Social media platforms have the potential to influence destination choice among potential travellers.Before potential travellers embark on a trip, they are faced with decision-making processes on whereto go, what to do, the best time to go, how to get there among other things. These pre-travel planning decisions can be influenced by their expectation of the experiences they will encounter at the destination and based on their perception of the destination. Their perception of destinations isusually informed by information found on social media platforms or passed on by family and friendswho have encountered similar travel experiences. Using Crompton’s model of destination choice set,this study explores the roles of social media platforms on destination choice among international students in the Umea university.

This study examined the use of the set, area, and linear models of fraction representation to enhance elementary students' conceptual understanding of fractions. Students' preferences regarding the set, area, and linear models of fractions during independent work was also investigated. This study took place in a 5th grade class consisting of 21 students in a suburban public elementary school. Students participated in classroom activities which required them to use manipulatives to represent fractions using the set, area, and linear models. Students also had experiences using the models to investigate equivalent fractions, compare fractions, and perform operations. Students maintained journals throughout the study, completed a pre and post assessment, participated in class discussions, and participated in individual interviews concerning their fraction model preference. Analysis of the data revealed an increase in conceptual understanding. The data concerning student preferences were inconsistent, as students' choices during independent work did not always reflect the preferences indicated in the interviews.

People with disabilities tend to face more difficulties and constraints when they are travelling for tourism purposes, compared to non-disabled people. This is problematic because mobility in general (and tourism in particular) is, more or less, seen as a ‘human right’ and has the potential to contribute to peoples’ well-being. Tourism travel should, therefore, be available for everyone. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of tourism travel for people with mobility-disabilities by studying the experiences of parents to wheelchair carried children with cerebral palsy. The main study objectives are threefold, namely: (1) which constraints these families face throughout the tourism travel chain; (2) how the child’s disability affect these families’ destination decision processes; and (3) which improvements that can be made in order to make it easier for these families to participate in tourism travel. An interview study was made including 13 parents to wheelchair children with cerebral palsy and these interviews were analysed by using thematic analysis. The findings show that different constraints and barriers (intrinsic, interactive and environmental) are evident during all different phases of the tourism travel chain and affect these families’ choices regarding type of tourism trip, which destination they travel to, which transport modes that they can use, which requirements they have in terms of accommodation and which limitations they face when participating in different activities. Some suggestions regarding improvements are also provided, based on what the parents require in order to make tourism travel easier for them.

In this thesis, after a comprehensive literature review on different conventional and predictive torque control strategies for switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives, two online methods and one offline multi-objective optimization-based method are proposed to extend the operating speed range of finite control set model predictive torque control (FCS-MPTC) for SRM by adaptively controlling the commutation angles in the entire speed range. Furthermore, a method is proposed to minimize the steady state torque tracking error of FCS-MPTC for SRM drives. The incapability of the conventional FCS-MPTC in controlling the commutation angles, which is considered as one of the main drawbacks of the conventional FCS-MPTC, limits its application for high-speed torque control of SRM drives. The phase turn-off angle is always selected to be close to the aligned position with the conventional FCS-MPTC regardless of the operating speed. However, commutation angle advancement is required for high-speed torque control of SRM drives to limit the negative phase torque resulting from the current tail after the turn-off angle in the generating region. Excessive negative torque with the conventional FCS-MPTC at higher speeds can result in a degraded performance with high rms current, low average torque, high torque ripple, and reduced efficiency. The phase turn-off angle can be adaptively controlled as speed changes with the first online commutation angle control strategy proposed in this thesis. This method is based on predicting the free-wheeling phase current in an extended time interval which is much bigger than the prediction horizon of FCS-MPTC. The second online turn-off angle control method is also proposed by improving the optimality condition defined for determining the optimal turn-off angle. The optimality condition is determined by calculating the work done by the conducting phase after the phase is turned off. The weighting factor of the objective function of FCS-MPTC is kept constant with both proposed online methods. An offline multi-objective optimization-based strategy is proposed to determine the globally optimal turn-off angle and the weighting factor in the entire operating torque and speed ranges. The effectiveness of both proposed online methods and the offline commutation angle control strategy is verified using simulations and experimental results. The results are also compared to the conventional FCS-MPTC and the indirect average torque control with optimized conduction angles which is considered as one of the main conventional torque control strategies for SRM drives. In order to minimize the torque tracking error as a result of either parameter uncertainties or tracking multiple objectives with a single objective function with weighting factors, a method is proposed which is based on updating the reference torque at each sample time by calculating the average torque tracking error in the previous sample times. The validity of the proposed method is verified using simulations. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Device Management Applications are applications which are used to manage software on devices such as mobile phones. OMSI Forum provides such an application which is used to update the software on a phone. Software updates can be done at device management stations placed in stores or other service locations. Whenever a phone's software is updated, information about the update process is stored in a log. These logs can then be analyzed to generate statistics about updates such as the number of successful or failed updates or which faults that are common.</p><p>This master thesis project solves the problem of manually collecting and compiling logs from several stores by making this process automatic. Rather than collecting logs manually, each device management station sends its logs to a centralized server which stores all collected logs in a database. This makes it possible to generate charts and statistics in a simple manner from a web application. This solution makes the analysis more e ective, allowing users to concentrate on analyzing data by removing the work task of collecting logs.</p>

Device Management Applications are applications which are used to manage software on devices such as mobile phones. OMSI Forum provides such an application which is used to update the software on a phone. Software updates can be done at device management stations placed in stores or other service locations. Whenever a phone's software is updated, information about the update process is stored in a log. These logs can then be analyzed to generate statistics about updates such as the number of successful or failed updates or which faults that are common. This master thesis project solves the problem of manually collecting and compiling logs from several stores by making this process automatic. Rather than collecting logs manually, each device management station sends its logs to a centralized server which stores all collected logs in a database. This makes it possible to generate charts and statistics in a simple manner from a web application. This solution makes the analysis more e ective, allowing users to concentrate on analyzing data by removing the work task of collecting logs.

Cette thèse vise à élaborer de nouvelles stratégies de commande basées sur la commande prédictive pour le système de génération d’énergie éolienne. La topologie des systèmes de production éolienne basées sur le Générateur Asynchrone à Double Alimentation (GADA) qui convient à des plateformes de génération dans la gamme de puissance de 1.5 à 6 MW est abordée. Du point de vue technologique, le convertisseur à trois niveaux et clampé par le neutre (3L-NPC) est considéré comme une bonne solution pour une puissance élevée en raison de ses avantages: capacité à réduire la distorsion harmonique de la tension de sortie et du courant, et augmentation de la capacité du convertisseur grâce à une tension réduite appliquée à chaque semi-conducteur de puissance. Une description détaillée de la commande prédictive à ensemble de commande fini (FCS-MPC) avec un horizon de prédiction de deux pas est présentée pour deux boucles de régulation: celle liée au convertisseur connecté au réseau et celle du convertisseur connecté au GADA. Le principe de la commande repose sur l’utilisation d’un modèle de prédiction permettant de prédire le comportement du système pour chaque état de commutation du convertisseur. La minimisation d’une fonction de coût appropriée prédéfinie permet d’obtenir la commutation optimale à appliquer au convertisseur. La thèse étudie premièrement les problèmes liées à la compensation du temps de calcul de la commande et au choix et aux pondérations de la fonction de coût. Ensuite, le problème de stabilité de la commande FCS-MPC est abordé en considérant une fonction de Lyapunov dans la minimisation de la fonction de coût. Finalement, une étude sur la compensation des effets des temps morts du convertisseur est présentée. / This thesis aims to elaborate new control strategies based on Model Predictive control for wind energy generation system. We addressed the topology of doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind generation systems which is suitable for generation platform power in the range in 1.5-6 MW. Furthermore, from the technological point of view, the three-level neutral-point clamped (3L-NPC) inverter configuration is considered a good solution for high power due to its advantages: capability to reduce the harmonic distortion of the output voltage and current, and increase the capacity of the converter thanks to a decreased voltage applied to each power semiconductor.In this thesis, we presented a detailed description of finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) with two step horizon for two control schemes: grid and DFIG connected 3L-NPC inverter. The principle of the proposed control scheme is to use system model to predict the behaviour of the system for every switching states of the inverter. Then, the optimal switching state that minimizes an appropriate predefined cost function is selected and applied directly to the inverter.The study of issues such as delay compensation, computational burden and selection of weighting factor are also addressed in this thesis. In addition, the stability problem of FCS-MPC is solved by considering the control Lyapunov function in the design procedure. The latter study is focused on the compensation of dead-time effect of power converter.