A large part of the interactions between horse and rider during horseback riding takes place through the reins and the bit and devices for measuring the tension on the reins, rein tension meters, has fairly recently been developed. To safeguard the welfare of the ridden horse riders need to be aware of the rein tension they apply and actively work to decrease it. Furthermore, there is a need to develop the study of rein tension through new techniques and refined analysis procedures. A good-quality rein tension meter should be small in size, sensitive, durable and as accurate for light rein tension as for strong forces. Rein tension meters used in research on horse and rider interaction commonly depend on strain gauge technique for generating rein tension data.

The relatively poor economy in European dairy farming might be improved from efficient feeding systems and dietary management. Increasing herd sizes and transition to loose housing systems in Sweden, increases the possibilities for other feeding systems than separate feeding that is the traditional feeding system in Sweden. Other possible feeding systems are partial mixed ration (PMR) and total mixed ration (TMR), where the TMR system sometimes is associated with overfeeding and thereby increased environmental impact and high feed cost. Diets providing nutrients above or below animal requirements are considered as unbalanced, which in turn are associated with reductions in health, fertility and milk production. On the other hand, a balanced feed ration improves feed efficiency, nitrogen utilization and profitability.

Cattle used for meat production can be held outside all year round and due to the legislation they should have access to shelters or other buildings for protection against the elements giving them a dry and clean bedding. There are different opinions concerning their need of protection and the question about necessity of shelters for cattle is of current interest due to a less profitable economy in meat production and the investment costs for shelters. The aim of this study was to acquire more knowledge about the natural behaviour of cattle concerning their use of shelters. The basis of the study was a series of questions regarding when animals choose to stay in shelters, if shelters were used less when they had access to protecting vegetation, how temperature and weather conditions affected the use of shelters and the influence of distance between shelter and feed. Behavioural studies was conducted at five different farms where six groups of suckler cows and heifers of following breeds and crossbreeds were observed; Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Scottish Highland Cattle, Simmental and the Swedish breeds SKB and SRB.

AbstractThe purpose of project is to study the possibility for Borås Energy & Environment to build and run a commercial ethanol production facility in Borås. The project also studies the technology for the production of ethanol using renewable energy, e.g. lignocelluloses with focus on two processes, svag-syra hydrolyse and enzymatic hydrolyse. The technology of the process is based of hydrolysation of biomass (hemicelluloses and cellulose) to sugar and extract it to ethanol. These two techniques will compare with each other to determine which of them that it?s more suitable for ethanol production.

The forest and mire landscape surrounding the north Swedish villages have been of fundamental importance through time for the farmers. In the Scandinavian summer farm system the forest and mire pasture was used to its full potential. The system consisted of smaller summer farms some kilometres from the main farm in the village, and were the livestock grazed in the forest around the summer farm. The livestock affect their environment, and grazed forests generally contain a higher biodiversity than an ungrazed forest. The overall aim of this thesis is to understand the impact of livestock grazing on a northern forest ecosystem over a long time period.

Higher demands of competitiveness and efficiency have led to increasing sizes of farms, with more land, more capital and more comprehensive logistics. The aim is to gain benefits of scale economies that reduce the production cost per unit. However, a greater extent of the business exposes the farm of increased risk where small deviations rapidly can erase the benefits. A modern dairy farm thus put high demands on the farmer?s ability to coordinate, plan and manage the forage production through the whole process until storage to obtain silage of the desired quality and quantity at the right price. The objective of this study was to design a simple model, i.e.

As the environmental requirements on businesses increase from various stakeholders, the incentives for businesses to work more with environmental issues also increase. Historically, the requirements were focusing on companies with direct emissions from operations. Lately, the environmental impacts that occur indirectly as results of corporate activities have become more topical. Companies and organizations that mainly offer services often have a greater indirect than direct environmental impact. This is because they are affecting third parties, which in turn have a direct environmental impact.

The access to good sanitary facilities is an important factor that elevates the experienced living standard as it improves hygiene and reduces the transmission of deseases. The ratification of the millennium goals by 189 countries demonstrates that this is an important international issue. Together the countries have taken upon themselves that the proportion of the population that lacked access to sustainable safe drinking water and sanitary facilities in the year 2000 will have been reduced by half by the year 2015. In Peru, the construction of sewage pipe networks to transport the sewage out of the direct human environment is progressing. The safety and sustainability of these systems can be questioned, since in Peru the sewage seldom receive any treatment before being emitted to a recipient. This is taking place in Picota and sorrunding villages as well. In the last 25 years several systems implementing small-scale onsite treatment have been introduced throughout Latin America in an attempt to give more people access to sustainable and safe sanitary facilities, reducing water consumption and taking advantage of the agricultural values of the sewage fractions while protecting the environment from its negative impact. In this study three different sanitary systems and the effects of different population growths were compared.

Sammanfattning Rum, form och växter är ett avslutande examensarbete som handlar om växtkomposition. Jag har valt ett antal profiler inom områdets principer om rumsskapande, komposition, färglära och några tillämpningar som jag studerat på plats samt gjort egna förslag. I detta arbete har jag börjat med rummens uppbyggnad, deras förutsättningar och sammanhang och hur detta påverkar platsen. Formen och proportioner skapar olika upplevelser och inhägnaden som har betydelse för intrycket. Människor får olika känslor beroende på rummets öppenhet, slutenhet och skala. Kapitlet som handlar om gångar berör uppbyggnaden och människans rörelsemönster i dessa.

Vatten är en av jordens livsviktiga resurser, en resurs som hela tiden minskar. I delar av världen råder akut vattenbrist och ofta återfinns industrier med hög vattenanvändning i områden med begränsad vattentillgång. En av dessa industrier är textilindustrin. Vid textil beredning är vattenförbrukningen mycket hög och avloppsvattnet är ofta mycket förorenat. Vattenfrågorna inom textil produktion har fram till idag inte uppmärksammats i lika stor grad som arbetsrätts- och kemikaliefrågorna.

Unga är inte lika väletablerade på bostadsmarknaden som de var förr. Detta på grund av den långsamma byggtakten i storstadsregionerna, vilket också har lett till att en renoveringsvåg sköljt genom Sverige och således gjort även det äldre bostadsbeståndet dyrt och svåråtkomligt. Syftet med arbete är att undersöka de kvaliteter som finns i att bygga yteffektivt. Detta som en del till att öka möjligheterna för ungas etablering på bostadsmarknaden. För att besvara arbetets syfte delas det in i tre delsyften.

Unga är inte lika väletablerade på bostadsmarknaden som de var förr. Detta på grund av den långsamma byggtakten i storstadsregionerna, vilket också har lett till att en renoveringsvåg sköljt genom Sverige och således gjort även det äldre bostadsbeståndet dyrt och svåråtkomligt. Syftet med arbete är att undersöka de kvaliteter som finns i att bygga yteffektivt. Detta som en del till att öka möjligheterna för ungas etablering på bostadsmarknaden. För att besvara arbetets syfte delas det in i tre delsyften.

Sweden has almost 600 000 hectares planted with lodgepole pine, and large areas are soon ready to be clear-felled. The provenances that have been planted are producing high level of permanently closed, so called serotinous, cones. In their natural setting, the Canadian boreal forest, these cones are opened mainly after crown fires when the heat make the resin between the cone scales melt, which releases the seeds. This is viewed as an adaption to the fire regimes that prevail over the natural distribution area of lodgepole pine. Because of the short flame-exposure that occurs in a crown fire, the seeds can survive.