Ambiguous Artefacts : Solar Collectors in Swedish Contexts. On Processes of Cultural Modification

This is a book about solar collectors and the place of these artefacts in a political energy debate that has aroused strong feelings in Sweden during the last twenty-five years. It is a book about the hopes for a less polluted earth, which solar collectors have come to symbolise, and a book about the ways in which problems in utilising solar energy are culturally perceived. One main aims of this study has been to find out more about the conflicting perceptions of solar collectors as 'saviours of the world' and simultaneously as uninteresting or less credible artefacts that 'may come in the future'. Another main purpose of the study has been to describe and explain those cultural processes of modification that are taking place around solar collectors in active attempts to integrate these into established cultural structures.

Thermal energy storage in Swedish single family houses : a case study

In a Nordic climate, space heating (SH) and domestic hot water (DHW) used in buildings constitute a considerable part of the total energy use in the country. For 2010, energy used for SH and DHW amounted to almost 90 TWh in Sweden which corresponds to 60 % of the energy used in the residential and service sector, or almost 24 % of the total final energy use for the country. Storing heat and cold with the use of thermal energy storage (TES) can be one way of increasing the energy efficiency of a building by opening up possibilities for alternative sources of heat or cold through a reduced mismatch between supply and demand. Thermal energy storage without the use of specific control systems are said to be passive and different applications using passive TES have been shown to increase energy efficiency and/or reduce power peaks of systems supplying the heating and cooling needs of buildings, as well as having an effect on the indoor climate. Results are however not consistent between studies and focus tend to be on the reduction of cooling energy or cooling power peaks. In this paper, passive TES introduced through an increased thermal mass in the building envelope to two single family houses with different insulation standard is investigated with building energy simulations. A Nordic climate is used and the focus of this study is both on the reduction of space heating demand and space heating power, as well as on reduction of excess temperatures in residential single family houses without active cooling systems. Care is taken to keep the building envelope characteristics other than the thermal mass equal for all cases so that any observations made can be derived to the change in thermal mass. Results show that increasing the sensible thermal mass in a single family house can reduce the heating demand only slightly (1-4 %) and reduce excess temperatures (temperatures above 24 degrees C) by up to 20 %. Adding a layer of PCM (phase change materials) to the light building construction can give similar reduction in heating demand and excess temperatures, however the phase change temperature is important for the results.

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.

Solcellsdrivet FTX-system för miljonprogramshus : Tjärna Ängar, Borlänge

Projektet omfattade undersökning och framtagande av ett solcellssystem med förmåga att försörja ett FTX-system i ett flerbostadshus från miljonprogrammet med el. För att kunna bedöma storlek och utformning av komponenter har information tagits genom: Informationssökning via databaser, kurslitteratur och intervjuer Simuleringar av solceller i datorprogrammet PVSYST Modulering av ventilationskanaler i datorprogrammet MagiCAD Syftet var främst att undersöka om det gick att få fram ett teoretiskt fungerande system med avseende på både solceller och ventilation. Beroende på vad resultatet blev skulle även ekonomin i projektet undersökas. Undersökningen visade att det teoretiskt ska gå att installera solceller för elframställning som klarar av att täcka FTX-systemets elbehov på årsbasis. Solcellerna bedöms även producera tillräckligt med el för viss övrig elkrävande utrustning under stora delar av året. Det visade sig även att det skulle gå att få solcellerna ekonomiskt lönsamma om en kalkyltid på 14 år används. Metoden som använts för dessa resultat är noga beskriven och är med små förändringar tillämpbar för ett stort antal byggnader i det svenska byggnadsbeståndet. En viktig slutsats är att om fastighetsägarna kan se 15 år fram i tiden för en investering i solenergi, skulle det innebära inte bara miljömässiga utan även ekonomiska vinster. Det finns redan idag kunnande, teknik och produkter för att utvinna en stor del av fastigheternas elbehov genom solens energi.

Simulation and optimisation techniques for sawmill yard operation : A literature review

Increasing costs and competitive business strategies are pushing sawmill enterprises to make an effort for optimization of their process management. Organizational decisions mainly concentrate on performance and reduction of operational costs in order to maintain profit margins. Although many efforts have been made, effective utilization of resources, optimal planning and maximum productivity in sawmill are still challenging to sawmill industries. Many researchers proposed the simulation models in combination with optimization techniques to address problems of integrated logistics optimization. The combination of simulation and optimization technique identifies the optimal strategy by simulating all complex behaviours of the system under consideration including objectives and constraints. During the past decade, an enormous number of studies were conducted to simulate operational inefficiencies in order to find optimal solutions. This paper gives a review on recent developments and challenges associated with simulation and optimization techniques. It was believed that the review would provide a perfect ground to the authors in pursuing further work in optimizing sawmill yard operations.

The role of entrepreneurial networking on internationalization of a micro-sized Born Global Swedish fashion company : A narrative ethnographic research

Background: In recent studies a lot of attention is drawn to the connection between networking and entrepreneurship. Many scholars consider successful business and networking inseparable. Taking into consideration the topicality of the two notions discussed above the authors of this thesis decided to conduct the research dedicated to these phenomena in the field that interests them most – in the field of Swedish fashion. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to gain a deeper insight into entrepreneur’s experiences to point out the role of entrepreneurial networking in the process of internationalization of a micro-sized Swedish fashion company and to contribute to the research in this field by telling its unique story. Method: To achieve the purpose of the research a narrative ethnographic research was conducted. This research strategy was chosen because it suits the purpose best by giving an opportunity to get fresh insights into the field of entrepreneurial networking from the point of view of the entrepreneur. The data collected has a narrative nature therefore narrative analysis is used to present it. The methods of gathering the data are face-to-face interview and documents. Conclusion: we can define the most important role of entrepreneurial networking on the internationalization process of Odeur as an effective accelerator and a tool to fulfil the knowledge and expertise gaps in certain areas through other actors in the network.

The Survivability of Swedish Emergency Management Related Research Centers and Academic Programs : A Preliminary Sociology of Science Analysis

The Survivability of Swedish Emergency Management Related Research Centers and Academic Programs: A Preliminary Sociology of Science Analysis Despite being a relatively safe nation, Sweden has four different universities supporting four emergency management research centers and an equal and growing number of academic programs. In this paper, I discuss how these centers and programs survive within the current organizational environment. The sociology of science or the sociology of scientific knowledge perspectives should provide a theoretical guide. Yet, scholars of these perspectives have produced no research on these related topics. Thus, the population ecology model and the notion of organizational niche provide my theoretical foundation. My data come from 26 interviews from those four institutions, the gathering of documents, and observations. I found that each institution has found its own niche with little or no competition – with one exception. Three of the universities do have an international focus. Yet, their foci have minimal overlap. Finally, I suggest that key aspects of Swedish culture, including safety, and a need aid to the poor, help explain the extensive funding these centers and programs receive to survive. 

Health care providers' perceptions of and attitudes towards induced abortions in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia : a systematic literature review of qualitative and quantitative data.

BACKGROUND: Unsafe abortions are a serious public health problem and a major human rights issue. In low-income countries, where restrictive abortion laws are common, safe abortion care is not always available to women in need. Health care providers have an important role in the provision of abortion services. However, the shortage of health care providers in low-income countries is critical and exacerbated by the unwillingness of some health care providers to provide abortion services. The aim of this study was to identify, summarise and synthesise available research addressing health care providers' perceptions of and attitudes towards induced abortions in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. METHODS: A systematic literature search of three databases was conducted in November 2014, as well as a manual search of reference lists. The selection criteria included quantitative and qualitative research studies written in English, regardless of the year of publication, exploring health care providers' perceptions of and attitudes towards induced abortions in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. The quality of all articles that met the inclusion criteria was assessed. The studies were critically appraised, and thematic analysis was used to synthesise the data. RESULTS: Thirty-six studies, published during 1977 and 2014, including data from 15 different countries, met the inclusion criteria. Nine key themes were identified as influencing the health care providers' attitudes towards induced abortions: 1) human rights, 2) gender, 3) religion, 4) access, 5) unpreparedness, 6) quality of life, 7) ambivalence 8) quality of care and 9) stigma and victimisation. CONCLUSIONS: Health care providers in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia have moral-, social- and gender-based reservations about induced abortion. These reservations influence attitudes towards induced abortions and subsequently affect the relationship between the health care provider and the pregnant woman who wishes to have an abortion. A values clarification exercise among abortion care providers is needed.

On statistical bounds of heuristic solutions to location problems

Solutions to combinatorial optimization problems, such as problems of locating facilities, frequently rely on heuristics to minimize the objective function. The optimum is sought iteratively and a criterion is needed to decide when the procedure (almost) attains it. Pre-setting the number of iterations dominates in OR applications, which implies that the quality of the solution cannot be ascertained. A small, almost dormant, branch of the literature suggests using statistical principles to estimate the minimum and its bounds as a tool to decide upon stopping and evaluating the quality of the solution. In this paper we examine the functioning of statistical bounds obtained from four different estimators by using simulated annealing on p-median test problems taken from Beasley’s OR-library. We find the Weibull estimator and the 2nd order Jackknife estimator preferable and the requirement of sample size to be about 10 being much less than the current recommendation. However, reliable statistical bounds are found to depend critically on a sample of heuristic solutions of high quality and we give a simple statistic useful for checking the quality. We end the paper with an illustration on using statistical bounds in a problem of locating some 70 distribution centers of the Swedish Post in one Swedish region. 

A stopping rule while searching for optimal solution of facility-location

Solutions to combinatorial optimization, such as p-median problems of locating facilities, frequently rely on heuristics to minimize the objective function. The minimum is sought iteratively and a criterion is needed to decide when the procedure (almost) attains it. However, pre-setting the number of iterations dominates in OR applications, which implies that the quality of the solution cannot be ascertained. A small branch of the literature suggests using statistical principles to estimate the minimum and use the estimate for either stopping or evaluating the quality of the solution. In this paper we use test-problems taken from Baesley's OR-library and apply Simulated Annealing on these p-median problems. We do this for the purpose of comparing suggested methods of minimum estimation and, eventually, provide a recommendation for practioners. An illustration ends the paper being a problem of locating some 70 distribution centers of the Swedish Post in a region.

Confidence in heuristic solutions?

Solutions to combinatorial optimization problems frequently rely on heuristics to minimize an objective function. The optimum is sought iteratively and pre-setting the number of iterations dominates in operations research applications, which implies that the quality of the solution cannot be ascertained. Deterministic bounds offer a mean of ascertaining the quality, but such bounds are available for only a limited number of heuristics and the length of the interval may be difficult to control in an application. A small, almost dormant, branch of the literature suggests using statistical principles to derive statistical bounds for the optimum. We discuss alternative approaches to derive statistical bounds. We also assess their performance by testing them on 40 test p-median problems on facility location, taken from Beasley’s OR-library, for which the optimum is known. We consider three popular heuristics for solving such location problems; simulated annealing, vertex substitution, and Lagrangian relaxation where only the last offers deterministic bounds. Moreover, we illustrate statistical bounds in the location of 71 regional delivery points of the Swedish Post. We find statistical bounds reliable and much more efficient than deterministic bounds provided that the heuristic solutions are sampled close to the optimum. Statistical bounds are also found computationally affordable.

Lifestyle and health status in a sample of Swedish women four years after pregnancy : a comparison of women with a history of normal pregnancy and women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Despite the recommendations to continue the regime of healthy food and physical activity (PA) postpartum for women with previous gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the scientific evidence reveals that these recommendations may not be complied to. This study compared lifestyle and health status in women whose pregnancy was complicated by GDM with women who had a normal pregnancy and delivery. Methods: The inclusion criteria were women with GDM (ICD-10: O24.4 A and O24.4B) and women with uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery in 2005 (ICD-10: O80.0). A random sample of women fulfilling the criteria (n = 882) were identified from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. A questionnaire was sent by mail to eligible women approximately four years after the pregnancy. A total of 444 women (50.8%) agreed to participate, 111 diagnosed with GDM in their pregnancy and 333 with normal pregnancy/ delivery. Results: Women with previous GDM were significantly older, reported higher body weight and less PA before the index pregnancy. No major differences between the groups were noticed regarding lifestyle at the follow-up. Overall, few participants fulfilled the national recommendations of PA and diet. At the follow-up, 19 participants had developed diabetes, all with previous GDM. Women with previous GDM reported significantly poorer self-rated health (SRH), higher level of sick-leave and more often using medication on regular basis. However, a history of GDM or having overt diabetes mellitus showed no association with poorer SRH in the multivariate analysis. Irregular eating habits, no regular PA, overweight/obesity, and regular use of medication were associated with poorer SRH in all participants. Conclusions: Suboptimal levels of PA, and fruit and vegetable consumption were found in a sample of women with a history of GDM as well as for women with normal pregnancy approximately four years after index pregnancy. Women with previous GDM seem to increase their PA after childbirth, but still they perform their PA at lower intensity than women with a history of normal pregnancy. Having GDM at index pregnancy or being diagnosed with overt diabetes mellitus at follow-up did not demonstrate associations with poorer SRH four years after delivery.

Den ofrånkomliga nationalismen

The necessary nationalism This article deals with the role of fictional narratives, especially the modern novel, in the formation of national identities. Naguib Mafouz’s Cairo trilogy is referred to as an example of how literature may both serve as the mirror image of national identities and as an agency in their formation. The sense of community attachment to a modern state is ”thinner” than to a family or traditional village and/or tribe, though no less vital. Drawing on Norbert Elias’s concept of ”survival unit,” Benedict Anderson’s ”imagined communities” and recent studies in the field of comparative literature by Gregory Jusdanis and Azade Seyhan, this article argues for the necessity of the nation – in spite of its unfavourable chauvinistic reputation. This contention is discussed in relation to recent literary developments in Turkey and recent debates on nationhood in a Swedish context.