Our world is made up by millions of colors. Everywhere we go we see a variation of colors that describes the environment. Artists use colors to give an emotion to the viewer and give a deeper meaning to the art. Companies have different colors in their logos and on their websites. For example, a red colored logo can give a feeling of passion, energy and power. But used in a different situation, a red color can implicate dangerand death. The research about colors goes very deep, but there is still alot that has not been tested or discovered. This study will examine whether companies can use colors to mediate the right feeling to their customers. The method to do this included a lot of theoretical background and knowledge about colors. When data was collected a mid-fi prototype of a website was created. This mid-fi website was then transformed into three different high-fi prototypes. The three prototypes had the same content but what put them apart was their color schemes. The tests was done face to face or over the internet. The test person had to answer a short questionnaire were the person described the feelings that appeared when using the three different prototypes. After the test a short interview with each test person took place were some expressions from the test was discussed. The result for the first and second website showed a correlation between the two websites. The users had similar answers on these websites, but they also had some comments that separated the websites. The second website was in the end the most popular website which supported the hypothesis.The conclusion from the study is that colors are a very powerful tool to use if a company wants to attract more customers. This was a quite small study and to draw the conclusion that the right colors actually gives more clicks on a website, a larger and longer study must be made. This is so that the study can compare previous years sales with the year werethey introduced the new color scheme.

Background As of today the textile and fashion industry mainly relies on a linear production model, also referred to as the take-make-waste system. This economy depends solely on the single use of raw materials leaving space for an open-ended production and no intention of salvaging or recovering resources. Such a system cannot be supported by the environment in the future; therefore, several stakeholders are starting to embrace circular production systems and a closed-loop economy. One example of these efforts is take-back schemes (TBS) which strive to make the fashion industry more regenerative and restorative by narrowing, slowing, and closing the resource loops. Nonetheless, practitioners and academia have found adversities during the implementation stage which instead require competent knowledge, skills, and unique capabilities to achieve a successful performance. Purpose To achieve a successful implementation of a TBS, companies require unique capabilities that allow them to adapt and adopt a sustainable innovation. Therefore, this study investigates the dynamic capabilities (DCs) needed to implement a TBS in order to provide practitioners and academia with a guide that eases the application, overcomes the known adversities as well as explores the relationship between these and the relevant DCs. Methodology The research was based on a multiple case study method embracing abductive reasoning by extending the theory of DCs for circular business model implementation to TBS within the fashion industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three companies applying different types of take-back schemes; the primary data was strengthened by document research and a validation round of interviews. The data was analyzed through qualitative thematic content analysis. Further, the characteristics of the study lend themselves well to be represented through a qualitative causal loop diagram appropriate for developing novel solution strategies such as the DCs. Findings The results show, through the use of two maps, that several DCs have to be developed when implementing a TBS in order to reach a substantial competitive advantage in the form of a cost leadership, differentiation or focus strategy. Further, the causal loop maps also shed light on the different relationships between DCs and how these can be exploited to overcome the difficulties or utilizing the possibilities in implementing a TBS. Practical implications and research limitations - The thesis creates new insights on TBS implementation through the use of DCs by presenting two causal loop maps. Thus, aiding practitioners and allowing them to quickly recognize their current situation against the maps as well as what changes need to be made following the suggested capabilities. The study is limited by the choice of interviewed companies, which represent only retailers with TBS in Sweden.

The dynamical equations of the non-hydrostatic mesoscale model GESIMA are solved numerically on an Arakawa-C grid. Because of the staggered grid most of the prognostic variables and their derivatives have identical local positions. The functional connection between the fluxes and velocities defined at different places is managed by the MacCormack scheme ignoring the local diff erences. The systematic errors are diminished by means of alternate down- and upwind shifting of the fluxes after each time step. A cycle of 8 time steps is necessary to achieve approximately symmetrical conditions because of the shift permutations. Nevertheless, the systematic errors are not completely removed and the iterative calculation of the dynamic pressure is retarded by starting values from eight time steps ago (same permutation of shift directions). Both shortcomings are avoided by a symmetrized MacCormack scheme without the loss of its advantages of handling strong gradients. The new method is based on the symmetrization of the equations with respect to the passive quantities and on the simultaneous calculation of each equation for opposite shift directions of the active variables followed by averaging both increments. The method is tested for a typical example. / Die dynamischen Modellgleichungen des nicht-hydrostatischen mesoskaligen Atmosphärenmodells GESIMA sind numerisch auf einem Arakawa-C-Gitter gelöst. Durch die versetzte Anordnung der Größen auf dem Gitter besitzen die Differenzenquotienten (auf den rechten Seiten) und die prognostizierten Größen (auf den linken Seiten) von vornherein die gleiche lokale Position, allerdings nicht in jedem Fall. Das bisher in GESIMA praktizierte MacCormack-Schema stellt den Zusammenhang zwischen den an verschiedenen Gitterstellen definierten Flüssen und Geschwindigkeiten her, indem die Ortsdifferenz zwischen Fluß- und zugehöriger Geschwindigkeitskomponente ignoriert wird. Zur Verringerung der systematischen Fehler erfolgt die direkte Zuordnung einer Flußkomponente abwechselnd (sequentiell) in einem Zeitschritt zur flußabwärts benachbarten Geschwindigkeitskomponente und im nächsten Zeitschritt zur flußaufwärts benachbarten. Nach Ablauf von jeweils 8 Zeitschritten sind die notwendigen Zuordnungspermutationen der 3 Vektorkomponenten zwecks einer annähernden Symmetrisierung des Verfahrens erreicht. Nachteile des bisherigen Verfahrens sind (a) der nicht vollständige Abbau der jedem Zeitschritt immanenten systematischen Zuordnungsfehler und (b) ein stark erhöhter Rechenaufwand für die iterative Bestimmung des dynamischen Druckes durch einen um 8 Zeitschritte (jeweils gleiche Zuordnungspermutation) zurückliegenden Startwert. Beide Nachteile werden durch ein neues, symmetrisiertes MacCormack-Schema vermieden, ohne daß auf die Vorteile bei der Handhabung starker Gradienten verzichtet werden muß. Das Verfahren beruht (a) auf der Symmetrisierung der lokalen Zuordnung für die passiven Größen innerhalb einer Gleichung (d.h. der nicht durch sie prognostizierten Größen) und (b) auf der simultanen Durchführung der zwei entgegengesetzten Zuordnungsrichtungen für jede der 3 Geschwindigkeitskomponenten innerhalb eines Zeitschrittes mit anschließender Mittelung der beiden Inkremente. Das neue Verfahren wurde anhand eines Beispiels geprüft.

Background - In the attempt to affect environmental impacts and increase circularity in the fashion industry, several new business models are emerging. Take-back scheme is one strategy that is implemented as a part of the second-hand business model by fashion retailers, where reuse is the central goal. This advantageous approach is the most preferable method in the disposal hierarchy. Children's clothing provides a suitable product group for reuse and resale as it is often rapidly outgrown rather than worn out. Nevertheless, supply availability and quality challenges remain for a take-back scheme to operate successfully. Purpose - Take-back schemes rely on consumers to return used garments to supply the new sales of second-hand clothing. This study explores the acquisition and supply availability of used children's clothing for fashion retailer take-back schemes for second-hand. Acknowledging that the consumer becomes a supplier in reuse supply chains, this study aims to explore factors that affect the supply acquisition of used children's clothing. Methodology - This research employed a single case study design with an inductive mixed- method approach. A pre-study collected data from three sources and these findings were used as a base for developing a self-administered online questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to consumers who can potentially adopt the role of used children’s clothing suppliers in a take-back scheme. A total of 964 responses served as empirical data, analysed through descriptive statistics and coding. Findings - Six factors affecting the acquisition and supply availability of used children's clothing in take-back schemes were identified. These are customer relationships, convenience, compensation, assessment description, product condition and size range differences. The factors were recognized to affect the interest and ability of potential suppliers to engage in take- back schemes and the available supply that can be acquired for reuse in a take-back scheme. Research implications - This study delivers new insights into the scant and unexplored acquisition area in take-back schemes of used children's clothing. A conceptual model comprising the six identified factors is presented, which can guide and aid practitioners in implementing or evaluating take-back schemes of used children's clothing. The study is limited to the Swedish fashion industry and take-back schemes explicitly focused on the collection of used clothing to resell.

Spain’s rapid implementation of renewable energy has been described as a success but thegovernmental cost associated to this rapid implementation has grown significantly. The purposeof this report is to investigate Spain’s electricity market, its current situation and present it, usingthe Swedish system as a reference.The report commences with a presentation of the Spanish and the Swedish electricity markets,followed by a chapter where they are compared. The renewable electricity production and theassociated development during the last decade is one focus of the comparison. The other focus ishow the costs of the subsidy systems have evolved and how they are connected to the differentenergy sources. Two sources, wind and solar, receives a higher interest than the others.Wind power shows a strong development in electricity production and contributes to asignificant part of the Spanish electricity mix. The costs of subsidies connected to the windpower reflect the produced electricity. Wind power in Sweden has had a rapid development overthe last two years and the subsidies costs are aligned with the electricity production through theuse of a quota system.There are great differences between the two countries regarding solar power. Sweden has hardlyany, while Spain has a noticeable contribution of electricity from solar power to its electricitymix. Solar power has an even more noticeable share in the Spanish subsidy system. The highsubsidies to solar power, which have not followed the reduced investment costs of equipment inrecent years, have led to a high degree of participation which has led to soaring costs for thesystem. Spain’s subsidy system is based on fixed earnings and variable costs and in combinationwith higher than expected costs, an annual deficit between the earnings and cost has been createdfor the government. This yearly deficit has increased and the Spanish government is now in debtto the five largest energy suppliers. The Swedish subsidy system carries its own costs and theSwedish government does not have a financial risk associated with the system.This study shows that the Spanish subsidy system has been too generous towards solar powerwhich is a large part, but not the only one, to the country’s huge deficit and debt. Sweden, withits quota system constructed without fixed earnings, does not risk creating a debt similar toSpain’s. Spain’s large part of wind power and how the volatile power is regulated could be ofinterest for Sweden which aims to increase its share of wind power in the future. This study findthe answer to how Spain copes with its high share of intermittent power production in that itaccepts a lower efficiency in its gas turbines in order to regulate the power output. Sweden, acountry without a large share of gas in its electricity mix, but with a large share of hydro power,uses its hydro capacity to regulate volatility in electricity system. Prior studies have already beenmade in this area with the result that 30 TWh of electricity from wind power, more thanSweden’s goal for 2020 regarding wind power, would be possible to regulate with the presentsystem each year.

This thesis investigates two architectures and compares their suitability for selective application and user differentiation in sensor networks. A hierarchical architecture consisting of more capable cluster heads surrounded by weaker nodes is compared to a flat architecture of equally powerful nodes. In both architectures there exists a logical overlay network that connects the nodes, depending on the application and user. Furthermore, a broadcast encryption scheme is proposed to aid in distributing keys to nodes for secure communication and to maintain these restricted groups. / applikation och användar differentiering i trådlösa sensor nätverk. En hierarkisk arkitekturbestående av kraftfullare sensor noder omgiven av mindre kraftfulla sensor noder jämförsmed en platt arkitektur bestående av lika kraftfulla sensor noder. I båda arkitekturer existerarett logiskt lager ovanpå stacken som kopplar noder beroende på applikation och användare,helt oberoende av geografisk placering. Utöver det, bör en nyckel management schema användas till att distribuera nycklar tillnoderna för säker kommunikation och att bibehålla dessa slutna grupper.

Time-domain methods are preferred over their frequency-domain counterparts for solving acoustic and electromagnetic scattering problems since they can produce wide- band data from a single simulation. Among the time-domain methods, time-domain surface integral equation solvers have recently found widespread use because they offer several benefits over differential equation solvers. This dissertation develops several second-kind surface integral equation solvers for analyzing transient acoustic scattering from rigid and penetrable objects and transient electromagnetic scattering from perfect electrically conducting and dielectric objects. For acoustically rigid, perfect electrically conducting, and dielectric scatterers, fully explicit marching-on-in-time schemes are developed for solving time domain Kirchhoff, magnetic field, and scalar potential integral equations, respectively. The unknown quantity (e.g., velocity potential, electric current, or scalar potential) on the scatterer surface is discretized using a higher-order method in space and Lagrange interpolation in time. The resulting system is cast in the form of an ordinary differen- tial equation and integrated in time using a predictor-corrector scheme to obtain the unknown expansion coefficients. The explicit scheme can use the same time step size as its implicit counterpart without sacrificing from the stability of the solution and is much faster under low-frequency excitation (i.e., for large time step size). In addition, low-frequency behavior of vector potential integral equations for perfect electrically conducting scatterers is also investigated in this dissertation. For acoustically penetrable scatterers, presence of spurious interior resonance modes in the solutions of two forms of time domain surface integral equations is investigated. Numerical results demonstrate that the solution of the form that is widely used in the literature is corrupted by the interior resonance modes. But, the amplitude of these modes in the time domain can be suppressed by increasing the accuracy of discretization especially in time. On the other hand, the proposed one in the combined form shows a resonance-free performance verified via numerical experiments. In addition to providing detailed formulations of these solvers, the dissertation presents numerical examples, which demonstrate the solvers’ accuracy, efficiency, and applicability in real-life scenarios.

Includes bibliographical references / This dissertation intends to shed light on open-membership medical scheme benefit design in South Africa. This will be done by analysing the benefit design of 118 benefit options, so as to provide an overview of the structure and nature of the benefit offerings available in the market in 2014. In addition, affordability of these benefit options was analysed in order to identify whether or not there exist connections between the benefits on offer and the price of cover. This paper will argue that at present, the large number of benefit options available in the market, the lack of standardisation between benefit options, together with the mosaic of confusing terminology employed in scheme brochures, creates a highly complex environment that hampers consumer decision making. However, this implicit complexity was found to be necessary owing to the incomplete regulatory environment surrounding medical schemes. The findings of this investigation show that benefit design requires significant attention in order to facilitate equitable access to cover in South Africa.

In this article, we propose a new grid-free and exact solution method for computing solutions associated with an hybrid traffic flow model based on the Lighthill- Whitham-Richards (LWR) partial differential equation. In this hybrid flow model, the vehicles satisfy the LWR equation whenever possible, and have a fixed acceleration otherwise. We first present a grid-free solution method for the LWR equation based on the minimization of component functions. We then show that this solution method can be extended to compute the solutions to the hybrid model by proper modification of the component functions, for any concave fundamental diagram. We derive these functions analytically for the specific case of a triangular fundamental diagram. We also show that the proposed computational method can handle fixed or moving bottlenecks.

Les demandes de haut débit, faible latence et grande fiabilité augmentent dans les nouvelles générations de systèmes de radiocommunications. Par conséquent, on propose de combiner la transmission non orthogonale avec les retransmissions HARQ afin de combattre les fluctuations de canal de transmission à haut débit. Dans la première partie de la thèse, on propose des protocoles de retransmissions HARQ avec l'aide d'un relai afin d'améliorer le débit et la fiabilité du système. Une version renforcée du protocole HARQ qui prend en compte le délai de retour est proposée dans la seconde partie de la thèse. / HARQ has become an important research field in the wireless digital communications area during the last years. In this thesis, we improve the HARQ mechanisms in terms of throughput and/or latency which are the bottleneck of next generation wireless communication systems. More precisely, we improve the time-slotted HARQ systems by mimicking NOMA, which means using superposed packets in a single-user context. In the first part of the thesis, we propose HARQ protocols using the help of a relay to improve the transmission rate and reliability. An enhanced HARQ protocol adapted to delayed feedback is proposed in the second part. In this new multi-layer HARQ protocol, additional redundant packets are sent preemptively before receiving the acknowledgement, and in superposition to other HARQ processes.