| 1481. |
- Vedin, Maria
(författare)
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Adverbials as semantic and pragmatic operators : a functional approach to the analysis of English fiction language
- 2002
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Adverbials as Semantic and Pragmatic Operators. A Functional Approach to the Analysis of English Fiction Language investigates the function and use of some English adverbials as tools for creating literary meaning and effect. Adverbials function as deictic markers, operating on salient fields of our cognition, for example time, space and circumstance, the deictic expressions of which can be mapped onto other, more abstract fields such as narrative deixis and discourse deixis. The study is divided into two parts. Part I classifies adverbials into two functional categories, separated by semantic and pragmatic differences, with the concept of scalability recognised as a basic property for adverbials. The analytic tools provided in Part I are in Part II used for analysing the narrative structure of The Force of Circumstance, by Somerset Maugham. Particular attention is paid to the role of temporal and spatial adverbials and sentence adverbials in the communication between reader, text and writer.
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| 1482. |
- Vella, Joseph
(författare)
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Determinants in the adoption of a customer relationship management system : a study among bank managers
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Customer relationship management, better known as CRM, has become synonymous with business practices nowadays. Technology advancement has made it both possible and feasible for organizations to develop individual and intimate business relationships with their customers, irrespective of the size of their customer base or geographic dispersion. Unfortunately research has uncovered a significant number of cases in which CRM implementations simply failed to meet organizational expectations. Moreover, user resistance has been found to be a significant cause for this anomaly.This study aims to fill an existing gap in the literature by identifying a number of salient cognitive and behavioural constructs that, when grounded in a theoretical framework made up of the Technology Acceptance Model together with Equity Theory, can help us to gain a better understanding of the mechanics behind user resistance and identify ways to overcome it.A sequence of five separate yet interdependent studies has been conducted among the managers of a large bank. The studies focus on behavioural activation and inhibition, equity sensitivity, emotional labour as well as users’ perception of CRM systems’ usefulness, ease of use and firm performance. Findings suggest that a lot can be gained by recruiting the right employees and investing in them, in terms of training and empowerment, thereby creating teams of satisfied, highly competent service providers who would be willing to adopt and use their organization’s CRM system to enhance customer loyalty.
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| 1483. |
- Vennström, Anders
(författare)
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The construction client as a change agent : contextual support and obstacles
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this research is to understand how the construction client can contribute to the development of the construction process. In this PhD project, literature reviews and three empirical studies were conducted in order to investigate the research questions and thereby fulfil the research purpose. In this thesis the theories regarding the role of a change agent and the role of a construction client are examined. Other fields that were reviewed are the context of the construction process, such as the briefing process. All these different theories and fields of literature are well suited for the analysis of the different aspects of the contextual situation for the construction client. The research presented in this thesis contributes to theory and practice in two main ways. 1) The theoretical conceptual model, describing the role of a construction client and the role of a change agent, adds knowledge to further understanding of the complexity of governing the construction process. 2) The empirical evidence shows that there are substantial obstacles for the construction client to address in order to become a change agent. The first two research questions deal with how the contextual situation influences the construction client's actions. The answer to this research question shows that the contextual situation does affect the construction client's possibility to act as a change agent. The third research question focuses on the extent to which the construction client can affect the construction process as a change agent. The possibilities are displayed and discussed from a general perspective and a more specific evaluation of the construction client's role is described. The role that the construction clients possess does support implementation of initiatives, but the implementation needs to be supported by a construction client function with competences on change processes.
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| 1484. |
- Vesterlund, Lena Lundberg
(författare)
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Strövtåg i komponerandets landskap : tre studier av komponerande med hjälp av dator och musikteknologi
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of the thesis is to make visible and to give an insight in composing processes leading up to new music compositions. The overarching purpose was to study how men and women composed music with the aid of computers and music technology, and how they talked about their composing. The thesis is divided into three parts. The empirical study is based on a distance project, where folk high school students were given the task to compose music in four given styles; chopin, blues, bach and jazz style. Furthermore, the first and the last tasks were free. The compositions were sent as a MIDI file to supervisors at the School of Music in Piteå for comments. Participants were ten music students, evenly divided among two folk high schools, and five teachers in music theory at a school of music. Data consists of introduction inquiry, recorded music pieces as well as interviews. The result shows that the students talk about three main conditions, which are important for the composing work: previous knowledge (music, music technology, computer), creativity and gender. Regarding concepts connected with composing the language tends to change with composing genre and tools. The participants talk of both positive and negative effects of using computer and music technology as a tool for composing. One further result was that "given" tasks in many cases opened up for greater creativity in comparison with the free tasks. Finally, gender differences were proved by the fact that the women showd less self-confidence and were more critical about their composing than the men. The women also followed task instructions more carefully. This work concludes with a discussion about what the introduction of new technique might involve for music pedagogy as well as what kind of knowledge might be relevant for the future.
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| 1485. |
- Vesterlund, Mattias, 1980-
(författare)
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District heating system analysis and challenges within the urban transformation of Kiruna
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is currently an ongoing urban transformation in a small Swedish town named Kiruna, it is located in the very north of Sweden well above the Arctic Circle in a sub-arctic climate. Large part of the town will be relocated due to the ground deformation that is caused by the progressing iron ore mining activity and it is affecting all infrastructures of the town. This thesis aims to accomplish a holistic analysis on the district heating (DH) system for the town of Kiruna and its future challenges.Energy companies with a DH system recognize the importance in having a good understanding about the network characteristics, for obtaining an efficient and stabile heat delivery to the end-users. In this thesis, a method for modeling and simulation of meshed DH networks is described, that makes it possible to study and analyze the flow pattern in order to locate non-obvious paths, bottlenecks and overloaded pipes.For carrying out the DH simulations a fundamental input is to set the thermal losses for each pipe segment in the model, a fictitious series with all pipe diameters is created which corresponds to the annual losses in the real network. In comparison with the pipes series manufactured today the created one is best described by the series with least insulation and highest thermal losses. The studied network has its origin in the 60th and is the sum of the different piping technics that has been valid over time, this mixture is positioning the thermal performance as a close to a worst-case scenario.To the meshed DH network a number of heat production sites are connected for delivering the thermal requested by the end-users, each site consisting of several boilers and using different resources. A hybrid evolutionary-Mixed Integer Linear Programing (MILP) optimization approach is developed and applied for finding the cost-optimal heat production for three scenarios in combination of two heating demand levels. It is stated that no matter the geographically location of the site the cheapest resource should always be favorable as fuel, in the case when the same resource is viable at different sites a differentiated heat production is obtained. The supply temperature from each site is found to be the one lowest possible in order to serve all site-concerned end-users with a temperature level high enough for hot water production. The findings recommend a network temperatures reduction with the consequence in higher cost related to pumping work, but is lower than the savings due to the reduction in thermal losses.In order to provide the relocated part of the town with DH the hybrid evolutionary-MILP optimization routine is reshaped for finding different alternatives for network expansion layouts. The result is presented as a multi objective analysis between the operation cost and installation cost, showing the complete spectra of all optimal possible solutions and how the different cost correlate to each other. In this way, the outcome can be used for support in decision making, helping network owners is their planning and pipe sizing for new areas.For constructing the buildings that will populate the new city-area the Swedish government has stated a number of recommendations for achieving livable thermal indoor climate. An investigation is carried out analyzing the impact from the usage of three different heating system; air/air heat pump, air heating and floor heating in a low energy family house, where the first two system are aimed to use heat from the DH network. The analysis show that only the floor heating system satisfies the recommendations stated, but with carefully planning an air heating system could also fulfill the recommendations. Further, a techno-economical evaluation declares that the cheapest heating cost over 30 years is by using an air/air heat pump. In order to make DH competitive as heating source the needed price reduction is found for the hydronic floor and air heating system.Finally, three different building energy performance scenarios are studied in conjunction with the urban transformation in combination with the suggested energy measures from the Energy Performance certificates (EPC). In order to reach the national target entailing a reduction of 50% until 2050 all re-built buildings have to be built with passive standard and all advised measures in the EPC has to be carried out. Wort noticing is that the scenarios is analyzed as part of a 3-D City Model, which is found to be a worthwhile working tool for staff dealing with energy related issues.
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| 1486. |
- Vidal, Brenda, 1987-
(författare)
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Small Sanitation Systems – Treatment Efficiency, Sustainability and Implementation
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Current socio-technical wastewater system paradigms are being challenged by emerging global issues such as climate change, environmental degradation and scarcity of resources. Thus, exploration of innovative new urban water management solutions is required that enable closure of resource loops. On-site and decentralised wastewater systems are seen as emerging solutions, partly because of their flexibility, as they increase the potential for recovery and reuse of resources like nutrients. At the smallest scale, on-site wastewater treatment systems are widely present in rural and peri-urban areas globally. However, they often do not meet acceptable levels of nutrient and bacterial discharge, thereby contributing to environmental degradation and health risks. The overall aim of this doctoral dissertation is to improve knowledge and understanding of small sanitation systems in terms of treatment processes and efficiency, their sustainability and implementation. At a greater scale, the dissertation explores the historical and current contexts that have shaped, and are shaping, the existing wastewater sector, dominated by large-scale centralised mixed wastewater collection and treatment, and barriers to implementation of alternative, innovative sanitation solutions with higher resource recovery capacities, like source separating systems.Sixteen full scale on-site facilities for wastewater treatment in Sweden were investigated in the research the thesis is based upon, including sand filters and package plants. Sand filters followed by alkaline phosphorus filters showed good removals of organic matter and high P-removal capacity (>92%). Six (of 11) investigated package plants showed >78% phosphorus removal (including chemical precipitation and alkaline phosphorus filters as treatment steps). Nitrogen removal was generally low in the package plants, likely because of the low average temperatures, and appeared to be mainly mediated by sedimentation of particulate organic nitrogen. Denitrification was observed to a limited extent in facilities with effective water/sludge recirculation. High densities of indicator bacteria were found in the effluent of most facilities as the removal rates were low, often exceeding the EU Bathing Water Directive’s limits for excellent water quality in terms of intestinal enterococci and Escherichia coli. Levels of pharmaceuticals detected in the effluent of package plants were within the range or higher than previously reported in effluents from conventional wastewater treatment plants, and included anti-inflammatories, β-blockers, ACE inhibitors, anticonvulsants and antidepressants. Effluent concentrations of phthalates were below those previously reported in the literature.A scenario analysis comparing nine on-site sanitation options suggested that source separation of greywater and blackwater and urine diversion were the most sustainable options when nutrient removal and recycling were highly prioritised. A conventional sand filter or drain field were the most sustainable options when nutrient removal and recycling were less prioritised and, (in combination with chemical P-removal) when CO2 emissions and energy use and recovery were important aspects.When planning wastewater services for a given area, results of interviews with water professionals confirmed the general trend to opt for a centralising approach, whenever technically feasible, by installing pumping stations and connecting sewer pipes to a main treatment plant, in contrast to building decentralised systems. Reasons mentioned by the interviewees included the robustness of the system, simplicity of operation and maintenance and protection of the receiving waters. Identified barriers hindering implementation of alternative sanitation solutions with focus on resources recovery included factors categorized as legislative factors (lack of requirements and law interpretation), technical factors (immature technologies, uncertainties), organizational factors (lack of initiative, competence and experience) and economic factors (financial limitation, lack of incentives). From a historical perspective, strong governmental control and continuous enforcement of environmental requirements drove the expansion and strengthened the domination of the large-scale centralised sanitation system. Alternative sanitation systems with higher resource recovery capacities have received less attention and institutional support, and their shortcomings were constantly highlighted during the period covered by a historical review (1974-2015).
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| 1487. |
- Vijayan, Arya
(författare)
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Traffic-related pollutants in urban snow : Concentrations, size fractionation, and release with snowmelt
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In urban areas with seasonal snow, traffic-related pollutants such as solid particles, metals, chloride, organic pollutants, and microplastics (MPs) can be temporarily stored in snowbanks along roads and streets. When the snow melts, it releases the accumulated pollutants and the resulting snowmelt with diverse pollutants may partly infiltrate into the ground, or enter storm sewers and eventually be discharged into, and impact on, the receiving waters. To address the resulting environmental concerns, it is important to gain a more comprehensive understanding of (i) occurrence, distribution, and temporal variation of conventional (TSS, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, chloride and PAHs) as well as emerging pollutants (Tire and Road Wear Particles (T&RWPs), Platinum Group Elements (PGEs), tungsten (W) and antimony (Sb)) in urban snow, (ii) size fractionation of pollutants in snow, (iii) behaviour of pollutants during snow melting, and (iv) influence of various snow sampling strategies on estimating pollutant loads in snow. Therefore, these four points form the focus of this doctoral thesis.The work presented in the thesis includes a literature review of metal pollution in urban snow, field sampling of urban roadside snowbanks and snow storage piles, and laboratory-scale snow melting experiments. The field sampling included snow sampling surveys at three locations in Sweden – Frihamnen (one of the ports of Stockholm), and Luleå and Umeå municipalities in Northern Sweden, and served for studies of variations in snow quality in terms of solids, metals, chloride, PAHs and MPs. Some of the field samples were also used in laboratory-scale snow melting experiments to advance the understanding of the fate of pollutants during the snow melting process.A literature survey identified Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Ni as the metals most frequently studied in urban snow, while Sb, W and PGEs in urban snow were seldom studied, and consequently were designated here as ‘emerging pollutants’ in urban snow. These pollutant concentrations in the analysed snow samples differed distinctly because of differences in study area characteristics such as meteorological conditions, traffic intensity and composition, and winter road maintenance as well as snow cover age (SCA). Investigation of estimation accuracies for pollutant loads in temporary snow storage piles highlighted the significant role of the sampling design. Single-column samples were prone to underestimating or overestimating the pollutant loads in snow piles, with variations of up to 400%, observed in the samples collected at Frihamnen. This underscores the importance of collecting and analysing multiple samples for reliable pollutant load assessments.Comparison of snow quality in three winter seasons (1994-95, 2002-03, and 2020-21) showed a statistically significant decrease in Pb and Cd concentrations in snow samples from 1995 to 2021. This decline may be associated with the regulations limiting these pollutants in car manufacturing industry and the phasing out of leaded gasoline.In the laboratory snow melting experiments, only 10% of both total metals (Cu, Zn, and Cd) and PAHs, and 20% of T&RWPs, were carried away by the meltwater, while the rest stayed in the (immobilised) sediment residue. The dissolved (<0.45 µm) and truly dissolved (<3000 MWCO) metals and chloride exhibited a preferential elution during melting, whereas TSS and PAHs displayed a delayed release.In summary, the thesis contributes to developing a comprehensive understanding of urban snow pollution dynamics and underscores the significance of, and need for, effective snow management for mitigating environmental impacts of urban snow pollution.
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| 1488. |
- Vikberg, Tommy
(författare)
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Industrial Wood Drying : Airflow Distribution, Internal Heat Exchange and Moisture Content as Input and Feedback to the Process
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- At a sawmill, the most energy demanding process is the wood drying. The drying process also has a great impact on quality parameters determined for the boards in the final sorting and thereby affects the sales value to a great extent. The objective of the work described in this compilation thesis was to find ways to improve the industrial wood drying process through better input, feedback and process itself. As input and feedback to the drying process, ways to improve the accuracy in estimating the moisture content (MC) was investigated. For the drying process itself, an investigation of the airflow distribution in a batch kiln at several different fan speeds was performed. Potential energy savings by introducing a new kiln layout was also investigated.To estimate the green MC, i.e. the MC of boards prior to drying, the average green MC of batches rather than individual boards were considered since large batches are handled in the drying anyway. Two different methods were investigated, one method in which the MC of the heartwood was presumed to be constant and a certain relation between the heartwood and sapwood basic density was present. In the other method, the average basic density was estimated as a function of the logs diameters. It was found that both methods worked satisfactory.To improve the accuracy in measuring the MC of the dried boards two approaches were used. The first approach was to combine different measurement techniques, i.e. microwaves and X-rays, to predict the same properties with a multivariate approach. By adding X-ray measurements to microwave measurements, the amount of boards with a predicted MC deviating less than 1% MC from the oven dry reference increased with 7%. The second approach was to investigate the potential of increasing the measurable board area by compensating for the vicinity of the boards edge with aid of a function developed through final element simulations. It was shown that this was possible although the magnitude of the improvement will depend on the actual measurement setup.The airflow distribution in drying was investigated by industrial trials in which the air speed was measured simultaneously at 20 spots throughout the load with the air circulating fans run at a number of different speeds. It was found that the airflow distribution did not change remarkably as a function of the fan speed and once the airflow is measured at a certain fan speed, the effect of changing the fan speed can be estimated using the fan affinity laws. Finally, potential energy savings with a new kiln layout was investigated through drying simulations and associated determinations of the drying air condition in the kiln. It was found that heat savings of roughly 30% could be accomplished in comparison to a kiln with no heat recovery.
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| 1489. |
- Viklander, Maria
(författare)
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Snow quality in urban areas
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The studies reported on this thesis aim to provide information and increase knowledge about the quality of urban snow and the path of pollutants. The results develop a basis for decisions regarding the prevention of environmental damage. A number of projects have been carried out to provide more detailed knowledge about: snow quality in cities, sediments that had accumulated during the winter, and that were left at the surface when the snow had melted, and the paths of pollutants at urban snow deposit. For these purposes studies have been performed in laboratory, pilot and full scale. The snow quality was studied in the city of Luleå with regard to variation with time and area. The aim was to investigate urban snow in its actual environment, throughout an entire winter season. Snow samples were taken in a housing area and in the city centre, at sites with different traffic load. It was found that traffic or activities related to traffic was a major source of heavy metals and phosphorus in urban snow, both in the city centre and the housing area. Also the type of area and the design of the street were important for the snow quality. A clear relation between the pH and the quantity of suspended solids in the snow was found. Higher pH values were found in snow from sites with higher traffic loads, compared to sites with small quantities of particles which were the no-traffic sites. The dissolved fractions showed more complicated results. The concentration of the studied substances in the snow was affected by the precipitation at the site with no traffic. At the street where the snow was left beside the street, the concentration of substances increased with time, while the precipitation was of less importance. The mass loads of substances increased with time for both the streets, where the snow stayed in the vicinity of the street, and for the non-traffic site. For the site with traffic the snow handling operations evidently affected the mass loads. This was especially the case for particle-connected substances. As a result of the increased interest in reuse of friction material the sediment which remained along the streets after snow melt was studied with regard to physical and chemical characteristics. The side walk affected the amount of substances on the street more than the traffic load. For the streets without sidewalk an increased traffic load increased the amounts of sediment. The particle size distribution of the sediments swept from the street with a sidewalk differed from the distribution at the streets without a sidewalk. With two exceptions the smallest size fraction (>75 µm) had the largest concentration of heavy metals. For composite samples the concentration increased with traffic load. The pathways of pollutants in urban snow deposits have been studied in three different scales; laboratory, pilot, and full-scale. The initial snow, melt water and sediment were analysed with regard to chemical content. It was found that the dissolved substances to a great extent folowed with the melt water while for the particle bounded substances as much as 90-99% stayed in the sediment below the deposit. The dissolved substances left the snow in the beginning of the melt period, while the substances connected to particles showed a uniform release. The laboratory study showed that melt- freeze cycles delayed the release of substances. Almost all substances were attached to particles in the snow, while in the melt water a large part was in solution. It should be noted that a so-called acid shock was not found during these studies.
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| 1490. |
- Viklander, Peter
(författare)
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Compaction and thaw deformation of frozen soil : permeability and structural effects due to freezing and thawing.
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is the result of the two projects:"Deformations in winter compacted soils" and "Permeability changes in a fine-grained till due to freeze/thaw". The aim of the first project was to study whether it is possible to compact frozen soils, in road embankments etc., to a satisfying result as well as to identify the most important factors influencing the compaction result. Different types of soil (fine-grained till and sand) were compacted in the laboratory at the temperatures +20, -2 and -10°C using compaction cylinders of two different sizes (1 dm³). Frozen soil cubes, having a side-length of 5 to 100 mm, were manufactured at different water contents and compacted in frozen state. The tests show that the compaction result decreases with decreasing temperature and increasing water content. However, the influence of the size of the soil cubes was of minor importance and the influence of the testing temperature was significantly smaller than what has been reported in the literature. In addition, compression tests on frozen, compacted soil samples were carried out to measure the thaw settlement. A relation ( a-value), based on the dry density of the frozen and unfrozen soil, was established from which it is possible to estimate the maximum compression taking place when the frozen soil thaws and is loaded. The aim of the second project was to investigate whether structural changes take place in a fine-grained till exposed to cyclic freezing and thawing. It was believed that freeze/thaw cycles could have a negative impact on fine-grained till, e.g. on its function as a hydraulic barrier. The permeability was chosen to be the key parameter to study whether the structure was affected of freezing and thawing or not. In addition, tests were directed to measure possible movements of small particles and stones due to freezing and thawing. In the laboratory, unfrozen soil was compacted to different void ratios into a rigid wall opermeameter and the permeability was measured. Thereafter, the sample was frozen and thawed a number of cycles. The samples were frozen one dimensionally in a closed pore water system and the permeability was measured in the thawed soil after a certain number of cycles. In addition, the particle movements were measured by granulometric tests and the stone movements by a specially developed X-ray technique. The investigations showed that the permeability in a fine-grained till is influenced by the freeze/thaw cycles. Typically, the permeability increased by 1 to 10 times in an initially dense till and decreased between 1 to 50 times in an initially loose till. The soil exhibited volume changes due to the freeze/thaw cycles and the volume typically decreased for an initially loose soil and increased for a dense soil. A residual void ratio was reached after 1-3 freeze/thaw cycles, independent of the state of the soil structure prior to freezing. The residual void ratio ranged from 0.31 to 0.40 in the studied material. Finally, no particle movements were detected, but significant stone movements in vertical as well horizontal direction were identified.
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