The purpose of this study was to ascertain how preschool teachers think the subject of physics is shown in the preschool environment. A comparison was also conducted to see if there was any difference between the preschool teachers view of working with physics depending on when they were educated.   The study was conducted in the form of qualitative semi-structured interviews with active preschool teachers. The interviews were conducted in a calm environment and there was no disturbances. The interviews were used as a foundation to see if the preschool teachers thought they had sufficient knowledge in physics to be able to complete their work. A comparison was made between two newly graduated preschool teachers and two preschool teachers educated in the 1990s.   The results show that the preschool teachers think physics is an interesting subject, but they don’t work with it sufficiently. They believe the reason for that this is insufficient material, lack of time, conflicting colleagues and ignorance.

Expertise in physics has been traditionally studied in cognitive science, where physics expertise is understood through the difference between novice and expert problem solving skills. The cognitive perspective of physics experts only create a partial model of physics expertise and does not take into account the development of physics experts in the natural context of research. This dissertation takes a social and cultural perspective of learning through apprenticeship to model the development of physics expertise of physics graduate students in a research group. I use a qualitative methodological approach of an ethnographic case study to observe and video record the common practices of graduate students in their biophysics weekly research group meetings. I recorded notes on observations and conduct interviews with all participants of the biophysics research group for a period of eight months. I apply the theoretical framework of Communities of Practice to distinguish the cultural norms of the group that cultivate physics expert practices. Results indicate that physics expertise is specific to a topic or subfield and it is established through effectively publishing research in the larger biophysics research community. The participant biophysics research group follows a learning trajectory for its students to contribute to research and learn to communicate their research in the larger biophysics community. In this learning trajectory students develop expert member competencies to learn to communicate their research and to learn the standards and trends of research in the larger research community. Findings from this dissertation expand the model of physics expertise beyond the cognitive realm and add the social and cultural nature of physics expertise development. This research also addresses ways to increase physics graduate student success towards their PhD. and decrease the 48% attrition rate of physics graduate students. Cultivating effective research experiences that give graduate students agency and autonomy beyond their research groups gives students the motivation to finish graduate school and establish their physics expertise.

The waves traveling on the surface of the world’s oceans carry atremendous amount of energy. The ability to convert this energy forhuman use has the potential to help solves the worlds energy problem. Adirect-drive linear generator point absorber is a wave energy converter(WEC) that aims to reduce the complexity of the overall system andshelter the most vulnerable parts of the system by placing them on theseabed. This concept builds around the buoy moving up and down indifferent sea-states which leads to a correlating vertical movement of thestroke in the generator resulting in the conversion of mechanical energyto power. This report aims to explore the possibility to use the open codeWEC-Sim to model the Uppsala University direct-drive linear generatorWEC in extreme sea states and to identify the resulting extreme loads. Theconstructed WEC-Sim model constrained the buoys motion in heave andsurge and limited its range of motion by modeling the generators upperend-stop spring. Simulations were run for different sea-states and theresulting forces on the system were analyzed. The peak line force for thedifferent sea states was calculated and compared to previous studies. Theresults validated the model as they showed a good correlation for mostsea-states. It was only for larger significant wave heights that there was adivergence compared to the results in previous studies.

Low-pass Fourier filter, wavelet filter, as well as matched filter detection methods were used to detect baleen whale signals in northern Gulf of Mexico data collected by the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC) consortium. Some potential low frequency signals appeared on the matched filter output figure. The shape of the signals is in line with one of the typical signal shapes of fin whales--vertical down-sweeps with 18s-time interval. Another shape of the signals is in line with one of the call type shapes of Bryde's whales--down-sweeps with 7s-time interval. A high-pass Fourier filter was also used to find toothed whale high frequency sounds in the Gulf of Mexico data. The sounds featuring click trains and codas belonging to sperm whales have been clearly identified.

Brain tumors or brain cancer is a disease than affects people of all ages. The median age of a person living with a brain tumor is 60 years, it is however a disease that affects children and young adults in high grade. Brain cancer is the second most common type of cancer among children and is also the most common cause of cancer related death among this group. To ensure that the damages on the brain is as small as possible, it is important that a tumor can be diagnosed and removed as early as possible. Previous methods of diagnosis is based on biopsy where a part of the tumor is removed and examinated by a pathologist. This is a time consuming process that also is biased by the human factor, there is therefore a need for a method that can be used \textit{in situ} with an unbiased result. One method that have shown great promise is photensitation with 5-Aminolevoluic acid (5-ALA). However, this method have shown to only work properly on tumors of high malignancy in adults. As a comlpiment to photosentisation, Raman spectroscopy have shown good promise in previous studies.  This study was conducted to investigate the use of Raman spectroscopy as a tool for \textit{in situ} brain tumor diagnostics. The use of Raman spectroscopy was tested by comparing two previously performed studies, where they looked at a number of Raman bands from biological markers that are known to change in cancerous tissue as well as the intensity ratio between some Raman bands.  A measurement system for Raman spectroscopy was designed and built at Luleå University of Technology where the system were evaluated on tissue samples from conventional meat i.e. pork and beef to ensure that is was possible to achieve spectroscopic information of protein and lipid content in tissue. The measurement system was then transported to Linköpings University where the measurements on six brain tissue samples where performed. The samples came from five different tumors of which one tumor was thought to come from a high malignant tumor based on preliminary histopathological analysis and four from low malignant or benign tumors. Two samples where obtained from the high malignant tumor that was photosentisized with 5-Aminolevoluic acid and one of the samples where illuminated with blue light prior to the Raman spectroscopic measurements.  The spectroscopic data was pre-processed before analysis using conventional methods. The analysed spectra from the brain tissue samples showed presence of the Raman bands associated with brain tissue. It was also possible to see Raman bands associated with 5-ALA in the samples that had been photosentisized, however when the tissue had been illuminated with blue light it was also possible to see distinct Raman bands associated with brain tissue. One tissue sample also showed presence of reduced Neuroglobin (NGB). The composition of NGB is also known to change in tumorous tissue and could therefore be used in future work as a biological marker for brain tumors. When comparing the results obtained in this study with the two previously performed, one of the studies showed that two samples were from a tumor of high malignancy and the other from low malignant or benign tumors. This result was in accordance with the preliminary histopathological assessment of the brain tissue samples. When comparing the results to the other study, the results where contradictory and indicated that all tissue samples where from low malignant or benign tumors.  The conclusion of this work is that Raman spectroscopy is possible to use as a tool for brain tumor diagnostics. It would be desirable to use this method in combination with 5-ALA staining since the Raman bands from brain tissue could be resolved when the tissue had been illuminated with blue light. / Hjärntumörer kan drabba människor i alla åldrar, medelåldern för människor som lever med en hjärntumör är 60 år, men det är ett tillstånd som även drabbar barn och unga i stor utsträckning. Hjärntumörer är den näst vanligaste cancerformen hos barn och är även den främsta orsaken till cancerrelaterad död i den åldergruppen. För att minimera skadorna på hjärnan är det viktigt att en tumör kan lokaliseras och tas bort så tidigt som möjligt. De metoder som används idag bygger framför allt på biopsi, där en del av tumören tas bort och undersöks av en histopatalog. Det är en process som tar lång tid och även påverkas av den mänskliga faktorn, det finns därmed ett behov av en metod som kan avändas \textit{in situ} som ger ett resultat som inte påverkas av den mänskliga faktorn. En metod som har visat lovande resultat är fotosensibilisering med 5-Aminolevulinsyra (5-ALA). Desvärre har den metoden bara visat sig fungera bra för högmaligna tumörer hos vuxna. Som ett komplement till fotosensibilisering har Ramanspektroskopi visat lovande resultat i tidigare genomförda studier.  Det här arbetet genomfördes för att undersöka användningen av Ramanspektroskopi som ett verktyg för diagnostisering av hjärntumörer. Som grund användes två tidigare genomförda studier där de undersökte Ramanband från biologiska markörer i hjärnvävnad som ändras i cancerogen vävnad. De undersökte även hur den biokemiska sammansättningen av hjärnvävnaden ändrades genom att jämföra intensiteten av olika Ramanband.  Ett mätsystem för Ramanspektroskopi designades och byggdes upp på Luleå Tekniska Universitet där det även testades på vävnad från kött (fläsk och biff). Därefter transporterades mätsystemet till Linköpings Universitet för att genomföra mätningar på sex olika vävnadsprov från fem hjärntumörer av olika malignitet. Baserat på en preliminär histopatalogisk bedömning var en av tumörerna högmalignt och de fyra andra tumörerna var antingen lågmalignta eller benigna. Två av proverna som undersöktes kom från den högmalignta tumören som även var fotosensibilierad med 5-Aminolevulinsyra, varav ett av proverna var belyst med blått ljus innan de Ramanspektroskopiska mätningarna genomfördes.  Innan resultatet från Ramanspektroskopiska mätningarna analyserades behandlades datan med konventionella metoder i MatLab. I de resulterade spektrumen gick det att se tydliga Ramanband associerade med hjärnvävnad. Det gick även att se Ramanband associerade med 5-ALA i de två prover som var fotosensibiliserade och i det provet som var belyst med blått ljus innan de spektroskopiska mätningarna gjordes gick det även att se tydliga Ramanband associerade med hjärnvävnad. När resultatet analyserades gick det även att se spektra associerat med reducerat Neuroglobin (NGB) i ett av proverna. Sammansättningen av NGB är också någonting som ändras i cancerogen vävnad och skulle därför också kunna användas som en bilogisk markör för hjärntumörer i framtida studier.  När resultaten från den här studien jämfördes med de tidigare studierna indikerade den ena studien att två av vävnadsproverna kom från en högmalignt tumör och att de resterande fyra från lågmaligna eller benigna tumörer, vilket stämmer överens med den preliminära diagnosticeringen av tumörerna. När resultatet istället jämfördes med den andra studien stämde inte resultatet lika bra med den preliminära diagnosticeringen av tumörerna. Metoden presenterad av Zhou m.fl. indikerade att alla tumörer kom från lågmaligna eller benigna tumörer.  Slutsaten av det här arbetet är att Ramanspektroskopi skulle kunna användas som en metod för diagnosticering av hjärntumörer. Metoden skulle även fungera bra som ett komplement till fotosensibilisering med 5-ALA eftersom att det var möjligt att se Ramanband associerade med hjärnvävnad när vävnaden hade belysts med blått ljus.

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Background & Purpose: The current standard dosimetry in brachytherapy treatment planning, the TG-43 formalism, ignore the presence of non-water media and finite patient dimensions. This can cause clinically relevant errors in dose estimates. To over- come the limitations of the TG-43 formalism, Model-Based Dose Calculation Algorithms (MBDCAs) have evolved. One of the commercial available MBDCAs is the Advanced Collapsed cone Engine (ACE) by Elekta. In ACE, the total dose is divided into three components, the primary, the first-scattered and the multiple-scattered dose, where the two last mentioned are calculated by the means of the Collapsed Cone Algorithm. In this study the performance of ACE has been investigated. The study has been di- vided into 2 parts, where the aim of part 1 was to analyze the relationship between the so called discretization artifacts, caused by the collapsed cone approximation, and the number of dwell positions. The severeness of the artifact is thought to decrease as the number of dwell positions are increased. The second part focus on ACE’s behavior in cortical bone, with the aim to form a hypothesis (explanation and solution) to the previously observed dose underestimation of the dose to bone made by ACE. Materials and Methods: The generic 192Ir source, the Oncentra Brachy (OcB) treatment planning system (TPS) and the Monte Carlo (MC) platform ALGEBRA have been utilized. In the first part of the study, six source configurations, all with a different number of dwell positions, were created and placed in the center of large water phantoms, i.e. under TG-43 conditions in which the TG-43 formalism can be assumed to yield a high accuracy of the estimated dose. The accuracy of ACE has been judged by its’ deviation from TG-43. In the second part of the study, a cubic source configuration, of 27 dwell positions, was positioned at the center of a cubic water phantom. Three cases where constructed, with a small cortical bone heterogeneity positioned at different distances from the source configu- ration. The ACE calculated dose distribution has been divided into its’ three constituents. The accuracy of ACE and TG-43 has been judged by its’ deviation from MC. Results: Part 1 showed that increasing the number of dwell positions does not guar- antee an improved accuracy of ACE. Local dose difference ratios of > 2%, caused by the artifacts, were mainly located outside the 5% isodose line. A general dose underestima- tion was observed in ACE, with an increased magnitude as the dose level decreased. The majority of local dose difference ratios below -4% were found where the multi-resolution voxelization grid of ACE has a voxel size of ≥23 mm3, that is at a distance of ≥8 cm from the closest dwell position when using the ACE standard accuracy level. In part 2, ACE underestimated the dose to cortical bone, with an increased magnitude as the bone was positioned farther away from the source configuration. The TG-43 formalism gave slightly better estimates of the mean dose to bone than ACE, especially at higher dose levels. For a mean dose to the cortical bone heterogeneity equal to 45% of the prescribed dose, TG-43 and ACE underestimated the mean dose with 1% and 4%, respectively. The estimated mean dose to a volume located directly behind the heterogeneity agreed within 1% between ACE and MC. However, an increased amount of positive local dose difference ratios were observed in this volume. Conclusions: Increasing the number of dwell positions cause a ”blurring” effect of the artifact, but may also increase the fluence gradient. In such situations the severeness of the artifact may not be improved. In patient cases the dwell positions are usually added in a more random manner which may favor the ”blurring effect”. The underestimations observed in ACE are thought to be caused by both the multiple- resolution voxelization grid of ACE and the relationship between the dimensions of the phantom in which the multiple-scattered kernel has been generated and the current calcu- lation volume. ACE was unsuccessful to predict the dose to cortical bone, and should hence be used with caution when cortical bone is an organ at risk, as long as the problem remains. The results indicates that the error in ACE is located in the scatter dose calculations and that the heterogeneity cause ACE to displace the dose. The error is thought to be located in the multiple-scattered dose component, which was also shown by Terribilni et al.. A hypothesis is that the problem is caused by the neglected effect of media dependent absorption coefficients in the multiple-scattered dose calculation. A suggested solution, left to be proven, is to use effective attenuation scaling factors.

We present the supersymmetry and localization of an N=2 theory on S3b along with that of an N=(2,2) theory on S2. Performing the dimensional reduction of the theory on S3b produces a theory on S2 with no flux-sectors. A re-evaluated version of twisted reduction is applied on the level of the S3b partition function, arguing for a splitting of the partition function into pieces. The splitting produces flux-like sectors correspondent to the S2 theory but holds the potential for superfluous sectors. An argument interpreting these sectors as true flux is given and utilized to remove superfluous sectors due to topological restrictions on S2. The final result is a method which gives a bijective mapping ZS3b to ZS2 . / Vi utför konstruktionen av två supersymmetriska teorier på en deformerad 3-sfär samt en 2-sfär. Den utökade symmetrin tillåter oss att använda en lokaliseringsmetod för att reducera partitionsfunktionerna till ändligt-dimensionella integraler. På 2-sfären finner vi diskreta konfigurationer vars tolkning vi vill finna i konstruktionen på 3-sfären. Vi utför en dimensionell reduktion ifrån 3-sfären till 2-sfären och finner en ekvivalens som saknar dessa konfigurationer. Som substitut presenteras en metod där integralen delas upp i delar som kan tolkas att vara ekvivalenta med de avsaknade diskreta konfigurationerna. Slutligen framförs ett argument för vilka delar av integralen som kan existera på 2-sfären och resterande delar avfärdas. Resultatet är en exakt avbilding mellan partitionsfunktionerna.

Ground Penetrating Radar is a tool for mapping the subsurface in a noninvasive way. The radar instrument transmits electromagnetic waves and records the resulting scattered field. Unfortunately, the data from a survey can be hard to interpret, and this holds extra true for non-experts in the field. The data are also usually in 2.5D, or pseudo 3D, meaning that the vast majority of the scanned volume is missing data. Interpolation algorithms can, however, approximate the missing data, and the result can be visualized in an application and in this way ease the interpretation. This report has focused on comparing different interpolation algorithms, with extra focus on behaviour when the data get sparse. The compared methods were: Linear, inverse distance weighting, ordinary kriging, thin plate splines and fk domain zone-pass POCS. They were all found to have some strengths and weaknesses in different aspects, although ordinary kriging was found to be the most accurate and created the least artefacts. Inverse distance weighting performed surprisingly well considering its simplicity and low computational cost. A web-based, easy-to-use visualization application was developed in order to view the results from the interpolations. Some of the tools implemented include time slice, crop of a 3D cube, and iso surface.

Two different definitions of cluster-size heterogeneity are investigated as well as correlation time of different quantities using the Metropolis algorithm and the Wolff algorithm. It is confirmed that the correlation time multiplied by the computation time is lower for the Wolff algorithm in an area around the critical temperature. It is also confirmed that one definition of the heterogeneity has a local maximum at the critical temperature where as the other has an abrupt change in derivative. The local maximum appears with L ≥ 64 and it is predicted but not verified that systems with L > 43 have such a maximum. The relationship between the number of distinct cluster sizes for clusters with spin-up and spin-down is investigated and it is observed that these transition from being significantly different at lower temperatures to being mostly similar at higher temperatures. The point of transition appears to be near the critical temperature.