Daggkåpan är en förskola som projekterats i passivhusteknik. Förskolan är en naturförskola, vilket främst innebär att i stort sett all verksamhet bedrivs utomhus. Byggnaden är i två plan vilket gör att tomtarean kan utnyttjas till mer utomhusvistelse. Förutsättningar för att bedriva verksamheten inomhus finns även. Utomhusmiljön och inomhusmiljön hos Daggkåpan smälter samman och barnen kan lätt ta ett steg ut till naturen från sina hemvister. Detta innebär att antalet utgångar ökar. En solcellsanläggning genererar all elektricitet och gör byggnaden självförsörjande. Byggnadens varmvatten och värme står solfångare för. I takt med bostadsutvecklingen blir även behovet av förskolor större. Att skaffa kunskap och erfarenheter om energieffektivt byggande är idag en god idé eftersom alla byggnader på sikt måste vara så energieffektiva som möjligt. En av hörnpelarna med att bygga passivhus är att låta ett genomtänkt och energieffektivt byggnadsskal ersätta ett konventionellt värmeförsörjningssystem. Genom att förbättra konstruktioner och hålla koll på byggprocessen kan andra delar av byggnaden förenklas och i vissa fall helt ersättas. Det som fördyrar i ena änden kan leda till en god investering i den andra. Utmaningen med passivhus är att systematisera, se helheter och sammanhang och framför allt eftersträva det enkla. Enkla system ger låga drift- och underhållningskostnader och risken för driftstörningar minskar. Den största delen av värmen är gratis. Den kommer från instrålande sol, värme från människor och spillvärme från apparater och matlagning. Grundkravet är att byggnaden har ett värmeeffektbehov under 10 W per kvadratmeter vid +20ºC inomhus på årets kallaste dag, definierat av dimensionerande utetemperatur. Byggnaden får max läcka 0,3 l/s, m² oms vid +/- 50 Pa tryckskillnad. För att uppnå god komfort krävs välisolerade väggar, solavskärmningar, energieffektiva fönster och dörrar, små köldbryggor och ett bra ventilationssystem där värmen från insidan av huset återvinns. Antalet passivhus i Sverige ökar snabbt, men det är fortfarande småhusen som dominerar. Att bygga en förskola som passivhus är en god idé ur flera synvinklar; Bland annat för att de täta och välisolerade väggarna stänger ute buller och oljud. Även mellanväggar isoleras och bidrar till en extra tyst byggnad. Dessutom blir barnen miljömedvetna eftersom de får vara delaktiga i energieffektivisering. -En viktig aspekt för framtiden. Barnen bidrar själva till uppvärmning av lokalerna genom kroppsvärmen. Undersökningar har bland annat visat att barn som får vistas utomhus är friskare, mer självgående, mer kreativa och klokare. Det ultimata är att använda sig av utemiljöer som ett extra rum för förskolan. Detta leder till minskad byggnadsarea och mindre byggmaterial krävs. Pedagogiken Reggio Emilia använder sig just utav detta begreppet "Uterummet som ett extra rum för verksamheten". Barnen får därmed röra sig fritt i utemiljö, utveckla sina sinnen i en rik fantasivärld, inspireras och samverka med natur och hållbarhet. / Daggkåpan is a preschool projected in passive house technology. The preschool is a nature preschool, which means the activity is mainly out door. It is a two floor building which gives conditions to use the area for more outdoor activities. Conditions for drive the preschool indoors is possible as well. The garden and the inside rooms are connected to each other by the exterior rooms and it is easy for the children just to take a step out to the garden from their residences. A solar cell system generates electricity to the building and makes it self-supplied. The residential development leads to the need of preschools. To obtain knowledge of energy effective constructions is a good idea as the buildings in the future have to be as energy effective as possible. One of the most important things by use the passive house technology is letting a well measured and energy- effective building shell replace a conventional heat supply. By improvement of the construction and focus on the process other parts of the building can be simplified and some can be replaced. What is expensive in one end can lead to a good investment in the other. The challenges with passive house are to systematize, see whole parts and contexts and especially to seek after the simple. Easy systems give low operations- and service-costs and reduce fear of disruptions. Most of the heat is for free. It comes from insulation, human heat and heat from cooking and technologies. Basic requirements for this type of building is a need of heat-output under 10 W per square-meter at an indoor temperature of 20 degrees on the coldest day of the year, defined of the dimensioned outdoor- temperature. The maximum of leak is 0,3 liters per second and square meter at +/- 50 Pa. To receive high comfort it claims well-isolated walls, shadings, energy-effective windows and doors, small thermal bridges and a good ventilation-system where the indoor heat recycles. The number of Passive houses increases, dominated of small houses. Building a preschool as a passive house is a good idea from several perspective; the well-isolated walls leaves out the noise, even the intermediate walls isolates and contributes to a silent building. The children get environmentally conscious as well and take notes of the energy- effectively. - A very important aspect for the future. The children contributes them self of heat to the building by their body heat. Investigations has been shown that outdoor playing children is more healthy, self-propelled, more creative and more clever. The most ultimate is so use patios as an extra room for the preschool activities. The pedagogy Reggio Emilia uses this concept. The children can consequently feel free staying outside, developing their minds in an imaginative environment, inspired of the interaction of the nature and sustainability.

Uppsatsen strävar efter att jämföra svenska hushålls fastighetsinvesteringar i ett EU land(Kroatien) och ett land utanför EU (Montenegro). Uppsatsen analyserar empiriska resultatetför att hitta både det positiva och det negativa som en investering i länderna medför. Kroatienoch Montenegro valdes på grund av författarnas etnicitet och deras kontaktnät medprivatpersoner som investerat i länderna samt likheterna i klimat och kultur för att minskapåverkande faktorer. Författarna strävar för att utöka den vetenskapliga kunskapen omtransaktionskostnader från privathushålls perspektiv I både utvecklade och underutveckladeländer med potential. Det finns massor med vetenskapligt baserad information omtransaktionskostnader tillgängligt men nästan enbart från ett kommersiellt perspektiv.Frånvaron av forskning kring transaktionskostnader för privatpersoner är oroväckande ochjust därför är denna uppsats nödvändig. För att göra detta konstruerades två enkäter för attsamla information om processerna vid dessa typer av internationella investeringar.Information som samlades in analyserades med hjälp av tidigare forskning omtransaktionskostnader och transparens samt teorin om The New Institutional Economics.Sedan diskuterades resultatet och både skillnaderna mellan de utvecklade ochunderutvecklade länderna samt hushållens och kommersiella perspektivet var förvånansvärt. / The study seeks to compare Swedish household property investment in a EU country(Croatia) and a country outside of EU (Montenegro). The study analyzes the empirical resultsto find both the positive and negative that derives from an investment in the countries. Croatiaand Montenegro were chosen because of the origins of the authors and their connections toprivate investors in these countries. The authors seek to broaden the current scientificknowledge about private household property investments in the area of transaction cost andinvestments in both developed countries and underdeveloped countries with potential.Scientifically researched information about transactional cost is a widely available but acommon consensus in these papers is that the subject matter is commercial. The absent ofresearch of transactional cost for private household investors is alarming and to fill this gap,this study is essential. To do this, two surveys were constructed to obtain information on theprocess of investments in these countries. The information obtained from the surveys wasexamined with the help of prior studies on transactional cost and transparency but also withthe theory on the New Institutional Economics theory. The results and findings were laterdiscussed and the difference of both the developed and underdeveloped perspective and thehousehold and commercial perspective were astonishing.

Introduktion  Genom dynamisk spirometri går det att beräkna kvoten mellan forcerad exspiratorisk volym under en sekund och forcerad vitalkapacitet (FEV1/FVC) där ett värde på ≤0,7 tyder på obstruktiv lungsjukdom. Mobil spirometriutrustning skulle kunna möjliggöra tidigare diagnostisering av obstruktiva lungsjukdomar men även fungera som ett kostnadseffektivt alternativ vid enklare undersökningar. Syftet med studien var att jämföra resultat erhållna vid dynamisk spirometri utförd på en stationär respektive en mobil spirometriutrustning. Material och metod  I studien deltog totalt 36 försökspersoner. Data samlades in mellan februari-mars 2023 och bestod av FVC och FEV1 erhållna från dynamisk spirometri på Vyntus™ One (stationär spirometriutrustning) och Aiocare™ Vyaire (mobil spirometriutrustning). Ett parat t-test (signifikansnivå 0,05) utfördes för att avgöra om det förelåg någon signifikant systematisk skillnad för data mellan de båda utrustningarna och förekomsten av slumpfel illustrerades med Bland-Altman-diagram. Intraklasskorrelationskoefficient (ICC) beräknades för samtliga variabler. Resultat och slutsats  En mycket god korrelation mellan utrustningarna förelåg med ett ICC>0.9 för samtliga variabler. Ingen systematisk skillnad kunde påvisas för uppmätt FVC, FEV1 eller kvoten FEV1/FVC mellan Vyntus™ One och Aiocare™ Vyaire (p >0,05) och slumpfelet bedömdes acceptabelt. / Introduction  Dynamic spirometry enables calculating the ratio of forced expiratory volume under one second and forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) where ≤0,7 suggests obstructive lung disease. Mobile spirometer equipment could assist in earlier detection of obstructive lung diseases, but also function as a cost-efficient alternative. The purpose of the study is to compare results obtained with dynamic spirometry performed on a stationary and a mobile spirometry equipment. Material and method  A total of 36 subjects participated in the study. Data collected between February-March 2023 consisted of FVC and FEV1 obtained from dynamic spirometry on Vyntus™ One (stationary spirometry equipment) and Aiocare™ Vyaire (mobile spirometry equipment). A paired t-test (0,05 level of significance) determined if there was any significant systematic difference between data from the two types of equipment and the magnitude of sampling error was visualized by Bland-Altman plots. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated for all variables. Result and conclusion  Excellent correlation with ICC>0,9 for all variables. There was no significant difference for measured FVC, FEV1 or FEV1/FVC between Vyntus™ One and Aiocare™ Vyaire (p >0,05) and the sampling error was considered acceptable.

The range of applications for high-quality automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems has grown dramatically with the advent of smart phones, in which speech recognition can greatly enhance the user experience. Currently, the languages with extensive ASR support on these devices are languages that have thousands of hours of transcribed speech corpora already collected. Developing a speech system for such a language is made simpler because extensive resources already exist. However for languages that are not as prominent, the process is more difficult. Many obstacles such as reliability and cost have hampered progress in this regard, and various separate tools for every stage of the development process have been developed to overcome these difficulties. Developing a system that is able to combine these identified partial solutions, involves customising existing tools and developing new ones to interface the overall end-to-end process. This work documents the integration of several tools to enable the end-to-end development of an Automatic Speech Recognition system in a typical under-resourced language. Google App Engine is employed as the core environment for data verification, storage and distribution, and used in conjunction with existing tools for gathering text data and for speech data recording. We analyse the data acquired by each of the tools and develop an ASR system in Shona, an important under-resourced language of Southern Africa. Although unexpected logistical problems complicated the process, we were able to collect a useable Shona speech corpus, and develop the first Automatic Speech Recognition system in that language. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The range of applications for high-quality automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems has grown dramatically with the advent of smart phones, in which speech recognition can greatly enhance the user experience. Currently, the languages with extensive ASR support on these devices are languages that have thousands of hours of transcribed speech corpora already collected. Developing a speech system for such a language is made simpler because extensive resources already exist. However for languages that are not as prominent, the process is more difficult. Many obstacles such as reliability and cost have hampered progress in this regard, and various separate tools for every stage of the development process have been developed to overcome these difficulties. Developing a system that is able to combine these identified partial solutions, involves customising existing tools and developing new ones to interface the overall end-to-end process. This work documents the integration of several tools to enable the end-to-end development of an Automatic Speech Recognition system in a typical under-resourced language. Google App Engine is employed as the core environment for data verification, storage and distribution, and used in conjunction with existing tools for gathering text data and for speech data recording. We analyse the data acquired by each of the tools and develop an ASR system in Shona, an important under-resourced language of Southern Africa. Although unexpected logistical problems complicated the process, we were able to collect a useable Shona speech corpus, and develop the first Automatic Speech Recognition system in that language. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The study was a descriptive quantitative survey which endeavoured to identify challenges experienced by IMCI trained registered nurses in implementing the guidelines and procedures of the strategy when tending children under 5 years in Gaborone health district. The study also solicited for recommendations on how to address the identified challenges. The research population comprised of all the IMCI-1 trained registered nurses and systematic sampling was employed to randomly select study participants. Data were collected using a questionnaire and was analysed using Excel Advanced software package. Study findings identified challenges related to political support, cost of IMCI training, training coverage, health systems and features of the IMCI strategy. Recommendations for improving use of the strategy included garnering for more political support, adopting short duration training courses, scaling up both pre-service and in-service training as well as addressing the challenges related to health systems and the unique features of the strategy / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

Alcohol-impaired driving is a major cause of motor vehicle accident and death in the United States. People who are arrested for DUI (Driving under the Influence) are at high risk to reoffend; approximately one in three of these individuals will commit another DUI offense in the three years following their first conviction (Nochajski & Stasiewicz, 2006). This high risk for recidivism in these individuals suggests that cognitive characteristics may contribute to a pattern of pathological decision making leading to impaired driving. Indeed, individuals with a history of DUI report higher rates of impulsiveness and behavioral dysregulation compared to their nonoffending peers. Relatively little research, however, has used laboratory methods to identify the specific behavioral characteristics, such as poor inhibitory control or heightened sensitivity to immediate reward, which may differentiate DUI offenders from nonoffenders. Further, little is known about how individuals with a history of DUI respond following an acute dose of alcohol. Study 1 examined impulsivity in 20 adults with a recent DUI conviction and 20 adults with no history of DUI using self-report and behavioral measures of impulsivity. This study also used a novel decision-making paradigm to examine how different levels of risk and reward influenced the decision to drive after drinking in both groups. Results of this study found that DUI offenders did not differ from controls in their performance on behavioral measures of impulsivity. They did, however, report higher levels of impulsivity and demonstrated a greater willingness to tolerate higher levels of risk for more modest rewards. Study 2 examined the acute effects of alcohol and expectancy manipulation on driving performance and decision making in the same group of participants. Neither alcohol nor expectancy manipulation exerted a systematic effect on decision making in either group. Alcohol impaired driving performance equally in both groups, but the DUI group perceived themselves as less impaired by alcohol. Expectancy manipulation eliminated this group difference in perceived driving ability. Taken together, these findings identify processes that risk of impaired driving in DUI offenders. They may perceive themselves as less impaired by alcohol, leading to risky decision making when drinking. Expectancy manipulation may be a viable method of reducing risky decision making in DUI offenders.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Class imbalanced datasets constitute a significant portion of the machine learning problems of interest, where recog­nizing the ‘rare class’ is the primary objective for most applications. Traditional linear machine learning algorithms are often not effective in recognizing the rare class. In this research work, a specifically optimized feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed and developed to train from moderate to highly imbalanced datasets. The proposed methodology deals with the difficulty in classification task in multiple stages—by optimizing the training dataset, modifying kernel function to generate the gram matrix and optimizing the NN structure. First, the training dataset is extracted from the available sample set through an iterative process of selective under-sampling. Then, the proposed artificial NN comprises of a kernel function optimizer to specifically enhance class boundaries for imbalanced datasets by conformally transforming the kernel functions. Finally, a single hidden layer weighted neural network structure is proposed to train models from the imbalanced dataset. The proposed NN architecture is derived to effectively classify any binary dataset with even very high imbalance ratio with appropriate parameter tuning and sufficient number of processing elements. Effectiveness of the proposed method is tested on accuracy based performance metrics, achieving close to and above 90%, with several imbalanced datasets of generic nature and compared with state of the art methods. The proposed model is also used for classification of a 25GB computed tomographic colonography database to test its applicability for big data. Also the effectiveness of under-sampling, kernel optimization for training of the NN model from the modified kernel gram matrix representing the imbalanced data distribution is analyzed experimentally. Computation time analysis shows the feasibility of the system for practical purposes. This report is concluded with discussion of prospect of the developed model and suggestion for further development works in this direction.

L’étude des réseaux de microcapteurs sans fil met clairement en évidence la contrainte principale de l’autonomie en énergie. En effet, ces microcomposants autonomes et communicants appelés aussi nœuds du réseau sont dispersés dans des lieux parfois peu ou pas accessibles. L’objectif de notre travail est de proposer une méthode de conception d’un émetteur-récepteur adapté à ce type de réseaux. Partant d’une modélisation au niveau système mettant en relief la part prépondérante du module radiofréquence sur la consommation moyenne d’un nœud, nous avons développé trois nouveaux outils de conception correspondant à différents niveaux de modélisation de la chaine de communication. Leur utilisation conjointe et les résultats de simulations obtenus nous offrent la possibilité de mettre en relation les spécifications et les performances d’un module radiofréquence avec la consommation. L’association de ces outils dans une méthode de conception itérative nous a permis de dimensionner une chaine de communication en fonction d’une contrainte de consommation. Finalement, nous avons conçu, fabriqué et testé, un amplificateur faible bruit (LNA ou Low Noise Amplifier) à 868 MHz qui présente des caractéristiques très intéressantes en termes de consommation. / Survey on wireless microsensor networks highlights the main constraint of energy autonomy. In fact, these autonomous and communicating microcomponents named network nodes are scattered into few or not open environment. The goal of our work is to propose a transceiver design method adapted to microsensor networks. After a demonstration of predominant part of RF into the mean power consumption of a microsensor node, we developed three new simulation tools which correspond to different level of transceiver modelling. Their use and obtained simulation results demonstrate the relation between transceiver specifications and performances with power consumption. The association of these tools was used to propose a new design method under power consumption constraint. Finally, we designed, produced and tested a 868 MHz Low Noise Amplifier which presents interesting power consumption characteristics.