Immigration has since long remained a contentious issue of debate. Researchers have illustratedconnections between standpoints opposed to immigration and certain views on welfare, which may beused to legitimize racism. Such perspectives on immigration and welfare have been shown to beprominent in certain contexts on the internet, like the Swedish web forum Flashback. The aim of thisthesis is to analyze discourses on Flashback about immigration, as well as discourses on Flashback regarding immigration‟s consequences for Swedish welfare. The intention is to contribute to an understanding of racist discourse on this platform specifically. The study is based on a discourse analytical approach and deals with a data set of Flashback posts to analyze constructions of immigration in relation to Swedish welfare. The findings suggest that racist discourse on Flashback islargely comprised of discursive constructions mutually reinforcing each other in a chain of feedback loops. This implies a form of circular reasoning in racist discourse on Flashback.

As a result of growing concerns about the carbon emissions associated with the combustion of conventional hydrocarbon fuels, hydrogen is gaining more attention as a clean alternative. The combustion of hydrogen in air produces no carbon emissions. However, hydrogen-air combustion does have the potential to produce oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are harmful pollutants. The production of NOx can be significantly curbed using lean premixed combustion, wherein hydrogen and air are mixed at an equivalence ratio (the ratio of stoichiometric to actual air in the combustion process) significantly less than 1.0 prior to combustion. Hydrogen is a good candidate for use in lean premixed systems due to its very wide flammability range. The potential for the stable combustion of hydrogen at a wide range of equivalence ratios makes it particularly well-suited to application in gas turbines, where the equivalence ratio is likely to vary significantly over the operating range of the machine. The strong lean combustion stability of hydrogen-air flames is due primarily to high reaction rates and the associated high turbulent burning velocities. While this is advantageous at low equivalence ratios, it presents a significant danger of flashback — the upstream propagation of the flame into the premixing device — at higher equivalence ratios. An investigation has been conducted into the operation of a specific hydrogen-air premixer design in a gas turbine engine. Laboratory tests were first conducted to determine the upper stability limits of a single premixer. Tests were then carried out in which eighteen premixers and a custom-fabricated combustor liner were installed in a modified Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-20 turboprop engine. The tests examined the premixer and engine operability as a result of the modifications. A computer cycle analysis model was created to help analyze and predict the behavior of the modified engine and premixers. The model, which uses scaled component maps to predict off-design engine performance, was integral in the analysis of premixer flashback which limited the operation of the modified engine. / Master of Science

Hydrogen-powered engines have been gaining increasing interest due to the global concerns of the effects of hydrocarbon combustion on climate change. Gas turbines are suitable for operation on hydrogen fuel. This thesis reports the results of investigations of the special requirements of the fuel controller for a hydrogen gas turbine. In this investigation, a digital fuel controller for a hydrogen-fueled modified Pratt and Whitney PT6A-20 turboprop engine was successfully designed and implemented. Included in the design are safety measures to protect the operating personnel and the engine. A redundant fuel control is part of the final design to provide a second method of managing the engine should there be a malfunction in any part of the primary controller. Parallel to this study, an investigation of the existing hydrogen combustor design was performed to analyze the upper stability limits that were restricting the operability of the engine. The upstream propagation of the flame into the premixer, more commonly known as a flashback, routinely occurred at 150 shaft horsepower during engine testing. The procedures for protecting the engine from a flashback were automated within the fuel controller, significantly reducing the response time from the previous (manual) method. Additionally, protection measures were added to ensure the inter-turbine temperature of the engine did not exceed published limits. Automatic engine starting and shutdown procedures were also added to the control logic, minimizing the effort needed by the operator. The tested performance of the engine with each of the control functions demonstrated the capability of the controller. Methods to generate an engine-specific fuel control map were also studied. The control map would not only takes into account the operability limits of the engine, but also the stability limits of the premixing devices. Such a map is integral in the complete design of the engine fuel controller. / Master of Science

The purpose of this paper was to examine the communication around the subject of suicide on the Swedish online message board Flashback Forum. By doing a case study and a critical discourse analysis, we wanted to get answers about how the conversation between individuals who are suicidal and members on Flashback appeared, and if there were any distinct discourses to be seen in the conversation. Three threads started by individuals with suicidal thoughts were chosen to be analysed, which all in all were 474 answers. The result of the analysis showed three distinct discourses in the posts written by members on Flashback: preventive, critical and pro suicide. / Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur kommunikationen om ämnet självmord på det svenska internetforumet Flashback Forum. Genom att göra en fallstudie, samt en kritisk diskursanalys ville vi får svar på hur samtalet mellan personer med självmordstankar och de bemötande såg ut, och om det gick att se några tydliga diskurser i samtalen. Tre olika trådar skapade av personer med självmordstankar valdes ut för analys, vilket gav 474 svar. Analysen resulterade i att det gick att tyda tre synliga diskurser i inläggen skrivna av medlemmarna på Flashback: preventiv, kritisk- och prosuicid diskurs.

Flashback is one of the most well known internet forums in Sweden. People visit the site to discuss different topics, to share information, to express opinions or to read posts by others. On Flashback’s ‘crime forum’ the users gather to share information but also to express opinions. These discussions have a tendency to become heated and with the increased wave of gangrelated violence and shootings in Malmö, Sweden 2018, forums like Flashback play an important role in what information is available to the public. This case was used to form the study’s main questions; How are facts used in threads and what are their sources? How do users interpret these events and how is it expressed through reasoning and personal opinions? How are opinions, behaviour and virtual community formed in an environment based on anonymity? To form a case and further investigate these questions we have organized different Flashback posts related to the Malmö-shootings and categorized them into themes. The interpretations would later on show various conclusions. Some conclusions were predicted, while other conclusions were shown when analyzing the material. The results showed that flashback-users use facts when sharing a link, to strengthen the shared information, to support theories about the case and sometimes when discussing the victims or suspects involved. How users interpret the events on Flashback is based on the intention of the individual. Some users are more likely to discuss political aspects. Other users intend to discuss the matter with an humours tone, these posts can be seen as an disinhibition effect (Suler 2004). Identity has shown to be a useful factor when analyzing an internet-forum. A conclusion from analyzing identity shows that behaviours are encouraged when the fear of being exposed is averted. Overall the result shows that the foundation of the virtual community on Flashback is the information that is shared between users.

Bakgrund: Konstruktioner av ensamkommande barn har undersökts till viss del. Föreställningar om barnen i bland annat medier och policydokument har studerats. Hur barnen konstrueras inom en "vardagskontext", i form av ett öppet diskussionsforum online (Flashback Forum), och hur konstruktioner däri görs trovärdiga, bedöms eftersatt. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie var att identifiera olika inom Flashback Forum förekommande diskurser kring ensamkommande barn, med avseende på deras retoriska organisering. Med diskurs avsågs ett sätt att tala om och förstå världen som konstruerar ett objekt eller företeelse på ett särskilt sätt. Metod: För att besvara syftet användes en diskurspsykologisk ansats vilken fokuserar på hur trovärdighet och sanning skapas i kommunikation. Utifrån en teoretisk modell, innefattande de fyra retoriska teknikerna category entitlement, empirisk repertoar, konsensus och extremfallsformuleringar, undersöktes hur skribenter på forumet skapade sanning och bemötte andras föreställningar om barnen. Resultat: Resultatet visade att ensamkommande barn omges av diskurserna de vuxna, barnen, våldtäktsmännen, de särbehandlade, de sexuellt utsatta samt diskursen om de biologiskt manliga könet. Diskurserna användes parallellt i talen och underbyggde argumenteringar på forumet. Skribenterna använde de studerade retoriska teknikerna för att skapa trovärdighet i uttalanden. Med särskilda uttrycksformer skapades fakta om ensamkommande barn. / Background: Constructions of unaccompanied children have been researched to some extent. Concepts of the children have been studied in media and policy documents amongst others. How the children are constructed within an "everyday context", in form of an open online discussion forum (Flashback Forum), and how the constructions become credible, are regarded as under-researched. Aim: The aim of the present study was to identify different discourses concerning unaccompanied children on the Flashback Forum, with regard to their rhetorical organization. Discourse is meant as a way to talk about and understand the world that constructs an object or phenomenon in a particular way. Method: To answer the aim, a discursive psychological approach was used, which focuses on how credibility and truth are created in communication. Based on a theoretical model, including the four rhetorical techniques category entitlement, empirical repertoire, consensus and extreme case formulations, it was examined how the writers at the forum created truth and responded to others' beliefs about the children. Result: The results showed that unaccompanied children are surrounded by the discourses: the adults, the children, the rapists, the special treated, the sexually vulnerable and the discourse of the biologically male sex. Discourses were used in parallel in the speeches and to back up arguments at the forum. The writers used the studied rhetorical techniques to build credibility in the statements. With specific expression, facts about unaccompanied children were created.

Syftet med studien är att kritiskt undersöka diskurserna kring sugardating och de diskursiva framställningarna av sugardaters på Flashback Forum, utifrån diskursernas återspegling av ojämlika genus- och maktförhållanden. Studien utforskar även den tvetydiga kopplingen mellan sugardating och prostitution på onlineforumet. Denna kvalitativa studie har sitt avstamp i en feministisk kritisk diskursanalys som har varit studiens teoretiska och metodologiska ramverk. Resultatet av studien visar att sugardating huvudsakligen framställs som ett ömsesidigt arrangemang som baseras på jämlika och fria villkor. Dock begränsas detta när sugarbabies underförstått förväntas gå med på sex. En feministisk analys inspirerad av radikalfeministisk teoribildning samt begreppet postfeminism ger dessutom kopplingen mellan sugardating och prostitution en dubbel tvetydighet. Slutligen diskuterar studien hur de positiva framställningarna av sugardating kan påverka nyfikna personer till ett eventuellt inträde. / The purpose of this study is to critically examine the discourses of sugardating and the discursive representations of sugardaters on Flashback Forum, based on how they reflect unequal gender- and power relations. The study also explores the ambiguous connection between sugardating and prostitution on the online forum. This qualitative study is based on a feminist critical discourse analysis as a theoretical and methodological framework. The findings show that sugardating is mainly represented as an arrangement based on equal and free terms. However, this is obscured when sugarbabies are implicitly expected to comply with sex. In addition, a feminist analysis inspired by radical feminist theory as well as the notion of postfeminism highlights how the link between sugardating and prostitution implies an ambiguity in a double sense. Finally, it is discussed how the positive representations of sugardating might affect curious readers to consider entering sugardating.

Swedes and Swedish Culture are controversial political subjects in Sweden. The definitions for Swedish culture are very vague and what is the answer to the question: Who can be called Swedes? It has been debated in Sweden more since Swedish Democrats crossed the four percent threshold necessary for representation in the Swedish parliament. Swedes or Swedish culture on a large internet forum with 2 million visitors per week called Flashback forum is material for this thesis. Flashback forum has currently more than 50 million posts published and has more than 970 000 users. Flashback forum is more and more often mentioned in Swedish media. This is a new study of Swedes or Swedish culture in an internet context based on specific definitions of culture. The specific definitions of culture are based on Professor emeritus Karl-Olov Arnstberg’s book “Svenskheten – den kulturförnekande kulturen”. The specific definitions of culture are used in a classification of the posts on Flashback forum in an ideal type analysis. Which out of four specific definitions of culture are most notable on Flashback forum and what is significant for that particular definition? The most notable definition of culture on Flashback forum is “mentalt kapital”. “Mentalt kapital” is a definition about social values, political values and communicational skills such as the Swedish language.

Introduktion: Sedan mars 2020 pågår en global pandemi efter att SARS-CoV-2 tog världen med storm och sjukdomen covid-19 utvecklades. Sjukdomen ger främst symtom på luftvägarna, vilka varierar i grad från milda till att ibland kräva intensivvårdsbehandling. Intensivt arbete under året har lett till att flera vaccin numera finns att tillgå. Pandemin har dessutom genererat i en infodemi, vilket innebär att informationsspridning har eskalerat och digitaliseringen har varit högst bidragande. För att komma till bukt med falsk och alarmerande informationsspridning behövs målgruppsanalyser genomföras i syfte att rikta och förbättra kommunikationsarbetet. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur aktiva deltagare på Flashback Forum talade om och förstod covid-19-pandemin. Metod: Foruminlägg från Flashback Forum samlades in och analyserades med diskursanalys och Foucaults teori. Resultat: Analysarbetet genererade i fyra olika diskurser: Spekulationsdiskursen, känslodiskursen, samhällskritiska diskursen och diskrimineringsdiskursen. Analysen frambringade även vad som togs för givet i diskurerna samt vad som osyndliggjordes genom dessa. Slutsats: Fynden i detta arbetet visar på vikten av att vara närvarande på digitala plattformar, nyttan av hur kunskapen kring dessa plattformar och diskurserna som förekommer kan användas för att nå ut till nya och fler målgrupper i kommunikationsarbetet. / Introduction: Since March 2020, a global pandemic is underway after SARS-CoV-2 took the world by storm and the COVID-19 disease developed. The disease mainly causes symptoms of the respiratory tract, which vary in degree from mild to sometimes requiring intensive care treatment. Intensive work during the year has led to several vaccines now available. In addition, the pandemic has generated an infodemic, which means that information dissemination has escalated and digitalization has been highly contributing. In order to overcome false and alarming information dissemination, target group analyses need to be carried out in order to target and improve communication work. Aim: The purpose of the study was to investigate how active participants on the Flashback Forum talked about and understood the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Forum posts from Flashback Forum were collected and analyzed using discourse analysis and Foucault's theory. Results: The analysis generated in four different discourses: the speculation discourse, the emotion discourse, the socially critical discourse and the discrimination discourse. The analysis also produced what was taken for granted in the discourses and what was indisclosed by them. Conclusion: The findings in this work show the importance of being present on digital platforms, the benefits of how the knowledge about these platforms and the discourses that occur can be used to reach new and more target groups in the communication work.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka hur filterbubblor och ekokammare skapar politisk polarisering. För att uppnå detta syfte appliceras en diskursanalys på debatten om koranbränning. Trådar på Flashback forum och kommentarsfält på Twitter undersöks för att urskilja eventuella retoriska strategier, diskursiva yttringar och sociokulturella aspekter som kan bidra till polarisering. För att uppnå detta appliceras Fairclough’s tredimensionella modell för att utföra en kritisk diskursanalys av innehållet på de definierade filterbubblorna / ekokammarna. / The aim of this study is to analyze how filterbubbles and echochambers affects political polarization. A discourse analysis will be applied on the debate that has broken out due to recent burnings of Qurans. More specifically, this method will be applied on Twitter and Flashback to study rhetorical strategies, discursive utterances and sociocultural views that is affecting polarization. Fairclough’s three-dimensional model will be applied to perform a critical discourse analysis on the defined filterbubbles / echochambers.