Due to their complexity and heavy wear from rail traffic, switches are a sensitive part of the railway infrastructure and moreover expensive to maintain. Furthermore, increasing railway traffic not only accelerates the wear rate but also obstructs the necessary maintenance measures. This paper examines the opportunities for a transition to a long-term maintenance strategy in the Swedish railway network. It contains a study of the maintenance strategy of Banverket, and also analyses statistics of errors in the railway infrastructure. The survey was completed utilising interviews with infrastructure managers, maintenance contractors, planners of railway operations and the Banverket material service department.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to highlight what is perceived as- and what is not perceived as- supportive and comforting, by the sick child in palliative care, and by its family. Method: Systematic literature review in which only scientific articles from the years 2001-2010 have been included. Analysis: A method inspired by qualitative content analysis was used. Results: The analysis revealed five categories of what the sick child and its family experienced as supportive and comforting - and what was perceived negatively - in the context of palliative care for children. The results showed that it was very important to have competent, dedicated and compassionate staff that not only care for the child but also see to the whole family.

Nursing care of persons having dementia diseases affecting the frontal lobes, sets special demands on the staff, but the knowledge about how to best tailor nursing care is sparse. The aim of the study was to illuminate possibilities and difficulties in nursing care of persons having dementia diseases with frontal lobe dysfunction and was carried out as a descriptive, qualitative study, based on a review of medical records and interviews with nursing staff (n=10) that was analysed with qualitative content analysis. The difficulties were related to the patients lack of inhibition and judgement, anxiety, agitation, reduced ability to care for physical needs, egocentrism, imbalance between rest and activity, and depressed mood. The possibilities were seen in relation to the nursing staffs professional encounter, characterised by being distinct and consequent, being a step ahead, being flexible and catch the moment, being calm and create a positive atmosphere, being close and trusting and being and doing together. To receive continuous feedback and support was a prerequisite for the staffs? engagement.

Background In Nyanza in western Kenya are 30,5% of children estimated as malnourished. It is a family situation that nurses often come in contact with. Therefore it is of interest to know how nurses work with parents of malnourished children when they have a significant role in developing the family's knowledge and child health. Aim. The aim is to investigate how nurses experience that they are working with parents of malnourished children.

Nursing care of persons having dementia diseases affecting the frontal lobes, sets special demands on the staff, but the knowledge about how to best tailor nursing care is sparse. The aim of the study was to illuminate possibilities and difficulties in nursing care of persons having dementia diseases with frontal lobe dysfunction and was carried out as a descriptive, qualitative study, based on a review of medical records and interviews with nursing staff (n=10) that was analysed with qualitative content analysis. The difficulties were related to the patients lack of inhibition and judgement, anxiety, agitation, reduced ability to care for physical needs, egocentrism, imbalance between rest and activity, and depressed mood. The possibilities were seen in relation to the nursing staffs professional encounter, characterised by being distinct and consequent, being a step ahead, being flexible and catch the moment, being calm and create a positive atmosphere, being close and trusting and being and doing together. To receive continuous feedback and support was a prerequisite for the staffs? engagement.

Grundtanken med detta arbete är att se om utomhuspedagogik möjligtvis främjar lärandet och om det går att finna stöd inom neurologisk forskning för att ta reda på om lärandet stimuleras vid användandet av utomhusundervisning. Undersökningar har genomförts för att se om lärare och elevers syn på utomhusundervisning sammanfaller. Arbetet bygger på litteraturstudier, intervjuer, en observationsstudie, samt enkätundersökningar för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. I denna studie har det framkommit att utomhusundervisning främjar lärandet, främst beroende på de multipla sinnesintryck som utomhusvistelsen skapar. Denna iakttagelse stöds även av neurologisk och pedagogisk forskning.

Thinning is the partial removal of trees in a forest stand prior to final harvest. The term can be divided in pre-commercial thinning where little if any volume is removed from the stand and commercial thinning where removals are intended to provide a positive economic result. From a silvicultural point of view, the goal of thinning is to enhance future crop tree quality by removing low-quality stems and providing sufficient space for the accelerated development of retained ones (Huuskonen & Hynynen, 2006). The goals of this study was to see if commercial thinning could positively affect the short and medium term timber supply (MTTS) in the Interior regions of British Columbia (BC), and whether or not Scandinavian forestry practices could be adopted in the BC context. The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) has created significant forest planning problems in BC. The annual allowable cut (AAC) was raised to capture beetle-killed timber while still merchantable.

Parallel import in the European Union is the perfectly legal activity under Art. 28-30 EC of buying goods in a low-price country in order to ship and sell them in a high-price country. The pharmaceutical market in Europe is subject to the subsidiartiy principle of Art. 5 EC and heavily characterised by national regulations that lead to significant price differentials between – generally speaking – Northern and Southern Europe. This incites the activity of parallel traders in the first place, who act as arbitrageurs.

ABSTRACTPressure ulcers are a serious health damage that causes great suffering, prolonged hospital stays and increased health care costs. Patients undergoing surgery are at high risk of developing pressure ulcers and it is the operating theatre nurse responsibility to protect against health damage through nursing. There are little research made in the area of perioperative pressure ulcer prevention. In order to investigate perioperative pressure ulcer preventive care measures that are described in the litterature and to answer the question how the operating theater nurse can protect the patient, a pilot study of a systematic literature review was carried out. Data base searches were conducted in PubMed and Cinahl from where ten articles were selected and examined for their quality and content.

Background: There might be a risk that family members experience limited possibilities to act, participate and influence the end of life care for the elderly in the nursing home. For family members it could be the first time they face death which can imply a lot of questions and existential needs. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the needs of family members in the patient terminal care in a nursing home. Research methods: The study implemented a qualitative approach and data was collected through four interviews and through a literature review were 17 articles were selected. The results were processed and analysed with a qualitative content analysis and two main categories, participation and assurance with subcategories were identified.

Real estate financing is one of the key figures for financial success and fundamental to asuccessful business. Funding will come in several different ways, from existing cashflows andassets to new capital requirements which are aimed at different markets.These markets are constantly changing and since the recent financial crisis, there have beenadjustments and austerity measures which led to that the banks have become more restrictive intheir lending.The real estate industry is characterized by both long-term and short-term thinking that ischaracterized by a solid continuity. Our thesis discuss how the demand is in the real estatebusiness and how mature the Swedish market is for junior financingwith focus aroundmezzanine debt and where are we headed in the near future.We've reached out to the key players in the industry on both the buy and sell side of real estatefinancing but also people between lenders and borrowers that handles transaction advice. Tohave been able to implement the analysisa survey and simulation of an investment calculationwas created. This questionnaire was answered by many real estate companies with senior peoplethat had operational positionsmost associated with corporate commitments.

This thesis aims to present the essential background on how to perform climate changeimpact assessments, and to present the results from a climate impact assessment on waterbalance and nitrate leaching for an arable Swedish soil. The soil is a sandy soil in southwesternSweden, grown with spring cereals. This study is meant to be a benchmark example,and cannot be seen as a regional or national assessment for Sweden, rather as an approachto present and analyze the most important parts of these kinds of assessments.A dynamical simulation model (COUP, Jansson and Karlberg, 2004) was used for thisstudy. The model was parameterized and calibrated against data from an experimental site,located in Mellby in Hallands county, south western Sweden. Measurements were carriedout between 1st of April 1988 and 1st of April 1991.

Every year an avorage of 40 000 Swedes fall ill with different forms of cancer. Chemotheraphy has an effect on the tumour cells as well as the healthy cells in the body, this causes many side effects which can be very problematic for the patient. The study was carried out in order to indicate the care measures that are taken to deal with the side effects i. e stomatit, loss of hair and sickness/vomiting, that are connected with chemotheraphy so that the outpatients will experience a quality of life. The method used was a qualitative interview with six nurses from the South if Sweden, all of whom are working with chemotheraphy patients.

The study of the French market for softwood has been done in collaboration with VIDA AB. The aim of the study was to investigate important product quality and service quality dimensions, the customers? perception of the offering and generally describe the French market and present actors. The market for softwood around the world changes over time and new markets can mean opportunities for the sawmilling industry. The French market is the second biggest European market for softwood, has had presence of actors with sourcing of raw material from the Nordic countries for decades and there is a growing interest for building with wood. Theory being used is about the different dimensions that make up the total quality of softwood, together with intangible dimensions making up the total offering that helps the sawmilling industry to create positive perceived value for the customers. Methodological approach in the study was a case study research design, aimed at providing knowledge about one specific subject in one context. The general description was mostly carried out by literature studies and data from various statistics sources.

The Purpose of the study was to highlight the primary care managers' perception of the barriers and opportunities in the implementation of the national guidelines for harmful drinking and alcohol abuse in KalmarCounty. The data was collected by questionnaires which were directed to all primary care managers in the county. The response rate was low, 40%. The data collection was complemented at a later stage with a non-response analysis. To analyze the results implementation theory with following terms were used: wants to, understand and know.