The carbonation of the building materials based on the ordinary Portland cement is relatively well-known and extensively studied phenomenon. Conversely mechanism, reaction products and factors affecting the carbonation of the alkali activated materials are still not sufficiently clarified. In this work, the progression of the carbonation of the alkali activated materials under different conditions was investigated. The reaction products and the microstructural changes were determined by XRD respectively SEM-EDX analysis. The corrosive conditions due to the decreasing of the pH of the binders by the carbonation were observed by XPS analysis of the steel fibers. The carbonation of the alkali activated samples was compared with the reference samples based on the Portland composite cement. Besides these analyzes, the mechanical properties of the binders were monitored.

Social construction, social constructionism, and social constructivism are widely-discussed topics in the humanities and social sciences, particularly in fields such as gender studies, psychology, and economics. These terms refer to the idea that some objects and phenomena are created or controlled by social and cultural factors, rather than by natural causes. Examples of this include currency and laws, but even seemingly mundane objects such as the Christmas tree and the chair in our homes are dependent on social and cultural norms.The central motivation behind my research is to demonstrate that the objects around us are regulated by social norms, contrary to the belief that they have intrinsic or “natural” functions and meanings. In this thesis, I will examine product and furniture design from the perspective of social constructivism, and explore the designer’s role beyond physical form-giving.

This work is a survey about the cabinetmakers possibilities to use laser engraving for personalised décor in furniture making. I have used analog and digital techniques in a way to take control over the end results of the laser engravings that I make from my patterns and motifs. My motifs and patterns are mainly constructed with a digital pen in a sketch program om my computer. Initially, I did a number of technical tests to learn about the different settings so that I later on could use them to my advantage when I created different motifs. After understanding most of the consequences of different settings I began to adapt my motifs with a conscious planning for how I could use the laser engraving settings to control the final result. In some cases, I have also done some after work in the form of pyrographing or Dremel engraving by hand. Much more are to be desired of those results. My conclusion is that the best results I got were when I used the laser engraving to complete my motifs the way visual artists use their brush, which is what I learned during my work. In addition to the practical work, I have also tried to make a theoretical reasoning about decór and ornament historically and where I fit in today.

Background: In general, it is very complicated to build submarines. There are many parts and equipment that must be in place, and there are tight spaces on the boat. As submarine development progresses and new modern concepts take shape, the installation of new equipment on board becomes more complex, placing higher demands on well-defined interfaces, both geometrically and logically. The approach to electrical cabinets today is to run the cables from the bottom or top through a cable transit system, and only after the cabinet is installed on the submarine can the cables be installed in the proper terminals. This means that the installation takes a lot of time and combined with the fact that there are so many cables sticking out of the cable grommet, the work becomes even more superficial as installers are also constrained by the tight space. Sometimes workers also must move around to make room for others to pass through other parts of the submarine. This means that workers must leave their jobs and move before resuming their work. The following can happen several times a day, which means more time is needed to install electrical cabinets on the submarine.   Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop and design a solution that is a standardized interface for equipment in the form of electrical cabinets that are present and used in submarines. In this way, the solution must be able to satisfy the different interfaces of the devices that the different subcontractors provide to the company. The created proposals must be illustrated with a CAD software to visualize the concept.   Methodology: The research methodology used in this project is a combination of Participatory Action Research (PAR) and Design Thinking (DT).   Result: The result presents a solution (ISO-box) that shows that it is possible to reduce and optimize the time to install the cabinet once the cabinet is permanently mounted on the submarine. The solution is presented in the form of a CAD model. The model is set up so that all the cables coming from the cable transit system have an adapter at the end, which has a counterpart in a box to the cabinet that is installed on the submarine. Then when the cabinet is assembled, all that must be done is to plug the right connector into the right place in this box. The box has colors for the connectors and numbering that makes it easier for the installer to know which adapter to use.   Conclusions: The work shows that it is quite possible to change the current solution so that less time is needed in the final assembly of the cabinets. It will be easier to just connect the contacts and then leave room for others to pass in the confined spaces. It will also be easier to maintain, as the installer can replace broken contacts as the solution is modular, and there is the possibility of installing new equipment with ISO-box if necessary.

Ericsson AB har byggt en anläggning för test av 3G, 4G och 5G i Rosersberg utanför Stockholm i Sverige. Testutrustningen är monterad i standardiserade dataskåp byggda för att klara tuffare miljöer som exempelvis jordbävningar. Detta tillsammans med faktumet att dataskåpen är placerade tätt gör det svårt att flytta när de är placerade, vilket Ericsson ibland har behov av att göra. En lyftanordning som spänns fast inuti skåpet utvecklades därför, den lösta de problem Ericsson upplevde. Syftet med examensarbetet var att utreda eventuell föreskrift som måste följas för att CE-märka lyftanordningen, och om några förbättringar eller andra lösningar kunde genomföras för att öka säkerheten och användarvänligheten. Förutom att vara konstruerad utifrån tillämpbara krav i AFS 2008:3 Maskiner resulterade examensarbetet i förbättringsförlag på några av de viktigaste upplevda problemen vid användningen av lyftanordningen. Med hjälp av en lösning som synkroniserade fyra av de gängstänger som använts för att lyfta med en rullkedja så lyfter lyftanordningen alltid skåpet i en jämn nivå. Skåpet är även lättare att transportera och styra med den föreslagna lyftanordningen. Detta är tack vare ett par kulrullar som är föreslaget istället för hjul som används på den befintliga lyftanordningen. Förutom att möjliggöra förflyttning i alla riktningar så är friktionen även mindre i kulrullarna, vilket kommer minska den kraft som krävs för att flytta skåpet och öka stabiliteten något. Då den befintliga lyftanordningen upplevdes som för tung har ett materialbyte från stål till aluminium nästan halverat vikten, trots att nya komponenter lagts till. / Ericsson AB has constructed a test facility for 3g, 4g and 5g in Rosersberg outside of Stockholm in Sweden. The equipment is mounted in standardized cabinets built for use at rougher environmental conditions such as earthquakes. This and the fact that the cabinets are placed in tight formations results in the cabinets being difficult to move them when placed, which is sometimes needed. A lift device that is mounted inside of the cabinets was therefore developed; this solved some major problems Ericsson was experiencing. The purpose of this thesis project was therefore to investigate possible regulations to follow to gain CE marking, and if any improvements or other solutions could be made to increase safety and usability. Aside from being constructed with regards to applicable requirements in AFS 2008:3 Maskiner the thesis project resulted in suggestions for improving some of the important problems experienced when using the lift device. By using a solution which synchronizes four of the threaded rods used for lifting with a roller chain, the lifting is always leveled. The cabinet is also easier to transport and steer with the proposed lift device. This is because of the use of ball transfer units instead of castors previously used. Besides providing movement in any direction, the ball transfer units friction is lower decreasing the force needed to push the cabinet and increasing some stability. Since there was a need for a weight reduction, it’s proposed to switch from use of steel for the majority of the lift to aluminum which almost halved the weight despite adding more components.

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This thesis is rooted in the research tradition known as coalition politics, where governments, political parties and political institutions are the central focus. The main emphasis here is on government instability and the question of why governments in modern parliamentary democracies often come to an end before the next regular election. In five distinct but interrelated papers, the thesis explores the issue of early government termination and how it is affected by public support, economic developments and the functioning of the state apparatus. The studies included in this thesis generally take a quantitative approach and make use of a dataset that contains 640 governments in 29 European democracies. Their joint goal is to improve our understanding of when early termination happens by introducing and testing new explanatory factors as well as by improving how previously identified factors are modelled. The first paper focuses on Central and Eastern Europe. It shows that the stability of governments in that region is affected by slightly different factors than those that impact on governments in Western Europe. In particular, ideological factors and political institutions are found to be less important in Central and Eastern Europe while the formal power basis of the government and the country’s economic performance matter more. In the second paper, co-authored with Professor Torbjörn Bergman, the state is brought into government stability research. The paper shows that countries with a lower quality of governance and a less efficient public sector have less stable governments. This is mainly because government parties struggle to achieve their policy goals when the state apparatus is inefficient and corrupt. Paper 3, co-written with Associate Professor Johan Hellström, looks at how different types of governments respond to economic challenges. In particular, this paper demonstrates that the same changes in economic circumstances (e.g. increases in unemployment or inflation) have different effects on cabinet stability depending on which type of government is in charge. Single party governments are better equipped to deal with economic changes, because they are better positioned to devise new policy responses without having to compromise with other parties. Coalition governments, in contrast, become significantly more likely to terminate early when the economy takes a turn for the worse. Finally, over the course of two papers I first explore new techniques for analysing polling data and then use them to empirically test whether governments sometimes choose termination as a way to cope with bad poll numbers. Most of the existing techniques for pooling polls and forecasting elections were explicitly designed with two party systems in mind. In Paper 4, I test some of these techniques to determine their usefulness in complex, multiparty systems, and I develop some improvements that enable us to take advantage of more of the information in the data. In the final paper, I combine the two themes of polling and government stability by looking at how changes in government popularity affect the likelihood of premature dissolution. I find that governments, particularly single party governments, do, in fact, use terminations as a strategic response to changes in their popularity among the public. When support is high, governments tend to opportunistically call an early election, whereas they tend to abandon or reshuffle the government when support is low.

In pieces I wanted to create a design solution inspired by traditional wooden furnitures. Furnitures, like the kitchen sofa with built in storage and a place to sleep or the lockable free-standing linen cabinet that held hand crafted treasures safe and clean inside. Furnitures that are large in size and can be hard to fit into smaller homes today but that holds a huge sentimental value to the owner and are often handed down through generations as heirlooms.   So what if I could weave in a piece of my own family history into a design solution that can fit in smaller living spaces while still be an attractive choice for larger ones?  Pieces resulted in two wooden cabinets that tell part of my family history through the repetitative, organic shapes that I have implemented into them. They are a tribute to my grandmother Aino and her three year younger sister Hanna and my way of symbolically reclaiming their right to the land, forests and lakes around their childhood home that the two sisters didn´t get to share with their siblings in the inheritance after my great grandparents.  The methods I have used in my research are surveys, workshops, in-depth interviews and my own observations. Major design decisions have been based on the input from my research process with the goal to display two full scale cabinets at Konstfack's spring exhibition in May 2023.

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This thesis intends to answers these questions: What did “curiosity” mean in the nineteenth century, and how do Charlotte Brontë's four major works represent such curiosity? How were women looked at, formulated, and situated under the nineteenth-century curious gaze? In order to answer these questions, this thesis examines Brontë's works by juxtaposing them with nineteenth-century exhibitions. Four chapters are thus dedicated to this study: in each a type of exhibition is contemplated, and in each the definition of “curiosity” is defined through the discussions of boundary-breaking. The first chapter discusses the metaphors of “cabinets of curiosities” throughout Brontë's texts. The most intimate and enclosed spaces occupied by women and / or their objects—attics, desks, drawers, lockets—are searched in order to reveal the secret relationship between Brontë's heroines and the objects they have hidden away, especially the souvenirs. From cabinets of curiosities the thesis moves to another space in which the mechanism of curiosity and display takes place—the garden. The second chapter thus discusses the supposed antithesis between the innocent and the experienced, between the Power of Nature and the Power of Man, by reading the garden imagery in Brontë's works along with nineteenth-century pleasure gardens and the Wardian case. The imagery of Eve is also taken into consideration to discuss the concept of innocence. In the third chapter, metaphors of waxworks and the Pygmalion myth are applied to discuss the image of women's bodies in Brontë's texts, and the boundary between the living body and the non-living statue is seen as blurred. In the final chapter, dolls' houses and their metaphors in Brontë's works are examined in order to explicate Brontë's concept of “home,” and the dolls' house thus poses a question on the relationships between the interior and the exterior, the gigantic and the miniature, and the domestic and the public spaces.