This is an essay concerning the density of the city. An increasing amount of today?s cities have a shortage of space available for the erection of new buildings and settlements, especially in areas close to the city-centre. New buildings and settlements are therefore often found in the outskirts of the city, resulting in long distances between work and living for many people. These long distances are a waste of limited resources and are inconsistent with the vision of the sustainable city.The challenge for the future is to insert new buildings and settlements in the existing city-structure and in this way reduce the distances between different city-functions.The density of the city can be increased in two different ways; by inserting new buildings between existing ones or by extension existing buildings, for example by an additional floor.

European cities of today are under the challenge to find ways to stay competitive and flourish in a rapidly changing world, where the old patterns of centrality and periphery not necessarily holds true. New and improved communication networks, a changed political geography in Europe, and the globalisation of not only the financial and industrial markets but also to a certain extent the globalisation of people, have all led to great challenges for cities and regions.In a changed spatial reality the classic monocentric models are challenged by newer models of urbanisation. The polycentric urban region is one such model which has been used to describe urban regions like the Randstad in the Netherlands and the Rhein-Ruhr region in Germany. Regions which lack the single dominant central city of the monocentric models of old, and instead shows a high degree of more equal-sized and sometimes more specialised cities in regional cooperation. The polycentric urban region is in that aspect a possible model for how other urbanised regions in Europe may act to be able to position themselves as attractive urban regions and regional hubs in the European urban network.Polycentric urban regions are not a universal solution, though.

The purpose of this report is to increase the awareness about the problem that occur when the waste hierarchy is applied to management of contaminated land. The work with remediation of contaminated land in Sweden is part of the efforts towards reaching the national environmental objectives. Therefore a subsidiary aim is to analyze how this influences the prospects of reaching the objectives. The work consists of two parts; a case study and a comparative literature study that focus on England, the Netherlands and Sweden. The case study is intended to provide a practical perspective through a comparison of the climate impact from two methods.

The aim with this thesis is to make a comparison between forcing tulips in a hydroponic system and the forcing off tulips that have been planted in soil. The results are mostly based on interviews with six Dutch and one Swedish tulip forcer and the managing director at the Horticultural Research Centre, Proeftuin Zwaagdijke, in the Netherlands. There are benefits and disadvantages with both methods. Tulip bulbs planted in soil seem to get a brighter colour after forcing, compared with those forced ?in water?.

Robotic milking in Automatic Milking systems (AMS) is proposed to reduce manual labour and at the same time increase milk yield by increasing milking frequency. In order to increase milking frequency, it is essential to have well-functioning cow traffic. Investing in an AMS is a great capital investment for the farmer, thus it is of major importance to ensure maximal AMS capacity. This study investigated the effect of the traffic systems Feed First? and Free cow traffic with and without waiting area (WA) on cow performance and AMS capacity.

The visions of the United Nations concerning sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity can only be realized if the human population succeeds in creating coexistence between human and wildlife. Landscape architects are able to influence on how landscapes are to be maintained and developed. The negative impact of infrastructure on wildlife has become a critical problem in Sweden and other parts of Europe. Wildlife crossings has been developed as a solution for the problems of road barriers in the landscape. The crossings are made to give animals a better opportunity to cross roads.

The purpose of the thesis is to describe how environmental compensation is carried through when it comes to exploitation of Natura 2000. The thesis also relates to the three theories of planning synoptic, advocacy and transactive. Three cases of environmental compensation have been studied from three different countries where an exploitation of the Natura 2000 is done. Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands have all been working with environmental impact assessments as a demand to be able to carry through their projects. The projects concern the development of a railway track, an industry and a port which all have been approved by the EU-commission to carry on because of socioeconomic reasons.

Sedan sin introduktion på 1940-talet har antibiotika varit några av de viktigaste läkemedlen vi har, både inom human- och veterinärmedicin. De används för att behandla och förebygga bakteriella infektioner. Världen över har det också använts i tillväxtstimulerande syfte i varierande grad, och på sina håll fortfarande även idag. Då administreras det i subterapeutiska koncentrationer under en lång tid vilket medför stora resistensproblem i det långa loppet. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att se hur fem länders antibiotikaresistensläge ser ut idag och vad som påverkar det. Detta uppnåddes genom jämförelser av ländernas antibiotikaanvändning och resistensläge på gris, exemplifierat genom tre olika bakterier ? MRSA, ESBL-producerande Escherichia coli och erythromycinresistenta Enterococcus spp.. De länder som studerades var Sverige, Danmark, Nederländerna, USA och Kina. Skillnader som finns mellan länder är exempelvis huruvida antibiotika får användas i tillväxtstimulerande syfte, om antibiotika måste vara receptbelagt och om det används i profylaktiskt syfte.

AbstractIntroduction: Hand Arm Risk Assessment Method (HARM) is a tool to assess the risks of deve­lo­ping complaints of the arm, neck or shoulders during manual work. The method was developed in the Netherlands primarily for employers, but is also used as an aid to work environment in­spec­tors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the HARM-method for assessment of biomecha­nical exposure of the upper limbs when performing manual tasks as well as its suitability to be used within work environment inspection. Methods: Ten labour inspectors conducted assessments of five video-recorded work tasks. Assess­ments made with HARM were compared with those made with the Assessment of Re­pe­titive Tasks (ART) tool and with ACGIH Hand Actvity Level (HAL) - both methods for assess­ment of bio­mecha­nical exposure of the upper limbs - and with the model for the assessment of re­pe­titive work in the pro­visions of the Swedish Work Environ­ment Autho­rity on ergonomics for the prevention of mus­culo­skeletal disorders, AFS 1998:1.

In the last decade, member states of the European Union have adopted a range of measures to decrease the dependency on fossil fuels. This has led to an increased use of biomass in heat and power production. In some countries, the lack of forest resource has led to large scale power producers importing their biomass needs. Due to high energy content and homogeneity, wood pellets have become an internationally traded commodity used for large scale power production. The Baltic States have emerged as one of the largest wood pellet exporting regions in Europe.

The global wood pellet market has seen a rapid growth after the adoption of the Kyoto protocol and the renewable energy incentives created within the European Union. The global consumption of wood pellets reached 13,5 million tonnes in 2010 and several experts estimate the consumption to be between 35-50 million tonnes by 2020. These forescasts raise the questions which regions that can supply this vast amount of wood pellets and what the conditions are for producing it. This study evaluates the conditions for wood pellet production and export from British Columbia, on Canada?s west coast, focusing on existing industry structure, raw material supply and the distribution chain.

The vegetable production in Sweden is concentrated to the very southern parts of the country. This is also were the major wholesalers are located. In recent years, there has been an extreme focus on price on the food market. As there are only a few big wholesalers and also very few food retail chains, these have a great impact on the producers. The pressure from prominent vegetable-producing countries, providing low price products, such as the Netherlands and Spain is strong.