In recent years, the development considerations within transport planning have started to examine needs from a more comprehensive perspective in order to shift the focus of planning away from favoring automobile travel. New approaches are emerging around the world to face the challenges we are confronted with, such as urbanization, dispersion of community structures, change in population structure, aging, climate change, and tightening budgets. Therefore, this thesis is aiming to gain more insight on new approaches in transport planning by comparing emerging systems in Sweden and in Finland. The comparison is focused on the renewed procedures at the early stages of transport planning; the methods to conduct multi-modal studies through collaborative decision-making processes in both countries. Thus, in this thesis the renewed preliminary transport planning in Finland and the Swedish method of Strategic Choice of Measures are compared based on implications from practice. The main purpose is to learn from practice and therefore, the data for comparison is based on conducted test cases that aim to develop the emerging planning processes in both countries. In Sweden, the preliminary version of the new planning method, developed by the Swedish Transport Administration, was tested with six cases during 2011. KTH was commissioned to conduct a study to examine the collaborative planning of involved actors in each of these cases, and the cases together. Thus, in the Swedish context, the data for comparison will be collected from the earlier study conducted by a KTH researcher John Odhage. In the Finnish context, a case study will be carried out for the data collection. The chosen case consists of a pilot study initiated in Finland in 2012 for the purpose of collecting ideas for the development of a renewed preliminary planning process. In general, both countries approaches aim at creating efficient procedures that would contribute to cost-efficiency and sustainable development as well as fulfilling other aims of the transport policy of each country.  The focus of the comparison is on the critical aspects of multi-modal studies and three features of a collaborative process; the choice of actors, the problem formulation, and the process management. The comparison is carried out based on theoretical implications and the experiences from practice are scrutinized against the ideal approach of each country. It has become apparent that three clearly distinctive differences between the approaches can be pointed out: the role of the transport administration, the creation of a steering committee, and creation of a concept for process guidance. In addition, the four-step principle is the multi-modal tool used in both countries approaches to generate alternative measures to transport related issues. The basic idea of the principle is in the first place to influence land use, transport demand, and choice of travel mode, and secondly to examine if the use of existing transport system can be optimized prior to construction. However, based on the experiences from practice, it seems that in both countries processes the focus of generating alternative measures is leaning more against minor or large new investments. Thus, the search for complementary measures to achieve considerable cost-savings and more importantly, sustainable development, is perceived challenging.

Sweden has ca. 2 million single family houses (SFH) housing 52% of the population and representing 44.6% of the overall heated floor area. SFHs account for 39.5% of the total heating demand in Sweden. Energy consumption in older SFHs is much higher than in new ones. SFHs built in the 1960s consume ca. 170% of the annual heating energy demand of SFH built in the 2010s. This study aims to explore the energy savings potential in existing SFHs built between 1960 and 1975 in Sweden through refurbishment of elements of the building envelope and analyze their energy and costefficiency of these measures. Furthermore, it aims to study the effects of variations in climate in Sweden on the energy and cost efficiency of these measures. A hypothetical un-refurbished SFH was modeled and defined using energy simulation tool IDA-ICE based on statistical data and relevant literature reviews. Variations in climate between regions of Sweden were analyzed and 4 suitable locations were suggested to place the hypothetical model in. Suitable building envelope refurbishmentmeasures were selected for the elements of the building envelope. These measures were (a) adding extra insulation to the outer side of external wall (b) replacing and insulating the slab on ground (c) insulating the cold attic on top the existing horizontal slab, and (d) replacing the exiting external doors and windows. Suggested U-values for renovated SFHs from Boverket were used as a goal for the suggested refurbishment measures to reach. Energy performance simulations were performed to estimate savings potential in energy used for heating purposes for the un-refurbished building and each of the suggested measures. Life cycle cost (LCC) study using UPV* method was performed over a lifespan of 30 years. The results of the energy performance simulation showed energy savings potential in all the suggested measures, ranging from ca. 6% to ca. 20% with the measure of replacing the external doors and windows had the most savings potential. The study highlighted rate of improvement in U-values, surface area within which heat losses are occurring, status of thermal bridges, and differences in temperature between air and soil as factors effecting the energy savings potential. The results showed no significant effects of changing locations on the savings potential. LCC analysis showed that the measure of adding extra insulation in the cold attic is the most cost-efficient. It also showed that higher heating demands in colder climate led to more significant role for the energy savings potential in determining the cost efficiency, while the initial costs played a bigger role in warmer climate. The study also showed that choosing materials and products with longer lifespan in addition to having a good energy savings potential may lead to a change in results on the cost-efficiency analysis. The study concludes with highlighting the energy savings potential in building envelope refurbishment and the importance of including both and energy and cost efficiency perspectives when choosing refurbishment measures for existing SFH.

No description available.

Digitalisering är ett ämne som ständigt diskuteras och har på senare år utvecklats på många plan. Inom byggbranschen har BIM (Byggnadsinformationsmanagement) länge setts som en digital lösning vilken kan tänkas utveckla branschen inom flera områden, men trots det är den digitala utvecklingen inom branschen relativt låg vilket kan ge indikation på lägre produktivitet. Särskilt om man jämför med vad som faktiskt kan uppnås vid implementering av BIM fullt ut genom värdekedjan i projekt. Det finns en brist på tidigare studier kring varför det finns ett informationsgap mellan aktörer genom hela värdekedjan som delvis kan förklara denna låga produktivitet. Syftet med denna studie är därmed att undersöka vilka utmaningar som finns vid implementeringen av BIM i hela värdekedjan av projekt och vad utmaningarna skapar för informationsgap mellan design/konstruktion- och förvaltningssidan inom ett projekt.     För att besvara syfte och frågeställningar har innovationsteori samt investeringsteori använts, där fokus främst riktats på innovationsteori. Med hjälp av teorierna kunde utmaningar med implementeringen av BIM och eventuella informationsgap som uppstår studeras djupare. I studien genomfördes åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med fastighetsbolag, arkitekturbolag, konsultbolag och intresseorganisation.      De existerande utmaningarna vid implementering av BIM hos olika aktörer, som kan ligga till grund för försämrad interoperabilitet, kan förklaras med att avsaknad av gemensamma branschstandarder, avsaknad av en central BIM-samordnare och generellt sett låg utbildningsnivå kring vad BIM är. Det noteras att ett informationsgap finns mellan aktörer som arbetar på förvaltningssidan kontra design/konstruktion och detta kan dels förklaras på grund av motvilja att anpassa sig till nya lösningar enligt innovationsteori, dels på grund av avsaknad av gemensamma branschstandarder. Att en aktör i projektskedet inte anser det lämpligt att använda BIM kan förklaras eftersom kostnaden hittills inte alltid understiger nyttan.      Implementeringsfasen hos olika aktörer genom värdekedjan varierar och därmed kan branschen i vissa fall tolkas som trögflytande, bland annat på grund av frånvaro av öppna standarder och de språkbarriärer mellan program som kan uppstå vid användning av olika BIM-system. För att vidareutveckla arbetet kring ämnesfrågan behöver ytterligare studier genomföras kring proprietära rättigheter och problem vid anbudskalkylering, offentlig sektors påverkan på utveckling kring gemensamma branschstandarder, extern och intern BIM-samordning kopplat till effektivare projektledning och även hur gemensamma branschstandarder påverkar olika aktörer i hela värdekedjan av ett projekt. / Digitalization is constantly being discussed and has in recent years developed on many levels. Building information management, further described as BIM, has long been considered a digital solution in the construction and management industry. A solution that suitably would develop the industry in several areas. Despite this, digital development is relatively low which may indicate lower productivity than can be achieved. There is a lack of previous studies on why there is an information gap between stakeholders throughout the value chain that can partly explain low productivity and low effective stakeholder efficiency. The purpose of this study is thus to investigate the existing difficulties in the implementation of BIM in the entire value chain and what these difficulties lead to, such as information gaps between the design, construction and management side within a project.    The findings of the study are explained with support of innovation theory and investment theory, with main focus on innovation theory. With support of the theories, difficulties with implementation of BIM for stakeholders and any information gaps that arise have been studied more deeply. This study conducted eight semi-structured interviews with real estate companies, architecture companies, one consulting company and one interest group.   Existing challenges regarding implementation of BIM among different stakeholders, which may be the basis for impaired interoperability, can be explained in the absence of common industry standards, absence of a central BIM coordinator and generally low level of education about the subject BIM. It is noted that there is an information gap between stakeholders working on the administrative side versus design/construction and can be partly explained due to reluctance to adapt to new solutions according to innovation theory and partly due to the absence of common industry standards. The fact that the cost so far is not always less than the benefit of investing in BIM may explain why stakeholders in the project phase choose that BIM does not have to be appropriate to implement.    The implementation phase through the value chain of a project varies a lot for different stakeholders and because of that the industry may in some cases be interpreted as conservative. This could be explained due to the language barriers that can arise when using different BIM systems and due to absence of open standards. To further develop understanding on the subject issue, studies need to be carried out on proprietary rights and problems in tender calculation estimates. Moreover, studies on public sector impact regarding development around common industry standards, external and internal BIM coordination linked to more effective project management and how common industry standards affect different stakeholders in the whole value chain of a project may develop understanding on the subject issue.

<p>Functional<strong> </strong>magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a popular technique to study brain function and neural networks. Functional MRI studies are often characterized by small sample sizes and rarely consider statistical power when setting a sample size. This could lead to data dredging, and hence false positive findings. With the widespread use of fMRI studies in clinical disorders, the vulnerability of participants points to an ethical imperative for reliable results so as to uphold promises typically made to participants that the study results will help understand their conditions. While important, power-based sample size calculations can be challenging. The majority of fMRI studies are observational, i.e., are not designed to randomize participants to test efficacy and safety of any therapeutic intervention. My PhD thesis therefore addresses two objectives: firstly, to identify potential obstacles to implementing sample size calculations, and secondly to provide solutions to these obstacles in observational clinical fMRI studies. This thesis contains three projects.</p> <p>Implementing a power-based sample size calculation requires specifications of effect sizes and variances. Typically in health research, these input parameters for the calculation are estimated from results of previous studies, however these often seem to be lacking in the fMRI literature. Project 1 addresses the first objective through a systematic review of 100 fMRI studies with clinical participants, examining how often observed input parameters were reported in the results section so as to help design a new well-powered study. Results confirmed that both input estimates and sample size calculations were rarely reported. The omission of observed inputs in the results section is an impediment to carrying out sample size calculations for future studies.</p> <p>Uncertainty in input parameters is typically dealt with using sensitivity analysis; however this can result in a wide range of candidate sample sizes, leading to difficulty in setting a sample size. Project 2 suggests a cost-efficiency approach as a short-term strategy to deal with the uncertainty in input data and, through an example, illustrates how it narrowed the range to choose a sample size on the basis of maximizing return on investment.</p> <p>Routine reporting of the input estimates can thus facilitate sample size calculations for future studies. Moreover, increasing the overall quality of reporting in fMRI studies helps reduce bias in reported input estimates and hence helps ensure a rigorous sample size calculation in the long run. Project 3 is a systematic review of overall reporting quality of observational clinical fMRI studies, highlighting under-reported areas for improvement and suggesting creating a shortened version of the checklist which contains essential details adapted from the guidelines proposed by Poldrack et al. (2008) to accommodate strict word limits for reporting observational clinical fMRI studies.</p> <p>In conclusion, this PhD thesis facilitates future sample size and power calculations in the fMRI literature by identifying impediments, by providing a short-term solution to overcome the impediments using a cost-efficiency approach in conjunction with conventional methods, and by suggesting a long-term strategy to ensure a rigorous sample size calculation through improving the overall quality of reporting.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The transition towards sustainable energy in the construction machinery sector is gaining momentum due to the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs. Despite the benefits of electric construction machinery, challenges such as high initial investment costs, infrastructure requirements, and the practicality of battery swapping systems hinder widespread adoption. Understanding the economic feasibility and practical implications of implementing battery swapping in different construction scenarios is crucial for facilitating this transition. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by conducting a detailed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis for various energy sources —diesel, built-in batteries, and battery swapping systems — in two distinct construction settings: Big Quarry and Small Construction site. It provides a comparative evaluation of these options, highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of battery swapping. A comprehensive TCO analysis was performed, encompassing costs related to machine purchase, fuel/electricity consumption, maintenance, and infrastructure. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to identify critical cost drivers and assess the impact of fluctuating fuel and battery prices on the overall cost-effectiveness of each energy solution.  The findings indicate that battery swapping is the most cost-effective option across both construction sites, offering substantial savings compared to diesel and built-in batteries. Sensitivity analyses further showed that even with increased battery costs, electric machinery maintained stable economic performance, underscoring its viability as a sustainable alternative.

Temperature control is a widely researched topic and a common application is in heating systems such as buildings. A temperature control method that is central in ensuring comfort and reduction of energy consumption in modern buildings and other heating systems is based on model predictive control (MPC). Traditionally, the MPC optimal control problem is to track a target, but there are other examples of optimization problems besides tracking problems and one such optimization problem is the economical optimization problem, an optimization based on economical objectives. A heating system with electrical supply may be controlled by an economic MPC such that the economical objective is to consider time-varying prices of electricity.  This thesis studies how time-varying prices of electricity can be utilized as an economical objective in an economical MPC to reduce electricity costs for a double-heater system. This is done using an available model of the double-heater system and an MPC to construct an economical MPC. The performance of the economical MPC is then investigated and compared to the existing MPC.  In the thesis it is found, through a test with six different cost profiles and a test with historical data of forecasts of electricity prices, that the economical MPC can reduce total electricity costs when compared to the existing MPC. Furthermore it is found that the performance of the economic MPC is acceptable when it is compared with and without prediction of setpoint changes, prediction of price changes and an isolating layer between the heaters. The thesis concludes that satisfactory results are attained, as the economical MPC leads to decreased total electricity costs for the double-heater system and notes that the economic MPC is versatile by accepting both user-defined and historical cost profiles.

隨著台海兩岸經貿往來密切，發展迅速，客觀上對銀行業提出了許多服務要求，為兩岸金融業的合作提供了廣闊的空間。本文通過採用數據包絡分析法和共同邊界成本函數比較分析了兩岸商業銀行的成本結構及效率差異，實證結果表示大陸商業銀行的成本效率要高於台灣銀行。對這一結果的可能性解釋是大陸銀行的資產規模要遠高於台灣銀行。銀行總資產越高，其獲取低投入要素價格的市場能力越強，因此生產成本更低，成本效率更高。台灣和大陸商業銀行有必要發揮自身的優勢，通過各種方式和渠道，加快兩岸銀行界合作的進程。 / With cross-strait rapid economic development and trade exchanges, huge business investments have induced a great demand for financial services and provided a broad space for cross-strait cooperation. This paper adopts data envelopment analysis and meta-frontier cost function to compare and analyze the different cost structure and efficiency of mainland and Taiwan commercial banks. The empirical results reveal that cost efficiency of mainland commercial banks is higher than Taiwanese ones, which is maybe caused by the larger bank size and total assets. The larger the size of banks, the higher the market power for reaping the benefits of low input prices, thereby resulting in a lower cost of production and a higher cost efficiency. It is necessary for mainland and Taiwan commercial banks to develop their own strengths to accelerate the process of cross-strait cooperation in the banking sector through various means and channels.

各國視生技產業為未來發展的關鍵產業，並積極推動各項政策，使生技產業能快速成長，而生技醫藥市場是促成全球生技產業成長的主要動力，為了增加我國的競爭力，希望藉由與鄰近國家醫藥產業的比較，能更了解台灣生技醫藥產業經營績效。 本研究採用Battese and Coelli (1995)隨機成本邊界法，針對2002-2007年間，日本、南韓、中國、印度與台灣等五個國家，共61家生技醫藥廠商進行實證分析，研究結果如下：(1)研發密集度增加使成本效率降低，五個國家裡，日本最具成本效率。(2)產業平均成本效率值為0.855，且有逐年惡化的趨勢。(3)整體產業平均處於遞增規模報酬階段。(4)整體而言，總要素生產力(TFP)的提升主要是因為規模成分的貢獻，其次為技術的進步，而技術效率變動率對TFP成長率為負影響。(5)各國間雖然TFP變動率不存在顯著性差異，但在規模成分、技術變動率與技術效率變動率等方面存在著顯著的差異。 / Many countries regard biotechnology as a key industry for the future development. Governments often implement a variety of policies to help it grow rapidly. The biotech pharmaceutical industry is the main momentum for the growth of the global biotech industry. The objective of this paper is to measure the productivity and efficiency of the industry among Asian countries, and investigates the sources of the performance changes, and then hope to give some insight into the enhancement of the industry’s productivity. To pursue our goal, we adopt Battese and Coelli’s (1995) stochastic frontier approach to assess 61 biotech pharmaceutical firms during 2002-2007. The main empirical results can be summarized as follows: (1) The R&D intensity is negatively related to cost efficiency; in five countries, Japan has the highest cost efficiency. (2) On average, the cost efficiency is about 0.86, and has become worsen year after year. (3)Most of time, the industry is characterized with the increasing returns to scale. (4) The growth of total factor productivity (TFP) is mainly attributed to the scale efficiency change, and technical progress accounts for a minor source. However, technical efficiency deteriorates over time. (5) Among countries, the TFP growth rates have no significant differences, but the components show apparent differences.

Kombinationen av fjärrvärme och frånluftsvärmepump (FVP) har blivit allt vanligare i Sverige. Detta kombinerade värmesystem är väl lämpat för att reducera energianvändningen i befintliga fastigheter med mekanisk frånluftventilation som saknar värmeåtervinning. Dock kan en FVP-installation leda till högre returtemperaturer i fjärrvärmenätet vilket det ofta finns avgifter för i dagsläget. För att främja fjärrvärmeanvändning sommartid använder fjärrvärmeleverantören sig av säsongsvarierande prismodeller i vilket fjärrvärmepriset varierar under en del av året. Genom att stänga av FVP sommartid och endast bruka fjärrvärme finns en potentiell kostnadsbesparing då fjärrvärmepriset är som lägst. Denna kostnadsbesparing undersöks utifrån olika typer av fjärrvärmetaxor, elnätsavgifter och elhandelspris. Det undersöks också hur Boverkets regler för beräkning av primärenergital påverkar denna värmesystemtyp. Typiska prismodeller för fjärrvärme har undersökts, samt så har energianvändning framräknats för sex fiktiva flerbostadshus runtom i landet. För varje byggnad beräknas energianvändningen utifrån tre fall. I referensfallet, Fall 1 används bara fjärrvärme och i Fall 2 används FVP till både uppvärmning och tappvarmvatten (TVV). Fall 3 är som Fall 2 fast FVP täcker inget TVV-behov och stängs av under sommar-perioden. Energianvändningen är framräknad över ett år och energikostnaden jämförs mellan fallen. I Fall 2 och Fall 3 är de totala energikostnaderna för byggnaderna mellan 61–75% respektive 67–78% av energikostnaderna i Fall 1. Mellan Fall 2- och 3 finns däremot ingen tydlig besparingstrend trots att alla fjärrvärmenät på orterna har ett säsongsvarierande fjärrvärmepris. Att ingen besparingstrend uppstår påvisar att kostnaden för varje levererad värmeenhet från FVP sommartid är ungefär lika stor som varje värmeenhet fjärrvärme. Detta beror på att en hög värmefaktor används vilket gör det väldigt kostnadseffektivt att köpa el. Med en lägre värmefaktor gynnas avstängning av FVP sommartid. Utifrån den framräknade energianvändningen beräknas primärenergitalet och den specifika energianvändningen för samtliga byggnader. Primärenergitalet är i de flesta fall större än den specifika energianvändningen för att elanvändningen räknas upp. I Luleå är däremot den specifika energianvändningen större än primärenergitalet, även vid användning av FVP. / The combination of district heating and exhaust air heat pump (EAHP) has become increasingly common in Sweden. This combined heating system is well suited for reducing energy use in existing buildings with mechanical exhaust air ventilation that lacks heat recovery. However, an EAHP installation can lead to higher return temperatures in the district heating network. In order to promote district heating use during the summer, the district heating supplier use seasonal varying price models in which the district heating price varies during some of the year. By shutting down EAHP in summer and only using district heating, there is a potential cost saving as the district heating price is at its lowest. This cost saving is investigated based on various types of district heating tariffs, electricity grid charges and electricity prices. It is also examined how Boverket's rules for calculating primary energy affects this type of heating system. Typical price models for district heating have been investigated. The energy use for six fictitious multi-dwelling buildings around the country has also been made. For each building, the energy use was calculated from three cases. For the reference case, Case 1, only district heating is used, for Case 2 EAHP is used for both heating and domestic hot water and Case 3 is as Case 2 fixed EAHP does not cover domestic hot water requirements and is switched off during the summer period. The energy consumption is calculated over a year and the energy cost is compared between the cases. In Case 2 and Case 3, the total energy costs for the buildings are between 61–75% and 67–78% of the energy costs in Case 1, respectively. However, between Case 2- and 3, there is no clear saving trend despite all the locations having a seasonally varying district heating price. The fact that no saving trend arises shows that the cost of each heat unit delivered from FVP in the summer is about the same as each heating unit of district heating. This is because a high COP (coefficient of performance) is used, which makes it very cost-effective to buy electricity. With a lower COP, shutdown of EAHP benefits summer time. Based on the calculated energy use, the primary energy and the specific energy use are calculated for all buildings. In most cases, the primary energy number is larger than the specific energy use, as the electricity consumption is going to be larger with primary energy. In Luleå, on the other hand, the energy-area ratio is greater than the primary energy number, even when using an EAHP.