The society today lives on the philosophy of ‘take-make-use-dispose.’ In the long run, this is not sustainable as the natural resources and the waste carrying capacity of the earth are limited. Therefore, it is essential to reduce dependency on the natural resources by decoupling the growth from the consumption. In this venture, both the society and the manufacturing industry have a vital role to play. The society needs to shift towards Circular Economy that rests upon the philosophy of ‘take-make-use-reuse’ and the manufacturing industry has to be a major stakeholder in this shift. Despite being proven to be both economically and environmentally beneficial, successful examples of circular systems are few today. This is primarily due to two reasons; firstly, there is a lack of systemic and systematic approach to guide industries and secondly, there is a lack of analysis methods and tools that are capable of assessing different aspects of circular manufacturing systems. Taking on to these challenges, the objective of this research is to bring forward a framework with methods and decision support tools that are essential to implement circular manufacturing systems. The initial conceptual framework with the systemic approach is developed based on extensive review and analysis of research, which is further adapted for industrial implementation. Systematic analysis methods, decision support and implementation tools are developed to facilitate this adaptation. This development has been supported by four cases from diverse manufacturing sectors. Behind each decision support tool, there are analysis methods built upon mainly system dynamics principles. These tools are based on simulation platforms called Stella and Anylogic. Among other things, these tools are capable of assessing the performance of closed-loop supply chains, consequences of resource scarcity, potential gains from resource conservation and overall economic and environmental performance of circular manufacturing systems.

Purpose

The question of resource scarcity and emerging pressure of environmental legislations has brought a new challenge for the manufacturing industry. On the one hand, there is a huge population that demands a large quantity of commodities; on the other hand, these demands have to be met by minimum resources and pollution. Resource conservative manufacturing (ResCoM) is a proposed holistic concept to manage these challenges. The successful implementation of this concept requires cross functional collaboration among relevant fields, and among them, closed loop supply chain is an essential domain. The paper aims to highlight some misconceptions concerning the closed loop supply chain, to discuss different challenges, and in addition, to show how the proposed concept deals with those challenges through analysis of key performance indicators (KPI).

Methods

The work presented in this paper is mainly based on the literature review. The analysis of performance of the closed loop supply chain is done using system dynamics, and the Stella software has been used to do the simulation. Findings The results of the simulation depict that in ResCoM; the performance of the closed loop supply chain is much enhanced in terms of supply, demand, and other uncertainties involved. The results may particularly be interesting for industries involved in remanufacturing, researchers in the field of closed loop supply chain, and other relevant areas. Originality The paper presented a novel research concept called ResCoM which is supported by system dynamics models of the closed loop supply chain to demonstrate the behavior of KPI in the closed loop supply chain.

In wireless and mobile IP networks there is a need to support a set of functions that are related to wireless QoS provisioning, resource optimizations, mobility and security management and operator policy enforcement. These requirements have lead to the frequent usage of so called middleboxes including header/payload compressors, performance enhancement proxies, tunnel endpoints, packet filters and redirectors, QoS schedulers and others. Unfortunately, the increasing usage of these types of devices often leads to undesirable artifacts called feature interactions. In this paper we propose a framework that aims to coordinate the operation of middleboxes such that feature interactions are avoided. The three main ideas are (1) the separation of the control plane from the distributed network nodes, (2) the usage of a middlebox function independent horizontal protocol that allows mobile hosts to communicate their desired service requests to the network and (3) the usage of a vertical protocol between the network control and user planes. We present two examples in which this framework helps eliminate the risk for feature interactions. We comment on the relationship between the end-to-end principle and this framework. Finally, we discuss how future middleboxes can fit into this framework.

A novel arc heat treatment technique was applied to design a uniquely graded super duplex stainless steel (SDSS), by subjecting a single sample to a steady state temperature gradient for 10 h. A new experimental approach was used to map precipitation in microstructure, covering aging temperatures of up to 1430 °C. The microstructure was characterized and functionality was evaluated via hardness mapping. Nitrogen depletion adjacent to the fusion boundary depressed the upper temperature limit for austenite formation and influenced the phase balance above 980 °C. Austenite/ferrite boundaries deviating from Kurdjumov–Sachs orientation relationship (OR) were preferred locations for precipitation of σ at 630–1000 °C, χ at 560–1000 °C, Cr2N at 600–900 °C and R between 550 °C and 700 °C. Precipitate morphology changed with decreasing temperature; from blocky to coral-shaped for σ, from discrete blocky to elongated particles for χ, and from polygonal to disc-shaped for R. Thermodynamic calculations of phase equilibria largely agreed with observations above 750 °C when considering nitrogen loss. Formation of intermetallic phases and 475 °C-embrittlement resulted in increased hardness. A schematic diagram, correlating information about phase contents, morphologies and hardness, as a function of exposure temperature, is introduced for evaluation of functionality of microstructures.

This thesis presents the development of integrated silicon photonic devices. These devices are compatible with the present and near future CMOS technology. High-khorizontal grating couplers and waveguides are proposed. This work consists of simulations and device design, as well as the layout for the fabrication process, device fabrication, process development, characterization instrument development and electro-optical characterizations.

The work demonstrates an alternative solution to costly silicon-on-insulator photonics. The proposed solution uses bulk silicon wafers and thin film deposited waveguides. Back-end deposited horizontal slot grating couplers and waveguides are realized by multi-layers of amorphous silicon and high-k materials.

The achievements of this work include: A theoretical study of fully etched slot grating couplers with Al₂O₃, HfO2 and AIN, an optical study of the high-k films with spectroscopic ellipsometry, an experimental demonstration of fully etched SiO2 single slot grating couplers and double slot Al₂O₃ grating couplers, a practical demonstration of horizontal double slot high-k waveguides, partially etched Al₂O₃ single slot grating couplers, a study of a scheme for integration of the double slot Al₂O₃  waveguides with selectively grown germanium PIN photodetectors, realization of test chips for the integrated germanium photodetectors, and study of integration with graphene photodetectors through embedding the graphene into a high-k slot layer.

From an application point of view, these high-k slot waveguides add more functionality to the current silicon photonics. The presented devices can be used for low cost photonics applications. Also alternative optical materials can be used in the context of this photonics platform.

With the robust design, the grating couplers result in improved yield and a more cost effective solution is realized for integration of the waveguides with the germanium and graphene photodetectors.

In view of the fact that most of the synthetic refrigerants, in case of leakage or release, are harmful to the environment by contributing in global warming or depleting stratospheric ozone layer, many research works have been done recently to find alternative refrigerants posing no or negligible threat to the environment. Among alternative refrigerants, ammonia, a natural refrigerant with zero Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), can be a sensible choice.Although ammonia has been used for many years in large industrial systems, its application in small units is rare. In this project a small heat pump with about 7 kW heating capacity at -5 °C and +40 °C evaporation and condensation temperatures is designed and built to work with ammonia as refrigerant. The heat pump is expected to produce enough heat to keep a single-family house warm in Sweden and to provide tap hot water for the house. After successful completion of this project, it is planned to install the heat pump in a house to test it throughout a heating season to study its performance in real working conditions.Since ammonia is flammable and toxic in high concentrations, the refrigerant charge is tried to be kept low in the heat pump to reduce the risk of fire or poisoning in case of unwanted release of refrigerant to the surroundings. The compact design of the heat pump helps reducing the refrigerant charge. Besides, considering the limited space normally reserved for installation of a heat pump in a house, the compact design of the heat pump is necessary.

Refrigeration plays a crucial role in many different sectors and consumes about 17% of the electricity produced globally. This significant energy consumption implies large share of refrigeration in primary energy consumption and other environmental impacts. In addition to the environmental impacts associated with energy consumption, the vapor-compression systems contribute in global warming due to the release of their gaseous refrigerants into the atmosphere. As an alternative technology for near room-temperature applications, magnetic refrigeration is proposed by some researchers to eliminate the release of gaseous refrigerants into the atmosphere and to reduce the energy consumption. This thesis is a compilation of a number of studies done on magnetic refrigeration for room-temperature applications.

In the first study, the environmental impacts associated to magnetic refrigeration are looked at closely through a life cycle assessment. The life cycle assessment indicates that because of the environmental burdens related to the rare-earth materials used in magnetic refrigeration, the reduction in the environmental impacts is not guaranteed by switching to magnetic refrigeration technology. Accordingly to avoid the extra environmental impacts the magnetic refrigeration systems should use magnetic materials frugally, which requires an optimized design. In addition, operation with higher efficiency compared to vapor-compression systems is necessary to have environmental advantages, at least in some impact categories.

A practical method to optimize the design of magnetic refrigeration systems, e.g. to have a compact design or high efficiency, is utilizing a flexible software model, with which the effect of varying different parameters on the performance of the system can be simulated. Such a software model of the magnetic refrigeration system is developed and validated in this project. In developing the model one goal is to add to the precision of the simulated results by taking more details into consideration. This goal is achieved by an innovative way of modeling the parasitic heat transfer and including the effect of the presence of magnetocaloric materials on the strength of the field created by the magnet assembly. In addition, some efforts are made to modify or correct the existing correlations to include the effect of binding agents used in some active magnetic regenerators. Validation of the developed software model is done using the experimental results obtained from the prototype existing at the Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

One of the parameters that can be modified by the developed software model is the choice of the magnetocaloric materials for each layer in a layered active magnetic regenerator. Utilizing the software model for optimizing the choice of the materials for the layers reveals that materials with critical temperatures equal to the cyclic average temperature of the layers in which they are used do not necessarily result in the desired optimum performance. In addition, for maximizing different outputs of the models, such as energy efficiency or temperature lift sustained at the two ends of the regenerators, different choice of materials for the layers are needed. Therefore, in other studies seeking to improve one of the outputs of a system, the choice of the transition or critical temperatures of the materials for each layer is an additional parameter to be optimized.

The prototype existing at the Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, was initially designed for replacing the vapor-compression system of a professional refrigerator. However, it could not fulfil the requirements for which it was initially designed. The aforementioned developed simulation model is used to see how much the choice of the materials, size of the particles, and number of layers can enhance the performance while the operation frequency and flow rate of the heat transfer fluid are at their optimum values. In other words, in that study the room for improvement in the performance without applying major changes in the system such as the geometry of the regenerator, which implies redesigning the whole magnet assembly, is investigated. In the redesign process the effect of binding agent and the limitations associated to different properties of it is also investigated theoretically. Nevertheless, the study did not show that with keeping the geometry of the regenerators and the currently existing magnetocaloric materials the initial goals of the prototype can be achieved.

In the next study more flexible choice of geometries and magnetocaloric materials are considered. In fact, in this study it is investigated how much the magnetocaloric materials need to be improved so that magnetic refrigeration systems can compete with vapor-compression ones in terms of performance. For the two investigated cases, the magnetic-field dependent properties of the currently existing materials are enough provided that some other issues such as low mechanical stability and inhomogeneity of the properties are solved. Nevertheless, for more demanding design criteria, such as delivering large cooling capacity over a considerable temperature span while the magnetic materials are used sparingly, the magnetic-field dependent properties need to be enhanced, as well.

A less explored area in room-temperature magnetic refrigeration is the subject of another study included in the thesis. In this study, solid-state magnetic refrigeration systems with Peltier elements as heat switches are modeled. Since the Peltier elements consume electricity to pump heat, the modeled systems can be considered hybrid magnetocaloric-Peltier cooling systems. For such systems the detailed transient behavior of the Peltier elements together with layers of magnetocaloric materials are modeled. The mathematical model is suitable for implementation in programing languages without the need for commercial modeling platforms. The parameters affecting the performance of the modeled system are numerous, and optimization of them requires a separate study. However, the preliminary attempts on optimizing the modeled system does not give promising results. Accordingly, focusing on passive heat switches can be more beneficial.

In this paper, we study optimization of multi-tone signals for wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. We investigate different non-linear energy harvesting models. Two of them are adopted to optimize the multi-tone signal according to the channel state information available at the transmitter. We show that a second-order polynomial curve-fitting model can be utilized to optimize the multi-tone signal for any RF energy harvester design. We consider both single-antenna and multi-antenna WPT systems. In-band co-existing communication links are also considered in this work by imposing a constraint on the received power at the nearby information receiver to prevent its RF front end from saturation. We emphasize the importance of imposing such constraint by explaining how inter-modulation products, due to saturation, can cause high interference at the information receiver in the case of multi-tone signals. The multi-tone optimization problem is formulated as a non-convex linearly constrained quadratic program. Two globally optimal solution approaches using mixed-integer linear programming and finite branch-and-bound techniques are proposed to solve the problem. The achieved improvement resulting from applying both solution methods to the multi-tone optimization problem is highlighted through simulations and comparisons with other solutions existing in the literature.

In this paper, a dual-polarized multi-antenna structure is designed at 2.45 GHz with the goal of allowing simultaneous transmission of wireless information and power. Differential feeding was used to minimize the mutual coupling due to radiation leakage in addition to a mushroom-type EBG structure for suppressing the surface waves. Simulation results for the proposed structure show a mutual coupling level lower than -40 dB between the information transmitting antenna and the power transmitting antennas for both polarizations. The isolation level between the antennas is improved by at least 22 dB and 14 dB for the E-plane and H-plane coupling, respectively.

Water jet cutting is generally considered to be a versatile processing technique with a variety of applications. Pure water jet cutting makes it possible to cut through soft materials like rubber, while an added abrasive allows cutting of including steel and ceramics. The cut leaves neither any residual stress nor heat stress in the material. In addition, the surface finish is often of high enough quality, making post treatment unnecessary. The process does not yield in any dangerous gases and is relatively environmentally friendly. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the water jet technology, its current, as well as new application areas. The goal was also to compare the technique with alternative processing methods in order to clarify the advantages and disadvantages between them. This was done in order to investigate which technologies are most appropriate to use depending on properties such as material, material thickness and size of the produced series. This paper has been written together from Sweden and France and a choice was hence made to investigate if the uses of water jet cutting differ between the two countries. To meet the objective, three questions were used to investigate how to expand the application areas of water jet cutting, what advantages and disadvantages there are between water jet cutting and other processing methods and how the scope of its applications differs between France and Sweden. The main sources of information for the work have been interviews with manufacturing companies that use water jet cutting, suppliers of water jet cutting machines and research institutes. Research articles have been used in order to extend the range of gathered information. Among primary sources for this report were websites of companies in the processing industry. This thesis shows that water jet technology is applicable in many industries and application areas that differ between France and Sweden, in France, used water jets are mainly used in the food industry, while it is more widespread in the engineering industry in Sweden. Companies in the Swedish market are skeptical about the use of water jet cutters exceeding 400 MPa, although it suggests many advantages. The main limitation of the water jet cutting procedure is the thickness of the material. Cutting steel beyond 30 mm in thickness, can result in a stream lag by delaying the water jet and thereby induce non‐precise cutting. This problem may be solved by changing the cutting parameters such as cutting speed or by inclining the cutting nozzle. Following an evaluation of plasma, laser and water jet cutters, none of the methods is directly competing with one another, since each single cutting technique is best suited for their intended use. The techniques complement each other rather than competing with one another.

Wireless communications rely, among other things, on theunderstanding of the properties of the radio propagationchannel, the antennas and their interplay. Adequate measurementsare required to verify theoretical models and togain knowledge of the channel behavior and antenna performance.As a result of this master thesis we built a 3D fieldscanner measurement system to predict multipath propagationand to measure antenna characteristics. The 3Dscanner allows measuring a signal at the point of interestalong a line, on a surface or within a volume in space. In orderto evaluate the system, we have performed narrowbandchannel sounding measurements of the spatial distributionof waves impinging at an imaginary spherical sector. Datawas used to estimate the Angle-of-Arrivals (AoA) and amplitudeof the waves. An estimation method is presented tosolve the resulting inverse problem by means of regularizationwith truncated singular value decomposition. The regularizedsolution was then further improved with the helpof a successive interference cancellation algorithm. Beforeapplying the method to measurement data, it was testedon synthetic data to evaluate its performance as a functionof the noise level and the number of impinging waves. Inorder to minimize estimation errors it was also required tofind the phase center of the horn antenna used in the channelmeasurements. The task was accomplished by directmeasurements and by the regularization method, both resultsbeing in good agreement.

A soil-steel composite bridge is a structure comprised of corrugated steel plates, which are joined with bolted connections, enclosed in friction soil material on both sides and on the top. The surrounding friction soil material, or backfill, is applied in sequential steps, each step involving compaction of the soil, which is a necessity for the construction to accumulate the required bearing capacity. Soil-steel composite bridges are an attractive option as compared with other more customary bridge types, owing to the lower construction time and building cost involved. This is particularly true in cases where gaps in the form of minor watercourses, roads or railways must be bridged.

The objective of this master thesis is the modelling of an existing soil-steel composite railway bridge in Märsta, Sweden with the finite element software Plaxis. A 3D model is created and calibrated for crown deflection against measurement data collected by the Division of Structural Engineering and Bridges of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden.

Once the 3D model is calibrated for deflection, two 2D models with different properties are created in much the same way. In model 1, the full axle load is used and the soil stiffness varied, and in model 2 the soil stiffness acquired in the 3D model is used and the external load varied. The results are compared to measurement data. In 2D model 1 an efficient width of 1,46 m for the soil stiffness is used in combination with the full axle load, and in 2D model 2 an efficient width of 2,85 m is used for the external load, in combination with the soil stiffness acquired in the 3D model.

Aside from this, parametric studies are performed in order to analyse the effect of certain input parameters upon output results, and in order to analyse influence line lengths.

Recreating the accelerations and stresses in the existing bridge using finite element models is complicated, and the results reflect this. Below are shown the discrepancies between model results and measurement data for the pipe crown. The scatter in the measurement data has not been taken into consideration for this; these specific numbers are valid only for one particular train passage.

For crown deflection, the 3D model shows a discrepancy of 4%, 2D model 1 5% and 2D model 2 8% compared with measurement data. For crown acceleration, in the same order, the discrepancy with measurements is 1%, 71% and 21% for maximum acceleration, and 46%, 35% and 28% for minimum acceleration. For maximum crown tensile stress, the discrepancy is 95%, 263% and 13%. For maximum crown compressive stress, the discrepancy is 70%, 16% and 46%.

In this paper we have theoretically built a house designed for people with impaired mobility. The

essay begins with an introduction in which the purpose of the work, the methodology and the

depth-research part is presented. Then the layout that explains how we intend to adapt the house

for the demands detailed in the depth-research part is presented. In the same chapter various

structural components, such as different floors and walls, are specified.

In the selection of materials we have taken into account the criteria of our specialization and

adaptation to the aesthetic aspects, where we evaluate materials based upon our wishes regarding

technique and form. There are also other aspects that are important in the selection of materials,

including that these are adapted to technical traits of the construction elements and installations.

In a later chapter the technical installations such as ventilation systems, heating systems,

electricity and sanitation are presented, where both technical and financial aspects are described

in detail. The economic aspects are also described in connection with calculating the building's

power and energy requirements and then presented in the section where costs are accounted for.

Finally, the work is summarized in the section “Conclusion and Discussion” in which we analyze

all the work, and based on these analyses conclusions are drawn. During the course of work

regulations such as Boverkets Byggregler (BBR) and other sources were used. These sources are

presented in the bibliography section. We also received help and guidance from our supervisors

in various parts of the work, which we are grateful for.

Abstract

A new generation of EN 1992-1-1 (2004) also known as Eurocode 2 is under development

and currently there is a set of proposed provisions regarding section 6.4

about punching shear, PT1prEN 1992-1-1(2017). It was of interest to compare the

proposal with the current punching shear design provisions.

The aim of this master thesis was to compare the punching shear resistance obtained

in accordance with both design codes. Furthermore the eect of some parameters

on the resistance was to be compared. It was also of interest to evaluate the userfriendliness

of the proposal.

In order to meet the aim, a case study of a real 　at slab with drop panels was performed

together with a parametric study of a pure ctive 　at slab. The parametric

study was performed for inner, edge and corner columns in the cases prestressed,

without and with shear reinforcement.

It was concluded that the distance

av from the column axis to the contra 　exural

location has a big in　uence on the punching shear resistance. The factor

ddg

considering concrete type and aggregate properties also has a big impact on the resistance.

The simplied estimation of

av according to 6.4.3(2) in PT1prEN 1992-1-1

(2017) may be inaccurate in some cases.

The length

b0 of the control perimeter has a larger eect on the resistance in EN

1992-1-1 (2004) than in PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017).

In PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017), studs located outside the second row has no impact

on the resistance.

The tensioning force in a prestressed 　at slab has a larger in　uence on the resistance

in PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017) than in EN 1992-1-1 (2004). Furthermore,

the reinforcement ratio is increased by the tendons, and thus aect the resistance in

PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017).

Clearer provisions for the denition of the support strip

bs for corners and ends

of walls are needed in PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017).

It may be questionable if the reduction of the perimeter for a large supported area in

accordance with 6.4.2(4) in PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017) underestimates the resistance

v

in some cases.

Considering the work-load with PT1prEN 1992-1-1 (2017), more parameters are

included. However, they may not require that much eort to obtain.

Keywords: Punching shear, resistance, concrete, 　at slab, design provisions, Eurocode

2, case study, parametric study, shear reinforcement, prestressed

vi

Climate change poses as one of the major environmental issues on a global scale today, with one of the largest contributor to the climate change being the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions in turn is known to a large extent originate in anthropogenic energy use, especially fossil fuel usage. This leads to almost a quarter of the global emissions today being emitted from the transport sector as the sector is primary fueled by fossil fuels.

Biofuels have been promoted as a strong candidate for fossil fuel substitution as it has similar properties while being renewable. However, even as biofuels have been increasing annually since 2008 globally, there are still concerns associated with the usages that have hindered its replacement of fossil fuels.

Indonesia, one of the most populated countries in Southeast Asia, is projected to be one of the world’s leading economies in 2050. In 2030, Indonesia in projected to have doubled its energy consumption since 2014, indicating that the decisions and actions taken today in Indonesia will have a significant impact on the future fuel consumption. This, in combination with being the largest producer of palm oil in the world, gives it a great potential to be in a leading position in the future production of biofuels, especially biodiesel from palm oil. Additionally, Indonesia has set mandatory targets for biofuel share in the transport sector which indicates that the country also seeks to promote the usages of biofuels.

This thesis intends to investigate Indonesia’s potential for biofuel development in the transport sector and which factors that could hinder it. More specifically, this study answers the two questions: (i) Which factors are hampering the development of biofuels in the Indonesian transportation sector from a multi-level perspective? and (ii) What is the projection of the Indonesian transport sector by 2030 in terms of fuel consumption and global warming potential (GWP) and what role could biofuels play in reducing those?

The data used were collected by interviews with stakeholders in Indonesia and a literature study, which afterwards was processed with the tools Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP). MLP is a concept aiming to describe how system transitions happens with the help of an examination of the linkages in between technology and society, whereas LEAP is an energy modeling tool used in order to create energy projections in different policy scenario options. In this research, MLP were used to capture and analyze the factors that influence the future implementation of biofuels in Indonesia from a socio-technical perspective, putting forward key barriers for biofuel implementation in Indonesia. LEAP was used to construct a model of the Indonesian transport sector to project the future fuel consumption and GWP emissions. This was used to examine biofuels importance as a fuel through scenarios where different Indonesian policy actions were appraised. Together, these two methods will provide an enlightening and concluding remark on the future possibilities for biofuels in Indonesia's transport sector in this thesis.

The major finding of the first research question were that biofuels in Indonesia were being introduced in Indonesia as the government saw economic benefits and a solution to the increased energy demand in Indonesia and an increased energy security in going towards a domestic produced energy source. The need for biofuels were also increased due to an increased global sustainability awareness, which also reached Indonesia.

Today, biofuels in Indonesia is in a socio-technical transition pathway to go from a niche innovation to a technology in the regime level, but in order for a breakthrough, a number of barriers needs to be addressed. The most mentioned barriers were the institutional and regulatory barriers, which mainly lays in a lack of cooperation amongst the regulatory institutions and a low rate of success of biofuel laws and regulations. Other barriers were the market barriers, closely connected in a subsidization of fossil fuels in Indonesia and a need for further subsidization of biofuels for the market for biofuels to exist in Indonesia. Furthermore, a technical barrier with the vehicle engine were seen as the engine needs improvements in order for a higher blending of biofuels in the fuel. There was also a concern of the perceived sustainability of biofuels in general (e.g. water scarcity and pollution) which was identified as a hindrance. It was also clear a social change is needed in order to push the biofuel breakthrough and enable it to reach its full potential. Today, the interviewees mainly see a development for the biofuel biodiesel and not for the biofuel bioethanol in Indonesia, which they mainly concluded as there is currently none or very little production and demand for bioethanol in Indonesia, and as well a lack of governmental support for bioethanol development.

For the second research question four scenarios were used; Business as Usual (a continuation of current trends), Improved Standards (an investigation of higher emissions standards and an increasing fuel efficiency), Biofuel Mandate (a mandatory biofuel share in fuels) and the Low Carbon scenario (a combination of the previous two as well as introduction of electric vehicles, changed car preferences and higher biofuel blending targets). Cars represents a tenth of the vehicle fleet and the share of diesel car amongst the cars are 5% while gasoline stands for 95%, the rest of the vehicles are gasoline driven motorcycles. The main findings were: the total vehicle fleet will have doubled by 2030. This rapid increase could cause stress on the domestic fuel supply, as the yearly fuel consumption is expected to grow from 770 million GJ in 2014 to 1850 million GJ in 2030, an increase by 140%. In the projection the fossil fuels are blended with biofuels, diesel is mixed with biodiesel while gasoline is blended with bioethanol. The annual diesel fuel consumption is projected to increase from 350 million liters to 1100 million in the Business as Usual scenario where the current trend was expected to continue. The implementation of biodiesel and bioethanol in the Biofuel Mandate scenario. Additionally, the Biofuel Mandate scenario resulted in a 12.6% reduction of GHG emissions during the projected period. The cumulative GHG emissions in the projection is estimated to be 1630 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2030 for the Business as Usual scenario. In the transport sector, gasoline is projected to increase from 23 billion liters to 54 billion liters over the period. In the Improved Standards scenario, where the emission standards are increased from Euro2 to Euro6 in 2030 for cars and Euro4 for motorcycles in 2025 as well as an annual fuel economy improvement of 2%, the total fuel consumption is reduced with 20% and GWP by 18%. It was found that the annual GWP could be reduced by almost 31% below the 2014 level, at 47 million metric tonnes of CO2Eq, if the actions of the Low Carbon scenario were achieved.

The barriers associated with the Improved Standards scenario were technical, institutional and regulatory while the Biofuel Mandate scenario also had financial, market and distribution barriers. The Low Carbon scenario had barriers from all of the identified barrier categories. The institutional and regulatory barrier was the most prevailing barrier for all of the scenarios.

The recommended actions based on the content of this thesis is to firstly promote collaboration between governmental institutes, stakeholders and authorities and include all stakeholders in the decision progress, this way, frameworks and regulations will have a chance to improve and increase the knowledge about biofuels in all levels. It is also important to implement a stronger biofuel R&D culture, promote a more sustainable biofuel development and increase the public awareness of biofuels. The implementation of biofuels will have a reducing effect on the total GWP and fossil fuel consumption. Gasoline is projected to remain the predominant fuel in the transport sector. Therefore will actions targeting the reduction or substitution of gasoline be more impactful than those towards diesel. However due to the availability and current production capacity of biodiesel there is still potential for higher share of biodiesel in fuels.

The most frequently sustained severe injuries in motorcycle crashes are injuries to the head, and many of these are caused by rotational force. Rotational force is most commonly the result of oblique impacts to the head. Good testing methods for evaluating the effects of such impacts are currently lacking. There is also a need for improving our understanding of the effects of oblique impacts on the human head. Helmet standards currently in use today do not measure rotational effects in test dummy heads. However rotational force to the head results in large shear strains arising in the brain, which has been proposed as a cause of traumatic brain injuries like diffuse axonal injuries (DAI). This paper investigates a number of well-defined impacts, simulated using a detailed finite element (FE) model of the human head, an FE model of the Hybrid III dummy head and an FE model of a helmet. The same simulations were performed on both the FE human head model and the FE Hybrid III head model, both fitted with helmets. Simulations on both these heads were performed to describe the relationship between load levels in the FE Hybrid III head model and strains in the brain tissue in the FE human head model. In this study, the change in rotational velocity and the head injury criterion (HIC) value were chosen as appropriate measurements. It was concluded that both rotational and translational effects are important when predicting the strain levels in the human brain.

At Inmotion Technologies, a special method of measuring phase currents is usedin the high power inverters for automotive applications. This method requiresa considerable amount of control logic, currently implemented with discretelogic gates distributed over a number of integrated circuits. In this thesis, thefeasibility of replacing this with programmable logic hardware in one singlepackage is investigated.The theory behind the current measurement method as well as the operationof the discrete implementation is analysed and described. Requirements ona programmable logic device to implement this was identified and a suitabledevice chosen accordingly. A prototype was developed and tested, interfacingan existing product.Benefits in terms of cost and size are evaluated as well as required changesto the existing system and the possibility for improvements brought by such achange is analysed. Since the products in question have high requirements onfunctional safety, possible impacts in this regard are discussed.

It has been demonstrated in a number of robotic areas how the use of virtual fixtures improves task performance both in terms of execution time and overall precision, [1]. However, the fixtures are typically inflexible, resulting in a degraded performance in cases of unexpected obstacles or incorrect fixture models. In this paper, we propose the use of adaptive virtual fixtures that enable us to cope with the above problems. A teleoperative or human machine collaborative setting is assumed with the core idea of dividing the task, that the operator is executing, into several subtasks. The operator may remain in each of these subtasks as long as necessary and switch freely between them. Hence, rather than executing a predefined plan, the operator has the ability to avoid unforeseen obstacles and deviate from the model. In our system, the probability that the user is following a certain trajectory (subtask) is estimated and used to automatically adjusts the compliance. Thus, an on-line decision of how to fixture the movement is provided.

Acquiring, representing and modeling human skins is one of the key research areas in teleoperation, programming. by-demonstration and human-machine collaborative settings. One of the common approaches is to divide the task that the operator is executing into several subtasks in order to provide manageable modeling. In this paper we consider the use of a Layered Hidden Markov Model (LHMM) to model human skills. We evaluate a gestem classifier that classifies motions into basic action-primitives, or gestems. The gestem classifiers are then used in a LHMM to model a simulated teleoperated task. We investigate the online and offline classilication performance with respect to noise, number of gestems, type of HAIM and the available number of training sequences. We also apply the LHMM to data recorded during the execution of a trajectory-tracking task in 2D and 3D with a robotic manipulator in order to give qualitative as well as quantitative results for the proposed approach. The results indicate that the LHMM is suitable for modeling teleoperative trajectory-tracking tasks and that the difference in classification performance between one and multi dimensional HMMs for gestem classification is small. It can also be seen that the LHMM is robust w.r.t misclassifications in the underlying gestem classifiers.

Acquiring, representing and modelling human skills is one of the key research areas in teleoperation, programming-by-demonstration and human-machine collaborative settings. The problems are challenging mainly because of the lack of a general mathematical model to describe human skills. One of the common approaches is to divide the task that the operator is executing into several subtasks or low-level subsystems in order to provide manageable modelling. In this paper we consider the use of a Layered Hidden Markov Model (LHMM) to model human skills. We evaluate a gesteme classifier that classifies motions into basic action-primitives, or gestemes. The gesteme classifiers are then used in a LHMM to model a teleoperated task. The proposed methodology uses three different HMM models at the gesteme level: one-dimensional HMM, multi-dimensional HMM and multidimensional HMM with Fourier transform. The online and off-line classification performance of these three models is evaluated with respect to the number of gestemes, the influence of the number of training samples, the effect of noise and the effect of the number of observation symbols. We also apply the LHMM to data recorded during the execution of a trajectory tracking task in 2D and 3D with a mobile manipulator in order to provide qualitative as well as quantitative results for the proposed approach. The results indicate that the LHMM is suitable for modelling teleoperative trajectory-tracking tasks and that the difference in classification performance between one and multidimensional HMMs for gesteme classification is small. It can also be seen that the LHMM is robust with respect to misclassifications in the underlying gesteme classifiers.

Probabilistic roadmap methods (PRMs) have been successfully used to solve difficult path planning problems but their efficiency is limited when the free space contains narrow passages through which the robot must pass. This paper presents a new sampling scheme that aims to increase the probability of finding paths through narrow passages. Here, a biased sampling scheme is used to increase the distribution of nodes in narrow regions of the free space. A partial computation of the artificial potential field is used to bias the distribution of nodes.

This paper presents our ongoing research in the design of a versatile service robot capable of operating in a home or office environment. Ideas presented here cover architectural issues and possible applications for such a robot system with focus on tasks requiring constrained end-effector motions. Two key components of such system is a path planner and a reactive behavior capable of force relaxation and path adaptation. These components are presented in detail along with an overview of the software architecture they fit into.

Uncontrolled open dumping and burning of municipality solid waste (MSW) has resulted in soil, water, and air pollution in many urban cities in India. Landfills are the most common cost-effective solution for MSW management in many developing countries like India. However, the identification of suitable landfill sites always remains a challenging task as it involves selection of several environmental criteria set by the local authorities. The objective of this study is to identify the most potential landfill sites proposed by the Government in Bengaluru Metropolitan Region, Karnataka state, India using Geographic Information System enabled Analytical Hierarchy Process based multi-criteria evaluation technique. Several criteria and constraints as recommended by the local authorities along with the proximity to the solid waste processing plants are used to identify the potential landfill sites in the study region. The study identified three highly suitable sites (Neraluru, Gudhatti, Madivala) for landfills which are not only environmentally sustainable but also economically attractive as they are closer to the solid waste processing plants minimizing the transportation cost involved in the disposal of solid waste from the source to the final disposal sites in the study region.

As a result of the aging and growing population in Europe, the demand for healthcare services continues to rise. It is therefore important to streamline the healthcare sector to manage the growing demand. One way to do this is by implementing digital-health solutions. By either developing digital services and applications in-house or outsourcing this to an external business-to-business (B2B) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) healthtech company, the healthcare sector can adopt such digital-health solutions. The evolution of the healthcare sector has accelerated as numerous innovators have capitalized on opportunities in this area by establishing healthtech firms. Furthermore, previous research shows that there is a need for internationalization among healthtech firms for them to succeed in the long run. This study aims to identify the barriers arising when B2B SaaS healthtech firms expand organically from Sweden to other European markets. This is done by conducting a single case study at a leading Swedish healthtech firm providing a SaaS with a B2B business model. Interviews are conducted and analyzed qualitatively to explore the barriers perceived within the studied organization. Several expansion barriers specific for B2B SaaS healthtech firms are identified. Furthermore, the study shows a new perspective on barriers arising within this phenomenon. This includes barriers regarding laws, language, prioritization, market structures, competition, lack of information, and attaining the first customer. The findings identified from the case study can contribute to streamlining the healthcare sector by encouraging innovation. Moreover, this research can be usedto understand barriers experienced by many distinct companies within the industry.

Den senaste svenska vintern var en riktig katastrof som bestod av Ovanliga mängder snö, fukt och kyla, från mitten av december 2009 till mitten av mars 2010. Snömassor orsakade stora problem i tågtrafiken, både nationellt och lokalt. Det påverkade både gods- och persontransporten. Halka och tak ras ledde till personskador och dödsolyckor. Kylan påverkade även elnät som ledde till att människor stod utan värme och belysning. Allmänheten drabbades av snöovädret på olika sätt. Människor skadades i trafiken, halkolyckor, och flera tak som rasade ner. Människor kom även försent till olika destinationer. I södra och mellersta Sverige var problemet störst inom området transport (väg, järnväg). Störningar i vatten, elförsörjningen och tak ras. I söder uppstod ett kontaktledningsfel med flera växel- och signalproblem.

En viktig sak är att det inte går att tänka att den vintern bara var en engångsföreteelse, utan Trafikverket måste tänka på att Sverige ligger i Norden och att vintern 2009/10 kan upprepas flera gånger. Därför är det viktigt att bygga en modell för underhållet. Trafikverket skulle kunna ta de sista vintrarna på allvar och ta fram en åtgärdsplan för att minska effekterna av framtida, svåra vinterförhållanden.

Avhjälpande åtgärder måste då sättas in snabbt för att förhindra störningar i trafiken. Mången tågtrafik störningar beror på fel i någon eller några komponenter som själva baninfrastrukturen består av. En jämförelse har gjorts mellan spårväxlar under sommaren och spårväxlar under vintrar, som visar 85 % fler fel under vintertid än sommartid. Trafikverkets kostnader för underhåll av järnvägar på lång sikt uppgår till 4 miljarder. Regeringen fastställde den nya nationella trafikplanen för utveckling av transportsystemet för perioden 2010-2021 i slutet av mars 2010. I arbetet undersöks en jämförelse, så kallad "Benchmarking" mellan Sverige och Schweiz som visar hög kvalitet i kapacitetsutnyttjande och hög punktlighet i Schweiz. Punktlighet i Schweiz har stigit 97 % medan i Sverige var 87 %.

Ett övergripande syfte med arbetet är att undersöka hur effektiviteten på det svenska järnvägs nätet kan förbättras genom att studera framgångarna i Schweiz.

Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) play a critical role in supporting project outcome. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of having multiple PMIS while governing projects within organizations. This thesis explores the effects of the presence of multiple PMIS at a large manufacturing organization. The study used a qualitative approach, including interviews with Managers, IT Department and Senior Management as well as observations and an analysis of organizational documents. The data collected was analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The findings revealed that the presence of multiple PMIS within the organization resulted in several challenges, including data inconsistency, duplication of effort, detrimental effects on the user experience and difficulty in managing the complexity of the PMIS landscape. However, the study also identified several potential benefits of having multiple PMIS, such as improved functional flexibility, customizability and enhanced project monitoring. The study recommends that organizations carefully consider their PMIS strategy, including the integration of different PMIS and the training of project teams on their proper use, to ensure that the effects of utilizing multiple PMIS are adequately addressed. Nevertheless, the study also recommends several areas for future research, including the exploration of the role of PMIS in project governance, the impact of emerging technologies on PMIS, and the examination of the impact of PMIS on organizational culture and behavior. Overall, this study highlights the importance of carefully managing the PMIS landscape within an organization to ensure its effectiveness in supporting project outcome and organizational efficiency.

Rapporten presenterar en applikation av probabilistisk utmattningsanalys på en egen uppskattad länkarm hos en hjullastare. Applikationen baseras på befintligt arbete inom probabilistisk utmattningsanalys, där sannolikheten för utmattningsbrott studeras för den uppskattade länkarmen med varierande material och driftlivslängder. Länkarmen dimensioneras utifrån en CAT 986K hjullastare och modelleras i Solid Edge för implementation av numerisk analys med ett uppskattat verklighetsbaserat belastningstillstånd. Modeller baserade på Weakest Link teori används som underlag för numerisk analys med FEM-programvara med syfte att studera sannolikhet för utmattningsbrott. Materialvalet SSAB Domex S355MC uppvisar rimliga sannolikhetsnivåer för utmattningsbrott där en av 459 länkarmar förväntas haverera vid två miljoner driftcykler. Resultatet jämförs med materialet SSAB Strenx S700MC där det sistnämnda materialet erhåller 1159 gånger lägre sannolikhet för utmattningsbrott under samma driftförhållanden. Oberoende av materialval anses länkarmen ha stor säkerhet mot utmattningsbrott under verkliga drifthållanden.

The Electricidade de Moçambique, E.P. (EDM) is the power utility in Mozambique, responsible to generate, transport and distribute electricity all over the country. The company has three gas turbines installed at Maputo Power Plant. All units burn diesel oil and are used only for back up. Currently only the unit #2 is available for operation.

The main constraint that EDM faces is the high operation costs due to diesel price. Hence the company is considering converting units #2 and #3 to burn natural gas, resource available locally. The country is currently exporting natural gas to the neighbouring Republic of South Africa.

This MSc thesis project calculates the power output of all gas turbines when burning natural gas and optimizes the power plant capacity by proposing modifications of the current power turbine cycles to allow sustainable operation

Voice over IP (VoIP) can be defined as the ability to make phone calls and to send faxes (i.e., to do everything we can do today with the Public Switched Telephone Network, PSTN) over IP−based data networks with a suitable quality of service and potentially a superior cost/benefit ratio. There is a desire to provide (VoIP) with the suitable security without effecting the performance of this technology. This becomes even more important when VoIP utilizes wireless technologies as the data networks (such as Wireless Local Area Networks, WLAN), given the bandwidth and other constraints of wireless environments, and the data processing costs of the security mechanisms. As for many other (secure) applications, we should consider the security in Mobile VoIP as a chain, where every link, from the secure establishment to the secure termination of a call, must be secure in order to maintain the security of the entire process.

This document presents a solution to these issues, providing a secure model for Mobile VoIP that minimizes the processing costs and the bandwidth consumption. This is mainly achieved by making use of high− throughput, low packet expansion security protocols (such as the Secure Real−Time Protocol, SRTP); and high−speed encryption algorithms (such as the Advanced Encryption Standard, AES).

In the thesis I describe in detail the problem and its alternative solutions. I also describe in detail the selected solution and the protocols and mechanisms this solution utilizes, such as the Transport Layer Security (TLS) for securing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the Real−Time Protocol (RTP) profile Secure Real−Time Protocol (SRTP) for securing the media data transport , and the Multimedia Internet KEYing (MIKEY) as the key−management protocol. Moreover, an implementation of SRTP, called MINIsrtp, is also provided. The oral presentation will provide an overview of these topics, with an in depth examination of those parts which were the most significant or unexpectedly difficult.

Regarding my implementation, evaluation, and testing of the model, this project in mainly focused on the security for the media stream (SRTP). However, thorough theoretical work has also been performed and will be presented, which includes other aspects, such as the establishment and termination of the call (using SIP) and the key−management protocol (MIKEY).

Currently, the IPv4 protocol is heavily used by institutions, companies and individuals, but every day there is a higher number of devices connected to the network such as home appliances, mobile phones or tablets. Each machine or device needs to have its own IP address to communicate with other machines connected to Internet. This implies the need for multiple IP addresses for a single user and the current protocol begins to show some deficiencies due to IPv4 address space exhaustion. Therefore, for several years experts have been working on an IP protocol update: the IPv6 128-bit version can address up to about 340 quadrillion system devices concurrently. With IPv6, today, every person on the planet could have millions of devices simultaneously connected to the Internet.

The choice of the IP protocol version affects the performance of the UMTS mobile network and the browsers as well. The aim of the project is to measure how the IPv6 protocol performs compared to the previous IPv4 protocol. It is expected that the IPv6 protocol generates a smaller amount of signalling and less time is required to fully load a web page. We have analysed some KPIs (IP data, signalling, web load time and battery) in lab environment using Smartphones, to observe the behaviour of both, the network and the device.  The main conclusion of the thesis is that IPv6 really behaves as expected and generates savings in signalling, although the IP data generated is larger due to the size of the headers. However, there is still much work as only the most important webpages and the applications with a high level of market penetration operate well over the IPv6 protocol.

The space electronics sector is shifting towards the New-Space paradigm, in which traditional space-qualified and expensive components and payloads are replaced by commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) alternatives. This change in mentality is accompanied by the development of inexpensive cubesats, lowering the entry barrier in terms of cost, enabling an increase in scientific research in space. However, also well-established and resourceful spacecraft manufacturers are adopting this trend that allows them to become more competitive in the market. Following this trend, Thales Alenia Space is developing R&D activities using COTS components. One example is the SpaceFibre In-Orbit Demonstrator, a digital board integrated in a cubesat payload that aims to test two Intellectual Property blocks implementing the new ECSS standard for high-speed onboard communication. This thesis presents the necessary steps that were taken to integrate the firmware for the demonstrator's Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that constitutes the main processing and control unit for the board. The activity is centered around the development of a Leon3 System-on-Chip in VHDL used to manage the components in the board and test the SpaceFibre technology. Moreover, it also addresses the main problem of using COTS components in the space environment: their sensitivity to radiation, that, for a FPGA results in Single-Event Upsets causing the implementation to malfunction, and a potential failure of the mission if they are not addressed. To accomplish the task, a SEU-emulation methodology based in partial reconfiguration and integrating the state of the art techniques is elaborated and applied to test the reliability of the SpaceFibre technology. Finally, results show that the mean time between failures of the SpaceFibre Intellectual Property Block using a COTS FPGA is of 170 days for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 2278 days for Geostationary Orbit (GEO) if configuration memory scrubbing is included in the design, enabling its usage in short LEO missions for data transmission. Moreover, tailored mitigation techniques based on the information gathered from applying the proposed methodology are presented to improve the figures.

Current trends in microprocessor architecture design are leading towards a dramatic increase of core-level parallelization, wherein a given number of independent processors or cores are interconnected. Since the main bottleneck is foreseen to migrate from computation to communication, efficient and scalable means of inter-core communication are crucial for guaranteeing steady performance improvements in many-core processors. As the number of cores grows, it remains unclear whether initial proposals, such as the Network-on-Chip (NoC) paradigm, will meet the stringent requirements of this scenario. This position paper presents a new research area where massive multicore architectures have wireless communication capabilities at the core level. This goal is feasible by using graphene-based planar antennas, which can radiate signals at the Terahertz band while utilizing lower chip area than its metallic counterparts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that discusses the utilization of graphene-enabled wireless communication for massive multicore processors. Such wireless systems enable broadcasting, multicasting, all-to-all communication, as well as significantly reduce many of the issues present in massively multicore environments, such as data coherency, consistency, synchronization and communication problems. Several open research challenges are pointed out related to implementation, communications and multicore architectures, which pave the way for future research in this multidisciplinary area.

Emerging from the symbiotic combination of nanotechnology and communications, the field of nanonetworking has come a long way since its inception more than fifteen years ago. Significant progress has been achieved in several key communication technologies as enablers of the paradigm, as well as in the multiple application areas that it opens. In this paper, the focus is placed on the electromagnetic nanonetworking paradigm, providing an overview of the advances made in wireless nanocommunication technology from microwave through terahertz to optical bands. The characteristics and potential of the compared technologies are then confronted with the requirements and challenges of the broad set of nanonetworking applications in the Internet of NanoThings (IoNT) and on-chip networks paradigms, including quantum computing applications for the first time. Finally, a selection of cross-cutting issues and possible directions for future work are given, aiming to guide researchers and practitioners towards the next generation of electromagnetic nanonetworks.

This study aims to build a medium-term (2019-2040) model for the Chilean electricity generation system in the OSeMOSYS software, a linear cost optimisation model, in light of the most recent developments in government policy and targets. In 2019, the Chilean government committed to decommissioning all coal plants by 2040 at the latest, and set out a non-binding target to be carbon neutral by 2050. The carbon neutrality target could be enshrined in the climate change law, which has yet to be ratified. In this thesis, a focus was put on the upfront capital cost of the system, and the emissions attributable to Chile’s GHG Inventory (called the SNI GHG in Chile) from operating the system. Three scenarios are developed within the thesis, in line with three paths the power system may follow: a BAU scenario including current power purchase agreements, a scenario in which power purchase agreements for fossil fuels are bought out and the free market then takes over, and a non-conventional renewable energy (NCRE) scenario in which certain renewable technologies account for 68% of production in 2040. The model is validated against the results from 2019 and a broadly similar model developed in the private sector. Sensitivity analysis scenarios were conducted for the input parameters: price of natural gas, price of coal, capital cost of solar PV, capital cost of wind, capital cost of wind & solar, and the capacity factor of hydropower. The sensitivity analyses show the most sensitive input parameters are the price of natural gas and capital cost of wind with respect to the outputs of capital cost, NCRE production ratio such as the share of all solar, wind, and certain hydro technologies as a percentage of total electricity production and GHG emissions.

Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution is still a serious environmental problem and a major threat to sustainable development, as they mainly cause eutrophication. Therefore, increasingly stricter requirements are placed on wastewater treatment plants when it comes to emissions of nutrients. To meet these requirements, it is important to continuously renew and improve the purification processes, thereby reducing the emissions of nutrients to the sea, lakes, and streams. The effect of simultaneous nitrogen removal and phosphorus recycling was investigated in this study, employing a one-step process for partial nitritation/anammox-hydroxyapatite (PN/HAP). An experiment in a laboratory-scale SBR reactor (Sequence Batch Reactor) was performed using wastewater from the side-stream centrate. This study validated results to a certain extent published studies by other researchers. However, they had almost exclusively used synthetic wastewater, unlike the here presented where real wastewater was used. The innovative PN/A-HAP process showed effective nitrogen and phosphorus removal without additional aeration or pH adjustment, which means lower energy consumption, reduced nitrous oxide emissions, and reduced sludge production. The results showed an average nitrogen removal efficiency of 32.84% and an average phosphorus removal efficiency of 71.48%. These results indicate significant potential for sustainable wastewater management for some nitrogen and phosphorus side streams at the treatment plants. However, further research is required on a larger scale to precisely assess the long-term separation efficiency for nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as the scalability and usability of the process under real conditions. 

This Thesis was performed in the frame of a research project 'Process development of CA-induced HAP (Hydroxyapatite) granulation in nitrogen separation with Anammox' funded by the VA Cluster Mälardalen. 

Covalent immobilization of an engineered omega-transaminase mutant Trp60Cys from Chromobacterium violaceum (CvTAW60C) was performed on bisepoxide-activated aminoalkyl resins. Activity of the various CvTAW60C preparations was evaluated in kinetic resolution of four racemic amines (rac-1a–d). The most active EA-G-CvTAW60C preparation (CvTAW60C attached to polymeric resin with ethylamine function activated with glycerol diglycidyl ether—EA-G) could perform the kinetic resolution of racemic 4-phenylbutan-2-amine (rac-1a) over 49% conversion up to 19 consecutive reaction cycles or in media containing up to 50% v/v DMSO as cosolvent in batch mode reactions. The immobilization process of CvTAW60C onto the EA-G resin filled in stainless steel bioreactors was also tested in flow-through mode. Kinetic resolution of three racemic amines containing aromatic moieties (rac-1a-c) was performed in continuous-flow mode resulting in easy-to-separate mixture of the corresponding ketone (2a–c) and the non-converted (R)-amine in high enantiopurity (ee(R)-1a-c ≥ 96%).

Biofuels now days consider as one of the successful alternative to meet the challenges associated with climate change and peak oil, as well as a way for poorer countries to develop an industry in order to enhance social and economic development. In many developing countries and particularly in Africa, this has led to large-scale investments in lands by foreign companies, and as a consequence there has been a debate on whether these actions are environmentally sustainable and whether this kind of activity actually brings economic development. The investments of biofuels in Africa, espe-cially the Jatropha plantations are debatable. Several arguments have been concentrat-ed on development goals, economic issues and environmental concerns. This report evaluates the status of some Jatropha projects in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanza-nia, the outcomes of the report show that biofuels from Jatropha lead to a significant socio -economic benefits by creating many jobs opportunities and improve the stand-ard of living in Africa. However, inadequate funding’s, high investment costs, no clear policies for biodiesel are the most challenging for Jatropha in Africa which need fur-ther mechanisms and ideology by African scientists, leaders, NGOs, farmers and deci-sion makers. In the studied countries, it was reported that the Jatropha produce low yields of oil seeds especially in the marginal lands with no enough water supplies. In Kenya the productivity of Jatropha is very low for large scale- project. Moreover some social and environmental impacts are also seen for Jatropha cultivations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Some Jatropha projects have impacted the food security nega-tively; nevertheless some biofuels experts believe that Jatropha has no any adverse im-pacts on food security since it is inedible and grown on marginal lands. In Ethiopia, the main environmental impacts of Jatropha are related to biodiversity, water quality and quantity. In Kenya, the environmental impacts are related to biodiversity, carbon emissions, water withdrawal, pollution of agro- chemicals usage, deforestation and soil erosion, whereas in Tanzania, the main environmental issues are connected to the change of land use system, impacts on biodiversity and impacts on water resources.

One of the main goals of the future wireless networks is improving the users' quality of experience (QoE). In this paper, we consider the problem of the QoE-based resource allocation in the downlink of a massive multiple-input multiple-output heterogeneous network. The network consists of a macrocell with a number of small cells embedded in it. The small cells' base stations (BSs) are equipped with a few antennas, while the macro BS is equipped with a massive number of antennas. We consider the two services Video and Web Browsing and design the beamforming vectors at the BSs. The objective is to maximize the aggregated mean opinion score (MOS) of the users under constraints on the BSs' powers and the required quality of service of the users. We also consider extra constraints on the QoE of users to more strongly enforce the QoE in the beamforming design. To reduce the complexity of the optimization problem, we suggest suboptimal and computationally efficient solutions. Our results illustrate that increasing the number of antennas at the BSs and also increasing the number of small cells' antennas in the network leads to a higher user satisfaction.

This thesis is an explorative analysis of the commercial real estate actors. The behavioral theory has revealed many flaws in the neo classical assumptions. This includes models of rationality and prescribed behaviors. Research suggests both appraisers and investor act in ways that can be seen as irrational. Appraisers amongst other things anchor to figures that are not part of the valuation theory and investor invest on bases that are not fundamentally sound. Both also exhibit biases, such as confirmation bias and loss aversion. If valuation does not reflect the way market participants behave then they fail to give us a correct market value. We use interviews to try and understand how appraisers try to reflect the market and to understand how investors and other market actors value properties by comparing their use of the DCF-method. Our results suggest that there are many technical differences between how methods are used by different actors and that appraisers have a too close connection with the market actors.

The main objective of this industrially important work was to gain an increasing understanding of the properties of materials such as CMSX-4 nickel base super alloy, mould powder used in continuous casting of steel and coke used in blast furnace, with special reference to the thermal diffusivities. The measurements were carried out in a wide temperature range, solid, liquid, glassy and crystalline states.

For CMSX-4 alloy, the thermal conductivities were calculated from the experimental thermal diffusivities. Both the diffusivities and conductivities were found to increase with increasing temperature. Microscopic analysis showed the presence of intermetallic phases such as NiTi and NiTi2 below 1253 K. In this region, the mean free path of the phonons is likely to be limited by scattering against lattice defects. Between 1253 K and solidus temperature, these phases dissolved in the alloy adding to the impurities in the matrix, which, in turn, caused a decrease in the thermal diffusivity. This effect was confirmed by annealing the samples at 1573 K. The thermal diffusivities of the annealed samples measured at 1277, 1403 and 1531 K were found to be lower than the thermal diffusivities of non-annealed samples and the values did not show any noticeable change with time. It could be related to the attainment of equilibrium with the completion of the dissolution of γ and γ´ phases during the annealing process.

Liquid CMSX-4 does not show any change of thermal diffusivity with temperature. It may be attributed to the decreasing the mean free path being shorter than characteristic distance between two neighbouring atoms.

On the other hand thermal diffusivities of mould powder having glassy and crystalline states decrease with increasing temperature at lower temperature and are constant at higher temperature except for one glassy sample.

Analogously, the thermal diffusivity measurements of mould powder did not show any significant change with temperature in liquid state. It is likely to be due to the silicate network being largely broken down.

The thermal diffusivity is increased with increasing crystallisation degree of mould powder, which is expected from theoretical considerations.

The coke sample, taken from deeper level of the blast furnace, is found to have larger thermal diffusivity. This could be correlated to the average crystallite size along the structural c-axis, L_c, which is indicative of the higher degree of graphitisation. This was also confirmed by XRD measurements of the different coke samples. The degree of graphitisation was found to increase with increasing temperature. Further, XRD measurements of coke samples taken from different levels in the shaft of the blast furnace show that the graphitisation of coke was instantaneous between room temperature and 1473 K.

With the progress and industrialization of photonic integrated circuits (PIC) in the past few decades, there is a strong urge towards design and prototyping in a fast, low-cost and reliable manner. In electronics, this demand is met through field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). In the Horizon 2020 MORPHIC (MEMS-based zerO-power Reconfigurable Photonic ICs) project, we are developing a reconfigurable PIC platform to address this demand in the field of photonics and to facilitate the path from idea towards realization for PIC designers and manufacturers.

Many cities in low- and medium-income countries (LMICs) are facing rapid unplanned growth of built-up areas, while detailed information on these deprived urban areas (DUAs) is lacking. There exist visible differences in housing conditions and urban spaces, and these differences are linked to urban deprivation. However, the appropriate geospatial information for unravelling urban deprivation is typically not available for DUAs in LMICs, constituting an urgent knowledge gap. The objective of this study is to apply deep learning techniques and morphological analysis to identify degrees of deprivation in DUAs. To this end, we first generate a reference dataset of building footprints using a participatory community-based crowd-sourcing approach. Secondly, we adapt a deep learning model based on the U-Net architecture for the semantic segmentation of satellite imagery (WorldView 3) to generate building footprints. Lastly, we compute multi-level morphological features from building footprints for identifying the deprivation variation within DUAs. Our results show that deep learning techniques perform satisfactorily for predicting building footprints in DUAs, yielding an accuracy of F1 score = 0.84 and Jaccard Index = 0.73. The resulting building footprints (predicted buildings) are useful for the computation of morphology metrics at the grid cell level, as, in high-density areas, buildings cannot be detected individually but in clumps. Morphological features capture physical differences of deprivation within DUAs. Four indicators are used to define the morphology in DUAs, i.e., two related to building form (building size and inner irregularity) and two covering the form of open spaces (proximity and directionality). The degree of deprivation can be evaluated from the analysis of morphological features extracted from the predicted buildings, resulting in three categories: high, medium, and low deprivation. The outcome of this study contributes to the advancement of methods for producing up-to-date and disaggregated morphological spatial data on urban DUAs (often referred to as 'slums') which are essential for understanding the physical dimensions of deprivation, and hence planning targeted interventions accordingly.

A fully instrumented slice of the ATLAS detector was exposed to test beams from the SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron) at CERN in 2004. In this paper, the results of the measurements of the response of the barrel calorimeter to hadrons with energies in the range 20-350 GeV and beam impact points and angles corresponding to pseudo-rapidity values in the range 0.2-0.65 are reported. The results are compared to the predictions of a simulation program using the Geant 4 toolkit. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.