A growing problem in Swedish herbicide free agriculture, the Canadian thistle has been the object of several new trials, seeking methods for non-chemical weed control. The new trials have mainly confirmed earlier experiences; that the most successful methods of control are springtime ploughing, repeated cutting and competition from a stout crop. Row hoeing has also been proven effective. As opposed to earlier recommendations, half season fallow has shown to be a risky and often ineffective method of control. Trials regarding biological methods have shown that above others thistle rust (Puccinia punctiformis) may have the potential of controlling Canadian thistle the future. .

The impact of computer programs in safety-critical systems has increased in the past decades and computer-based systems can now be found in a wide range of applications. A new approach for developing dependable systems is documenting all design rationale that affects safety using Intent Specifications. A recent approach for developing complex systems efficiently and in an upgradeable manner is Component-Based System Engineering. In this thesis, these approaches are combined in the development and upgrade of a Remote Robot Control Unit by using the tool SpecTRM. The case study showed that Intent Specifications and CBSE could successfully be combined.

The aim of this study was to examine the relations between sense of coherence (SOC), perceived social support and mood, the study also included gender and civil status in the analysis. In the analysis mood was the dependent variable. The study included 81 respondents, all students from Växjö university, who answered a survey with three parts: SOC 13, Mood Adjective Checklist (MACL), and an own constructed instrument that measured perceived social support. The result showed that those with a high SOC tended to have a greater mood. High scores on perceived social support also were related to a greater mood.

GNT Group is a Nordic/Baltic wholesaler that distributes products in the IT, entertainment and home electronics sector. GNT is facing problems with inaccurate inventory levels which can lead to unnecessarily high inventory carrying costs or lost sales. Currently the decisions about when and how many to order are made somewhat arbitrarily by the responsible personnel. Their decisions are based only on some brief sales history and on experience. GNT wants to develop its ERP system to be able to support the purchaser in these and other related decisions.

For nearly twenty years people have been talking about Product models, but given that the building industry is so conservative, it is hard to implement new working methods. Product models are these days known as Building Information Modeling, BIM. People often say they work with BIM but they often forget the most important part, the information. A 3D model should be linked with characteristics and information. Information that can be invaluable for the facility manager.We have a vision that in the best of worlds the facility manager would be able to "walk" into the model and see what kind of installations are inside the wall or in the roof.

Today there are commercially available databases with active features, i.e. active mechanisms are available for development of information systems. But the usage of active mechanisms is low in practice. This is due to the insufficient methodological support in analysis and design for developing ECA rule based software. It has been proposed that one of the most suitable ways to tackle this problem is not to develop new methods but to extend existing methodologies.In this thesis an extension of the Object Modeling Technique (OMT) is developed, called OMT-A, which is able to model active rules.

Every year 120 children with Downs Syndrome is born in Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate if there were any differences between mothers and fathers of children with Downs Syndrome regarding: experience of support from health care personnel and physicians in the time of delivery and from who parents sought most emotional support.Participants of the study was 80 mothers and 79 fathers that answered a questionnaire. There was a difference between parents if they thought they received support from health care personnel, mothers (59 %) and fathers (38 %) thought that they didn?t receive support. Emotional support sought mothers (52 %), in grater wideness then the fathers (23 %), with other families with handicapped children.

The interest in tiny wireless applications raises the demand for an integrated reference oscillator with the same performance as the macroscopic quartz crystal reference oscillators. The main challenge of the thesis is to prove that it is possible to build a MEMS based oscillator that approaches the accuracy level of existing quartz crystal oscillators. The MEMS resonator samples which Philips provides are measured and an equivalent electrical model is designed for them. This model is used in the simulations of the Pierce oscillator and the transresistance amplifier oscillator that are evaluated in this thesis. Finally the Pierce oscillator is implemented in the A BCD2 process and manufactured at Philips Semiconductors in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

This final thesis consists of an investigation of how suitable it is to vertically integrate forest in Swedish forest companies. Different strategies to obtain raw materials have been evaluated and the advantages and disadvantages have been weighted against each other. The investigations contain a number of interviews with represents from companies with different strategies and persons that in different ways have faced the question of issue. An account study of SCA´s forest ownership has also been performed. The benefits for a forest company to vertical integrate forest consist mainly of safety in delivery, control over the supply chain and company image.

The work organization variable control and the individual characteristic psychological flexibility are two concepts that affect employees? well-being at work.This cross-­sectional study examined the extent to which these variables correlated with burnout, mental health and job satisfaction among homecare workers in Sweden (N=68). As hypothesized, results showed that both control and psychological flexibility were associated with burnout and job satisfaction. Findings also showed that psychological flexibility was associated with mental health. Moreover, the results indicated that there is an interaction effect between control and psychological flexibility in relation to these variables.

This study reflects on the swedish model and the models future. The swedish modelmeans that legisilation acts with the collective agreements . The wage issue is notregulated by law instead it is managed by the social partners in the form of collectiveagreements. In 2008, a report was presented by the Commission on a joint regulation ofthe minimum wage for all EU countries. The issue has become increasinglycontroversial and was especially disccused for the election of candidates to theEuropean Parlament last spring.

This master thesis is a part of the DySCAS project at ENEA. The purpose of this thesisproject is to add support for streaming media and USB support to the DySCAS demonstratorplatform.To achieve this, some of the widely used middlewares available today were studied. The onethat proved to be of most interest is CORBA. Although CORBA?s solution to streamingmedia couldn?t be used due to their use of object programming, the CORBA solution didprovide some interesting thoughts regarding how the USB devices should be handled, in thiscase their ?resource inspector? and ?trading service?.Ethernet was the chosen network to support streaming media.

Accounting has been critized for being one of the leading factors in the latest financial crisis. One of the primary problem areas was identified as delayed recogonition of losses on financial instruments. Consequently, a new impairment model is being developed and is to be namned expected loss model. The difference from the present model, incurred loss model, is that it takes losses into consideration on an much earlier level. Even though the model may be theoretically feasible, in practice it may implicate a number of issues.

Testing and analysis of measurement data is a major part of the workday for development engineers within the section Fluid and Emission Treatment to assure the quality of products developed by Scania CV. The ineluctable variation and therefore uncertainty of results can be quantified and discussed with the use of statistical methods.The overall objective of this study is to examine how the competence of development engineers can be improved within the area of statistics. This has been done by relating the concept of competence with the use of statistical methods to analyse experimental data and by investigating which factors that influence the competence of the engineers. Observations of the daily operations, interviews and a focus group with development engineers and a workshop with management personnel, has been used as research methods in this study.The results show that the desired competence, from the perspective of the individual, consists of knowledge, motivation and support. It is important that none of these parts are neglected when the competence of engineers is to be strengthened.

There are more and more elderly people and different diseases will affect them. How will the public care be able to face this need of care for the elderly? There are a lot that shows that there will be an increasing demand on the achievements of the relatives. How can this development be answered to? Shall the achievements be concentrated on giving support to the relatives, or will there be a concentration on nursing staff? The purpose of the study was to enlighten who elderly people will be nursed by if a disease affects them.