As the information society becomes increasingly flooded with digital images, the need for efficient image retrieval systems increases as well. To handle the vast amounts of data involved, the indexing process needs to be run automatically, using content-based descriptors extracted directly from the digital image, such as colour composition, shape and texture features. These content-based image retrieval systems are often slow and cumbersome, and can appear confusing to an ordinary user who does not understand the underlying mechanisms. One step towards more efficient and user-friendly retrieval systems might be to adjust the weight placed on various descriptors depending on which image category is being searched for. The results of this thesis show that certain categories of digital images would benefit from having extra weight assigned to colour, texture or shape features when searching for images of that category..

The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate how societal mechanisms can impact on asylum seekers and influence their individual identity. The information for this case study was collected through comprehensive interviews with a group of asylum seekers from Söderhamn whereby the individuals expressed their perception of their current situation. From the gathered material we could see a pattern emerge which gave us the framework and the foundation for our theoretical approach. The similarity we discovered when analyzing the material was the powerlessness the individuals experienced e.g. the individuals had no possibility to influence their current situation and worse, it was impossible for the individuals to enter society even when they had the willpower to do so.

This is an examination of the Swedish unemployment insurance system and the effects it has on the Swedish long-term unemployment. A search model is explained to give an understanding to the incentives of the unemployed. Different mechanisms that create unemployment and that could create long-term unemployment are investigated, but primarily the unemployment insurance is in focus.The Swedish unemployment insurance has undergone several changes the last fifteen years that have improved its efficiency. The introduction of a finite duration of unemployment insurance entitlement was an important step and so was the decrease in the replacement ratio. Even so, I assess that there is still room for improvements of the incentives to search for work among the unemployed.

There are several ways in which people can relate to eating or not eating animals. This essay is focussing two main strategies: Making distances and drawing borders.Today, there are several reasons for not eating meat, including environmental reasons, individual and public health reasons, ethical reasons and more. Yet, people eat more meat than ever. According to the UN, this is a major problem. In 2006 the report Livestock?s long shadow pointed out that meat consumption was a bigger problem from an environmental point of view, than global transports, including air-traffic.

Report of diploma work conducted at the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) as part of the bachelors program in Nuclear Engineering at Uppsala University.All nuclear power plants in Sweden are obliged to report any deficiency in their barriers or the defense in depth in obedience to SSM?s regulations concerning safety in nuclear facilities. In addition, there is an international system for reporting such events. The purpose of this thesis is to study the Swedish report system and to analyze the differences between Swedish and international event reporting.In the Swedish system, SSM?s regulations are effectuated by means of event reports classified as category 1-3, designed individually at each Swedish facility.

This study aims at examining the prospects for a policy transfer of a Swedish municipal environmental policy (that of Växjö) to the French urban commune Blois, for which an ambition of becoming a leading eco-city in France, was declared by the mayor in 2008.In the analysis, emphasis is laid on mechanisms to institutionalize the main environmental policy principles, such as political and institutional structures and processes. Other prospects for an institutionalization of a new environmental policy that are to be investigated are economic structures as well as visions of the different decision-makers concerned. Research methods used in the study are qualitative interviews, document studies and a questionnaire.The findings of the analysis show that today?s prospects for an environmental policy in Blois close to that of Växjö, are clearly limited. The limitations can partly be found in economic structures but these seem to be rather related to a lack of priority amongst actors.

The essay concerns "the knowledge society", IT and the possibilities of school being changedto meet the future. The purpose was to reflect the ideas of researchers and authorities concerningwork and education in "the knowledge society" and to illuminate/shed light on theimportance of information technology in this connection, to map organizational and pedagogicalshortcomings in the current school system and the changes that can be needed, and to investigatehow these changes can affect teachers, pupils and librarians.The investigation, which was a text analysis of normative and futurist sources, was especiallydirected towards how modem information technology can influence education/teaching.The differences between researchers and authorities were most obvious in the view of theimportance of knowledge of facts and central control mechanisms for standards or grading.For the authorities, who were devoid of a thought out/carefully prepared and consequent viewof knowledge and by that also of pedagogics, the information technique was the foremostcause of a change in pedagogy. The researchers also perceived the possibilities of IT, butemphasized the importance of pedagogical innovations irrespective of the technology.

This study takes its starting point in ongoing changes and differences in the global power dynamics. The liberal rules-based world order that has been acknowledged for governing the world with the US as the hegemon of power has been strongly challenged during the last decades. Russia?s invasion of Ukraine can be seen as an example of ongoing changes in the world order, with Russia as a challenger to the US as the hegemon of power. The changes and instability that this has led to for Sweden's national security situation can be seen as a concrete example of how ongoing changes in the world order affect Sweden?s foreign policy.

Det finns idag fyra mekanismer beskrivna för avstötning av xenotransplantat. Dessa är hyperakut avstötning, akut humoral xenotransplantat avstötning, akut cellulär xenotransplantat avstötning och kronisk avstötning. Hyperakut avstötning medieras av naturliga xenoreaktiva antikroppar, vilka främst är riktade mot antigenet ?-Gal på svinceller och aktiverar komplement systemet (den klassiska vägen). Akut humoral xenotransplantat avstötning medieras också av xenoreaktiva IgM och IgG, som verkar skada xenotransplantatet bland annat genom aktivering av komplementsystemet och endotelceller.

Milk fever, or parturient paresis, is the second most common disease in Swedish dairy cows. The disorder is associated with the onset of lactation when some cows are unable to meet the metabolic demands of calcium to support milk production and therefore develop a state of hypocalcaemia. Clinical hypocalcaemia (milk fever) may lead to coma and death in severe cases but subclinical hypocalcaemia has also been shown to have negative effects on e.g. feed intake and production and to increase the susceptibility of the cow to develop secondary diseases. The nutritional strategy applied precalving is of great importance in preventing milk fever and e.g.

This essay contains a comparative analysis of Erik Olin Wrights Marxist class analysis and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negris post-Marxist class analysis as presented in their books ?Empire? and ?Multitude: War and democracy in the age of Empire?. I discuss the shift in analytical focus from state level to global level that Hardt and Negri's analysis represent and the ensuing relevance of this for contemporary class analysis. The essay also address the challenge and implications posed to class analysis by the ever increasing economic globalization, from a material production to an ever growing immaterial service economy and the decrease in state power in controlling capital and labor movement. I propose that analytical understanding of class conflict help us to a better understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics that generate social and economical inequalities and that an updated Marxist class analysis still have much to contribute to our understanding to how these issues not only shape our society but also our capacity to counteract them..

Dysfunction of the upper respiratory tract is a common cause of impaired performance and intolerance to exercise in racehorses and include several upper airway obstructions. The ones termed dynamic obstructions are primarily seen during physical exertion and affected horses often appear to be normal during endoscope examination at rest. The correlation between diagnoses made at rest respectively exercise is low, suggesting that an examination at rest alone is likely to be insufficient. The upper respiratory tract is exposed to great differences in pressure throughout the respiratory cycle; variations that are further altered during strenuous exercise and affect the rigidity of upper airway structures. In presence of great fluctuations in pressure, stability is achieved through coordinated and synchronous neuromuscular mechanisms. Due to nerve damage or anatomical abnormalities, these functions may be disrupted and further cause a dynamic collapse of the upper respiratory tract when pressure changes become too severe. The etiology behind the neuromuscular dysfunction is not yet fully understood.

Aqeri has since the past year a new profile with name and logotype, which has createda need for an updated visual product identity. The company is a leading developer,producer and distributer of IT products suitable for extreme environments in industry,defense and vehicles. This new profile with the different segments has together with aproduct identity from two companies resulted in that they have no clear designidentity on their products. From this background the aim of this research is todetermine how a development of a design identity is done to implement it to Aqeri.The design identity can be defined as a product?s identity visualized through its formor appearance which defines what the product is.

Ten colic horses and seven healthy horses were included in a prospective study aiming to evaluate acid-base disturbances in colic horses. Traditional acid-base methods and measurements of lactate were used to study prognosis and changes before, during and after surgery. Strong ion gap, anion gap and base excess were compared to evaluate their ability to predict lactate. Of the ten colic horses that went through surgery, seven survived, two were euthanised and one died. Significant differences in plasma lactate levels were seen between the group of survivals and non-survivals, p=0,000025. No differences were seen in pH and base excess between the two groups.

This thesis investigates the Designated Operational Entities (DOEs) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The DOEs serves as independent third-party auditors with the task of validating, verifying and certifying projects under the CDM. The majority of the DOEs are private entities. This is in line with the CDM objective of including the private sector in the climate change combat. The introduction of private entities in the role of DOEs can be questioned from a legitimacy point of view, but is corresponding to a development in international environmental governance where private actors are increasingly involved in governance arrangements.The thesis concludes the DOEs to be a form of public-private partnership and investigates the legitimacy of this form.