Tussilago farfara, coltsfoot, is a troublesome perennial weed with deep lying rhizome, which can vegetatively generate new plants. The mechanical control of coltsfoot that is used today, "starvation", which consists of several cultivations of the soil, which fragmentises the rhizome. This results in production of new shoots, which leads to depletion of nutrient resources; as long the new plant is not allowed to establish. However, very little research has been done to investigate how the starving technique affects the regenerative ability of coltsfoot. The purpose of this experiment with coltsfoot was to investigate how fragmentation and burial depths affect the time of emergence, number of emerged shoots per rhizome fragment, number of shoots per node, and if the germination ability within nodes changes during the experiment.

Facilitated by the breakthrough of the internet, new ways of organizing internet-based projects that harness the power of the crowds are becoming increasingly common. Today there are ways of using the crowd as paid labour, as funders of your new project ventures and even for helping scientists doing science. Staying true to its traditional principles of objectivity and trustworthiness while asking the crowd to contribute, crowd generated ?Citizen Science? does not provide even the slightest amount of pay in exchange for the time and effort put in by their contributors. Surely there can not be many people willing to do such a thing voluntarily? Actually, practice is showing the exact opposite with contributions counted in their millions among the more popular Citizen Science projects.

This report will show the energy usage of Hotel Princess in Sandviken, Sweden. When the hotel changed owner an examination of the hotels heating, ventilation and sanitary systems were done. The report showed flaws in the ventilation system, and is why the new owner wanted a closer look at the energy use of the hotel. The original building was built in the 1930s and two major extensions have been built, one in the 1950s and the most recent in the 1980s. An assumption made is that the building parts were built to the restrictions during the time. Activities on the hotel include sleep over, conference, night club, massage and swimming in the hotels pool section.

Ljusförorening är ett relativt modernt fenomen som allt mer påverkar tillgången till en stjärnklar natthimmel. Det finns en mängd olika internationella organisationer som arbetar för att minska ljusföroreningar och för att bevara natthimlens synlighet, bland andra International Dark-Sky Association, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada och Starlight Initiative. I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag ett antal strategiska dokument genom textanalys, för att analysera deras huvudsakliga motiv till förändringar och för att få en överblick över vilka sorters åtgärder som dessa organisationer föreslår. De analyserade dokumenten är Astrolabs Practical Guide for Lighting, Dark Sky Societys Guidelines for Good Exterior Lighting Plans, International Dark-Sky Associations Practical Guide, Royal Astronomical Society of Canadas Dark Sky Guidelines, Patersons Sark ? Dark Sky Island Lighting Management Plan, Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalitions Lighting Tips, Starlight Initiatives Defence of the Night Sky and the Right to Starlight och Narisda och Schreuders Light Pollution Handbook.

An overwhelming majority of all male piglets are castrated without anaesthesia when they are very young. In Sweden this means that approximately one and a half million piglets are castrated every year. The reason the piglets are castrated is the strong and unpleasant smell and taste, the ?boar taint? that the meat from intact boars sometimes exhibits. Boar taint is chiefly cause by androstenone and skatole, two compounds that are mostly produced by sexually mature boars and are accumulated in the subcutaneous fat.

To maintain production in high salaries countries and strength in competition against other companies, it is today more important than ever to maximize production, offer a wide spectra of products and be able to deliver on the customers desire of shorter and shorter delivery time. Flexible production and short time spent on die changes is vital to achieve these desires. The interest for die changeover time reduction grew in the same pace as the demand for increased product variety grew. SMED as a method of reducing time spent on die changeovers were developed in between 1950-1970, by the Japanese Shigeo Shingo.The purpose of this thesis work has been to investigate the result of SMED in a die casting facility, and compare the result from it with the result considering time spent on die changeovers when investing in new equipment. The goal is to implement a thorough investigation by using the SMED method at Tenhults Pressgjuteri AB and make a brochure that have to be simple to understand, in purpose to draw interest to the advantages of using SMED as a method.Commissioned by the Swedish foundry association Swecast, the work has been carried out by studying die changeovers at Tenhults Pressgjuteri AB, where filming and interviews with the operators have been included in the analysis.

Uvån Hagfors Teknologi AB (UHT) has developed a process ? GRANSHOT® ? for quicksolidification of metals in water baths. In the process liquid metal is splintered ? granulated ?into small drops. The drops are rapidly cooled in a water bath where all the heat energy from theliquid metal is transferred into the water.

A totally mixed ration (TMR) is a mixture of all the necessary feed components for the cow. She will eat the exact same feed in every bite which will make the rumen pH more stable and always supply her with a constant proportion between roughage and concentrate. This will make it possible for the cow to eat more dry matter (DM) a day because the fibre requirements are fulfilled. If a part of the concentrate is given separated from the mixture it is called partly mixed rations (PMR) and is almost always used when using an automatic milking system (AMS). When using TMR and PMR it is important to have a high hygiene, be accurate when mixing the feed and to look after cows in a good and strict way. The aim of this study was to document different farms with PMR in an AMS to see which routines they have and how they are managing their production.

A study to optimize insulation thickness for stock-, industrial- and office-buildings for external walls and roof in an economical perspective has been conducted on behalf of DynaMate. DynaMate?s role is to maintain all Scania?s buildings. Analysis has also included other parts of the building envelope, such as windows, exterior doors and industrial doors. In this thesis, three different types of exterior wall constructions has been investigated, these are a sandwich design consisting of sheet metal and a another one consisting of concrete, as well as a wall of concrete with a coating of plasters.

Heat stress negatively influences the performance of dairy cattle such as lactation and reproduction. Heat stress can cause production losses as well as welfare problems. Years of research have shown that heat stress is a huge problem for dairy cattle in both the tropics and temperate zones but no such research have so far been done in northern European countries. It seems like shade is an important tool when improving pasture conditions and therefore deserves more attention. The aim with this study was to investigate whether there is a need of providing shade for grazing dairy cows during the summer in Sweden. Two groups of lactating Swedish Red dairy cows (n=15 per group) were kept on pasture.

Abandoned and unused railway structures often possess great potential if they are reclaimed and reused for new purposes. The thesis focuses on the global trend of restoring and revitalizing these areas, converting them into park areas, rail trails and green corridors in the city landscape, while preserving their ecological, social, esthetic and historic values. These rail areas were often abandoned when industries moved out from the cities, either to industrial areas or abroad. The use of railways for transporting industrial goods was also replaced to a large extent my motorized road vehicles in the mid 20th century, leaving the rails under-utilized. Because of their location and intrinsic values, they can be reused for important functions, such as green areas in the city environment, providing space for recreational activities and exercise and social meetings and interactions. I have closely investigated the three park areas High Line in New York, Promenade Plantée in Paris and Schöneberger Südgelände in Berlin, which have all gone through this transformation in recent years. I have summarized my conclusions in three key concepts to consider: design for social values, preserve the architectural history, and leave room for future evolution. The final part of my work is a design program for an abandoned railways area in Stockholm: Eriksdal railway area.

SammanfattningDe flesta barn fängslas och visar intresse för temat rymden och finner vanligtvis att det är ett mycket intressant ämne. Fokusgruppen har varit elever i årskurs 4-6 och efter några större bortfall var det slutligen elever ifrån 8 klasser som deltog, totalt 94 elever. Eleverna fick svara på en enkät där eleverna i både text och bild bland annat fick förklara hur de trodde att objekten i sol?jord?månsystemet samverkade och rörde sig i förhållande till varandra, vad de placerade i centrum för detta system, hur de såg på orsaken till årstider samt varför vi har dag och natt. De två pedagogerna som undervisade klasserna fick svara på några frågor om hur de såg på undervisningen om astronomi, om den undervisningsmetod de använde sig av och på elevernas lärande och förståelse för ämnet astronomi.  I denna undersökning kunde samma typer av missuppfattningar ses hos dessa elever, som de missuppfattningar som har dykt upp i en rad olika undersökningar som genomförts tidigare år med andra barn ifrån olika länder.

This study is about how changed light conditions induce dormancy in plants. It is divided in two parts. First a literature study where quantification of light, the concept dormancy, photoperiod and light quality are discussed. Second an experimental part, where the importance of light for sprouting capacity in root buds of perennial sow thistle (Sonchus arvensis L.) is investigated.In the science in how flowering in plants are induced the concepts short day/long day plants and light dominant/dark dominant are well-established. These concepts can also be applied to how light induce dormancy in plants.

The energy sector is facing an impending paradigm shift. Today?s technology enables the end-user to generate their own energy locally at home. Furthermore, recently developed storage technologies make it possible to balance energy demand with stored energy and integrate district heating with the local power grid. This means that in the future heat and electric power will interact and energy flows is converted over energy boundaries.

In this thesis is studied the electrical load of Paradisskolan with respect to power quality and energy consumption. The school's owner Trollhättans Tomt AB is also interested to know if they can reduce their costs by changing to smaller meter fuses. A recurring ground fault that?s been recorded from powerpanel A1A has been investigated. The school's equipped with an electrical bonding system, harmonic filters for the third harmonic currents, TN-S system from feeding transformer and groundfault monitoring.