The aim of this study is to describe how nature is portrayed in swedish poet and critic Aase Berg?s two earliest poetry collections, Hos rådjur (1997) and Mörk materia (1999), and how it relates to notions of humanity, culture and civilisation. The concept of ?nature? is problematized in a short survey of how it has been used by and critizised in ecocritical literary theory, which is used as the main theoretical framework for this survey, with an emphasis on selected theoretical concepts by Donna Haraway. As a methodological starting point, ?nature? is tentatively defined as ?that which does not let itself be subsumed under the human, culture or civilisation?, and this definition is contrasted with how the concepts are handled in the texts.The investigation shows that the relationship of nature to the human is a fundamental theme that provides a structure for both poetry collections.

The aim of this study was to examine which research had been done on dietary supplements for dogs suffering from osteoarthrosis. The main questions the author wanted answers to were ?Is there evidence in the research that dietary supplements for dogs with osteoarthritis have effect in such a way that quality of life is increased in these animals??, ?are there any contraindications regarding dietary supplements?, ?who is responsible for the control of safety on dietary supplements for dogs in Sweden? and ?what kind of advice would I give to dogowners about dietary supplements?. To be able to answer these questions the author conducted a literature study of the recent research on dietary supplements for OA in dogs. The results showed that despite the lack of research in this field, some promising research has been done on multiple different supplements.

In support to a decision to be made by the Swedish central competent authority on a minimal amount of straw for conventional growing-finishing pigs, a study using 168 pigs provided 7 different amounts of straw (20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200 or 300 grams/pig/day) was performed. The straw was provided either once or four times per day. Detailed behaviour observations were made using focal animal sampling and continuous recording for one hour between 9 and 10 am and again between 3 and 4 pm. The data analysis is presented in three ways: broken stick model, polynomial trend line and logarithmic trend line. No method was suitable on its own but the use of all the methods simultaneously was found to portray the data in the best way.No significant differences were found when comparing pens provided with straw once or four times per day.

The purpose of this literature review was from dairy cows? behaviour and welfare point ofview describe how feed bunk and cubicles in a loose house system should be designed. Todaydairy cows in Sweden and in the world have high demands because of a high milk production,stress and higher risk of being afflicted with diseases. Through selection in breeding the bestquality can be performed, but high demands of the environment for the dairy cow is above allalso important for a good welfare and for a good milk production. Feed bunks and cubiclesare just some parts to be designed in the best way for a good animal welfare.

The resting area is the most important place in the barn for the dairy cow, sometimes called the heart of the free stall system. Inadequate design of the lying area, and lack of or poor quality of bedding materials may reduce the hygiene of the stall. Poor management regarding the cleanliness of the resting area may lead to poor animal hygiene and increased bacterial growth. This in turn will lead to increased risk for environmental mastitis as well as impairing milk quality through contamination with spores. In this literature study the most commonly used bedding materials; straw, sawdust, wood shavings, clean sand, recycled sand, peat and recycled manure solids, are compared to one another with regards to their ability to resist bacterial growth. Effects of adding hydrated lime to bedding materials have also been studied. Most bacteria need humidity and prefer a quite high water activity to be able to grow.

In order to investigate if the KRAV-regulations have any effects on the health and welfare of calves, KRAV-affiliated farms were compared to conventional farms with respect to calf management and outcome. The dairy calf has had a low economical impact during history. Even today the value of the calf is low and a lot of calves have a poor health status. The calf breeding is built on tradition and on the fact, that cheap antibiotics have made it possible to ignore, the recommendations about good hygiene in the calf?s environment.

The purpose of the study was to find out whether the interaction between mentally disabled individuals and pet positively affects the individual and gives a feeling of well-being to the extent that this might be implicated in the psychologically disabled people?s everyday life in some form of rehabilitation measure. The study is qualitative and builds on an ethnographic design. Data collection was performed through six observations, six interviews and reflections. Interviews were also conducted with relatives and assistants for greater opportunity for follow-up questions, and descriptions of the situation.

This paper discusses an osteological- and archeological analysis of a cairn from the Bronze Age on Gotland. The osteological material consists of both burnt and and unburnt bones from both human and animal. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the individuals who were buried in the cairn. It is also to generate information about continuity in its use and patterns of distribution of the bones and grave-goods in the cairn. The osteological analysis show that a minimum of five human individuals is present in the osteological material.

Climate on earth is getting warmer, which effects earth?s energy balance and so forth the ocean and atmospheric circulation.  In many sub-polar regions on the northern hemisphere changes due to warming of the climate can be observed. Some examples that already have been observed are shifts in tree line, towards higher altitudes and latitudes, increased ablation of Swedish glaciers and melting of the permafrost on the Siberian tundra. In Sweden climate change scenarios tell us that it will become warmer and that a higher amount of precipitation in form of rain will be an effect from this. To study climate changes in Sweden, transition zones are useful in order to observe changes in distribution of species and animal populations.

Humans and dogs are both mammals. One of the differences between the two species is that man walk on two legs and dogs on four legs. There are also differences in the nerve system between the two species. The human nerve system is supposed to provide opportunity for fine motor tasks- while the nerve system of the dog is more focused on the ability to perform locomotor tasks. Humans need to increase their motor control and postural control when affected by various conditions and diseases.

During the last decade a new technique in animal breeding has developed called genomic selection. It is based on estimations of the effect from genetic markers on traits that are calculated in a reference population. By genotyping individuals, genomic breeding values can then be estimated without phenotypic observations. The aim of this essay is to investigate the response of genomic selection on breeding schemes for dairy cattle. The accuracy of the genomic breeding values is affected by the proportion of observations included in the validation set and how often the equation for estimating breeding values is reevaluated.

Injuries of the superficial digital flexor tendon are common in racehorses with many reports on different treatment regimes. However there are few studies in riding horses. The purpose of this study was to document the result of conservative treatment of injuries on the superficial digital flexor tendon in riding horses and to find factors that may be important to the outcome. Hospital records from 1999 to 2003 of 17 non-racehorses at ATGs Animal Hospital in Skara with the diagnosis tendonitis of the superficial digital flexor tendon were reviewed. Follow-up information on treatment, convalescence and final outcome was collected.

Detta arbete är en litteraturstudie som handlar om hur deltidsbete påverkar mjölkkors avkastning, foderintag och välfärd. I Sverige har vi beteskrav till skillnad från många andra länder i världen. Detta skapar problem då besättningstorlekarna ökar och det blir svårare att få marker i närheten av gården att räcka till alla kor. Det största problemet med mjölkkor på bete är dock att högavkastande kor inte producerar lika mycket på bete som inne på stall. Det är därför viktigt att finna ett sätt att lösa problemen som både gynnar kon och bonden.

Detta examensarbete behandlar fenomenet att använda djurkroppar som material. Studiens syfte är att undersöka fenomenet döda djur och djurkroppar i konst, hantverk och design, och lyfta fram på vilket sätt döda djur används och hur användandet kan tolkas och förstås. Teorin belyser relationen djur och människa ur historiskt perspektiv, hur djur framställts inom konsten, samt den etiska aspekten. Metod och material består i en analys utifrån texter och medier, och en kvalitativ intervju med Märta Mattsson, som skapar smycken av främst insekter. Studien visar på att djur har varit symbol för många olika saker som mod, tapperhet, häxkonst och erotik.

This survey was made during the summer of 2004 and the spring of 2005, on commission from the National Board of Forestry. The aim of this report was to investigate how often Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst), is planted on poor Scotch pine (Pinus Silvestries) sites and if it affects the yield of Norway spruce? In order to investigate this, data from 29 stands witch had a lower site index than T24 was collected. The investigated stands were situated in the southern-eastern Sweden. In 20 plots in each stand, the highest tree, age, number of seedlings, site index and tree species per stand were measured.