Wood pellets are an upgraded product of residuals from several wood processing industries, for example saw mills and pulp industries. The pellets are produced by pressing the milled and dried sawdust to cylindrical units with a higher density than the initial raw material. Pellets have great benefits compared to the raw material: high energy per volume, good transport and storage properties and homogeneity. Several parameters collaborate in the whole process, which makes it complex. Wood is a heterogeneous material, chemically and structurally dependent on wood parts, habitat and storage procedures.

This study was conducted on a property with a thinning machine team. The purpose was to investigate in which machine, the harvester or the forwarder, that caused most damage to the trees in six different stands. Different factors, related to the damage frequency in the stands, were checked out. For example: basal area per hectare, thinning strength, tree diameter and the rate of production. The harvester drivers were also interviewed about how, when and why stem damages occur and how to minimize them. The study stated that 4.3 percent of the trees were damaged. Out of these 88 percent was caused by the harvester and the rest, 12 percent, by the forwarder..

Obemannade flygplan med attackförmåga (UCAV) används i allt större utsträckning i konflikter idag. En av de främsta fördelarna med dessa är att det inte finns någon risk att mista en pilot, då dessa är fjärstyrda. I attacker utförda av amerikanska UCAV:er i framför allt Afghanistan och Pakistan, har collateral damage inträffat vid ett flertal tillfällen. Det innebär att civila oavsiktligt fallit offer för attacker. Enligt krigets lagar kan sådana händelser rättfärdigas av att militär nödvändighet föreligger, men det är tveksamt om det går att hävda det när man inte riskerar egna förluster.

In the current situation a big part ofthe settlements that exist in Sweden isin need of renovation and energyefficiency in order to survive.Therefore, also many of the older houseswith a wooden structure are in a need ofenergy efficiency, which can be done ina variety of ways, including addinginsulation.This project deals with whether the useof a diffusion barrier or a vaporbarrier affects a wall structure byadding insulation to an older house witha timber frame. The insulation materialswhich are concidered in thisinvestigation are mineral wool and woodfiber insulation. Efforts are focused onthe effects of moisture on theseinsulation materials.To demonstrate the differences thatarise the moisture measurement programWUFI have been used to simulate avariety of wall designs. These designsare developed in consultation with theconstruction carers who are active inthe industry.Using WUFI graphs illustrating themoisture levels of the wall structureswere obtained and from these conclusionsvould be drawn. The work demonstratesthe differences that arise when using adiffusion barrier or vapor barrier inwall construction.

The corn plant came to Europe with Christopher Columbus in the 14th century and have ever since bin cropped here, but corn haven?t bin very common in Scandinavia until recently. The mainly use for this crop silage but even corn for grain is cropped in Europe. Corn for grain is a common part of feed in beef and chicken farming. In Sweden corn for grain is pretty rare but almost 1000 hectares are used for this crop, Lantmännen Sverige is the biggest buyer of corn at the moment.

This report is the result of a degree project in building engineering, at an advanced level. The project evaluated a building from a technical and historical point of view, and focused on its energy consumption, particularly the energy used for heating. The building in question was a small apartment building in Strömsholm, Sweden. It was made in 1902, from vertical logs, a not so common form of the traditional log house. The goal of the project was to evaluate if the energy consumption could be reduced in accordance with building preservation regulations, that is without damaging any of the building?s cultural or historical values.The building was surveyed with the help of archive and literature studies, interviews and inspections.

In this study, the effects of using fine milled cassava stems as an additive in biofuel pellet production was compared to the effects of refined starch addition. The bulk biomass fuel raw material, to which the additive was added, was a blend of spruce and pine sawdust. An experimental design in the factors cassava/starch content, moisture content and material temperature was used. Measured responses were pellet bulk density, pellet durability, amount of fines, pelletizer motor current, pellet temperature, die temperature and CV for pelletizer motor current (a measure of process stability). Each response was modeled by multiple linear regression (MLR).

There is an uncertainty in the market for grain forcing the meat/milk producers to review alternative feeds to a larger extent, in order to get control over the feed costs. This has led to that the meat/milk producers need to have a good knowledge regarding how the different feeds influences the animals and which technical equipment to use for handling. For those that produce their own feedmix, there is a need to put interest in new crops and their characteristics to be able to get the knowledge of what is required for their own production. It is beneficial to keep an open dialogue with advisors to be updated in new crops and new technology for feeding. When mixing feed at farm level, the legislation is not very clear since it the target group is large scale mixing plants. We have brought up the most important rules and regulations from the EU parliament Council as well as the ones from the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SJV), regarding feed mixing on farm and factory level. We have studied beans and pea at two different moisture levels, in order to evaluate how the moisture level affects the distribution of particles when milling with a plaitmill and a hammermill.

This survey was made during the autumn of 2002 and the beginning of 2003, on commission from the National Board of Forestry. The purpose with the survey was to gather experience and knowledge in the organisation about fencing and this was made through interviews. The ambition was also to get knowledge from people outside the organisation that have great experience of forestry and fencing. The interviews were based on questions that have been composed by the author with help from the supervisors. The questions were the same to both the personal from the National Board of Forestry and to the foresters. Interviews were also made with private landowners, gamekeepers, game researcher, the County Administrative Board, the National Road Administration, pole and net retailers and contractors. The target group for this work is the National Board of Forestry to be forwarded to persons interested in forestry with the ambition to spread knowledge about how to prevent damage on the forest by browsing animals. The deer populations are big in the south of Sweden and growing populations have increased the damage on plantations of broadleaves of the most species.

Urban agriculture is a current topic and this study examines the possibility of cultivating on balconies in the city. The study was performed at Uppsala University and examines, from a structural engineering perspective, how different existing balcony/terrace structures are affected by cultivation. A cultivation balcony defined in the study as a balcony/terrace which is specifically designed for cultivation. Three units of study have been selected according to this criterion. Four factors were examined, these were loads, moisture/water, economy and cultivation.

Soil properties affect the chemical composition of soil water. When studying transport of chemical substances through a basin, it is therefore important to know from which soil layer the main part of the runoff is generated. The aim of this study is to develop an HBV/PULSE model with merged soil moisture and response routines, which generates good approximations of groundwater levels. It should be possible to extend the model to simulate transport of substances and take into account which soil layer the groundwater level is currently in. The hydrological version of HBV/PULSE is used since there is no need to account for pH or alcalinity at this stage.

Storage of biomass is associated with problems like heat development, biomasslosses, and reduction of the fuel quality. Certain processes such as biological- andchemical degradation are responsible for these storage problems. This master?sthesis was carried out at Vattenfall Research and Development AB and is alignedtowards quantifying the biomass losses from short-term storage (1-2 months) ofbark and recovered wood. The biomass was stored in outdoor piles during differentseasons, campaign 1 (summer) and campaign 2 (autumn).

Cameraria ohridella, the chest-nut leaf miner, is a new pest in Sweden. These moths make leaf mines on chest-nut trees, preferably on Aesculus hippocastanum, which results in brown blotches on the foliage and early loss of leaves. Since the first observation in Macedonia in 1985 it has spread rapidly through Europe. The moth arrived in Sweden in 2003 when it was observed in Malmö and surrounding areas. In this paper a literature study describes the morphology and life cycle of the chest-nut leaf miner. Further more a test with pheromone traps examining the number of generations in Sweden is shown.

The storm Gudrun in 2005 led to massive windthow damage in forests in southern Sweden. Since then there has been a growing interest in factors influencing wind damage in above all Norway spruce (Picea Abies) stands. Although many other interesting areas still need to be examined. In 2005 there where a lot of stands that suffered different degrees of damage, a lot of these stands weren?t cut, but instead left to grow. The future development of these stands is uncertain and the guidelines are unclear.

Damages have four main functions: reparation, placing of the costs, distribution of the losses and prevention. The rules about damages evolved before liability insurance had the extension it has today, 97 % of the Swedish populations is covered by liability insurance, since it is included in the comprehensive household insurance. Liability insurance should be looked at in the light of the damage rules, but the rules about damages are adapted to the insurance possibilities.The Law of damages contains, though the general adjustment article 6:2, the adjustment article 2:4 about children and the adjustment article 2:5 about the mentally ill, a possibility to adjust a non reasonable damage claim. If the liability insurance covers the damages no adjustment is made. Even when the adjustment articles are being used the damages is a heavy burden for the person who is liable for the damages.