Superfield algorithm for higher order gauge field theories

We propose an algorithm for the construction of higher order gauge field theories from a superfield formulation within the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. This is a generalization of the superfield algorithm recently considered by Batalin and Marnelius. This generalization seems to allow for non-topological gauge field theories as well as alternative representations of topological ones. A five dimensional non-abelian Chern-Simons theory and a topological Yang-Mills theory are treated as examples.Comment: 17 pages in LaTeX, improved text, published versio

When Finland was lost. Background, Course of Events and Reactions.

Since 1809 the loss of Finland has been discussed in different ways in Swedish history research. In the early 20th century the burst of the state was seen in a nationalistic perspective. It was said that the people in Sweden, or the “public opinion”, with despair and in a “nationalistic trauma” received the news bulletins from the peace agreement in Fredrikshamn 1809, which was interpreted the worst defeat ever in Swedish history. Nowadays researchers argue whether the loss of Finland really was seen as a nationalistic trauma in the early 19th century. The article first summarises the background of the war and the most important war episodes and then discusses the apprehension of a Sweden in national chock after the burst of the state

Public Execution and the Symbolism of Urban Space in Florence’s Crisis

This thesis examines the Florentine Grand Council’s use of public execution to demonstrate political power in the crisis of 1494-1512. Using the example of Antonio Rinaldeschi’s execution for blasphemy in 1501, it explores how the Council appropriated humanist and republican symbolism and urban space to tighten their grip on the increasingly unstable and fractured republic

High temperature properties of polycrystalline Mo(Si,Al)2: compression and oxidation

Electrification of industrial heating processes holds great promise for reducing CO2 emissions. Large furnaces operating at elevated temperatures and in demanding atmospheres are complicated but indeed important to electrify. A material often used as heating elements in small-scale furnaces operating in harsh environments is Mo(Si,Al)2, hence, the material is a high-potential candidate for the electrification of more complicated industrial heating processes. Such applications require Mo(Si,Al)2 heating elements with increased dimensions, which poses new challenges with respect to the high temperature performance of the material. With increasing element size, the mechanical properties are expected to become more important. In this thesis, the mechanical response and the resulting microstructure of polycrystalline Mo(Si,Al)2, tested in compression at 1300 \ub0C, was investigated. The main findings were: (1) the material could sustain large plastic strains without cracking, (2) the deformation was inhomogeneous on both intra- and intergranular scale, and low angle grain boundaries were formed in severely deformed grains, (3) the material softens due to dynamic recrystallisation. In spite of the excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance of Mo(Si,Al)2, there are indications that oxide spallation could present a potential issue for larger heating element dimensions. In this thesis, the effect of reactive element addition, which is known to effectively reduce spallation in e.g. FeCrAl alloys, was investigated. Mo(Si,Al)2 was alloyed with yttrium and exposed at 1500 \ub0C for up to 250 h. The study showed that (1) oxide adhesion was not improved, as the oxide scale spallation increased with increasing yttrium content, (2) also the oxidation rate increased with yttrium addition, (3) yttrium silicate and mullite were formed from a melt within the otherwise pure alumina scale

Collaboration, Lone-wolfs and Returners – Framing Terrorism in Swedish Counter-Terrorism Policies

Whereas a lot of research on social problems has focused on understanding them as objective conditions, the purpose of this study is to examine how terrorism is framed in three Swedish policies for countering terrorism. The three Swedish policies for countering terrorism, included in this study, were published between 2008-2015, and are important platforms wherein the framing of terrorism as a social problem takes place. Drawing on Donileen R. Loseke’s perspective on social problems, I have examined the human activity of social problems work; this involves looking at how the parameters of the condition is set, and how meaning is created within three frames: the diagnostic, motivational, and prognostic frame. By analyzing processes of meaning-making, I have shed light on how claim-makers, in a process termed “piggybacking”, make the so-called “new” terrorism seem familiar (notwithstanding the prefix of “new”) by linking it to an already established problem, namely the “old” terrorism. It is argued that the narrative of terrorism encompasses elements of vagueness, the construction of identities, and a moral dimension, since it entails ideas pertaining to desirable and undesirable lifestyles. I have found that the inherent vagueness of the policies is not necessarily problematic. I, rather, suggest that vagueness – in a politically charged context as that of terrorism – may be viewed as an asset in that it enables complexity. Additionally, the watchword, collaboration, signifies a development, in which the responsibility for crime (terror) prevention and security are re-articulated. The notion of collaboration refers to the shared undertaking of terror prevention, involving both non-state and state actors. Within this multi-actor approach, which is closely linked to the prevention of “early initiatives”, structural accounts of terrorism are increasingly overshadowed by individually-orientated explanations. Furthermore, in light of the British academic literature on counter-terrorism, the study at hand also comprises reflections upon the potential pitfalls of the preventive outlook as to terrorism in Sweden.Den här uppsatsen handlar om hur terrorism framställs i tre svenska policydokument publicerade mellan 2008-15. Utgångspunkten är det samhällsvetenskapliga perspektivet socialkonstruktivism. Enligt detta perspektiv är verkligheten, eller delar därav, en produkt av interaktionen människor emellan. Företeelser som till exempel identitet, förstås således inte som naturliga eller förutbestämda, utan snarare som socialt skapade. I uppsatsen analyserar jag huvudsakligen hur terrorism som socialt problem konstrueras i tre nationella, svenska, counter-terrorismstrategier (som syftar till att bekämpa terrorism). Utöver denna frågeställning, har jag även undersökt om det finns några skillnader i hur terrorism framställs i de olika strategierna och vilka lösningar som föreslås i dessa samt hur den svenska preventiva hållningen gällande terrorism kan förstås i ljuset av akademisk, brittisk, counter-terrorismlitteratur. För att besvara den första frågeställningen använder jag mig av Donileen R. Losekes perspektiv på sociala problem. I skapandet av sociala problem, vilket Loseke refererar till som social problems work, finns å ena sidan de personer som via påståenden och uttalanden tillskriver ett fenomen mening och framställer det som viktigt (claim-makers), och å den andra de personer som dessa påståenden och uttalanden syftar till att övertyga, det vill säga allmänheten (the aduience). Loseke identifierar fyra inramningar genom vilka processer av meningsskapande belyses. I den första inramningen, grounds, redovisas fakta. I den andra, diagnostic frame, besvaras frågan: Vad är det som orsakar problemet? I den tredje, motivational frame, konstrueras problemet som viktigt och oroväckande via appeller till emotioner och logik. I den fjärde och avslutande inramningen ges förslag på tänkbara problemlösningar. Med hjälp av Losekes teoretiska ramverk har jag åskådliggjort hur terrorism framställs dels som en förgrening av ett redan etablerat socialt problem (”piggybacking”), dels som ett allvarligt och ständigt föränderligt hot. Jag har även påvisat hur identiteter konstrueras och jag har dessutom noterat vagheter i strategierna, samt reflekterat kring hur dessa vagheter kan förstås. Därutöver har jag även identifierat en utveckling varigenom ansvaret för brottsprevention (terrorprevention) förläggs till ”hela samhället”. Gällande förändringar strategierna emellan har jag utifrån Ingrid Sahlins tankar om brottsprevention kastat ljus över hur en mer generell prevention - i allt högre grad - kommit att ersättas av mer selektiv sådan. Likaså har samhälleliga, strukturella förklaringsmodeller hamnat allt mer i skymundan till förmån för mer individorienterade förklaringsmodeller. Mot bakgrund av den brittiska litteraturen om counter-terrorismens oroväckande implikationer har jag, i det svenska materialet, uppmärksammat liknande tendenser, till exempel normaliseringen av exceptionella åtgärder

Investigating the space for research and learning within doctoral education in medicine

Doctoral education in medicine, engineering, technology and science (METS) is in many ways different from doctoral education in the humanities or social sciences. In the METS disciplines, typically, students and supervisors work and publish together within the supervisors’ research projects. The projects are usually financed by the supervisors’ research grants and their success, in terms of high quality research publications, is of great importance not only for the students’ dissertations but also for the supervisors’ academic careers. In METS contexts, supervisors and students could therefore be said to have double roles: the supervisor being also a project leader and the student also a project worker. Research on this double relationship is scarce, particularly considering the large number of students within the METS disciplines. Doctoral education and research have increasingly attracted interest among politicians and policymakers world-wide, often resulting in new legislation and policy. In many countries, doctoral education has gradually become more formalised in order to improve students’ rights and study conditions. Research, on the other hand, has seen the introduction of productivity audits and increased competition for funding. Such changes converge at the level of doctoral education and could be expected to create tensions, particularly within the METS disciplines due to the close integration of doctoral education and research. Sweden provides an especially interesting case as changes to educational legislation and research policy, respectively, have been comparatively large. Swedish doctoral students today are guaranteed four years of fully financed studies and a monthly salary (normally between 2100 and 3000 €). At the same time, more than 50 per cent of funds for research and doctoral education today come from funding bodies (governmental and private) external to the universities and are mainly awarded in competition. In the METS disciplines the dependence on external funding can approach 100 per cent, since government base-funding to a large extent is used for infrastructure and administration in order to attract more external funds and researchers with large grants. Consequently, researchers increasingly have had to compete with research proposals, CVs and bibliometric scores, and institutions are now often described as “research hotels” were you can stay as long as you pay. We have interviewed doctoral supervisors within medicine, a discipline that in Sweden almost exclusively is financed through external funding. For our analysis, we have used cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and constructed two co-occurring and overlapping activity systems: one for doctoral education and one for research. We find synergies as well as tensions and contradictions between the two systems but also adaptations. Supervisors describe how increasing pressure from the (research) funding system has reduced the available space for students to influence the design of their projects, to exercise creativity and to fail. Accommodating doctoral students within large and prestigious research projects also means that students often begin their studies at very different stages in the process, and rarely at the design stage. Supervising involves putting projects, funding and future opportunities at high risk, which is reflected in a student recruitment process characterised by risk-management. At the same time supervisors remark that students to a higher degree today view their studies as work rather than a calling. Furthermore, the requirements of educational policy for full funding and formal qualifications necessitates that supervisors form alliances with more senior researchers. Such alliances typically extend also to research and provide senior and well-funded researchers opportunities to exercise power over junior and less funded researchers. We conclude that Swedish research policy, contrary to its intentions and in combination with educational policy, could have negative and far-reaching consequences for doctoral student research and learning but also for the STEM disciplines themselves