The main purpose of this study is to investigate the needs of pre-commercial thinning on private owned forest properties, which is considered to be increasing. The reason is believed to be the high cost of labor that pre-commercial thinning brings. Furthermore thinning is costly, the revenue created through pre-commercial thinning are post-poned until the first thinning. The study was made through a survey among members of Mellanskog forest owners association. The survey was distributed by e-mail. The time to answer was set to two weeks. The answers indicate that the most common reason why the pre-commercial thinning is delayed, or not done at all, is the forest owner?s lack of time.

This paper deals with the opportunities for the technique of condensation, for wood fired household heaters, on the Swedish market. In this project the condenser is preceded by a scrubber and both energy exchange and separation of unburnt particles have been studied. The facility studied is connected to a wood stove at 30 kW. The tests would show that the effect from the stove never reached above 16 kW. This might be a result of the low temperature of the water going into the stove, from the condenser. In addition to this the wood was not of highest quality and the stove could have needed some maintenance before the tests.

In today's fast-paced, intense and complex media environment, it is hard for non-profit charity organizations to reach out and get their messages heard.In this study we examine whether the theories of advertising signaling also applies for charities. Past studies of the signaling theories indicates that higher perceived advertising expense leads to more positive effects on purchase behavior and brand perceptions. However, we believe that this does not apply for a charity organization. We argue that since charitable organizations have a fundamentally different mission than commercial companies, they will need different ways to signal quality and credibility, and therefore the common signal-theories will not hold for these organizations.To test our hypotheses, we conducted two surveys where the respondents saw one of five versions of the same ad for a well-known Swedish charity organization, or one of two ads for a commercial corporation. The ads had been manipulated to simulate different levels of perceived cost.Our results shows that perceived ad cost only affects attitude towards the ad if a charity was the sender, whereas perceived ad cost affects intentions, attitudes and credibility if a commercial corporation was the sender.

The token economy program, which is a method for behaviour modification, has been used worldwide for different groups within different settings in order to vhange behaviour.Research has found the token economy program to be effective. However, research is limited to quantitative and experimental studies, and Swedish research in this field is brief. Nevertheless, the program is used in several institutions n Sweden. A qualitative study in Swedish settings could therefore be useful. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of a token economy program using qualitative interviews.

This thesis concerns agreements for the exchange of information relating to tax matters between Sweden and the previous tax havens Monaco and Liechtenstein. Monaco does not apply any tax on income or capital for individuals and Liechtenstein has strict bank secrecy, both aspects are supposed to be counteracted by similar agreements. The purpose is to investigate whether the entered agreements increases transparency and effective exchange of information in accordance with the OECD´s objectives in the area. Furthermore, is there any regulation in the agreements that can be seen as potentially loopholes to avoid the exchange of information and if so; may these loopholes be justified in any way?OECD believe that the tax havens favorable tax regulation is resulting in harmful tax competition and they identify lack of transparency and lack of effective exchange of information as the main reasons.

Specialarbete, 15 hpSvenska som andraspråk, SIS 133VT 2012 Handledare: Håkan Jansson.

VAV (Variable Air Volume) system has been studied in a newly constructed office-building. The goal for the study has been to evaluate how the ventilations system work in practice, if adjustments can be made to achieve an more energy efficient system and to evaluate if other alternative ventilation systems is to be preferred in the further.The degree project has been executed at Helenius Engineering Firm who is working with the environment, media systems, HVAC and energy in buildings. The building that has been studied is owned and operated by Akademiska hus.Literature studies, visits at site, inventory, review of system documentation, energy analyses, interviews, key figures, LCC, sand energy- and indoor climate simulations has been made to study the building. Where appropriate some tools from Six Sigma have also been used.How to achieve an energy efficient system and a pleasant indoor climate is studied with human health and well-being as base for the indoor climate requirements. Technical support systems such as ventilation systems have to be designed so that an acceptable indoor climate can be achieved.

Intelligence is an elusive concept with strong links to business intelligence , in which organizations have recently more and more have incorporated the use of IT (Information Technology). A research carried out recently have identified the importance of effective monitoring, but there are few studies showing how organizations actually work in the field.A qualitative study consisting of the interviews with employees at an IT company was done to see how external monitoring is carried out in practice, in a specific company and how it would help the company to develop. The company we visited did not work with special procedures of any kind regarding external monitoring but still knew about the term and its meaning.The conclusion account for detected patterns as well as difficulties, including the definition of external monitoring which differs a lot between individuals. The patterns discovered points to the importance of clarity and objectives regarding the use of external monitoring for it to be effective and measurable.Keywords: External monitoring, Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence..

This report is a thesis work for a B.Sc. in Forestry exam at the School for Forest Engineers, SLU. The work was an assignment from Sydved Energy AB. The aim of the work was to compare the operational productivity between two kinds of forwarders for extraction of harvesting residues, one forwarder with a special compression device and one ordinary, slightly modified forwarder. Two sites were studied for each forwarder. The study shows that the annual production was about 11,000 m3 higher for the traditional forwarder. The cost for the traditional forwarder was SEK 0.9 lower per m3.

I denna rapport predikteras livslängden, med avseende på utmattning, för en hjullastarskopa. Två av de mest kritiska svetsarna utvärderas enligt IIW:s (International Institute of Welding) rekommendationer genom nominella spänningsmetoden, hot spot-metoden och effective notch-metoden. Beräkningarna utförs med hjälp av finita elementmetoden. Genom att utföra töjningsmätningar på hjullastarskopan i drift erhålls spänningsdiagram. Dessa uppmätta spänningsdiagram analyseras med rain-flow count-metoden.

Optimizing energy systems is, in Sweden, as in many other countries, of growing interest. District heating systems are no exception. In 2012, 285 out of 290 municipals in Sweden had district heating in use and the majority of these systems have a higher return temperature than that which is possible with an error-free substation of day current technology. To, when possible, lower the return temperature is a way of increasing the effectiveness of the district heating system.This study means to investigate, through simulations and calculations, how big of a reduction in production cost a lower temperature in the city of Ystad?s district heating system would correspond to.

A literature study and a field trial have been carried out in order to investigate the physiological response of potato plants to different soil moisture levels. Higher yield, quality and number of tubers can according to the literature be obtained if constant high soil moisture is kept during major parts of the growing season. A field trial was set up where drip irrigation was used as an alternative to conventional irrigation techniques to maintain high and constant soil moisture. The application of water in the drip irrigated area was monitored and adjusted on a daily basis so that the soil moisture stayed as close as possible to the recommended level. The sprinkle irrigated area was irrigated according to traditional practices with approximately 35 mm every 7th to 10th day depending on the whether.

Injuries are considered to be a major public health issue. More than 4600 people die each year and 10 % of all hospitalization in Sweden is related to injuries. The cost in a societal perspective is estimated to 59 billion a year. Injuries are possible to prevent. However it needs knowledge that the injury has occurred and the surrounding circumstances.

Purpose There are almost infinite numbers of ways to build dairy farms in Sweden. When building a new free stall barn you have the possibility to affect both working environment and animal welfare for many years to come. The construction costs are influenced by which type of barn that is built and what functions it contains, for example one can predict that automatic milking systems are more expensive to integrate than milking parlours. But what is the real cost of today for the construction of free stall barns with milking centres and how is it affected by construction methods and functions? Is the labour time influenced by the building costs? These are some of the questions this report will try to answer.

The usage possibilities of mobile platforms and smart phones are increasing rapidly as they provide support for better processors, sensors and communications capabilities. This has for many companies resulted in an increased interest to explore the possibilities of mobile platforms and how they can be integrated in various business areas. As the usage of mobile platforms in industrial applications is a new area, it is difficult for companies to estimate their potential, and what contributions the different platforms can give.This master thesis investigates the possibilities and limitations for the consultant firm Combitech when integrating mobile platforms and handheld devices in industrial applications. This is accomplished through a comparison between the platforms and by considering the possible areas of use for the mobile platforms based on experiences from companies and research in the area.For a company with the intent to deliver services that use mobile platforms, it is important to be able to combine expertise and resources to effectively attract customers. The mobile platforms will, if applied right, give great possibilities in industrial applications as a cost-effective alternative for both hardware and software solutions for businesses, which provides an opportunity to sell services to both established and new clients.