AbstractIT can facilitate communication among individuals and connect people across geographical distances. On the contrary, citizens of the society who do not use communication technologies to some extent might feel excluded from the information society. As elderly citizens are already in a vulnerable position for the digital divide, communication technology becomes an important tool for interacting with friends and family. The social situation of elderly, 60 years of age and older, is a topic of current interest since they are the fastest growing age group in the world today. Further, social interaction becomes more important among elderly since it has a positive effect on well- being.

AbstractIT can facilitate communication among individuals and connect people across geographical distances. On the contrary, citizens of the society who do not use communication technologies to some extent might feel excluded from the information society. As elderly citizens are already in a vulnerable position for the digital divide, communication technology becomes an important tool for interacting with friends and family. The social situation of elderly, 60 years of age and older, is a topic of current interest since they are the fastest growing age group in the world today. Further, social interaction becomes more important among elderly since it has a positive effect on well- being.

How can we use modern X-ray technology to raise awareness of the information that is hidden in historic upholstery? The materials and techniques add information to the history object in question and  about a profession that is sparsely documented in our country. The knowledge we have today has largely been obtained by studying damaged upholstery, or by removing the show cover and upholstery, a technique which involves high risk of damaging the upholstery. X-ray technology offers  a non- intrusive way to examine historical upholstery.Through case studies, I examined four artefacts. The artefacts went trough an inititial visual exam before being transported to The National Heritage Board in Visby where they underwent a thorough X-ray exam.

Storm water is rain and melted snow that runs off, primarily from impervious surfaces.Future storm water management is facing the challenges of increased precipitation, asclimate changes, and increased areas of impervious surfaces due to the expansion anddensification of the cities. Impervious surfaces reduce the potential for water to infiltratein the ground leading to increased surface runoff and higher peak discharge.The runoff coefficient is closely related to the percentage of impervious surfaces andrepresents the maximum percentage of a catchment that can contribute to runoff. In thisstudy, the objective was to evaluate the weighted runoff coefficient for three differenturban types; apartment buildings, townhouses and residential areas and a comparisonbetween today and the 1970`s was made.The runoff coefficient was determined by manual mapping of the different surface typesin each area based on data in the form of orthophotos and aerial photographs. The surfacetypes that were mapped were asphalt, permeable areas, tiles, sand/gravel and roof.Tiles and sand/gravel were the most difficult surface types to map. In order to see towhat extent these categories influenced the weighted runoff coefficient a sensitivityanalysis was carried out and the runoff coefficient based on surface type was changed indifferent scenarios.The results of the sensitivity analysis showed that the surface types tiles and sand/gravelhad little impact on the weighted runoff coefficient which in mainly due to the fact thatthe percentage of these surfaces types of the total area is small.The result of the study showed that the largest change in the runoff coefficient occurredin residential areas where the increase in the percentage of impervious surfaces causedby new roofs in the form of porches and garages and from paved or tiled driveways.

From embankment dams is something that has long been noticed and given rise to different questions. The most serious question is if the sludge is a result of inner erosion through the dam, and thus consists of material transported from the dam. Concerns have also been raised whether the sludge could interfere with the systems drainage capacity and thereby lead to high pore pressure in the dam, or if the measurement of seepage is disturbed, as the measuring is usually made via Thomson weirs, which could risk being blocked. The result of this investigation shows that the sludge is a result of the oxidation of iron by iron bacteria, and to the greater part consists of these oxides as well as the bacteria?s own structures. The iron oxidizing bacteria, FeOB, oxides ferrous iron to ferric as a part of their metabolism, and thereby create large quantities of iron(oxy)hydroxides.

Sweden has long had access to low electricity prices due to the wide availability of hydro and nuclear power. This has now changed because of today's rising electricity rates resulting in increasing heating costs for properties, especially in the properties with electric heating systems."Ankaret" is a parish for "Svenska Alliansmissionen", which is located at "Gullbrannagården".The parish has installed electrical radiators and an exhaust ventilation system that makes the energy demand high due to the large ventilation flows. The building was built as the price of electricity was still low and would reduce energy use today by combining its heating system with an air/air heat pump. The heat pump delivers more heat into the room than the electrical energy that it uses. This lowers the electricity needs.

Akademiska hus is a real estate company that specializes in providing Swedish universities with housing facilities for educational and research purposes. The company strives to reduce its use of energy by 40% between the years 2000 and 2025. The aim of this thesis is to determine which measures can be taken to reduce the need of purchased energy in a building that is used by theSwedishUniversityof Agricultural Sciences inUppsala.In order to determine the results of various changes to the building envelope and ventilation system, the building was modelled in the computer simulation program VIP-Energy. Other proposed changes to make the use of energy more efficient concerned water use and lighting. The need of purchased energy can also be reduced by producing electricity or heat on site, using solar energy.Results show that economically viable measures include upgrading windows and faucets, adjusting control systems for ventilation and lighting, and installing roof mounted solar panels for power production.

The housing sector of today represents for almost 40% of the energy consumption, an energy consumption of which the major part consists of non-renewable energy sources. This is not sustainable and utilization of new energy-efficient technologies in buildings can be a step in the right direction, towards a sustainable energy society.This report has been made on behalf of and in cooperation with Älvstranden Utveckling AB in Gothenburg to examine how future energy-efficient technologies can affect the energy demand in energy-efficient multi-dwelling buildings.The report is based on Älvstrandens passive house, Hamnhuset, a house whose energy consumption is far below the BBR's requirements. The report looks at the opportunities for improvement within windows, insulation, solar energy technologies, as well as white goods. Computer simulations are then made to apply the selected technologies into a reference building. Technologies are selected from an energy efficient perspective and no account has been taken of other aspects such as the economy.

Ronneby Miljö- och hälsoskyddskontor ville genom undersökningen få information om nitrathalter ienskilda dricksvattenbrunnar inom kommunen, med bakgrund av den nya miljökvalitetsnormen.Riktvärdet för nitrat är 50 mg/l. Halter som överstiger detta bör inte ges till barn under ett års ålder pågrund av risk för methemoglobinemi. Jämförelsen skulle ske mellan områden präglade av jordbrukrespektive skogsbruk, samt mellan grävda och borrade brunnar. Jämförelsen skulle även ske över tiden,mellan 1975-1990 till 2005. Urvalet av provtagningspunkter baserades på en sammanställning frånbefintligt arkiv samt efter en annons i dagspressen.

This thesis describes the introduction of Web 2.0 education into Swedish LIS education with emphasis on the driving forces and obstacles in the process. It also discusses the possibilities of estimating the appropriate time for the start of new educational courses introducing new technologies, when it is uncertain if the technologies in question will sustain for a long enough period of time to make the educational effort worthwhile. The data on the Web 2.0 education was collected during the spring of 2010 from the Web pages of the five LIS departments in Sweden, namely Borås, Lund, Umeå, Uppsala and Växjö, as well as by 10 interviews during November and December 2010 with two representatives from each LIS department..The key finding is that Web 2.0 is covered in Swedish LIS education and embracing both practical and theoretical issues. The main driving forces have been both the needs of the profession and an academic research interest. It is concluded that Rogers??S-curves? as described in ?Diffusion of Innovation? can be used as a tool in order to improve the understanding of when to introduce education in new technologies.

Now a day?s there is dramatic change from traditional to digital information processing in construction industry. This change can be visualized in the project concept stage where it now has accessibility to join all the data in one place. Location-based planning technique simplifies scheduling by visualizing the schedule efficiently and has many advantages such as might shortened the project period by about 10 - 20 % if the company uses location-based technology, reducing risks in many ways by maintaining production continuity and identify collisions between things etc. Vico Office software has been used for Location based planning technique and in this thesis.The purpose of this thesis work was to demonstrate how location -based planning technology change the scheduling stage in Peab, potentially reducing the project time.

The purpose of this Master?s Thesis is to examine and describe how a wiki can be used in the information seeking education. We believe that the preconditions for education and learning are changing; technology and Internet has introduced new tools for the learning situation. To examine this we will describe how the wiki technology can be used in the information seeking education, describe how the goals of the information seeking education are reached when using a wiki and lastly investigate the school librarian?s pedagogical role in wiki-based education.

The practice of landscape architectural involves forming the space in our cities and suburbs, as well as the landscape surrounding. The need of exploiting green environment leads up to, among other issues, flood problem during heavy rain and overfed water environments. The problem is partially caused by the shortage of knowledge, how the environment is responding of the innovations made by the city- urban planning and how to get sustainability. Research and knowledge how to take care of our environment, in a natural way, is increasing. The object of the thesis is to propose control and balance in urban wetlands, and discuss the difference a plant design can do. The thesis deals with discourses in the field of landscape architecture, biological diversity, dam construction, limnology, planting design and management, pollution of the environment and urban design practice.

AbstractIT can facilitate communication among individuals and connect people across geographical distances. On the contrary, citizens of the society who do not use communication technologies to some extent might feel excluded from the information society. As elderly citizens are already in a vulnerable position for the digital divide, communication technology becomes an important tool for interacting with friends and family. The social situation of elderly, 60 years of age and older, is a topic of current interest since they are the fastest growing age group in the world today. Further, social interaction becomes more important among elderly since it has a positive effect on well- being.

In which ways have composing processes in music appeared over the past 300 years? How may composing processes work today? What does new technology do to this processes?The key purpose of this study is to investigate various composing processes. A further purpose is also to gain an awareness of how we use modern technology by computers and their notation programmes.The research design of this thesis includes a display of literature related to composing processes. along with an analysis of the writer?s own experiences in the area.