The use of GNSS has made huge progress over the last few decades and in many cases replaced the use of total stations. A current problem for the GNSS-technique is dense vegetation, which prevents the receivers from making reliable calculations for the satellite signals. In this study a new receiver from Trimble that is said to be able to measure in these particular environments is compared to its predecessor. By assignment from ÅF Karlstad we have therefore conducted a comparison of the new receiver (R12) and its predecessor (R10), to see if R12 to a greater extent than R10 can replace the use of a total station.   The comparison was carried out by repeatedly measuring six different points, totally or partly obstructed by vegetation. To achieve uniform points these where measured with a Realtime Updated Free Station (RUFRIS) and the altitude was balanced from nearby fixed points.   The results where then analyzed by calculating average distance from the known points as well as the maximum dispersion within each respective moment of measurement. The results show that Trimble R12 can conduct reliable measurements in environments where the R10 is not useable. At one of the points the R12 achieved fixed solution where the R10 failed to do so, which is clearly reflected in the results. The results further show a more even and gathered result compared to the R10.   The conclusion of the project is that the R12 constantly performs a better result than the R10 and also enables measurements in environments previously not measurable with GNSS.

The amount of global greenhouse gas emissions needs to be significantly reduced in order to reach the Paris agreement target of 1.5°C by 2050. Contemporary representative political systems have failed so far in adequately addressing the complex problem of climate change. This study looks at potential alternative or complementary decision-making and knowledge producing methods, more specifically the deliberative democratic method of citizens’ assemblies. The three core concepts discussed in this thesis are citizens assemblies, wicked problems and sustainable transformation. By critically discussing and combining these three concepts, this thesis sets out to analyze a specific Citizens’ Assembly, namely the one held in Ireland 2016-2018. The thesis analyzes both the Irish Citizens’ Assembly model proper and its recommendations. The model is analyzed through the theoretical lens of wicked problems, in order to determine to what extent the salient characteristics of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly model address complexity. In addition, the theoretical concept of sustainable transformation is used to analyze the Assembly’s recommendations, in order to determine how strong or weak they are in relation to this theory. A directed content analysis was used to help categorize the recommendations. The result of the study shows that the Irish Citizens’ Assembly model exhibited positive aspects in relation to appropriately addressing complexity. The transdisciplinary approach to knowledge production and the deliberative aspect of the Assembly process enhanced the reliability of the knowledge produced. The Assembly’s recommendations are, however, concluded to be weak as seen from a sustainable transformation perspective. The limited amount of time given to the topic of climate change by the Irish Citizens’ Assembly as well as the narrow focus of the information provided to the Assembly members are important factors in influencing this finding. Additional research is needed on the link between citizens’ assemblies, wicked problems and sustainable transformation. On the basis of the research presented in this thesis it is argued that the citizens assembly model might play a crucial part in how people and communities can deal with complex problems in the future

The leakages of metals from acid sulfate soils and their potential toxicity to benthic invertebrates were studied in the sediment profiles of Lillkvasjön and Lövselefjärden - a lake and an estuary known to be affected by acid sulfate soils - in Västerbotten, northern Sweden. The concentrations of 25 different elements were analyzed throughout both sediment profiles through X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometer analysis. Organic matter was measured through loss-on-ignition (LOI). By performing correlation analysis and normalizations to LOI on all sediment variables, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, S and Zn were found to be leached from acid sulfate soils to both sites, while Mg and Mn were related to leakages from acid sulfate soils in Lövselefjärden. The concentrations of Cu (195 mg kg-1), Ni (55 mg kg-1), Pb (90 mg kg-1) and Zn (398 mg kg-1) in the surface sediment of Lövselefjärden were classified as potentially toxic to benthic invertebrates. In Lillkvasjön, Cu (210 mg kg-1) and Ni (87 mg kg-1) were classified to have an increased risk of negative impacts on benthic invertebrates, while the concentrations of Pb (121 mg kg-1) and Zn (329 mg kg-1) were likely to low to have any negative effects. These results strengthen previous finds of impacts from acid sulfate soils in the two catchment areas and elucidate the importance of further studies on the impact of acid sulfate soils on benthic invertebrates.

At this moment there is a gap in information regarding the affect roots might have on 210Pb distribution in peat cores and in turn the obtained chronologies by 210Pb dating. Therefore, four peat cores were collected from the snow manipulation study site within the mire complex Storflaket (68°20048″N, 18°58016″E). Two cores from snow fence plots, which has experienced root growth due to permafrost thaw, and 2 cores from control plots. 210Pb distribution and the provided 210Pb chronologies were then compared with root content within and between the cores. In two of the cores (C5 and SF2) did subsurface peaks in the 210Pb activity profile follow the distribution profile of the dwarf shrub roots. The same pattern was not seen with Eriophorum roots. This indicates that presence of dwarf root with their shallow and horizontally growth can affect the 210Pb profile by horizontal translocation of 210Pb. The chronologies obtained by the CF:CS and CRS dating models could not be validated for the C5 core which suggest that dwarf shrub roots also can affect the 21oPb dating.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in surface waters affect many important ecological functions. For instance, transporting metals, nutrients, carbon, affecting pH and water colour. In large parts of the Northen hemisphere, surface waters have become browner as a consequense of increasing DOM concentrations and, to some extent, iron. Therfore, altering ecological functions in waters. As such, knowing the causes and extent of the increase is of great importance. This paper used monthly data from the national Swedish monitoring program to investigate trends in DOM-concentrations in the Rickleå river, Västerbotten, Sweden. Results showed a large increase in concentrations of DOM from 1970-2019. However, the increase was most pronounced between 1970-1990, showing no trend after 2003 and indications of a decrease from 2009. DOM-quality changed as well to larger and more colored molecules during 1987-2002 and less coloured, smaller molecules after 2003. Changes in water flow could be an explanation for short-term fluctuations in DOM-concentration, but did not correlate well to increasing trends. However, a large lake at the river inlet as well as hydroelectric dams along the watershead complicates the interpretation between flow and DOM correlation. Climate change did not seem to be an important driver of long term increases in DOM. Further investigations should be carried out to test this hypothesis as well to investigate the cause for the increase.

The idea of evolutionary resilience in complex systems has gained attention in the recent years. This approach provides better insights in the context of emergence and adaptive capacity, that characterises complex adaptive systems (CAS) such as social-ecological systems (SES), than traditional reductionist and engineering resilience approaches. Departing from this premise, a set of methodologies that are funded in these principles have been developed, with promising perspectives for the analysis of these systems. In this thesis, one of these methodologies, the panarchy, is applied into La Marjaleria case study, in Castelló (Spain), in order to explore its capacity to offer new useful insights for the management of the area throught he scope of resilience. Looking for a systematic methodological approach, the focal SES and their scales are initially defined, followed by an adaptive cycle approach, performed for each of the scales, and finally a panarchy approach that is applied through focusing on the interactions between the adaptive cycles at the different scales. The results are also presented through a new graphic approach that accounts for the representation of the adaptive cycles at the different scales and their interactions in a dynamic manner that includes the time variable, and that can therefore facilitate its understanding. From the analysis performed, the system is found to be stuck in a rigidity trap because of the lack of transformative visions from both scales above (municipality) and below (households). Furthermore, the influence of cascade effects from both the upper and lower scale in the manner through which the focal scale navigated the adaptive cycle has become evident. The panarchy has also helped to discover some existing mismatches and archetypes affecting the system. After all, a general resilience assessment has helped to find out that the system presents a low resilience, and therefore an inherent risk of collapse in the event of external shocks that can make thresholds to be crossed. A further analysis, focused on the specific resilience, has been performed for the risk of flooding. The results show that the engineering resilience approach through which this risk has been traditionally managed could have helped to underestimate flood hazard and therefore contributed to an irresponsible occupation of the floodable area. New approaches towards resilience risk management could help to address the problematics caused by floods and also open new opportunities for long-term sustainability of the system. The panarchy approach can offer useful insights for the assessment of SES from the scope of complexity and multi-scale interactions, providing an approach consistent with the evolutionary resilience characteristic of CAS. However, there still exist some gaps, both in its perception by practitioners and in the availability of solid grounds towards the standardization of its application, implying that there is still room for further improvement in this methodological approach.

This bachelor thesis compare and contrast the recent development of automatic drumlin mapping. Historically, in Sweden and worldwide, drumlin mapping have been conducted manually using in field query, orthography or visual examinations of LIDAR data. The drumlin extraction analyst uses concentric contours to extract and quantify drumlin like features from LIDAR data. This mapping method and similar automatic and semi-automatic procedures have shown promising results. Here, the use of the drumlin extraction analyst is double. First it is evaluated as an automatic mapping method, the first known automatic mapping procedure applied on the Västerbotten landscape. Secondly, its fully automatic process with limited selections made within the script makes it appropriate to use as an evaluator of the drumlinization of the Västerbotten landscape. The main hypothesis is that the automatically extracted drumlins will only deviate significantly by size and parameters corresponding to size compared to the expert manual mappings of the area. This would, according to the author, indicate that chance plays a major role within the enquiry of these automatic methods. Test results from the Västerbotten landscape show that the automatic mapping have an accuracy of 4% when comparing these with expert mappings. About 200 drumlin like features previously undiscovered are found. When taking these into the consideration the accuracy increases to about 20%. Assuming the drumlin extraction analyst is highly capable of mapping every knob in the landscape, these results indicate that the chance of extracting drumlins from the glacial landscape should not be neglected.

In this thesis, some aspects concerning building embankments founded on sulphide clay are studied, with special reference to ground improvement by preloading in combination with prefabricated vertical drains (PVD’s). The main purpose of the research was to increase empirical knowledge of the mechanical behaviour of sulphide clays subjected to embankment loadings and of the interaction between vertical drains and sulphide clays. Important aspects related to ground improvement with PVD’s in more general terms are also treated, in particular how various uncertainties regarding the properties of the clay and the clay-drain interaction imposed in the design phase can be addressed. The benefits of using theobservational method for handling these uncertainties are discussed, and a description of how the method was used in an embankment project is presented. The results from the research are presented in one conference paper and two papers submitted to peer-reviewed international journals, which are appended. The design of PVD’s involves describing the consolidation characteristics of the clay and the interaction between the drains and the clay. Primarily, the rate of consolidation is determined by the hydraulic conductivity (permeability) of the clay in the horizontal direction. Hence, accurate determination of this material property is of paramount importance in making reliable design predictions. As conventional laboratory tests for assessing the consolidation characteristics of a clay only provide information about its properties in the vertical direction, one is often left to make assumptions about the horizontal properties based on empirical correlations. Reliable empirical knowledge of these correlations for a certain clay is there forevital. A large number of CRS tests were performed on horizontal and vertical samples ofsulphide clay in order to investigate the correlation between the horizontal and verticalhydraulic conductivity and coefficient of consolidation. The results show that there is very small anisotropy in these parameters and that the scatters in the results are large. For designpurposes, sulphide clays should therefore be assumed to be isotropic in this respect. In orde rto handle the variation in properties, several parallel tests should be made and partial factors of safety should be introduced in the design. Introducing partial factors of safety in the design of PVD’s is one of the main topics suggested for further research. Regarding the clay-drain interaction, a study of the disturbance effects (smear effects) during the installation of drains in sulphide clays was performed. Back-calculations of measurements of pore pressure dissipation were made via a parameter study. It was shown that smear affects the consolidation rate to some extent but that the natural (undisturbed) hydraulic conductivity is more significant. The undrained shear strength su of a clay is dependent on the preconsolidation pressure σ 'p . As the clay consolidates under a loading, the effective stress increases, possibly to magnitudes surpassing the initial preconsolidation pressure and thereby leading to increased undrainedshear strength of the clay. The relation between su and σ 'p, i.e. the ratio su /σ 'p for asulphide clay, was investigated based on results from a large number of in situ tests andlaboratory tests. There were large scatters in the measurements, but su /σ 'p =0.25 is suggested as being relevant in the direct shear zone for design purposes in sulphide clays. / <p>QC 20101101</p>

The main purpose of this thesis has been to find a way to evaluate the soil parameters for the Total sounding method (TS), such as the inner friction angles and settlement modules. This study only includes an analysis of soil profiles from the Stockholm region. The chosen location for the study is a proposed residential area east of Igelstaviken in Södertälje. Presently, the subject plot is located in a residential area and is also adjacent to a school area. Total sounding is originally a Norwegian soil testing method. The differences between the sounding methods (weight-, ram-, CPT-sounding) are for instance how the sound is driven into the ground and what kind of parameters that are registered. Compared with other soundings methods such as weigh sounding, ramsounding, and CPT sounding, total sounding is not as widely used in Sweden. This method is also rather new and consequently few previous studies have been conducted in this area. The subject location, Igelsta Shore has a characteristic soil profile that provides a representative snapshot of the soil composition in Stockholm.. This is a mixed soil composition consisting offriction soils, cohesive soils, and boulders. The are is known for its glacier tills and is called “Södertäljestråket”. There is a contaminated area at the location where the study is made it is area is enclosed for a possible future decontamination. Moreover, fill deposits exits in the south part of the study location which areare leftovers from the Igelsta heat plant. The study covers sounding results from the examinded area. For Total sounding the feed force has been calculated into point pressure to be comparable to the point pressure from the CPT (Cone Penetration Test). When CPT’s and TS’s point pressures were compared a factor were empirically found to describe the relation between the point pressures for these two methods. This factor made it possible to evaluate the friction angles and the settlement modules from Total sounding. These parameters were then compared to the inner friction angles and the settlement modules for CPT, weight sounding and ram sounding. The comparison was made in order to ensure that the soil profile could be evaluated by this method. The evaluation computer program CONRAD was used to evaluate the inner frictional angles and settlement modules in a addition to this. Conclusively this study shows that the inner friction angles and the settlement modules can be evaluated from the sounding results of Total sounding by means of an empirically calculated factor. This factor has made it possible to compare CPT and TS result, thus enabling the use of this data in evaluating soil profiles. / QC 20100824 / ringar, isälv, avlagringar

Vägverket gör idag stora investeringar i nya tekniker för att förbättra tätningen av tunnlar från vattenläckage. Allt eftersom kraven på tätning har ökat, liksom antalet tunnlar i urbana miljöer, ökar också intresset i ny teknologi för tunneltätning. När tätningen misslyckas kompletteras den vanligtvis med dräner som sätts upp i tunneltaket och leder bort inläckage. Dessa är dock dyra och kräver mycket underhåll. En viktig del i Vägverkets arbete är därför att följa upp användningen av nya tätningsmetoder för att kunna avgöra om de verkligen är bättre än mer beprövade metoder som t.ex. cementinjektering. Syftet med examensarbetet är att, för Vägverkets räkning, utvärdera tätningsmetoderna i tre olika tunnlar. Den första är Törnskogstunneln, som byggts för Norrortsleden norr om Stockholm, där cement- och keminjektering med Silica Sol använts tillsammans med tillsatsmedlet Xypex i olika kombinationer. Den andra är Löttingetunneln, också den en del av Norrortsleden, där klassisk cementinjektering använts. Sist är Ullbrotunneln, väster om Enköping, där tillsatsmedlet Penetron använts tillsammans med en kortare referenssträcka utan. Utvärderingen kommer att belysa respektive metod ur tätningssynpunkt och deras kostnader per meter för att kunna säga vilken som varit mest prisvärd. Data har samlats in i form av priser för de olika tätningskoncepten, vilka mängder som behövts och de geologiska förutsättningarna i form av vattenförlustmätningar ur kärnborrhål och injekteringsskärmar, samt RQD-värden från geologernas karteringar. Dessutom har en utförlig droppkartering genomförts under byggskedet av Ullbrotunneln för att bedöma hur mycket tätare sprutbetongen blir vid användning av Penetron som tillsatsmedel. Slutsatsen av undersökningarna är att användningen av Xypex både visat sig dyrare och sämre på att täta Törnskogstunneln än de sträckor av tunneln där klassisk injektering använts. Användningen av Silica Sol är svårare att dra klara slutsatser om då det i ena fallet visat sig täta bättre och kosta mindre än vanlig injektering medan det i kombination med Xypex var dubbelt så dyrt och ändå inte lika effektivt.Användningen av Penetron kan inte ses som helt framgångsrik då den inte lyckats täta Ullbrotunneln fullständigt. Även om droppet minskat kraftigt sen appliceringen av sprutbetongen har även referenssträckan utan Penetron minskat i dropp. Alltså går det inte att säga om Penetron gjort någon skillnad när ett lager vanlig sprutbetong tätar lika bra. I utvärderingen finns även en ansats till att sammanväga de olika förutsättningarna och resultaten av tunneltätningarna i en enda parameter för att öka jämförbarheten mellan olika projekt. Detta effektivitetstal, som parametern kallas, gav en ytterligare dimension till utvärderingen men behöver utvecklas mer innan den kan användas i verkligheten med tillförlitlighet. / The Swedish Road Administration is currently making large investments in new technologies to improve the sealing of tunnels from water ingress. As the sealing requirements increase, as well as the number of tunnels in urban areas, so does the interest in new sealing technology. When sealing fails the standard procedure is to place geomembranes on the ceiling which diverts the seepage. However, these are expensive and require a lot of maintenance. Consequently, an important part in the work of the Swedish Road Administration is to administer follow-ups on new sealing techniques in order to decide whether they are an improvement from tested methods like cement-grouting. The purpose of the thesis is, on account of the Swedish Road Administration, to evaluate the sealing methods of three different tunnels. The first is the Törnskogstunnel, a part of Norrortsleden north of Stockholm, where cement and chemical grouting with Silica Sol has been used with the admixture Xypex in different combinations. The second is the Löttingetunnel, also a part of Norrortsleden, where classic cement grout has been used. Last is the Ullbrotunnel, west of Enköping, where the admixture Penetron has been used together with a shorter reference section without additive. The evaluation will explain each method from the perspective of sealing effectiveness and cost per meter tunnel, in order to decide which product is the most cost-efficient. The collected data for the evaluation are; prices for each method, which amounts were necessary and geological conditions in terms of water-loss measurements from core drill holes and grouting fans, as well as RQD-values from the geologists’ evaluations. In addition, a more elaborate mapping of the seepage in the Ullbrotunnel has been made during its construction in order to decide the effectiveness of Penetron in making shot-concrete waterproof. The conclusion after the evaluations is that Xypex proved itself to be both more expensive, as well as less effective in sealing the tunnel, compared to the parts of the tunnel where classic cement-grouting was used. Regarding Silica Sol it was more difficult to make any evident conclusions as it was both cheaper and more effective in one part of the tunnel, while together with Xypex the cost was doubled and yet less effective.The use of Penetron cannot be regarded as totally successful as it didn’t seal the Ullbrotunnel completely. Even though the seepage was significantly reduced after the application of the shot-concrete the seepage in the reference section was also reduced. Thus, it is impossible to say whether the Penetron has made a difference when the normal shot-concrete is equally waterproof. In the evaluation there is also an attempt to weigh the various circumstances and results of the sealing process into one single parameter to facilitate the comparison between different projects. This efficiency rate, as the parameter is called, gave a further dimension to the evaluation, but need more development before it can be used in real projects with any confidence. / QC 20101109