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This study develops an optimization methodology for signal timing at intersections to reduce emissions based on MOVES, the latest emission model released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary objective of this study is to bridge the gap that the research on signal optimization at intersections lags behind the development of emissions models. The methodology development includes four levels: the vehicle level, the movement level, the intersection level, and the arterial level. At the vehicle level, the emission function with respect to delay is derived for a vehicle driving through an intersection. Multiple acceleration models are evaluated, and the best one is selected in terms of emission estimations at an intersection. Piecewise functions are used to describe the relationship between emissions and intersection delay. At the movement level, emissions are modeled if the green time and red time of a movement are given. To account for randomness, the number of vehicle arrivals during a cycle is assumed to follow Poisson distributions. According to the numerical results, the relative difference of emission estimations with and without considering randomness is usually smaller than 5.0% at a typical intersection of two urban arterials. At the intersection level, an optimization problem is formulated to consider emissions at an intersection. The objective function is a linear combination of delay and emissions at an intersection, so that the tradeoff between the two could be examined with the optimization problem. In addition, a convex approximation is proposed to approximate the emission calculation; accordingly, the optimization problem can be solved more efficiently using the interior point algorithm (IPA). The case study proves that the optimization problem with this convex approximation can still find appropriate optimal signal timing plans when considering traffic emissions. At the arterial level, emissions are minimized at multiple intersections along an arterial. First, discrete models are developed to describe the bandwidth, stops, delay, and emissions at a particular intersection. Second, based on these discrete models, an optimization problem is formulated with the intersection offsets as decision variables. The simulation results indicate that the benefit of emission reduction become more and more significant as the number of intersections along the arterial increases.

How do teachers talk about the productiveness of teacher's in-the-moment responses to student mathematical thinking? This is a question current research does not fully answer as most research on teacher moves is focused on what teacher moves researchers have noticed teachers do rather than on what teachers think about these teacher moves. To fill the gap in the research and to answer the question, a group of 13 teachers were given ten classroom situations to compare and contrast for productivity. I analyzed (a) the content of the teachers' discussions by drawing on Teacher Response Coding (TRC) language, and (b) the extent to which the teachers' discussions align with theorized productive responses to student mathematical thinking, or building. From the teachers' group conversations, I articulated principles of productivity— articulations of the main ideas and conclusions of the teachers' conversations with regards to productivity. Focusing on the principles of productivity, I highlighted what teacher moves the teachers said were productive or not productive with respect to teacher's in-the-moment responses to student mathematical thinking. In analyzing the list of unique principles of productivity, I noticed three main themes that the principles were focused around: student mathematics, teacher moves, and mathematics, which reflected some of the ideas in research for productive teacher moves. Additionally, I analyzed the principles for alignment with the practice of building, which led to the conclusion that the ideas of orchestrating discussion and making explicit are the most salient of the sub-practices of building to the teachers. These results based on teachers' discussions around the productivity of teacher moves can help inform teacher education and professional development.

Det undersökta området för denna studie behandlar klassrumsdiskussioner kring ett matematiskt innehåll utförda av elever i två klasser i år 6 som är nivågrupperade. Dessa två grupper består övervägande av lågpresterande respektive övervägande av högpresterande elever. Denna studie är ett undervisningsförsök med syfte att undersöka hur metoden som innefattar medvetna strategier i form av ”talk-moves” fungerar i dessa klassrumsdiskussioner. Skillnader och likheter under nämnda klassrumsdiskussioner jämförs mellan nämnda grupper. Studien är begränsad till att behandla samspelet mellan elevernas prat och tankar under berörda klassrumsdiskussioner. Till största delen består metoden som används för denna studie av videoinspelningar som sedan observerades. Dessa ”talk-moves” innebär att läraren får verktyg att bjuda in samtliga elever att delta i klassrumsdiskussioner.  Läraren kan också använda dessa verktyg till att möjliggöra för eleverna att bygga sin egen kunskap. Detta innebär i sin tur en möjlighet för eleverna att komma förbi utantillinlärning. / The area of subject of this study is classroom discussions in mathematics. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the method called “talk-moves” functions in two ability grouped classes of year six. Each group consists mainly of low-level ability students and high-level ability students. During these clasroom discussions differencies and similarities are compared between these two groups. The limitation of the study consists of the connections between the students´ talk and thoughts. The main part of the method of this study are videorecordings which were later observed. The teacher is able to use “talk-moves”  as tools which are used to invite all students of the class to participate in mentioned classroom discussions. It is also possible for the teacher to use these tools to enable the students to build their own knowledge. This means in turn a possibility for the students to overcome learning by heart.

This dissertation builds on the current anthropological studies of care relations in practice. It draws inspiration from science and technology studies (STS) and postfeminist technoscience. A qualitative ethnographic approach grounds the empirical data collection and analysis. This entails ethnographic fieldwork with senior home care in the United States and Sweden during 2007–2008 and 2011–2012. Analytical attention centers on how movements situate various tensions of senior home care in practice. Four interrelated published works comprise the main thematic chapters. Each article exemplifies how human and nonhuman relations move and mediate care. They develop several heuristic terms that advance ideas about how older people, aging bodies, technologies, spaces, and times that tinker each other through movements of care in practice. The comprehensive summary frames these articles with an overview of the primary thematic orientations and methodological concerns. A discussion of the main contributions and implications of the dissertation concludes the work.

Automobile transportation consumes a significant amount of non-reusable energy and emits emissions as by-products of fuel consumption. There has been much progress in the development of vehicle engine technology and alternative fuels to reduce the adverse impact of highway transportation on the environment. However, the research regarding the reduction of the adverse impact through highway design is still in its infancy. Furthermore, highway design manuals/guidebooks do not provide any information on environmentally-friendly designs. The primary objective of this research was to provide the tools and guidelines for a quantitative environmental evaluation in highway design. This research provided the results regarding the quantitative environmental impacts, by means of fuel consumption and emissions, of various highway geometric design conditions on the vertical grades as well as for horizontal and vertical crest curves that could be included in the highway design process. The researcher generated second-by-second speed profiles using the speed prediction models and non-uniform acceleration/deceleration models, and extracted the fuel consumption and emissions rates based on vehicle specific powers and speeds using recently developed motor vehicle emission simulator (MOVES). The generated speed profiles were matched with the extracted rates and aggregated during a trip on the grades and curves. In addition, the researcher conducted the environmental evaluation including a benefit-cost analysis with actual highway geometric data based on the proposed method and processes. The results demonstrated that fuel consumption and emissions could be significantly changed according to highway design conditions on grades and curves. Throughout the analyses, this research provides the guidelines and tools for environmental evaluations related to selected design features as a part of the highway development process. The provided guidelines and tools can reduce the uncertainty associated with the engineering judgment for environmentally-conscious highway design. Finally, this research shows the efficacy of environmentally-friendly design for sustainable (i.e., social, economical, and environmental) transportation.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / In the management of port terminals, a common problem has been evidenced, high traffic of trucks and long waiting times given the variability of trucks arrival. This is a significant challenge for ports. This situation has given the opportunity to investigate in this matter and make use of a Truck Appointment System (TAS) together with other tools corresponding to industrial engineering for the optimization of truck service processes within a port terminal in Peru. To do this, a diagnosis is made of the company object of study and through a simulation of discrete systems, the technical viability of the proposal is validated. It was demonstrated that a procedure of attention based on appointments, Last in, First Out (LIFO) management for containers and development of visual management within the container yard; it is a highly viable option to shorten waiting times and unproductive movements of containers.

Bakgrund: Flera forskare (Chapin, O´Connor & Andersson, 2009; Mercer, 2008; Partanen, 2007; Riesbeck, 2008; Samuelsson & Forslund Frykedal, 2014; Taflin, 2007) nämner att det är genom samtal som tänkande och lärande kan utvecklas, då vi under samtalet förmedlar, förstår och klargör våra egna och andras tankar. Enligt Mercer (2008) är språket en central del för elevers lärande och utveckling, men att det inte tillförs tillräckligt med undervisningsmöjligheter där elever får uttrycka sig verbalt vilket har lett till sämre skolresultat. Således finns det anledning att undersöka detta i undervisningverksamheten, då vår studie kan bidra till en nyansering av det beforskade området. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera kommunikationen mellan lärare och elever vid matematisk problemlösning och vilka konsekvenser det kan få i undervisningen.  Metod: För att kunna besvara våra frågeställningar har vi valt observation och intervju som datainsalmlingsmetoder. Val av lärare genomfördes med åtanke att personen skulle ha deltagit i en kompetensutveckling i matematik och vara en verksam matematiklärare. Dessa kriterier stämde in på vår observerade och intervjuade lärare. Läraren var verksam i en åldersintegrerad klass i årskurs två och tre. Vi observerade klassen under tre tillfällen och efter sista observationen genomfördes en intervju med läraren. Resultat: I studien framkom att läraren hade som avsikt att ställa fler divergenta frågor (frågor som öppnar upp för samtalsmöjligheter) men att resultatet visade sig vara det motsatta, som var fler ställda konvergenta frågor (frågor som sluter samtalsmöjligheter). Vi beräknade antalet ställda divergenta och konvergenta frågor ur respektive observerad lektion för att sedan analysera utfallet. I vår tolkning av resultatet har vi lyft både för- och nackdelar med lärarens kommunikationssätt.

Syftet med föreliggande studie är att fördjupa kunskapen om vilka talk moves 1-3 lärare använder sig av i matematikundervisningen. De datainsamlingsmetoder som använts är klassrumsobservationer följda av semistrukturerade intervjuer med klasslärarna. Studiens resultat visar att lärarna omedvetet använder sig av talk moves i undervisningen. Vi upptäckte även en ny talk move som vi benämner teacher-repeating-adding on. Studiens slutsats är att det verkar finnas en konflikt mellan lärarnas ambition att genomföra matematiska samtal och en stress att eleverna ska hinna med att arbeta i matematikboken. / The aim of the present study is to deepen the knowledge of which talk moves 1-3 teachers use in mathematics teaching. The data collection methods used are classroom observations followed by semi-structured interviews with the class teachers. The results of the study shows that the teachers unconsciously use talk moves in their teaching. We also discovered a new talk move which we term teacher-repeating-adding on. The conclusion of the study is that there seems to be a conflict between the teachers' ambition to carry out mathematical conversations and a pressure of time that the students need to finish their work in the mathematics book.

Citizens in the United States are fortunate to have an excellent system of roadways and the affluence with which to afford automobiles. The flexibility of travel on demand for most allows for a variety of lifestyles, assists with conducting business, and contributes to the feeling of freedom that most citizens enjoy. The current vehicle fleet, which is primarily powered by internal combustion engines burning fossil fuels, does however contribute to the deterioration of air quality. This effect is particularly significant in metropolitan areas. Motor vehicle exhausts contain several combustion bi-products that pose harmful effects to the environment and human health, in particular. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have selected carbon monoxide (CO) as the air pollutant on which it has based its guidelines for assessing potential air quality impacts from roadway construction (EPA 1992). The design of roadway networks must consider traffic flows, Level of Service (LOS), cost, and National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) requirements. In light of the environmental standards it is necessary to model to estimate potential future near-road concentrations of CO. This modeling has two aspects, first determining the rate of pollutant emissions, and second determining how those pollutants disperse near the road. Obtaining a precise, realistic estimate of the near-road CO concentrations under a wide variety of weather and traffic patterns is a potentially huge undertaking. With budgetary constraints in mind, the development of a screening model is appropriate. CO Florida 2012 (COFL2012) is such a model that uses conservative assumptions to predict worst-case, near-road CO concentration. Projects that pass a COFL2012 model run do not require additional air quality modeling. Projects that fail a COFL2012 model run, however, may still be viable, but will require additional, detailed modeling and possibly project modifications. COFL2012 uses tables of emission factors (EFs) that were derived from numerous runs of the EPA's MOtor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES2010a), which is indicated as the preferred model for near-road modeling of CO.(EPA 2009) COFL2012 then inputs the EFs, along with assumed link configurations, geographical assumptions, and user-inputted traffic information into input files that are run through CAL3QHC Version 2.0 (CAL3QHC2), the EPA's approved near-road dispersion model (EPA 1995). COFL2012 is a brand new Florida CO screening model, written from scratch. This author has written the computer code for COFL2012 in Visual Basic, using Microsoft Visual Studios 2010. Visual Studios utilizes the .net Framework 4. COFL2012 is easy to learn, quick to operate, and has been written to allow for future updates simply and easily, whenever the EPA releases updates to the databases that feed MOVES2010a.