Endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs) are found in many everyday products and can cause adverse effects on human health. Small children are particularly sensitive to EDCs and they are also exposed to them in a greater extent than adults. Despite this, EDCs are only banned in a few toys and childcare products. There are many sources of exposure and if no steps are taken to reduce the incidence of EDCs we may face an increasing number of people diagnosed with obesity, diabetes type 2 or various types of cancer.The Swedish Government has set a number of environmental objectives, one of which is calleda non-toxic environment. The Swedish Chemicals Agency was instructed to produce and conduct a national action plan to achieve this goal.

An increasing number of heat pump producers have developed heat pumps that can be connected to solar panels. In this thesis we have examined the possibilities of connecting solar panels to existing ground source- and geothermal heat pumps that has not been adapted to solar panels. During the work process, a prototype plant has been built to compare our theory with the practical results and with our designed sizing tool. The work has rendered in knowledge that will be used to build a sun module that can be easily connect to the existing heat pump system. The existing heat pump, our test plant, has been supplemented by an advanced storage tank used to allow different operating modes.

ABSTRACTOverweight and obesity is an increasing problem worldwide although high-income countries take a leed. High BMI during pregnancy and delivery constitute to many risks for both the mother and her outcome. Intervention programmes with the purpose to get the pregnant women to eat healthier and to excercise more are now working out in many different shapes. The effect of these activities varies. The aim of this study was to investigate if interventions during pregnancy, with women who?s BMI are 25 or more, affects health of the mother and her expected child, delivery outcome and self estimated health.

The Arctic region appears as a pristine remote environment, yet there is increasing evidence that it is greatly impacted by pollution such as lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg). In this environment deposition of Hg has increased threefold since the last industrial revolution. In this study five cryosolic soil profiles within non-sorted circles (NSC) in the Abisko region, northwest of Sweden, has been analyzed to improve our understanding regarding how pollutants are distributed within such type of soil. The soil samples have been analyzed with the use of X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), for the measurements of the total concentrations of e.g. lead (Pb) and zirconium (Zr).

In the future the Swedish pension system will face major problems. With an increasing aging population combined with a decreasing share of working population the financing of the pension system is becoming a bigger problem than previously predicted. This means the individual himself will have a bigger responsibility to invest money for their future retirement. It has been shown that a large proportion of the people who invests for their future pension have neither the interest nor the time to actively invest their pension capital. To make it easier for those who invest for their retirement, some Swedish banks have created so-called generation funds.

No accidents or injuries should occur because of our public health care. It should be a place with high security and good quality in order to avoid this type of accidents. This is a tough situation when the public health care organization should have as good quality as possible despite savings. It is difficult for middle managers to improve patient safety in the absence of money.The purpose of this study is to explain the work with patient safety that middle manager perform during saving times. The perspective we will look into is how they work with patient safety as an ongoing change.

This essay criticizes common theories within the three traditional perspectives, conflict management, conflict resolution and conflict transformation, for not being able to explain and/or generate solutions to the problems of fundamentalism and religious terrorism in a satisfying manner. This essay is trying to synthesize an alternative analytical framework that better can explaining these phenomena and generate potential solutions. The frameworks ontological ground is laid out using different readings of Foucault, thereby seeing the subject as formed by discourses, material processes and institutions. Fundamentalism and terrorism are seen as a violent resistance to repressed subjectivity, but the form of resistance depends on the discursive and non discursive surroundings. This gives rise to different forms of resistance; the production of discourses and founding of groups and the entry of marginalized people in these groups.

BackgroundHeart failure is an increasing chronic disease in the western world due to an aging population and a changed lifestyle. The basic treatment is pharmacological with substantial lifestyle changes. Much is known about physical exercise in middle aged and younger patients but in the patients over the age of 65, little is known. AimThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of physical exercise on patients aged over 65 with congestive heart failure. MethodA systematic review was undertaken in the databases Cinahl and PubMed.

This study is one of five that has been done based on Lunds Energi?s planned investment in bioenergy. The plan is to build two large burners, at Örtofta, that?s going to be supplied with biofuels. In this study I take a closer look on the profitability when you choose to sell your cereal as bioenergy. I?ve been calculating with selling the straw from the grain crops and winter rape, selling the rye weat as whole crop and fertilize the hemp with sewage sludge.

Researchers, planners, and government agencies agree that road safety for children must be a priority and in particular that children should have a safe and secure way to travel to and from school regardless of age or the distance travelled. In Sweden, child traffic safety is a key part of the country?s Nollvision, a long-term traffic policy goal of ?no deaths or serious injuries?. Unfortunately, many countries have recorded increases in child traffic accidents as the percentage of parents who drive their children to school and thus congestion around schools has increased. Common strategies include traffic safety education for children, the redesign and improvement of traffic infrastructure, bicycle training, and carpooling.This thesis assesses the traffic problem around Ludvigsberg School in the district Valbo in Gävle, Sweden.

In today?s World is climate change an important and hot topic. Climate scenarios for Sweden show a warmer climate, especially during the autumn, winter and spring. The same climate scenarios also show that the precipitation will increase during this part of the year, however, during the summer the opposite is expected to occur. The purpose of this essay is to examine how future climate change will affect Stockholm especially the expected increase in precipitation, which may lead to a rising level of the Lake Mälaren. During 2000/2001 was Stockholm hit by a flood. This flood nearly resulted in major consequences and showed that there were significant risks for the city of Stockholm and increasing precipitation will result in even more water in the drainage systems of Lake Mälaren. The results presented here show that it is important to increase the drainage capacity of Lake Mälaren in order to reduce the risks of flooding in the central parts of Stockholm.

We travel more nowadays. The increasing travel rate generates greenhouse gases which in the long run cause an increasing number of natural disasters over the world. Car traffic is a major contributor to this development. Out-of-town shopping centres have historically good accessibility for car traffic. This study aims to look into what are the factors that influence the choice of transport mode for dwellers in the outskirts of a town when going to out-of-town shopping centres.

This masters thesis aims at a discussion about whether the public library will be an educating and cultivating society institution in the future. The method used is a combination of interviews with library staff in leading position and studies of the public librarys relationship to cultivation and adult education in a changeable society. The work concentrates on two main questions. One is about what, and in which way, changes, that are important for the public library and that take place in society now or within the next ten years, affect the future activities of the library. The other is about the public librarys relationship to cultivation in general and in the future.

Nutrient enrichment is the main cause of the increasing eutrophication process in the Baltic Sea during last century. A prerequisite counteract this process the load of nutrients to the Sea must be investigated. The large contribution of nutrients to the Sea is caused by emission from the rivers within the drainage basin. For the total emission of nutrient into the Sea the retention process in the rivers has big influence. This process in the river system has been assumed as a not important part of the nutrient cycle.

The pace of product development is increasing. It is important to keep high quality in theproducts even though the time for product development decreases. Those companies whichcan utilize previous experiences are positioned with a significant competitive advantage. ToABB Robotics it has become evident that the knowledge transfer process within the productdevelopment department is inadequate. This study was a result and an attempt to address thisunsatisfactory insight.