Variations in fertility have caused a problematic situation in Sweden among other European countries. According to the Council of Europe we are facing an economic and demographic challenge, when the baby boomers of the 1940?s are retiring. Economists have for a long time studied the connection between economic factors and fertility, and several studies have found a correlation between business Cycles and birth rates. This connection is again of current interest 2008, when a financial bubble bursts at the same time as a baby boom occurs.

In this report two Sustainability Life Cycle Assessments are carried out for two types of tiles for Riksbyggen, to contribute to a sustainable urban transition. Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment involves performing a life cycle assessment based on four principles based on scientific research and presented by the non- governmental, non-profit organization, The Natural Step. The principles concern raw materials, chemically produced substances, degeneration of nature and social conditions.Origin of products, manufacturing sites and manufacturing procedures were initially completely unknown and much of the work has consisted of finding the entire Cycles, understand manufacturing processes of ceramic tiles and evaluating what materials and what type of energy sources that are required for the production. A socially sustainable perspective has been of high relevance alongside an ecologically sustainable perspective.The report begins with the basic underlying facts and the purposes of this investigation and that the reasons why Sustainability Life Cycle Assessments are carried out are to provide Riksbyggen and the own workers with documents presenting Riksbyggens ideas regarding sustainability and to hopefully get the ideas further down in the supply chain. The methods used to fulfill the investigation are presented and scientific facts about LCA and ceramic building materials are reviewed.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and fluxes in forest ecosystems are influenced by natural and human disturbances. In the tropical regions the highest impacts on disturbance in forest C Cycles are related to human activities such as conversion of natural lands to cropland and pasture areas and to forest plantations. The disturbances in the forest C Cycles will release CO2 emissions to the atmosphere triggering global warming. In this study the focus was set in subtropical soils in Brazil, south extreme region of Bahia. The aim of the study was to investigate whether reforestation of Eucalyptus plantations under former pasture areas will help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration.

The aim of this study was to design short interventions based on the literature study, which will change the pupils? posture on mathematics and connections between problem-solving in mathematics and everyday life. An experimental group of 17 pupils in fifth grade participated in the study and were educated in everyday mathematics 20 minutes a day during four weeks. The intervention was measured in a pre- and after questionnaire, in order to control the design and discover possible changes in the pupils? posture on mathematics and connections between problems and everyday life.

Quality was earlier only an issue for the company?s quality departments but today is the entire organization involved in quality- and improvements work. With the customers in focus, both external and internal, quality and improvement work should be integrated in the daily activities. The management shall state goals and visions together with a policy. Through participation the correct requirements for a successful work are created.With SPC, statistics process control, there is an opportunity to perceive variations in the process and with the correct tools make it stable.

This thesis aims to analyse a time series containing the annual accumulation rate of minerogenic matter in the lake Kassjo?n. First there is a theoretical survey of some frequently used tools for the analysis of time series in the time domain and in the frequency domain. This survey is followed by a simulation study that illustrates how the theoretical tools work in practice. After this, the time series "toolbox" is used to analyse the time series from Kassjo?n (5701 data points).

This thesis aims to analyse a time series containing the annual accumulation rate of minerogenic matter in the lake Kassjo?n. First there is a theoretical survey of some frequently used tools for the analysis of time series in the time domain and in the frequency domain. This survey is followed by a simulation study that illustrates how the theoretical tools work in practice. After this, the time series "toolbox" is used to analyse the time series from Kassjo?n (5701 data points).

Common wisdom dictates that because payment of dividends decreases funds available for investment, a high payout ratio is to be associated with low earnings growth. This notion has been challenged in recent years by empirical research that has found a positive relationship between payout ratio and future earnings growth, both on the aggregated market level and the company level in different countries. This study investigated the aforementioned relationship on the Swedish market by statistically analyzing future earnings growth as a function of payout ratio on a large sample of publicly listed companies over the period 1980 to 2011. The results are in line with those found in previous research and indicate that companies with high dividend payout ratio tend to experience strong future earnings growth. The results are robust to the presence of mean reversion, the use of an alternative accounting measure of earnings, non-symmetrical earnings growth Cycles and alternative practices for dealing with outliers..

Product development Cycles become shorter and shorter. The time from idea to market has become an important competitive factor. Despite this, methods used for making the product development process faster are surrounded with uncertainty about their efficiency. The purpose of the thesis is to describe the pros and cons of ?best practice? methods for shortening lead times and how these methods effect the lead times in research and development.

This article starts with a review of the literature regarding the normal reproductive physiology of the mare, prolonged luteal phase and medical drugs used within reproduction of the horse, with emphasis on Ovuplant®. The purpose of this article was to measure the progesterone level in blood, of mares implanted with deslorelin acetate (Ovuplant®). The study was performed at the Department of Clinical Sciences, SLU, in Uppsala. There were seven mares included in the study. They were divided into two groups, one experimental group (four mares) and one control group (three mares).

The wastewater treatment plant at GE Healthcare's facility in Uppsala deployed a three step vacuum evaporator in 2007. The purpose of this was to pre-treat wastewater containing amines. The purpose of this thesis was to optimize thisprocess by reducing the amount of concentrate without releasing more nitrogen tothe environment and to examine if density could be used as a measurement of whenthe process should be ended.To create a foundation for optimization six test Cycles were conducted with samples taken from all three steps. Both concentrate and condensate were tested as well as the incoming solution. Furthermore, the thesis has been expanded with a benchmarking part examining two different evaporators.

Studies show that the interest and knowledge about science among teenagers is decreasing. They also reveal the difficulties to explain the ecological processes and that the ideas about the nature are collected from everyday life and early school years.The intention of this investigation was to find out more about children?s ideas and knowledge about the ecological processes and to compare these results with the curriculum.The method was a questionnaire and interviews with children in school year 1 ? 6. The aim of the studies was also to find out if any progress connected to age could be found, concerning understanding of the ecological processes.The results showed difficulties in achieving the predestined goals for biology and chemistry concerning ecology Cycles and they differed a lot between the children. Often the learning process showed very little progress.

In couples diagnosed with unexplained infertility, the woman has normal ovulatory Cycles and no organic pathology, and the man has normal semen. The period during which the implantation of an embryo can occur is defined as the window of implantation (WOI). For infertile women, disturbances in the endometrium maturation are hypothesized to impair the uterine receptivity for embryo implantaition. However, there are still no methods found to predict endometrial receptivity.Hemoglobin related-proteins hypothesized to be involved in embryo implantation have been found in the endometrium in both fertile and infertile women. The aim of this study was to determine whether there were differences in the expression of hemoglobin-related proteins, hemoglobin-?, cytoglobin, fetal hemoglobin and haptoglobin in the endometrium of fertile and infertile women.

The concept of planetary boundaries was introduced in the year 2009 by a group ofresearchers led by Johan Rockström and Will Steffen. The group presented a draft of thelimits of the planet regarding nine Earth System processes concerning climate change, oceanacidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, interference with Pand N Cycles, global freshwater use, land-system change, rate of biodiversity loss andchemical pollution. The starting point for the study presented in this report was that asustainable development only can be achieved if humankind stays within the boundaries. It istherefore, based on the ongoing urbanization, relevant to evaluate how cities affect the EarthSystem processes. The aim of the study was to investigate if Stockholm Royal Seaport (NorraDjurgårdsstaden), a district in the northeast of Stockholm with a clear environmental profile,affects the Earth System processes less than Stockholm in general does.

This study is about the artist Monica Sjoo?s (1938-2005) painting God giving birth (1968) that was accused of being blasphemous and obscene in the early 1970s. God giving birth could have had much in common with Niki de Saint-Phalle?s She ? a cathedral (1966), both works suggesting a mother goddess image. The main difference however can be found in the fact that Monica Sjoo?s painting had connection to the women?s movement in the 1970s.