Decisions with Impact on Energy Reduction Opportunities : Swedish manufacturers and buyers of new single-family houses

This article discusses some of the complexities of human decision-making. It aims, in particular, at relating the nature of decision-making to the illusory dichotomies of change and stability, individual actions and cultural sharing. Serving as an illustration to the discussion of the article is ongoing fieldwork in contexts of buying, selling and constructing pre-fabricated detached houses in the central Sweden, and the very specific question of how decisions to install one kind of heating-system rather than another come about. A common reductionism is to narrow down the understanding of decisions about heating systems and energy consumption to conscious choices made by individual householders. I have asked myself whether, on the contrary, anyone actually makes such decisions at all. Perhaps some of these decisions are merely outcomes of interaction between different individuals with their respective responsibilities and focuses of interest.

Knubbved istället för vanlig ved? : slutrapport från projekt Styckeved för småskalig eldning

Chunkwood is a wood fuel with a fuel particle length between 50 and 150 mm, i.e. with a sizebetween wood chips and conventional firewood. Chunkwood can be produced and handled asrational as wood chips and can dry during storage like conventional firewood. This is known sincelong. In project Smallwood for small scale heating we have investigated if chunkwood can be usedin a small scale as a fuel for heating detached houses in conventional firewood boilers as well asautomatically fed to a boiler in a similar way as wood chips. We have also compared completesystems for small scale production, distribution and heating with chunkwood, wood chips andconventional firewood.Storage of chunkwood produced for testing small scale boilers confirmed that chunkwood can dryduring storage at least as good as conventional firewood. Tests in different boilers for detachedhomes showed that chunkwood can be used in conventional firewood boilers as well as in automaticallyfed wood chips boilers. Chunkwood can be delivered to the customer to the same or lowercost as wood chips and firewood, but need much less handling by the customer than conventionalfirewood. However, if chunkwood is used in a conventional firewood boiler, it needs some handlingby shovel and wheelbarrow. Technical development of handling from the storage to the boiler isneeded. In a somewhat larger scale, e.g. a boiler for apartment blocks or a small district heatingsystem, chunkwood should be very interesting as a replacement of fuel pellets or fuel briquettes. Itwould be interesting with some projects, which in this scale demonstrates the whole system fromthe forest to heat.

Communication in Smoking Cessation and Self-management : a study at Nurse-led COPD-clinics in Primary Health Care

ABSTRACTThe general aim of this thesis was to investigate behavioral change communication at nurse-led chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) clinics in primary health care, focusing on communication in self-management and smoking cessation for patients with COPD.Designs: Observational, prospective observational and experimental designs were used.Methods: To explore and describe the structure and content of self-management education and smoking cessation communication, consultations between patients (n=30) and nurses (n=7) were videotaped and analyzed with three instruments: Consulting Map (CM), the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) scale and the Client Language Assessment in Motivational Interviewing (CLAMI). To examine the effects of structured self-management education, patients with COPD (n=52) were randomized in an intervention and a control group. Patients’ quality of life (QoL), knowledge about COPD and smoking cessation were examined with a questionnaire on knowledge about COPD and smoking habits and with St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire, addressing QoL. Results: The findings from the videotaped consultations showed that communication about the reasons for consultation mainly concerned medical and physical problems and (to a certain extent) patients´ perceptions. Two consultations ended with shared understanding, but none of the patients received an individual treatment-plan. In the smoking cessation communication the nurses did only to a small extent evoke patients’ reasons for change, fostered collaboration and supported patients’ autonomy. The nurses provided a lot of information (42%), asked closed (21%) rather than open questions (3%), made simpler (14%) rather than complex (2%) reflections and used MI non-adherent (16%) rather than MI-adherent (5%) behavior. Most of the patients’ utterances in the communication were neutral either toward or away from smoking cessation (59%), utterances about reason (desire, ability and need) were 40%, taking steps 1% and commitment to stop smoking 0%. The number of patients who stopped smoking, and patients’ knowledge about the disease and their QoL, was increased by structured self-management education and smoking cessation in collaboration between the patient, nurse and physician and, when necessary, a physiotherapist, a dietician, an occupational therapist and/or a medical social worker.Conclusion The communication at nurse-led COPD clinics rarely involved the patients in shared understanding and responsibility and concerned patients’ fears, worries and problems only to a limited extent. The results also showed that nurses had difficulties in attaining proficiency in behavioral change communication. Structured self-management education showed positive effects on patients’ perceived QoL, on the number of patients who quit smoking and on patients’ knowledge about COPD.

Energy Efficiency through Thermal Energy Storage - Evaluation of the Possibilities for the Swedish Building Stock, Phase 1

As a first step in assessing the potential of thermal energy storage in Swedish buildings, the current situation of the Swedish building stock and different storage methods are discussed in this paper. Overall, many buildings are from the 1960’s or earlier having a relatively high energy demand, creating opportunities for large energy savings. The major means of heating are electricity for detached houses and district heating for multi dwelling houses and premises. Cooling needs are relatively low but steadily increasing, emphasizing the need to consider energy storage for both heat and cold. The thermal mass of a building is important for passive storage of thermal energy but this has not been considered much when constructing buildings in Sweden. Instead, common ways of storing thermal energy in Swedish buildings today is in water storage tanks or in the ground using boreholes, while latent thermal energy storage is still very uncommon.

Passive solar options for reducing heating demand and maintain indoor climate in a multifamily house in Sweden

This research was carried out by studying possible renovation of a two-storey detached multifamily building by using passive solar design options in a cold climate in Borlänge, Sweden where the heating Degree Days are 4451 (base 20°C). Borlänge`s housing company, Tunabyggen, plans to renovate the project house located inthe multicultural district, Jakobsgårdarna. The goal of the thesis was to suggest a redesign of the current building, decrease the heating energy use, by applying passive solar design and control strategies, in a most reasonable way. In addition ensure a better thermal comfort for the tenants in the dwellings. Literatures have been studied, from which can be inferred that passive design should be abasic design consideration for all housing constructions, because it has advantages to ensure thermal comfort, and reduce the energy use. In addition further savings can be achieved applying different types of control strategies, from which the house will be more personalized, and better adapted to the user’s needs.The proposed method is based on simulations by using TRNSYS software. First a proper building model was set up, which represents the current state of the project building. Then the thermal insulation and the windows were upgraded, based on today's building regulations. The developments of the passive solar options were accomplished in two steps. First of all the relevant basic passive design elements were considered, then those advantages were compared to the advantages of applying new conventional thermostat, and shading control strategies.The results show that there is significant potential with the different types of passive solar design; their usage depends primarily on the location of the site as well as the orientation of the project building. Applying the control strategies, such as thermostat, and shading control, along the thermal insulation upgrade, may lead to significant energy savings (around 40 %), by comparison to the reference building without any upgrade.

Seeking compositionality in holistic proto-language without substructure – do counterexamples overwhelm the fractionation process?

In holistic theories of protolanguage, a vital step is the fractionation process where holistic utterances are broken down into segments, and segments associated with semantic components. One problem for this process may be the occurrence of counterexamples to any segment-meaning connection. The actual abundance of such counterexamples is a contentious issue \cite{smith06,taller07}. Here I present calculations of the prevalence of counterexamples in model languages.  It is found that counterexamples are indeed abundant, much more numerous than positive examples for any plausible holistic language.

Simple Question, Complex Answer : Pathways Towards a 50% Decrease in Building Energy Use

Addressing building energy use is a pressing issue for building sector decision makers across Europe. In Sweden, some regions have adopted a target of reducing energy use in buildings by 50% until 2050. However, building codes currently do not support as ambitious objectives as these, and novel approaches to addressing energy use in buildings from a regional perspective are called for. The purpose of this licentiate thesis was to provide a deeper understanding of most relevant issues with regard to energy use in buildings from a broad perspective and to suggest pathways towards reaching the long-term savings objective. Current trends in building sector structure and energy use point to detached houses constructed before 1981 playing a key role in the energy transition, especially in the rural areas of Sweden. In the Swedish county of Dalarna, which was used as a study area in this thesis, these houses account for almost 70% of the residential heating demand. Building energy simulations of eight sample houses from county show that there is considerable techno-economic potential for energy savings in these houses, but not quite enough to reach the 50% savings objective. Two case studies from rural Sweden show that savings well beyond 50% are achievable, both when access to capital and use of high technology are granted and when they are not. However, on a broader scale both direct and indirect rebound effects will have to be expected, which calls for more refined approaches to energy savings. Furthermore, research has shown that the techno-economic potential is in fact never realised, not even in the most well-designed intervention programmes, due to the inherent complexity of human behaviour with respect to energy use. This is not taken account of in neither current nor previous Swedish energy use legislation. Therefore an approach that considers the technical prerequisites, economic aspects and the perspective of the many home owners, based on Community-Based Social Marketing methodology, is suggested as a way forward towards reaching the energy savings target.

Children's Vocabulary Development : The role of parental input, vocabulary composition and early communicative skills

The aim of this thesis is to examine the early vocabulary development of a sample of Swedish children in relation to parental input and early communicative skills. Three studies are situated in an overall description of early language development in children. The data analyzed in the thesis was collected within a larger project at Stockholm University (SPRINT- “Effects of enhanced parental input on young children’s vocabulary development and subsequent literacy development” [VR 2008-5094]). Data analysis was based on parental report via SECDI, the Swedish version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, and audio recordings. One study examined parental verbal interaction characteristics in three groups of children with varying vocabulary size at 18 months. The stability of vocabulary development at 18 and 24 months was investigated in a larger study, with focus on children’s vocabulary composition and grammatical abilities. The third study examined interrelations among early gestures, receptive and productive vocabulary, and grammar measured with M3L, i.e. three longest utterances, from 12 to 30 months. Overall results of the thesis highlight the importance of early language development. Variability in different characteristics in parental input is associated with variability in child vocabulary size. Children with large early vocabularies exhibit the most stability in vocabulary composition and the earliest grammatical development. Children’s vocabulary composition may reflect individual stylistic variation. Use of early gestures is associated differentially with receptive and productive vocabulary. Results of the thesis have implications for parents, child- and healthcare personnel, as well as researchers and educational practitioners. The results underscore the importance of high quality in adult-child interaction, with rich input fine-tuned to children’s developmental levels and age, together with high awareness of early language development.

Dokumentationens dilemman : Förskollärare samtalar om pedagogisk dokumentation

Abstract  Pedagogical documentation is a certain procedure for documenting that, in recent years, has been embraced in several Swedish preschools. Teachers document children’s actions and conversations usually by photos or video recordings. This documentation is to be used for a pedagogical purpose. However, studies and governmental inspections have shown that pedagogical documentation gives rise to many questions among preschool teachers. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into what is being expressed when preschool teachers discuss pedagogical documentation, focusing on themes of content and on the participants’ expressions of their points of view. The data is comprised of transcriptions from audio recordings of discussions conducted in a research circle. The participants are eight preschool teachers that met over the course of one year. Each meeting focused on the documentation provided by a different participant. In that way the contents of the discussions were framed by the teachers own questions and narratives. Theoretically, the study departs from Social Constructionism and Discursive Psychology. The preschool teachers’ utterances have been analyzed using concepts of interpretative repertoires and ideological dilemmas. The results show the main themes to be: Knowledge content in a preschool setting, children’s learning, the teacher’s role and implementation of pedagogical documentation. The participants’ joint position is that the knowledge content at the preschool level is defined by the curriculum for the preschool. Concerning children’s learning and the teacher’s role, two main standpoints are disclosed. Ideologically those standpoints derive from two opposing theories of education. Based on how the standpoints have been expressed I have called them ”predetermined learning” versus ”non-predetermined learning”. One main distinction between the standpoints is that predetermined learning emphasizes the results of learning, while non-predetermined learning emphasizes the processes of learning. The participants’ utterances show that teachers tend to subscribe to the idea that there is only one acceptable way of working with pedagogical documentation. This sometimes creates performance anxiety and feelings of not succeeding and has led to arguments advocating an alternate approach; pedagogical documentation can be done in many ways. The ideological dilemmas within the discourse can be perceived as resources by which the participants argue about knowledge, learning, teaching and about the implementation of pedagogical documentation.

Ne videt, ne znat – det direkta objektets kasus vid två negerade ryska verb

This essay examines the case of the direct object in Russian sentences with the negated verbs не видеть and не знать. For each verb, 50 contexts were downloaded from the newspaper corpus of the Russian National Corpus and analysed with respect to the semantic properties of the direct object and the negated verb. The theories and concepts used for the analysis have been outlined in Padutjeva, 2006. The analysis of не видеть suggests that the main difference between the genitive and the ac-cusative case is to be found in the notion of non-existence or absence implicated by the verb’s semantics. In utterances with не видеть as a predicate, this notion is always present and is expressed by the genitive case. The speaker may also choose to ignore it by using the accusa-tive and thus emphasize some other aspect of the described situation. The examined properties of reference, definiteness and denotative status of the direct object seem to play a secondary role for how case is used. Their influence is to delimit the meaning of the objective genitive to either non-existence or absence. No similar conclusions could be drawn from the examination of не знать. The reason for this is that the concept of private sphere, used by Padutjeva to explain the use of objective geni-tive with this verb, could not be properly established during the analysis. Just as the notion of absence is crucial for the understanding of the objective genitive when it occurs with не видеть, the concept private sphere seems to be the key to understand it when it occurs with не знать.

Topic- and mode-sensitive interaction strategies : Functions of ellipsis in oral communication

In this article, we discuss ellipsis as an interactive strategy by analysing the author’s textchat corpus and the VOICE corpus of English as a Lingua Franca. It is found that there were fewer repetitions in the textchat data, and this is explained as a consequence of the textchat mode. Textchat contributions are preserved as long as the chat is active or has been saved, and therefore users can scroll through and review the discussion, compared to the more fleeting nature of oral conversation. As a result, repetition is less necessary. The frequency of other functions identified could be attributed to the topic of discourse. Discussions involve much ellipsis used to develop discourse, although some were self-presentations with repetition used to confirm details. Back-channel support and comments were often low because speakers instead used forms like yeah as supportive utterances.

Livsfrågor och religionskunskap : En belysning av ett centralt begrepp i svensk religionsdidaktik

This thesis focuses on “livsfrågor” (questions of life) a typical Swedish concept introduced in the RE syllabus in the curriculum for compulsory schools in 1969. The study poses three questions: what can qualify as a “livsfråga”, why are they regarded important, and how do they fit into teaching? The main purpose is to study differences of the concept in two materials. Primarily interviews with Teacher educators all over Sweden and, secondly in the R.E. syllabus for compulsory and secondary schools from 1962 until today. Finally, the two materials used, will be brought together, and foci are recognized with the help of a tool for thought.  The study is using the concept dialogicity from Bachtin. Syllabus are viewed as compromises in accordance with a German tradition. In the syllabus, “livsfrågor” is one within many different words used with none what so ever stringency. It is not necessarily the most important term, as “livsåskådningsfrågor” (questions within philosophies of life)  is often dominating in objectivities. Also “existential questions” etc is used. The relation between the words are never made clear.  The syllabus are in one sense monologial as different meanings of the word are not made explicit, and other utterances are not invoked. In the interviews the dialogicity is more obvious. Philosophy is mentioned, eg.. Martin Buber, Viktor Frankl, theology (Paul Thillich), but also literature (Lars Gyllensten) and existentialism in a general sence. Other words are not as frequent – but “livsåskådningsfrågor” are of course mentioned, eg. Faith vs. knowledge. In the last chapter “livsfrågor” is problematized with the help of Andrew Wright and his three metanarrativies within the modern R.E. And the assumption, especially in the syllabus, of “livsfrågor”, as common between cultures and over time is problematized with the help of . feministic theory of knowledge.