Regulations on the exhaust emissions of HD-diesel engines are becoming more and more stringent, and therefore, emission after-treatment systems are commonly used. These systems rely on catalytic conversion of NOx,CO , and HC emissions, and are thus dependant on temperature. At low load of the engine, exhaust temperatures are not sufficient for the after-treatment components. Therefore, means to increase the exhaust temperature while maintaining low emissions and fuel consumption are needed.The focus of this project has been to develop strategies for the lift profiles of exhaust and intake valves in the engine, with the goal to raise exhaust temperature in combination with low emissions and fuel consumption. The strategies have been tested in a single-cylinder research engine equipped with a hydraulic variable valve actuation system.

Background: Overweight and obesity has become an increasing health issue around the world, which leads to an increase of cardiovascular diseases. The reason for this is a lack of physical activity in combination with an overconsumption of unhealthy food. In the primary healthcare is the ordination of physical activity on prescription offered as a treatment, which is an important health preventive action. When clients get physical activity on prescription they are given the opportunity to receive health counseling as a way to motivate a change in an unhealthy way of living.Objectives: This study aim to examine the experience of the health counseling of individuals with overweight related problems, in combination with the prescription of physical activity.Method: Qualitative interviews were chosen as method. Nine individuals participated in the study, seven females and two males, who had been to health counseling at Friskvården in Värmland.

After parturition the energy demand for milk production is greater then the energy provided from the diet. The cow mobilises therefore body tissues to compensate for the energy loss. Live weight and body condition scores decreases as a consequence of the mobilisation. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between body condition score, live weight and subcutaneous fat depth measured by ultrasound and the changes during the lactation. Possible differences between Swedish Holstein (SLB) and Swedish Red and White Cattle (SRB) were also investigated.

To increase the quality and the cost-efficiency of contract archaeology in Sweden a revisedregulation for contract archaeology was established the 1st of January 2008. By including findstrategy as a concept with special demands in the regulation the Swedish Heritage Board is nowhoping that the conservators will be integrated earlier in the archaeological process and that theunpremeditated find accumulations will stop. This is making the competition between thearchaeological companies even harder. The questions are how the regulation have affected therole of the conservators in the field of contract archaeology today, what is affecting theintegration and the situation, and what can the different stakeholders do to make the collaborationbetween archaeologists and conservators more professional? The conservators are now hopingthat this is the change that will increase the collaboration with the archaeologists, which isimportant for the finds prosperity and the drive of information.To get an updated and generalised view of the impact of the regulation so far, phoneconversations and questionnaires were carried out with archaeologists, conservators, employees atcounty administrative boards and the Swedish Heritage Board.

Background: The construction industry is Sweden?s single most important industry branch with a significant influence on Sweden?s wealth. The political restrictions that once controlled the industry are today almost gone. This combined with an unbalanced supply and demand situation on the Swedish constructions market, caused by urbanisation, has led to increased pressure on the Swedish construction companies who now are forced to find new methods in their struggle to contain or increase their competitive advantage. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to survey: which strategic variables are of great importance in today?s Swedish construction industry with focus on the four main actors, JM, NCC, PEAB and Skanska.

Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD) is characterized by paradoxical vocal cord movement during inspiration or expiration, and generally affects adolescents and predominantly women. Previous studies have shown a large inconsistency concerning terminology, definitions, etiology, assessment, differential diagnosis, co-morbidity and treatment. The purpose of this study was to map knowledge on and management of VCD in Sweden. The study was conducted as a written survey addressed to speech-language pathologists and physicians, and attained an answer percentage of 79 percent. The results showed that several professions were involved in the management of these patients, but no clear pattern of referral could be observed.

When the costs for a company increase it is normal to look for alternatives to lower thesecosts. One of the expenditure that farmers have is energy costs. The price for the energy mayvary because of the free market. To look at the possibilities for a farmer to invest in sunpower, to make the company less sensitive for the changes on the electrical market, isinteresting. The biggest part of the electricity that is produced in Sweden comes from a fewcompanies on the market.

A future expansion of wind power in the Nordic power system makes the balancing for the transmission system operator Svenska Kraftnät (SvK) more complicated. Up to the hour of delivery the balance responsible parties? (BRP) makes prognoses and plans, for consumption and production, to help maintain the balance in the electrical grid. How well this is accomplished is affected by the setup of the market design. Therefore SvK has proposed the following possible changes in market design: Increase the imbalance costsIntensify the regulation of imbalancesIncrease the temporal resolution on the different marketsPresent the prices for balancing power in real-timeModify the balancing market to simplify auction of consumption bidsA mapping over the BRPs? processes within planning and trading on the day-ahead, intra-day, and the balancing market has been performed in this thesis.

Background: Pet therapy has existed as a concept since 1964 when the American child psychologist Boris Levinson coined the term. Nowadays Animal Assisted Activity (AAA) and Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) are both recognized concepts, and with progressed research the science of pet therapy increases.Purpose: To summate the most recent science in pet therapy (therapy dog) research with focus on physical, psychical, and social effects.Methods: Literature study/review with descriptive design, research on 21 articles published from year 2003 and onward. Articles used in the study were chosen through beforehand decided criteria, subject to quality rating, and summated in an overview. The main results were summated and presented in similarities and differences.Results: The main result of the summation was that important results could be measured in each of the three fields of research. Physical/physiological effects: pain relief, differentiated results on vital signs, and increased activity.

Recent accounting scandals, often led by managers trying to improve results and thereby their own bonuses, have severely damaged the publics view of management. In the aftermath of scandals such as Enron, Parmalat and Skandia, demand has increased for Corporate Governance codes and similar regulation. The Swedish code for Corporate Governance came into effect on July 1, 2005. The code requires all Swedish companies listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange (OMX A- and O-list), with a turnover exceeding 3 billion SEK, to disclose a report regarding Corporate Governance, attached to the annual report.The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the new disclosure required by the Swedish Corporate Governance code will have a measurable effect on stock prices. The authors have applied event study methodology examining daily returns around the announcement of the Corporate Governance reports.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och analysera om det finns något samband mellan företags lönsamhet och dess kapitalstruktur, storlek eller branschtillhörigheten. Detta innebär att en empirisk studie kommer att ske på soliditet, omsättning samt branschtillhörigheten för att se hur och om det finns något samband mellan lönsamheten och dessa tre faktorer. Vidare är syftet även att undersöka om det kan finnas något samband mellan företags lönsamhet och företags standardavvikelse på räntabilitet.Metod: Undersökningen är en empirisk studie med en deduktiv kvantitativ och kvalitativ ansats. Empirin undersöks med olika statistiska metoder såsom regressionsanalys och korrelationsberäkning.Teori: Uppsatsen har utgått från teorier gällande kapitalstruktur och lönsamhet. Nyckeltalen som används från dessa teorier är soliditet respektive räntabilitet på eget kapital.Empiri: Data från de 20 största börsnoterade företagen på Stockholmsbörsen har samlats in från företagens årsredovisningar 2003-2007.

The physical inactivity and other diseases related to ways of living in Sweden, affects a big part of Swedes, simultaneously as the society is more defined and marked by health promoting and by views that affects many people to actively make a difference in their lives. Physical activity on prescription is such an example of health promoting, which enlarges the conditions for a healthy life. Physical activity on prescription is also about that the individual should take the decision by herself to increase her physical activity or to get motivated to start a healthy life style alternative reduce the risk of getting sicker. The purpose of our study was to illustrate what the participants of ?fysioteket? thought about the work of fysioteket and if the physical activity on prescription has affected their motivation towards physical activity and their experienced health.

An increase interest of new methods and tools has begun to grow in the real estate business, this new trend causes an increase in new programs that aim to simplify processes of energy-efficiency and environmental issues.After consulting with Björn Alsmark from Bjerking AB, an architect and engineering company, we made a decision that the Degree Project is going to examine the program IES (Integrated Environmental Solutions) with some integrations from Revit Architecture application.To be able to examine IES, we got access to a completed project from Bjerking. The project is a nursery school in Uppsala. An application has been handed in from Bjerking to make this project to a Green Building-certificated project. According to Bjerking own calculations (with the energy-calculation program Enorm), the consumption of energy of the nursery school is 48 percent lesser than required by BBR.An evaluation of IES and Enorm has been made with an aim to compare these two programs and find out if IES is an appropriate program to replace Enorm. Does Enorm or IES come up to BBR´s recommendations?The Degree Project cover 15 ECT, that required several adjusting and delimitations, and the study sketch ended with a literature study.After finishing the study sketch the modeling of the nursery school began.

Our purpose of this paper is to seek an understanding of which service quality factors that affects customers in their decision making progress regarding purchasing financial services such as pension products. We also seek to evaluate the different service quality factors by compare their relative strength against each other. The study aim to investigate if there are any connections between customer behavior variables such as gender, age and income in comparison to these service quality factors related to pension products.The findings aim to help a small financial institute such as our case company Plain Capital to understand how their customers experience service quality regarding pension products.In order to find empirical results we conducted a qualitative research as well a quantitative research. The qualitative research employed both a focus group interview with pension savers and an interview with our case company Plain Capital. We were able to identify the service quality factors for pension?s products with help from the focus group interview.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to increase the knowledge of which strategies students with reading and writing disabilities or dyslexia use to learn in secondary school. The study aims to examine the following questions:Which coping strategies do students with reading and writing disabilities use in their studies?How can remedial teachers support students with reading and writing disabilities in their learning process?The study consists of two interviews with a total of three hours recorded material made with a secondary school teacher who teaches Swedish and English. The teacher has experiences of reading and writing disabilities herself but also from teaching students with dyslexia. The interviews are constructed into a lifestory describing experiences of reading and writing disabilities in school, during teacher training and as a teacher.