Simulation of a Small Solar and Wind Power Farm

Department for Energy and Environmen

Experts and Enemies - A Field Study on the Role of Women’s Organizations in the Implementation Process of UNSCR 1325 in Serbia

This bachelor thesis and Minor Field Study examines how women’s experiences of security are used in the process of implementing UNSCR 1325 in Serbia. The essay aims to touch the boundary between security policy in its traditional sense and a standpoint feminist view on security. Feminist security policy has gained ground the latest decades, and have contributed to a wider focus on human security instead of national security – and thereby women. One of the biggest documents to represent the broadened concept of security is UNSCR 1325. In Serbia, women’s organizations have ever since the 90s wars in former Yugoslavia fought an uphill battle to gain support for their agenda on women, peace and security. By using the standpoint feminist perspective on security, combined with theories of experience based knowledge as potential expertise, the thesis investigates how experiences of security – possessed by women’s organizations, are used in the policy process. The study is based on 17 interviews made in Serbia, with representatives of women’s NGOs, governmental institutions and other for the policy process essential actors. The study shows that women’s organizations on the one hand are seen as the biggest experts on women’s security. In the same time they are unable to transfer their experience based knowledge to the implementation process of UNSCR 1325, because of the different conceptions of what the resolution really should mean

WILD BEE DECLINES AND CHANGES IN PLANT-POLLINATOR NETWORKS OVER 125 YEARS REVEALED THROUGH MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Though recent literature highlights widespread bee declines, detailed information on local communities, plant-pollinator network interactions and individual species remains distressingly scarce. In order to accurately direct conservation initiatives and to evaluate the status of wild bees and their host plants, long-term data on these populations is critical. Examining pollinator communities across regional scales highlights small-scale changes that go undetected in larger investigations. In light of unknown effects of introduced species and cumulative range expansions of exotic taxa, monitoring wild communities closely and extensively over time is becoming increasingly important. The focus of this thesis is to investigate a regional wild bee plant-pollinator network to identify changes and correlates of change over 125 years (1891-2016) in the species that comprise the wild bee and plant communities of New Hampshire. Shifts in regional wild bee community composition impact ecological relationships corresponding with the species that become more or less represented as a result of these shifts. This study analyzed 119 wild bee species in New Hampshire to reveal that 16 species are proportionally declining and 18 species are proportionally increasing. Over half of the species found in decline experienced a significant elevational or latitudinal range shift, many are regionally important crop pollinators, and all are native New Hampshire taxa. Neither genus nor guild affiliations were found to be indicators of change, suggesting that the requirements and behavior of individual species must be examined in order to evaluate the current and future state of the wild bee community. The mutualistic interactions of plant-pollinator networks provide myriad economic, ecological, and cultural functions without which there would be severe environmental and societal consequences. Because of globally intensifying anthropogenic land use and climate change, plant-pollinator networks are becoming increasingly vulnerable to disturbance. The wild bee community interacts with a diverse array of flowering plants with specific environmental needs. Examining interactions between wild bees and floral hosts offers powerful insight into pollinator ecology and has potential to detect temporal network variation within the community. This study revealed that changes in the wild bee plant-pollinator network over the past 125 years are characterized by a striking increase in exotic bee and plant taxa, which could have a destabilizing effect on mutualistic interactions in combination with increasing temperatures and habitat loss. Notable specialist interactions between native taxa that were recorded in historical networks have been lost, most likely due to host plant shifts and competition from recent species introductions. Subsequent monitoring and conservation efforts focused on habitat restoration for declining wild bee and plant taxa are fundamental to the future preservation of native biodiversity

From means to an end to ends in themselves: An empirical study of the development of public library programmes in Denmark between 1960 and 2020

Offering a variety of activities and events is considered a central part of many public libraries today. Under the term public library programmes, this article presents the findings from an empirical study of the development of publicly available and publicly announced activities and events offered within or in relation to Danish public libraries over a sixty-year period. The aim of the study was to enrich our understanding of these library services from a historical perspective focussing on describing development. Inspired by Historical Case Study (HCS), the study was designed as a diachronic analysis of a broad variety of empirical source materials collected from two case libraries, documenting programmes offered between 1960 and 2020, including interviews with programming librarians. From analysing the source materials, a development is described which shows that while the different types of programmes offered throughout the period have been somewhat consistent, their format and content have expanded in parallel with the expansion of the public library, its collections and services. At the same time, the reasoning behind offering programmes can be described as a development from programmes considered as a means to an end (e.g. education, publicity or community building) to programmes also considered as ends in themselves. By supporting and enriching the knowledge on programmes as services, this study provides an empirical foundation for discussions and debates about the role and function of public library programmes as part of the public library in the future as well as rich empirical examples for further research

Seismic collapse assessment of a 20-story steel moment resisting frame structure

The 2010 edition of ASCE-7 (ASCE 7-10, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures) introduces risk-targeted spectral acceleration values for the estimation of seismic design loads. In this study, a 20-story steel moment resisting frame structure located in Century City, CA is designed based on ASCE 7-10 and a probabilistic seismic collapse assessment is conducted. The main goals are to: (a) evaluate whether the design of a typical steel moment-frame structure based on risk-targeted spectral accelerations fulfills the target design collapse level of one percent probability of collapse in 50 years, and (b) quantify and understand the collapse potential of a tall steel structure design based on the most current U.S. seismic code provisions. The probability of collapse is estimated for two sets of 104 and 224 recorded ground motions, respectively. An evaluation of the results demonstrates that for this structure the code-prescribed collapse performance target is reasonably met

From means to an end to ends in themselves: An empirical study of the development of public library programmes in Denmark between 1960 and 2020

Offering a variety of activities and events is considered a central part of many public libraries today. Under the term public library programmes, this article presents the findings from an empirical study of the development of publicly available and publicly announced activities and events offered within or in relation to Danish public libraries over a sixty-year period. The aim of the study was to enrich our understanding of these library services from a historical perspective focussing on describing development. Inspired by Historical Case Study (HCS), the study was designed as a diachronic analysis of a broad variety of empirical source materials collected from two case libraries, documenting programmes offered between 1960 and 2020, including interviews with programming librarians. From analysing the source materials, a development is described which shows that while the different types of programmes offered throughout the period have been somewhat consistent, their format and content have expanded in parallel with the expansion of the public library, its collections and services. At the same time, the reasoning behind offering programmes can be described as a development from programmes considered as a means to an end (e.g. education, publicity or community building) to programmes also considered as ends in themselves. By supporting and enriching the knowledge on programmes as services, this study provides an empirical foundation for discussions and debates about the role and function of public library programmes as part of the public library in the future as well as rich empirical examples for further research

Perceived Quality of Car: Understanding the Customers’ First Impression

The customers first impression of the perceived quality of the vehicle interior in a showroom is highly important since it affects the customers final choice of vehicle. This master thesis aims to answer the questions of what it is that affects the customers first impression of perceived quality the most when looking at the interior of a vehicle, and what makes the customers perceive the vehicle as a premium product. These questions are investigated from the perspective that the vehicle should be used for sharing. Theoretical research was conducted on the fields of human perception to understand how first impressions are formed. Furthermore, the field of perceived quality and premium design was researched to gain knowledge about how to apply this within the project. Finally, the fields of car interior and car sharing were researched. To get more knowledge and perspectives to the research, interviews with experts from three different fields – premium design, illumination and material were conducted, and showrooms were visited for a market analysis. User studies with participants from the target group were carried out, and a poll was sent out to gain deeper insights regarding the target group’s perception in terms of the research questions. The knowledge from all research were then analysed and resulted in guidelines and a concept proposal. A total of eight guidelines were established. They covered aspects such as aesthetic appearance, qualitative appearance, appeal to human senses, convey a message through the design etc. These guidelines were visualised in a concept proposal of a re-design of a car interior for a car developed by the company Lynk & Co

Working for a better world: the librarian as a change agent, an activist and a social entrepreneur

For many years, the social role of librarians has been a topic of heated debates, both within the library field and within library research. Such debates have traditionally been about questions of neutrality and the professional identity in librarianship. Recently, visions of librarians as radical positive change agents (Lankes 2016) have influenced and shaped this debate, raising new questions about neutrality or “post-neutrality”, professional agency and personal and political ideologies. However, what does it mean to be a radical positive change agent? To expand our understanding of the librarian as a radical positive change agent, this paper introduces the concepts of activism and social entrepreneurship. By highlighting similarities and differences between the concepts of the change agent, the activist and the social entrepreneur, this paper aims to inform future discussions about the proactive role of librarians working for change. The current focus on how librarians should act as agents for change in relation to the UN sustainability agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serves as an example throughout. The paper concludes by posing questions for further discussions of how the concepts of the change agent, the activist and the social entrepreneur might expand our understanding of the proactive librarian and how they might translate to the practice of librarianship in the era of “post-neutrality”

The sustainable library:a retrospective case study of a public library sharing initiative

Sharing initiatives, things collections or libraries of things have become developing features in public libraries within recent years. This article reports on a retrospective case study of The Sustainable Library, a now-concluded Danish sharing initiative from 2016 to 2022. As an early example of a public library sharing initiative, The Sustainable Library is a unique case. Moreover, its explicit focus on sustainability and sharing economy makes it an early example of sustainable librarianship. The study offers empirical insights into the life cycle of the sharing initiative and its different phases. Examining the case from its organizational context, the study asks how and why the sharing initiative was developed, what were its preconditions and drivers, and which barriers were experienced along the way. Finally, the study makes room for hindsight reflections on the role and responsibility of public libraries and sharing initiatives in the sustainability agenda