Problem formulation There are many studies on how the media produces environmental changes, but environmental changes are a large abstract topic. It includes many smaller parts of more concrete contexts. One very big problem that occurs is that human footprints end up in poorer countries, where natural resources are converted into goods that are consumed by us in the western world. Tropical forests in Borneo, Malaysia and Indonesia are devastated in favor of plantations of oil palm trees, which are then used in a variety of commodities worldwide. In this paper we want to highlight the subject of palm oil. We want to make people more aware of how the palm oil industry is conducted and where the newspapers put their focus. Aim The study aims to investigate whether Expressen, the Sveriges Natur, the Tidningen Syre, Dalarnas Tidningar and TT Nyhetsbyrån and how they are presented to citizens in those publications. Method and material A quantitative content analysis has been carried out consisting of a total of 14 analysis objects from Expressen, Sveriges Natur, Tidningen Syre, Dalarnas Tidningar and TT Nyhetsbyrån. Main results We can conclude that the topic of palm oil and the palm oil industry in the articles is an infected debate in which many different aspects are involved. Conflicts are the focus of reporting, closely followed by human responsibility for the enviroment. The categories have given us an overview of how many different aspects are included in the subject and how many concerns there are in connection with the palm oil industry.

Data analysis can be a time consuming part of an experimental method, especially when the method is used frequently and large amounts of data are produced each time. In this study, an application software was developed to improve work flow and data management for respiration rate measurements using an optical oxygen sensor. The application was used to analyze data files from the oxygen sensor without the need to manually enter and analyze the data in a spreadsheet application. The software was written in the Python programming language and utilized available scientific computing packages as well as a graphical user interface framework to provide user friendly access to all functions. Any number of files with experimental data were imported into the program and a linear regression analysis was done for each file and viewed to verify the quality of the data. Tables and summarizing graphs were used to display the key information and statistical results. The final results were exported for use in other applications. Data processing that used to take an hour to complete was done with the new application in five to ten minutes and the risk of introducing human errors in the data was simultaneously reduced. User tests indicated that learning the basics of the program was easy. This study shows the usefulness of a bioinformatics approach and the tools provided by Python and its related software to solve problems that arise with managing large volumes of numerical data. / Älvburet organiskt kol och bakteriers syre respiration

No description available.

The present report aims to show the development process of a liquid level sensing system for the use within the propellant tanks of a launch vehicle. Whereas many recent launchers use discrete level sensing systems to indicate the amount of fuel on defined spots like fill-stop and engine cut-off, in this report a continuous capacitance based sensor probe is described. An accurate knowledge of the propellant level can serve as input for the throttling of the propellant valves to account for changes in the oxidizer-fuel ratio and therefore helps optimising the operation of the rocket engine. Furthermore, the more precise the amount of fuel is known, the less unused propellant mass will remain allowing a cost and mass optimisation for each mission. Additionally to the increased vehicle performance, the sensor designs described aim to have comparably low mass and cost. At the beginning of the report, an overview of different level measuring techniques is given before going into the special conditions and requirements regarding launch vehicles. Afterwards, the design and testing with RP-1 and LN2 of two different sensor probes using a capacitive measuring principle is described and compared to analytical calculations and numerical simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics. At the end, design suggestions for a flight probe and possible improvements for a higher reliability are given. All tested sensor designs show an accuracy of a few millimetres when tested within a settled, non-sloshing fluid. However, the theoretical models show a substantial deviation to the test data. / Föreliggande rapport syftar att visa utvecklingsprocessen av ett vätskenivåavkänningssystem för användningen i drivmedelstankarna i en bärraket. Medan många nya bärraketer använder diskreta nivåavkänningssytem för att ange mängden bränsle på definierade händelser som textit tankstopp och textit motor avstängning, beskrivs i denna rapport en kontinuerlig kapacitansbaserad sensor. En exakt kunskap om bränslenivån kan fungera som inmatning för strypningen av bränsleventilerna för att ta hänsyn till förändringar i förhållandet mellan oxidationsmedel och bränsle förhållandet. Detta hjälper därför till att optimera driften av raketmotorn. Dessutom, ju exaktare mängden bränsle är känd, desto mindre oanvänd bränsle återstår, vilket möjliggör en kostnads- och massoptimiering för varje uppdrag. Förutom den ökade fordonsprestandan syftar de beskrivna sensordesignerna till att ha jämförelsevis låg massa och kostnad. I början av rapporten ges en översikt över olika nivåmättekniker innan de speciella förhållandena och kraven för bärraketer berörs. Därefter beskrivs design och testning med med RP-1 och LN2 av två olika sensorer som använder en kapacitiv mätprincip och jämförs med analytiska beräkningar och numeriska simuleringar med COMSOL Multiphysics. I slutet ges designförslag för en flygprob och möjliga förbättringar för en högre tillförlitlighet. Alla testade sensorkonstruktioner visar en noggrannhet på några milimeter när de testas med en stilla, icke-plaskande vätska. De teoretiska modellerna visar dock en väsentlig avvikelse från testdatan.

Climate change is one the greatest environmental challenges of our time, both due to direct eectssuch as global warming but also due to the potential of the climate acting as a driver for otherenvironmental problems. This thesis aims to evaluate the impact of climate change on thermal properties and the content and distribution of dissolved oxygen in boreal lakes. By calibrating the one-dimensional, process based model MyLake with data from three, long-time monitored lakes in Sweden, vertical proles of temperature and oxygen could be studied over time. Changes in air temperature, precipitation and discharge showed to have a great impact on the thermal properties of the lakes. Simulations 30 and 80 years in the future with high impact climate scenarios indicated an overall increase in lake water temperature and reduced duration of icecover. The increase in lake water temperature decreased with depth, indicating enhanced thermal stratication. Climate change also had a profound impact on the content and distribution of dissolved oxygen, DO, in the lakes. Climate-induced increases in dissolved organic carbon, DOC, had an overall negative impact on the DO content in the water column. The impact of changes in air temperature, precipitation and discharge however had an overall positive impact on lake water DO, most likely due to increased oxygen supply during the winter months due to the shorter duration of ice cover. The risk of summer anoxia increased due to the combined effect of increased air temperatures and elevated DOC concentrations. In conclusion, the impact of climate change will, directly or indirectly, have a profound impacton both the thermal conditions and the content and distribution of oxygen in lakes. This may drastically change future lake water quality as well as the living conditions for the aquatic life. / De pågaende klimatförändringarna är ett av vår tids mest utmanade miljöhot, dels påa grund av direkta effekter såsom global uppvärmning men också på grund av klimatets potential att agera som en drivande faktor i många miljösammanhang. Målet med denna studie var att undersöka hur klimatförändringarna påverkar temperatur- och syrgasgasförhallanden i sjöar. Genom att kalibreraden den dimensionella, processbaserade modellen MyLake, med data från tre svenska sjöar, kunde vertikala temperatur- och syrgasprofiler undersökas över tid. Förändringar i lufttemperatur, nederbörd och flöde, baserade pa vedertagna klimatscenarier med hög klimatpåverkan, visade sig ha en tydlig påverkan på sjörnas temperaturförhållanden. Simuleringar 30 och 80 år fram i tiden resulterade i forhöjda vattentemperaturer i hela vattenkolumnen samt förändringar i tidpunkt for isbildning och smältning. Vattentemperaturen ökade for samtliga undersökta djup, men ökningshastigheten minskade med ökat djup. Detta tyder på starkare skiktning av vattenkolumnen i framtiden. Förandringar i klimatet visade sig också ha en stor inverkan pa sjöarnas syrgasförhållanden. Ökande halter av löst organiskt kol, orsakade av klimatförändringar, hade negativ inverkan på sjöarnas syrgasförhållanden. Förändringar i lufttemperatur, nederbörd och flöde hade däremot en överlag positiv inverkan pa sjöarnas syrgasförhållanden. Detta beror troligtvis på att tillflödet av syrgas ökar i och med att tiden då sjön är täckt av is förkortas. Risken for syrefattiga förhållanden under sommarmånaderna ökade dock, på grund av den kombinerade effekten av förhöjd lufttemperatur och ökande DOC halter. Sammanfattningsvis förväntas klimatförändringar ha en tydlig effekt på både temperatur- och syrgasforhallanden i sjöar. Detta riskerar att avsevärt försämra både sjöarnas vattenkvalitet och levnadsförhållanden för vattenlevande organismer.

This thesis has been carried out as a development project at Scana Steel Björneborg with the purpose to study the influential parameters in argon shrouded ingot casting during the manufacturing of low-alloy steels. In the first stage, a literature study was conducted in order to investigate the theoretical background of the procedure and the importance of protecting the melt during ingot casting. Next, a computer model of the shield was designed using COMSOL Multiphysics® with regard to the process conditions at Scana Steel Björneborg. The effect of various parameters on the process was examined through simulations of the argon gas flow pattern, heat transfer between the gas and the melt stream, and the chemical species transport in the gas around the melt stream. Based on the simulation results, two different shapes of shield were proposed for the argon shrouding operation. A set of implementation tests was executed in order to check the installation and usage conditions of the two new shields. After deciding the proper shape of the shield, a full-scale ingot-casting test was performed with the selected shield to investigate the protection behavior. Moreover, the impact of the new casting-protection shield on the nitrogen and oxygen contents of steel was examined through sampling and analyzing the steel before and after casting. It was found that the use of the new shield during the uphill ingot casting is an effective way to reduce the final nitrogen and oxygen contents of the casted ingot. Therefore, the new design of the shield can be used as a developed substitute for the protection of the melt stream in the ingot casting operation.

The dynamic (ac) Stark effect refers to the energy shifting of electronic states induced by an oscillating electric field. Conveniently, the magnitude of the ac Stark shift scales with the square of the electric field amplitude, i.e. with light intensity. Using this fundamental effect to reshape molecular potentials, and steer the course of chemical reactions, is known as dynamic Stark control. The aim of this study was to investigate the dynamic Stark effect on the photodissociation of molecular oxygen (O2) in the Schumann-Runge continuum, SRC (130–175 nm). Absorption in the SRC leads to dissociation via the so-called B state, yielding O(1D) + O(3P), or the J state, forming O(3P) + O(3P). Both of these dissociative excited states may be well-described in terms of mixed valence and Rydberg state character, in which each of the two states are strongly coupled to a Rydberg state of similar symmetry. Due to the mixed character of the B and J states, simulations predict that dynamic Stark shifting of the coupled Rydberg states leads to a dramatic change in dissociation channel branching ratio, as well as a red-shift of the absorption spectrum. This study aimed at experimentally testing this theoretical prediction. A 400-nm femtosecond laser pulse was employed as a combined pump and control field, simultaneously inducing a three-photon transition into the SRC and ac Stark shifting the potentials. A detection scheme to detect the changes in absorption of the B channel with pump pulse intensity was devised and implemented. The chosen detection scheme, in which emission at 762 nm from the O2(b−X) transition is measured, in principle monitors O(1D) from the B channel via an energy transfer reaction. The experimental results overall show consistency between simulations and experiment. The measured 762-nm emission exhibited a pump pulse intensity-dependence that likely reflects the dynamic Stark reshaping of the excited state potentials. However, saturation is clearly present in the data, complicating data interpretation. Furthermore, deviations between experiment and simulations are large at high pulse intensities, indicating that O(1D) is additionally generated by absorption into higher excited states. Finally, structured features that deviate from the simulations at low pulse intensities may possibly be assigned to vibrational resonances to high-lying Rydberg states by four-photon absorption. / Den dynamiska (ac) Starkeffekten beskriver energiskiftet för elektroniska tillstånd som induceras av ett oscillerande elektriskt fält. Storleken på detta skift ökar med kvadraten av den elektriska fältstyrkan, det vill säga med ljusintensitet. Tillämpningen av denna fundamentala effekt i syfte att omforma molekylära potentialer, och därmed styra kemiska reaktioner, kallas för dynamisk Starkkontroll. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur den dynamiska Starkeffekten påverkar den fotoinducerade dissociationen av molekylärt syre (O2) inom Schumann-Runge kontinuumet, SRC (130–175 nm). Absorption i SRC resulterar i dissociation via det så kallade B-tillståndet, som bildar O  (1D) + O(3P), eller via J-tillståndet, som leder till bildandet av O(3P) + O(3P). Båda dessa dissociativa tillstånd har en karaktär som kan beskrivas som en blandning av ett valenstillstånd och ett Rydbergstillstånd.  Simuleringar antyder att, till följd av valens- och Rydbergskaraktären hos B och J-tillståndet, leder dynamisk Starkskiftning av de kopplade Rydbergstillstånden till en dramatisk ändring i det relativa utbytet för de två dissociationskanalerna, samt till ett röd- skift av absorptionsspektrumet. Denna studie hade som ändamål att experimentellt testa denna teoretiska förutsägelse. En femtosekundslaser vid 400 nm användes som kombinerat excitations- och kontrollfält, vilket parallellt inducerar en trefoton-övergång in i SRC och ac Starkskiftar potentialerna. En detektionsmetod som mäter variationer i absorptionen för B-kanalen som funktion av pulsintensitet designades och implementerades. I den valda metoden detekteras emission vid 762 nm från O2(b − X)-övergången, vilket i sin tur ger en mätning av O(1D) som genereras från B- kanalen via en energiöverföringsreaktion. De experimentella resultaten stämmer relativt väl överens med simuleringarna. Den uppmätta emissionen vid 762 nm uppvisar ett intensitetsberoende som i stora drag reflekterar ac Stark- skiftningen av potentialerna. Utöver detta finns dock ett stort bidrag från mättnad, vilket försvårar tolkningen av datan. Vi-dare avviker den experimentella datan betydligt vid höga pulsintensiteter, vilket sannolikt tyder på att O(1D) även genereras genom absorption till högre exciterade tillstånd. Slutligen ob-serveras mindre, men tydliga avvikelser vid låga pulsintensiteter. Dessa kan möjligen tillordnas vibrationsresonanser med högre Rydbergstillstånd genom fyrfoton-absorption. ​

Over the past decades, evidence show that the anthropogenetic greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) are the main drivers behind global warming and are becoming stronger. Globally, hydropower is among the main sources of renewable energy and the popular notion that hydropower electricity is carbon neutral has been under debate as evidence from measurements in different regions of the globe show significant and highly variable carbon emissions from hydropower reservoirs. But these global estimates are still highly uncertain since they are restricted to a few locations in the south of Europe, North America, and South America, and lack both the temporal and spatial variability in addition to some of the flux pathways (often downstream emission and degassing). This study assesses the CH4 and CO₂ emissions from reservoirs associated to three small hydropower stations in the south of Sweden and aims to understand potential spatial and temporal variability in the temperate region. The study performed flux measurements of CH4 and CO₂, an analysis of CH4 and DIC concentration in the water, and a depth profile of temperature, DO, CH4 and DIC at the hydropower station’s reservoirs. In summation this study finds significant CH4 and DIC concentrations, as well as CH4 and CO₂emissions from the studied reservoirs. The findings of this study underline the notion that hydropower might be a `blind spot` in the Swedish GHG budget report, and if so, the carbon emissions from hydropower electricity need to be re-evaluated.