This thesis aims to depict Syrian refugees' detrimental livelihoods in the area of Izmir, Turkey and to through mapping, prototyping building and analysing two live projects - developed using a combination of Participatory Action Research and Design Thinking - provide examples on how architects and architecture students can work within the field of displacement. The projects are in two different contexts and have been carried out by students at Umeå School of Architecture, including the authors of this paper. The first is about creating a multi-use activity space at the rooftop of TIAFI community centre, located in Basmane - a refugee dense area in the city of Izmir. The second one is based in the nomadic labour camps in the farmlands of Torbali - a peripheral city to Izmir.

In the field of environmental migration studies, research on social consequences of  development projects has received limited attention. The study highlights the rise of “green grabbing,” e.g., the appropriation of land in the name of climate change mitigation. While there is existing research on the environmental and economic effects of green grabbing, its influence on migration outcomes remains understudied. To address this research gap, the study conducts an exploratory case study of Colombia, a country plagued by internal displacement. It investigates the correlation between green grabbing and internal displacement, considering socioeconomic and political factors. By combining statistical and historical analyses within the world-system theory and the political ecological approach, the research uncovers structural patterns in Colombia and sheds light on the intricate relationship between environmental initiatives and internal displacement, emphasizing the pursuit of profit within the capitalist world-system. Future research directions suggest the use of mediation analysis and qualitative investigation of policy narratives in climate change and migration.

This dissertation develops a theory about the consolidation of state legitimacy given transformations in food security. Food security has moved from a national food maximization effort to the provision of food to households and individuals, regardless of the production source. This definitional change was triggered by urbanization, industrialization of agriculture and liberalization of trade. These dynamics altered the formula for balance and control of a country’s territory; as agricultural output moved into a global context, urban centers became less reliant on its periphery for sustenance and thus governments have fewer incentives to provide governance of any quality to rural areas. Hence, the expansion of industrialized production has led to an increasing volume of international food exchanges and reliance on transnational networks for food provision. This, I argue, produced a decoupling of rural and urban areas, yielding a new form of governance in the periphery, which relies on negative legitimacy and the expansion of large-scale agriculture under public-private partnerships. This dissertation challenges conventional approaches to modern state consolidation in the sense that the monopoly of violence in the territory is no longer the core of state legitimacy. Rather, alternatives now exist that make possible the consolidation of state political power. Methodologically, this dissertation follows the critical case study approach. While it may sacrifice some external validity in terms of generalizability, it maximizes internal validity through careful process tracing. By tracing the trajectory of rural areas for state formation, agricultural policies, the concept of rural citizen and the interaction between rural and urban areas, this dissertation expresses in-depth knowledge of policy outcomes due to the change in food security. Utilizing findings from Colombia, before and after the 1990´s, this dissertation illustrates the impacts of a change in the concept of food security and its effects on the administrative capacity in rural areas. Findings indicate that large scale agricultural policies and violence concentrated rural land ownership into export productive commodities and altered the structure of rural governance. While food security initiatives and policies has been a boon to world health, this dissertation illustrates how it has also brought about changes in state consolidation.

Vid klinisk enbaspolymorfi (SNP) analys inkluderas DNA-kontroller med kända genotyper i varje analysomgång för att säkerställa riktigheten vad gäller analysresultatet. DNA-kontrollerna har en central roll för resultatens trovärdighet vid genotypningen. Vissa kontrollprover som används är av sällsynt genotyp och kan vara mycket svåra att få tag på. Detta arbete har utförts för att undersöka om det går att erhålla DNA-material från sällsynta genotyper med hjälp av helgenomamplifiering och på så sätt säkerställa en tillgång till dessa. I arbetet testades helgenomamplifiering med hjälp av två olika kit. De helgenomamplifierade produkternas kvantitet och kvalitet analyserades och jämfördes med det ursprungliga DNA:t, med avsikt att redogöra för det mest fördelaktiga kitet för SNP-analys i kliniskt syfte. Båda helgenomamplifierings-kiten påvisade god förmåga att amplifiera genomiskt DNA med hög kvalité. Helgenomamplifierat DNA från det bästa kitet sekvenserades och här var skillnader mellan ursprungligt och helgenomamplifierat DNA marginella. Vid sekvensanalys av ett 464 baspar långt fragment av faktor II genen och 585 baspar långt fragment av ApoE genen på fem helgenomamplifierade DNA-prover påvisades endast en eventuell diskrepans. / Clinical single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) analysis includes DNA controls with known genotypes in each run to ensure the accuracy of the analysis results. DNA controls have a central role for the credibility of the results in the genotyping process. Some of the used control samples are rare and can be very difficult to obtain. This work was carried out to investigate whether it is possible to obtain DNA from samples with a rare genotype using whole genome amplification and as a result ensure access to these samples. In this work the whole genome amplification method was tested by two different kits. The quantity and quality of the whole genome amplification products were analyzed and compared with the original DNA, with the intention to describe the most advantageous kit for clinical SNP analysis. Both tested kits demonstrated a good ability to amplify genomic DNA with high quality. Whole genome amplified DNA from the best kit was sequenced and the difference between the original DNA and whole genome amplified DNA was negligible. Sequence analysis of 464 base pairs of the factor II gene and 585 base pairs of the ApoE gene in five whole genome amplified DNA samples indicated only one possible discrepancy.

Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are an affordable housing model based in the principles of community control of land and housing, as well as the permanent affordability of home ownership. Because of their membership-based governance structure and limited-equity formula, they are uniquely positioned to target reinvestment in communities of color and low-income communities without perpetuating cycles of displacement. Though focused on home ownership, many CLTs have adapted the model to include rental housing. This addition has the potential to expand affordability and opportunities for community governance to lower-income renters; however, it also challenges CLTs as organizations with little experience developing or managing rental housing. CLTs interested in providing rental units also find limited sources of research guidance on the topic. This thesis intends to evaluate the reasons CLTs do or do not provide rental housing, the obstacles to providing rental housing, the strategies they use to overcome those obstacles, and the resources available to them. To achieve these objectives it assesses interviews with staff at 22 CLTs around the U.S. The research finds that CLTs begin providing rental units to meet the housing needs of low-income people who do not qualify for mortgages, and when the resources available to them supports this strategy. It also reveals that CLTs face significant challenges taking on large rental projects early in their rental careers, but may succeed with smaller-scale rental development and management. The findings suggest that CLTs require much more technical assistance in developing and managing rental properties. The modification of the CLT model to include renters also necessitates some re-thinking of how to provide the full benefits of the model to these new tenants, as well as how to best market the organizations to municipal officials. Lastly, this research aims to encourage planners to reevaluate housing policies biased toward home ownership, especially given the instability of the housing market and the increased demand for rental units. CLTs’ success with rental housing should also prompt these public officials to challenge the typical stereotypes of renters and understand the stability, flexibility, and sustainability that CLTs can bring to affordable rental housing.

In today’s competitive automotive industry, most companies are trying to make their new designs and features implemented in their products to be ahead of their competitors. However, in the preliminary design stage of CEVT vehicles, dynamic simulation consumes excessive amount of time depending on the complexity of the dynamic model and simulation settings. It is beneficial and possible to shorten the simulation time. This thesis focuses on reducing the dynamic simulation time in ADAMS/Car in engine suspensions’ early development stage. Five simulation time reducing methods, i.e., reducing end time in driver control maneuver, stopping similar simulations, converting specific flexible parts to rigid parts, properly increasing the step size and performing simulation for engine suspension subsystem instead of the full vehicle system, were proposed and investigated separately to study their effects on the simulation time and the accuracy of the fatigue damage results of the engine suspension. With the proper combination of the five methods, total dynamic simulation time was effectively reduced to 61% and the variation of fatigue damage results of each engine suspension component was controlled within 30%. Dynamic modelling of an exhaust system is also included in this thesis and it provides referential data for the packaging design of exhaust system. / I dagens konkurrensutsatta bilindustri försöker de flesta företag att göra sina nya mönster och funktioner implementerbara i sina produkter för att vara före sina konkurrenter. I det preliminära konstruktionsstadiet av CEVT-fordon förbrukar dynamisk simulering dock en stor tid beroende på komplexiteten hos den dynamiska modellen och simuleringsinställningarna. Det är fördelaktigt och möjligt att förkorta simuleringstiden. Denna avhandling fokuserar på att minska den dynamiska simuleringstiden i ADAMS / Car i motorupphängningens tidiga utvecklingsstadium. Med hjälp av bakgrundsstudier och erfarenheter från CEVT’s personal provades fem olika sätt att minska simuleringstiden, samtidigt som simuleringsresultatens noggrannhet kontrollerades. Varje metod användes separat i simuleringen för att studera effekten på resultatens noggrannhet. I slutet kombineras alla metoder i simuleringen för att få bästa möjliga simuleringstid utan att förlora noggrannhet. Genom att kombinera de fem metoderna reducerades den totala dynamiska simuleringstiden till 61% och variationen i utmattningsskadans resultat av varje motorupphängningskomponent kontrollerades inom 30%. Dynamisk modellering av ett avgassystem ingår också i denna avhandling, vilket ger referensdata för framtida förpackningsdesign av avgassysteme

Informal vendors and vulnerable city dwellers have long held important roles in Mexico City. Although being very much integral parts of the area’s rich culture, community and urban fabric, their place and right to the city remains precarious as they are forced to face much uncertainty. With growing gentrification in the central areas, the city turns more exclusive; unsustainable and inaccessible for the majority of the population. Many long-term residents are forcefully evicted and displaced to the periphery or the streets as housing prices rise. Vendors encounter a similar fate as their occupation is a target for much disapproval. Not fitting some individuals and decision makers’ vision of the streetscape, consideration for vendors is neglected and their livelihood is continually threatened. The uncertainty endured by these groups comes as a result of the deprivation of their rights to the stability and security of adequate housing, the right to work and to protection against unemployment, as well as their right to the city. My aim was to create a space where these rights can be repossessed, where vendors and vulnerable dwellers can claim a place and voice in the city. To recognise their struggles and trigger the idea of an accommodating and inclusive cityscape. I have envisioned this place to be in Colonia Juarez, a central neighbourhood currently experiencing a large transformation.

Genom åren har det konstaterats att brott inte sprider sig jämnt över ett lanskap. Istället har det visat sig att vissa platser är mer brottsattraktiva än andra. Dessa platser kallas ofta för hot spots och kunskapen om dessa har bidragit till framväxten av platsbaserad och platsspecifika brottsförebyggande insatser. I samband med dessa insatser diskuteras ofta effekter såsom omfördelning och positiva spridningseffekter. Denna uppsats ämnar att undersöka omständigheterna bakom framförallt positiva spridningseffetker. Omständigheterna bakom positiva spridningseffekter har undersökts genom en systematisk översikt av studier som rapporterat om eller utvärderat en platsbaserad intervention eller experiment. Inga uppenbara gemensamma faktorer eller samband kunde urskiljas mellan de olika studierna gällande när positiva spridningeffekter sker och det kan konstateras att fenomenet är mycket komplext. Resultaten analyseras och förstås med hjälp av rutinaktivtetsteorin samt genom teorin om rationella val. Uppsatsen bygger på bevisen om att fler studier med positiva spridningseffkter i fokus bör genomföras. Genom att förstå när, var och varför spridningseffekter sker ökar också kunskapen om de preventiva insatserna och hur de kan designas för att nå bästa möjliga resultat. / Throughout the years it has been suggested that some places attract crime more than others. Those places are called hot spots of crime and the knowledge of them have contributed to the emergence of hot spot and targeted policing interventions. Hot spot policing is often discussed together with effects such as displacement of crime and diffusion of benefits. Through a systematic review of earlier studies that report or examine a hot spot policing effort or experiment this thesis aims to investigate the circumstances behind diffusion of benefits. No apparent commonalties or correlations are found between the different types of interventions regarding when diffusion of benefits occur. It can be concluded that the phenomenon is very complex. The results are analyzed and understood with the help of routine activity theory and rational choice theory. This thesis adds to the body of evidence that more studies with diffusion of benefits in focus need to be conducted. By understanding when, where and why diffusion of benefits occur the knowledge of crime prevention increases and also increases the knowledge of how to design the interventions to reach the best preventive gains.

This study focuses on a secondary contact zone between two sister species of woodrat, Neotoma fuscipes (dusky-footed woodrat) and N. macrotis (big-eared woodrat). Along the Nacimiento River, on the border of southern Monterey and northern San Luis Obispo counties, the ranges of these sister species of woodrats meet and overlap forming a secondary contact zone. The zone of secondary contact is estimated to include a 500-meter (~1,650 linear feet) portion of the Nacimiento River riparian corridor. This research examines quantifiable morphological change that is likely associated with heightened inter-specific competition within the contact zone. When in sympatry the sister species may compete for resources indirectly through exploitative competition, or directly through contest competition, or through a combination of these two processes. The prediction that heightened competition has resulted in distinctive morphological character shifts between allopatric and sympatric populations was tested my examining size and shape of adult woodrats along a 20-kilometer transect. It was confirmed that adults woodrats of the two sister taxa are morphologically distinct (N = 602) and that the phallus morphology was indeed a reliable means to identify adult male woodrats as to species (p < 0.0001, N = 331). A two model approach was used to examine convergence and divergence in size and shape of woodrats across the transect. Neotoma fuscipes exhibited a statistically significant divergerence from N. macrotis with regard to breadth of rostrum (p < 0.0001, N = 414) in a region of sympatry along the Nacimiento River. Based on the results on one statistical model, N. macrotis exhibited a statistically significant convergence with regard to body-size (p = 0.0240, N = 587) and length of hind foot (p < 0.0001, N = 563) towards those of N. fuscipes between zones of sympatry and allopatry. Alternatively, based on the results of a second statistical model that accounted for environmental variation within the system both species exhibited a statistically significant divergence with regard to body-size (p = 0.0054, N = 587) and towards that of N. fuscipes between zones of sympatry and allopatry. Also, N. macrotis exhibited a statistically significant convergence with regard to length of ear (p = 0.0022, N = 563) towards that of N. fuscipes. Based on the results of both models, detectable re-patterning of size-independent traits was observed to varying degrees. The morphological character shifts between sympatric populations and allopatric populations of woodrats suggest that ecological interactions between the species are occuring. Specifically, across the contact zone, patterns of variation in body-size and other morphological character traits are consistent with expectations of a combination of contest and exploitative competition.

Shear deformations are, generally, not considered in structural analysis of beams and frames. But shear deformations in members with low clear span-to-member depth ratio will be higher than normally expected, thus adversely affecting the stiffness of these members. Inclusion of shear deformation in analysis requires the values of shear modulus (modulus of rigidity, G) and the shear area of the member. The shear area of the member is a cross-sectional property and is defined as the area of the section which is effective in resisting shear deformation. This value is always less than the gross area of the section and is also referred to as the form factor. The form factor is the ratio of the gross area of the section to its shear area. There are a number of expressions available in the literature for the form factors of rectangular and wide flange sections. However, preliminary analysis revealed a high variation in the values given by them. The variation was attributed to the different assumptions made, regarding the stress distribution and section behavior. This necessitated the use of three-dimensional finite element analysis of rectangular and wide flange sections to resolve the issue. The purpose of finite element analysis was to determine which, if any, of the expressions in the literature provided correct answers. A new method of finite element analysis based on the principle of virtual work is used for analyzing rectangular and wide flange sections. The validity of the new method was established by analyzing rectangular sections for which closed form solutions for form factor were available. The form factors of various wide flange sections in the AISC database were calculated from finite element analysis and an empirical relationship was formulated for easy calculation of the form factor. It was also found that an empirical formula provided good results for form factors of wide flange sections. Beam-column joint sub-assemblies were modeled and analyzed to understand the contribution of various components to the total drift. This was not very successful since the values obtained from the finite element analysis did not match the values calculated using virtual work. This discrepancy points to inaccuracies in modeling and, possibly, analysis of beam-column joints. This issue needs to be resolved before proceeding further with the analysis. / Master of Science