Open ecosystems, such as grasslands and pastures, have naturally been shaped by disturbances like fire and grazing. These processes play a crucial role in creating habitats with high biological diversity, particularly favourable for a wide range of herbaceous plant species. In recent years, many of these disturbances have ceased, leading to encroachment, fragmentation and habitat loss. The aim of this study was to examine and compare the effects of fire, herbivory and a combination of fire and herbivory on the emergence of herbaceous plants. The study was conducted at the Ecopark at Nordens Ark.

AbstractThis report has been developed in cooperation with Peab Region Bostad Göteborg, mentor at Krook& Tjäder (through Chalmers), and examiner at Chalmers University of Technology. The report is the result of a research of a building project, constructed by Peab. The report is investigating and it means to identify and evaluate qualities in the dwelling and its surroundings. Its purpose is to evaluate how the residents in a chosen housing cooperative enjoy living there. It shall, with help of chosen quality aspects, identify what expectations the residents had before moving in, how they experience the dwelling and its surroundings today, and what hopes they have for the future planning of the area.

In the current situation a big part ofthe settlements that exist in Sweden isin need of renovation and energyefficiency in order to survive.Therefore, also many of the older houseswith a wooden structure are in a need ofenergy efficiency, which can be done ina variety of ways, including addinginsulation.This project deals with whether the useof a diffusion barrier or a vaporbarrier affects a wall structure byadding insulation to an older house witha timber frame. The insulation materialswhich are concidered in thisinvestigation are mineral wool and woodfiber insulation. Efforts are focused onthe effects of moisture on theseinsulation materials.To demonstrate the differences thatarise the moisture measurement programWUFI have been used to simulate avariety of wall designs. These designsare developed in consultation with theconstruction carers who are active inthe industry.Using WUFI graphs illustrating themoisture levels of the wall structureswere obtained and from these conclusionsvould be drawn. The work demonstratesthe differences that arise when using adiffusion barrier or vapor barrier inwall construction.

About a year ago, Göteborgs-Posten, one of Sweden's largest daily newspapers, decided it was unprofitable to continue producing their feature-style weekend magazine, Två Dagar. Standing at a crossroads,not wanting to stop producing the weekend magazine altogether, they decided to outsource. Spoon Publishing AB, a content agency with strong ties to Göteborg, were assigned with taking over the production.Going forward, Spoon has taken over a majority of the responsibility for the conceptual work and actual production, all with the main purpose of reducing cost and increasing efficiency.Normally Spoon does content marketing for a wide range of customers in an equally wide spectra of channels, from print to radio, television and web.The main purpose of this essay has been to investigate and establish whether the journalistic integrity and quality has in fact been maintained despite the weekend magazine being outsourced. We have analyzed selected editions of the magazine, first and foremost inarticles under the vignette fashion, using a qualitative method for content analysis, scrutinizing everything from the denotation of single words to the big picture. This specific vignette contains the most frequent contributions by in-house, or at least reappearing, journalists.Perusing the material in Två Dagar, we have come to the conclusion that the magazine has indeed retained its level of quality and still reflects the same core values as before being outsourced..

The objective of this thesis was to get more knowledge about how to design a dairy farm reducing the working hours and the work tasks whit high work load. I will try to reduce the working hours and the tasks whit high work load on my own farm witch I am about inherit. Today, the old stanchion barn has room for about 60 cows and 74 young cattle and need two men to run it every day. The total acre is 188 hectare, 100 hectare forest, 65 hectare farmlands and 23 hectare natural pasture. I have studied two solutions. In the first solution, I will use my old barn for young cattle and build a new barn for the cows.

The ability to tackle NP-hard problems has been greatly extended by the introduction of Metaheuristics (see Blum & Roli (2003)) for a summary of most Metaheuristics, general problem-independent optimisation algorithms extending the hill-climbing local search approach to escape local minima. One of these algorithms is Iterated Local Search (ILS) (Lourenco et al., 2002; Stützle, 1999a, p. 25ff), a recent easy to implement but powerful algorithm with results comparable or superior to other state-of-the-art methods for many combinatorial optimisation problems, among them the Traveling Salesman (TSP) and Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). ILS iteratively samples local minima by modifying the current local minimum and restartinga local search porcedure on this modified solution. This thesis will show how ILS can be implemented for MSA.

The ability to tackle NP-hard problems has been greatly extended by the introduction of Metaheuristics (see Blum & Roli (2003)) for a summary of most Metaheuristics, general problem-independent optimisation algorithms extending the hill-climbing local search approach to escape local minima. One of these algorithms is Iterated Local Search (ILS) (Lourenco et al., 2002; Stützle, 1999a, p. 25ff), a recent easy to implement but powerful algorithm with results comparable or superior to other state-of-the-art methods for many combinatorial optimisation problems, among them the Traveling Salesman (TSP) and Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). ILS iteratively samples local minima by modifying the current local minimum and restartinga local search porcedure on this modified solution. This thesis will show how ILS can be implemented for MSA.

Aim: Preferential treatment and allocation of quotes according to sex are two current concepts due to the increasing demand for equality. One organization that may use preferential treatment is the fire department. This is why we chose it as a starting point for our study. The aim with this essay is to investigate how Gästrike Räddningstjänst can create a more equal organization.Method: We have interviewed eight employees and prepared questions for each one. This represents a qualitative method.

The aim of this report is to investigate how the work handling at the department for arriving goods at EFG in Tranås is working, as well as how it could be improved and made more effective. EFG is a corporation who process and sell office furniture. The company is working with a project concerning delivery precision, the subject is therefore particularly interesting from the perspective of delivery accuracy. The number of orders has increased notably during the fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006. This has led to new demands at the department for arriving goods and the topic is as a result of that important also from this point of view.Interviews and investigations have been conducted at location since no written material earlier has been made in the topic.

I fo?ljande uppsats underso?ker vi rekryterarens bedo?mningsproblematik i vardagen. A?mnet a?r relevant eftersom arbetsmarknaden sta?ndigt utvecklas vilket inneba?r att rekryterarens objektiva bedo?mning har fo?rsva?rats. Rekryteraren ma?ste hitta en balansga?ng mellan den subjektiva och objektiva bedo?mningen.

The industrial sector accounts for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce its negative impact on the environment is crucial in the quest for a sustainable future. In discussions of the industrial sector's impact on the environment guidelines have been highlighted as a tool to assist the industries in their efforts to change the relationship between the consumption of energy and production. This by improving energy efficiency and a shift to the best available technology. During the past 30 years the steel industry has reduced its energy consumption per ton of steel produced by 50 percent.

Numerous studies raise the topic of highly educated immigrants whose education and list of qualifications devalue in the context of the Swedish labour market. However, little is known of those with foreign background who enter into higher education in Sweden. Our study attempts to shed some light onto the value of higher education relative to that of a person?s ethnic background. The background material features nine in-depth interviews of foreign background academics, as well as data extracted from an extensive survey study previously carried out at Växjö University. Initially, the quantitative data showed that students with foreign background, including Swedish-born children of immigrants, had not managed to find qualified work upon completion of studies to the same extent as their Swedish background counterparts.

The viscosity of air buildings is a hot topic within the construction performers, which the industry feel they have too little knowledge about. This study is mainly aimed against air density in apartment buildings and airflow measurement. The study consists of a theoretical reference, educational visit, interviews and a survey conducted among construction workers at Magistratshagen in Linkoping.Earlier requirement in terms of air leakage through the climate screen was removed and today there are only energy requirement for a dwelling in Boverkets Building Regulations. The difference between a passive and a typical air tight construction is that the passive house have a maximum requirement of 0.3 l /s m2 of air leakage through the building climate screen. The requirement imposed on passive houses is to minimize the supply of power and energy for heating the building.Air tight constructions have heavy demands on the performance and accuracy of everyone involved with the project. The client must specify their requirements and also be prepared to pay for any additional costs. The architect and building planners have to design the building with regard to air tightness. Finally, the construction workers are required to do a careful work in order to get all the connections in the building air tight.The study suggests that an air tight building is a closed system where no forced ventilation exists. There are no reasons not to build too tight as long as there is a functioning ventilation. In this study the authors ask themselves how an air tight building changes over time. No theoretical information has been found on these changes, but the respondents assume that air density decreases with time. The deterioration is mainly assumed to be caused by construction materials changes over time. The study shows that construction workers knowledge of air tight construction is mixed, which they themselves admit in the survey..

Recent years there has been discussed how the critical situation in the housing market threatens the Stockholm region's growth. The thesis objective is to examine whether there is a scientific link between the lack of housing supply and growth. The thesis also intends to identify solutions for increased housing construction, for instance by examining the conditions for a greater regional perspective and influence on the region's housing supply. The thesis empirical study is based on semi-structured interviews with representatives from the Government, municipalities and the housing industry.In Sweden, research on the relationship between housing shortages and growth has not been conducted to that extent it can be said to exist scientific evidence regarding the growth threat. However, in Britain and the U.S, empirical studies show that a lack of housing supply has hindered growth through negative impact on countries' gross domestic product.

Umea? kommun har sedan 1995, med varierande intensitet, planerat fo?r en ny simhall som ska ersa?tta den gamla fra?n 1970. Det nu liggande fo?rslaget har mo?tts med skiftande a?sikter och de ma?nga kritiska handlar om ba?de fo?rslagets placering (mitt i centrala staden pa? en all- deles fo?r tra?ng tomt) och programmets omfattning (fo?r lite). Eftersom jag delar dessa kritiska a?sikter sa? har detta gett mig ett ypperligt tillfa?lle att som mitt examensarbete titta pa? hur jag anser att placeringen, omfattningen och gestaltningen av ett nytt badhus i Umea? ska se ut.Mina huvudsakliga fra?gesta?llningar har varit just placeringen, programmets omfattning samt naturligtvis a?ven gestaltningen av ett badhus fo?r Umea? kommun med sina 110 000 inva?nare.