Powdery mildew is a serious problem in both field and greenhouse cucumber production and can cause serious infection and radically reduced yields. Today, powdery mildew is the main disease in greenhouse produced cucumber. Disease control should preferably be both efficient and environmentally friendly, which is not easy to achieve at all times. Alternatives to chemical control of powdery mildews are biological control, physical control, non-fungicide control and cultivation of resistant or tolerant varieties. Biological control can be described as the suppression of damaging activities inflicted of a harmful organism by one or more other organisms, which are called antagonists or natural enemies. In Sweden, there are currently no registered biological control products available to control cucumber powdery mildew. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two biological control products in order to evaluate their ability to prevent or reduce powdery mildew infection to an acceptable level in greenhouse produced cucumber. In the experiments, different application regimes were also studied.

With the prospect of future construction on the Skutskär Pulp Mill property, Stora Enso Fine Paper has initiated an investigation of soil contaminants and a risk assessment of these contaminants. A soil and groundwater investigation has therefore been conducted on an open area of about 16 000 square meters, situated between the current wood room and digester house. To be able to integrate this study into an investigation for the whole industrial property, the study has been carried out as a phase 2 study according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency?s Methods of Inventories of Contaminated sites (MIFO).The site investigation has involved soil and groundwater sampling, together with the analysis of heavy metals and organic contaminants. The degree of hazard posed by the contaminants, the level of contamination, the potential for migration of the contaminants, as well as the degree to which protection of human health and the environment is required in the area, have been weighed together for an overall risk assessment of the area with regard to human health and the environment.The investigated area was built up by filling in the coastal waters.

This study includes several purposes which are to describe the concept of working environment, explain who is responsible for its functioning and how the working environment should look like. Other purposes the study have is to investigate how the working environment is in both Swedish and the two investigated companies construction sites and to share some operators proposing measures for the shortcomings and problems that exist in the construction sector working environment. To achieve these purposes was a qualitative study made with unstructured observations, interviews and survey where three construction sites were observed. The result shows that the concept of the working environment cover many aspects and is essentially about the environment we live in and experience in our work and this environment can be both an indoor as an outdoor environment. In this work, the concept is divided into four areas; it is the physical, the ergonomic, the psychosocial and the chemical.

En nedgång har setts i Sverige och Europa när det gäller luftföroreningar de senast årtiondena. Nedgången beror bland annat på minskade emissioner från industrier, övergång från uppvärmning med olje- och kolpannor till fjärrvärme och förbättrad bränslekvalitet. Denna studie utvärderar lufthalts- och nedfallsmätningar gjorda i närheten av pappers- och massaindustrin Korsnäs i Gävle. Mätserierna startar vid sent 1970-tal och går fram till årsskiftet 2009/2010. Nedfall av stoft, sulfat, natrium, kalcium och lufthalter av svaveldioxid samt sot studerades.

The hydropower from Nissan River is of national interest and produces annually 230 GWh from the twelve power stations in the main flow. For modified waters a consideration between the power production and the biological values has to be made. This reports serves as a pre-study for Nissans Vattenråd. It tries to evaluate some of the biological values in the Nissan basin and map the power production in the area. And the size and value of lost power production from new fishways for the twelve stations in the main flow.The investment of new fishways is calculated using simplified templates with values from the business.

Delia flies (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) are economically important pests in several horticultural crops. The control is commonly relying on chemical insecticides, though there are possibilities with biological control from the natural enemies in the field. An important natural enemy is the parasitic wasp, Trybliographa rapae Westwood (Hymenoptera: Figitidae) that lays eggs in the Delia fly larvae. The parasitoid larva and the host larva have a parallel development until the host dies within its puparium and an adult parasitoid emerges. The aim of this thesis was to understand the attraction to host- and food-associated plant volatiles of T. rapae, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the parasitic wasp as a biological control agent.

The estate of Rämningstorp in the region of Västergötland in southern Sweden is administered by the holding trust company Skogssällskapet i Skövde. In 1999 measures were taken by Skogssällskapet to drain the stream Fredstorpsbäcken as a means to increase the forest productivity of the surrounding lands, which are situated on the estate of Rämningstorp. Almost immediately after the drainage, the streamwater turned turbid and a landowner downstream reported the issue to the county administrative board of the region. The aim of this thesis was firstly to analyse the suspended matter that appeared during summer/autumn and secondly to explain why it came to be. Initial hypotheses for the explanation to the greyish turbid water were that it was either 1) a chemical/biochemical precipitate, or 2) an bacterial/algal blooming.

On-site sewage systems are common on the countryside of Sweden with approximately one million on-site systems installed. Due to insufficient function, these contribute significantly to the total discharge of phosphorus to rivers and lakes, causing eutrophication. In order to reduce eutrophication and to fulfil one of the environmental quality objectives, the decision was taken by the Swedish Government in 2005 that 60 % of phosphorous in sewage sludge is to be recycled to arable land before 2015. To make recycling a reality, new solutions have to be found. Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF) takes an active interest in this issue and has initiated this study. One problem is that the food industry is sceptical towards recirculation due to the risks that products from sewage systems may contain pathogens, heavy metals and unwanted chemical compounds, e.g.

A study has been performed that investigates the variation of iron content in groundwater.The study was initiated by Midvatten AB, which noticed that the iron content in groundwater samples can vary greatly over small distances. The purpose of this study was to geochemically and geohydrologically determine the factors that influence the content of iron and manganese in groundwater from a selection of eskers in Dalarna, and determine how to best sample groundwater with the method used by Midvatten AB. An evaluation was made of how the vertical variation in soil material, water composition, pumping time and pipe material affects the content of iron in groundwater. Piper diagrams were used to study the relationship between the chemical composition of the groundwater and the content of iron and manganese in groundwater samples from the studied areas. The groundwater from the studied areas was then classified in the Piper diagrams, according to the content of the major ions.

The stability of railway embankment is essential for safe transport. In order to ensure safe transport, water should be allowed to freely drain. Furthermore, as the engine driver has to be able to see signs, and people working on the embankment are supposed to easily see flaws on the rails to ensure safety for the passing trains, plants should not be allowed to grow on the embankment. In Sweden there are 12 000 kilometers of railway tracks and 25?30 % of them are treated for weed control every year.

The limit for mercury in fish, set by health authorities, is exceeded in about half of the lakes in Sweden. Methyl mercury (MeHg) is the most toxic form of mercury and accumulates in fish. Therefore transformation of inorganic mercury (Hg) to methylmercury (MeHg) is an important process that we need to understand in order to possibly counteract the negative effects of mercury in the environment. The seasonal dynamics of mercury biogeochemistry is likely of great importance for the accumulation of MeHg in the aquatic food web. In thesis the chemical speciation and transformations of Hg and MeHg in bottom waters and sediments is followed in Ängessjön, a small lake located on the east coast in the middle of Sweden. The lake is not directly affected by any industrial pollution and concentrations of Hg in the sediment reflect the atmospheric deposition in this area, as well as processes taking place along the hydrological pathways from soil to lake. Samples from sediment, bottom- and streamwater were collected in average every second month during the period Feb.

Syftet med den här studien är att ta reda på vilken kunskap och vilka värderingar som finns i klädesbutiker angående kemikalier i kläder och om ekologiska alternativ. Jag vill även undersöka på vilket sätt information kan påverka butikerna till att agera i linje med en hållbar utveckling. Särskilt vill jag undersöka hur butikernas företagskultur påverkar deras strategiska arbete. Jag har gjort en kvalitativ undersökning och intervjuat 13 butiksinnehavare i centrala Malmö. Först träffade jag intervjupersonerna i deras butiker, några månader senare ringde jag upp var och en för att se om de tänkt något på det vi samtalat om eller till och med gjort några förändringar. De flesta av intervjupersonerna visste mycket lite om vad det finns för regler gällande kemikalier i textil, de hade dock viss kunskap om ekologiska kläder.

Oilseed rape constitutes a good break crop within a cereal dominated cropping system. The normal sowing time for winter rape in Sweden is August. It's a time in the cropping year characterized by a heavy work load, such as harvest and soil management. In addition, it is often a period with large precipitation. Thus, it is sometimes problematic for the farmer to do the sowing of winter rape at the optimal time.

Climate change is one of the most difficult problems that humans have to deal with. Today, the evidence of human effects on the climate change and the rise of temperature on earth are strong. It is extremely important that all countries get together and cooperate in order to be able to solve the problem with climate change. One step in the work on climate changes is the Convention on Climate Change, which was agreed on in 1992. The Convention on Climate Change resulted in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement between a number of industrialized countries to limit or reduce the green gas emissions.

Gerbera jamesonii is a plant with a large amount of pollen and various flower colours and a favourite host plant for Frankliniella occidentalis. The best growing temperature for gerbera is approximately 20°C. Frankliniella occidentalis or the Western Flower Thrips is a small insect that has become an important pest in greenhouse cultivation all over the world. The high temperatures in the greenhouse are favourable for F. occidentalis.