No description available.

Spoiler Alert! The purpose of this essay is to analyze how religion and life philosophies are expressed and which funtion they have in the video- and computer game Fallout 4. This purpose will be achieved by looking into the religious movements that exists in the game. The method used is a thematic description with comparative appropriation and the essay was based on the following issues: Which God-image and cosmology characterizes the movements? How are the movements organized? Which ethical and political bases does the movements rest upon? In which way(s) are the movements presented, in a negative or positive way?   The basic conclusion is that the game contains several movements which are all different in some ways. Some are more similar than others while some are more different. The most common property is the belief of something itself, they are all expressing some kind of belief. The movements degree of organization varies. Some are far more structured than others. They do all have different purposes and goals which also make their ethical och political bases varying. The movements are mostly presented in some negative way but some are also presented in postive ways. The way the movements are presented in are therefor also varying.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-54). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Production of graphite dust inside the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) influences the reactor operation negatively. Graphite is used as a moderator in the reactor core and the formation and transportation of graphite dust away from the reactor core decreases the amount of moderator which in turn has a negative impact on the reactor operation. High levels of radioactive dust may also contaminate reactor components which may pose a health risk to maintenance personnel. In this study a pressure vessel was designed and used to measure the wear of a graphite pebble in helium at elevated temperatures. By means of a multi-linear regression analysis a proper mathematical function was established in order to relate graphite wear to certain tribological parameters. These parameters were identified through a literature study. Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) was used to simulate the gravitational flow of graphite pebbles through the reactor core. The experimentally determined mathematical function was incorporated into the DEM simulation to estimate the annual mass of graphite dust to be produced by the PBMR pebble bed as a result of pebble-pebble interaction and pebble-wall interaction during refuelling. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vorming van grafiet stof binne die korrelbed-modulêre reaktor (PBMR) beïnvloed die werking daarvan negatief. Grafiet word gebruik as 'n moderator in die reaktor kern en die vorming en vervoer van grafietstof weg van die reaktor kern lei tot 'n afname in die hoeveelheid moderator en dit het 'n negatiewe impak op die werking van die reaktor. Hoë vlakke van radioaktiewe grafietstof kontamineer ook reaktorkomponente wat 'n gesondheidsrisiko vir onderhoudspersoneel inhou. In hierdie studie was 'n drukvat ontwerp en gebruik om die slytasie van 'n grafietkorrel in helium by verhoogde temperature te meet. 'n Multi-lineêre regressie analise is dan gebruik om 'n wiskundige funksie daar te stel wat die verband tussen grafietslytasie en die eksperimentele parameters vas stel. Hierdie parameters was met behulp van 'n literatuurstudie geïdentifiseer. Diskrete Element Modellering (DEM) was gebruik om die gravitasionele vloei van grafietkorrels in die reaktor te modelleer. Die eksperimenteel bepaalde wiskundige funksie word in die DEM simulasie ge-inkorporeer om 'n skatting te maak van die jaarlikse massa grafietstof wat gevorm sal word in die PBMR korrelbed as 'n gevolg van korrel-korrel interaksie en korrel-wand interaksie gedurende hersirkulasie.

At the height of nuclear tension, governments at all levels took steps to both educate and protect their citizens. Plans that included mass evacuations and shelters were put forth to protect the public and prepare for the seemingly inevitable war with the Soviet Union. These efforts faced tremendous obstacles, including a persistent sense of apathy amongst the public. Many authors insist that life under the persistent threat of a nuclear holocaust had a profound effect on the American psyche. The main thesis of this paper argues that while people were undoubtedly aware of the potential danger, those greatly affected and traumatized by it were the exception, particularly in the New Orleans area. Most people recognized the danger, but opted to not let it dominate their thoughts. They were far more concerned with their own interests, including family, career and home ownership.

The subject of this dissertation is use of computer models as data analysis tools in several different geoscience settings, including integrated surface water/groundwater modeling, tephra fallout modeling, geophysical inversion, and hydrothermal groundwater modeling. The dissertation is organized into three chapters, which correspond to three individual publication manuscripts. In the first chapter, a linear framework is developed to identify and estimate the potential predictive consequences of using a simple computer model as a data analysis tool. The framework is applied to a complex integrated surface-water/groundwater numerical model with thousands of parameters. Several types of predictions are evaluated, including particle travel time and surface-water/groundwater exchange volume. The analysis suggests that model simplifications have the potential to corrupt many types of predictions. The implementation of the inversion, including how the objective function is formulated, what minimum of the objective function value is acceptable, and how expert knowledge is enforced on parameters, can greatly influence the manifestation of model simplification. Depending on the prediction, failure to specifically address each of these important issues during inversion is shown to degrade the reliability of some predictions. In some instances, inversion is shown to increase, rather than decrease, the uncertainty of a prediction, which defeats the purpose of using a model as a data analysis tool. In the second chapter, an efficient inversion and uncertainty quantification approach is applied to a computer model of volcanic tephra transport and deposition. The computer model simulates many physical processes related to tephra transport and fallout. The utility of the approach is demonstrated for two eruption events. In both cases, the importance of uncertainty quantification is highlighted by exposing the variability in the conditioning provided by the observations used for inversion. The worth of different types of tephra data to reduce parameter uncertainty is evaluated, as is the importance of different observation error models. The analyses reveal the importance using tephra granulometry data for inversion, which results in reduced uncertainty for most eruption parameters. In the third chapter, geophysical inversion is combined with hydrothermal modeling to evaluate the enthalpy of an undeveloped geothermal resource in a pull-apart basin located in southeastern Armenia. A high-dimensional gravity inversion is used to define the depth to the contact between the lower-density valley fill sediments and the higher-density surrounding host rock. The inverted basin depth distribution was used to define the hydrostratigraphy for the coupled groundwater-flow and heat-transport model that simulates the circulation of hydrothermal fluids in the system. Evaluation of several different geothermal system configurations indicates that the most likely system configuration is a low-enthalpy, liquid-dominated geothermal system.

Denna uppsats undersöker hur förhållandet mellan karaktären, interagerbarheten ochpresentationen påverkar möjligheterna för hur spelaren uppfattar berättelsen i spelenHalf-Life 2(Valve Corperation, 2004), Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studio, 2008) ochFahrenheit (Quantic Dream, 2005). Metoden för analyserna är baserat på Aarseths (2007)teorier och går ut på att jag själv spelat spelen och sedan analyserat dessa utifrån minaegna spelupplevelser. Analyserna tar även upp teorier och begrepp från andra forskare, såsom Marie-Laure Ryan, Andrew Rollings och Ernest Adams, Lee Sheldon och UlfWilhelmsson.Metoden för analyserna lyckas plocka fram flera unika berättartekniker och förhållandenfrån spelen. Bland annat den dolda storyn i Half-life 2, den ytterst interagerbara välden iFallout 3 samt de flera olika huvudkaraktärerna i Fahrenheit, och hur dessa påverkarspelarens uppfattning av berättelsen. Förhållandena är dock inte generella, utan unika förvarje spel, vilket medför att resultaten också är det, och kan därför inte ses som reglerutan mer som riktlinjer för hur en berättarteknik kan se ut.

<p>Denna uppsats undersöker hur förhållandet mellan karaktären, interagerbarheten ochpresentationen påverkar möjligheterna för hur spelaren uppfattar berättelsen i spelenHalf-Life 2(Valve Corperation, 2004), Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studio, 2008) ochFahrenheit (Quantic Dream, 2005). Metoden för analyserna är baserat på Aarseths (2007)teorier och går ut på att jag själv spelat spelen och sedan analyserat dessa utifrån minaegna spelupplevelser. Analyserna tar även upp teorier och begrepp från andra forskare, såsom Marie-Laure Ryan, Andrew Rollings och Ernest Adams, Lee Sheldon och UlfWilhelmsson.Metoden för analyserna lyckas plocka fram flera unika berättartekniker och förhållandenfrån spelen. Bland annat den dolda storyn i Half-life 2, den ytterst interagerbara välden iFallout 3 samt de flera olika huvudkaraktärerna i Fahrenheit, och hur dessa påverkarspelarens uppfattning av berättelsen. Förhållandena är dock inte generella, utan unika förvarje spel, vilket medför att resultaten också är det, och kan därför inte ses som reglerutan mer som riktlinjer för hur en berättarteknik kan se ut.</p>

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Microplastics (MPs) constitute a risk to both human and environmental health. It is vital to identify sources and pathways to take the necessary action and limit the number of MPs in our environments. However, we currently have a limited understanding regarding MPs' variation with time in urban environments in an indoor setting. This knowledge gap is partly due to the absence of standard sampling procedures, and there is a need to develop reliable sampling techniques. This study evaluates the effectivity of a novel tape-lifting method developed for sampling MPs from various urban surfaces and applies this technique to measure weekly trends in artificial polymer deposition within an indoor environment at Umeå University. Two stone floor surfaces were sampled repeatedly on eight occasions over three weeks. Recovered MPs were identified in a microscope and categorized after shape: fibers or fragments. My developed tape-lifting method showed high MP recoveries (on average 100 ±4%) for the majority of the tested indoor surfaces (floors and tables). However, the method proved less functional for outdoor substrates (asphalt), where the recovery was significantly lower (on average, 48% ± 17). In my monitoring of MPs, I found that the deposition rate of fibers did not significantly differ between the two sampling sites or change over the three weeks. In contrast, MPs of fragment-type varied both between sampling sites and as a function of time. Here, the MP deposition rate was, on average, nearly two times higher at one of the sites, indicating substantial spatial variation. Regarding temporal variation, fragmented MPs showed an overall decrease in the number of deposited fragments over the three-week period. Interestingly the lack of variation in fibrous MPs indicates a dominating input source of fibers that is both homogenous for the room and static with time. In contrast, a specific source that is also time-sensitive appears to influence the dispersal pattern of fragmented MPs. My findings highlight the need to consider the temporal dimension of MP contamination and for research focusing on the relationship between fragmented MPs and their sources in indoor environments.