Understory vegetation and fungi are regarded as important ecological drivers of processes like productivity and nutrient cycling in boreal forests. Whilst those processes are linked to soil water content, relatively little is known about the sources of soil water for these forest components. During early autumn in boreal forests, temperature falls and large events of rain are frequent which may influence soil water availability. To better understand the autumn plant-soil-fungi water relationships in this ecosystem, I used stable isotopes techniques in this study to examine the water sources for ericaceous shrubs and fungi in a Scots pine forest following a large, early autumn rain event. I hypothesize that ericaceous shrubs of two functional groups (evergreen vs.

The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the debate of water politics and privatisation of water distribution. My method is debate analysis and qualitative idea analysis and for my essay I used three books that try to persuade the reader that his or her idea is the best for this water crisis. My main question is to illustrate the debate concerning water privatisations. I will also look at the arguments for or against privatisations and finally determine how the authors think the state should act towards this subject. The first book I used was Vandana Shivas ?Water Wars? that when published started an international discussion about the water privatisations.

Every year, pesticides are found in surface and ground waters in Sweden. Fungicides are in common usage and applied in high amounts against potato late blight. The present thesis examined the possible removal of four fungicides (metalaxyl, cyprodinil, propamocarb and mandipropamid) from water using the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Microorganisms are capable of decomposing a range of organic pollutants and the main focus in previously published studies has been on bacteria and fungi. Microalgae are mostly studied due to their high capacity in biosorbing heavy metals.

The European Union is struggling to maintain democracy and tries to increase the participation among the citizens in Europe. The European Citizens? Initiative, ECI, is a platform established by the European Commission to allow citizens to propose new legislation. ?Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!? is the first ECI that has met the requirements.

Rock groundwater has always caused major problems when tunnelling. Water leaking into tunnels can cause large problems, not only on the construction itself but also on the environment. A continuous water leakage can lead to a declining water supply, and geotechnical problems can occur as subsidence in the ground. Therefore it is of great importance to predict the consequences that can appear in the surroundings due to a declining groundwater surface.The aim of the study was to investigate different methods for predicting leakage and changes in groundwater level due to tunnelling excavations in rock. This thesis was performed by comparing mathematical methods, actual groundwater changes and results from preliminary investigations.Investigations were made for three railway tunnels planned by Botniabanan AB.

In coastal wetlands carbon/organic matter can be stored for long periods of time thanks to, among other things, the presence of water which slows down the decomposition. Because of this, restauration and management of such habitats have the potential to decrease the emission of greenhouse gasses and help mitigate climate. Internationally these environments are called ?blue carbon? ecosystems. In Sweden, alder (Alnus glutinosa and Alnus incanata) covered wetlands along the coast is a nature type that potentially could function as a ?blue carbon? habitat.

This diploma work covers an investigation over the heat - and hot water systems of thetenant-owner's association, Bogården. The heat - and hot water needs of Bogården aresatisfied by both district heating as well as three heat pumps. Implemented investigationshows that the heat pumps are not used in a profitable way. Apart from that, the reservepossibilities are small. There is also a risk of the growth of Legionella bacterium in thehot water system.Since the heat pumps are already installed, HSB-Gävleborg (responsible for Bogården)has a wish to investigate possible proposed actions for optimization of existing plant.After completed investigation, a new proposed action is presented.

The report begins with a general inventory of possible technical faults in a hydropower plant and of possible fault indicating measurements. Then an investigation is made concerning a few different faults. Based on this investigation a choice on seal box condition and water leakage is made as problem for a more thorough examination, in which it is concluded that the turbine water leakage is larger when the turbine is put into operation. The examination ultimately results in a computer alarm for faults related to the seal box. Finally a few things are mentioned about flow measurement and pressure measurement in relation to the project as a whole..

AbstractThis research is about pre-school children?s conceptions of the river and the water environment. The aim of this study was to apply a new teaching method based on the outside learning, as well as to test the method and see if it works, i.e. if children get more knowledge this way compared to ordinary methods like teaching in the class-room which involves showing pictures and discussion of them.The main questions in this study were how children get new knowledge through outside learning and how effective this learning method is, i.e. how much they noticed and learned about the river and the water environment as a result of that outside observation.

Denna rapport är en del av ett 10 poängs examensarbete och är en avslutning på en kandidatutbildning i datorgrafik med inriktning mot realistisk och interaktiv miljö för datorspel. Examensarbetet har utförts inom "Foreign Ground" - ett projekt vars syfte är att utveckla en ny typ av dialogbaserat datorspel som ska användas för beslutsträning i framtida fredsbevarande utlandsoperationer..

School ground development is becoming increasingly popular in Sweden today and local community settings are also seen as an important resource for education. The debate today raises the question about the whole city?s pedagogic potential. Outdoor education is a pedagogy that comprises outdoor learning with focus on the sensual experiences. Connection to the classroom education is an important part of the pedagogy and so is the place for the tuition.But how should the place for the tuition, i.e.

This thesis studies settlement continuity on Gotland between approximately AD 200 and AD 1700. The method used is to calculate correlation between the geographical distribution of all known Iron Age stone-wall-houses (on Gotland known as "kämpagravar") and all farms included in the detailed taxation maps from approximately 1700. The number of remaining house foundations is between 1800 and 1900. A model to estimate the number of removed foundations is presented. It is based on the assumption that the settlement density was proportional to land use around 1700, and that the rate of removal is related to the current land use.

The background for this thesis is that at the beginnings of 1980´s the National Board of Forest started an experiment of lime dressing to reduce acidification in forest soil and in ground water. The purposes of this report are to explain organization?s, government?s and private landowners viewpoint on lime dressing and vitalization fertilization, some socio-economic aspects are presented. The general conclusions are that the majority of the interested party?s are positive to vitalization fertilization but the forests owner?s in generally need much more information about this topic..

The possibility for plants to utilize phosphorus in soil is a prerequisite for conducting agricultural production, both small scale and professional. Spreading of phosphorus fertilizers and manure is therefore seen as a necessity in today's agriculture in order to achieve high yield. Manure management, livestock farming and manure storage could contribute to the eutrophication of lakes and rivers. For instance, when the ground becomes saturated, phosphorus leakage could be seen in surface runoff or in point sources resulting from inadequate manure storage management.In the municipality of Växjö there is still many bodies of water that do not reach the Swedish environmental water quality standard of "good ecological status". This thesis has therefore analyzed the manure management and storage on agricultural farms which may have contributed to eutrophication in the municipality.The method for this thesis was a literature study, a questionnaire survey with 820 receivers and a summary of issued inspection reports from 2013.The results highlight the ways in which agriculture may have contributed to the eutrophication of lakes and streams in the municipality of Växjö.

The purpose of this report is to investigate the possibilities with drain water heat recovery (DWHR) in residential buildings. Information and relevant theory has been collected and summarized in this report. Calculations have been done for given scenarios to evaluate profits. DWHR heat exchangers use simple technology and have long life-time. The heat exchanger is connected to outgoing drainage pipe and incoming cold-water supply so countercurrent flow is accomplished.