Peat litter is a soft material with high absorbency. About hundred years ago many farmers in Sweden used peat litter to their dairy cows. After the World War II the use of peat litter decreased and the farmers used more straw. Nowadays (year 2007), when it is harder to find straw and sawdust to buy, peat litter is advancing again. The purpose with this study is to investigate peat as a litter to dairy cows.

The wood-living beetle Ceruchus chrysomelinus is a rare species connected to natural forests. In Sweden, it is red-listed as endangered (EN) and an action plan for its preservation has been done by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. In this work I have therefore investigated how a translocation of the species succeeded after 17 years. I aimed to study the species dispersal biology, its substrate preferences and the supply of suitable wood on this site. The study was performed during 2012 in Pansaruddens nature reserve close to Uppsala in Sweden, which is a spruce dominated forest.

Cattle used for meat production can be held outside all year round and due to the legislation they should have access to shelters or other buildings for protection against the elements giving them a dry and clean bedding. There are different opinions concerning their need of protection and the question about necessity of shelters for cattle is of current interest due to a less profitable economy in meat production and the investment costs for shelters. The aim of this study was to acquire more knowledge about the natural behaviour of cattle concerning their use of shelters. The basis of the study was a series of questions regarding when animals choose to stay in shelters, if shelters were used less when they had access to protecting vegetation, how temperature and weather conditions affected the use of shelters and the influence of distance between shelter and feed. Behavioural studies was conducted at five different farms where six groups of suckler cows and heifers of following breeds and crossbreeds were observed; Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Scottish Highland Cattle, Simmental and the Swedish breeds SKB and SRB.

A common problem in forestry is plant death caused by frost. The risk of frost is highest on wind protected, flat or low-Lying areas in the terrain. Here you often have regeneration problems with Norwegian spruce which is especially sensitive to spring frost. Swedish tree experiments have shown that the black spruce can be a suitable alternative on these areas, for example on moisture frost prone areas. The species originates from North America and its pioneer tree characteristics make it more frost hardy than Norwegian spruce.

The aim of this project was to quantify the total sleep time in modern dairy cows during24-hour periods and to investigate whether the total amount of sleep as well as timespent in different sleep stages varies between the dry period, early- and peak lactation.The distribution of sleep time between night and day was also examined. Furthermore,correlations between sleep and Lying time, fluctuations in body temperature and heartbeat were included in the aim. Eight dairy cows of the Swedish Red breed were used inthis study, which was carried out between June and September 2010. In order toquantify sleep non-invasive electrophysiological recordings were performed.Simultaneously with collecting sleep data, body position and body temperature werealso recorded. No heart rate data was obtained due to difficulties of maintainingelectrodes for heart beat measurements attached to the skin.

At present indoor tethering of dairy cows is still common but is not predicted to take part of modern dairy production. When conducting scientific studies of cattle it is generally necessary to tether the animals to maintain a controlled environment. Studies confirm that tethering and confinements of cattle severely affects the development of stereotypies in cattle. The feeding regime and feeding level have an immense affect on the stereotypi level in cattle. The aim of this experiment was to study dairy heifers that had never been tethered before the start of the experiment, to evaluate the affect of tethering on the development of stereotypies and the impact of the feeding regime on the behavior of the animals. Sixteen dairy heifers were tethered in a tie stall and divided in two groups with different treatments. Heifers in treatment E were fed restrictedly with silage and treatment EH was fed with the same amount of silage but also straw ad libitum.

This thesis in social anthropology is based on the inner essence, manifestations and tendencies of Scottish nationalism and regionalism. The thesis intends to investigate how Scottish nationalism and regionalism are related to each other. It is meant to highlight the meaning of the Wallace-myth for maintenance of the Scottish national consciousness and to illuminate factors Lying behind this myth. It is also meant to study how Turner, Lévi-Strauss, Anderson, Eriksen, Hobsbawm and Hettne?s theories work in the Scottish field.

Gravitational lenses are unlike ordinary optical lenses, a phenomenon corrupting our optical view of the cosmos. When we look out intospace we see celestial bodies Lying with astronomical distance from Earth. There is no guarantee that what we see out there in space is actually there where we are observing it, and it may be that we see multiple images of the same star! Studies have shown that thenumber of distorted images of an n-mass (n > 1) plane lens can not exceed 5(n -1) for lighter lenses or 5n for more massive lens. This mathematical thesis covers gravitational lensing and their properties that distort light rays coming towards us from distant celestial bodies. In addition of gravitational lensing, its properties and the proof of the maximum number of distorted images, a bigger part of this work even cover two very interesting mathematical tools - the so-called Schwarz function and Bezout theorem..

The aim in this project was to spread play in the city and acrossgenerations. My way of approaching this challenge was to explore theborderland between playground equipment and street furniture. Thisopened up many possibilities to afford play in places where playgroundequipment often is excluded.The goal was to create one, or more, furniture with play value. The targetgroup was all vivasious people spending time in the public outdoorspace. Through user studies, a lot of serious playing and a lot of testing,the project resulted in a bench called Rollin´.

This thesis aimed to, with the help of a case study, investigate and discuss state responsibility towards climate refugees. The state of Tuvalu was selected because of their vulnerability as a low-Lying island state. This was fulfilled by on-site study how the state Tuvalu acted to climate threats, determine if the future migrants from Tuvalu can be counted as climate refugees and find out if they are by that definition included by the UN Refugee Convention. The result indicated that the state of Tuvalu is adapting to climate threats, that in the future the population can be seen as climate refugees, if they are forced from their homes due to climate change, and that they, despite that definition, can not be included by the UN Refugee Convention. The study also indicates a need for greater international protection of climate refugees by, for example, an expansion of the UN Refugee Convention so that these vulnerable people do not fall into oblivion due to a question of definition..

The Swedish Welfare Act § 4 says that "Animals must be kept and cared for in a good environment for animals and in such a way that promotes their health and allow them to behave naturally." Pigs in the wild spend 80% of their waking hours walking around and rooting for food, eating and exploring their environment with its snout. Fattening pigs in commercial farms spend 80% Lying doing nothing. A lactating sow is Lying down most of her day, and only 10-20% of the body surface is in contact with the floor, so the pressure is high on these spots. Piglets lie down and paddle with their legs, with high liquid content in the tissues, several times an hour, to stimulate and massage the sow's udder. In the existing system, these individuals are held more often on floors that are anything but inviting to sleep on.

The abrupt and early weaning of intensively kept lambs may have serious animal welfare implications, but relatively little is known about this. Weaning includes the breaking of the mother-young bond and abrupt replacement of milk by solid food, often coinciding with changes in the (social) environment. Altogether, these changes are likely to affect lamb welfare significantly. This study aimed to establish how strong and persistent lamb welfare is impaired following abrupt weaning by means of measuring behaviour parameters indicative of affective state. Also, we investigated the existence of a diurnal rhythm in play behaviour, which is considered an important indicator of positive affect and good welfare.

In this study the opioid buprenorphine was given to 8 clinically healthy goats. The pharmacokinetics and behavioral effects were studied. Injections of buprenorphine, 0.02 mg/kg body weight was given both intramuscularly (i.m.) and intravenously (i.v.) with a cross over design. The results showed a short half-life of the drug in the plasma, 65.9 ± 17.4 min (mean ± SD), after i.v. injection.

Modern milk production have come a long way when it comes to accommodating the nutritional and physiological needs of the animals, but unfortunately the behavioural and psychological needs of cows and heifers are often left unfulfilled. A long time for eating is beneficial for the digestion and also gives the cattle something to do and decreases the risks for developing abnormal behaviours. An important factor that influences eating- and ruminating time is the particle size of the roughage. The aim of the study was to find out if particle size influences the behaviour of dairy heifers, in particular with regard to eating behaviour and abnormal behaviours. The study was conducted at Uddetorp farm high school in Skara. Forty-two heifers of the breeds SR and SF were housed in 8 slatted floor pens.

High levels of ammonia in grass silage have been up for discussion by Swedish advisers. One reason is that it is more difficult for the rumen-microbes to utilise high levels of ammonia. A low level of ammonia is also good because if the cattle can use more of the protein in the silage, they don?t need so much protein concentrate. That is very good for the economy at the farm, and it is also good for the environmental problems caused by high levels of ammonia. In this project, 24 samples of silage have been taken at 20 different farms in the south west of Sweden.