The exclusion of visually impaired from the information flow presented to us through signs was what led me into this project. With a growing amount of information being presented to us on signs and digital information surface the need of communicating this information in a way that could be read by visually impaired is evident. Looking into different ways of communication, my goal was to create something that filled the need of the visually impaired without branding them as disabled. Having a close relative with bad eyesight is became evident on how much it limited her in her everyday life, not being able to navigate herself without the support of her husband. Through interviews with her and others with varying diagnoses I reached an insight in their situation. To my surprise they still favored a visual form of communication before an auditory or tactile form, because it?s easy to survey and quick to interpret.

In visual programming the developer specifies her code, using visual tools. Within the range of visual programming languages lay icon-based languages, form-based languages, and diagram languages.Mediator is a multimedia authoring tool that allows the user to create interactive CD-ROM presentations, dynamic HTML pages and Flash projects, without any coding or scripting. The user can create interactivity in her project, using event driven and icon-based visual programming, through a ?drag and drop? user interface. This report intends to determine some of the qualifications of a tool of this kind, as well as its limitations.The report is based on a case study, in which a smaller software application was to be updated using Mediator 9.

This bachelor?s thesis is a study that examines cactus groups in Sweden from a heritage conservation perspective. Through interviews and an analysis of both historical and modern literature, the research explores why cactus groups became popular and what is required to preserve those still in existence today. A recurring challenge has been the lack of comprehensive source material, leaving some questions open for further research. The study focuses on four cities?Norrk?ping, Skellefte?, Varberg, and V?xj??that have maintained their cactus groups for nearly a century.

To achieve a working collaboration in a big, complex organization where there are vast requirements on both quality and profitability is not always an easy task. An example of this is the organization that was created in the Swedish railway industry following a series of deregulations during the past 25 years. A partial market in this organization is the railway maintenance. In order to achieve a working collaboration between actors in this organization the so-called Purchaser-provider model (PPM) is presently used for the procurement of rail maintenance projects. Previous research has shown that this market-based instrument has clear positive effects regarding the cost-efficiency but hinders the collaboration.

Skötsel av våra parker och andra gröna miljöer utgör en stor kostnad. Syftet med studien var att ta fram förslag på olika praktiska lösningar för att minimera tiden och kostnaden för skötsel av offentliga gröna miljöer och utforma dessa som ett antal råd till designers. Metoden som användes var en kombination av en litteraturstudie, där sökorden ?skötsel?, ?parkförvaltning?, ?park management?, ?low maintenance?och ?low maintenance park/garden? användes, och en undersökning där sex personer intervjuades. Det är viktigt att tänka igenom vilket mål man har med den yta som skall skötas om.

Vårterminen 2006.

In February 2002 the European commission put forward a proposal for a new directive on The patentability of computer-implemented inventions, but which during my work on this essay has not been decided on yet. The directive has divided the decision-makers in the union, the commission and parliament, into two different positions regarding by which range computer-implemented inventions should be patentable. The parliament has amended the commissions proposal in a substantial way and the legal process has caused a heated debate both within the unions administration and among various interest groups both in favour of and against a patent on computer-implemented inventions. The loudest protests have come from a group that feels threatened by a possible software patent: Open Source. In this study I examine both the arguments by the decision-makers and by the lobbying for and against the proposal.

This Degree project summarizes how it is to work in the CAD program Revit Architecture. This was done because AQ Arkitekter in Eskilstuna is interested in how Revit works. Especially compared to AutoCad which is the software they are using today. Will their work become more efficient with the new software?The starting point was to find out how it is to work with Revit when you only used AutoCAD Architecture before.

The purpose of this essey is through empirical methods investigate usability factors on Video On Demand applications for the Internet. More specificly we will focus on a application called Voddler. The purpose is to identify usability problems that exist in Voddler, and present the reader with suggestions on possible solutions. This could be used as guidelines to how to design for usability in this kind of system. We will use an online survey to investigate Voddler usability and use this data as a basis for our analysis.

This Degree project summarizes how it is to work in the CAD program Revit Architecture. This was done because AQ Arkitekter in Eskilstuna is interested in how Revit works. Especially compared to AutoCad which is the software they are using today. Will their work become more efficient with the new software?The starting point was to find out how it is to work with Revit when you only used AutoCAD Architecture before.

Uppsalahem AB is a municipally owned real estate concern that owns and administrates housing for nearly 30 000 people. The company puts a lot of effort into reducing the energy use of their housing stock. This project is a master?s thesis in the energy systems programme at Uppsala University, carried out in collaboration with Uppsalahem. The aim of this thesis is to provide energy saving measures for fourteen student housing buildings in Uppsala, Sweden.

In this report a new gear concept is evaluated using the magnetic finite element method (FEM)software MagNet and Ansys as well as the mechanical FEM software Abaqus. The gear conceptis evaluated in terms of maximum torque capability, torsional stiffness, gear ratio and efficiency.ABB Corporate Research has proposed a new gear concept which should be less expensive thangearboxes used today. The new concept is called aMagnetic Harmonic Traction Drive and usesthe principles of a harmonic drive gear to achieve a high reduction ratio. The gear conceptreplaces the wave generator used in traditional harmonic drives with magnets and uses tractioninstead of gear teeth to transfer the torque. The main components in the gearbox are the magnets,the flexspline, the magnetic portion and the circular spline.

Since the demands from authorities regarding lower energy consumption havebecome increasingly strict, this puts new pressure on designers and builders, who notonly have to ensure an esthetically pleasing building, but also make sure it issufficiently efficient to pass under new laws and regulations.This thesis takes into consideration a wide range of various parameters and theireffect on a building?s energy consumption. For this evaluation a computer softwarecomparison between the two programs Autodesk Ecotect Analysis and AutodeskProject Vasari was performed.Autodesk Ecotect Analysis is better suited for studies made on individual factors whileAutodesk Project Vasari is better used in experiments regarding the geometricalshape of the stucture itself.The results from the two different software tools used, give us both differences andsimilarities. For instance, both software programs produced the same resultsregarding the importance of the windows of the buildings to ensure a highly energyefficient building, both when it comes to the windows size and their U-value..

Mechanical ventilation is the most common type ofventilation in newly constructed office buildings. Therehas been an interest to utilize natural ventilationinstead of mechanical ventilation among architects andHVAC consultants in recent years. This is due to thesize of mechanical ventilation systems, which arespace consuming. The mechanical ventilation system isalso complex and requires maintenance. Furthermore,the fan uses a considerable amount of energy.

In this study I have compared two systems of handling TMR, self-propelled/ self loading mixers and conventional towed mixers, what has been investigated is the time for filling, mixing and feeding TMR as well as maintenance and fuel consumption. The background of this study is the structural rationalization within the Swedish milk production that has put focus on efficiency and reducing of costs. Forage and labour are the two biggest costs in milk production today. The study has been performed by visiting three farms and with a stopwatch measured the times for filling, mixing and feeding TMR. At the time for the visits, the users have been interviewed regarding maintenance and fuel consumption. They have also had an opportunity to give comments of how they experience the mixers. The result of the study after processing is that the average stock in the study can save 74000 SEK a year by reducing time for filling, mixing and feeding TMR to cows with a self propelled/ self loading mixer . The conclusion I can make of this study is that it?s not the size of the stock that decides whether it?s interesting to invest in a self propelled/ self loading mixer, but the presumptions on the farms, for instance forage logistics and mechanical equipment..