The white-backed woodpecker is a forest bird being critically endangered in Sweden. The species is dependent on older forests rich in deciduous trees and dead wood. The main problem for the survival of this species is present shortage of habitat. Conservation work on this umbrella species is at present focused on finding remaining or emerging habitat networks. Large areas are scrutinized in search for suitable habitats to be protected or managed for the species sake.

Atlas Copco Tools is a world leading company in tool manufacturing. The productionin Tierp works hard to improve their assembly to maintain its position. This thesis isa part of their improvement efforts to be a more Lean production.The main focus for this thesis was to identify the material flow in the kanban system,which used to supply the assembly groups, focusing on the material flow to assemblygroup 9 and the assembly group 3. Group 3's material flow within the kanban systemwas perceived to perform better than the group 9. The handling of kanban materialand their working methods in the two groups was identify those differences whichaffected the kanban system.As an alternative material supply a study were done in kiting.

Several bulls in Sweden are culled because of lameness. Studies of beef bulls have shown that osteochondrosis is an important underlying cause of hind limb problems (Persson, 2003; Dutra, 1998). Osteochondrosis in horses, dogs, swine, poultry and man are well documentated in the literature, but there are few studies in cattle. The prevalence of osteochondrosis in dairy bulls in Sweden is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and localisation of osteochondrosis in the hindlimbs of dairy bulls. This study consists of 48 one-year-old bulls divided into four groups related to which farm they came from.

In this essay, I investigate Swedish possibilities to influence the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union (CAP). After having summarized my findings, I try to explain the structure of influence by using Multi-level governance theory.Ten years have passed since Sweden joined the Union, and many changes have followed in the agricultural sector. By investigating the small country of Sweden's possibilities to influence CAP, I hope to be able to get a notion of the possibilities to influence the EU in general. The essay examines four possible paths for agricultural interests to influence the policy process in Brussels:* Through elected representatives of Sweden in the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and in the Swedish Parliament* Through subnational institutions, such as the local authorities and regional representatives.* Through the Swedish Agricultural Office* Through the Swedish pressure group within the agricultural area, LRFThese four groups all have very different channels to the policy process on agricultural issues. The differences are mostly in terms of decisive power or advisory power and institutional contacts or lobby contacts.

The aim of the study was to investigate the performance of postlingually deaf adults on parts of the swedish dysarthria test Dysartribedömningen, and to compare these results with a matched group consisting of normal hearing speakers without any known speech disorder. The group consisted of 17 participants ranging between 42-86 years of age. Participants were assessed focusing on articulation, prosody, intelligibility and through a self-assessment of communicative participation. There was a statistically significant difference between groups on prosody that manifested primarily as a slower speaking rate in the cochlear implant users. No significant differences between groups as to articulation, intelligibility or communicative participation could be found.

Successful companies are built upon successful individuals. It is these individuals that will create, developand grow the companies and organizations of tomorrow. The primary aim of this paper is to highlight someof the key characteristics of extraordinary entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, as well as gain a deeper understandingof what motivates them, from a time and goal-oriented perspective. Despite the importance of theseindividuals and their massive impact on society's future, there is still a lot that hasn't been investigatedregarding their entrepreneurial drive, from an academic perspective. A comparison between two groups ofindividuals was made, with a total of twenty in-depth interviews.

Abstract"Citizen Influence, Forms and Effects - A study of the Resistance Concerning the Establishment of a Juvenile Detention Center in Kristinehamn 2005-2007"Political Science, Johan Utter This essay circles around the concepts of citizenship and the questions if and how citizens in the modern democracy can influence and effect the political decisions made by the governing body on the local level. This is done by the means of a case-study concerning the establishment of an institutional facility for convicted youths in Kristinehamn. The planning of this facility and especially its planned location in Sunneberg aroused a significant negative response from the citizens, demanding a better alternative for the location.The proposition resulted in heavy protests from the citizens as the planned location was viewed as an important recreation area, where the citizens could experience nature first hand, close to the centre of town. As a result, some citizens living close to the planned location, formed a network called "Bevara Sunneberg", whose purpose was to influence the decision-makers and make the citizen?s voices heard.

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 this two years master's thesis a regional project, Futurum.kom, is studied through the experiences of eight librarians from two of the participating libraries. The interviewees have all attended local and regional seminars where questions about core values, target groups and the role of the public library were discussed, among others. The seminars resulted in a number of core values and target groups. During the project, a number of advertising campaigns are to be conducted. The first one of these had recently been implemented at the time of the present study. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the interviewees organizational self-perception in relation to the project.

Heat stress negatively influences the performance of dairy cattle such as lactation and reproduction. Heat stress can cause production losses as well as welfare problems. Years of research have shown that heat stress is a huge problem for dairy cattle in both the tropics and temperate zones but no such research have so far been done in northern European countries. It seems like shade is an important tool when improving pasture conditions and therefore deserves more attention. The aim with this study was to investigate whether there is a need of providing shade for grazing dairy cows during the summer in Sweden. Two groups of lactating Swedish Red dairy cows (n=15 per group) were kept on pasture.

This thesis deals with an iterative user-centered IT-development project in a bank setting. The aim is to present a solution for deployment of future Internet banking for small businesses. The project features a design of IT-related concepts and ideas with a strong emphasis on scenario-based design and the usage of patterns as a documentation tool.The project plan featured an iterative framework and was carried out by a group of designers in collaboration with a reference group representing the future users of the system. This group consisted of company managers and bank employees, all from the small town of Åtvidaberg in Sweden.The method used in the development process was Scrum. A total of three sprints were completed with user meetings at the end of every sprint.

This thesis considers the use of an oldrock cavern as thermal energy storage.With a large system of differentchillers a model was created to find anappropriate future system. There aremainly two trajectories to take. Eitheran installation of chillers needs to bemade or the rock cavern can be used tomeet the future demand of districtcooling in Solna, Sweden. Additionallythis thesis investigates the possibleuse of different techniques to utilizethe phase change energy of water.Simulation shows that it?s possible toutilize the phase-change energy of afluid; however it?s not economicallyfeasible due to the thermodynamiceffects on the Carnot cycle.

Women, etnicity and illict drug useA litterature reviewAuthors: Cecilia Eriksson & Hanna Rapp AnderssonSupervisor: Odd LindbergABSTRACTThis study aims to examine how womens illict drug use appears in different ethnic groups. The chosen perspectiv is social constructivism. The study is based on 20 scientific studies: 17 from Northern America, two from Great Britain and one from Sweden. Central themes from the studies have been created from different subject viewpoints. The results of this study shows that women have different needs when treatment is required.

Social media has today reached a level of maturity similar to the Internet in the beginning of the millennium. More and more people get involved both on a private and professional level and companies are starting to realize the need to keep up with the new online behavior of its target groups. The Investor Relations(IR) function has for a very long time been carried out by writing reports and press releases, but maybe as times change so will the tools needed to communicate the IR-issues for the companies? The purpose of this paper was to examine the views on and involvement in social media for IR-purposes at the four main banks in Sweden: Nordea, SEB, Handelsbanken and Swedbank. The study was carried out in the form of a qualitative case study in which the banks were analyzed separately with the help of Davids and Venkateshs TAM2-model(2000) and also analyzed against one another.

AbstractThe overall aim of this study is to show how phonological awareness develops during the first school year and how this can be affected by different teaching materials and working methods. Two classes are compared in the study. One of the classes has digital teaching material and the other class has traditional teaching material. The study seeks to show to what extent there are differences between the groups? phonological awareness.