This literature study deals with the pig industry and how group size and available floor area affects the animal welfare and the production results. It shows that both the pigs? welfare and production result can be affected negatively if the environment seems stressful for the pigs, and if they are housed in a narrow area. If the pigs are being exposed to either physiological or psychological stress factors their immune system can be decreased and the growth can be impaired. Influence by the social status of the pigs is also reviewed.

This master thesis was made to investigate the possibilities of using the Matlab-basedsoftware Basegrain to determine grain size distributions of erosion protections onhydropower dams. Basegrain is a photogrammetric tool developed to generate grainsize distributions and other information about coarse flood sediments by analyzing adigital photo of the stone bed. The investigation was made by validating the ability forBasegrain to assess grain size distributions of various materials smaller than the blocksused in an erosion protection by comparing sieving results or manual measurementswith the results obtained by the program. A statistical comparison was then made bycomparing the results from sieving and the program. The possibilities of using thesame method on existing hydropower dams were then investigated by determiningwhether the method was practically viable or not.The results showed that Basegrain generated grain size distributions for coarse gravelthat were very close to the sieving results.

The aim of this thesis has been to study the development of Ordfront förlag from their foundation in 1969 until today, concerning their publishing profile and their size. Ordfront started out as a small publishing house and is today one of the few middle sized publishing houses in Sweden. Their books focus on questions concerning society, debate and politics. The question posed in this thesis was: What has influenced Ordfront förlag concerning size and publishing profile? In order to answer our question we have used a system analytic method, in which we examined some external and internal elements.

Transdermal drug delivery, besides painfulinjections with syringes, has long been associatedwith small size particle pharmaceuticals, which candiffuse through the skin. This method of drugadministration has only been applicable on a smallnumber of drugs, where active molecules are smalland delivery time should or can be long.Other drug delivery options are oral administrationand injection with hypodermic needles (ordinaryhospital syringes). In oral administration thestomach and liver tend to dissolve the drug and theeffect becomes more difficult to anticipate, anddrug delivery rates difficult to control. Hypodermicneedles are used as a mean of drug injectiondirectly into the bloodstream. This method ispainful and risks infection due to tissue damageand skin penetration.One way to get a painless non-damaging techniquewith high delivery rate that still can delivery largemolecules is to manufacture an array of microscopichollow needles and equip them with a pumping unitthat delivers the correct amount of drugs.This thesis shows the technique and possibility ofmanufacture micromachined needles using low costtechniques of Ion Track Technology (radiation ofheavy ions creates porous materials), electrolessdeposition (non-current activated wet chemistrymethod of depositing metal) and electroplating.

This master thesis was a continuation of a previous study in the diesel exhaust characterization, which is part of the academical work embedded in the EMIR-1 project. The main objective of this thesis work was to finish the installation and make the proper modifications of the particulate mass measuring system located in one of the engine test cells at KTH, in order to be able to measure the mass of the particles from the exhaust of diesel engines.This experiment requires a diluted flow sample from the exhaust that should be sent to the device that makes possible the measurement of particle mass, called TEOM. In the first stage of this project, the objective was to study and make the proper modifications in the existing KTH diluter because there were several problems to obtain a constant dilution ratio from it during tests.This modifications were made and it resulted in a great improvement in the maximum inlet and outlet flow that this diluter can handle. Therefore another modification is proposed for controlling the inlet exhaust flow so it will be possible to regulate the dilution ratio and make it constant along a wide range of engine loads and speeds.The second and most important stage was to make particulate mass measurements possible by analyzing the frequency signal from the TEOM device. The idea was to obtain the frequency of oscillation from the tapered element in the TEOM, and therefore with the proper correlations, be able to predict the particulate mass concentration in the exhaust flow from the engine.An electrical problem in the TEOM circuit was detected and corrected, so the signal that carries the frequency from the TEOM can be analyzed properly.

Treatment wetlands been showed efficient for reducing pollutant in waste water. In Lajeado ? RS, Brazil the landfill has poor leachate water treatment. It is necessary to supplement the treatment plant because they need to reduce BOD, COD and nitrate of the water going to recipient. A subsurface flow wetland (SSF) can be a good choice.  In order to be able to design an efficient SSF it is important to understand how the grain sizes of a substrate affect the reducing of pollutants in waste water.

The aim of the Master?s Thesis work is to study and develop algorithms for autonomous travel of a UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle). A vehicle for the mounting of sensors has been constructed in order to perform the work. Since the UGV is to be used outdoor in urban areas, GPS can be used. To improve precision and robustness, inertial navigation is used in addition to GPS, since GPS reception is likely to be diminished in such areas.

This study presents a survey of the capital budgeting methods used in investment decisions by selected Swedish firms. The study has a qualitative approach where the main goal is to increase the understanding of why firms use ?incorrect? capital budgeting methods like the payback method despite the well known fact that it is one of the most faulty methods, according to literature in business finance (Brealey. Myers). The study has specially researched the impact of company?s size, investments size, ownership structure, branch traditions and political risks influence on firms capital budgeting..

This report is a qualitative study on children aged three to five years who are in the Swedish preschool. The purpose of the study is to investigate how five experienced preschool teachers view the way children between three and five years acquire basic mathematical concepts, basic numeracy and geometry. The aim is also to find out whether teachers feel that the size of the group of children affects their learning.The study contains information about what preschool teachers think about the way children learn mathematics and how the size of the group of children affects this learning. From the results it can be seen that children learn Mathematics, both in everyday situations and when playing. Moreover, the group size does not seem to affect the mathematical learning of the child.

The purpose of this essay is to study the impact of different factors on corporate capital structure. The factors studied in relation to corporate debt ratio are industry affiliation, size and profitability. The study involves all 252 companies quoted on the Stockholm stock exchange and cover a time period from 2007 to 2011. The result shows that branch affiliation has a significant impact on corporate debt ratios. Regarding size and profitability, however, these factors do not have an evident impact on corporate debt ratios..

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).

I have studied the curriculum for the compulsory Swedish school, from the curriculum from year 1962 when the Swedish grundskolan became a reality, to the curriculum from year 1994, the one in practice today. My primary interest has been what the curriculum says about bringing up the Swedish youth. My theory has been the British analyst Norman Fairclough?s Critical Language Studies. His thoughts about actual discourse, type of discourse and order of discourse has led me through out this essay.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, OTEC, is a sustainable energy conversion technology that is not yet commercialized. OTEC is a technology that utilizes the temperature difference in oceans between the warm surface water and the cold water at 1 000 m depth to run a Rankine Cycle. This technology can produce electricity and provide synergies like fresh water, air conditioning and aquaculture. A simulation program for three alternative OTEC systems has been created in order to decide which OTEC system is most profitable; closed, open or hybrid system. In this simulation a production cost analysis is performed in order to investigate and decide which one of the three systems that has the lowest production cost. The production cost analysis also analyzes if the profitability is affected by the size of the facility. After these analyzes, the most profitable of the three different OTEC-systems is expanded by an installation of solar collectors in order to see if the thermal efficiency is improved. The result shows that the most profitable system varies with the size of the facility.

The spatial population structure of the saprotrophic basidiomycete Tulostoma brumale was investigated at a site in south eastern Sweden. Sporocarps were mapped and collected, and somatic incompatibility tests between mycelial cultures cultivated from the sporocarps were used to identify genets. Calculations of the size and numbers of genets and their distribution were performed. The spatial distribution of the tested sporocarps and the identified genets are presented graphically in a grid. The total number of identified genets within the investigated area (1210 m2) was 27 based on 48 tested sporocarps.

This essay examines the differences and similarities, weaknesses and strengths of the two Cognitive Semantic theories Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Principled Polysemy Approach to Meaning Analysis. To illustrate the two theories, the Swedish verb-particle construction "gå upp" is examined and analyzed accordingly. The results showed differences in the number of polysemous meaning found. The methodological evaluation showed that the differences in the underlying ideas concerning meaning-construction behind these two theories make them incompatible..