People in Sweden have more and more dogs in their care, and several of these dogs are kept in kennels in back yards for various reasons. According to Swedish animal welfare legislations the need for social contact for dogs has to be met. However, there are few details presented on how to meet the need and when it can be considered satisfied. Does the dog need human contact to fulfill the need, or is the company of other dogs enough? This study aims to specify what can be acceptable when it comes to fulfilling dogs? social needs in accordance with the Swedish animal welfare legislation.

Inledning: Svenska kommuners verksamhet betecknas som säregen. Till detta hör att kommunerna skiljer sig från den privata sektorn i avseende på målsättning och utförande. En utav de särdrag som finns inom kommunerna är deras redovisning av pensionerna som skall ske enligt blandmodellen. Ett flertal studier har lyft upp farhågor om att redovisningen enligt blandmodellen anses leda till diskretionära tolkningsutrymmen som troligtvis kommer utnyttjas av politikerna i syfte att påverka redovisningen. En del av de diskretionära åtgärder som antas vara möjliga är pensionsförvaltning av de förmånsbestämda pensionerna.Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara kommunernas val av förvaltning av de förmånsbestämda pensionerna.Metod: En deduktiv ansats har använts i studien för att kartlägga de olika teoretiska förhållandena mellan pensionsförvaltning och pensionsredovisning.

Embryotransfer är en metod där ett embryo i tidigt stadium flyttas från en donator till ett mottagardjur som sedan bär dräktigheten till förlossning. Det innebär att donatorhonan kan donera flera embryon under en säsong då den vanligtvis endast skulle kunna producera en avkomma. Embryo transfer är således en metod för att snabba på det genetiska urvalet i en grupp djur. Bland de mycket ekonomiskt värdefulla alpackorna i Peru, där många av herdarna saknar alternativa inkomstkällor kan embryo transfer bidra till ett mer effektivt avelsarbete och i förlängningen en bättre levnadsstandard för alpackaherdarna och deras familjer. Studien beskriver ett experiment där ett protokoll för embryo transfer från alpacka till lama utförs under fältmässiga omständigheter på en forskningsstation i de peruanska Anderna.

During recent years the use of TMR (total mixed rations) has increased in Swedish lamb production. For many years TMR has been used for cattle and hence the information and knowledge is vast, while the knowledge concerning sheep and TMR is more limited. The aim of this thesis is to present an overview of the scientific knowledge on the subject, and also to compile practical experience from sheep farmers using TMR. The thesis begins with a literature review where different aspects relevant to the usage of TMR are dealt with. It is concluded that there are differences between sheep and cattle that must be taken into account.

Chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAH´s) were used widely within dry cleaning facilities and for metal degreasing until their toxicity was discovered. PCE is still used as dry cleaning liquid. Today CAH´s are found in soil environment at places where they have been used in the past. The CAH-concentration in trees growing on contaminated land has quite recently received attention as a cheap and effective way of assessing the extent of a CAH-contamination. The method has however, not been put into use in Sweden.The aim of the study has been to investigate whether the CAH-concentration in tree cores could be used to delineate the spread of CAH in a soil environment under Swedish conditions in different seasons.

Peat  lands  are  a  great  potential  resource  for  increased  forest  growth  in  Sweden, there  are  approximately  6.5  million  hectares  of  peat  lands,  whereof  around  70% produce less wood than one m3sk/ha and year and are therefore classed as forest waste  land.  There  are  over  200  000  hectares  of  peat  land  that  is  already  drained and  wooded,  and  that may  be  suitable  for  fertilization.  Forest  production  on  peat soils  usually  requires  drainage  and  fertilization.  Dewatering  requires  ditching  the area, so that the roots can have access to oxygen. Nitrogen is often abundant in the peat but other nutrients; especially potassium is in short supply. The  purpose  of  this  work  was  to examine  the effects  of  potassium  fertilization  on the  growth  of  spruces  that  were  planted  on  drained  peat  land  and  how  different amount of fertilizers affects the growth. Potassium deficiency is strongly growth inhibiting, since potassium is important for substance  transport  in  the  tree.  Potassium  is  also  important  for  the  carbohydrate formation, and because increasing the sugar content of the cells constitutes a lower freezing temperature does potassium availability in the soil play a major role in the winter  resistance  of  many  species.  Potassium  is  not  found  in  any  organic compounds in the tree, but is present in cell and tissue fluids. A fertilization trial was started in 1978 in Siljansfors Experimental Forest. The plots in the experiment were fertilized with different amounts of potassium and one plot was  left  without  fertilization.  All  plots  that  were  fertilized  with  potassium  grew considerably better than the unfertilized plot. The difference in production between the unfertilized plot and the plot that received the most potassium was 7.2 m3sk/ha and year. The unfertilized plot can still be classified as waste land. The theoretical production capacity was estimated using a Swedish system for site quality  estimation  of  wetlands  after  ditching  (dikningsbonitering).  The  plot  with most  potassium  produced  after  fertilizationaproximately  in  level  with  theoretical estimations.  Key  words:  Peat  land,  Fertilization,  Ditching,  Growth,  site  quality..

On the first January 2009 the official animal welfare control were transferred from the municipalities to the County Administrative board. With this transition, some changes occurred for those who work as animal welfare inspectors. The aim for this study was to examine farmers' view on the transition between the municipalities and County Administrative board, in order to compare the two authorities. I have also studied the farmers view about animal welfare inspectors' knowledge, both theoretical and practical. The questionnaire also included questions about farmers' view on animal welfare legislation.

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

This work derives from the question ?What is a beautiful road??. The question is being discussed in interviews with two employees at the Swedish National Road Administration and two former members of the ?Council of environment and beauty? at the Swedish National Road Administration. The interviews are summarized in my own discussion about the concept of ?Beautiful roads?.

This thesis has focused on the possibility to use a satellite image method developed by Metria Mijöanalys to identify stands that are wrongly registered in Holmen Skogs database. The method is only intended for identifying stand with poor descriptions in Holmen?s database that needs to be updated and not for updating the stand information. The study area is located several km west of Hudiksvall on the borderline between Gävleborgs- och Västernorrlands län. The area is covered by a SPOT image from 2005. By which Metria Miljöanalys has made estimates of forest parameters for all stands in the area, and compared them with corresponding estimates according to the stand database.

In 1513 the Florentine humanists Niccolò Machiavelli composed one of the most famous, but also ambiguously interpret, work in the history of politics, Il Principe. Machiavelli´s book The Prince revealed the true nature of politics in Italy in the beginning of the sixteenth century and gives very straightforward advice on how to act to become a successful and powerful political being. Machiavelli´s creation and insights in the reality of politics have be much discredited and condemned in its lack of moral consideration and violent nature. Still it has been read under the centuries with a fascination and eager to understand the structure of power and how to master it. My purpose with this study is to apply this Machiavellian idea of the capable prince on to the earlier research of the Swedish duke Karl, later on King Karl IX.

Vomb meadows is an area well knows for its rich bird life. During the 19:thcentury until mid 20:th century, the meadows were flooded annually in order toincrease the hay yield. The river Klingavälsån situated along the west side of themeadows, used to be a shallow river, meandering across the landscape. In the1940?s the river was straightened and made deeper.

The main purpose of this thesis has been to find a way to evaluate the soil parameters for the Total sounding method (TS), such as the inner friction angles and settlement modules. This study only includes an analysis of soil profiles from the Stockholm region. The chosen location for the study is a proposed residential area east of Igelstaviken in Södertälje. Presently, the subject plot is located in a residential area and is also adjacent to a school area.Total sounding is originally a Norwegian soil testing method. The differences between the sounding methods (weight-, ram-, CPT-sounding) are for instance how the sound is driven into the ground and what kind of parameters that are registered.

24 years have passed since the Chernobyl accident when radionuclides were spread over largeareas of Europe, including the Scandinavian countries. Today, measurable activities of 137Csare still observed in many Swedish ecosystems.Ants (belonging to the order Hymenoptera) are social insects which collect organic materialfrom a large area around their nests. This study focuses on the 137Cs activity in ant nests andthe cesium accumulation in these nests. The aims were (1) to estimate the 137Cs fall-out in1986, (2) estimate the radiation exposure of ants and (3) find how 137Cs is distributed in an anthill. Seven ant hills (occupied by the species Formica polyctena) were studied near the villageof Hille, situated north of the city of Gävle in central Sweden.

Bakgrund: Personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning har svårt att komma igång pga. sjukdomens natur de har ett antal studier slagit fast. De atypiska medicinerna som nu används inom den moderna psykiatrin tenderar att förstärka dessa negativa symtom. Personer med psykisk funktionsnedsättning har i högre utsträckning fetma och har högre mortalitet som relateras till de metabola effekter t.ex. hjärtinfarkt, stroke samt följd sjukdomar av diabetes.