This study was conducted in the "Kåtaberget" forest reserve in Västerbotten in the summer of 1999. In the summer of 1995, a prescribed burning was performed in the reserve. In some places where coarse dry woody debris (logs and stumps) was present, the fire consumed the wood, as well as parts of the humus layer, creating deep-burned patches. The low intensity ground fire also created dead woody debris by burning off living trees with open fire scars, as well as standing dead trees. In this study, the post-fire tree seedling establishment was examined, with special attention given to the former presence of woody debris. The study also includes a survey of the areal extent of deep-burned patches, as well as an examination of tree seedling establishment in these patches, compared to other burnt ground.

In today's agriculture efficiency and the capacity of tools and machinery are crucial. In this work we investigate whether it is possible to enhance the capacity of sowing by increasing the work speed of seeders, how seed technology affects seed placement, and if there is any difference between two different brands of seeders and their sow techniques. The seeders we have chosen to compare are Väderstad Rapid drill and Amazon Cirrus drill. The tillage capacity of the seeders and their traction power needs were examined as well.Väderstad Rapid and Amazon Cirrus were tested in a randomized block design with four replicates at three different speeds, 8 km/h, 12 km/h and 15 km/h. The seed placement at the different speeds was examined by dividing the seedbed into four different zones from its surface to its bottom.

Present essay aims to introduce the reader to central topics regarding Rhododendrons of subgenus Vireya. As a result of a donation, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, received a collection of Vireya from a local amateur grower, Kurt Myllenberg. Since the subgenus Vireya is uncommon in Scandinavian horticulture, the study tries to establish conditions for successful growing. The subgenus Vireya differ from the other Rhododendron species through mainly three characteristics: the presence of two tails, attached to each end of the seed; the ovary-style junction is tapering and the pedicels arises directly from a dome-like base and form an umbel and not a raceme. The subgenus is distributed mostly in the islands of Indonesia and New Guinea, but also from Malaysia to Nepal and in Australia. Since Vireya species mainly grows as epiphytes in the tree canopies, they need high drainage and not too much water.

The ability of dairy cows to survive and the economic importance of this have been in-creasing in dairy cattle breeding lately. Increased longevity contribute to an increased pro-portion of cows that produce milk in more productive lactations and reduces the replace-ment costs together with a good health and fertility. Unfortunately it is often argued that longevity has been decreasing due to a strong selection for production traits in dairy cattle.The aims of this study were to find correlations between different longevity evaluations and between different estimates on longevity and other traits in the Nordic Total Merit (NTM) breeding value. The aim was also to compare different traits for cows of two differ-ent longevity groups.The data were Predicted Breeding Values (PBV) from Nordic HOL and SR bulls and records from Holstein (HOL) and Swedish Red (SR) cows estimated by the Swedish Dairy Association.The three Swedish longevity indexes were very highly correlated (>0.89) and the corre-lations between the Swedish official longevity index and the five Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation (NAV) longevity indexes varied between 0.73-0.83.In the sire evaluation part, the traits most negatively correlated with longevity for HOL were dairyness, protein and fat index. In SR, milk, protein, and fat index only had slightly positive correlations with longevity.

Several radioactive nuclides were deposited in Sweden after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The greatest attention was given to 137Cs because of its relative long physical half life of about 30 years. 137Cs will be present in nature for more than 100 years before it has vanished completely. When radiocaesium decays to a stable end product ionizing radiation is emitted, which can cause cancer in humans that has been exposed to a high radiation dose. Radiocaesium behaves like potassium and is easily taken up into biological systems.

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr) is just like Norway spruce (Picea abies) a species in thegenus picea. The natural range of Sitka spruce is a narrow strip along the west coast of North America. Itis the most coastal of all picea species, and very dependent on the mild and humid climate along thepacific coast.Sitka spruce has been grown a long time in the countries around the North Sea, particularly in GreatBritain where it currently is the most important species in British forestry. Sitka spruce has not beenplanted in Swedish forests to any large extent before the storm Gudrun in 2005. Several studies indicatethat the production of wood biomass is higher for Sitka spruce compared to Norway spruce.

Vid betongframställning förekommer det spridningar i delmaterialens egenskaper som påverkar den färskaoch hårdnande betongen. Spridningarna i betongens delmaterial har studerats hos tre av Skanskas betongfabriker(Göteborg, Luleå och Norrköping), genom provuttag som analyserats hos Cementa Research.Provuttag har gjorts en gång per månad under ett års tid från fabrikerna. Delmaterialen som har analyseratsär ballast, cement, flytmedel och kalkfiller (endast hos Göteborg och Norrköping). Siktning av ballast0-8 mm har utförts med den traditionella siktningen. För kornstorlekar mindre än 0,25 mm, cement samtkalkfiller har lasersiktning använts.För att få en överskådlig bild över spridningarna hos delmaterialen har en analys utförts som illusteraravvikelserna med exakta siffror.

Runt 70 % av skogsföryngringen i Sverige utförs genom plantering efter maskinell markberedning. På de flesta marker uppnås tillräckligt antal godkända planteringspunkter men vid riklig förekomst av block som hindrar eller stör markberedningsaggregatet blir det problem. En annan komplikation i samband med markberedning på blockrik mark är att där till följd av tidigare brukningshistorik och ålder ofta finns rikligt med död ved i form av lågor. Vid markberedning ska hänsyn tas till att dessa inte skadas, eftersom död ved är viktig för den biologiska mångfalden. Huvudsyftet med denna studie var att jämföra resultatet av markberedning med grävmaskin respektive harv på blockrik mark, vad gäller planteringspunkter och skador på lågor. Även användbara planteringspunkter innan utförd markberedning samt skador på lågor orsakade av maskiner i samband med avverkningen studerades.

The county administration asked LKAB to make an inventory of possibly contaminated sites caused by their mining activity. The inventory should be performed according to the MIFO model, a method from SEPA which is used to assess a contaminated site. The first phase involves collection of information through interviews and site inspections and in phase 2 a general survey with field sampling is conducted. LKAB started the work with the first phase of the survey during 2003. During this project the information collected in Phase 1 was evaluated and 16 of the sites were chosen to proceed to MIFO Phase 2 (six sites in Kiruna, and 5 sites respectively in Svappavaara and Malmberget). The sampling of these 16 sites was performed during week 27 2004.

The county administration asked LKAB to make an inventory of possibly contaminated sites caused by their mining activity. The inventory should be performed according to the MIFO model, a method from SEPA which is used to assess a contaminated site. The first phase involves collection of information through interviews and site inspections and in phase 2 a general survey with field sampling is conducted.LKAB started the work with the first phase of the survey during 2003. During this project the information collected in Phase 1 was evaluated and 16 of the sites were chosen to proceed to MIFO Phase 2 (six sites in Kiruna, and 5 sites respectively in Svappavaara and Malmberget). The sampling of these 16 sites was performed during week 27 2004.

The aim of this work was to find out what potential contaminants from roads, residential area and businesses within Svedens industrial area that can affect groundwater quality and quantity. Data collection was from SGU, VISS, internal material from Gävleborg county Administrative Board and Gävle municipality archive. GIS software ArcGIS was used to create the map images in the work. The studied area is located approximately ten kilometers west of Gävle city and consists of the esker Valboåsen, which is a glacifluvial deposit that in its central parts consist of coarse material that is overlaid by sand, clay and silt. North of esker Valboåsen there are the river Gavleån which has an inflow to the groundwater in the esker. This inflow represents the largest part of the groundwater recharge.

The process of European Integration and creation of the single market revealed many questions and boundaries on the development and improvement of the European Social Policy. Pension?s sustainability has become the priority issue especially during the EU enlargement processes. Different policy instruments and institutions available to governments of Member States in realization of social objectives resulted in a growing diversity of pension polices which produced different combinations of public and private provisions - ?private-public hybrids? , with the state exercising different degrees of influence in their development.

The aims of the silvicultural method natural regeneration of spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) in birch (Betula pendula and pubescens) shelterwoods are to establish a new stand of tree seedl-ings and to protect those from high groundwater levels, frost damages and grass competition during its first life years. The aim of this work has been to (i) describe how shelterwood and stand characteristics influ-ence the results from using natural regeneration of spruce protected by a shelterwood of birch, and to (ii) compare those regeneration results with planting of spruce after soil scarification in clear-cut areas. Totally 17 harvesting sites have been inventoried and 15 of those included natural regenera-tion in birch shelterwoods, and two were subjects to soil scarification and planting of spruce. The sites represented 7-10 year old final cuts and are located in the coastal (eastern) region of the province of Norrbotten in Sweden. In all areas shelterwood and stand characteristics, as well as the number of main crop seedlings and the height of the highest main crop spruce seedling, were estimated and registered in all areas.

Gamla Årstabron i Stockholm uppvisade efter 80 år i drift omfattande skador på de bärande betongkonstruktionerna enligt en utredning som genomfördes 2006 av dåvarande Carl Bro AB på uppdrag av dåvarande Banverket Region Öst. Det konstaterades att omfattande reparationer och förstärkningar av brons betongvalv var nödvändiga för framtida rationell drift av bron. Det beslutades efter vidare utredning att de första tre valven på Södermalm i Stockholm skulle renoveras med injekteringsbetong. Renoveringen av de tre valven på fastlandet på Södermalm var ett prov i full skala för att hitta den optimala metodiken för den fortsatta renoveringen av resterande 17 betongvalv. Det här examensarbetet syftar till att utvärdera metoden med injekteringsbetong med hänsyn till injekteringsbetongens egenskaper, material och produktionsteknik. Bakgrunden till detta examensarbete är att det finns ett stort behov av att följa upp renoveringsmetoden med injekteringsbetong eftersom den inte har använts i någon större utsträckning i Sverige sedan slutet av 1970-talet.

A new Swedish political approach to forestry was initiated 1993, that put goals of production and environmental issues into equal importance to Swedish Forestry Law. Earlier nature conservation very often declaimed preservation the best way to conserve nature, but recently it is clear that many highly biological values are due to former land use or disturbance. Many old pastures or cultivations dominated by deciduous trees are today characterized by a dense overgrowth of Norway spruce. By actively paying attention to nature in forestry (nature restoration), it is possible to partly reconstruct habitats or disturbances that are necessary to favour the biological values. The aim with this master thesis is to study the nature restoration, (NS, Swedish abbreviation), performed in 11 forest sites in the middle of Sweden 8-14 years ago. Since NS recently have become applied, it has never yet been evaluated.