Passive houses are a relatively new concept in Sweden and by that it is meant a house without a traditional heating system. The most acknowledged passive house project is the terrace houses in Lindås, Gothenburg, which we have used as a reference. This project concerns a square apartment block. So far, no square apartment block has been built as a passive house in Sweden.The common opinion in the construction industry is that it is not economical to build extremely energy efficient houses. With Peab as commissioner our task was to investigate if that is true, if regarding the construction of a multi storey house as a passive houseMidroc, now owned by Peab, constructed in the block of Preussen in Jönköping during 2004-2005 four houses, with 132 apartments distributed on seven floors.

The aim of this essay is to examine four floor mosaics from private dwellings in Pompeii. These 1st century floor mosaics decorate the fauces of the houses and they all depict watchdogs. The first question to be asked is if there are other common features between the houses that can explain why these house owners chose this figure. The second question is if you can reveal, from the existing knowledge about the house owners, the same information. The third question to be asked is if the watchdog mosaics have anything to do with the location of the houses in Pompeii.

This thesis examines the presence of threats and violence directed towards animal welfare inspectors/ officers. The main tool is a survey regarding threats and violence directed at animal welfare inspectors/officers. The questionnaire was distributed to animal welfare inspectors/ officers who worked on 15 of the country's 21 provincial governments. The response rate of the survey was 68.9 percent. The main conclusion of the study is that threats and violence directed at animal welfare inspectors/ officers are common.

The obesity problem in the world is growing bigger and today even our companion animals are becoming heavier. In this paper the importance of a balanced diet for the companion animal is emphasised. There are many disadvantages for the animal and for the owner if the animal becomes obese and it is important to stress the facts on what the consequences might be. There are several medical conditions connected to obesity and a short summary of these will be discussed. It is often easier to prevent obesity rather than loosing the overweight and some ideas of how to do this is looked in to. In many veterinary clinics today, the veterinary nurse is the first and sometimes the only person to see the animal.

In all types of learning situations, it is important to find each student where they are at the moment in knowledge. I have reflections about  what animal experience students have with them when they begin their education. This thesis is about what home environment and in home environment acquried animal experience student at agricultural college have. This work is based on data collected through questionnaire survey done in two agricultural colleges in middle Sweden in the spring of 2007. Questions were divided into four blocks, historical data such as on the environment in which pupils are growing up, animal habit, why they read on agricultural school and future data on what plans students have for future education and careers.

X-rays are a potential risk for animal health care personnel. The present study will examine the risks for scattered radiation to the personnel, if no lead gloves are used when holding an animal during the x-ray examination. Furthermore, how the impact of the exposure values and body parts examined, affect the scattered dose to the hands of the holder. Also, the distance between the animal and the hand that holds it was evaluated to see the impact on scattered radiation exposure. Tested by a survey, to animal health care students, the frequency of the usage of lead gloves in Swedish animal hospitals was studied. According to the results from the analysis, animal health care personnel don't need to use lead gloves every time they hold an animal or a cassette during x-ray examinations.

Traditionally risk-based measures have been used to assess animal welfare in legislation and certification schemes. With increased knowledge and research, debate today tends to focus on and advocate the use of animal-based measures. However this is not a panacea for welfare and the most sound conclusion should be that assessment of animal welfare needs both. The aim of this thesis is to identify the points that need to be taken into consideration to find the optimal balance in the use of input and outcome measures according to the aim of the assessment and how these should be applied when designing a certification scheme? To answer this, a comparison of the use of resource-based, management-based and animal-based measures in two certification schemes for dairy cow welfare, Freedom Food (UK) and Svenskt Sigill (SWE), was made.

Feral animal populations are distributed over many parts of the world and are often seen as a problem. Since they are a threat against other species, destroy farmlands and can spread dis-eases, they are often referred to as pests. Artificial selection has contributed to loss of genetic diversity in our domesticated animals. Feral animal populations are affected by natural selec-tion, which allows them to adapt to the environment. Their ability to adapt is a reason to see them as pests but can also be seen as an asset.

The name of the thesis is?Istheprintedbook?sdeaththeauthorsbread??Astudyinhowthepublishinghouses?andtheauthors?relationshipschangeduetotheintroductionofthee--?book?Thee--?book,whichisadigitalcopyoftheprintedbook,hasbeenonthemarketforovertwodecades.However,itisnotuntilnowthatchangesarehappeningwithintheindustry,whichaffectsthedifferentactors.Amazonhasforexamplelaunchedane--?readerbythenameKindleonthemarketandApplehaslaunchedasurfpadbythenameiPad,bothwhichyouareabletoreade--?bookson.Thetechnologicalchangesthatarehappeningaffecttheactorswithinthebookindustryaswellasthestructureoftheindustry.Theresearchquestionofthisthesisis?owdothepublishinghouses?andtheauthors?relationshipswithinthebookindustrychangeduetotheintroductionofthee--?book??Actor--?networktheoryisusedtoinvestigatethis.Thetheoryincludesbothhumanandnon--?humanactors,whichtogethercancreateanetwork.Theactorswithinthenetworkconnectthemselvestoeachotherandtherebyformthenetwork.Thepurposeofthisthesisistocreateanunderstandingforhowactorsandtheirrelationshipswithinanestablishedindustrystructureareaffectedbydigitalisation.Toachievethis,semi--?structuredinterviewswereconductedwithpublishinghousesandauthors.Theboomofthee--?bookinlargepartdependsuponthetechnicaldevelopmentthathasoccurredandwhichhasintroducedsmartphones,e--?readers,surfpadsetceteraonthemarket.Moreactorswillariseinthebookindustryduetothedigitalisation,whichinturnwillaffecttheexistingrelationshipsofthepublishinghousesandtheauthors.Thepublishinghouseswillkeeptheirroleinthenetworksasakeyplayer,butcomeintocontactwithmoreactors.Theauthorsaregiventhechancetoself--?publishtheirbooksase--?books,whichmakethemcomeintocontactwithmoreactorsaswell.Asmoreactorsarise,thestructurewithintheindustrybecomesrelaxed.Hence,thepublishinghousesneedtoenrolthenewactorsinorderforthemtokeeptheirpositioninthenetwork..

On December 1th 2009 the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, and through Article 13, the recognition of animals as sentient being was given a more visible part in the very core of EU law. This was an effect of a political decision to commit to the issue, partly because of the will to further harmonize the EU market, but also due to increased societal concern for the wellbeing of animals. Over the last decades, ethical awareness is growing in many countries, one reason being new scientific discovery. This influences legislators and policy makers to take proper action, and in this way, ethics and science often work together as the very basis for the development of new legislation and policies. There is yet to be seen what the actual consequences of Article 13 will be, since the legal obligation remains the same and there are still some reservations in it.

Peat litter has been used in Animal houses for a long time. Because of its good ability to absorb liquid and nutrients from the manure it can create a dry surface for animals and a valuable manure product. Through changes in agricultural practises the use of peat litter has diminished and is to a great extent replaced by straw, sawdust and cutter shavings although Sweden is rich in peat-findings. The aim of this work was to summarize the presented knowledge about the used of peat litter, techniques, advantages and disadvantages and to compare with other commonly used litter materials. Articles on peat litter have been searched for in magazines, databases and books at SLU library. Visits to peat industries, interviews with peat producers and with peat researchers contributed to the material. Peat is not a uniformly material.

Stressful routines for animal handling can reduce immune function and productivity of animals. If stakeholders are handling animals aversively, animals will show increased expressions of fear for humans and higher stress levels which lead to the compromise of animals? welfare. In Ethiopia, there are no legislations to protect animals from suffering or discomfort. The main objective of this study was therefore to analyse welfare of cattle on animal markets in Ethiopia and map out supply chains of animals to these markets.

There are several ways in which people can relate to eating or not eating animals. This essay is focussing two main strategies: Making distances and drawing borders.Today, there are several reasons for not eating meat, including environmental reasons, individual and public health reasons, ethical reasons and more. Yet, people eat more meat than ever. According to the UN, this is a major problem. In 2006 the report Livestock?s long shadow pointed out that meat consumption was a bigger problem from an environmental point of view, than global transports, including air-traffic.

The objective of this study was to make an inventory and a potential analysis of the organic beef production in the region of Gävleborg, Sweden. A survey was conducted, where a questionaire was sent to all farmers in the region who had environmental subsidies concerning organic cropping systems in 2001. In total, there were 701 farmers, of which 46 % participated in the study. Three slaughter houses were interviewed to get their pictures of the development of organic beef production. The study shows that there are potentials and interests in the region to increase the production of organic beef.

This thesis tries to clarify why more houses such as passive houses is not built and at the same time the differences is described with the conventional construction as a starting point. Sweden has set environmental objectives to reduce energy consumption in buildings by 50 percent by the year 2050 compared to 1995. The passivehouse concept could have a significant role, particularly in the reconstruction of buildings with high energy consumption. For sustainable building the passivehouse technology is an economically viable concept while benefiting the environment. Initially an introduction is given of the background to the problem, purpose and objective of the thesis.