The resting area is the most important place in the barn for the dairy cow, sometimes called the heart of the free stall system. Inadequate design of the lying area, and lack of or poor quality of bedding materials may reduce the hygiene of the stall. Poor management regarding the cleanliness of the resting area may lead to poor animal hygiene and increased bacterial growth. This in turn will lead to increased risk for environmental mastitis as well as impairing milk quality through contamination with spores. In this literature study the most commonly used bedding materials; straw, sawdust, wood shavings, clean sand, recycled sand, peat and recycled manure solids, are compared to one another with regards to their ability to resist bacterial growth. Effects of adding hydrated lime to bedding materials have also been studied. Most bacteria need humidity and prefer a quite high water activity to be able to grow.

This study has been carried out as a part of the EC funded project, SMARTDOC IST-2000-28137, with the objective of developing application components that provide highly interactive visualization and collaboration functionalities. The low-level components from the graphics library AVS OpenViz 2.0 are used as the development basis. The application components can be inserted into electronic documents that allow embedded controls such as web documents or Microsoft Word or PowerPoint documents. Instead of displaying results as static images, a SMARTDOC component provides the ability to visualize data and interact with it inside the document. Although the principal goal of the SMARTDOC project is to create components in a number of different application domains this study concentrates on developing a medical imaging application component in collaboration with the project partners AETmed and professor Alan Jackson at the University of Manchester.

Since the turn of the millennium a sharp increase in the interest for bio energy has been observed. Important reasons for this growing interest can be due to the fact that fossil fuels are a finite resource. A net discharge of greenhouse gases occur when fossil fuels are burned. The discharge of greenhouse gases are considered to be the main reason to the greenhouse effect. Means of control to increase the use of bio energy has been introduced and, as intended, the use of bio energy has increased. As a result of the legal provisions the ability to pay for bio energy has increased, which the forest industry view as a problem.

Background: The consumers of today have the possibility to choose from a wide range of products and services. Consequently, the ability to differentiate the products is essential for the brand owners. If a brand owner does not manage to differentiate its product, it can be difficult to make the consumers realise the benefits of the product and convince them to buy it. One way to differentiate the product is to create a distinguished brand identity. However, it is not enough to create a strong brand identity, the brand owner must also be capable of communicating the brand identity successfully.

Scientific studies show that good leadership is a key factor for group- and individual development. Studies have also shown that the contrary can curb talented individuals and/or cause stagnation, or even cause groups to halt their progression. This essay studies how leaders in musical and athletic environments look on their own leadership. In interviews, the leaders reflect upon experienced issues related to their profession, their views on difficulties in their leading role, as well as individual, and group development. This study also includes two observations, one in each field of profession.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine a new music downloading service called Musikwebben, which is now available in many Swedish libraries. It focuses on the differences and similarities between this service and illegal music sharing services. The question is raised, whether the appeal of Musikwebben is high enough for it to be able to ?recruit? users from similar, illegal services. To answer this question, a qualitative content analysis is used, to explore various views on what legal downloading services have to offer and how these differ to illegal alternatives.

Title: Music and adult identity: A study of how students at Malmö Academy of Music look upon their identity from a musical point of view. This study is about adults and how they look upon their identity from a music perspective. I have interviewed four students between 26 to 29 years old at the Malmö Academy of Music. The purpose with my study is to examine how music has affected the identity of the students as adults and to see if their identity still is affected by music. The interviews have then been analyzed and compared with existing research in this matter.

This master?s thesis concerns the performance of professional children?s theatre in public libraries. With qualitative interviews I have looked into how four children?s librarians and two theatre consultants appreciate professional children?s theatre, and furthermore I have looked into their view on the importance of theatre for children. My intentions have also been to investigate their views on the function and status of children?s theatre in public libraries and also the relationship between library and theatre activities for children.

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of a blog in the classroom. This paper describes why the teacher created the blog and how the blog is used by teachers and pupils in and outside the classroom. The study also describes teachers? thoughts regarding future use of the blog. Seven primary school teachers were interviewed and the material was analysed using a multimodal design theoretical perspective on learning (Selander & Kress 2010).The conclusion of the study was that the teachers created and designed blogs to give parents, pupils, relatives and others an opportunity to have an insight into the pupils? school day.

Anne Reese: Johan Lindegrens vägval : en studie i de faktorer som påverkade enskilda aktörers verksamhet inom Stockholms musiksamhälle 1860-1908, Uppsala universitet: Institutionen för Musikvetenskap, uppsats för 100 poäng, 2007.The aim of this essay is to show some of the factors which affected the production and work of the individual musician or composer within Stockholm's music society in the late 19th century. By a case study on Johan Lindegren (1842-1908) I demonstrate how a musician or a composer functioned in the social structures of the music society and how power affected the work of the musician or composer. This essay also fills another purpose as it gives Lindegren a more detailed biography, which is something that has been missing until now.By applying a concept of power, as discussed by Michel Foucault, to this subject and interacting it with the concepts of musical opportunism, I present a new way of talking about the social, as well as the individual factors that affects the individual musician within the music society.The conclusion is drawn that there are two different types of factors that affects the work of the individual; 1) the social network and power within society, which presents positions and opportunities for the musician and 2) the individual character of musician which determine the way the individual uses the position or opportunity he or she is given..

The purpose of this master's degree thesis was to develop an understanding of how hospital management, in the case studied, worked to achieve changes in an organization influenced by differing professional cultures. To gain insight into the conditions that may have contributed to nurses and physicians developing appropriate attitudes and behaviours, which may have affected the organization's ability to achieve the Swedish Quality Award 2012. A qualitative single case study was conducted at Karlskoga Hospital, with focus groups as well as individual depth interviews. The results of the case study showed the following conditions provided nurses and physicians the potential to develop appropriate attitudes and behaviours, which may have influenced the hospitals ability to achieve the Swedish Quality Award:  Responsibility and influence over the development processes.Participation in management teams and quality development groups as well as individual fields of responsibility.Training programs that have given insights and skills in quality management related to clinical practice.Nurses and physicians as key individuals gave legitimacy to development process, and served as management advisors.Collaboration between all kind of employees and responsibilities.Committed management.    .

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of an intervention that focuses on phonics, decoding, reading speed and phonological awareness for 8-9 year old children in reading difficulties. Participants were selected on the basis of screening test results in grade one (decoding and reading comprehension). The participants were divided into two groups, an intervention group (A1, n=10 children) and a control group (A2, n=10). A1 received 30 minutes of intense reading instruction every day for six weeks from special educational needs teachers on top of their usual classroom based reading instruction. The control group received only their usual classroom-based reading instruction.

Theory of mind involves the ability to take another person?s perspective in thought, emotions and intentions.  There is today a lack of instruments to assess children?s development of Theory of Mind (ToM) in Swedish. ToM is considered by many scientists to be the basis for development of pragmatic competence. The relationship between these two abilities is complex and not fully resolved. Both abilities are important components for the development of social skills.    The purpose of this study was to compare 4 and 5-year olds ToM-ability measured with a Swedish version of Wellman and Liu?s ToM-scale, Sally Anne and Social Emotional Test with estimated pragmatic competence measured with the Children?s Communication Checklist (CCC).

Choir singing is one of the most popular national movements in Sweden but the knowledge of the meaning of this activity for health and well being from the choir singers? own experiences is limited. The purpose of this study was therefore to develop useful knowledge about the meaning of choir singing for participating persons from a health perspective. The data was collected through qualitative interviews with six different choir singers and went after that through a comprehensive analysis which resulted in four main categories: an oasis in the existence; possibilities of meetings and solidarity; goals and musical development; and physical and emotional well-being. The results showed that the choir activity represents a place where the singers can escape the demands and the stress factors of everyday life and where they get the opportunity of meaningful relations with other people.

This study is based on discussions among Swedish brass teachers about teaching other brass instruments than their main instrument. Why do some choose to teach only with the help of their main instrument while others use their secondary instruments as well? What are the advantages and disadvantages and how do they look upon other ways of thinking in this matter?In addition, the study examines brass teachers? views on the balance between pedagogical and instrumental skill, as well as their views on teaching sound, technique and expression in relation to the age of the student.A questionnaire was used and anwered by 24 teachers with teaching experience in municipal music schools ranging from 7 months to 35 years. The results indicate that pedagogical skill is always important, whereas the importance of instrumental skill increases as the student gets older and more experienced. The advantage of teaching with the help of the main instrument is that one always keeps a high musical and technical level.