Microwave is a time- efficient device for heating and reheating of foods. Despite the fact that its effects on foods have been evaluated during a long period of time, without any more negative effects shown compared to conventional cooking, one third of the Swedish population believes (in 2010) it accounts for a higher loss of nutrition. This literature review aim to compile studies regarding how food is affected by cooking in microwave, with respect to cooking losses, nutrition, secondary metabolites as well as sensory and textural aspects and compare it with conventional cooking. The compilation shows that different combination of effect (W), time and amount of water during microwave cooking have different effects on foods. The contents of proteins, vitamin B and carbohydrates are generally higher after microwave cooking, while anti-nutritional substances are affected much less during conventional cooking. This also depends on if it is of animal or non-animal origin. However, for the majority of nutrition values the differences are quite small.

This report is the result of a thesis work in Integrated Product Development, regarding hygienic features in dishwashers and especially disinfection by the use of steam.The thesis is performed at Electrolux Primary Development Dishcare in Stockholm and in collaboration with the Department of Machine Design at the Royal Institute of Technology.The targets of the thesis are to prove the advantages of a technology suitable to implement as a hygienic feature inside a dishwasher and to realize a functional prototype of a differentiated hygienic feature that does not exist on the market today.The process followed to perform the thesis is the process defined for Electrolux Primary Development.The technology chosen for development is disinfection by heating the water on the surface of the dishware, by the use of steam.A number of tests on how steam behaves when injected into the dishwasher tub have been performed, providing the results that have been taken in consideration when designing the prototype.The prototype consists of a pipe system provided with nozzles to eject the steam into the upper parts of the dishwasher. Tests of the final prototype show that thermal disinfection of water in a dedicated area of the tub can be reached within 9 minutes. The operation requires 0,17 liters of water and consumes 0.2kWh..

Arlanda airport is Sweden?s largest airport. The demand for comfort cooling of the airport?s buildings is high and is mainly provided by district cooling. District cooling is based on the same principle as district heating.

The activity of interest groups in the political process of the European Union has given rise to a broad debate concerning the effect on European democracy these groups have. As relatively powerful political actors, the question of these groups? views on the EU and how the union should be is an important one. The status of these groups owns democratic representation also affects the democratic status of the EU. Being based on a number of theories, this study adopts an ideology analysis for the purpose of testing these theories on two cases ? the Swedish environmental organizations World Wide Fund for Nature and The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

ABSTRACTThis thesis focuses on the OPEC oil crisis of 1973 and its impact on the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Denmark. Starting from Walter Carlsnaes theory of energy vulnerability, the concepts of vulnerability and national security are tested on the selected cases and an array of policy alternatives are assessed. Posited available options like oil stockpiling, conservation, renewable energy and international coordination are evaluated as means for ameliorating the vulnerability of the nations. The theory chosen is further expounded with a consensus element to reinforce its explanatory power. The thesis utilizes a wide range of material from parliamentary records to daily newspapers in an attempt to shed some light on the interplay between economics and politics.Sweden and Denmark evince diverging developments despite their common starting point with exceptionally high oil dependencies and can be located on different ends of the energy policy gamut.

In order to reach the environmental targets, set up by the EU, there are many measures taken to make Sweden more energy efficient. In the housing and real estate sector, an installation of an exhaust air heat pump that reuses the heat in the exhaust air in order to lower the amount of acquired energy, is an example of such an action. The recovered energy can then be used for heating of radiators and tap water. This report aims to evaluate and compare three different systems using exhaust air heat pumps regarding COP, degree of coverage and cost savings. This study was delimited to only account for apartment buildings.The theory chapter describes the different conditions and factors that affect a building?s energy balance.

With a larger awareness of the climate changes and increasing electricity prices, energy efficiency measures in the industry have become more common. By rationalize the activity and by the same time decrease the emission of greenhouse gases the company can both save money and reduce negative environmental impact. For the Swedish industries the electricity price have traditional been relative low, which has resulted in a considerable larger usage than other European countries. By a deregulation of the European electricity market the electricity price will level off between the countries, which will cause a higher electricity price in Sweden than we are use to. To prevent that the Swedish industry don?t lose competitiveness against the other European countries, it will require energy efficiency activities in all different forms.ABB Sweden has decided to decrease their total energy usage with five percent in two years.

The urbanization of the world is increasing. How it affects bird populations have been well studied during the last decade, and comparisons between urban and non-urban habitats have been carried out. A common method for measuring habitat quality is to calculate the population density. This method is easy to use, but have been criticized during the last couple of years. In this study, data of population densities was compared with data on reproduction success.

The objective of this work was to introduce measures to reduce energy and water demand at Gävle Söder 17:10. To succeed, this energy audit has been made. The work is based on collected statistics from the property owner Norrporten, measurements, literature review and through consultation with experts in the field. Two models, one for each building, have been created in the simulation program BV2 to estimate the potential of energy measures based on the collected information. The models in BV2 have been verified against the statistics of the energy consumption.With the help of calculations and simulations, seven cost-effective measures have been identified.

The purpose of this study was to understand how the concept of quality as an idea was spread to and translated in municipal elderly care. A central question was: How does literature, policy documents and key people describe the function and meaning of the concept of quality? The method of analysis was a qualitative case study with a critical discourse. The theoretical framework of the study is mainly what is known as institutional theory and a line of thought describing how ideas are transferred and spread. The theoretical focus is on how original ideas are interpreted and why they gain a foothold in new contexts.

In the near future we need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions significantly for the benefit of the environment around us. The European Union has de-manded a variety of climate and energy goals to be achieved by year 2020, the ?20-20-20? targets. With these aims, The European Union means that we must reduce our emissions from fossil fuels and instead increase our renewable fuels. With stump harvest in the forest it?s possible to increase the use of renewable fuels and reduce our emissions from fossil fuels.

The aim of this report has been to investigate the use of electricity energy before and after a conversion of foodservice. The ambition was also to highlight the food safety and the retention of nutrients in relation to the conversion. The methods being used were qualitative interviews, case studies, study visits and literature. The equipment and the use of energy was the same in 2008 as in 2011 for hot-holding of the tested component, sauce with ham. The chilled system used more than three times the energy and cost for one portion than one portion in the hot-hold system.

The author has, with the help of AK Consultancy Indoor Air AB, formed a series of questions regarding moisture problems in buildings and how these are handled in extreme climates with high temperatures and a high relative humidity. Furthermore to analyse and indentify key material that makes a construction safe against moisture problems. Ventilation, AC and the choice of materials have in a later stage of the thesis been investigated to enhance the knowledge of moisture protection. The research for this report includes measurements on existing buildings, calculation models on the building envelope for analyses and the ingoing materials of the envelope. The health aspect of moisture problems related to ?sick building syndrome? has been included and interviews have been conducted to gather relevant information.A study of the American system, ASHRAE, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers and the standards used in Singapore has been made to highlight the difference.

The aim with this study was to investigate the effects a change of manufacturing process would have on the mechanical properties of drill bits made of a WC/Co composite used for stone cutting. The method used today is sintering, where the material is heated in a conventional sintering oven. The other method was microwave sintering, where the material is heated by radiation in the microwave region. Also an investigation of the manufacturing cost were made.The main difference between the two heating methods is that the conventional way is a rather slow process and the microwave method is very fast. The material is also heated homogeniously in the method with mirowaves, aposed to the case with the conventional sintering where the material is heated from the outside in.This makes the material harder and more wear resistent.

This report was written as a final thesis within the Department of forest economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as a completion of the M.SC Forestry programme. The aim of this study was to create a model that, with respect to given stock levels, temperature, fuel usage and fuel price, would identify the optimal levels for purchase of bio fuels, optimal levels of incineration of bio fuels and the sum of the present values of all costs. The model would be applicable for a larger district heating plant. Data regarding temperature were received from SMHI. Information considering fuel prices was taken from the Swedish Forest Agency and the facts about fuel usage were collected from a large district heating plant, located in the southwest of Sweden. For the temperature, a sinus curve was adapted to describe the temperature over a year.