The resting area is the most important place in the barn for the dairy cow, sometimes called the heart of the free stall system. Inadequate design of the lying area, and lack of or poor quality of bedding materials may reduce the hygiene of the stall. Poor management regarding the cleanliness of the resting area may lead to poor animal hygiene and increased bacterial growth. This in turn will lead to increased risk for environmental mastitis as well as impairing milk quality through contamination with spores. In this literature study the most commonly used bedding materials; straw, sawdust, wood shavings, clean sand, recycled sand, peat and recycled manure solids, are compared to one another with regards to their ability to resist bacterial growth. Effects of adding hydrated lime to bedding materials have also been studied. Most bacteria need humidity and prefer a quite high water activity to be able to grow.

Growth models are very useful tools for forestry to predict growth and yield. With growth models and optimising tools you can manage forest stands in a way that maximize benefit and income. There are three major types of growth models. Stand models; stage structured models and single-tree models. The most advanced models give the most accurate forecasts.

The aim of this work is to demonstrate how the net present value (NPV) at the time of the first thinning depends on the spacing after pre-commercial thinning, and show how net value from first thinning in same stand is influenced. This study is performed with models based on non-distant dependent growth models for single trees. Two different growth models have been used, one for cleaning (pre-commercial thinning) and one for thinning. The first one yields stem density distributed over diameter classes. In the second one, (the thinning model), it is possible to choose when thinning should be done, the thinning method, thinning grade and numbers of thinning.

Background: During extreme market conditions like the period during fall 2008 the discussion of what affects company value becomes apparent. The capital structure is the relation between borrowed capital and equity in a company´s financing mix. What impact changes in capital structure have on company value is a widely debated subject within the theory of finance. If a relationship between capital structure and company value exists the implication is that an optimal capital structure where company value is maximized also exists.Aim: The aim of the thesis is to study whether a certain relationship between capital structure and company value exists among selected stocks and companies listed on Stockholmsbörsens OMXS30.Implementation: With aim to fulfill the purpose of the thesis regression analysis has been performed among chosen stocks and companies. The empirical results eventuating from this have been analyzed from the view of elected relevant theory.Completion and results: We find that during normal market conditions a positive relationship between debt ratio and enterprise value (EV) can be established.

Hybrid aspen is a crossbreed between European and North American aspen. It is a fast growing tree species that has shown strong growth in the South of Sweden. The follow-ups that have been made on hybrid aspen stands, have mainly been done on plant material in the South of Sweden. In the North of Sweden, only occasional studies have been made, and the knowledge of Northern hybrid aspen stands is, thus, unsatisfactory.In the South of Norrland, land owners have planted hybrid aspen, but what kind of plants it is, and how well these stands have established, is not ascertained, since data has not been compiled on the subject.The objective of this study is to evaluate practical plantations of hybrid aspen in the South of Norrland regarding height growth, survival and damages. The ambition is to increase the knowledge about practical plantations regarding height growth, survival and damages, and from the conclusions thereof, give recommendations for future establishments of hybrid aspen in the area.For the study, eight hybrid aspen stands in the South of Norrland were localised.

Syfte: Vi ämnar med uppsatsen att undersöka om det råder en skillnad i avkastning mellan portföljer indelade efter kriterier som kännetecknar värde samt tillväxtaktier. Studien genomförs specifikt på svenska marknaden och portföljernas avkastning skall utvärderas utifrån en årlig buy and hold strategi. Vi ämnar även utvärdera om något av urvalskriterierna (Price to book, Price to earnings och Dividend yield) i de polära strategierna är mer framgångsrikt än de andra under perioden 1996 till 2007 ochvilken/vilka faktorer som kan vara avgörande för framgången..

Entrepreneurship as playing a important role for economic growth has been discussed by a number of theorists such as Joseph Schumpeter and Israel M. Kirzner. William J. Baumol developed these theories as he considered that all entrepreneurship doesn?t lead to economic growth, some entrepreneurial activities may even lead to stagnation.

Populism has been an integral part of the Finnish political system since the late 1950's. At that time the Agrarian Populist Party, better known as The Rural Party, emerged and thrived for decades until the party financially broke down in the 1990's. Reemerging on the political scene as the True Finns, the party is more radical and more influential than ever, gaining enough support to be the third largest party of the 2011 parliamentary election. Sweden, Finland?s neighbor, in contrast has a history with very little populist presence or radical right populist parties (RRP-parties).

The aim of this study was to develop a simple model for calculating stock costs for bio fuel at Billerud Karlsborg and subsequently recommending a suitable stock level of bio fuel. The stock components considered in the model are GROT (branches and tops), bark, dry wood chips, raw wood chips from barking and sawdust. The calculations are based on a probability distribution of historical deviations between ordered and delivered volumes. The model presents two different ways to manage the supply in case of irregular deliveries. The first way is to stock enough volume to cover the deviations and the second way is to compensate with a quick purchase from the spot market (at extra high purchase prices).

This thesis aims to investigate if peer-groups based on industry classification perform as well as, or better than, peer-groups based on other measures that represent factors affecting the price-to-earnings multiple. In contrast with previous empirical studies, a solid theoretical approach is used in defining which factors, according to valuation theory, affect the P/E-ratio. The factors identified as explanatory are accounting measures, risk and growth. Furthermore, we have recognized several measures that represent these factors. These measures are tested for accuracy of prediction in terms of the P/E-ratio for peer-groups based on these measures relative to an industry classified peer-group.

This study puts emphasis on an international discourse describing how cities frequently compete against each other, and also describing factors that cities should enhance to make themselves more competitive. The discourse in this study has therefore been used to seek understanding how three different municipalities Borlänge, Karlstad and Malmö strive for growth by applying central factors from the discourse on the municipalities strategic documents. What the study shows is that the central factors from the discourse strongly imprints the strategic documents, but the presence of the factors varies between the municipalities and also to what meaning that lies behind the strategic goals..

Background The stocksaving has during the last century increased and become more popular in Sweden and during the last 20 years the number of Swedes who save in stocks has more than doubled. While the interest in stocksaving has increased so has the interest in private saving. Today there is a group of people who live of the income which is generated from the stockmarket, they are called ?Daytraders? and they do ?Daytrading?.  They constantly observe the stockmarket and act as soon as new information that can affect the stockrate is revealed.

Title: Overreaction on the Swedish stock market Seminar date:2008-01-30 Course:Nek K01- Bachelor Thesis in Economics (15 ETCS) Authors: Advisor:Oskar Herbe and Ludvig Persson Hossein Asgharian Key Words:Overreaction, Anomalies, Market Efficiency, Contrarian investment strategies Purpose:The purpose of this thesis is to test if the overreaction hypothesis as originally described by De Bondt and Thaler is a good explanation model for the Swedish stock market. Further, our intension is to divide the stock market into three segments by company size, in terms of market capitalization, to control for size effects. Method:We have conducted this study by analyzing Swedish stock data in the period of 1989-2007. Within this time span, using overlapping formation periods, we have constructed two types of portfolios, winner portfolios and looser portfolios. The portfolios represent the 30 per cent best performing respectively worst performing stocks in terms of returns.

Crop efficiency in utilizing available nutrients is an important factor in increasing produc-tivity and reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. Nitrogen is the nutrient that plants need in the largest quantity and wheat, along with maize and rice, is the world's most cultivated crop. In this work, the Nitrogen Use Efficiency, NUE, during the major growth period, HTP, of twelve different spring wheat varieties, were examined. The NUE was calculated as the product of uptake efficiency of nitrogen, UN, and the conversion effi-ciency of nitrogen to biomass, EN. The purpose of this work was to find if there are varietal differences in NUE and its components among the twelve varieties and to link a high NUE to specific characteristics of the varieties.

Rapporten behandlar aeroba dränkta biobäddar som biologiskt reningssteg i avloppsreningsverk. Syftet med examensarbetet är att studera de dränkta biobäddarna i Järbo och Kungsgården avseende reduktion av näringsämnen och parametrar som pH, syre och belastning. Rapporten har dels en teoridel där funktionen hos dränkta biobäddar genomgås samt en praktisk del där avloppsreningsverken i Järbo och Kungsgården studerats avseende reduktion av bland annat fosfor, kväve, COD, BOD. Studien omfattades av två provtagningsomgångar om vardera en vecka. Studien har utförts under våren 2004..