The Texas Ranger tradition of over twenty-five years of frontier defense influenced the methods by which Texans provided for frontier defense, 1861-1865. The elements that guarded the Texas frontier during the war combined organizational policies that characterized previous Texas military experience and held the frontier together in marked contrast to its rapid collapse at the Confederacy's end. The first attempt to guard the Indian frontier during the Civil War was by the Texas Mounted Rifles, a regiment patterned after the Rangers, who replaced the United States troops forced out of the state by the Confederates. By the spring of 1862 the Frontier Regiment, a unit funded at state expense, replaced the Texas Mounted Rifles and assumed responsibility for frontier defense during 1862 and 1863. By mid-1863 the question of frontier defense for Texas was not so clearly defined as in the war's early days. Then, the Indian threat was the only responsibility, but the magnitude of Civil War widened the scope of frontier protection. From late 1863 until the war's end, frontier defense went hand in hand with protecting frontier Texans from a foe as deadly as Indians—themselves. The massed bands of deserters, Union sympathizers, and criminals that accumulated on the frontier came to dominate the activities of the ensuing organizations of frontier defense. Any treatment of frontier protection in Texas during the Civil War depends largely on the wealth of source material found in the Texas State Library. Of particular value is the extensive Adjutant General's Records, including the muster rolls for numerous companies organized for frontier defense. The Barker Texas History Center contains a number of valuable collections, particularly the Barry Papers and the Burleson Papers. The author found two collections to be most revealing on aspects of frontier defense, 1863-1865: the William Quayle Papers, University of Alabama, and the Bourland Papers, Library of Congress. As always, the Official Records is indispensible for any military analysis of the American Civil War.

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Utgångspunkten för denna kandidatuppsats är att den byggda miljön påverkar våra liv och vårt handlingsutrymme. Den byggda miljön kan möjliggöra eller begränsa olika typer av aktiviteter. Leken är en av de mest grundläggande aktiviteterna i vår sociala utveckling och är en del av den sociala interaktionen med andra människor. Leken förknippas ofta med barn, men leken förkommer och är viktig för alla ålderskategorier.Syftet med studien är att ta reda på hur den byggda miljön kan skapa möjligheter för leken att etableras. Vi undersöker om man kan planera och styra leken och vad leken kan tillföra i ett miljonprogramsområde.Många av de miljonprogramsområden som byggdes i Sverige under 1960- och 70-talet är ofta problemtyngda och den byggda miljön lider av ett eftersatt underhåll. Området Gårdsten i Göteborg är ett område som genomgått ombyggnadsprojekt med inriktning på hållbarhetsfrågor, med de sociala frågorna i huvudfokus. Vi har genomfört en fallstudie av området och genom analys utvärderat hur den byggda miljön skapar förutsättningar för lek. / The basis for this candidate essay is that the built environment affects our lives and our freedom of action. The built environment can facilitate or limit different types of activities. Play is one of the most basic things in our social development and is part of the social interaction with other people. The play is often associated with children, but the play is as important for all age groups.The purpose of this study is to investigate how the built environment can support the opportunity for play to establish itself in one place. We investigate to what extent you can plan and control the play and what play can supply to a Million Programme area.Many of the Million Programme areas that were built in Sweden during the 1960s and 70s are often problematic and the built environment suffers from deferred maintenance. The area Gårdsten in Gothenburg is an area that has undergone renovation projects with a focus on sustainability issues, with social issues in the main focus. We have conducted a case study of the area and through analysis evaluated how the built environment can create conditions for play.

Climate change is often the main environmental focus in corporate sustainability reporting, but corporations’ impacts stretch further, making it is necessary to consider additional aspects such as biodiversity, freshwater scarcity, and pollution. While some studies aiming to downscale the planetary boundary framework onto smaller settings does exist, literature for company scales is scarce. This degree project aimed to explore how the planetary boundary framework can be integrated to complement current sustainability reporting practices. More specifically this was done by associating the planetary boundaries control variables with reportable proxies that can be applied as a basis for a more comprehensive approach to the environmental sustainability focus of companies. Next, and based on those proxies, an overall reporting structure was developed, followed by the performance of a case study where the current data gaps and enhancement necessities of Ericsson’s direct operation were assessed. This study does not consider the safe operating spaces of the planetary boundaries and will thus not elucidate whether a company is doing enough but rather help companies monitor the change in the suggested proxies over time. This study is based on data collected through an extensive literature review, interviews, and workshops with employees from Ericsson, Houdini Sportswear and Future Earth. The literature review identified nine studies that has previously defined proxies for local settings, which laid the foundation for fourteen reportable proxies. Further, the reporting structure provides an indication of which company activities are relevant for the proxies and suggests the associated granularity. The spatiality of the proxies differs, ranging from global to local settings and the temporality varies from annual to seasonal measurements. Some proxies are furthermore recommended to include additional assessments to expand the context and outcome of the proxies. The granularity of data currently gathered by Ericsson needs to be refined and complemented with additional measurements before applying the proxies. The holistic perspective of the planetary boundary framework and the lack of previous research causes uncertainties that should be addressed before applying the suggested reporting structure. Additional research is necessary to cover the supply and value chains of operations, which is likely to cause a significant share of the environmental impact. / Företags hållbarhetsrapportering tenderar idag idag att främst fokusera på koldioxid utsläpp och klimatförändringar. Det finns dock ytterligare aspekter av företagens miljöpåverkan som bör inkorporeras, såsom biodiversitet, landanvändning och vattenbrist. Vetenskapliga studier har undersökt möjligheterna att skala ner ramverket för de planetära gränserna, men forskning relaterad till hållbarhetsrapporter har endast genomförts i begränsad skala. Detta examensarbete ämnar undersöka hur de planetära gränserna kan integreras i företags hållbarhetsrapportering. Detta har åstadkommits genom att de nuvarande kontrollvariablerna har översatts från global till lokal nivå. Utöver detta har även en översiktlig rapporteringsstruktur föreslagits som inkluderar datainsamling såväl som önskad granularitet. Slutligen undersöktes även Ericssons hållbarhetsrapportering och datainsamling relaterat till företagets direkta operation för att fastslå vilken data som saknades samt vilka åtgärder som skulle krävas för att implementera rapporterings strukturen. Den utvecklade rapporteringsstrukturen tar ej hänsyn till de planetära gränsernas gränsvärden och ämnar inte fördela dessa mellan företag. Denna studie klargör därav inte huruvida företags befintliga hållbarhetsarbete är tillräckligt. Detta examensarbete är baserad på data insamlad från en omfattnade litteraturundersökning samt intervjuer och workshops med anställda på Ericsson, Houdini och Future Earth. Litteraturundersökningen identifierade nio studier som tidigare definierat mätbara parametrar för de planetära gränsernas kontrollvariabler, vilket lade grunden för de fjorton parametrar som definierades i denna studie. Den föreslagna rapportstrukturen specificerar vilka företagsaktiviteter som är relevanta för respektive parameter, samt rekommenderar vilken granularitet som bäst representerar de planetära gränserna och leder till bästa möjliga kontext. Mappningen av Ericssons nuvarande datainsamling på det föreslagna ramverket fastställer att den nuvarande granulariten behöver förfinas samt att datainsamlingen behöver utökas för att kunna applicera parametrarna i framtiden. De planetära gränserna är definierade holistiskt vilket försvårar appliceringen på en lokal nivå. Bristen på studier relaterade till hållbarhetsrapportering har även medfört osäkerheter vilket bör tas i beaktande. Slutligen, ytterligare studier rekommenderas för att studera Ericssons leverans och värdekedja, där en mer omfattande miljöpåverkan förväntas ske.

In this study I explore boundary work processes that older adults do which influences friendships among residents of a progressive care retirement community. Accounts of boundary work as mechanisms for including some and excluding other residents as potential friends were collected by using a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews from residents (age 65+) of a progressive care retirement community in the United States. First, a survey explored symbolic boundaries related to cultural capital, defined as music and leisure interest and participation, as well as structural and social aspects of friendships among residents (N=66). Second, in-depth interviews of a sub-sample of residents of an assisted living facility within the community (N=15), were conducted to examine older adults' narratives of how they use cultural capital as a mechanism of symbolic boundary work that influences their friendships with others in the retirement community. The administrator of the assisted living facility (N=1) was also interviewed. Findings from this study suggested that cultural capital was associated with sociability which offers some support for the relational "tool kit" model of the theory. However, findings from in-depth interviews suggested that while music and leisure interests and participation may be important, valuations of bodies were more likely to influence "othering" of residents, although the two are related. This study enriches our understanding of how symbolic boundary use varies by group and context, as well as makes theoretical contributions to the literature on symbolic boundaries by exploring the ways in which aging may alter the use of boundaries. / Ph. D.

Ordered intermetallics based on transition metal aluminides have been proposed as structural materials for advanced aerospace applications. The development of these materials, which have the advantages of low density and high operating temperatures, have been focused on the aluminides of titanium, nickel and iron. Though these materials exhibit attractive properties at elevated temperatures, their utilization is limited due to their propensity for low temperature fracture and susceptibility to decreased ductility due to environmental effects. A major embrittlement mechanism at ambient temperatures in these aluminides has been by the loss of cohesive strength at the interfaces (intergranular failure). This study focuses on this mechanism of failure, by undertaking a systematic study of the energies and structures of specific grain boundaries in some of these compounds. The relaxed atomistic grain boundary structures in B2 aluminides, FeAl, NiAl and CoAl and <I>L</I>1₀ γ-TiAl were investigated using molecular statics and embedded atom potentials in order to explore general trends for a series of B2 compounds as well as TiAl. The potentials used correctly predict the proper mechanism of compositional disorder of these compounds. Using these potentials, point defects, free surface energies and various grain boundary structures of similar energies in three B2 compounds, FeAl, NiAl and CoAl were studied. These B2 alloys exhibited increasing anti-phase boundary energies respectively. The misorientations chosen for detailed study correspond to the Σ5(310) and Σ5(210) boundaries. These boundaries were investigated with consideration given to possible variations in the local chemical composition. The effects of both boundary stoichiometry and bulk stoichiometry on grain boundary energetics were also considered. Defect energies were calculated for boundaries contained in both stoichiometric and off-stoichiometric bulk. The surface energies for these aluminides were also calculated so that trends concerning the cohesive energy of the boundaries could be studied. The implications of stoichiometry, the multiplicity of the boundary structures and possible transformations between them for grain boundary brittleness are also discussed. / Ph. D.

An axisymmetric finite element solution method is developed for axial wave propagation through a series of threaded connections in rock drills. A piston impacts axially on a string of rods held together by threaded joints and the wave propagates through these joints before reaching the bit. The energy lost in the joints limits the maximum effective depth of the drill. Several computational techniques are used to efficiently model the problem. Non-reflecting boundaries are used to numerically absorb the waves as they exit a joint. The stored waves are then re-initiated into the next joint eliminating modeling of the entire assembly of rods. The preload in the threads is modeled by shrinking the threaded sleeve onto the rods. A new dynamic relaxation damping scheme is used which starts with an undamped model and then increases the damping until the solution converges. This method converges more rapidly than the standard constant damping. / Master of Science