Scintigraphic examination of the esophagus has for some time been the method of choice for the study of motility dysfunction in humans. The method has not yet been described for horses hence the lack of reference values for passage time for a bolus through the esophagus in healthy subjects. The purposes of this study were to measure passage velocity and time for a bolus to pass through the esophagus in healthy subjects, as well as to evaluate the reproducibility of the method. Eight warm-blooded trotters were used in the study. The horses were sedated with a low dose of Acepromazine prior to onset of the study.

AbstractIn this study, then collaboration agreement impact of the work on 11 and 19 § § MBL are studied. The employer and collective agreements bearing employee union are often involved in collaborative agreements to facilitate cooperation between them. Issues addressed to collaboration areoften questions related to employee participation. The purpose of this study is to investigate two local employers and related collective bearing employee unionsview of the cooperation agreement related to the MBL. The purpose leads to these questions:?How can co-operation agreements affect 11 and 19 § § MBL??What are theadvantages and disadvantages cooperation agreementscan lead to, regardingemployer disclosure and negotiation duty?To try to sort out these issues are interviews conducted to create a greater understanding of the work of the Cooperation Agreement between organizations and how it affects them.Results of the study suggest that collaboration agreement leads to simplifications in the work of the employer's information and bargaining duty.

This essays main focus will be on emergency shelters in disasters, and their understanding in gender awareness, by focusing on the way gender is constructed and seen. This dissertation will examine documents from Australian Red Cross and IASC (Inter Agency Standing Committee) in order to explore how they work with gender and shelter related issues. The objective is to examine and with help from these documents see how gender is constructed. The method and theory is based on Carol Bacchis; What?s the problem represented to be approach? (WPR-approach).

In tune with the cross-border trade the infringement of intellectual property rights has become a growing problem in Europe and the rest of the world. In June 2008 negotiations about a new international agreement was initiated between Europe, its member states and ten other countries, which will restrict infringements of intellectual property rights. The agreement is called ACTA, which stands for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. On January 26, 2012 the European Union (EU) and twenty-two of its twenty-seven member states signed a letter of intent to the agreement and the EU?s internal processes of the agreement began.

This paper investigates the compensation for risk in the context of the Swedish stock market with a special focus on downside risk. Using daily market data collected from the A-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange between the years 1983 and 2005 the purpose is to answer the question whether Swedish investors are compensated for holding stocks with high downside risk, measured as downside beta. Using panel data analysis it is shown, in accordance with most previous evidence in international research, firstly that stocks with high beta values on average experience higher returns than stocks with low beta values, and secondly that stocks with high downside beta values experience higher returns than stocks with high beta values in general. On the other hand, cross-sectional regression methodology using a bivariate regression approach shows that downside beta does not explain excess returns very well. Instead, regression analysis suggest that high upside beta does a much better job in explaining excess return over this time period compared to downside beta.

I wrote this essay with the aim to explore, understand and get some insights into what it is that effects the possibilities to plan for ecological sustainability and make it happen. There is no clear definition of sustainable development but world top meetings and reports have developed goals and strategies. I will present some of the theory at hand but most of this essay is based on six interviews with planners at local governments from around the country. Several of the local governments are using the goals issued by the state government by putting them into their large scale plans. During the interviews some obstacles were identified, like a lack of resourses, disadvantaging powerstruktures, conflicts with marketeconomy and simply different meenings about what ecological sustainability is in practice. My method of getting information through interviews and documenting them by taking notes had, as all methods, it?s weakneses.

In relation to the development of IT-products it is very important that the software supplier is aware not only of the target group but also the field of application. Usability should characterize the whole IT-design process as, in relation to this context, design includes more than merely those aspects which are visible to and thus can be interpreted by the naked eye. The study examines the specific qualities and properties that substantiate the usability and the demands that a customer rightfully expects from an IT-product. The user and the customer are highlighted in the same context in order to demonstrate that it is through the customer that an IT-product is defined as being useful. Thus, from this perspective, the user and customer can be considered as being the same person.

The problems and the opinions regarding accounting of Goodwill have always been an issue. In the search for a more standardised accounting standard IASB made a series of changes with the implementation of IFRS/IAS, which means that all companies who are listed on any stock exchange in Europe have to follow these new standards. During the process IASB wanted some feedback from the users to get a better understanding of how different participants in the economic market would respond to a number of questions regarding different changes in the accounting. In total IASB got 126 responses for the 'Comment Letters' (CL) they sent out.This paper aims to review these CL and examine how different participants will stand on different questions, mainly regarding the elimination of the pooling method and if goodwill is to be amortised but also any opinions regarding the implementation of the impairment tests. The present study comprises 126 CL, which represent participants from all the corners of the Earth.

Trä är och har sedan länge varit en av Sveriges mest exporterade råvaror. Branschen sysselsätter idag omkring 100 000 människor i landet. I samband med de senaste årens miljödiskussioner bör husens uppbyggnad diskuteras. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att främja husbyggnation i massivträ som de senaste åren fått mer publicitet inte bara på den svenska marknaden men också i centraleuropeiska länder.Frågorna i detta arbete handlar om att identifiera de vanligast förekommande ytterväggskonstruktionerna och jämföra deras materialkostnader samt kostnader för arbete vid montering. För att ha kunnat göra en rättvis jämförelse har BBR?s energikrav varit den gemensamma nämnaren för ytterväggskonstruktionerna.Frågorna har besvarats genom intervjuer med tillverkare av prefabricerade massivträväggar, träregelväggar och betongväggar varpå energiberäkningar utförts i samband med framtagning av olika väggkonstruktioner för att få fram tre lika energieffektiva väggar.

Introduction: Studies have shown that women are not always satisfied with the effects of contraception and that contraceptive advice is perceived as non-specific. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate what contraceptive women have chosen to use in the different phases of their reproductive lives, and what they felt had influenced their choice. Method: A retrospective cross-sectional comparative study with a quantitative approach. A survey with fixed and multiple-choice options was sent to five hundred 45-year old women. Result: The study shows that various birth controls are different in the normal reproductive life.

Faktorer som bidrar till arbetstillfredsställelse hos volontärer på Röda                                         Korsets telefonjour                                      Malin MattssonVolontärers arbetstillfredsställelse har visat sig vara ett begränsat område in-om forskningen. Syftet med studien var att undersöka volontärers arbetstill-fredsställelse på Röda Korsets telefonjour och se ifall faktorerna kön, ålder, utbildning, sysselsättning, civilstånd, plats, antal dagar, antal år, Röda Korsets utbildningar, volontärernas belöning, feedback från frivilligledaren, respons från uppringarna, kontakten med medjourare och volontärers trauman var relaterade till arbetstillfredsställelse. En enkätundersökning genomfördes där 102 volontärer deltog varav 15 var män. Enkäten bestod av bakgrundsfrågor, specifikt konstruerade frågor om Röda Korset samt 26 påståenden från mätinstrumentet volunteer satisfaction index. Resultatet från studien visade att variablerna, feedback från frivilligledaren, Röda Korsets utbildningar och volontärers trauman relaterade starkast till arbetstillfredsställelse.

Fog is a small-scale weather phenomenon that are fascinating to people. However, the presence of fog in road traffic reduces the visibility and increases the risk of road accidents. By the Swedish Road Weather Information System (VViS), the safety on roads could ameliorate and road accidents caused by fog and other weather hazards could be prevented. Fog is however a complex and usually local phenomenon, why fog formation generally is not easy to predict. For that reason, a statistical mapping of fog, especially along a motorway with high traffic volumes, could be useful in planning to prevent road accidents.

The piglet mortality rates have become a major issue in today?s pig production. While other production traits such as number of born piglets or produced piglets per sow have been improved, the mortality rate has escalated. High mortality rates before weaning does not only affect the economy but must also be looked at as both an animal welfare problem and an ethical issue. The background to this problem has been addressed many times, and its salvation has also been addressed by breeding.

The purpose of this study was to look at the experiences of midwives in maternalhealth care encounters with non-european-born women and men, and to determine ifmidwives deem any special competence necessary to handle these encounters well.We gathered information by means of qualitative interviews and semi structuredquestions with eight midwives all of whom matched the inclusion criterias and gavetheir personal consent. Midwives from four district health care centers in Uppsalawere included. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by means of qualitativecontent analysis.The results reveal the experiences from encounters with non-european patients to betwofold. On one hand the encounter is a positive, exiting experience with anopportunity to learn more about a foreign culture and exchange experiences. On theother hand complications can occur as patients may have unexpected expectationsregarding the health care, have great difficulties with the language or haveexperienced traumatizing incidents, all on top of coming to Sweden alone withoutrelatives.In the encounter with non-european-born patients the midwives consider it importantto have special competence in form of knowledge of other cultures and religions asthis provides a greater understanding of the reasoning behind the patients? decisions.Cultural competence is also important as it helps avoid inadvertently insulting thepatient during the encounter.The special competence held by the midwives has been attained from their basic andspecialist education as well as from self acquired experiences and interests.

The aim of the study was to examine how background factors, such as abuse earlier in life, affect depression and suicidal behavior, amongst persons who abuse alcohol or illicit drugs. The study was performed at the Social Service Center, Södermalm, department for adults. The data used in the study is based on Addiction Severity Index interviews (ASI) and includes 560 observations. The statistic methods used to analyse the data is chi² test and the result is presented in cross tables and charts. The main findings were that experiences of psychological, physical, or sexual abuse, earlier in life increase the risk for major depression and suicidal behavior later in life.