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Peace Gone Rogue: The Politics of Resistance among UNWRA’s Workers
Get PDFThis thesis explores the politics of resistance among the humanitarian and development workers involved in UNWRA’s (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) peace operations across the Levant. Such research highlights a phenomenon labelled ‘peace gone rogue,’ a constructive resistance experienced among these workers, catalysed by ontological insecurity expressed in an everyday, bottom-up environment beneath the commands of an institutional mandate undergoing organisational necropolitics. This work documents and analyses the causes and modes of resistance of peace gone rogue, alongside the implications regarding UNWRA workers' crossings of the mandate's thresholds
Towards general and effective antifouling surfaces – covalent surface attachment of antimicrobial peptides
Get PDFHealthcare-associated infections are of grave concern in healthcare facilities as these acquired infections pose a significant threat to the quality of life across the globe. Healthcare-associated infections are often related to the use of medical devices like catheters, joint prostheses, and implants. Medical devices are especially prone to bacterial growth, which can result in possible life-threatening complications. With the continued rise of antibiotic resistance, it is of utmost importance to minimize the numbers of medical device-associated infections induced by multidrug-resistant bacteria. Currently, there are prophylactic options in place to prevent biofilm-related infections, such as coating the medical devices with antibiotics or antiseptics. However, there are limitations to both antibiotics and antiseptics. These are not permanently incorporated into the medical device, causing the active ingredient to leak into the surrounding tissues and potentially increases the risk for acute hypersensitivity reactions and cytotoxicity, exacerbating the antibiotic-resistant problem and harming the environment with pollution. A promising class of antimicrobials that has the potential to evade the current problems are cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which can be permanently incorporated into medical devices. Due to their distinct characteristics, cationic AMPs can contribute to lessen the overall number of infection cases related to medical devices and reduce the need for potential treatment.
The presented project aimed to create a cationic AMP-coated surface material. The synthesized peptides were structurally distinctive with all peptide analogues having an azido group incorporated, which were to be covalently incorporated to alkyne-modified surfaces using the copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition and had their ability to inhibit bacterial surface growth accessed. The peptides followed an RW-sequence with the intention of investigation the effects of lipophilicity modulation, PEGylation, cyclization, and surface density have against Staphylococcus epidermidis colonization on a pre-diced gold surface and a modified glass surface with gold nanoparticles. The bacterial response of Escherichia coli was also studied by subjecting the bacterium to a cationic AMP-coated glass surface
Examining the educational and cultural context of the Dukha people: The impacts and limitations of compulsory education for nomadic reindeer herders’ children in northern Mongolia
Get PDFThis thesis examines the educational and cultural experiences of the Dukha people, sometimes referred to as the Tsaatan, nomadic reindeer herders in northern Mongolia. Classified as an ethnic minority by the Mongolian government, many scholars consider them to be Indigenous peoples. Children must travel from their homes, ortz, a type of teepee, in the taiga on horseback, or by reindeer, to attend compulsory boarding school in Tsaagannuur town. Instruction is conducted in Mongolian, which has led to a rapid decline in speakers of their native tongue, known as the Mongolian Reindeer Tuvan language.
The focus of the study was education; however, interviewees voiced their concerns about the Special Protected Area and related hunting ban repeatedly, and I broadened the scope of the study to investigate cultural losses due to the policies, as well as the lack of political voice and representation the Dukha people have. The protected area has severely limited the grazing pastures which the Dukha are able to access in their traditional lands. Mongolian government in 2011, which affects grazing lands and traditional hunting. Broadening the scope enabled me to better understand the full scope of the Dukha peoples’ lived experiences.
My research questions were designed to investigate barriers and challenges Dukha children encounter in receiving a quality education, as well as the losses to Dukha culture and traditions, both in the educational realm as well as due to protected area policies. I conducted semi-structured interviews with parents, elders, and graduates in the community, as well as with school personnel at the boarding school. The study was structured through an Indigenous research paradigm, implementing ethical safeguards particularly important in studying Indigenous peoples. My theoretical approach blended four theoretical theories, as listed below.
I found incidences of oppression, structural inequalities, cultural discontinuity, and deficit thinking in the data I collected. Yet, many examples of the resilience of the Dukha people were also evident. In the process, I filled in some knowledge gaps I identified, including a current tally of Dukha language speakers, educational experiences of Dukha children, and some reasons for high dropout rates.This thesis examines educational and cultural experiences of the Dukha people, sometimes referred to as the Tsaatan; nomadic reindeer herders in northern Mongolia. Classified as an ethnic minority by the Mongolian government, many scholars consider them to be Indigenous peoples. Children must travel from their homes on horseback or by reindeer, to attend compulsory boarding school in Tsaagannuur town. Instruction is conducted in Mongolian, which has led to a rapid decline in speakers of their native tongue, Mongolian Reindeer Tuvan language.
The focus of the study was education; however, interviewees voiced their concerns about the Special Protected Area instituted by Mongolian government in 2011, and related hunting ban repeatedly, and I broadened the scope of the study to investigate cultural losses as well as the lack of political voice and representation the Dukha people have. The protected area has severely limited the grazing pastures. Broadening the scope enabled me to better understand the full scope of the Dukha peoples’ lived experiences.
Research questions were designed to investigate barriers and challenges Dukha children encounter in receiving a quality education and losses to Dukha culture and traditions, both in the educational realm as well as due to protected area policies. I conducted semi-structured interviews with parents, elders, and graduates in the community, as well as with school personnel at the boarding school. I used an Indigenous research paradigm, implementing ethical safeguards important in studying Indigenous peoples. My theoretical approach blended four theoretical theories.
I found incidences of oppression, structural inequalities, cultural discontinuity, and deficit thinking in the data. Yet, examples of the resilience of the Dukha people were also evident. I filled in some knowledge gaps I identified, including a current tally of Dukha language speakers, educational experiences of Dukha children, and some reasons for high dropout rates
Management of cumulative risk in the Pasvik river ecosystem Mitigating the impact of climate change and human activities on fish populations
Get PDFThe cumulative risk of climate change, pollution and other anthropogenic stressors challenges the sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems. Rapid warming at high latitudes is of concern due to the climate-driven amplification of risk mediated by interactions between the climate change and human activities. Here I address the cumulative risk in the subarctic Pasvik riverine system exposed to the combined effects of climate change, heavy metal pollution from local industrial activity, hydropower, and fisheries. Further, I evaluate the potential and limitations in the existing management regime and strategy to mitigate cumulative risk to the ecosystem. The cumulative risk assessment is based on a review of relevant data and literature, with particular focus on risk for fish species. The evaluation of management is based on existing reports and literature and direct experience of the management practice in Pasvik. I find substantial scope for direct and indirect impact of multiple anthropogenic stressors in Pasvik. Further, I identify interactions between climate change and respectively fishery, mercury pollution and hydropower activities. The management regime dictated by the water framework directive, and the local management practice in Pasvik, are presently not adequate to address the cumulative risk imposed by climate change and other anthropogenic stressors, and possible solutions for cumulative risk mitigation are suggested
Landing a Multirotor on a Vessel at Sea
Get PDFOperating unmanned aircraft from vessels in the open ocean is demanding both on the personnel involved in the operation and on the aircraft. The work presented here aims to alleviate the workload on pilots and other personnel by introducing a higher level of automation in the landing phase of a flight. This will help create value for all parts of the supply chain, from product developers through service providers, to the wind farm operators. It also has the potential to increase safety during operations and lower the demand for pilots with exceptional skills. We look at key parts of a system needed to perform vessel-based operations, with the emphasis on machine vision components employed in the task of detecting fiducial markers in order to estimate the position of the landing pad. We set up an extensive and complex simulation environment that lets us capture images resembling those from our chosen cameras. Using the images captured, we can estimate the position of ArUco markers in the frames. The thesis investigates the method of model predictive control to create trajectories towards the markers, and we do a brief comparison with a trivial solution. The simulator environment uses open source components and is designed to be close to reality with waves, a vessel, and an autopilot system, which we will use in the research project this thesis is a part of
Modelling ice throw trajectories from wind turbines
Get PDFWind turbines in cold climates can occasionally experience ice throws that travel significant distances, posing a low-probability but high-consequence safety risk. Current guidelines typically rely on the empirical Seifert safety distance, defined as d = k x (H + D), where k is the throw factor – commonly set to 1.5, H is the hub height, and D is the rotor diameter. However, both observational field data and modelling studies suggest that this formula may be overly conservative and tends to overestimate actual throw distances.
Observational data were compared against the Seifert safety distance. The furthest recorded ice throw corresponds to a throw factor of 1.02 so that; d = 1.02 x (H + D), indicating that ice fragments do not travel as far as the standard safety margin with k = 1.5 suggests.
A Monte Carlo trajectory model was developed, which was solved numerically by integrating the equations of motion, including gravity, drag, and lift forces. Hourly wind and icing conditions at Blakliden Fäbodberget were extracted from the New European Wind Atlas, filtering for periods with positive ice accretion on a standard 100 m cylinder. Fragment properties were drawn from the ICETHROWER database. Sensitivity analyses reveal that turbine geometry (hub height and radial release position) exerts only a minor influence on throw distance. In contrast, fragment mass, projected cross-sectional area, wind speed, and ejection angle primary determines the fragments throw distance.
Models that include lift tend to overestimate the maximum throw distance by twice of the observed maximum, and also fails to capture the steep decline in throw probability after certain ranges. In contrast, the drag and gravity model also overestimate throw distances, but by a smaller margins.
Despite this, the model can be applied to generate realistic exclusion zones within a wind park during icing conditions, offering physics-based safety zones compared to the fixed-radius safety guidelines
Brannteknisk prosjektering av bygg i tiltaksklasse 3
Get PDFBrannteknisk prosjektering av byggverk er svært viktig for å ivareta brannsikkerheten i byggverkene i Norge. Prosjekteringens vanskelighetsgrad og kompleksitet er avgjørende for hvilken kompetanse prosjekterende foretak må inneha [1]. På bakgrunn av dette har denne oppgaven som hovedformål å kartlegge hvilke krav som gjelder ved brannteknisk prosjektering i tiltaksklasse 3, og hvilken fremgangsmåte som må følges ved analytisk prosjektering som dokumentasjon av brannsikkerheten i byggverk.
Oppgaven baseres på metodene case-studie, litteraturstudie og intervju. Hoveddelen av oppgaven omhandler case-studien som tar for seg Byparken Finnsnes. Case-studien omfatter brannteknisk prosjektering av byggverket, med analyser som fokuserer på personsikkerheten ved rømning fra bygget. Simuleringsverktøyet Pathfinder er benyttet for å estimere forflytningstid fra bygget. Oppgaven vil gi leseren et innblikk i hvilke metoder som kan benyttes ved brannteknisk prosjektering.
Litteraturstudien gir innsikt i betydningen av tiltaksklasser for ulike oppgaver i et prosjekt, inkludert den branntekniske prosjekteringen. Ved høy vanskelighetsgrad og kompleksitet vil brannteknisk prosjektering plasseres i tiltaksklasse 3. Dette kan medføre behov for kvantitative eller kvalitative analyser for å dokumentere brannsikkerheten i det aktuelle byggverket.
Rapporten viser at utførelse av analytisk prosjektering som dokumentasjon av brannsikkerheten i et bygg kan være krevende. Omfanget av analysene avhenger av hvilke fravik fra preaksepterte ytelser i veiledningen til TEK 17 som gjøres, og hvor mange fravik det er i prosjektet.Fire safety engineering is important for ensuring the fire safety in buildings in Norway. The difficulty and complexity of the design are decisive for the competence that the engineering company must possess [1]. Based on this, the main purpose of this task is to map out the requirements for fire safety engineering in project class 3, and the procedure that must be followed for analysis as documentation of fire safety in buildings.
The task is based on the methods of case study, literature study, and interview. The main part of the task is the case study of Byparken Finnsnes. The case study includes the fire safety engineering of the building, with analyses focusing on personal safety during evacuation from the building. The simulation tool Pathfinder is used to estimate the evacuation time from the building. The results of the task will give the reader an insight into the methods that can be used in fire safety design.
The literature study provides insight into the importance of project class levels for various tasks in a project, including fire safety engineering. With high difficulty and complexity, fire safety engineering is placed in project class 3. This may require quantitative or qualitative analysis to document the fire safety of the building.
The report shows that performing analytical design as documentation of fire safety in a building can be demanding. The scope of the analyses depends on the deviations that are made from pre-accepted performances in the guidance to TEK 17, and how many deviations there are in the project
Optimizing oversize material handling for sustainable operations: A case study at LKAB Norge AS
No full textFull text not availableThis thesis examines methods to improve the handling of oversized iron ore at LKAB Norge AS, aiming to increase efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and support sustainable operations. Oversized material, fragments larger than 40 mm, presents challenges in the current system, including delays, manual transport, increased emissions, and additional wear on equipment. Regulations also require indoor processing, which limits the use of mobile crushers.
A literature review was conducted to understand current technologies related to screening, crushing, and material handling. The study focused on modern solutions such as high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR), hybrid crushers, and automated control systems. Several technologies were compared based on energy use, flexibility, installation requirements, and long-term costs.
Based on this analysis, a new hybrid crushing system is proposed for a location called NK40. This system combines HPGR with an initial impact-crushing stage and is designed for indoor operation. It includes dust control, energy-saving components, and monitoring tools to ensure efficient and reliable performance.
The results indicate that the system can reduce energy consumption by up to 52,000 kWh per year, compared to a traditional crusher, decrease operational costs by 28%, and increase annual revenue from USD 1.6 million to USD 4.44 million by processing oversized material into higher-value products. In addition to improved performance, the system supports LKAB's environmental and strategic objectives.
The thesis concludes that this solution provides a realistic and cost-effective approach to improving oversized material handling at LKAB Norge AS
An exploration of the technology selection decisions in energy storage-related infrastructure developments in the Arctic Region
No full textThe Arctic Region is at the forefront of using renewable energy sources. Distinct challenges arise in the electrification of the Arctic Region, considering harsh climate conditions, long winters, and a sparse population with large distances between settlements. Deployment of energy storage technology is needed to address the intermittency of renewable energy sources, ensuring a reliable grid. A Delphi-DEMATEL approach was used to identify the relevant decision criteria in energy storage technology selection and their interrelationships. Purpose and duration of storage was deemed the central criterion in decision making. The implications of the findings on the Arctic region was discussed, especially the effect on financial outcomes in the region
Improving Cervical Cancer Screening in Women Under 40: Effectiveness of Co-Testing with 3-Type HPV mRNA and Cytology in Northern Norway
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Objective: To evaluate whether co-testing with a 3-type HPV mRNA test (PreTect SEE), targeting HPV types 16, 18, and 45, in combination with liquid-based cytology (ThinPrep), improves sensitivity and risk stratification for detecting high-grade cervical lesions (CIN2+) compared to cytology alone, in women under 40 years of age in Northern Norway.
Methods: We analyzed data from 11,395 women under 40, screened between 2013 and 2015, with follow-up through 2023. The intervention group (2,807 women) underwent co-testing in 2013–2014 with ThinPrep cytology and the PreTect SEE HPV mRNA test, while the control group (8,588 women) received cytology alone in 2015. The study endpoint was histologically confirmed CIN2+.
Results: The overall prevalence of CIN2+ was comparable between the co-tested (9.3%) and cytology-only (9.6%) groups. However, co-testing enabled more accurate risk stratification and improved diagnostic performance. The sensitivity for detecting CIN2+ was significantly higher with co-testing (71.0%) than with cytology alone (63.7%), corresponding to a 7.3 percentage point absolute increase and an 11.4% relative improvement (p = 0.034). Among HPV mRNA-positive women, 46.0% developed CIN2+, compared to only 5.2% among HPV mRNA-negative women (p < 0.0001). Women with double-positive results (HPV mRNA positive and abnormal cytology) had the highest CIN2+ risk at 58.3%, while double-negative women had a very low risk at 3.3% (p < 0.0001). Notably, no cervical cancer cases occurred in the double-negative co-tested group. Women with a positive HPV mRNA test and normal cytology had a significantly higher CIN2+ risk than women with abnormal cytology and negative HPV mRNA (35.3% versus 23.0%, p = 0.011).
Conclusions: Co-testing with the 3-type HPV mRNA test and cytology significantly improves both risk stratification and sensitivity for detecting CIN2+ compared to cytology alone. These findings support the integration of co-testing into cervical cancer screening programs for women under 40 to improve precision, enhance early detection, and reduce the risk of missed high-grade lesions