Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is a novel arthropod-borne orthobunyavirus emerging in Europe in 2011 to 2012. Acute SBV infection causes diarrhoea, fever and reduced milk production in dairy cattle, but it is mainly the reproductive disorders (abortions, malformed foetuses and stillborn animals) in ruminants that have caused substantial economical losses. The prevalence of the virus outside of Europe is poorly investigated. SBV or SBV-like antibodies were detected in Mozambique in 2013, which raised interest for a similar study in Tanzania. In this study in Tanzania, blood samples were collected from 478 sheep and goats from 39 herds in 15 different villages in three districts, covering areas in the north, south and east of Tanzania. The epidemiology of the virus was investigated by tracing antibodies by ELISA and mapping of the virus by PCR was started.

AbstractThis degree thesis was made in cooperation with Chematur Engineering in Karlskoga.Many of the environmental issues of today are a result of the motor traffic. Consumption of fossil fuels harms our environmental through formation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. To get under control with our environmental issues it?s important to find substitutes for oil that are both cheap and environmentally friendly. Ethanol has a long history as a motor fuel and is both enviromentally friendly has a high efficiency.According to the EU commissions directives for motor fuels, 5, 75 % of all the fuels in Sweden should be renewable in 2010.

Inside the south Swedish national park Dalby Söderskog, wild boars (Sus scrofa L.) have been visiting since 2010. The presence of wild boars has earlier been proven to impact both soil and vegetation characteristics, both positively and negatively. Still, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the rooting effect on the vegetation in deciduous forest within the native range. In this study, I have compared the field vegetation collected before and after the invasion of wild boars in 74 permanent experimental plots. More specifically, the study aimed to qualify the effect of wild boar rooting on cover ratio, species richness and species composition in a temperate deciduous forest.

Background: Knowledge management is a concept that is considered of increasing importance in the developing knowledge society. Previous research in the area has to a large extent been based on large multinational companies. Purpose: The thesis aims to clarify how middle-sized Swedish management consultancy companies work with knowledge management. The thesis intends to use existing theories about knowledge management to explain the effect of size and area of operation on management consultancy companies? knowledge management.

The number of silvicultural contractors has significantly increased in the last decades, and among its main clients are the forest companies. The purpose with this study was to describe the contractors that worked with planting in Norrbotten and Västerbotten in 2009 for Holmen Skog, Norra Skogsägarna, SCA Skog and Sveaskog and also examine if there was any correlation between the contractors? competence and the quality in the planting they achieved. A survey was made among 47 contractors with a questionnaire who performed planting for the forestry companies in 2009. 27 contractors answered the questionnaire and 4 representatives of these contracting companies took part in an extensive interview.

In the construction industry the number of female managers is very low, only four percent (SCB, 2010). In fact, women with management positions has risen by six percentage overall, the last seven years (SCB, 2010). If women in managerial positions continue to grow at this rate, the proportion of women managers will be equal to that of male managers in 2033. More women are needed in the maledominated construction industry in particular because it is deemed that they have a different way of thinking and acting (Granér, 1994). Nelton (1991) believes that companies can take advantage of female managers to be more competitive on the market, the reason why is because women can see other possibilities when solving problems. Rapacioli (2010) argues that the recruitment of women into management positions not only benefits the individual itself but also the company. We have used a qualitative study with a deductive approach. Six respondents from the same company were interviewed, two of them have management positions and the other four were underemployed.The research question of this paper is: What differences and similarities are seen between male and female leadership in terms of their characteristics in the construction industry?The purpose of this paper is to examine similarities and differences in leadership in the construction industry where the focus is on the female and male characteristics. To fulfill our purpose we chose a qualitative study. We have interviewed six respondents at one company in the construction industry. Two of the six respondents have management positions and the remaining four are employed. In this paper we have concluded that there are some differences and similarities between men and women´s leadership in terms of their characteristics.

A more complex and turbulent world market puts pressure on flexibility and the ability to adjust its business to the market changes. The rapid and unpredictable change is hade to analyze and forecast which demands more short-term forecasting. The issue for this dissertation is based upon the demand of more flexible ways of doing business in the bank sector in Sweden, which is a turbulent and unpredictable market. Handelsbanken is a company that uses the so called Beyond budgeting concept and the dissertation is about this company?s ability to solve the economic governance without the traditional budgeting process.

The aim of this paper is to analyse how the term attractiveness is interpreted in Swedish contemporary urban planning. The focus is to analyse how the term is discursively constructed and by this highlight the conceptions that exist around what makes a city attractive. We want to emphasize the importance of a deeper understanding of how attractiveness is used in urban planning and how the term is a part of the development of our cities. Given the use of attractiveness as a part of visionary goals for Malmö´s and other Swedish cities future development, our intention, therefore, is to enhance the understanding of what the use of attractiveness means in respect of the creation and construction of power relations in time and place. The framework of our analysis is based on the discourse theory approach and used as a way of understanding how urban ideals is discursively constructed.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen har två delar: Att göra en konkurrensanalys av fem företag i polymerindustrin, en mogen industri, genom att identifiera viktiga strategiska nyckelområden och använda detta som grund. Konkurrensanalysen kommer sedan att vidareutvecklas genom att använda strategy canvas med intentionen att visualisera företagens strategier. Metod: Undersökningen har ett kvalitativt angreppssätt för att vi ska kunna skapa en bättre förståelse för företagen samt svara på vårt syfte att göra en konkurrensanalys. Den abduktiva ansatsen har möjliggjort för oss att vara flexibla i vårt användande av teori och empiri. Vi har undersökt fem företag i polymerindustrin: Primärdata består av intervjuer med analytiker samt utvalda företagsrepresentanter.

In today?s competitive market, design is an important element for the companies. They must succeed with delivering an increased value and an experience for the consumer to be able to survive. The Swedish company?s have become better in the design area, the higher standards the consumer?s demands forces the company to invest more in design.

Background: Many authors consider knowledge to be a significant source for competitive advantage. Replicating companies found their competitiveness on an ability to leverage its knowledge base by replicating its business model in new contexts, a process often referred to as the McDonalds approach. Several authors emphasize that an efficient method for knowledge transfer may increase the risk for imitation. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine in an explorative manner how strategies for replicating complex knowledge systems are employed and developed. Furthermore, our ambition is to explore the notion of replication strategy.

AimThe aim of the study is to examine how future teachers of Physical Education view the subject, the occupation and their attitudes about the future and create an understanding about this through these research questions:In what way do the teacher students justify the subject Physical Education?How do teacher students view the future of the subject and the occupation?According to the teacher students, what and whom affect the subject? Is there a difference between the teacher students?views and attitudes depending on if they are currently in their second or last year of their education?MethodThis study use qualitative methods in order to create a deeper understanding for the participants? views and attitudes. Eight teacher students of Physical Education were interviewed. The interviews were between 27-57 minutes. They were recorded, transcribed and then analyzed from a socio-cultural perspective as well as Bernstein?s theory of classification.ResultThe participants justify the subject in words such as that it gives the students? knowledge about how to uphold a decent standard of living and an understanding for the correlation between physical activity, nutrition, health and wellbeing.

The manufacturing industry is currently in a short-term downturn while the competition is increasing. The result of this is that companies must find new ways to bring out their products. Traditional competitive strategies, such as low pricing, is not sufficient today as the customer is inquiring something more than just a good product. Higher demands are presented on an accurate, well functional, communication between customer and companies, as this has become an important strategic factor in achieving long-term profitability.The aim of this independent project was to analyze and evaluate the communication process between a company and its sales companies.In order to illustrate this process, a case study was carried out at Alfa Laval, their sales companies and employees at their distribution center in Tumba. In order to see the differences in attitudes between the management, the sales companies and the employees regarding communication and involvement a gap analysis were used.The theoretical part of the study considers theories about business mission, communication, involvement, quality and creating value.The result showed that a smaller gap exists between the sales companies and the management while a slightly larger one exists between the employees and the management.

Considering that the current technology is constantly improving, it becomes increasingly important to have an efficient logistics in a company to maintain profitability while achieving a competitive business. Efficient logistics may be accomplished by improving the internal materials handling. In this thesis the internal material handling of steel frames has been studied at a factory in Vaggeryd. The goal of this study is to investigate the problems that exist with the current production flow of products and provide suggestions on how it can be developed to reduce unnecessary handling and movement.The study has a deductive approach where the authors has been using literature studies parallel with empirical analyzes conducted at a company to achieve the purpose of the study. Documentation from the company and interviews with staff and observations form the basis for the data collection carried out.

The purpose of this master thesis is to present a model that illuminates the important factors when deriving technical information from market data within a company. For companies to be able to become and stay competitive in the market, product quality is an important factor. Whilst good product quality leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty, lack of quality brings costs in service and replacements. To improve product quality, the developers need information and knowledge about what quality issues affect existing products. Most companies gather data from market about known issues, but in order eliminate known quality issues in new products; this data has to be transformed into information and knowledge.