This thesis describes new methods for automatic crack detection in pavements. Cracks in pavements can be used as an early indication for the need of reparation.Automatic crack detection is preferable compared to manual inventory; the repeatability can be better, the inventory can be done at a higher speed and can be done without interruption of the traffic.The automatic and semi-automatic crack detection systems that exist today use Image Analysis methods. There are today powerful methods available in the area of Computer Vision. These methods work in higher dimensions with greater complexity and generate measures of local signal properties, while Image Analyses methods for crack detection use morphological operations on binary images.Methods for digitalizing video data on VHS-cassettes and stitching images from nearby frames have been developed.Four methods for crack detection have been evaluated, and two of them have been used to form a crack detection and classification program implemented in the calculation program Matlab.One image set was used during the implementation and another image set was used for validation. The crack detection system did perform correct detection on 99.2 percent when analysing the images which were used during implementation.

In my thesis I have sand blasted different type of woods - ring-porous and diffuseporous deciduous tree species and conifers - to show different results depending on the species, the direction of the grain and the effects of surface treatment of a blasted surface.The results of my tests were sometimes unexpected, such as that the sand from blasting almost completely disappeared, that all wood surfaces after blasting exhibited a much lighter or paler surface than before and that the diffuse-porous tree species showed differences in hardness between the beginning and end of annual rings.By creating a library of different kinds of wood and sandblasted surface treatment, I have created a reference bank that I will be able to use me in the manufacturing of interiors, furniture and other objects..

Idag sker det förtätningar i den urbana miljön vilket bidrar till en ökad andel hårdgjorda ytor inom dessa områden. Det är även ett växande fenomen inom villaområden att anlägga hårdgjorda ytor med ogenomsläppliga fogar på tomtens framsida. Vart tar det avrinnande dagvattnet från de hårdgjorda ytorna vägen och blir det några negativa följder av detta? Gräsarmering på villagator är ett kandidatarbete som är en renodlad litteraturstudie för att söka fakta om det är möjligt att anlägga gräsarmering inom ett villaområde med en begränsad hastighet upp till 30 km/h. Arbetet ger en grund för framtida studier inom området av dagvattenhantering inom villaområden eller vägar med en hastighetsbegränsning på 30 km/h. Problematiken med dagvattenhanteringen i våra samhällen har idag börjat bli en mer diskuterad och beprövad metod.

This report investigates the possibility to use non-petroleum based adhesive (biobitumen) in asphalt. The main reasons for replacing bitumen are the fact that oil prices are rising, the threat of peak oil and the fact that the asphalt industry is becoming more environmentally friendly.The main purpose of this report is to investigate whether there are any non-petroleum based adhesives on the market. If so, how can they be used? The questions covered are:? Are there any other alternative asphalt coatings available?? Can bio-oils be used in asphalt?? If the bio-oils can be used, what are the details their properties?? How does a cold climate affect the bio binders?? What is the Swedish asphalt industry?s opinion about bio asphalt?The project was concluded through literature studies, consultations with people in the asphalt industry and through several interviews.The conclusion of this report is that there are some existing non-petroleum based adhesives on the market. They are mainly used for bike paths, sidewalks and parkareas.

It takes a very long time for ionizing radiation of used nuclear fuel toreturn to a natural background level, for this reason one of the requirements for theselection of the location of a repository was that the environment as well people'shealth would be protected from the harmful effect of radioactivity. This requirementmeans that the waste must be isolated in a geological formation. In Sweden therepository will be built in the crystalline bedrock. The location for the Swedish nuclearfuel repository at nearly 500 meters depth at Forsmark in Östhammar was decided 3June 2009. The repository will be located at Söderviken, close to the Forsmarknuclear power plant in a 1.90 billion year old bedrock that will accommodate 12,000tons of spent nuclear fuel.

It takes a very long time for ionizing radiation of used nuclear fuel toreturn to a natural background level, for this reason one of the requirements for theselection of the location of a repository was that the environment as well people'shealth would be protected from the harmful effect of radioactivity. This requirementmeans that the waste must be isolated in a geological formation. In Sweden therepository will be built in the crystalline bedrock. The location for the Swedish nuclearfuel repository at nearly 500 meters depth at Forsmark in Östhammar was decided 3June 2009. The repository will be located at Söderviken, close to the Forsmarknuclear power plant in a 1.90 billion year old bedrock that will accommodate 12,000tons of spent nuclear fuel.

Transdermal drug delivery, besides painfulinjections with syringes, has long been associatedwith small size particle pharmaceuticals, which candiffuse through the skin. This method of drugadministration has only been applicable on a smallnumber of drugs, where active molecules are smalland delivery time should or can be long.Other drug delivery options are oral administrationand injection with hypodermic needles (ordinaryhospital syringes). In oral administration thestomach and liver tend to dissolve the drug and theeffect becomes more difficult to anticipate, anddrug delivery rates difficult to control. Hypodermicneedles are used as a mean of drug injectiondirectly into the bloodstream. This method ispainful and risks infection due to tissue damageand skin penetration.One way to get a painless non-damaging techniquewith high delivery rate that still can delivery largemolecules is to manufacture an array of microscopichollow needles and equip them with a pumping unitthat delivers the correct amount of drugs.This thesis shows the technique and possibility ofmanufacture micromachined needles using low costtechniques of Ion Track Technology (radiation ofheavy ions creates porous materials), electrolessdeposition (non-current activated wet chemistrymethod of depositing metal) and electroplating.

This study shows how to plan a pond with an ecosystem which although it will have turtles living in it will not need to be cared. I will also demonstrate how this pond would be designed to work in the natural landscape on Mallorca. The background to the study is that I am interested to investigate how plants that we in Sweden are using as indoor plants are growing in their natural landscape and how to build a land-scape with them. The study highlights different cleaning-systems that can be used to clean a pond in a natural way. A comparison will be made between the conditions of an exterminated turtle-species which will live in this environment and a species that is easier to care for.

Svenska Aerogel AB has developed the material Quartzene® which is of the typeprecipitated silica and contains calcium - magnesium silicate ((Ca, Mg) SiO3). Thematerial is used for molecular filtration of contaminated air. Qartzene?, which is inpellet form, is porous and has a high internal surface which is a requirement for themolecular filtration. With the use of various impregnations, filtration can affect thedesired outcome.

Worldwide consumption of cheese has increased over the years. The average Swede consumes somewhere around 20 kilograms of cheese per year, which is an increase of a 100 % over the past 50 years. One of the most popular kinds of cheese during the past decades is mozzarella, due to its? use as pizza cheese. Flavor and consistency differ between the traditional kind, made out of buffalo?s milk, and the industrially made kind, made out of cow?s milk.

Svenska Aerogel AB has developed the material Quartzene® which is of the typeprecipitated silica and contains calcium - magnesium silicate ((Ca, Mg) SiO3). Thematerial is used for molecular filtration of contaminated air. Qartzene?, which is inpellet form, is porous and has a high internal surface which is a requirement for themolecular filtration. With the use of various impregnations, filtration can affect thedesired outcome.

Being an architect I create spaces with roof, walls and fl oor. The availability of the essential materials to create such spaces is practically unlimited. The materials also play a significant part to the character of the created space. I hope to contribute to the general understanding of materials as elements in the design of urban spaces by having intensely explored one specific material in depth, pointing out its bad and good qualities. I am of the opinion that the reason for choosing a material shouldn?t be because of a shortage of knowledge, facts or references, but what character you want for the room. When travelling across Europe, it sometimes feels like clay paving is everywhere, but back in Sweden it is almost unseen of in modern landscape architecture.

Accessibility is today a topic of high current interest. It is a requirement for equality and a democracy question. By the year 2010, easy measured hindrances in all of Sweden's municipalities should be cleared away; this is stated in Swedish law. The physical accessibility to our public places is particularly important for functionally disabled people since it affects their possibilities to be outdoors and also their participation in society. When designing these places, it is difficult to find solutions that fit everybody, especially since good accessibility not only should fulfill all physical requirements of accessibility but also values of experience.