Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are ubiquitous in the environment today and they have been detected even in remote areas such as the Arctic. PFASs can be transported by the atmosphere and ocean currents but the transport mechanism is not fully understood. PFASs may be harmful to organisms due to their persistence in the environment, bio-accumulation potential and toxicity. Studies have shown that PFASs can cause adverse effects on the metabolism as well as the endocrine- and reproduction systems in organisms. In this study, PFASs were investigated in glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) (n=5) and black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) (n=4) from Svalbard.

Students at Jönköping School of Engineering were given an assignment from Jönköping municipality, to evaluate their decision support system, QlikView. The students have also developed proposals for improvement with focus on usability.The Jönköpings municipality has currently got 11000 employees and consists of nine different administrations. The target group for QlikView is approximately 600 first-line managers.The intention of QlikView is that the users can get an overall picture of their business by having all information in just one system.The purpose of the thesis is to obtain a picture of what the users think about the system today and present relevant suggestions for improvement, which the Jönköping municipality can use when the introduction of the new version of QlikView takes place. The research questions that the study aims to answer are:? Has QlikView got a user friendly interface?? How can the interface be improved to become more user friendly?Theories that this work is based on is Jacob Nielsens ten usability principles and Ben Schneidermans eight golden rules.

The aim of this paper was to investigate how 40 typical speakerswith Finnish accent, aged 65-84 years, performed in speech assessmentthrough Dysartribedömningen, a Swedish dysarthria assessment instrument.Their results were compared with results of a matched Swedish nativespeaking reference group. Both groups were assessed in areas offunction/structure, prosody/intelligibility and through a survey oncommunication. Results indicated that the performances of the Finnishparticipant group were estimated as more deviant than the Swedish,considering all areas. The Finnish participants were deviant in articulationand they had a significantly lower speech rate in reading. They also hadsignificantly lower scores in intelligibility compared to the reference group.The results of the survey of communication showed that the Finnishparticipants estimated their levels of activity and participation to besignificantly more limited compared to the reference group.

The purpose of this study is to investigate if there is enough consideration taken to sensitive forest areas close to water or wetlands during clear cutting assignments, and to estimate the extent of damage made by forestry machines used at that time. A field and literature study is used to show how to improve and prevent the damage made in the wake of the machines. This study is made for Sydved, and shall culminate in a policy to prevent ground damage during their clear cutting assignments. The areas which were part of the field studies were clearcuttings on fine grained soil close to water and wetlands. The purpose was to find out if the water had been affected, what had been done to prevent ground damages and what more could have been done. The results of the field studies show that more work needs to be done to reach up to expectations. More information about the assignment area, better planning of sensitive regions, and strengthening of the main haul roads with brush are some of the improvements that can be done. There is also a need for more exact guidelines, follow-ups and education for everyone involved to have the same goals and understanding to prevent ground damage..

The level of increased central government that we have experienced during the last decades in school, for the purpose of increasing equality and to adapt the Swedish school to a certain international standard, clearly shows that increased control scarcely leads to improvement.The aim of this paper is to examine whether teachers believe that national tests contribute to equivalent assessment and increased goal attainment. Furthermore the teachers? attitude towards and work with national tests is described. The paper is written from a school improvement perspective, where good examples from current research on what creates increased quality in school meaning increased goal attainment and equivalent assessment are related to research on school effectiveness and increased testing in schools. The study builds upon a quantitative survey among teachers in upper primary - and secondary school in a medium-sized municipality in Sweden.The result shows that the teachers have a somewhat more positive than negative attitude towards national tests, as a whole.

The aim of this report is to describe the deglaciation in an area on west Greenland in the vicinity of Kangerlussuaq. To do this, the geomorphological landforms were mapped by studying areal photographs and by a two week field study where key areas were examiend. The landforms were transferred to a map using ArcGis and each key area were interpreted.The majority of the geomorphological formations were formed during the last deglaciation and consists of morain ridges, kettle topography in both till and glacifluvium, glacifluvial deltas, two fossil sandurs, and lateral terraces. Based on key areas and an inversion model a geomorphological map was created to illustrate the deglaciation, using the least complex explanation of the genesis of the landforms. The results show that the ice played a major role by damming lakes which enabled formation of many meltwater chanels and delta formations on higher elevations.

Bath has been a part of human history for a long time. Today bathing/swimming inmunicipal pools is for people of all ages and it is possible to take swimming courses,exercise or enjoy recreation. The municipal indoor pool of Hogdalen in Sweden wasbuild in the sixties and has had problems with high levels of heterotrophic bacteria. Thefacility has two larger pools, one adventure park for young kids, two smaller bath tubsand a jacuzzi. To improve water quality UV light and coal filter were installed inOctober 2009 to the already existing purification system.

Students at Jönköping School of Engineering were given an assignment from Jönköping municipality, to evaluate their decision support system, QlikView. The students have also developed proposals for improvement with focus on usability.The Jönköpings municipality has currently got 11000 employees and consists of nine different administrations. The target group for QlikView is approximately 600 first-line managers.The intention of QlikView is that the users can get an overall picture of their business by having all information in just one system.The purpose of the thesis is to obtain a picture of what the users think about the system today and present relevant suggestions for improvement, which the Jönköping municipality can use when the introduction of the new version of QlikView takes place. The research questions that the study aims to answer are:? Has QlikView got a user friendly interface?? How can the interface be improved to become more user friendly?Theories that this work is based on is Jacob Nielsens ten usability principles and Ben Schneidermans eight golden rules.

Abstract:I studien undersöks hur myndighetspersoner upplever att samverkan fungerar, samt vad det finns för likheter samt skillnader på samverkan i Uppsala respektive Östersunds kommun. Dessa aktörer är betydelsefulla i arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor, därför är det en viktig förutsättning att ta tillvara varandras kompetenser för en god samverkan. Ämnet våld i nära relationer är fortfarande nytt för socialtjänsten, vilket gör att det finns bristande kunskap i arbetet för våldsutsatta kvinnor. Detta är en kvalitativ studie som är grundad på semistrukturerade intervjuer, respondenterna till undersökningen arbetar på socialtjänsten och kvinnofridsverksamheter. Resultatet i studien kan sammanfattas med att samverkan mellan verksamheterna och organisationerna är nödvändiga och att samarbetet leder till bättre insatser samt förutsättningar i arbetet med våldsutsatta kvinnor.

Previous studies of central tire inflation (CTI) in truck transport of roundwood have shown potential benefits to include more even wood flow and reduced road damage. The greatest benefits are found to be during periods of low bearing capacity such as spring thaw. No previous studies have examined geographical variations in the potential benefit of CTI-equipped trucks. The aim of the study was to develop and use a simple method for geographically prioritizing the use of CTI-equipped trucks within a forest company´s sector of activity.The host company for the study was Holmen Skog. The area studied consisted of Holmen Skog?s entire sector of activity extending from the province of Västerbotten to the province of Småland.

This thesis aimed to investigate how a rising sea level would affect the livable area of the island Fongafale, Tuvalu. Through the IPCC stabilization scenarios it was examined which areas of the island that would be affected by flooding. The local population?s perceptions of the effects of climate change were studied to see how the consequences of a world-wide problem such as global warming affect people's lives. The paper clarified the Tuvaluans place in the discussion of climate refugees, explained IPCC's work and described the results of previous studies concerning people in Fongafales perceptions and concerns about climate-related changes.

The purpose of this thesis has been to signify what creates quality for the dwellers. Bycreating a definition of the term we have showed how well the qualitycriteria?s has been fulfilled in the newly built one family house area Pumpkällehagen in Viskafors.The questions the thesis gives answers to is: What is quality for the dwellers inhousebuilding of today? and How well have these quality aspects been carried out in tracthousing areas? These questions have taken us to our main goal: To describe what qualityfor the dwellers is and how well it has been carried out in a certain area.The literature review is describing what was published before the making of this thesis.From four different publications within the concept of quality an analysis template hasbeen enacted. This template has been used for our case study, but is also supposed towork in future analysis of tract housing areas.Interviews was carried out with the areas architects; Ola Nylander and Mattias Karlsson,as well as the client; Mikael Bengtsson. From these we have gathered their point of viewon the background of the area, as well as their view on the term quality for the dwellers.Our work has brought us to enact nine different quality aspects, which we considercreates quality for the dwellers:? The Non-measurable properties? The rooms relative connections? Sufficient and user-friendly property complements? The property complements connection to the apartment? Location of the apartment and connections to the environment? Opportunities of outdoor activities? Orientation and transportation within the area? The social unity? The cost of the apartment and its form of tenureFrom the case study, using the analysis template, we can state that Pumpkällehagen is avery successfully built area where most of our assessment criteria?s and quality aspectshave been fulfilled.

The aim of this study was to examine musculoskeletal disorders among dental hygienists inrelation to work postures (sitting, standing, and altering) and to study differences in thegroups regarding numbers of disorders, locations and degrees. A mail questionnaire wasdistributed among 200 dental hygienists in the region of Skåne. The response rate was 79 %.The majority of the dental hygienists were working in a sitting position. Only43 dental hygienists were altering their working position and two were working in a standingposition. The results showed that 85 % of the dental hygienists have experiencedmusculoskeletal disorders in the last 12 months.

Large areas of forests in the tropical region have during the last decades been lost and converted to new land uses while other areas have been degraded into secondary forests. These secondary forests need to be restored and rehabilitation through enrichment planting and liberation may help to speed up the recovery process. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate a rehabilitation method that includes enrichment planting, slashing of weeds and girdling of unwanted trees. The site for the project is situated in Sabah, Borneo in a secondary forest which had been logged and burnt by a wildfire. The project?s goal is to rehabilitate and increase biodiversity through enrichment planting of seedlings mainly belonging to the family Dipterocarpeaceae (dipterocarps).

Storm water management has become a more important matter as urban areas are expanding and natural areas are being exploited. As nature landscapes are being converted into hard surface areas storm water flow is affected both in terms of velocity and size. A flow increase can easily result in a flooding if the dimensions of the pipeline system are inadequate. Considering predicted upcoming climate changes, flooding?s may become more common in urban areas in the future.