Riverscape Restoration: Tromsa River in Norway, after Dam Removal

Dams have been created in existing waterways to serve humans for centuries. For example, they have been used for different purposes, such as timber floating, grain mills, or electricity production. Today many of these dams remain unused and abandoned, disrupting ecosystems as they prevent the water from flowing naturally in the waterways. These human-made structures split habitats, fragment the landscape, and create hazards for migrating fish and other organisms living in the water. This global fragmentation raises concerns about habitat loss which may lead to species degradation and, in some cases, even distinction of certain species. As we know, nature is an interlinked web of ecological and geological processes where species are dependent and co-dependent on each other. When species disappear or populations dramatically decrease, it can cause chain reactions with an unknown outcome. An effort to help nature heal on sites at a local scale might also help at a broader scale as the number of restored sites increases. This thesis focuses on the case of the Tromsa river in Norway. At this site, a dam stopped being used for hydropower production in the 1060s and was partially removed in 2022. Such changes have considerable effects on the ecosystem in and around the river and affect any surrounding ecosystem. Through landscape analysis of the area, one solution was proposed, which evolved around recreating wetland areas similar to the site before and the remaining wetland areas. Any significant findings were generally that the place needs more harmony with the ecology and that important wetland areas have been transformed to serve anthropogenic interests. The proposal facilitates ecological connectivity and favors the migrating fish species, trout, and grayling, that have the Tromsa river as an essential part of their habitat. Parts of this thesis, such as analysis and discussion, are mainly represented graphically, supplemented with text where an explanation is needed

Electrochemical Polymerization as a Tool for Scalable Deposition of Polythiophene as the Hole-Transporting Layer in Perovskite Solar Cells

The hole-transporting layer currently remains one of the obstacles preventing large-scale implementation of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). By using electrochemical polymerization to deposit the conducting polymer, polythiophene, onto perovskite, the major limitations prevalent in current methods can be avoided. The technique allows for uniform thickness of the deposited layer and utilizes cheap reagents that matches the low cost of the perovskite layer. Polythiophene films were grown and characterized by FTIR, SEM, EDX, and UV-Vis in order to gain an understanding of how growth conditions affected film properties. Based on these results, I developed a method for large-area deposition that is compatible with industrial scale solar cell production. This method was used to fabricate PSCs with polythiophene as the hole-transporting layer in inverted architecture. Investigations into in situ electropolymerized polythiophene onto perovskite was also explore

Nonfiction in middle school.

Bacheloroppgave, grunnskolelærerutdanning, 2015.Norsk: Oppgaven tar for seg problemstillingen: Hva tenker lærere om lesing av sakprosatekster på mellomtrinnet? Jeg har benyttet meg av en kvalitativ metode, og samlet inn data gjennom intervju med fire lærere på mellomtrinnet. Ut ifra datainnsamlingen tar jeg for meg tre spørsmål, som jeg drøfter opp mot teori og reflekterer rundt selv. Jeg ble positivt overrasket over hvor mye fokus sakprosa har fått og hvor oppmerksomme lærerne var rundt det å benytte seg av spesielt fagtekster. Lærene benyttet seg av mange like undervisningsmetoder. Forskjellene var først og fremst hvor langt de hadde kommet i sitt arbeid med sakprosasjangeren, siden de arbeidet på ulike trinn. Jeg kom frem til at lærernes tanker om lesing av sakprosa henger tett sammen med tilpasset opplæring, for hvis elevene skal lære noe nytt, må læring skje ved hjelp av forkunnskaper, differensiering og god leseforståelse.English: The thesis investigates the problem: What do teachers think about reading nonfiction texts in middle school? I have availed myself of a qualitative method, and collected data through interviews with four teachers. I will discuss three questions, which I then again will discuss against theory and reflect on myself. I was pleasantly surprised by how much focus nonfiction has gotten and how attentive teachers were with making use of particular texts. The teachers used many similar teaching methods. The differences were primarily how far they had come in their work with nonfiction genre, since they work at different levels. I came to the conclusion that teachers' thoughts about reading nonfiction is closely linked with tailored training so that students should learn something new, learning happens using prior knowledge, differentiation and good reading comprehension

The Sell-in-May Effect in International Stock Markets

Several studies have presented evidence for higher returns in stock markets from the beginning of November to the end of April compared to the rest of the year. This phenomenon is well known as the Sell-in-May effect. The main focus of this thesis is to investigate whether the Sell- in-May effect still exists in financial markets and whether the power of the effect deviates between time and markets. Additionally, we investigate discrepancies in risk and return between the summer and winter months, as well as the January effect, in order to examine whether these explanations could help us understand the existence of the Sell-in-May effect. In an effort to examine if the investors could exploit and profit from the market anomaly, we developed and simulated a trading strategy based on the Sell-in-May effect and performed various statistical tests against the Buy-and-Hold benchmark strategy. The output from the regression model showed evidence of an existing Sell-in-May effect. Neither the January effect nor differences in risk proved to be viable explanations for the existence of the effect. Further results indicated that the Sell-in-May strategy outperformed the Buy-and-Hold strategy in most scenarios, indicating that investors could exploit and profit from the market anomaly

The Sell-in-May Effect in International Stock Markets

Abstract Several studies have presented evidence for higher returns in stock markets from the beginning of November to the end of April compared to the rest of the year. This phenomenon is well known as the Sell-in-May effect. The main focus of this thesis is to investigate whether the Sellin-May effect still exists in financial markets and whether the power of the effect deviates between time and markets. Additionally, we investigate discrepancies in risk and return between the summer and winter months, as well as the January effect, in order to examine whether these explanations could help us understand the existence of the Sell-in-May effect. In an effort to examine if the investors could exploit and profit from the market anomaly, we developed and simulated a trading strategy based on the Sell-in-May effect and performed various statistical tests against the Buy-and-Hold benchmark strategy. The output from the regression model showed evidence of an existing Sell-in-May effect. Neither the January effect nor differences in risk proved to be viable explanations for the existence of the effect. Further results indicated that the Sell-in-May strategy outperformed the Buy-and-Hold strategy in most scenarios, indicating that investors could exploit and profit from the market anomaly

Role of the teacher and student motivation in physical education

Bacheloroppgave faglærerutdanning i kroppsøving og idrettsfag, 2017Problemstilling: Hvordan kan lærerrollen være med på å påvirke elevenes motivasjon i kroppsøvingsfaget? Teori: Teorikapittelet tar for seg sentrale begreper som omhandler læreplanen, motivasjon og motivasjonsteorier, med hovedfokus på selvbestemmelsesteorien. Også lærerrollen, læringsmiljø og læringsklima. Metode: I denne oppgaven er det gjort en kvalitativ litteraturstudie. Her blir søkeprosessen beskrevet, samt sentrale begreper innenfor metode som er brukt i oppgaven. Resultat: Resultatene i artiklene viser at lærerens rolle og undervisningsmetoder i kroppsøving har stor påvirkning på elevenes motivasjon. Det kommer også frem at bruk av selvbestemmelsesteori og en autonomistøttende lærerrolle kan virke positivt på elevenes indre motivasjon. Noe som er positivt for læringsmiljøet. Diskusjon: I diskusjonskapittelet blir resultatene fra forskningsartiklene diskutert opp mot teorien, for å se en sammenheng mellom disse. Diskusjonen blir delt opp i tre ulike temaer. Konklusjon: Basert på resultatene i denne studien viser det seg at lærerrollen i kroppsøvingsfaget kan ha en positiv påvirkning på elevenes indre motivasjon ved bruk av en autonomistøttende lærerstil

Nonfiction in middle school.

Bacheloroppgave, grunnskolelærerutdanning, 2015.Norsk: Oppgaven tar for seg problemstillingen: Hva tenker lærere om lesing av sakprosatekster på mellomtrinnet? Jeg har benyttet meg av en kvalitativ metode, og samlet inn data gjennom intervju med fire lærere på mellomtrinnet. Ut ifra datainnsamlingen tar jeg for meg tre spørsmål, som jeg drøfter opp mot teori og reflekterer rundt selv. Jeg ble positivt overrasket over hvor mye fokus sakprosa har fått og hvor oppmerksomme lærerne var rundt det å benytte seg av spesielt fagtekster. Lærene benyttet seg av mange like undervisningsmetoder. Forskjellene var først og fremst hvor langt de hadde kommet i sitt arbeid med sakprosasjangeren, siden de arbeidet på ulike trinn. Jeg kom frem til at lærernes tanker om lesing av sakprosa henger tett sammen med tilpasset opplæring, for hvis elevene skal lære noe nytt, må læring skje ved hjelp av forkunnskaper, differensiering og god leseforståelse.English: The thesis investigates the problem: What do teachers think about reading nonfiction texts in middle school? I have availed myself of a qualitative method, and collected data through interviews with four teachers. I will discuss three questions, which I then again will discuss against theory and reflect on myself. I was pleasantly surprised by how much focus nonfiction has gotten and how attentive teachers were with making use of particular texts. The teachers used many similar teaching methods. The differences were primarily how far they had come in their work with nonfiction genre, since they work at different levels. I came to the conclusion that teachers' thoughts about reading nonfiction is closely linked with tailored training so that students should learn something new, learning happens using prior knowledge, differentiation and good reading comprehension

Skolebasert kostintervensjon – En litteraturstudie

Bakgrunn: Overvekt og fedme har en økende prevalens på verdensbasis og Verdens helseorganisasjon anslår barnefedme som en av de mest alvorlige folkehelseutfordringer i det 21. århundre. Overvektige barn har høy sannsynlighet for å bli overvektige som voksne. De har økt risiko for å utvikle livsstilssykdommer som diabetes mellitus type 2, hjerte- og karsykdommer i yngre alder, som igjen er assosiert med risiko for tidlig død og uførhet. Overvekt og fedme er knyttet til for høyt energiinntak i forhold til energiforbruk. Et sunt kosthold kan være med på å forebygge overvekt blant barn og det har blitt gjennomført flere studier på om en kostintervensjon på skolen kan være forebyggende for den økte prevalensen. Problemstilling: Kan en skolebasert kostintervensjon bidra til å redusere BMI, og forebygge overvekt hos barn under 18 år ? Metode: En litteraturstudie hvor vitenskapelige artikler hentet ved søk i databasene PubMed via Helsebiblioteket, Google Scholar og Medline ga et utvalg av relevante intervensjonsstudier. Resultater: Funnene i de gjennomgåtte studiene viser til en positiv assosiasjon mellom en kostintervensjon på skolen og effekt på vektnedgang blant skolebarn, samt forebygge overvekt. Studiene viser at både enkle- og komplekse intervensjoner kan føre til vektnedgang. Konklusjon: Resultatene i studiene gir holdepunkter for at en kostintervensjon i skolen kan gi en effekt på reduksjon i BMI hos barn under 18 år, samt virke forebyggende på overvekt

Experimental analysis at different loading rates of 3D printed polymeric auxetic structure based on cylindrical elements

This work proposes the experimental study of an auxetic polymeric structure manufactured by 3D printing (SLA). The structure is composed by a re-entrant unit cell based on cylindrical elements not previously studied. The effect of the number and size/scale of the unit cells used in the specimens, subjected to both static and dynamic loads, has been analysed. The results show how the studied variables affect the behaviour of the structure in terms of stress and strain and that the dimensions of the cylindrical elements, as well as the contact between them, could help to modify the stiffness structure as required. The tests performed have allowed to understand the sequence of physical phenomena that appears at different strain rates and how they affect the response of the structure. The results obtained may contribute to the knowledge of both polymeric auxetic structures and the use of additive manufacturing methods for such structures.This research was funded by Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital, Gobierno de España grant number DPI2017-85073-R, and Vicerrectorado de Política Científica UC3M (Projects 2013/00413/003 and 2014/00006/003)