regarding the process and support structures utilised by a grandmother-headed household to overcome and grow from their adversities. A conceptual model for family resilience was suggested. A better understanding of how a grandmother-headed household engages in resilient processes could assist various professionals and community healthcare workers identify processes of strength and the lack thereof in grandmotherheaded household who look after their orphaned grandchildren. / Mini-dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

The study aimed to explore and describe consumers’ reliance on brands, specifically the Country of Origin (COO) of brands as a heuristic, i.e. the perceived quality of a selected category of interior merchandise and to subsequently explain how COO influences consumers’ quality perceptions and product choices. The study focussed on major household appliances, due to the prominence of brand names and the COO on these products. In other interior merchandise product categories such as furniture and textile products, the brand name and COO is not necessarily that prominent or visible. A survey was conducted in the Tshwane metropolitan, which is a wealthy urban area in South Africa and a key role player in the economic sector. The study was conducted in the context of an emerging economy, where international brands have penetrated the market and made a wider range of products and brands available to the consumer. The data was collected by using convenience sampling methods supplemented by snowball sampling. It involved the self-completion of a structured questionnaire by 450 willing respondents who fit the prerequisite for the study, i.e. males and females, 25 years and older who belong to the middle to upper socio-economic group (earn R5000 or more per month) and who have an education level of grade 12 or higher, regardless of population group. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, as well as exploratory factor analysis, specifically Principal Axis Factoring, using an Oblimin rotation with Kaiser Normalization to determine the underlying factors associated with the quality indicated by brand names and the associations consumers make of brand names and specific product characteristics. Calculations of means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s Alpha, Anova, t-tests and post hoc Sheffe’s tests were calculated where significant differences between demographics were investigated for further interpretation. The study concluded that consumers are relatively brand conscious, men more so than women and that they are brand familiar in terms of various major household appliance brands. Quality as the most important branded product meaning were confirmed, as well as the use of brands as an indicator of performance and functional product attributes, i.e. value for money. Brands are also frequently used, especially by females, as an indicator of the product’s environmental and ethical compliances, but less so to infer its status implications. The study did however confirm younger consumers use brand names to a greater extent to infer social status than older consumers. It also revealed that the Black and other population group use brand names as an indication of status characteristics significantly more than White consumers. Consumers seem to have little knowledge of the COO of brands; they do however have strong stereotypes of Western and Eastern countries as well as South Africa, where Western countries enjoy more positive stereotypes than the others. These stereotypes also seem to strongly influence their overall quality perceptions of major household appliances, especially in terms of durability, performance and prestige. The COO of a brand can therefore have implications for its brand equity and should be addressed in brand management and marketing initiatives. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Consumer Science / MConsumer Science / Unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the resilience processes employed by families from a low socio-economic background living in a predominantly black township (Mamelodi). The study further aimed to assess how the participants’ experiences have shaped their perceptions of their society. Walsh’s family resilience framework (2003) served as a conceptual framework for the study. Two grandparent-headed households were selected from an ongoing study at a nongovernmental organisation and drop-in centre in Mamelodi. A qualitative methodology was suitable for this study, because it aims to understand how the participants derive meaning from the social and cultural contexts within which they live. The two focus group discussions were conducted in isiZulu, with a translator present during the grandmothers’ focus group discussion, because one of the grandmothers spoke Xitsonga. The sessions were audio-recorded and later transcribed. The transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis in order to deduce themes that emerged from the participants’ experiences. Based on the results, a better understanding of how families from low socio-economic backbackgrounds develop their resilience was established through the themes that emerged, which were as follows: belief system, flexibility of roles and connectedness, unsupportive environment, and self-empowerment. The results were related to existing literature and Walsh’s family resilience framework. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Educational Psychology / MEd