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Background: Physical activity and sedentary behavior vary across the life span, and in very old people activity behavior can vary considerably over 24 h. A physical activity questionnaire adapted for this age group is lacking. This study was conducted to validate such a newly developed questionnaire suitable for use in very old people. Research question: Is the International Physical Activity Questionnaire adapted for adults aged ≥ 80 years (IPAQ-E 80 +) a valid measure of physical activity in very old people? Methods: Seventy-six participants (55.3% women) with a mean age of 84.4 ± 3.8 years wore accelerometers for ≥ 5 consecutive days, and completed the IPAQ-E 80 +. Spearman's rho and Bland-Altman plots were used to analyze the validity of IPAQ-E 80 + against accelerometer measures. Analyses were conducted for the separate items sitting, laying down at daytime and nighttime, walking, moderate to vigorous (MV) walking, and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and the summary measures: total inactive time, sedentary time (i.e. lying down at daytime + sitting), total active time, and total MVPA + MV walking. Results: The IPAQ-E 80 + correlated with the accelerometer measures of total inactive- (r = 0.55, p < 0.001), sedentary- (r = 0.28, p = 0.015), walking- (r = 0.54 p < 0.001) and total active- (r = 0.60, p < 0.001) times, but not with measures of intensity of walking or physical activity; MV walking (r = 0.06, p = 0.58), MVPA (r = 0.17, p = 0.13). Significance: In this study the IPAQ-E 80 + showed fair to substantial correlations with accelerometers, and it therefore seems able to rank very old people according to levels of PA (total inactive-, sedentary-, and total active time, and walking time). The IPAQ-E 80 + seems promising for use in studies investigating associations between activity behavior and health in this population. Further investigation is needed to determine whether the IPAQ-E 80 + can accurately measure PA intensity. Originally included in thesis in manuscript form.

High morale could be considered to be an essential part of aging well and increased knowledge of how to prevent a decrease in high morale in very old age could have important implications for policy, and social and health care development. The objective was to identify social and health-related risk factors for a decrease in morale over 5 years in very old people among those with high morale at baseline. The study is based on data derived from the Umeå85+/GERDA study conducted in Northern Sweden and Western Finland. The final sample consisted of 174 individuals who were 85 years and older at baseline and who had completed the follow-up 5 years later. Morale was measured with The Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS). A set of social and health-related variables were used to test which factors were associated with a decrease in morale over 5 years. Linear regression was used for the multivariable analyses. The sample had a mean change of - 1.3 (SD = 2.5) in PGCMS scores from T1 to T2. The results from the regression analyses showed that development of depressive disorders, increased feelings of loneliness and the death of a child during the follow-up period were associated with a decrease in morale. The results from our study indicate that preventing the development of depressive disorders and increasing loneliness are key factors in preventing a decrease in high morale. Additionally, very old people who have recently lost an adult child should receive adequate psychosocial support.

Additional file 1. Hazard ratios for incident diabetes in the study cohort according to different stepping cut-points, body mass index and visceral adipose tissue.

Distributed networks, meaning a network in which several agents work together unanimously to perform some task in order to reach goals has become a field with a wide range of applications. One such applications may exist in the form of drones with a purpose of observing and detecting forest fires. In such applications it can be of paramount importance to be able to agree over some opinions or values between the agents. This value could be something such as event detection or a general direction to fly in. However in such a network there might not exist a central hub and it would not be possible for all drones to communicate directly with each other. In order for such a network to be able to reach consensus or agreement, values have to be exchanged between the agents. This thesis focuses on a subset of this problem known as distributed averaging. In the thesis it is investigated how a networks ability to detect forest fires and communicate both efficiently and quickly can change when the number of agents are adjusted in the network. The results showed that, when operating in a fixed area, for a small network of drones the increasing effective energy cost per drone were higher, than that of a larger network. It was also discovered that the speed at which a network could reach an agreement was not necessarily affected by the size of the network. But as the field area being observed was increased, adverse effects were observed in terms of communication and event detection. Distribuerade nätverk bestående av flera agenter som har som uppgift att tillsammans nå gemensamma resultat har blivit allt mer populärt. Ett sådant användningsområde är hur drönare kan användas för att observera och upptäcka skogsbränder över en given yta. I en sådan tillämpning är det av stor vikt att drönarnätverket kan kommunicera och kongruera över värden nätverket delar med varandra. Dessa värden kan representera händelser som nätverket har som uppgift att upptäcka eller en riktning för drönarna att flyga i. Det är inte alltid garanterat att det finns en central kommunikationscentral för sådana nätverk, utan blir beroende på att kommunicera med varandra för att utbyta och kongruera över värden. Den här rapporten fokuserar på en avgränsad del av det ovanstående problemet som kallas för distribuerat konsensusvärde (eng. distributed averaging). Rapporten undersöker hur ett sådant nätverks konvergeringsförmåga, totala energikostnad samt täckning påverkas när fler drönare tillförs till nätverket. När arbetsytan var satt till statisk storlek visade resultaten att den tillförda energikostnaden per drönare var högre för små nätverk än för större nätverk. Det visades också att hastigheten som nätverket når ett kongruerande värde inte nödvändigtvis påverkas av storleken av nätverket. När arbetsytan ökade i takt med storleken på nätverket observerades däremot motsatt effekt för energikostnad och hastigheten för att nå ett konsensusvärde.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a multifunctional radar sensor. Utilising microstrip transmission line technology, a front-end receiver has been designed based upon a six-port architecture. Additionally, digital signal processing has been implemented on a microcontroller, enabling processing and extraction of information from the down converted quadrature signals. Results have show that the sensor is capable of operating as both a continuous wave radar and frequency modulated continuous wave radar. Through measurements, it has been established that the sensor is capable of wireless measurements, such as vital signs and vibrations. Furthermore, a graphical user interface has been design, allowing a way of switching between different radar configurations and the presentation of measured data to the user.

Children are more vulnerable in vehicles compared to adults in collisions. Two main reasons are the different body structure between these two and vehicles are more designed to fit adults. Children’s head is larger relative to their body mass and their neck muscle ligaments are still not fully developed. Children are therefore in need of a restraint system that match their anatomy to make them protected during transportation in vehicles. Crash tests have shown that if children up to the age of five use rear-facing child car seats are the chances reduced of injuries by five times compared to front-facing. This report describes the development project of a concept which enables to fasten a rear-facing child car seat with the car seat belt. The objective was to design the fastening components for a rear-facing child car seat that suits children up to five years and considering the regulations, ECE R44, and the Swedish Plus test. This is a Master thesis that has been in collaboration with Company Xand Havd Group in Gothenburg. The project aimed to deliver a digital concept of the fastening components with information about the material, manufacturing methods, product costs, and design form. Also, was the aim to gather information through the project on what it takes to develop a rear-facing child car seat. The project consisted of five phases: planning, pre-study, ideation, detailed design and at last presentation of the result. The first phase was to plan and coordinate the project. A pre-study was then made investigating the products on the market, interviews with both users and experts regarding safety for children in vehicles, relevant literature for developing a child car seat was also collected and regulations were studied. The ideation phase developed ideas and three concepts were taken forward for development. One concept was chosen after decision making and the concept was more detailed designed in CAD.The result is presented through a CAD model which illustrates the design form and chosen material. The result is a concept that fastens the car seat belt with two hooks which can be connected to the child car seat base. In the base is two buckles designed to connect with the hooks, which uses the same fastening way used in the vehicles to fasten passengers. This is supposed to increase the usability of the installation. Material, manufacturing methods and product costs have been considered and are presented with the result.

Background: Morale is a multidimensional concept, often defined as a future-oriented optimism or pessimism regarding the problems and opportunities associated with ageing. Very old people, older than 80 years, constitute an age group that is expected to increase in Europe from 4.7% of the general population today to 12.0% in the year 2060 in Europe. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore morale among very old people. Method: The Umeå 85+/GErontological Regional Database study (GERDA) is a population-based study carried out in parts of northern Sweden and western Finland in which every second 85 year old, every 90 year old and everyone aged 95 years and older were invited to participate. The study started the year 2000 and every five years re-invites previous participants and invites new individuals to participate in the study. The Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGCMS), which is widely used to measure morale in old people, has been translated into many languages. Results: There were 598 individuals who answered the PGCMS in the Umeå 85+/GERDA study. Despite respondents’ advanced age 92.6% (554/598) answered 16 or 17 of the questions. The construct validity of the Swedish version of the PGCMS was tested among the 493 individuals who answered all 17 questions using confirmatory factor analysis and the analysis showed a generally a good fit. Reliability tested with Cronbach’s alpha was 0.74. Reliability was also tested in a convenience sample of 54 individuals (mean age of 84.7±6.7 years) and the IntraClass Correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.89. Almost 20% (91/465) of participants who could answer the PGCMS had had a stroke. Those with stroke had significantly lower PGCMS scores than those without (10.9±3.8 vs 12.1±3.0, p-value 0.008), but there were 38.5% with stroke history who had high morale. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that depression, angina pectoris and impaired hearing were independently associated with low morale among those with a stroke history. A logistic regression model showed that each point increase in PGCMS score lowered the risk of depressive disorders five years later (odds ratio 0.779, p

This dissertation intends to describe how small Swedish companies experience the handling of financing in China. Which include describing how small Swedish companies have chosen to finance their establishment, and whether Myers Pecking order theory is applicable. Further more, to show the inquired companies attitude towards external equity, and if any problems are experienced, connected to reaching long-term external finance. The specifikation of the problem for this dissertation is, How do small Swedish companies established in China experience the handling of financing? And to answer the specification of the problem a quantitative approach has been used. The data was gathered through a survey sent out to a number of small Swedish companies established in China. The definition of small Swedish companies has been set to less than 100 employees, and furthermore, established in China under any of the entry modes WFOE, FICE, Joint Venture or Rep/Sales Office. The over all conclusions for this dissertation, are that internal finance is preferred, and in general is the use of external finance insignificant among small Swedish companies established in China. What can be concluded from this is that Myers Pecking order theory is applicable. Further more, there are strong indications that the inquired companies do not experience any financial gap, or in general any imminent problems surrounding reaching external finance. Important to add to the conclusion is that just because there are no imminent problems, does this not signify that companies do not experience any problems at all reaching external finance.

Power quality is an issue of ever increasing importance, and with ever increasingcustomer expectations on such issues, the significance of supplying customers withhigh quality power can never be underestimated. One of the most important mattersthat define power of good quality is the voltage level each customer is supplied with.Most appliances are designed to operate satisfactorily only within a narrow range ofsupply voltages. Inappropriate supply voltages can not only result in poor performingappliances, it can also cause equipment damage, increase distribution losses anddecrease the revenue for the power supplier.The point that is electrically closest to the consumers, where the voltage is activelyregulated and monitored, is usually in a zone substation, where on load tap changerson the zone substation transformers ensure that the voltage in the distribution networkis kept within appropriate limits. The supply voltage is therefore directly reliant oncorrect operation and functionality of the on load tap changers and their controllingautomatic voltage regulators. The main objective that this thesis seeks to achieve is todetermine the most effective method of voltage control to be utilised with differenttypes of zone substations, primarily with respect to the algorithms utilised in theautomatic voltage regulator.Metering data from the distribution network has been utilised to examine the presentvoltage performance of the distribution network. Different reasons that can causevoltage fluctuations and unpredictable voltage performance are investigated anddiscussed. Voltage levels that are investigated are steady-state voltages, hencetransients, flicker, and sags and swells of short duration have not been taken intoconsideration. The present voltage levels are also examined in network models, withthe aim to investigate the impact of altered methods of voltage control in zonesubstations. The accuracy of the utilised network models is also investigated, bycomparing metering data to modelled voltage levels.This thesis is undertaken with the assistance of Ergon Energy Corporation Limited, acorporation owned and operated by the Queensland Government. Ergon Energy ownsand operates the subtransmission and distribution network in regional Queensland. Itis intended that this thesis will aid understanding of the voltage performance of thedistribution network, and that it will bring clarity to how the voltage in thedistribution network should be controlled in order to achieve optimum voltageperformance. Uppsatsnivå: C