Background: Folate is a water - soluble vitamin necessary for normal DNA synthesis among  other mechanisms. Folate deficiency can cause megaloblastic anemia resulting from abnormal erythrocyte d evelopment. At the Department of Clinical Chemistry, Linköping, analysis of folate is performed with Siemens ADVIA Centaur® XP which uses an immunochemical method with chemiluminimetric detection. Currently, the assay is conducted on serum, is poured off and frozen after 48 h and treated with light protection because folate is considered to be light sensitive.Methods: This study tested lithium heparin plasma for analysis of folate with Siemens ADVIA Centaur® XP with the aim to be able to perform a package of analyzes in anemia investigation from the same collection tube. Furthermore, the stability of folate was studied for up to 168 h and examined regarding light sensitivity.Results: Statistically significant higher values were obtained in the analysis of folate in lithium heparin plasma than folate in serum (p < 0,001).

This study focuses on aspects of cult experiences, given by deconverted formermembers of closed religious movements. Their testimonies were published inbooks or interviews. The aims of the study were to understand the interactionbetween the religious group and its members, living in high tension towardsmainstream society and their testimonies of altered self-esteem during attraction,membership, deconversion and defection. The purpose was to understand how aperson´s self-esteem is affected by inner mechanisms of closed religiousmovements and how these experiences affects a persons identity. Another aspectwas whether there might be differences in altered self-esteem, between those whoenlisted as adults, and those who were born into the closed religious contexts.Social Identity Theory, Sigmund Freud´s and Carl Rogers models of personal egowere used as models of interpretations.

The aim of this master?s thesis is to investigate a information center called ?Infoteket om funktionshinder?. The purpose of Infoteket is to collect information about disabilities and make it accessible to people with disabilities, their relatives and public. In this survey I will analyze how Infoteket can help people with disabilities to achieve empowerment. I use empowerment as a theoretical framework as Jay A.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how customers, by interacting with each other, can communicate and create the image of a brand. We find this topic to be relevant since there are no previous studies conducted concerning the customers influence on the brand image. Our ambition has been to describe in what ways and to what extent the customer can affect and influence the brand image by communicating with other customers. To fulfill our purposed we have targeted three important questions which are:? In which ways can the customer affect the communicated image of a brand?? To what extent can the customer influence the brand image and the perceived value?? Who has control over the brand, the customer or the company?For this study we have used a qualitative approach in which we have conducted eight personal interviews with brand consultants and the editor of the magazine Dagens Media which has given us the foundation for our analysis.

This thesis project has focused on studying ÅF?s business concept Energy Collaboration, which is their way of selling energy efficiency services. Thereforeongoing projects have been analyzed. The purpose was to determine achieved energy efficiency, costs and profitability for the studied projects. It was concluded that the Energy Collaboration is a good way of selling energy efficiency services, since the customer takes no risk and energy savings of about 15-25 % can be achieved with simple measures.

Adoption är ett av många sätt att bilda familj på, dock är det inte så vanligt i vårt samhälle. Då adoption inte är vanligt förekommande finns det inte heller mycket kunskap kring adoptionsprocessen därför har vårt syfte varit att undersöka vilka emotioner som uppkommer i adoptionsprocessen och hur dessa bearbetas både inom individen och i en gemenskap. Vårt syfte var att undersöka hur paren och den enskilda individen hanterar emotionerna som uppkommer i adoptionsprocessen men även hur normerna påverkar synen på adoptivföräldrar. Därefter ville vi även se hur den enskilda individen kunde genomgå denna process och om föräldragruppen hade någon betydelse. För att ta reda på detta utförde vi fyra solidariska intervjuer med fyra olika par som ingick i samma föräldragrupp.

SCA is the largest private owned forest owner in Sweden, with an ownership of 2 million hectares of productive forestland. To manage the planning of such large areas and to fit the traditional organization structure of a Swedish forest company, the planning approach is subdivided into three stages; strategic, tactical and operational. The strategic part, based on a statistic sample of stands, returns a harvest level estimate which should then be implemented at actual sites in the tactical part. This procedure can lead to incompatible solutions as the strategic solution is not necessarily possible to translate into actual sites in the tactical plan. The geographic aspect is important in tactical planning due to the large costs for moving equipment and maintenance of a large number of forest roads.

Bakgrund:    Ekonomistyrningen omfattar planering och uppföljning av ekonomiska mål och mått, samt påverkan på en verksamhet och dess personal genom beslut och handling. Styrmedel behövs för att fullgöra ekonomistyrningens funktioner och uppnå företagets uppsatta mål. Budget är ett av de vanligaste styrsystemen inom de formella styrmedlen. I dagsläget är debatten om budgetering intensiv och det råder oenigheter om budgeten i själva verket är ett bra verktyg eller ett onödig ont. Syfte:     Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken betydelse budgeten har som styrmedel i det valda fallföretaget. Vidare vill vi ta reda på om de driftsansvariga på Burger King upplever budgeten som ett stöd eller en belastning. Metod:   En kvalitativ undersökningsmetodik och ett deduktivt angreppssätt har använts i  uppsatsen.

Inbreeding has become a problem in some horse breeds. Studies show that it may lead to inbreeding depression which affects e.g. reproduction traits. In the wild there are mechanisms that make horses avoid mating with close relatives. When selection is done by humans this mechanism is removed and intensive breeding for a few traits, for example good racing results, can become a problem.

Syftet med vårt arbete har varit att beskriva hur kommunerna kvalitetssäkrar den interna kontrollen. Utifrån syftet har vi formulerat problemformuleringen. Kvalitetssäkrar kommuner sin interna kontroll och i så fall hur och med vilka aktiviteter utförs det? Vi valde att göra vår uppsats med hjälp av fallstudiemetoden. Vi utförde intervjuerna i tre kommuner och där intervjuade vi tre ekonomiansvarig/personer som arbetar med den interna kontrollen samt tre sakkunniga revisorer.

In today?s society, employees are the businesses face toward the public. By establishing dress codes, companies can control the customers? impression. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the existing regulations regarding dress codes in companies.

Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum L.) is a major problem in gardenpea cultivations contracted by Findus AB, a Swedish food processing company. The main problem is that the nightshade berries contain solanin and, thus, are not tolerated in the marketed product, which is fresh frozen peas. In addition, berries have the same size and color as the peas and cannot be separated at the factory. Black nightshades have the last ten years become a more common weed in field grown vegetables in the southern parts of Sweden. This MSc thesis presents an experiment conducted in 2005, aiming at developing a tool for predicting the need for control of black nightshade in peas.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vad stress innebär, hur det upplevs och orsakas inom Räddningstjänsten, samt hur det kan förebyggas. Enkäten gjordes utifrån ett kvantitativt perspektiv och skickades till larmoperatörer och brandmän på Räddningstjänsten. Enkäten besvarades av totalt 33 respondenter. Deltagarnas ålder togs inte i beaktning, enbart antalet år av yrkeserfarenhet. Datan analyserades I SPSS, med hjälp av ett Chi-tvåtest och ett Pearsons's r-test.

In recent years, awareness of the climate change has increased around the world. Environmental issues have been taking into consideration, both by individuals and companies. Therefore the demands for new environmental friendly technology have increased, also known as cleantech. To further establish and develop cleantech it requires capital. Venture capitalists have as well seen the potential.To increase the number of Venture capital investments in cleantech, it is important the investments generate good returns.

The transition from having been under another country?s control to becoming a democratic country can, many times, pose difficulties, which has proven itself to be quite common. Estonia and Moldova?s processes towards a democratic regime are two examples of countries with varied success in the final transition phase.When the USSR (Soviet union) fell and collapsed in 1991 Estonia was well on their way from having a communistic ruling to a democratic one due to the fact that their democratic work had already begun a few years prior to 1991. After the collapse Estonia continued with their democratic work and in 2004 the country became a EU member state.