Objective: To determine the frequency of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from healthy Swedish dogs and whether they are carriers of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Material: Samples from skin from the perineal region and from faeces collected in the anus with cottonswab (Copan) from 299 healthy Swedish dogs. Samples were collected at dog exhibitions. Method: Specimens were submitted for bacterial culture where bacteria (Escherichia coli, enterococci and staphylococci) were isolated and identified by current methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed with a microdilution method where MIC-values were determined. Staphylococci with high degree of resistance were tested for presence of mecA-gene by PCR.

Is the Swedish author Stig Dagerman an existentialist? This work takes a close look at Dagerman?s novel Island of the Doomed to see if it is possible to consider it an expression of existentialist thinking and to see if it interacts with any specific existentialist tradition. Dagerman?s novel was compared with select works of five existentialist thinkers ? Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Karl Jaspers, all read in the light of the four categories of existentialistic thinking identified by the Swedish scholar Lennart Koskinen. All the four categories appeared to be central themes within the novel and a few subcategories were identified.

AbstractPurpose ? The purpose of this study is to investigate possible reasons for long lead-time in a customer driven production, and how the lead-time can be reduced. To fulfil the purpose the study has been broken down into two questions.1. Whichfactorsaffectthelead-timeinacustomer-drivenproduction?2.

Game fields are one way to divert animals away from sensitive areas, create shelter and forage, and also to increase the biological diversity. In this study I investigated how the plant composition in six different crop mixes used for game fields affected the biomass production, biomass consumption and biological diversity at the Koberg estate in southwestern Sweden. Six experimental fields were used and each field contained six plots, approximately 1500 m2 each, that was sown with a different crop mix. The crop mixes ranged from a pure grass mix (A), 70 % grass and 30 % leguminous plants (B), 53 % grass, 21 % leguminous plants and 26 % other herbs (C), 100 % leguminous plants (D) to the most complex mixes constituting of 91 % leguminous plants and 9 % other herbs (E) and 87 % leguminous plants and 13 % other herbs (F). The fields were cut weekly during the summer in 2010, to estimate weekly biomass production.

Lately the popularity to keep different species of dwarf hamsters has increased in Sweden. The requirements of the Swedish legislation to keep hamsters as pets are low which could be a reason for the increasing popularity. Hamsters are in nature generally nocturnal and can travel far distances to find food sources during their active part of the day. Their eyesight is poor, but is compensated by their well-developed hearing and olfaction. ?Run about balls? are made of plastic and the hamster is placed inside it where after the ball is placed on the floor and the hamster can then run protected outside the cage.

This study has investigated how urban vegetation can be used in a multifunctional way to support ecosystem services in urban environments. Nacka municipality is in the start-up phase of building what is to become Nacka city. This provides a unique possibility to study and analyse what role the vegetation play in making the city a healthy living environment and how it needs to be adapted in order to be resilient against changing climate conditions and how the effects of those changes can be regulated. The study further investigates how airborne pollution, caused by urbanization processes, can be regulated or reduced by vegetation or species selection. Methods used in this study were a combination of qualitative interviews and literature studies, seeking to answer the questions: Which specific ecosystem functions are needed in the urban environment and which aspects will influence the ecosystems ability to deliver the functions in demand? And which plant species have the right mechanisms needed to deliver those functions? These questions have been studied and analysed in a local based context where the local conditions ands site specific needs of Nacka define criteria for plant selection.

The fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident resulted in large deposits of caesium, iodineand strontium as well as noble gases in various parts of Sweden. 137Cs has a radioactive halflifeof about 30 years and is therefore one of few radio-fission products remaining inmeasurable quantities in the Swedish soil. Radiocaesium behaves similarly to potassium insoil-plant systems and is easily absorbed by plants. It is important to understand how 137Csbehaves in different ecosystems in order to minimize the risk toward humans.The aim of this study was to determine how potassium fertilization influences radiocaesiumcontent in different forest plants and fungi. Potassium fertilizer was spread once in 1992 withapproximately 200 kg KCl per ha.

This thesis serves to examine how manufacturing SMEs consider outsourcing. Furthermore, we aim to identify the main characteristics and patterns for these types of companies that can explain their rationale in such a decision. The chosen method for this thesis is abduction and selected research approach is multiple case studies. Seven case studies have been conducted at EAB AB, Esbe AB, Hörle Automatic AB, Pelly Industri AB, SGV Industrier AB, Swede-Wheel AB and Wulkan AB. Our findings have illustrated that although traditional outsourcing theory provides a good platform for explaining the rationale behind outsourcing decisions in SMEs, we have identified additional considerations that SMEs, operating as 2, 3 or 4-tier suppliers towards OEM-corporations, make.

The vegetation?s impact on erosion control is widely explored, even though research? results are scattered where it suggests a both positive and negative relationship between roots and erosion tendency. Research has measured the roots? impact on erosion by many different methods, hence the aim of this study is to offer a clearance of what factors play an important role in the choice of appropriate species controlling river bank erosion. I have therefore studied 17 articles concerning vegetation and erosion control, which were found in different databases such as: Web of Knowledge, Biological Sciences, Academic Search Elite and Google Scholar.

According to statistics, requirements management is identified as a major source of error to failed IT-projects. Moreover communication is identified as a factor affecting the require-ments management and can lead to deficiencies in the requirements. The requirements analyst is responsible for managing the requirements from the different stakeholders, act as a com-munication accommodator and to translate abstract requirements expressed by users to more specific requirements that developers can implement. The purpose of this thesis is to study the role of the requirements analyst to investigate the problems that may arise in working with requirements management.  To achieve the purpose we have performed a requirements management process in which we ourselves took the role as the requirements analysts. The requirements management process consisted of three phases: gather requirements, document requirements and validate require-ments.

Background: Within palliative care setting persons with terminal illness is cared for. The aim of the care is to enhance the quality of life for the patient through a holistic approach. The disease can lead to major suffering and require the person to handle the situation. If the person´s ability and capacity to do so is insufficient the identity may be perceived as threatened and quality of life diminished. Self-care can help a person to cope with loss of identity, enhance independence and improve quality of life.Aim: The aim of this study is to explore self-care strategies of patients within palliative care setting.

The study aims to give a description of the conditions in which matters is prepared withinSwedish Government`s offices, to describe the adaptive capacity in the agency`s internalprocesses by investigating the experiences of some civil servants restricted to the Ministry ofEnterprise and the Ministry of Environment in their work with the EU Maritime Policy GreenPaper. The results have been analyzed against the basis of eight identified criteria of buildingadaptive capacity in socially dominated systems. The criteria are comprised of both individualand organizational abilities. Only two of them were fully met; the criteria about diversity inexperiences and knowledge and the criteria about information and how the information hasbeen applied. However, the process has traces of all the identified criteria.

Analyses of pollen and charcoal in peat cores, together with age-structure data of Pinus sylvestris from a Ledum-Pinus-mire in the Tyresta National Park (south-east Sweden) show the regional vegetation succession and fire history over the last 9000 years. Five major stages of mire development are identified: 1. Lake (c 7000-6400 cal BC); 2. Wet fen (c 6400-6000 cal BC); 3. Deciduous fen (c 6000 cal BC to c cal AD 700); 4.

Today Holmen Skog finds and selects suitable thinning stands using data on upper height and basal area. These figures are often based on basic forest data that has been updated with the help of growth prediction models. The problem is that these figures are not always correct. The aim of this study was to investigate if a combination of data from a profiling laser and a digital camera for low elevation photography, can be used for collecting data on number of stems per ha, tree species mixture as well as basal area weighted mean height and upper height for stands. The possibility to use these data to assess the need for thinning cutting was also investigated.Laser data and aerial photographs were collected from a helicopter operating at an approximate height of 100 meters.

Millions of preselected progeny have been born since the development of The Beltsville Sperm Sexing Technology 1986. The method is based on flow cytometry and sorting is done on the basis of DNA difference of the X- and Y-chromosomes. Preselection of progeny provides an opportunity to obtain genetic gain and increased production as well as increased animal welfare and decreased environmental impact. However, the method is associated with low fertility, high costs and uncertainty whether the sorting process contributes to DNA damage and thereby results in genetically impaired progeny. Today, sex sorted sperm is only commercially available in the bovine industry, due to the fact that bull sperm is more suitable for selection than sperm from other species.