Bridges consisting of multiple parallel pre-stressed and pre-fabricated Tee-beams topped by a cast-on-site concrete slab are often a cost-effective way of constructing simply-supported and multi-span bridge structures in many countries world-wide. For the design of these bridges computer models are often utilised. This thesis presents a comprehensive discussion of modelling issues encountered in the practical design work on this bridge type. A chapter on the modelling of various loading conditions is followed by a detailed discussion of the modelling of the longitudinal load bearing system, the Tee-beams, and the lateral load-bearing system, the roadway slab. A summary of commonly used bridge systems in various countries is also included. All this material is presented considering design code requirements in various internationally used specifications. The information included in this thesis has been used to define specifications for the implementation of a software tool to support the design of so-called Super-Tee bridges. A summary of these specifications is given in the conclusions of this thesis. Material included in this thesis has also been published in the following conference proceedings: Pircher G., Pircher M. (2004) “Computer-aided design and analysis of multiple Tee-beam bridges”, Proceedings: Fifth Austroads Bridge Conference, Hobart, Australia, on CD Pircher M, Pircher G, Wheeler A (2006) “Automated Analysis and Design of Super-Tee Bridges”, Proceedings: Sixth Austroads Bridge Conference, Perth (in publication) / Master of Engineering (Hons)

<p>Syftet med denna studie var att få ökad kunskap och förståelse för hur det är att leva med funktionshindret dyslexi/ läs- och skrivsvårigheter och hur funktionshindret präglar personens självkänsla och relationer till andra. Våra problemställningar var följande: Hur påverkas skoltiden av funktionshindret dyslexi? Hur påverkas självkänslan och självbilden av att en individ har funktionshindret dyslexi? Hur påverkas och formas relationer till andra hos individer som har funktionshindret dyslexi? Studiens utformning var av kvalitativ design och grundade sig på djupintervjuer som gjordes enligt en temaindelad intervjuguide. Intervjuerna genomfördes med tre kvinnor och en man som vid vuxen ålder studerar vid Stockholm universitet. Vi använde oss även av en heuristisk metod, självobservationer, som en beskrivning av våra egna erfarenheter av funktionshindret, dyslexi. Vår vetenskapsteoretiska ansats var en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk position. Analysen tolkades utifrån ett multidimensionellt perspektiv. Vi meningstolkade intervjupersonernas berättelser enligt tre olika teoretiska perspektiv: systemteori, socialkonstruktivism och kognitivt perspektiv. Vår studie visade att funktionshindret dyslexi präglar personens skoltid, självkänsla och relationer till andra. Studien visade även vikten av en förstående och stödjande omgivning för att personer med dyslexi ska få en fungerande skolgång och möjlighet att utveckla en stark självkänsla och goda relationer till andra. Detta ligger i linje med tidigare forskning.</p>

<p>De olika skrivpraktikerna som ungdomar idag möter rymmer olika former och villkor där skolans mer formativa förhållningssätt ställer andra krav både till sitt innehåll och form jämfört med fritidens skrivpraktik där ungdomarna ofta själva väljer både textarena och formen för denna.</p><p> </p><p>Syftet med den här undersökningen var att försöka förstå och ge en bild av de olika skrivpraktiker som eleverna möter dels på sin fritid och dels i skolan. Vi ville även studera om fritidens skrivpraktik påverkade skolans skrivpraktik och i så fall hur. Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av åtta olika informanter, lika många flickor och pojkar, fördelat på fyra stycken i årskurs 8 på grundskolan och fyra stycken i årskurs 1 på gymnasiet. Resultatet har sedan analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning och visade att det skiljer sig mellan ungdomars privata skrivpraktik jämfört med skolans mer formella genreinriktade skrivpraktik. Skillnaderna utgörs av vad som inspirerar ungdomar till skrivande, om ämnesområdet har en verklighetsförankring med en autentisk mottagare, samt syftet med själva skrivpraktiken.</p>

Large numbers of 1950's vintage conventionally reinforced concrete (CRC) bridges remain in-service in the national bridge inventory. Many of these bridges are lightly reinforced for shear. Evaluation of these bridges to prevent unnecessary and costly repairs requires refined analytical techniques. This dissertation presents finite element (FE) modeling and comparisons of various analytical methods for predicting capacity of CRC girders typical of reinforced concrete deck girder (RCDG) bridges. Analyses included bridge-system load distribution, member capacity prediction, and consideration of corrosion damage for strength deterioration. Two in-service RCDG bridges were inspected and instrumented to measure response under known load configurations. Load distribution was developed for the bridges based on the field data. Comparisons with AASHTO factors indicated the design factors for load distribution are conservative. Load distribution of the tested bridges was numerically obtained using FE analysis. The comparisons between predicted results and field-test data indicated the elastic FE analysis can be used for modeling of cracked RCDG bridges to predict load distribution factors for more accurate bridge evaluation. Analyses were performed for a large set of full-size RCDG, designed to reflect 1950's vintage details, and tested using various loading configurations. Four different analysis methods were used to predict the capacity of the specimens considering details of various stirrup spacing, debonded stirrups, flexural-bar cutoff, anchorage of flexural reinforcing, and moving supports. Nonlinear FE analyses were performed to predict behavior of two groups of experimental reinforced concrete (RC) specimens. Two different span-to-depth ratios were included: 2.0 and approximately 3.0. Concrete confinement effects were included in the material modeling. A quasi-displacement control technique was developed to reduce solution times. The FE predicted results correlated well with the experimental data. FE modeling techniques were developed to isolate different contributions of corrosion damage to structural response of experimental RC beams designed to produce diagonal-tension failures. Corrosion-damage parameters included concrete cover spalling; uniform stirrup cross-sectional loss; local stirrup cross-sectional loss due to pitting; and debonding of corrosion-damaged stirrups from the concrete. FE analyses were performed including both individual and combined damages. The FE results matched experimental results well and quantitatively estimated capacity reduction of the experimental specimens. / Graduation date: 2005 / Best scan available.

The problem of relating inter-agent and intra-agent behavioral specifications is investigated. These two views are complimentary, in that the former is closer to scenario-based user requirements whereas the latter is design-oriented. We use a graphical, user-friendly and very simple language as inter-agent specification language: Live Sequence Charts (LSC). LSC is presented and its properties are investigated: it is highly succinct, but inexpressive. There are essentially two ways to relate inter-agent and intra-agent specifications: (i) by checking that an intra-agent specification is correct with respect to some LSC specification and (ii) by automatically building an intra-agent specification from an LSC specification. Several variants of these problems exist: closed/open systems and centralized/distributed systems. We give inefficient but optimal algorithms solving all problems, besides synthesis of open distributed systems, which we show is undecidable. All the problems considered are difficult, even for a very restricted subset of LSCs, without alternatives, interleaving, conditions nor loops. We investigate the cost of extending the language with control flow constructs, conditions, real-time and symbolic instances. An implementation of the algorithms is proposed. The applicability of the language is illustrated on a real-world case study.

Syftet med denna studie var att få ökad kunskap och förståelse för hur det är att leva med funktionshindret dyslexi/ läs- och skrivsvårigheter och hur funktionshindret präglar personens självkänsla och relationer till andra. Våra problemställningar var följande: Hur påverkas skoltiden av funktionshindret dyslexi? Hur påverkas självkänslan och självbilden av att en individ har funktionshindret dyslexi? Hur påverkas och formas relationer till andra hos individer som har funktionshindret dyslexi? Studiens utformning var av kvalitativ design och grundade sig på djupintervjuer som gjordes enligt en temaindelad intervjuguide. Intervjuerna genomfördes med tre kvinnor och en man som vid vuxen ålder studerar vid Stockholm universitet. Vi använde oss även av en heuristisk metod, självobservationer, som en beskrivning av våra egna erfarenheter av funktionshindret, dyslexi. Vår vetenskapsteoretiska ansats var en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med hermeneutisk-fenomenologisk position. Analysen tolkades utifrån ett multidimensionellt perspektiv. Vi meningstolkade intervjupersonernas berättelser enligt tre olika teoretiska perspektiv: systemteori, socialkonstruktivism och kognitivt perspektiv. Vår studie visade att funktionshindret dyslexi präglar personens skoltid, självkänsla och relationer till andra. Studien visade även vikten av en förstående och stödjande omgivning för att personer med dyslexi ska få en fungerande skolgång och möjlighet att utveckla en stark självkänsla och goda relationer till andra. Detta ligger i linje med tidigare forskning.

The neuropeptides orexin-A and orexin-B were discovered in 1998 and were first described as regulators of feeding behaviour. Later research has shown that they have an important role in the regulation of sleep. Two G protein-coupled receptors, OX1 and OX2 orexin receptors, mediate the cellular responses to orexins. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the OX1 orexin receptors signalling to phospholipases. Previous investigations have determined that orexin receptors induce Ca2+ elevations through both receptor-operated Ca2+ channels (ROCs) and store-operated Ca2+ channels (SOCs). In this thesis we investigated the importance of these influxpathways on orexin-mediated phospholipase (PLC) activation. The results demonstrate that ROC influx is enough to fully support orexin-stimulated PLC activation but that SOC influx has a further amplifying role. We also investigated the metabolites generated after PLC activation, inositolphosphates and diacylglycerol (DAG). The results indicate involvement of two different PLC activities with different substrate specificities one of them leading to DAG production without co-occurring IP3 production at low orexin receptor stimulation. The results also suggest that at even lower orexin receptor stimulation DAG is produced via the activation of phospholipase D. In this thesis we also investigated if the ubiquitous phospholipase A2 (PLA2) signalling system is involved in orexin receptor signalling. The results demonstrate that stimulation of the OX1 orexin receptors leads to arachidonic acid (AA) release. This release is fully dependent on Ca2+ influx, probably through ROC, and at the same time the studies demonstrate that ROC influx is partly dependent on PLA2 activation. At low orexin receptor activation the AA release seemed to in part rely on extracellular signal-regulated kinase. We also devised two methods to aid in these investigations. The first method enabled studies of the receptor-operated Ca2+ influx without interference of the co-occurring store-operated Ca2+ influx. This was done by the expression of IP3-metabolising enzymes IP3-3-kinase-A and IP3-5-phosphatase-I. The second method enables quantification of DAG and IP3 signalling in fixed cells using GFP-fused indicators, leading to a semi-quantitative but easily applicable pharmacological assay.

Scum is an integral component of solids management in MWWTP and is composed of fats, oils, grease and other entrained floatable materials that are collected during primary clarification. Lab scale BMP tests showed the addition of 14.5 g VS/L of scum exhibited the greatest increase in biogas production of 1.6 times per g VS added compared to the control, while a higher additional scum loading of 33.7 g VS/L reduced the biogas yield to 32% of the control reactor. Lab scale semi-continuous digestion measured the effects of scum loading and temperature of pretreatment in the scum concentrator. At 15 d and 20 d HRTs the greatest observed improvement in biogas was achieved by adding 3% scum by volume and pretreating the scum at 70°C in a scum concentrator with respective improvements of 24% and 16%.

During vertebrate embryo development, the body axis is subdivided into repeated structures, called somites. Somites bud off from an un-segmented tissue called the pre-somitic mesoderm (PSM) in a sequential and periodic manner, tightly controlled by an in built molecular clock, called the "segmentation clock". According to current understanding, the clock is comprised of: (i) an autonomous cellular oscillator consisting of an intracellular negative feedback loop of Her genes within the PSM cells, (ii) Delta-ligand and Notch-receptor coupling that facilitates synchronization of oscillators among the PSM cells, (iii) Tissue level waves of gene expression that emerge in the posterior PSM and move coherently towards anterior, leading to global arrest of oscillations in the form of somites. However, the movement of cellular oscillators within the PSM before the formation of somitic furrows, a prominent feature of the tissue as observed through this work has not been experimentally considered as a constituent of the segmentation clock so far. Our work aims to incorporate movement of cellular oscillators in the framework of the segmentation clock. It is well known from theoretical studies that the characteristics of relative motion of oscillators affect their synchronization properties and the patterns of oscillations they form. Particularly, theoretical studies by Uriu et al., PNAS (2010) suggest that cell movements promotes synchronization of genetic oscillations. Here, we established experimental techniques and image analysis tools to attain quantitative insight on (i) diffusion co-efficient of cellular oscillators, (ii) dynamics of a population of oscillators, within the PSM aiming towards concomitant understanding of the relationship between movement and synchronization of cellular oscillators. In order to quantitatively relate cellular oscillators and their motion within the PSM, I established imaging techniques that enabled visualization of fluorescenctly labeled nuclei as readouts of cell positions in live embryo, and developed dedicated segmentation algorithm and implemented tracking protocol to obtain nuclei positions over time in 3D space. Furthermore, I provide benchmarking techniques in the form of artificial data that validate segmentation algorithm efficacy and, for the first time proposed the use of transgenic embryo chimeras to validate segmentation algorithm performance within the context of in vivo live imaging of embryonic tissues. Preliminary analysis of our data suggests that there is relatively high cell mixing in the posterior PSM, within the same spatial zone where synchronous oscillations emerge at maximum speed. Also, there are indications of gradient of cell mixing along the anterior-posterior axis of the embryo. By sampling single cell tracks with the help of nuclei markers, we have also been able to follow in vivo protein oscillations at single cell resolution that would allow quantitative characterization of coherence among a population of cellular oscillators over time. Our image analysis work flow allows testing of mutant embryos and perturbation of synchrony dynamics to understand the cause-effect relationship between movement and synchronization properties at cellular resolution. Essentially, through this work, we hope to bridge the time scales of events and cellular level dynamics that leads to highly coordinated tissue level patterns and thereby further our understanding of the segmentation clock mechanism.

The aim of this s tudy is to investigate the three great existential questions—anxiety, love and death—in the works of Stig Dagerman. Emphasis is placed on the novels Ormen [The Snake] (1945), De dömdas ö [The Island of the Doomed ] (1946), Bränt barn [A Burnt Child] (1948), and Bröllopsbesvär [Wedding Worries] (1949), as well as the play Den dödsdömde [The Condemned] (1948). To this end, interpretation is used in the sense given to it by Paul Ricoeur—interpretation that leads to an understanding of a double meaning. In the present case, this means that the texts' symbolic level is revealed and accorded as great an importance as the story at the surface, manifest level . The theme of anxiety is most apparent in the first novel, while the question of eroticism is central to De dömdas ö and Bränt barn. Each novel expresses a pessimistic view of erotic love as a realizable possibility. Death, which has concrete, motivational and abstract aspects , occurs in every text. Murder and suicide interact with inner, spiritual deadness. This state means acquiring a lowered or threatened inner vitality in which the psyche becomes "icebound". Inner deadness is a form of anxiety. Analysis reveals that anxiety, the complications of love and the problem of death are related to a mother figure. The mother figures in the texts are alternately the objects of destructive hatred and excessive love. Behind these mother figures is concealed the experience of a mother who has betrayed, and who is there fore the object of both aggression and longing. This longing, according to Freudian-Lacanic theory, is expressed in a desire for the mother's body, i.e. a longing fo r the lost unity with the mother in original symbiosis. Thus, the mother figure in the texts also has mythical dimensions—Mother and death are in a sense equivalent. To die is to return to the mother, but death, or the proximity of death thus also provides the opportunity for a symbolic rebirth. Both the proximity of concrete death—as in thwarted suicide attempts—and a symbolic death — as in the form of extreme self-degradation—give rise to an increased feeling of life, if only for a moment. The psychologist Robert Jay Lifton has shown that murder can be a conscious step in a process of self- destruction. Murder is in this case a phase in a search for revitaliza-tion, which is thus the ultimate aim of suicide. This phenomenon appears on the symbolic level in Dagermans works, especially in the play Den dödsdömde. The interpretation reveals that the existential question that dominates Dagerman's texts is the struggle against the threat of inner deadness. The fixation with death in the texts is, in the final analysis , an expression of a desire to live. / digitalisering@umu