Concrete floors have traditionally had no problems with annoying vibrations. However with the demand for larger spans the floors need to be made more slender with a higher degree of utilization and lower mass. Therefore new floors may have problems with vibration serviceability. This thesis studies the vibration characteristics of hollow core slabs. The analysis was made in the finite element program Ansys. The hollow core slab was subjected to a varying force simulating one person walking across the slab.

Qigong was initiated by the Chinese government in the 1950´s as a domestic medical tradition to be included within a modern scientific framework. During the first decades it became popular among the élite. During the 70´s and 80´s scientific confirmation of the existence of qi contributed to its immense popularity among the population. Charismatic leaders with a traditional background were leading their groups in parks and the movement was booming. In 1992 Falun Gong was established by Li Hongzhi as qigong taken to a higher level.

Shock absorber units play a key role in establishing the driving dynamics and performance of automobiles. Öhlins Racing has manufactured high-tech automotive shock absorbers for over 30 years. Öhlins Racing?s advanced technology has contributed to over 200 world championships in automobile racing. Öhlin?s manufacturing process has long utilized automated fluid filling equipment during the final shock absorber unit assembly stage. The filling process consists of vacuum pumping the shock absorber unit and subsequent transfer of fluid. Vacuum pumping is necessary to remove residual air from the shock absorber unit prior to initiating the liquid filling stage. The presence of undesirable gases drastically compromises the performance of a shock absorber. The filling degree, defined as the final ratio of air to oil, is determined by the specific filling protocol as well as the specific equipment utilized.The current investigation aims to develop a viable technique to accurately determine residual air content in shock absorber units. If the filling degree can be appropriately quantified for a specific manufacturing process, then the air/oil ratio may be quantitatively related to shock absorber performance. The utilized measurement method must be completely integrated into the manufacturing process to guarantee shock absorber performance specifications according to the manufacturer?s standards. By utilizing the measurement method developed in this work, the manufacturing process, manufacturing equipment and product specifications can all be tailored to provide improved filling conditions.The developed measurement method provides accurate quantification of the filling degree under a wide range of processing conditions. The method establishes the relative quantity of air in the shock absorber unit by performing in-situ compressibility tests. The fill ratio can be controlled and varied by manipulating the vacuum pressure exerted during the filling process. Performance tests, however, indicate no correlation between filling degree and unit performance..

The aim of this thesis is to examine the properties of the municipalities in Sweden that influence the choice of being a certified Fairtrade city. The independent variables which are used in the statistical analysis are municipal governance, local tax rate, whether there is an university and/or university college in the municipality, average income and higher education in the municipality. The variables are examined by logistic regression. Since there are no statistical data on ethical procurement, this exogenous variable isn?t included in the regression.

En tidigare studie har visat att negativa effekter av att känna empati är övervägande på kort sikt medan positiva effekter är övervägande på lång sikt, gällande psykiatripersonal. Med den aktuella studien avsågs att undersöka huruvida liknande tendenser finns hos en generell population. 253 högskolestudenter deltog, och i en mellangruppsdesign besvarade hälften en enkät belysande upplevelser på kort sikt medan den andra hälften besvarade en likadan enkät belysande upplevelser på lång sikt. Resultatet visade att empati har olika effekter beroende på tidsperspektivet även för människor generellt, i form av mer positiva effekter på lång sikt. Denna effekt återfanns bland såväl kvinnor som män, och bland yngre såväl som äldre.

The effects of the climate changes are expected to generate several substantial direct and indirect consequences on both ecosystems and societies. It is the extent of the negative consequences that determents the vulnerability of the things or the ones exposed. The knowledge of the effects and consequences by a changing climate provides an opportunity to take measures to reduce the vulnerability.Our society?s vulnerability depends on how we choose to act out of the existing knowledge and what measures we choose to take. Karlstad municipality has good knowledge and perception of the increased flood risks the climate changes will generate and the probable consequences that most likely will follow. How the municipality decides to manage the flooding issue is not just affected by the will to mitigate the vulnerability but also by the vision to increase the number of citizens.

This thesis aimed to investigate how a rising sea level would affect the livable area of the island Fongafale, Tuvalu. Through the IPCC stabilization scenarios it was examined which areas of the island that would be affected by flooding. The local population?s perceptions of the effects of climate change were studied to see how the consequences of a world-wide problem such as global warming affect people's lives. The paper clarified the Tuvaluans place in the discussion of climate refugees, explained IPCC's work and described the results of previous studies concerning people in Fongafales perceptions and concerns about climate-related changes.

Undersökningar visar att elever har svårt att ta till sig evolutionsteorin och i stället väljer att förklara evolutionen med icke vetenskapliga argument. Till exempel väljer de att förklara fjällharens vita vinterpäls med att en vit päls gör att den syns sämre. Det här är ett exempel på att eleverna gärna förklarar evolutionen som behovsstyrd. En laboration utformades för att illustrera hur variation och urval ger evolution i en plantpopulation. Laborationen går ut på att eleverna under en tid studerar en population med plantor som utsätts för torka.

The need for second language learning is increasing in today?s multicultural and globalized society, and adult studies are becoming more common. Teachers must encourage all students, and all schools need to promote equality. Motivation is one of the most important factors for positive learning and progress, and it can be helpful for second language teachers to know more about this subject. The aim of this study was to examine which motivational factors that influence adult immigrants to learn Swedish through SFI education in Sweden.

  Befintliga studier har påvisat att genetiska algoritmer presterar bättre om de ges en bra startpopulation. I denna rapport presenteras en lokal sökalgoritm för att skapa en population med fokus på ?vehicle routing?-problem. Algoritmen använder sig av heuristik i en blandning av simulated annealing och tabu search för att skapa individerna till populationen. Utvärderingar av algoritmen på ett praktiskt problem visar att den ger en bra start jämfört med en slumpmässig startpopulation, vilket är vanligt att använda.

This essay is a case study that deals with the integration of Scania into Sweden,which started for over 300 years ago. The purpose is to capture why theintegration of Scania succeeded, what were the main reasons or factors and todiscuss the effects the scanian identity and culture had on the integration. This hasbeen done with the help of different theories that will help sort out main factors tothe successful integration. The result of the study revealed a number of factors, tobegin with the scanian identity appeared not to be such a great obstacle for theintegration that one could believe. The identity developed because of the?swedification?, which were the measures the Swedish government took tointegrate the new territory.

Undersökningar visar att elever har svårt att ta till sig evolutionsteorin och i stället väljer att förklara evolutionen med icke vetenskapliga argument. Till exempel väljer de att förklara fjällharens vita vinterpäls med att en vit päls gör att den syns sämre. Det här är ett exempel på att eleverna gärna förklarar evolutionen som behovsstyrd. En laboration utformades för att illustrera hur variation och urval ger evolution i en plantpopulation. Laborationen går ut på att eleverna under en tid studerar en population med plantor som utsätts för torka.

Research has shown that immigrants in the Swedish society often, when seeking jobs, don?t get the same opportunities as the rest of the population. This thesis is a qualitative research that examines the problematic situation of unemployment among immigrants in the municipality of Finspång. The purpose of this study is to analyze how civil servants in Finspång apprehend and describe the labor market problems surrounding the immigrant groups that live in the municipality of Finspång. The empirical material is build upon seven qualitative interviews with eight civil servants working in Finspång.

Bolivia is a multiethnic country where the indigenous people constitute the majority of the population. Despite two decades of attempts to take the democracy further is its foundation more volatile than ever. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to examine if exclusion is taken place in Bolivia from year 1982 until today and if so in which way political exclusion constitute problems of democracy in Bolivia. The answer depends on the understanding of democracy used in the analysis. In this thesis I use theories of process-, participation- and deliberative democracy.

Eastern Europeans in Gotland is an essay with the purpose to find out how persons born in Eastern Europeans countries have adapted and integrated on Gotland. European community and notions about other groups of immigrants on Gotland have been relevant questions besides. The results of the essay show that the conditions for adaptation and integration are very different between the periods of time and for the individuals, depending on how they arrived to Sweden. The migrant workers quickly adapted to the labour market and had good premises to be in a position of financial independence. The demands of skills were low in the 60?s, but as a result of this, many of them didn?t learn the Swedish language very well and during the crisis in the 90?s they were no longer that attractive on the labour market.