Climate change is expected to lead to increased rainfall and higher temperatures, among other things. This will have a major impact on our cities. Floods can lead to property damage as well as damages to human and animal health. Higher temperatures will increase the frequency of heat-related health risks and premature deaths. The consequences of climate change will be particularly large in our cities because of the city's morphology with a high amount of paved surfaces and buildings that affect the natural processes in areas such as drainage and absorption of solar radiation.

Lack of dead wood is the main cause of decaying or loss of populations for many forest species. To increase the amount of dead wood is a prerequisite to maintain biodiversity in forests of northern Europe. In summer 2006 the recreation area Klåveröd, at Söderåsen in Skåne, Sweden, has been inventoried for high stumps (snags) of beech, (Fagus sylvatica). The result of the inventory has been compared with data of the real estate and forest management directories from the owner, region Skåne. The results have also been matched with the results from an inventory of saproxylic beetles in 2005, performed with windowtraps on selected snags both in the area and the adjacent national park Söderåsen. 594 snags were found on 747 ha.

WSP building physics in Stockholm has certified the preschool Temmelburken in Bromma with the system of certification Miljöbyggnad. The rating of the building became BRONZE. In this thesis the preschool has been investigated with respect to the three areas: thermal climate, use of energy and improving of the level of certification. The thermal climate at the preschool has been investigated by a questionnaire survey and by measurements in order to do comparisons between the results from the two investigations as well as with the results of the simulations that WSP has done at the certification of the preschool. The differences between the results from the simulations and the questionnaire survey for winter as well as from the measurement performed with a comfort meter the 19th of March are concidered to be reasonably small since they give rise to the same rating according to Miljöbyggnad.   Operational data for the use of energy for the preschool have been obtained in order to do comparisons with simulations performed by WSP and Svenska Besiktningar AB. The comparison shows that the simulated values for the specific use of energy are lower than what the real specific use of energy would be for the preschool, since just the operational data for the heat energy is higher than the simulated values. At the investigation of the possibility of improving the level of certification it was found that the rating of the preschool can be raised from BRONZE to SILVER by improving the ratings of the ?thermal climate summer? and the ?daylight?.

The natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) is one of three species of toads living in Sweden. During the last decades declines in population numbers have been detected and are thought to be primarily due to loss of habitat, overgrown breeding ponds and competition from common toad (Bufo bufo) and common frog (Rana temporaria). In 2012 20 ponds in the location of Glommeskallen in Smögen were restored by clearing the ponds from overgrowth. The aim of this study was to investigate if natterjack toads used the restored ponds and if the restoration had made an impact on the natterjack population on the location. Presence of common toad and common frog was recorded, as was the presence of eggs and larvae of any of the three species.

Overweight and obesity is currently a major health problem in our dogs all around the world and it is becoming more common each year. There are few studies on the proportion of overweight dogs in Sweden, but it was estimated to be 33% in 2005. Studies in other countries report that between 25-40% of all dogs are overweight. The aim of this study was to survey the animal care for an overweight dog. It was also important to develop a scientifically based advice.

The EU Water Framework Directive has led that management follows the boundaries of natural catchments.The Swedish waters suffer from a nutrient overload that originates mainly from diffuse sources such as agriculture and the subcatchment of Hackstabäcken in Vallentuna Kommun, just north of Stockholm, has been chosen for this study because of its high nutrient load and because it has undergone obvious changes in land use through the years.In this study, the land use in 1902 is compared with the land use in 2011 in order to investigate if it has influenced the ability of the landscape to produce ecosystem services related to nutrient removal. These services will continue to be produced as long as the system is stable and resilient, but when landuse changes and manure from horses increases it will lead to disturbances that can convert a system from one regime in to a completely different one. That will result in loss, or degradation, of ecosystem services such as denitrification, phosphor sedimentation and adsorption, vegetation uptake and infiltration.The results of this study are based upon area calculations of landuse from old maps from 1902 and 2011. Through these maps it becomes clear that the forests in Hackstabäcken, has increased with 170 ha together with an urbanization of 311 ha, at the same time as wetlands and arable land has diminished and lakes has suffered from reductions. Wetlands have been reduced with 76 ha and the ones remaining are of insufficient quality from a nutrient removal perspective.Data from 1902 and 2011 regarding number of horses and bovines indicated a decrease in bovines and an increase in horses.

AbstractThe Municipality Council decided in 2010 to develop a comprehensive energy efficiency strategy with financial and methodological support from Energimyndigheten (The Swedish Energy Agency). The strategy should include 3 major parts: an inventory of the 2009 energy use defining the current situation, the 2014 and 2020 goals for energy use, and an action plan for goal achievements. According to Energimyndigheten, the strategy must include all municipal administration premises, vehicles, and all majority-owned companies (as Laholmshem, the municipal housing company).The report describes the inventory work in order to obtain the 2009 energy use and the sources of information used. The inventory values are used as the base year values for the 2014 and 2020 goals. The inventory showed that information about the vehicles is dispersed in the municipal administration and no clear structure exists with respect to mileage and fuels used.

Inside the south Swedish national park Dalby Söderskog, wild boars (Sus scrofa L.) have been visiting since 2010. The presence of wild boars has earlier been proven to impact both soil and vegetation characteristics, both positively and negatively. Still, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the rooting effect on the vegetation in deciduous forest within the native range. In this study, I have compared the field vegetation collected before and after the invasion of wild boars in 74 permanent experimental plots. More specifically, the study aimed to qualify the effect of wild boar rooting on cover ratio, species richness and species composition in a temperate deciduous forest.

AbstractThis bachelor thesis has been assigned by the company ACG Nyström, Borås. ACG Nyström is working in cooperation with a Swiss company named Jentschmann AG. Jentschmann is a manufacturer of ultra sonic welding machines which ACG Nyström is marketing in Scandinavia and the Baltic States. On behalf of Jentschmann AG the company has the aim to introduce the ultra sonic welding technique to new companies.The aim of this thesis is to compare traditional sewing machines with ultra sonic welding machines within two textile areas, protective clothing and outdoor living.Two investigative questions have been formulated for this purpose: what are the differences between a sewing machine and an ultra sonic welding machine? Is it possible to replace the sewing technology with ultra sonic welding? These stand as guidance for this paper.To gather knowledge interviews, literature studies, and tests on two different ultra sonic welding machines were performed.

The work covered in this report includes a literature study of the diesel dual fuel technology(hereinafter referred to as DDF). The literature study covers earlier work that has been doneregarding the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and diesel in a DDF system. Moreover a onecylinder research diesel engine was fitted with a CNG fuel system for experimental testing. Theinstallation of the engine and the test cell is described. Results from the tests are presentedcovering emissions, heat release and pressure traces from the DDF-concept.During the literature study it was found that most research was related to heavy duty dieselengines.

Constantly growing demands from the costumers in the Automotive industry forces the subcontractors to seek alternative ways to compete. One parameter of quality is the components tolerance against NVH(Noise, Vibraion & Harshness) aspects. Kongsbergs Automotive has developed a new gear shifter platform (Shift-by-Wire) that is sold to Alfa Romeo and used in of their car models. However, the company is not pleased with the components sound quality, therefore the main purpose of this thesis is to develope a number of concepts that is supposed to enhance these NVH-aspects.To get an understanding of the problem an analysis of the causes of the emitted sound has been done parallell to a product decomposition, function decomposition and a Ishikawa-diagram. Together with these methods has a litterature study been performed to get familiar with the physics of an impact and especially the emittment of noise.

Light has always fascinated humans but ever since the invention of the first light bulb, the use of artificial lighting has accelerated dramatically. Darkness has never been as rare as today and the overuse of lighting has created a new phenomenon called light pollution. Most living beings are biologically dependent on the recurrent twenty-four-hour rhythm of light and darkness, called the circadian cycle. Human beings are evolutionary developed after this circadian rhythm and the effects of constant artificial light is yet unknown. Scientists fear the consequences of constant lighting and what it means physically, mentally and philosophically for the human species.

Slaughter of animals should consist of two steps in order to be considered humane. The first step of the slaughter process is stunning, with the purpose of inducing unconsciousness and insensibility in the animal. The second step is exsanguination, which causes bleeding and eventually death. What death really means in these situations has been discussed intensively, but still no agreed definition has been accepted. Nonetheless, it is conceded that animals are declared dead when consciousness is irreversibly lost, and absence of respiration and blood circulation are observed.

A common perception is that fungicide treatments increases yield, but that the nitrogen of the particular grain is diluted so that the overall removal of grain nitrogen from the field remains unchanged. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that a healthy crop reduces the risk of nutrient loss from agricultural land. The results from genotype and plant protection trials often show constant nitrogen content in the grain, although the yield has been increased. Results from such experiments are therefore processed in order to confirm this and show that it is no statistically significant difference between the protein content (and also nitrogen content) in crops which have undergone fungicide treatment compared to crops which remained untreated. The trials processed have been carried out in the southernmost part of Sweden and are distinguished to concern winter wheat production.The explanation to the results is that a healthy crop is able to maintain the biological functions of the plant in a more efficient way than a crop damaged by a fungal infection.

The sun is essential to life on earth and no matter where you are, there is a constant need ofenergy. Nearly 800 000 years ago man learned for the first time to use fire in a controlled way.Since then, fire has given us the opportunity to inhabit places despite a cold climate. In Swedenthe resident sector accounts for a major part of the total consumption of energy. In a time whenenvironmental issues and greenhouse effects are increasing, we also see a future of rising energyprices. With this perspective, we have in this bachelor thesis in the Building Environment at theRoyal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm decided to focus on the renewable energysource, solar energy.The energy from solar radiation is a free resource and does not have any negative effects uponthe environment.