This study was conducted in the "Kåtaberget" forest reserve in Västerbotten in the summer of 1999. In the summer of 1995, a prescribed burning was performed in the reserve. In some places where coarse dry woody debris (logs and stumps) was present, the fire consumed the wood, as well as parts of the humus layer, creating deep-burned patches. The low intensity ground fire also created dead woody debris by burning off living trees with open fire scars, as well as standing dead trees. In this study, the post-fire tree seedling establishment was examined, with special attention given to the former presence of woody debris. The study also includes a survey of the areal extent of deep-burned patches, as well as an examination of tree seedling establishment in these patches, compared to other burnt ground.

The purpose of this study is to compare the energy related and environmental consequences of implementing optical sorting as a means of waste collection with those of reducing food waste. In addition to studying the possibility of implementing optical sorting in downtown Stockholm, the yielded amounts of energy from waste collection and reduced wastage will be calculated. This is done by way of literature reviews and interviews. The amount of energy that can be generated through optical sorting and biogas production via anaerobic digestion in downtown Stockholm is 29-44 TJ/year, compared to 118 TJ/year saved by completely eliminating food waste. The generated biogas can replace fossil fuels, but the required food waste contributes to increased greenhouse gas emissions as well as reduced bio diversity and eutrophication during the wasted food?s lifecycle.

The purpose has been to investigate leisure-time centers actual work on children with attention deficit disorder. In addition, the study strives to make leisure-time centers way of working, in relation to their assignments, visible. The study has also compared how the leisure-time centers work and what the research says. The survey was conducted with the help of three exploratory interviews with pedagogues and three-piece observations at the leisure-time centers. It was carried out at three different schools in two counties in Sweden.The results of the survey show that the schools are trying to create clear procedures, though the centers succeed with this in varied degrees.

This project is a learning CD-ROM production aimed at first-time parents. It is using both sound and images, moving as well as non-moving. The purpose of the production is to be an interesting alternative to traditional books. We have been looking at similar productions like drivers license educational CD-ROMs and encyclopedias for inspiration and ideas on how to proceed. In order to give the content some dynamics, we've also added the element of 3D-animated sequences.

The purpose of this thesis was to study a selection of Swedish government agencies and their usage of new media to convey information. We thought that the relationship between government agencies and the media should be addressed. This because of the current transitional period between traditional and new media. We have studied five different Swedish government agencies; Swedish Armed Forces, Swedish Tax Agency, Swedish National Institute of Public Health, Trafikverket and Sida.We used a qualitive content analysis and analyzed their homepages on the basis of six different criteria. In addition to this we studied their presence on external social communities and how the government agencies comply with the requirements of their communicative efforts.The study shows that the government agencies? media usage varies.

The demand for biogas as vehicle fuel has risen sharply and there is a great need for increased production. A possible addition of vehicle gas can be produced by upgrading landfill gas which is formed by degradation of organic waste. This thesis investigates the potential of producing vehicle fuel from landfill gas in the region of Biogas Öst.In 2008, an amount of 32 million Nm3 landfill gas was extracted in the region. This level can be maintained for another ten years if the efficiency of gas extraction is improved. The annual production will decrease with time since landfills aren?t allowed to receive more organic waste.

This thesis calculates and compares the values of improved environmental quality due to future possible investment alternatives in biogas production facilities at Käppalaförbundets Reningsverk (Käppala Sewage Treatment Works) in an attempt to determine which alternative yields the highest such value. Käppala faces three investment alternatives for the usage of biogas. The alternatives are production of vehicle fuel, district heating and thirdly, heat and power production. Estimates of the value of environmental change are calculated for each of the three investment alternatives, and these estimates are then compared. The environmental change in question is the change in discharge levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particle matter.

AbstractIn 1998 the Swedish legislation was sharpened, and active educationalists were legally bound to report any suspicion of child maltreatment. Nevertheless, there are a number of unrecorded cases of maltreated children, and research reveals that less than half of these children are reported to social services (Olsson, 2001). The purpose of the present study was to illustrate the problems with the mandatory reports in schools, as well as to study how educationalists proceed when they suspect that a child is maltreated. The method consisted of semi-structured interviews with five educationalists. The results revealed complex problems regarding educationalists mandatory reports.

Diversity of ground beetles (Col: Carabidae) in managed riparian grasslands. The carabid community in moist seminatural grasslands was studied at three different sites in mid-Sweden. Pitfall trapping was carried out during six weeks in spring and early summer 2003. Eight transects, each containing seven pitfall traps, were placed in three different management regimes, either late or continous grazing, or meadow. The species composition was analysed by ordination analyses, i.e. DCA and CCA.

This thesis concerns partial discharges in stator windings and the possibility of analyzing data using statistical methods. Partial discharges, or PD, are a physical phenomenon in which discharges occur locally due to large electric fields. PD can occur in or adjacent to the insulation of stator windings and causes breakdown of the insulating materials. PD measurement can provide an idea of how widespread the PD activity is. A technique to measure and analyze PD that has become very popular over the last few decades is phase resolved PD patterns.

To be able to adopt, the future adoptive parents must participate in parental education and have a home investigation done. The home investigation is extensive and great demands are made on the parents. The purpose with this study was to get an insight and understanding in the parents? thoughts and feelings about the demands and expectations that are made on them during an international adoption. To answer this, we used these questions: Which demands and expectations are made on the future adoptive parents by the home investigator and the parental educator? How do the future adoptive parents experience the demands and expectations that are made on them before an adoption? Does the apprehension about the demands and expectations differ between the future adoptive parents and the home investigator contrary the parental educator? We used a qualitative method, interviewing four couples of parents, one home investigator and one parental educator.

Simulation means running a model of a system with suitable input and observing the corresponding output. Real-time environment simulation is a special kind of simulation used to simulate a control system's environment in real-time. This is done to test the control system before it is used in its real environment. In this project, computer simulation of a certain kind of environments, called track-based systems, is studied and a general model for track-based systems is developed. In this model, track layouts are represented by graphs, which is a flexible and extensible representation and a method for visualizing these layouts is presented.

The purpose of this essay was to examine what social functions the local pub provides to its regular frequenters, as well as the significance of the pub in the regulars? life. Essential questions were: For what purpose do the regular frequenters visit the pub? What are the routines of the pub visit? Can regular frequenters be viewed as a homogenous group, and if so, what are the prevailing norms in the group? How do the regulars perceive the staff, does the staff influence the regulars´ choice of pub? How does the staff perceive the regular frequenters?Our method was a qualitative case study based on participant observation and eight interviews with regular frequenters on a particular pub in Malmoe, Sweden.The main conclusion of this essay was that the relationship between the regular and the pub was much deeper than we initially thought. In addition to drinking beer, they also visited the pub to avoid loneliness, find fellowship and socialize with people who have similar backgrounds and values.

Aim: To investigate how three of the biggest political parties in Sweden made use of socialmedia in the election campaign in 2010, and to get a picture of how the parties perceive therole of social media in political communication today and in the future.Method: The research is conducted through personal interviews and qualitative textualanalysis.Theory: The theory that the study is based on is Habermas theory of the public sphereMain results: Social media is today an excellent channel for communication and informationbetween politicians and voters, and they will probably become increasingly important inpolitical communication in the future. So far, they are only an addition to the traditional mediaand are in no way substituted for them. Internet and some social media is an excellent forumfor political debate and opinion-former..

The Scanian woodfences has been determined by two mainly elements: Scania's composition of tree species, with a large element of deciduous forest, and the local building tradition which has more in common with the European continent than the Swedish tradition. By examining responses from ethnological question lists deriving from the first half of the 1900s, combined with literature studies, I have been able to deepen and broaden the knowledge behind the various fencing design. In addition I ?ve constructed maps which could illustrate their historical geographic distribution.I have come to the conclusion that there was three main types of woodfences that was most common until the barbed wire was introduced in the early 1900s and later on replaced the elderly woodfences. Common for the three main types is that the base material was made out of Juniperus communis, this largely because of its durability against rot.