This thesis deals with the difference between two calculation programs for slope stability, namely Geoslope SLOPE/W and Novapoint GeoSuite Stability. The purpose of the thesis is to compare the two calculation programs with regard to the analysis of slope stability, as well as the two programs' handling of data. The two calculation programs use different Limit equilibrium methods to calculate safety factor and sliding surfaces for slopes. It can be expected that the result should be similar to one another, as well as the fact that both the calculation programs use different Limit equilibrium methods, but also when large differences in both safety factor and critical sliding surface give unreliable results. The thesis will also address the factors that may lie behind the fact that a possible stability failure should take place in a slope, as it gives an increased understanding of the analyzes that have been done. The work was carried out by modeling slopes with identical geometric relationships and identical material properties in the two calculation programs, a safety factor and a critical sliding surface for the slopes were developed for both programs and then compared with each other. / Föreliggande examensarbete behandlar skillnaden mellan två beräkningsprogram när det kommer till släntstabilitet, nämligen Geoslope SLOPE/W och Novapoint GeoSuite Stability. Syftet med examensarbetet är att jämföra de båda beräkningsprogrammen avseende vid undersökning av släntstabilitet, samt de två programmens hantering av data. De två beräkningsprogrammen använder sig av liknande Limit equilibrium-metoder för att beräkna säkerhetsfaktor samt glidytor för slänter. Man kan förvänta sig att resultatet bör vara varandra likt då dels att de både beräkningsprogrammen använder sig av liknande Limit equilibrium-metoder, men också då stora skillnader i både säkerhetsfaktor och kritisk glidyta ger opålitligt resultat. Examensarbetet kommer även ta upp de faktorer som kan ligga bakom att ett eventuellt brott ska ske i en slänt, då det ger ökad förståelse för de analyser som gjorts. Arbetet utfördes genom att slänter med identiska geometriska relationer samt identiska materialegenskaper modellerades i de båda beräkningsprogrammen, en säkerhetsfaktor samt kritisk glidyta för slänterna togs fram för båda programmen och jämfördes sedan med varandra.

En stor del av Sveriges energiproduktion kommer från vattenkraftverken. Dessa kraftverk använder sig av vattenmagasin för att hålla kvar vattenmassa och dammar för att reglera det vattenflöde som ger upphov till energiproduktionen. Efter vinterperioderna uppstår vårfloder, tillfälligt stora mängder vatten från snösmältningen, som kraftigt påverkar vattenmängden i kraftverkens vattenmagasin. Därför behöver regleringar av vattenmängden göras för att kunna ta emot den nya mängd vatten som tros tillkomma under vårfloden. Att göra korrekta prognoser för den rätta regleringen är idag svårt då de tillhörande avrinningsområdena är  tusentals kvadratkilometer stora och endast ett fåtal mätstationer finns tillgängliga. Syftet med detta projekt är att utveckla en metod för att bestämma fördelningen av snömängden i ojämn terräng, med vindriktningen som den största faktorn, för att kunna förutse avrinningens förändring under smältsäsongen.  De huvudsakliga arbetsverktyg som har använts är ArcGIS, Matlab, Excel och geostatiska metoder i kombination. Projektet är kopplat till ett nytt forskningsprojekt (SNODDAS, 2018) finansierat av Energimyndigheten som syftar till att ta fram bättre prognosmodeller för snökapaciteteten i avrinningsområden till vattenkraftsdammar. Det är ett samarbete mellan Uppsala universitet, SMHI och Vattenregleringsföretagen. Var snön kommer att hamna beror på terrängen och den dominerande vindriktningen. Därför kommer denna modell att definiera den del av terrängen som ligger upp-vind mot den dominerande vindriktningen som Sx. Modellens syfte är att beräkna snödistributionen och dess ackumulering i ett områdes höjddata med hjälp av 8 framtagna filer med olika Sx-värden för olika vindriktningar, också kallat Sheltering Index, med vindriktningar från 0º-360º med steg om 45º och sammanställda mätdata för vinterperioden 2017/2018 (19 oktober till 14 april). Det slutliga resultatet blev 61%, 63% och 90% jämfört med beräknad snövattenekvivalent av SeNorge (Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, 2019). / A large part of Sweden's energy production comes from hydroelectric power plants. These power plants use water reservoirs to retain water mass and dams to regulate the water flow that generates energy production. After the winter periods the large spring rivers, water from the snow melt, greatly affect the amount of water in the power plants' water reservoirs which makes it necessary to make regulations in order to be able to receive the amount of water that is believed to be added during the spring flows. Making accurate forecasts for the right regulations is difficult today as the associated river basins are several thousand square kilometers large and only a few measuring stations are available. This project aims to develop a method for determining the distribution of snow in uneven terrain, with the wind direction being the largest factor, in order to be able to foresee the change of runoff during the melting season. Main work tools are ArcGIS, Matlab, Excel and geostatic methods in combination. The project is linked to a new research project (SNODDAS, 2018) funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, which aims to develop better forecast models for the snow capacity in river basins to hydroelectric power dams. It is a collaboration between Uppsala University, SMHI and water regulation companies. Where the snow will end up depends on the terrain and the dominant wind direction. Therefore, this model will define the part of the terrain that lies up against the dominant wind direction as Sx. The purpose of the model is to calculate the snow distribution and its accumulation in the height data of an area with the aid of 8 files produced with different Sx values for different wind directions, also called the Sheltering Index, with wind directions from 0º-360º with steps of 45º and aggregated measurement data for the winter period 2017/2018 (19 October to 14 April). The results after calculations were 61%, 63% and 90% compared to the snow water equivalent from SeNorge (Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, 2019).

Deponering är globalt sett det vanligaste sättet att hantera avfall, men i Sverige får sedan 2001 enbart avfall som inte kan återanvändas deponeras. Innan deponiförordningen trädde i kraft 2001 deponerades många olika typer av avfall. En deponi används idag som ett slutförvar för avfall och för att minimera infiltration av regnvatten och eventuell föroreningsspridning sluttäcks gamla deponier. Sluttäckningen består av flera skikt som tillsammans ska täta deponin och leda bort vatten. Att förvara avfall i en sluttäckt deponi är miljöfarlig verksamhet och det är därför av intresse att kontrollera omgivningarna under och efter sluttäckning för att säkerställa att eventuell föroreningsspridning minskar. På Hovgårdens avfallsanläggning i Uppsala kommun har en deponi som använts sedan 1971 sluttäckts under hösten 2018. I två provtagningsrör vid deponin, i vilka provtagning och analys skett regelbundet sedan 1991, har förhöjda halter av vissa ämnen kunnat uppmätas efter att arbetet med sluttäckningen påbörjades. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att få ökad förståelse för trender i ämneshalter samt att utreda hur sluttäckning påverkar grundvattennivåer och ämneskoncentrationer runt deponin. Uppmätta halter i provtagningsrören sammanställdes och trender analyserades med statistiska verktyg i mjukvaran R. Dessutom konstruerades en grundvattenmodell över avfallsanläggningen i MODFLOW och MT3DMS. Stationära flödessimuleringar och transportsimuleringar med klorid utfördes. Tolv av 33 analyserade ämnen och parametrar uppvisar statistiskt signifikanta ökningar i antingen ett av provtagningsrören, båda eller båda analyserade tillsammans. Dessa är alkalinitet, elektrisk konduktivitet, sulfat, klorid, kalcium, natrium, svavel, kalium, magnesium, strontium, barium, och nitratkväve. Sex av dem minskar statistiskt signifikant och dessa är pH-värdet, kadmium, zink, kvicksilver, bly och arsenik. Grundvattenmodellen visar att grundvattnet under etapp 1 flödar mot resten av anläggningen men att flöden ut från deponin finns i de sydvästra och sydöstra hörnen. Sluttäckningen leder till lägre nivåer och en förändrad grundvattendelare vilket kommer minska läckaget, främst i den sydvästra delen. Modellsimuleringar med olika grundvattenbildningsmängder och kloridkoncentrationer visade att ökningar av kloridhalter inte kan förklaras med minskad grundvattenbildning i kombination med förhöjda koncentrationer. Förklaringen bör därmed vara andra fysikaliska och eventuellt kemiska processer som skett samtidigt som sluttäckningen. De parametrar som påverkade simulerade ämneshalter mest var konduktansen i diken och dränering samt moränens hydrauliska konduktivitet. / Landfills are globally the most common waste treatment method but in Sweden the method is since 2001 used only for waste that cannot be reused in any way. Before 2001, almost any type of waste could be landfilled. Today a landfill is used as a final storage and old landfills are capped to minimize infiltration and contaminant transport. A capping consists of several layers which together seal and drain the landfill surface. Storing waste in a capped landfill is considered an environmentally hazardous activity, therefore it is of great interest to monitor the surrounding groundwater during and after capping to make sure that any contaminant concentrations decreases. At Hovgården waste treatment plant in Uppsala, Sweden, a landfill used since 1971 was capped during 2018. Elevated contaminant concentrations have been measured in two monitoring wells close to the landfill after the capping procedure started. The aim of this master thesis was to increase the understanding of trends in contaminant concentrations and to investigate how capping affects groundwater levels and concentrations. Concentration data were compiled and statistical tools in R were used to analyze trends. Additionally, a groundwater model of the area was created in MODFLOW and MT3DMS. The model was used to simulate different steady state scenarios with and without chloride transport. Twelve of 33 analyzed substances and parameters show a statistically significant increase. These are alkalinity, electrical conductance, sulphate, chloride, calcium, sodium, sulfur, potassium, magnesium, strontium, barium and nitrate. Six show a decrease, these are pH, cadmium, zinc, mercury, lead and arsenic. The groundwater model indicates that the groundwater flow in the landfill is directed towards the rest of the waste treatment plant except for two places where leakage occurs: the southwest and southeast corners of the landfill. The capping results in lower groundwater levels and an altered groundwater divide, which will reduce the contaminant leakage, particularly in the southwest part. Model simulations with varying recharge and chloride concentrations showed that the increase in chloride levels cannot be explained with only decreased infiltration combined with increased concentrations. Therefore, the explanation is assumed to be other physical processes and possibly chemical reactions due to or at the same time as the capping. The model parameters that effected the simulated concentrations to the greatest extent are the conductances in drains, and the hydraulic conductivity of the till soil.

The enormous amount of household food waste in developed countries is a global environmental and climate threat. To reduce household food waste, various behavior change campaigns and interventions are conducted. Most conventional behavior change interventions designed to reduce household food waste are based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and are information heavy. These have shown, however, to not be effective enough to result in a fast and sizable enough decrease of household food waste in developed countries, thus reducing climate and environmental impact in a timely and sizeable enough way. The more systemic, holistic and practically oriented Social Practice Theory (SPT) theoretical framework is proposed by different authors as an alternative to the conventionally used TPB theoretical framework to design (behavior) change interventions. SPT is thought to lead to greater and faster reduction of food waste at the household level and to a general change in the food supply system. Nevertheless, interventions are oftennot created according to their proposed theoretical framework and no “direct” comparison between both theoreticalframeworks at the intervention level has been conducted. This thesis compares two case studies describing food waste reduction interventions, one with a TPB theoretical framework and the other with a SPT theoretical framework. The results show that when considering food waste reduction interventions at the household levels in developed countries the SPT might be a more effective theoretical framework for an intervention design compared to a TPB theoretical framework. Specifically, the SPT theoretical framework includes more relevant system stakeholders in the intervention creation leading to a more context specific design. Additionally, the emphasis of actual “doing” in an intervention based on an SPT theoretical framework createsa potential for more long-term change, compared to a TPB theoretical framework. However, this thesis also suggests that merging of the two theories should be further research and discussed, because of the potential greater effectiveness in actual food waste reduction.

The Brachiopoda, a major group of the Lophotrochozoa, experienced a rapid early evolutionary diversification during the well-known Cambrian explosion and subsequently dominated the Palaeozoic benthos with its diversity and abundance. Even though the phylogeny of the Lophotrochozoa is still hotly debated, it is now known that the Brachiopoda are a monophyletic grouping. However, the early evolutionary rates for the Brachiopoda have never been studied in the framework of a study combining molecular data and fossil time calibration points. In order to investigate the expected higher evolutionary rates of the Phylum at its origin, we conducted phylogenetic studies combining different methodologies and datasets. This work has at its foundation Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses of 18S and 28S rRNA datasets followed by analyses of phylogenomic sequences. All material was obtained from previously available sequences and from sequencing of genetic material from specimens from a concerted worldwide collection effort.       While the analyses of the phylogenomic dataset produced a robust phylogeny of the Brachiopoda with good support, both the results of the novel rRNA and phylogenomic dating analyses provided limited insights into the early rates of evolution of the Brachiopoda from a newly assembled dataset, demonstrating some limitations in calibration dating using the software package BEAST2. Future studies implementing fossil calibration, possibly incorporating morphological data, should be attempted to elucidate the early rates of evolution of Brachiopoda and the effect of the Push of the Past in this clade. / Det är ofta antaget att evolution (förändringar i arvsmassan hos en grupp organismer) sker i en konstant hastighet men i slutändan ändå osäkert om så är fallet. Stora grupper av organismer har ofta associerats med en högre evolutionär hastighet, speciellt nära deras uppkomst, vilket ökar sannolikheten för överlevnad.  Armfotingar (Brachiopoda) är marina ryggradslösa djur med skal som tidigare var allmänt spridd, idag är istället musslor (Bivalvia) betydligt mer spridda. Armfotingar har funnits och utvecklats under flera miljoner år med ursprung under tidigt kambrium. Genom år av forskning och många fossil har vi fått mer information om utseendet hos utdöda organismer vilket har bidragit till att antalet fossila arter som vi känner till har ökat tusenfalt. Under den senaste tiden har det också skett innovationer inom molekylära tekniker som gjort det möjligt att applicera dessa kunskaper även på utdöda arter. Dessa molekylära tekniker har nyligen hjälpt till att bestämma några av släktskapsförhållandena inom armfotingar som tidigare ansetts vara väldigt svåra att lösa.  Det finns fortfarande vissa släktskapsförhållanden inom armfotingar som inte är kända och man vet ännu inte hur fort de utvecklades. Genom att undersöka just evolutionens hastighet kan man börja förstå gruppens tidiga framgång under Kambrium och Ordovicium samt minskningen som följde. Syftet med den här studien var att beräkna evolutionshastigheten hos armfotingar med särskild fokus på den tidiga diversifieringen av gruppen. För att undersöka detta använde vi oss av molekylära data för att analysera släktskapsförhållandena inom armfotingar. Dessutom använde vi fossil för att datera stora händelser i armfotingarnas evolutionära historia. Med hjälp av statistiska analyser kunde vi beräkna evolutionshastighet och släktskapsförhållandena inom gruppen. Vi kom fram till att armfotingar härstammar från en gemensam förfader. Dateringen kring när detta skedde blev inte fastställd då det beräknades ske miljoner år före det äldsta djurfossilet. Det kommer behövas mer forskning för att ta reda på om armfotingar hade en högre evolutionär hastighet i tidigt skede.

Restoration of stream channels have become a common way of trying to restore both the channels and the ecosystems that earlier have been channelized mainly to facilitate the movement of timber. According to previous studies a lot of the restoration has been performed without a sufficiently detailed plan and with too little focus on how the landscape interplay with the restoration, which makes the potential to learn from possible mistakes minimal. In this study, a hydrological analysis of Hjuken river was done to examine if remote data through an analysis using GIS could be used for identifying three different process domains (lake, slow-flowing reaches and rapids), and if it is possible to determine which process domain it is by examining three different variables: channel slope, surficial geology and the geomorphologic characteristics in the landscape. Based on the statistical treatment and the analysis of the data, the result shows a significant difference between every process domain and variable except for the channel slope when it comes to slow-flowing reaches and rapids. This tells us that all the variables that has been analysed could be a crucial factor in most of the cases. However, the result does not seem reliable compared to previous studies. The conclusion of the study is that the error from the identification of the process domains is from the orthophotos. Remote data is too weak to use as the only source for this kind of analysis. However, the definition of process domains is probably more diffuse than today’s description. There needs to be more studies on each process domain, it is probably not enough with three different types, either there should be subclasses for each process domain or even more process domains.

The period of ice break-off in spring is a key event for many biogeochemical processes in lakes globallly. The biogeochemical processes occurring at ice break-off have the potential of influencing characteristics of lakes throughout spring and summer, including algal blooms and greenhouse gas emission. This makes it important to study lakes in the period of ice break-off. At ice break-off, soil bacteria from the catchment area usually enter the lake via spring floods and mix with the bacteria already occurring in the lake water. In this study, the effects of mixing soil- and lake microbial communities during ice break-off-like conditions were tested by performing an experiment under controlled conditions in the laboratory. In the experiment, light, microbial community composition and concentration of soil-derived organic matter were manipulated to simulate different conditions associated with ice break-off. The variables investigated were bacterial activity and functionality, measured as cell abundance and enzymatic activity, as well as primary production and concentration of dissolved organic matter. The results showed that a mix of soil and lake microbial communities had enzymatic activity patterns resembling lake communities, and then shifted to being more similar to soil communities. The experiment also showed that degradation of measured dissolved organic matter was not linked to biotic processes, and that the observed decrease was most likely due to photo degradation. Finally, the experiment showed that primary production, here measured as chlorophyll a, was only stimulated by the mixed community with light and added soil dissolved organic matter. The results found in this study are important as they show that microbial communities do alter their function and enzymatic activity based on composition. Furthermore, the result that primary production was only seen in the presence of light, soilderived organic matter and a mixed community of lake and soil bacteria may be seen as an indication that primary producers in lake ecosystems to some extent depend on the inflow of terrestrial microbes and organic matter. It also possible that the coalescence of microbial communities enables the communities to perform tasks they were unable to prior to coalescence (i.e. perform tasks that allows primary production to take place). These results give the basis for further, more detailed studies.

Zipf’s law is one of the empirical statistical regularities found within many natural systems, ranging from protein sequences of immune receptors in cells to the intensity of solar flares from the sun. Verifying the universality of Zipf’s law can provide many opportunities for us to further seek the commonalities of phenomena that possess the power law behavior. Since power law-like phenomena, as many studies have previously indicated, is often interpreted as evidence for studying complex systems, exploring the universality of Zipf’s law is also of potential capability in explaining underlying generative mechanisms and endogenous processes, i.e. self-organization and chaos theory. The main purpose of this study was to verify whether Zipf’s law is valid for city sizes, city numbers and population extracted from natural cities. Unlike traditional city boundaries extracted by applying census-imposed and top-down imposed data, which are arbitrary and subjective, the study established the new kind of boundaries of cities, namely, natural cities through using four location-based social media data from Twitter, Brightkite, Gowalla and Freebase and head/tail breaks rule. In order to capture and quantify the hierarchical level for studying heterogeneous scales of cities, ht-index derived from head/tail breaks rule was employed. Furthermore, the validation of Zipf’s law was examined. The result revealed that the natural cities had deviations in subtle patterns when different social media data were examined. By employing head/tail breaks method, the result calculated the ht-index and detected that hierarchy levels were not largely influenced by spatial-temporal changes but rather data itself. On the other hand, the study found that Zipf’s law is not universal in the case of using location-based social media data. Compared to city numbers extracted from nightlight imagery, the study found out the reason why Zipf’s law does not hold for location-based social media data, i.e. due to bias of customer behavior. The bias mainly resulted in the emergence of natural cities were much more frequent than others in certain regions and countries so that making the emergence of natural cities was not exhibited objectively. Furthermore, the study showed whether Zipf’s law could be well observed depends not only on the data itself and man-made limitations but also on calculation methods, data precisions and scales and the idealized status of observed data.

This thesis contributes to knowledge about how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as educational online platforms can be utilized in achieving the purposes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Starting out from a view that, in the face of global challenges every individual is an important actor with agency to drive for necessary social changes, the overall ambition of this thesis is to investigate the role of MOOCs, as a specific form of online learning, in empowering and enabling learners to acquire the competences needed to take responsible actions and informed decisions in a rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world. More specifically, this thesis aims at providing a deeper insight into the question of whether the pedagogic approaches used in ESD (learner-centered, action-oriented and transformative learning) and the learning processes that they promote, can be incorporated in the MOOC environment. This issue holds importance due to the global and intergenerational character of ESD where providing access to training and learning for sustainable development for all is vital. In this respect, MOOCs have been envisioned as revolutionary in the provision of access to education to a wider audience. Nevertheless, the “massive” part of MOOCs could pose a challenge in connection to ESD, due to the fact that ESD is not easily generalized and aims at upholding local relevance. Therefore, this thesis also looks into the question of the implications posed by scale and the issue of scalability when investigating how MOOCs can enable the application of ESD pedagogic approaches, thus also contributing to the achievement of the purposes and learning objectives of ESD and Climate Change Education as its constituent part. Utilizing a case study methodology, the MOOC in Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University is chosen as a case example of the MOOC learning environment and learning circumstances. By conducting a content analysis of the MOOC materials as presented on the online platform, and developing an analytical framework based on the ESD pedagogic approaches, this thesis reaches the conclusion that some aspects of the ESD approaches benefit from the networked environment and large-scale participation in the MOOC environment, while the incorporation of others is more challenging and asks for further research and improvement of the MOOC learning environment in order for them to provide for the optimal learning circumstances and outcomes in connection to ESD.

The environmental and climate-related sustainability challenges facing the world today are complex, accelerating and urgent, and they call for change from multiple stake­hol­ders. While govern­ments, busi­nes­ses and other insti­tutions hold a high degree of responsibility for initia­ting and enabling the neces­sary change processes towards sustainable practices, so do also individuals and com­munities. Despite inno­va­tive change projects worldwide much remains to be done. However, making changes is difficult for many people, and even more so in situations characterised by uncertainty. In this study the role of future-oriented ima­gination in motivating changes towards sustainable lifestyles was explored through an experimental intervention design. Test group participants were exposed to a guided imagination of a sustainability scenario in the year 2028, followed by a writing assignment allowing them time to en­ga­ge with how they see their own future life. The control group spent the same amount of time listening to a guided present-day reflection and writing about their current everyday life. Pre- and post-intervention, both groups comp­leted lifestyle question­naires. The pre­-­­inter­­vention ques­tion­naire constituted the baseline assessment against which their post-inter­ven­tion questionnaire results (which was asking both groups to record the lifestyle decisions they thought they would be making in the year 2028 on the same behaviours as in the pre-intervention questionnaire) were compared to check for reported degrees of changes. Besides their expected lifestyle changes, their predicted future personal change and degree of pro-environmental self-identity in the year 2028 was measured. The results show that test group participants, who were exposed to the future-oriented imagination, reported a substantially higher degree of future lifestyle changes and future pro-environ­mental self-identity than the control group, as well as predicting a higher degree of future personal change. Future-oriented imagination seems to be a potent pathway for eliciting future-oriented sustainability enga­ge­ment while avoiding some of the risks of negative spillover. This suggests that future-oriented imagination can play an important role in developing motivation for sustainable lifestyle changes, and that it can be a complement to other psychological drivers for pro-environmental behaviours.