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Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

As existing bridge structures age, they are susceptible to the effects of deterioration, damage and other deleterious processes. These effects hamper the capacity and efficiency of transportation networks and adversely impact local, regional and national economic growth. As a result, bridge authorities and other professionals have become more sensitive to maintenance issues related to this aging infrastructure. While highway bridge condition have been monitored by visual inspection, non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technologies have also been developing and they are expected to be utilized for effective management of highway bridges or other civil infrastructure systems. Efficient use of these technologies saves time spent or bridge inspections, and also helps the bridge authorities for management decision-making. One of the NDE technologies is the image-based technology. In this thesis research, image-based technologies using high resolution digital images (HRDI) and infrared thermography image (IRTI) are introduced, described and implemented. First, a review of the mechanisms of these technologies is presented. Due to the specific engineering utilization and recent technological development, there is a need to validate effectiveness of HRDI and IRTI for their practical use for engineering purpose. For this reason, a pilot project using these technologies was conducted at an in-service bridge and a parking structure with the support of Florida Department of Transportation District 5 and the results are presented in this thesis. Secondly, in order to explore and enhance the usability of infrared thermography technology (IRTI), experiments on campus and on another bridge were conducted to determine the best time to test bridges and the sensitivity of IRTI to delamination volume. Since the iv accuracy of damage detection using infrared thermography technology is greatly affected by daily temperature variation, it is quite important to estimate an appropriate duration for infrared thermography inspection prior to the inspection. However, in current practice, the way to estimate the duration is to monitor the temperature of the concrete surface. Since the temperature varies depending on the area or region, there is a need to visit the bridge before the actual test and monitor the temperature variation. This requires additional visits to the bridge site and also access to the bridge for measuring concrete temperature. Sometimes, this can be a practical issue. In this research, in order to estimate an appropriate duration without visiting bridges, a practical method is explored by monitoring and analyzing variation of concrete surface temperature at one location and projected to another location by also incorporating other factors that affect the concrete temperature, such as air temperature and humidity. For this analysis, specially-designed concrete plates of a few types of thickness and shapes are used and the regression analysis is employed to establish a relationship between environmental effects and temperature variation between two different sites. The results have been promising for this research study and it is shown that HRDI and IRTI are excellent technologies for assessing concrete structures in a very practical manner.

The Internet is playing an increasingly crucial role in destination marketing and it is used as a major marketing tool among National Tourism Organizations (NTOs). Website design is influential for consumers' Website preference and destination selection. This study is to understand the application of image-based technology by the major National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) through the collection and comparison of static images and dynamic images presented in their official tourism Websites. Data collected from the sampling of the world's top 25 tourism destination nations reveals that all National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) use either static images or dynamic images for their Websites, but the use of static images are far more popular than that of dynamic images.

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Teknik är betydelsefullt och är en välintegrerad del av varje individs liv. Det moderna samhället begär tekniska kunskaper för att individen ska kunna delta och agera i samhället. Kompetens inom området är starkt efterfrågat och teknik i Sverige har länge varit en avgörande faktor för en god ekonomi. Trots den efterfrågade kompetensen inom området och den ambition för tekniken som finns i samhället så påträffas en förtroendekris bland ungdomarna. Ett utav de centrala problemen är att ungdomar inte kan anknyta teknikens samband med egna intressen och karriärval. Skolans teknikundervisning har därmed en viktig roll för att frambringa ett intresse för teknik. Med detta i bakgrund är syftet med detta arbete att undersöka vilket bidrag som en teknikbok för högstadiet ger i diskussionen om att främja ett teknikintresse bland ungdomar. För att besvara detta användes följande två frågeställningar: - Vilket innehåll visar en lärobok i teknik för högstadiet i sina bilder? - Hur skildras aspekter av teknik i bilder i den läroboken? Frågorna besvarades med hjälp av inspiration från det sociokulturella perspektivet. Undersökningen utgår ifrån en kvalitativ bildanalys där en lärobok för högstadiet i teknik analyserades. Resultatet visar att innehållet i bilderna kan inkluderas inom 12 kategorier som urskiljdes i analysen. Det innehåll som huvudsakligen skildrades och som var av dominerande karaktär i boken var bilder som innehöll Människokroppen; Illustrerade bilder som konkret beskriver fakta; Verktyg, komponenter och material samt bilder som hade historisk koppling. De aspekter av teknik som framkom var att teknik är i ett ständigt samband med människan, stereotypa föreställningar av tekniken kunde befästas i lärobokens bilder samt att teknikutvecklingens historia är väsentlig för dagens samhälle. Dessutom skildrades aspekter av teknik som ålderdomligt och det var en brist på modernare karriärmöjligheter. / Technology is an essential part of the individual’s life, but also a well integrated part of the society. Knowledge within the subject is highly demanded, not only for enabling the individual’s participation in questions and decisions regarding the society but also for the success of the society. Despite the fact that technology had and has a significant part in the Swedish economy and prosperity, the adolescents nowadays, due to lack of ability to identify the connection with their own interests and career opportunities with technology, have a low interest for the subject . With this in view, the aim of this study is to investigate the textbook’s contribution to students’ interest in technology. To approach an insight within this, two questions were used: - What content does the lower secondary school technology textbook show in their pictures? - How are aspects of technology depicted in pictures in the textbook? The questions were answered with the help of inspiration from the socio-cultural perspective. The study is based on a qualitative image analysis in which a textbook for the upper level lower secondary school in technology was analyzed. The result shows that the content of the images can be included in 12 categories as identified in the analysis. The aspects that were mainly depicted and which were of a dominant part in the book were pictures that contained the Human body; Illustrated images that specifically describe facts; Tools, Components and Materials as well as pictures that had historical linkage. The aspects of technology that emerged were that technology is in constant connection with the human, stereotypical representations of technology could be fortified in the textbook's pictures and also that history of technology development is essential to today's society. In addition, aspects of technology were depicted as obsolete and there was a lack of modern career opportunities.