This report is a B.Sc. Forestry thesis work at the school for Forest Management, SLU. The work was an assignment from the forest owners? association Mellanskog. The aim of the work where to investigate the economical result of removing undergrowth trees before first thinning, and a follow-up of the contractors and their compliance with Mellanskog standards. This thesis work was divided in three parts: The first was to find a relation between the net volume from the first thinning and the cost of cleaning undergrowth trees. Secondly there was a follow-up in the field, to investigate whether the contractors have done the undergrowth cleaning according to Mellanskog?s directives.

There are various arguments for using total mixed rations (TMR) or not. Cows can easily become fat and thus poorly utilize the feed while it can be stated that TMR also has a positive effect on cows? health and wellbeing as the rumen environment is more constant than when separate feeding is applied. Studies do show that that especially low yielding cows kept in groups get fatter when fed TMR. The overfeeding implicates higher feeding costs. This study included 10 herds where 5 had TMR and 5 hade separate feeding of forage and concentrates.

The effects from a planned wind farm on the grid utility Gävle Energis electrical grid have been studied. The wind farm is planned to be built in the forest 15 km north of Gävle and will have 23 turbines with rated power from 2 to 2.5 MW, resulting in a total installed power between 46 MW and 57.5 MW. The grid connection will be made at 70 kV. The aim of the analysis was to determine what effects the wind farm would have on the power grid in the form of electrical disturbances (flicker etc.), need for new investment and raised operational cost. To allow the connection of the wind farm technical solutions (new lines, power stations and grid reinforcements) have been constructed.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att skapa en förståelse för vilka bakomliggande krafterna som gör att människor använder Blocket och se vilka strategier som kan användas för att bryta dessa krafter..

The purpose of this essay is to describe how Boverkets Byggregler has affected the cost ofnewly built houses from 2003 to 2012, to Boverkets Vision 2025. The purpose is also to findagent-principal relations in the construction sector.When investing in an energy efficient house the operating costs are reduced compared to aconventional house. But due to the lower operating costs, the investment cost rises. In thisstudy, we find out if it is economically viable to invest in an energy efficient house comparedto a conventional house from the customer's perspective.The study's approach has been qualitatively where we in collaboration with Derome Hus hadaccess to three conventional reference houses and a passive house and data that was necessaryto conduct viability assessments on houses. We conducted five interviews with people fromDeromekoncernen and Varbergs kommun.The calculation methods we have used in this study are present value method, annuity methodand a sensitivity analysis.

År 2009 startades det europeiska forskningsprojektet COST Action IS0804 med syfte att få mer kunskap om flerspråkiga barns språkutveckling och utveckla bedömningsmaterial anpassade för flerspråkiga barn. Inom COST Action fokuserar arbetsgruppen Narrative and discourse på berättelser (narrativer) som ett sätt att bedöma språk hos barn. Berättande liknar naturlig språkanvändning och anses ge en mer rättvisande bild av flerspråkiga barns förmåga än andra logopediska test. Av narrativgruppen utvecklades bedömningsmaterialet MAIN (Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives). Med MAIN kan barns produktion och förståelse av berättelser undersökas på makrostrukturell nivå.

This thesis examines the emissions costs of Swedish aviation and their degree of internalisation under current economic instruments. The results show that the degree of internalisation spans from practically zero for a long-haul flight to 6 per cent for a typical domestic flight, where the climate cost, including high-altitude impact, makes up the main part of the cost. To inform evaluation of the consequences of this underinternalisation, or attempts to correct for it using price instruments, the price and income elasticities of international leisure air travel from Sweden are estimated using household expenditure data and two different price measures. The resulting elasticities are very high ? 2.03 or 2.04 for the income elasticity and -2.53 or -1.88 for the price elasticity ? and should be interpreted cautiously due to data limitations, especially for the price elasticities.

This report is a B.Sc. Forestry thesis work at the school for Forest Management, SLU. The work was an assignment from the forest owners? association Mellanskog. The aim of the work where to investigate the economical result of removing undergrowth trees before first thinning, and a follow-up of the contractors and their compliance with Mellanskog standards. This thesis work was divided in three parts: The first was to find a relation between the net volume from the first thinning and the cost of cleaning undergrowth trees. Secondly there was a follow-up in the field, to investigate whether the contractors have done the undergrowth cleaning according to Mellanskog?s directives.

The arm?s length principle has existed in Swedish law since 1928 but has previously been given little attention. In 2007, documentation requirements were introduced, and the government began to do tax audits regarding transfer pricing. This thesis examines how the documentation requirements and tax audits affect the application of the arm's length principle. The research consists of nine interviews with a total of ten people at the tax authority (Skatteverket) and audit- and consulting agencies. The results of the interviews are analyzed using the agency theory. Many companies are risk averse and prefer having correct transfer pricing instead of taking on challenging strategies that can be risky in case of an investigation by Skatteverket.

The costs of logging and of transportation with truck are dominating the total cost of wood delivered at industry. To support the profitability for the members' forestry the processing and handling with the timber has to be as efficient as possible. Increased length of pulpwood in thinning is one conduct that can result in higher productivity and/or lower costs. The study is scaled as a system analysis with the aim to exemplify the differences between working with 3- and 4-meter as standard length of pulpwood, related to biological aspects, timber receipts, cost of logging and cost of transportation with truck. Important aspects are if the change is technically and biologically feasible and economically profitable.

 Genotyping can be used to link genetic variation among individuals to certain diseases or conditions. Some known disorders and states that are dependent on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) are lactose intolerance, venous thrombosis, hereditary hemochromatosis and the difference in sensibility among people to metabolise drugs.In this project a new kit, TaqManÒ Sample-to-SNP KitÔ for extraction of DNA and preparation of the extract for genotyping with real-time PCR and allelic discrimination, was evaluated. QIAamp® DNA Blood Biorobot® MDx Kit was used as the reference method.The purpose of the comparison was to find a method that makes DNA extraction from blood samples cheaper and faster, but with the same reliability as the reference procedure.The results of the evaluation showed a complete agreement of the genotype results between the methods tested, which means that the new method was as reliable as the reference method. The costs of reagents and material would be reduced with 52% if the new method is adopted, that alone would result in a cost reduction of 144 000SEK a year with a sample volume of 650 samples/month. The time for DNA extraction would also be reduced with the new procedure. .

Two elementary schools are now being built in Gråbo (in the municipality of Lerum),Röselidsskolan and Ljungviksskolan, which are both designed with solar thermalcollectors for the schools domestic water heating. During the summer while thelargest amount of solar heat can be generated, the activity hence the domestic wateruse in the schools are heavily reduced. Both schools are connected to the local districtheating system which makes it possible to use the solar collectors to deliver heat tothe district heating.The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the two systems mentioned above and todetermine which system is more suitable to apply on a school. The building whichconditions were used for this evaluation is Röselidsskolan.A solar heating plant of each system type was dimensioned from the expected andknown conditions of the building. The purpose with the dimensioning was to makethe solar plants replace the ordinary energy source as much as possible.

Two elementary schools are now being built in Gråbo (in the municipality of Lerum),Röselidsskolan and Ljungviksskolan, which are both designed with solar thermalcollectors for the schools domestic water heating. During the summer while thelargest amount of solar heat can be generated, the activity hence the domestic wateruse in the schools are heavily reduced. Both schools are connected to the local districtheating system which makes it possible to use the solar collectors to deliver heat tothe district heating.The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the two systems mentioned above and todetermine which system is more suitable to apply on a school. The building whichconditions were used for this evaluation is Röselidsskolan.A solar heating plant of each system type was dimensioned from the expected andknown conditions of the building. The purpose with the dimensioning was to makethe solar plants replace the ordinary energy source as much as possible.

Ground construction has to a large extent been dominated by traditional meth-ods during the last 50 years. Although the construction has been changed meanwhile innovations are not accepted. In collaboration with NCC Ltd Region South, I have examined a modern con-struction methodology that has been developed by NCC for future large pro-jects. The method is divided into two central phases. Phase 1 is? Single Pro-duction? which is a preliminary period for ground constructions to come.

Biogas is a renewable energy source that is produced by anaerobic digestion of organic mate-rial. In Sweden, biogas predominately comes from sewage water sludge and landfills or from organic waste of households and industries. Small scale digestion plants at farms are espe-cially expected to contribute to increased biogas production in the future. Biogas can be ob-tained directly in it?s raw form and used as fuel in a combustion chamber.