| 1. |
- Fjæstad, Maja, 1976-
(författare)
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Visionen om outtömlig energi : Bridreaktorn i svensk kärnkraftshistoria 1945–80
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The fast breeder is a type of nuclear reactor that aroused much attention in the 1950s and 60s. Its ability to produce more nuclear fuel than it consumes offered promises of cheap and reliable energy, and thereby connected it to utopian ideas about an eternal supply of energy. Furthermore, the ideas of breeder reactors were a vital part of the post-war visions about the nuclear future. This dissertation investigates the plans for breeder reactors in Sweden, connecting them to the contemporary development of nuclear power with heavy or light water and the discussions of nuclear weapons, as well as to the general visions of a prosperous technological future. The history of the Swedish breeder reactor is traced from high hopes in the beginning, via the fiasco of the Swedish heavy water program, partly focusing on the activities at the company AB Atomenergi and investigating how it planned and argued for its breeder program and how this was received by the politicians. The story continues into the intensive environmental movement in the 1970s, ending with the Swedish referendum on nuclear energy in 1980, which can be seen as the final point for the Swedish breeder. The thesis discusses how the nuclear breeder reactor was transformed from an argument for nuclear power to an argument against it. The breeder began as a part of the vision of a society with abundant energy, but was later seen as a threat against the new sustainable world. The nuclear breeder reactor is an example of a technological vision that did not meet its industrial expectations. But that does not prevent the fact that breeder was an influential technology in an age where import decisions about nuclear energy were made. The thesis argues that important decisions about the contemporary reactors were taken with the idea that they in a foreseeable future would be replaced with the efficient breeder. And the last word on the breeder reactor is not said – today, reactor engineers around the world are showing a renewed interest in this elusive reactor type.
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| 2. |
- Klasander, Claes
(författare)
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Talet om tekniska system : förväntningar, traditioner och skolverkligheter
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I samhället uppmärksammas tekniken för sin ökande komplexitet och systemiska karaktär. l vilken mån avspeglar sig detta i skolans teknikämne? Denna avhandling berör undervisning om tekniska system i ett skolperspektiv, med det huvudsakliga syftet att undersöka hur undervisning om tekniska system tas upp till behandling i skolan.Den övergripande frågeställningen är: Hur har skolan hanterat den didaktiska uppgiften att utveckla ett undervimingsområde om tekniska system?Avhandlingen är en monografi som bygger på delstudier av tre arenor med relevans för skolan. De tre arenorna omfattar huvudsakligen nationella styrdokument, läromedel respektive lärares arbete.Resultaten pekar bland annat på att tekniska system successivt förstärkts som undervisningsinnehåll i styrdokument och läromedel sedan slutet på 1970-talet. Denna förändring har skett parallellt med att teknikämnets beskrivning förändrats i grundskolan. I öäverenstämmelse med modern teknikfilosofi har teknik i skolsammanhang i allt högre grad kommit att framställas som en egen kunskapskultur och inte som en del av naturvetenskaperna. Detta har varit förutsättningar för att tekniska system har kunnat etableras som innehåll. Diskursen talet om tekniska rys/em har dock skiftat i karaktär över tiden.Gemensamt för de tre arenorna är att två hegemoniska diskurser har hämmat introduktionen av tekniska system. För det första teknikundervisningens egen fascination för enkla artefakter och, för det andra, en dominant naturvetenskaplig diskurs. Härmed fokuseras undervisningen på systemens komponenter, snarare än mot systemnivån. Så tenderar t.ex. undervisning om energisystem att handla om energiomvandlingar eller kemiska reaktioner, istället för systemens uppbyggnad, funktioner, eller dess relationer till människor och samhälle.Avhandlingen visar även att tekniska system framställs som faktiskt existerande och inte som mentala konstruktioner vars gränser måste bestämmas. Produktions- och transportsystem ges framträdande positioner i teknikinnehållet. Tekniska system belyses snarare som något som påverkar omgivningen, än att de är möjliga att påverka. Överlag finns en brist på systembegrepp. Dock har styr- och reglerteknik nått en viss position. 1 avhandlingen visas även hur människans roll relativt systemen tas upp och, i samband med detta, hur ett etiskt och politiskt tema vuxit fram inom arenornas teknikdiskurs. Temat har medborgerliga förtecken och tar sina motiv från en strävan mot en hållbar utveckling. Utifrån en teknikhistorisk emfas används argument för att eleverna bör studera tekniska systems framväxt och förändring.
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| 3. |
- Lindgren, Eva, 1973-
(författare)
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Samhällsförändring på väg : Perspektiv på den svenska bilismens utveckling mellan 1950 och 2007
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to give a perspective on the development of the Swedish automobility between 1950 and 2007. New knowledge on automobility’s role for economic historical development will be achieved by studying the interaction between the diffusion of the private car on the national and the regional level, and the households’ preferences and the government’s regulations of car ownership. The first paper, Two Sides of the Same Coin?, compares car diffusion in Norway and Sweden to find explanations for the national and regional patterns. We ask whether the slower diffusion in Norway can be explained with national differences in income, institutions, infrastructure and population settlements; or if regional differences in income and population density have affected the outcome? Our conclusion is that car diffusion in Norway and Sweden displays two sides of the same coin; the national levels converged, but the process did not follow the same regional pattern. Regional differences in income and population density have in general been a significant explanation for car density in Sweden, but not in Norway. The second paper, Driving from the Centre to the Periphery?, examines whether the diffusion of private cars followed the over-all socio-economic and geographical changes in Sweden from 1960 to 1975. In particular, it studies if ownership per capita followed changes in income or changes in population density (urbanisation). The analysis is based on unique Swedish parish-scale census material that includes all private car owners for the years 1960, 1970 and 1975. Our conclusion is that income levels were more important than other explanations for the diffusion of private cars in Sweden between 1960 and 1975. The third paper, ‘En ledande och samordnande funktion’, contributes with new knowledge on how the Swedish government has organised traffic safety in certain ways since the 1950s. The emphasis is on the establishment and closing down of the National Road Safety Office (TSV) and how the changing forms of organisations before, during and after TSV have been reflected in the road plans from 1958, 1970 and 1990. Our conclusion is that the motives for both establishment and closing down of the TSV were the same; to create a more efficient organisation regarding traffic safety. These changes have been reflected in the road plans where an increased control over the infrastructure can be recognised, especially during the last two decades. The fourth paper, A Dark Side of Car Ownership, examines whether improved technical performance with respect to fuel consumption have been counterbalanced through increasing engine power and weight, how such properties are valued by the consumers, and in what way political instruments have affected this development. The analysis is based on historical data covering all car models within the 50 percentiles of new registrations. Our conclusion is that a vehicle purchase rebound effect can be identified since the fuel consumption has decreased over time, while the engine effect has increased. Also, the Swedish car fleet has developed in a setting of political instruments and regulations working in favour of larger and more fuel consuming cars.
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| 4. |
- Sjöstrand, Ylva S., 1975-
(författare)
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Stadens sopor : Tillvaratagande, förbränning och tippning i Stockholm 1900-1975
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis deals with perceptions of refuse as an asset or as a liability and the questions of waste management practices. The aim has been to gain new insights into Stockholm’s waste management in the period 1900–1975 by studying change and continuity in municipal practices and the notions that governed the municipal actors’ actions. The central questions are what factors determined the city’s waste management, and how an urban and local (environmental) problem was formulated and addressed by local authorities and political bodies. In answering, I have applied a theory of inertia in large technical–administrative systems and an analytical framework based on the concept of waste management regimes.During the period a resource recovery regime was replaced by an incineration regime. At the turn of the last century, the quantity and type of refuse produced by Stockholm’s rising population was compounded by increasing consumption. In order to modernize the capital’s waste disposal the city invested in resource recovery by introducing source separation. The fall in demand for fertilizer and a changing composition of the waste in the 1920s made it more difficult to get rid of refuse and led to an end of waste separation. Incineration came to be seen as the modern option and in 1938 Sweden’s first modern incineration plant for municipal waste was built outside Stockholm.The amount of waste produced by Stockholm nearly tripled between 1922, when it was at its lowest levels, and the mid-1960s. The late 1960s saw an even more dramatic increase. In the 1960s waste was discussed as an important environmental issue and in the 1970s recycling was implemented in small scale. At the national level recycling was adopted as a waste management aim in 1975.
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