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“Valparaiso, Round The Horn”, a collection of short stories, contends with the following vital concerns: How are we transported? Why do we believe each other? What is our tendency towards legend? How do we immortalize one another? What is ritual to the avowed non-believer? How can we feel such heartbreak about someone who died before we were born? Will we ever understand each other? Is there grace in misunderstanding? Is there genius in it? A long time ago, could people run as fast as horses? What is the use in anything less than myth?

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Den här uppsatsen behandlar TV-serien Planet Earth ur ett ideologikritiskt perspektiv. I uppsatsen utgår jag från att även en naturdokumentär som Planet Earth är en subjektiv text vilken präglas av kulturella värderingar och ideologiska intressen. Jag granskar hur man valt att presentera naturen och djurlivet, i syfte att klarlägga de värderingar som serien speglar. Planet Earth följer vissa konventioner som finns för denna typ av produktion. Man använder sig av en berättande struktur som innebär fokus på individuella karaktärer, tydliga händelseförlopp och en applicering av gott och ont på djuren. Man koncentrerar sig främst på vissa arter, vilka görs till filmkaraktärer genom ett förmänskligande, och man har avlägsnat människor, teknik och andra historiska referenspunkter ur avsnitten. Att Planet Earth är en kommersiell produkt innebär att potentiellt kontroversiella inslag omöjliggörs, så trots att serien handlar om hotade naturområden ryms ingen direkt debatt kring miljöpolitik.Det slutresultat som vi får levererat till oss genom TV-skärmen är en strukturerad, ordnad bild av naturen, där den förklaras utifrån vår ideologi så att vi lätt kan ta den till oss. Att kritiskt analysera naturfilm är viktigt eftersom naturfilmens version av verkligheten ofta tas som autentisk, och gränser mellan vad som ses som ”naturligt” respektive ”onaturligt” dras. / This Bachelor Thesis focuses on the wildlife documentary TV-series Planet Earth. The documentary is analysed as a cultural text, inevitably influenced by cultural values and ideological interests. The purpose is to examine how the series’ depiction of nature and wildlife reflects these interests and values. How is the series constructed, what choices are made with what consequences? What is the series’ purpose and message? Planet Earth follows certain criteria which is typical for this type of wildlife documentary. A dramatic narrative structure is used, which leads to a focus on individual characters with certain anthropomorphising traits such as good/bad, and chain of events are created through editing. Most traces of civilisation, such as humans or technical equipment have been edited out, along with any historical points of reference and political aspects. The result is a commercially ‘safe’ and emotionally engaging documentary. It is clear that the nature we experience through our TV-screens is a heavily dramatised and arranged version, structured and interpreted from our own ideology so that we easily can understand it. A critical approach to nature documentaries is important, since what we see in these documentaries often is accepted as the truth. This may lead to a naturalisation of the norms and ideological values reflected, as wildlife documentaries is one of the arenas where boundaries between ‘nature’/ ‘culture’, and ‘natural’/ ‘unnatural’ are drawn.

What sets the observable chemical composition of exoplanetary atmospheres? The available chemical abundance of the planet's natal protoplanetary disk gas will have a deciding role in the bulk abundance of the atmosphere very early in the planet's life. While late accretion of ices and inter-atmosphere physical processing can change the observable chemical abundances. We have developed a theoretical model which connects the chemical and physical evolution of an accretion disk with the growth of a young planet to predict the bulk chemical abundance of the planetary atmosphere that is inherited from the disk. We assess what variation in atmospheric chemical abundances are attributed to different planet formation histories. We find differences in the relative abundances of primary nitrogen carriers NH$_3$ and N$_2$ depending on {\it when} the planet accreted its gas. Early ($t<1$ Myr) accreters predominately accreted warmer gas which tend to have its nitrogen in NH$_3$, while later protoplanets accrete colder, more N$_2$ dominated gas. Furthermore we compute the carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) for each planets, which is used to infer {\it where} a planet forms in its accretion disk. We find that each of our planets accrete their gas very close to the water ice line, thereby accreting `pristine' gas with C/O$_{planet}$ exactly matching its host star. We extend our results by tuning our initial disk parameters to reproduce the properties of the HL Tau disk. We produce three models that span the range of measured gas masses, and one model which studies a UV quiet system. We generally find that planet formation is efficient enough to produce a Jupiter-massed planet within the predicted 1 Myr age of the disk. We find a correspondence between the radial locations of ice lines within our astrochemical model and the set of observed dust gaps in the HL Tau system. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis investigates the feasibility of using certain descriptive parameters that have been determined to be independent of scale over certain ranges to define the texture and roughness of terrestrial surfaces. The parameters employ the concept of a "fractal dimension" as described by Benoit Mandelbrot and utilized by many others in various cartographic applications. Relationships involving the resolved surface area and volume of digital elevation models were utilized in evaluating the fractal dimension. Three digital elevation models (DEM) were examined with respect to area and volume. Changes in scale and grid data resolution were simulated by decreasing the grid sampling interval of the DEMs in a systematic manner. The three DEMs examined were of a homogeneous character and were sampled on a 3 arc second latitude and longitude grid interval. The DEMs represented three distinct terrain types, subjectively described as smooth, rolling, and rough. The results of the characterization provided distinct terrain roughness differentiation among the DEMs examined. The determined values of fractal dimension were, however, considerably lower than had been predicted in the literature examined. The low fractal dimension values were attributed to the course resolution of the DEM data sets. / M. S.

Arc magmatism is sustained by the complex interactions between the subducting slab, the overriding plate, and the mantle wedge. Partial melting of mantle peridotite is achieved by fluid-induced flux melting and decompression melting due to upward flow. The distribution of melting is sensitive to temperature, the pattern of flow, and the pressure in the mantle wedge. The arc front is the surface manifestation of partial melting in the mantle wedge and is characterized by a narrow chain of active volcanoes that migrate in time. The conventional interpretation is that changes in slab dip angle lead to changes in the arc front position relative to the trench. We explore an alternative hypothesis: evolution of the overlying plate, specifically thickening of the arc root, causes arc front migration. We investigate the effects of varying crustal morphology and viscous decoupling of the shallow slab-mantle interface on melt production using 2D numerical models involving a stationary overriding plate, a subducting plate with prescribed motion, and a dynamic mantle wedge. Melt production is quantified using a hydrous melting parameterization. We conclude: 1) Localized lithospheric thickening shifts the locus of melt production trenchward while thinning shifts melting landward. 2) Inclined LAB topography modulates the asthenospheric flow field, producing a narrow, well-defined arc front. 3) Thickening of the overriding plate exerts increased torque on the slab, favoring shallowing of the dip angle. 4) Viscous decoupling produces a cold, stagnant forearc mantle but promotes arc front melting due to reduction in the radius of corner flow, leading to higher temperatures at the coupling/decoupling transition.

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Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2007.