Dialogue is a conversation situated in a view of existence as relational (Bakhtin, 1981; Buber, 1970). As a result, it evokes love—love as the constant companion to human experience that allows for collaboration, co-existence, and evolution (Maturana & Verden-Zöller, 2008). Dialogue, and its potential to generate love, offers persons the ability to understand how love can be activated within relationships and in daily encounters as a result of dialogical engagement. It also holds implications for the field of family therapy, including the nature and purpose of therapy, as well as training and practice. In order to understand how love and dialogue evoke one another, each was explored as a concept. Dialogism, the foundational philosophy of dialogue as articulated by its principle contributors, Mikhail Bakhtin (1981) and Martin Buber (1970), provides a relational, ontological context for dialogue as a conversation. Love, as an experience of shared humanity—as a “bumping into” humanity’s “collective consciousness” (Gumbrecht, Maturana, & Poerksen, 2006), initiates, fuels, and emerges within dialogue. Love and dialogue are foundational to human existence and therefore cannot be separated. This recognition results in an acceptance of love-as-dialogue. Love-as- dialogue presents individuals with a way of living that orients them toward engagement. It also invites family therapists into a conversation about therapy as a meeting of human beings and therefore as being situated in love.

Several connection details have been developed for the connection of precast cap beams to precast columns in Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) applications. Currently, the suggested details involve some form of either reinforcement or portion of the precast column to penetrate inside the cap beam. Such details present many challenges in the field, such as necessitating bundling of reinforcement in the cap beam or creating a congested reinforcement arrangement. Furthermore, closer inspection of some of the test data indicates that for currently used details, cap beams could sustain some damages during major seismic events, whereas they are designed to be capacity protected. Additionally, construction of such details demands precision. To overcome these challenges, two new connection details are envisioned. Both details completely eliminate penetrating of column into the cap beam. In the first detail, the rebar of the cap beam and the column are spliced in the column and joined with a layer of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC). The use of UHPC in the splice region allows the tension development of reinforcing bars over a short length. High workability of UHPC and large tolerances inherent with the suggested details can facilitate and accelerate the on-site construction. In the second detail, to confine the plastic hinge with a limited length in the column, two layers of UHPC were employed. Confining the plastic hinge is achieved by sandwiching a desired length of the column, using normal strength concrete (plastic hinge region) in between two layers of UHPC. The most interesting aspect of this detail is the exact location and length of the plastic hinge. The primary goal of this research is to provide a description of the newly developed details, verifying their structural performance and recommendation of a design guide. These goals are achieved through a diverse experimental and numerical program focused on the proposed connections. Results show that both details are equally applicable to seismic applications and able to achieve adequate levels of ductility. Lack of failure in splice region indicated that UHPC can provide a good confinement and shear capacity even when confining transverse reinforcement was not used.

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Group singing is associated with numerous benefits to human health and wellbeing, including increased social ties and improvements in mental health (Ascenso et al., 2017; Clift & Hancox, 2001, 2010; Clift et al., 2010; Dingle et al., 2012; Grocke et al., 2009; Liebowitz et al., 2015; Livesey et al., 2012). In school ensembles, choral educators can significantly influence students’ experiences of connection, encouraging wellbeing, enjoyment, and continued participation in choir (Arasi, 2006, 2008; Morgan, 1992; Pentikäinen et al., 2021). Extant literature indicates that during group singing, individuals experience connection in three forms, as drawing singers together, also called togetherness; as synchrony among singers; and as singers’ sense of oneness with the world. These three forms of connection served as the conceptual lens for this study. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to examine choral educators’ experiences of creating connection during group singing in the forms of togetherness, synchrony, and oneness. Four research questions guided this study: (a) How do choral educators describe the experience they create during group singing? (b) During group singing, how do choral educators facilitate singers’ connection in the form of togetherness, synchrony, or oneness? (c) What benefits and challenges exist for choral educators as they create connection? (d) Why do choral educators choose to prioritize connection? I used a phenomenological case study approach to investigate each participant’s experience as its own unique case, then used cross-case analysis and phenomenological reduction to reveal commonalities and differences that further illuminated the essence of creating connection during group singing (Merriam, 2009; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Moustakas, 1994). Using purposive, reputational, and maximum variation sampling, I selected five secondary school choral music educator participants who prioritized facilitation of connection in their work with students and who represented a variety of teaching contexts, professional, and personal characteristics. Data collection included interviews, field observations of rehearsals and performances, and classroom artifacts. Data analysis occurred cyclically and emergently (Creswell & Poth, 2018), following phenomenological procedures (Moustakas, 1994) to first analyze each participant’s experiences as a bounded case then to engage in cross-case analysis to uncover commonalities and tensions across cases (Stake, 2005; Yin, 2018). For each case, data analysis revealed conditions that created connection, barriers to connection, and an essence; cross-case analysis revealed a collective essence representing experiences of creating connection for all participants. Conditions that created connection involved using opening procedures, dissipating stress, releasing inhibitions, thoughtfully choosing repertoire, exploring choral texts, and fostering student ownership. Barriers included students’ inhibitions, teachers’ preoccupations, formal music education, school context, socioeconomic challenges, and COVID-19. The essence of each participant’s experience involved fostering student ownership and collaboration; uncovering students’ organic experiences of togetherness; “I gotchu,” an expression of unwavering support; impacting students’ mindsets; and vibrational alignment that can heal. Cross-case analysis through imaginative variation (Moustakas, 1994) revealed that for all participants, the essence of creating connection involved participants communicating care for students’ experience of life. The study’s findings offer implications for how choral leaders might facilitate experiences of connection during group singing. Findings suggest that choral educators seeking to create connection might help singers dissipate stress and anxiety, engage students in the creative process, reexamine traditional choral curricula, and use their personal strengths to communicate care for singers’ life experiences. Findings suggest ways choral educators might help create experiences of connection that can have a positive impact on students’ wellbeing. / Music Education

The development of connected vehicle (CV) technologies enables advanced management of individual vehicles and traffic signals to improve urban mobility and energy efficiency. In this thesis, a cooperative vehicle-signal control system will be developed to integrate an Eco-driving system and a proactive signal control system under a mixed connected environment with both connected vehicles (CVs) and human-driven vehicles (HDVs). The system utilizes CVs to conduct an accurate prediction of queue length and delay at different approaches of intersections. Then, a queue-based optimal control strategy is established to minimize the fuel usage of individual CVs and the travel time delay of entire intersections. The system applies the model predictive control to search for the optimal signal timing plan for each intersection and the most-fuel efficient speed profiles for each CV to gain the global optimum of the intersection. In this thesis, a simulation platform is designed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system under different traffic scenarios. The comparison with the eco-driving only and signal control only algorithms verifies that the cooperative system has a much more extensive reduction range of the trip delay in the case of medium and high saturation. At low saturation, the effect of the system is not much different from that of the eco-driving algorithm, but it is still better than the signal control. Results show that the benefits of CVs are significant at all different market penetration rates of CVs. It also demonstrates the drawback of the system at high congestion levels. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Denna rapport presenterar ett examensarbete inom ämnet produktutveckling vid Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan. Arbetet utfördes på uppdrag av företaget Weda AB som tillverkar rengöringslösningar under vatten där en befintlig slanganslutning mellan robot och slang skulle utvecklas. Målet med detta projekt var att vidareutveckla slanganslutningen så att denna avlastar slangen samt konstruera en billigare slanganslutning. Dessa mål presenteras i form av en prototyp samt en prisoffert från underleverantören. Det här projektet har följt den generella produktutvecklingsprocessen där ett behov identifierades vilket var att utveckla slanganslutningen. Därefter togs idéer fram till att tillfredsställa behovet. Idéerna kunde förverkligas genom en fördjupade förståelse i tillverkningsprocessen samt användandet av CAD och simuleringar till att skapa en prototyp. Projektet resulterade i att projektmålen uppfylldes genom att en prisoffert gavs av underleverantören med en prisminskning på ca 35% till slanganslutningen. Det vidareutvecklade konceptet kunde även enligt teorin och prototypen som skapades avlasta slangen genom att slanganslutningen samarbetar i den riktning som slangen dras åt. / This report presents a master thesis within the subject product development in Royal Institute of Technology college. This work was on behalf of Weda AB which manufactures underwater cleaning solutions where existing hose connection between the robot and hose would be developed. The goal with this project was to develop the hose connection so it would relieve the hose, and also be constructed cheaper than the original hose connection. These goals are presented in a terms of a prototype and a price quote from the subcontractor. This project has followed the general product development process where a need was identified to develop the existing hose connection. Ideas were generated to satisfy the need. The ideas were executed by a deeper understandning of the manufacturing process and the using of the CAD and simulation to create a prototype. The project resulted in satisfying the project goals by a price quote given by the subcontractor with a price reduction of 35% by the hose connection. The further developed concept could also by theory and the prototype that was created offload the hose with the hose connection which cooperates in the same direction the hose is being pulled at.

Feelings of social connection are important to maintain physical and psychological well-being. Perceived social isolation, or loneliness, is the subjective experience of feeling socially isolated and may be a direct threat to our health. During recent years, an increasing amount of people report high levels of loneliness, potentially brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions. Recent research suggests that the brain’s default mode network (DMN), a neural network active at wakeful rest, is related to these experiences. This paper aimed to systematically review alterations in the DMN in socially connected and lonely individuals. I searched PubMed and Scopus to find studies using self-report measures of social connection or loneliness, and functional or structural neuroimaging methods on healthy adults. Nine studies were included in this review. Generally, core regions of the DMN typically involved in episodic memory and self-referential processing showed increased activity in lonely individuals and decreased activity in socially connected individuals. These findings may reflect how lonely individuals ruminate about past social events while socially connected individuals attend less to the self. However, methodological heterogeneity between studieslimits the conclusions that can be drawn based on these results.

Detta examensarbete omfattar generering samt vidareutveckling av koncept av en infästning för ett muckhanteringssystem på en tunnelborrningsmaskin. Maskinen, som går under arbetsnamnet Mobile miner, utvecklas av Atlas Copco tillsammans med bland andra konsultföretaget Svea Teknik AB. Examensarbetet genomförs parallellt med slutskedet av det verkliga utvecklingsprojektet och kan eventuellt komma att inkluderas. Examensarbetet har föregåtts av utvecklingen av tunnelborrningsmaskinen och dess främre muckhanteringssystem som består av en ramp (apron) och en kedjetransportör. Systemets uppgift är att samla upp och transportera bort den bergskross (muck) som genereras vid själva borringreppet. Infästningen delas upp i en främre och en bakre infästning på grund av systemets storlek, samt för att uppfylla systemets fördefinierade rörlighetskrav. En kravspecifikation upprättas, baserad på en bakgrundsstudie, för generering av flertalet infästningskoncept medan endast ett koncept för en främre infästning vidareutvecklas efter konceptval med Pughs matris.Vidareutvecklingen resulterade i en främre infästning med två lastkännande överbelastningsskydd, placerade under apron, tillsammans med två skenstyrningar för vertikal positionering av apron. Överbelastningsskydden mäter med hjälp av hydraulcylindrar den last som angriper aprons front och är konstruerade för att lösa ut vid en specificerad överlast varpå maskinens rörelser stoppas. Detta för att skydda apron från haveri.Den främre infästningen är utformad för att möjliggöra enkel montering och demontering av det främre muckhanteringssystemet i samband med service. Kopplingarna mellan det främre muckhanteringssystemet och maskinen är konstruerade med låsningar vars montering och demontering kan genomföras med hög personsäkerhet. Totalvikten för den främre infästningens delkomponenter är ca 800 kg under vidareutvecklingsfasen.Den vidareutvecklade främre infästningen uppfyller de krav och önskemål i kravspecifikationen som var möjliga att verifieras med CAD och FEM-analys. / This master’s thesis includes generation and further development of concept for a muck handling system mount on a tunnel boring machine. The machine, with the working title Mobile miner, is developed by Atlas Copco together with the technical consultant firm Svea Teknik AB among others. The master’s thesis is conducted in parallel with the finalizing of the actual development project with a chance of being included. The master’s thesis is preceded by the development of the tunnel boring machine and its frontal muck handling system that consists of a ramp (apron) and a chain conveyor. The task of the system is to gather and transport the crushed rock (muck) that is generated during the tunnel boring process. The mount is divided into a frontal- and a rear mount due to the size of the system and due to the movement criteria’s for the system. A specification of requirements is generated, preceded by a literature study, several concepts are generated while only one concept of a frontal mount is further developed. The concept of a frontal mount to be further developed is chosen using Pugh’s matrix.The development process resulted in a frontal mount with two load sensing systems, placed beneath the apron, together with two rail guides used to adjust the vertical position of the apron. The load sensing system measures the load acting on the front of the apron using hydraulic cylinders that signals the machine to stop all its movements when exposed to a specified overload. This is to protect the apron from breaking down.The frontal mount is designed to allow easy mounting and dismounting of the frontal muck handling system during service. The connections between the frontal muck handling system and the machine are designed with locking mechanisms that can be mounted and dismounted with high personal safety. The total weight of the components for the frontal mount is about 800 kg during the further development phase.The frontal mount fulfills the requirements and requests stated in the specification of requirements possible to verify using CAD and FEM-analysis.

An investigation exploring how individuals can form a greater connection with soil through changing the context in which they engage with it. This project  focuses on inspiring individuals to feel a sense of responsibility and care towards the soil, empowering them to take tangible action to facilitate local small scale change. This report doccuments the investigation of using visual communicastion, sensory engagement and interactive experiences, to nurture individuals to develop a meaningful connection with soil. The project is in collaboration with +change design students as well as an ongoing collaboration with Under Ekarna specifically linked with their Experiment 2000m2 project.