Generally, the economic health of Swedish roundwood truck transport companies has not been good. Profitability is important for maintaining the stability in the transport business, which is a condition for long-term transport planning in the forestry sector. The scope of this study was to identify probable factors influencing the profitability of roundwood truck transport companies and quantify the influence of these factors on economic results. The study was carried out at a major roundwood truck transport organisation in mid-Sweden and was implemented in four steps. In the first step economic results from the haulage contractors were collected and a random sample was taken from accounted net margin for the account year 2005/2006. In the second step hauliers were interviewed to identify probable success factors. At the third step data for identified factors were gathered through a questionnaire.

Background: The reasons why this study is conducted is because of the latest recession in the global economy. The current recession has made a lot of companies more aware of its cost, and in order to fit the new harsher economic climate the companies has to be more cost efficient. In order to do so many companies choose to reduce their amount of employees. When this happens in a recession, most of the layoffs are an effect of reactive causes, such as lower incoming orders, and fewer customers. This leads to a problem for the companies that don?t know how these kinds of layoffs will affect the value of the company?s stock.

There are around 855 000 on-site sewage systems in Sweden and some 1 800 of these are located in the municipality of Sigtuna. The Sigtuna local authority has set the goal that all sewage systems with insufficient function should be improved before the end of year 2010. A malfunctioning on-site sewage system may cause three main problems: spreading of diseases, discharge of eutrophicating compounds and wastage of resources. The municipality strives to reduce these problems already at the stage of granting permits for installation of on site sanitation systems. The municipality has recently adopted new guidelines, which demands certain minimum reductions for different compounds. The guidelines also state that it is preferred that neighboring house-owners cooperate in jointly built and operated sewage systems and that the system should be able to recycle plant nutrients.

The aim of this thesis is benchmarking of the program, based on dynamic programming, that earlier was written to imitate the production planning at TSS.This thesis starts with a chapter about the construction of the DP-program, a shorter description of one and each of the program parts and also a list over the in- and output data in each program part. The DP-program consists of six linked MATLAB-files that together produce an optimized production plan for the different planning groups at TSS. The program reads in and reformat the given data and optimize the production of the articles in one group. Finally it compounds all article production plans and give us a production alternative.After running the program with new data the result shows, resembling with previous results, that TSS could be able to make some distinct cost-savings. According to the program, a 50 % decrease of TSS production costs is possible. .

The study aims to contribute knowledge about children's perceptions of the leisure-time as a learning environment. The study can be seen as an attempt to highlight the possible learning in the leisure-time, formally or informally.The study is based on two group interviews with a total of 11 children and was conducted by an interview guide with question areas to be discussed freely so that the children could give as full an answer as possible.Main results of the study show that children feel that they are staying at the leisure-time to get care when their parents are working and that they primarily associate the leisure-time with playing. The results show however that children feel that they learn things when participating in the leisure-time teaches controlled activities.It is possible to draw conclusions about the child actually experienced the leisure-time as a learning environment, but it can be difficult to identify when and how learning actually occurs. However, children do not perceive that there is learning while they play..

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) detection of heavy metals is a cost- and time-effective method for investigation of polluted areas. Compared to laboratory analysis, XRF analysis is limited by high detection limits and uncertainties in some situations. Preparation of samples is known to affect the results of measurements.The purpose of this thesis is to bring a deeper understanding of how different factors affect the results of XRF-analysis. A large number of measurements have been made with the instruments Niton XLt 700 and Niton Xli 700. Results from measurements of lead, zinc and copper have been analysed.This study has shown that a greater moisture content will give a lower measured concentration for the same sample.

The purpose with this thesis work was to design and build a technical aid for installingbatteries in telecom base stations. Today that job is done manually, since there is noequipment on the market for that purpose. Installing batteries in base stations manually isa very tough job.To get ideas for possible solutions a preliminary study on existing lift aids was done.From the preliminary study the conclusion that some kind of overhead crane would besuitable for the task was drawn. After that a lift for installing batteries in base stationswas designed, built and tested. The tests show that it is possible to minimize heavy liftingwhen installing batteries in telecom base stations, at a relatively low cost.ii.

This reportcommunicates the processes and results of my degree work in industrial design at candidate level at Umeå Institute of Design.During my degree work I had a cooperation with Svenska Jägareförbundet (Swedish Hunters Assosiation).The aim for my project has been to explore how I could make hunting a safer hobby and undertaking. Every year people get seriously injured and in average 2 people a year dies  due to hunting accidents. My goal is to identify problems within the hunters communication and approach. Through a creative design process I will find a valid  nd realistic solution to these problems. My project will be presented as a conceptual solution  hat will be based on currently existing technology.

Today´s roofing of dwelling houses is a very time consuming procedure, which includes a lot of different steps on the construction site. Not only does it cost a lot of money, but often do problems with rot and mold occur in the attics of houses today. The use of prefabricated modules has seen a great breakthrough in the field of construction of dwelling houses; at least when it comes to foundations and walls, where this type of approach makes the construction process way more efficient. What no one previous has succeeded to develop is a corresponding system for roofs that meets the demands of a dwelling house. Accordingly the goal of PlusTak has been to come up with a proper module system for roofing of dwelling houses, where the roofing is completed to meet the demands of the Scandinavian market. During the project a lot of effort has been put into customer contacts and the usability of the product, as well in the manufacturing process as on the construction site. This development has gone hand in hand with several practical tests and tryouts.

The hydropower from Nissan River is of national interest and produces annually 230 GWh from the twelve power stations in the main flow. For modified waters a consideration between the power production and the biological values has to be made. This reports serves as a pre-study for Nissans Vattenråd. It tries to evaluate some of the biological values in the Nissan basin and map the power production in the area. And the size and value of lost power production from new fishways for the twelve stations in the main flow.The investment of new fishways is calculated using simplified templates with values from the business.

In this project, we are studying the material flow and the information flow of sample materials and the appurtenant report of deviation for the purpose to be able to suggest better solutions. The sample material, which is to be analysed, is to be continuously taken from the production flow. The purpose is to navigate the process by the results found by the analysis. Because of this, it's very important that both methods of analysis are ensured and that the sample material is representative for the production flow. However, even more importantly, is that activities and transportations, combined with both flows, must perform in a quick and correct way in order to maintain or improve Höganäs AB's competitive strength.According to reports are about 20 products per day not available, for loading, at the time of delivery.

ECG-Screening for young elite athletesAbstractBackgroundSudden cardiac death (SCD) during physical activity is a frightening and emotional tragedy that draws huge media attentions when it occurs. Fortunately it is a relatively uncommon occurrence but happens nonetheless to young athletes who often seems to be in perfect health. SCD is used as a term for sudden unexpected complications on the cardiovascular system that leads to a deadly outcome normally within the first hour of onset of symptoms and the cause is some sort of underlying cardiovascular disease that gets triggered by physical activity.Normally athletes gets divided into two groups dependent on age, over and under 35 years, and this studies focus is on the younger group since it is often during this period athletes are at the elite level. It is also in this category the most unexpected sudden deaths occur that is not due to coronary atherosclerosis, which is the dominant cause of death, and drastically increases, for people over 35 years old.AimThe aim of this study was to scientific and unbiased analyze peer-reviewed clinical articles todescribe the pros, cons and cost to implement an ECG-screening as a standard before physicalactivities for specifically defined elite athletes.MethodA systematic review was performed and after all data collection 21 articles was chosen to beused as a base for both background and analyze. At the end 10 articles was fulfilling the criteria to be used at the analyze and later the results.ResultsThe implementation of ECG-screening has reduced SCD in Italy by 89 % between the years 1979-2004.

To be a farmer and have suckler cows is a difficult combination especially considering the economy. Because of the increased feed costs, the margins have become tighter. The meat price from beef cattle has increased a little when this text is written (spring, 2008), but not so much that it covers the cost for feed etc. I have a small suckler cow production on approximately 30 cows and 2 bulls plus followers as a part-time business. The herd is tied in the old dairy stable built in the late seventies.

Parallel import in the European Union is the perfectly legal activity under Art. 28-30 EC of buying goods in a low-price country in order to ship and sell them in a high-price country. The pharmaceutical market in Europe is subject to the subsidiartiy principle of Art. 5 EC and heavily characterised by national regulations that lead to significant price differentials between – generally speaking – Northern and Southern Europe. This incites the activity of parallel traders in the first place, who act as arbitrageurs.

During the last couple of years many sectors and markets have had an increase in the competitive situation, this has meant that being cost effective have become more essential if organizations want to stay in business and be competitive. Thus, one crucial issue has become how to utilize the resources already available within the organization. Organizations can thoroughly plan and control personnel resources in order to become more efficient. But to become more cost effective also means taking into consideration several key figures, productivity being one of the more important figures.Onninen, a wholesaler which has one of its two central warehouses in Örebro has experienced this issue, i.e. an increase in competitive situation in their market.