Striga hermonthica, a parasitic weed, has long been believed to be correlated with the declining soil fertility status. However scientists have recently come to question this statement since some recent studies have shown contradictive results. To investigate whether soil fertility status and infestation of Striga hermonthica were correlated and the impact of it were caused by farmer management, 120 farmers in Western Kenya, where Striga hermonthica infestation is prone, participated in this study. In three districts with two sub-locations each, farmers answered a structural questionnaire and identified two fields, one with high and one with low soil fertility. These fields later came to be the basis for this study and soil were therefore also sampled from them.

Biofuels are getting more important as EU plans to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. Because of that Sveaskog has chosen to invest in developing the handling process of logging residue. The company has a joined organisation for handling both round wood and logging residue. They are also working at integrating the forwarding of the logging residue with the rest of the harvesting team. Sveaskog is currently extracting 44 % of the available amount of logging residue.

I dagens skogsbruk bedöms gallringsbehovet utifrån gallringsmallar som ger rekommendationer baserade på avvägningar mellan biologisk kunskap, ekonomiska faktorer och risker. Gallringsmallarna är anpassade efter tänkta produktionsskogar och kan således vara bristfälliga i andra fall. Därför behövs en effektiv bedömningsmetod som fungerar i både homogena och heterogena bestånd. Studier har visat att tallens (Pinus sylvestris) grönkronandel har påvisad effekt på diametertillväxten och genom att uppskatta denna kan ett direkt mått ligga till grund för bedömning av gallringsbehov, istället för det indirekta måttet grundyta, som nuvarande gallringsmallar är utformade efter. Tanken är att undvika produktionsförluster genom att gallra innan grönkronan hissats upp alltför mycket.

Nature conservation agreement (NCA) is a way to voluntarily protect and manage nature for limited time-periods. The agreement is settled between the government and a landowner. All public authorities can represent the government but it is only the Swedish Forest Administration who does that regularly (because it is the only authority with economic resources for that purpose). Therefore, NCAs are almost only used to protect forested nature. The government agencies have experienced NCAs for about ten years and it is now time to examine how they are applied in the forests. This study is based on a computerized questionnaire to the persons responsible for the LEKO-projekt.

My aim of this investigation has been to study Delacroix relation to the Orient, based on a number of key questions:What was specific for Delacroix oriental works?How did his oriental painting change and mature over time?How was Delacroix relation to the oriental discourse?The paper is divided into three parts: the time before his trip to Morocco in 1832, the trip to Morocco and the period after Morocco.Although many have wanted to see Delacroix as a revolutionary, he worked the whole time within, and dialogue with, the classical tradition. In Delacroix quest for renewal of history painting, the oriental works play an important role. In the period before his trip to Morocco the literary sources dominated. He constructed his own Orient in his studio.It is clear that Delacroix did not stood outside the oriental discourse.

Studiens främsta målsättning har varit att ta reda på om det förekommer aeroba mikroorganismer på handtagen på kundvagnar och kundkorgar som används i dagligvarubutiker. Förutom detta har undersökningen syftat till att finna svar på frågor som; om det förekommer aeroba mikroorganismer på handtagen vilka typer, familjer och arter tillhör de? Finns skillnader mellan antalet cfu (kolonier) på handtagen på vagnar och korgar? Finns skillnader mellan antalet cfu på handtagen från morgon till kväll samt finns skillnader mellan antalet cfu på handtagen på vagnar mestadels förvarade utomhus och mestadels inomhus? Hur ofta rengörs vagnarna och korgarna och erhålls någon skillnad i antalet cfu mellan en otvättad och en tvättad korg?Undersökningen har gjorts med hjälp av Hygicult TPC slides, vilka är avsedda för snabb kontroll av mikrobiologisk hygien på olika typer av material som ytor och fasta och flytande material. Agarfilmen på plattan är så kallad Total Plate Count Agar och den gynnar snabb tillväxt av de vanligaste förekommande bakterier, jäst- och mögelsvampar.På 103 av 104 tryckplattsidor, kunde tillväxt av mikroorganismer observeras efter inkubering i 32oC i två dygn. Detta visar på att det förekommer aeroba mikroorganismer på handtagen på kundvagnar och kundkorgar som används i dagligvarubutiker.

This research is about the experience educationalists have of children encountering mathematics in a preschool. What is the impact of introducing mathematics in preschool? How do educationalists work with mathematics and how do they experience the children?s interest in mathematics?  The aim of this degree project is to examine how educationalists experience children´s interest in mathematics when they encounter mathematics at an early age. The degree project is limited to educationalists and children within a preschool located north of Stockholm.This research seeks answers to the following questions at issue. Does an early encounter with mathematics in preschool lead to increased interest in mathematics among children?  How can educationalists in preschool work in a appropriate way with mathematics to stimulate children to develop within mathematics and to increase their interest? How does educationalists in preschool experience children´s interest in mathematics?Theories by Piaget, Vygotskij and Dewey were used as well as former research in this subject.To answer the aim and the questions at issue in this research, three interviews was conducted with educationalists at the preschool and recorded with a Dictaphone.

Companies use different forms of representation to promote business negotiations. The regulations for the right to deduction for the cost of representation are stated in Chapter 16 section 2 of the Swedish Income Tax Act (IL). According to the law there must be an im-mediate connection between the expenditure and the business practice and the claimed de-duction must be reasonable. The Swedish tax authority publishes general recommendations regarding representation which are used as guidelines for the tax payer to follow. The gen-eral provision about tax deduction can be found in Chapter 16 section 1 of the Swedish In-come Tax Act (IL), stating that expenses to acquire or retain income shall be deductible.

Pyometra (chronic purulent uterine inflammation) is a common disease in middle-aged and older intact bitches. The disease most frequently occurs in metoestrus and previous research studies have shown that both hormones and bacteria are involved in the development of the disease. Analysis of the blood levels of prostaglandin metabolite 15-keto-13,14-dihydro-PGF2? (PG-metabolite) has previously been shown to be clinically useful in the differentiation of canine uterine diseases such as pyometra and mucometra. The PG-metabolite concentration has also been correlated to severity in pyometra as determined by hospitalisation length. The purpose of the present study was to investigate if blood levels of PG-metabolite can differentiate uterine diseases such as pyometra from other diseases in female dogs.

A vulnerable group in society is people with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) or autism. This group seems to increase, mainly due to genetic factors but also environmental problems. Medical research has accelerated in the U.S. and Europe. The biggest problem for people with disabilities is the inability to communicate, both verbally and socially.

The purpose of this essay is to study how feminists portray themselves and their opinions about gender issues and other political matters in popular feminist blogs. The blogs that are studied are Lady Dahmer, Fanny Åström, Hanapee and Genusfolket. The overall essay questions are: How does the feminist bloggers present themselves? Which subjects are discussed in the feminist blogs? Which rhetorical devices does the feminist bloggers use? The theories that are used to answer the essay questions are the four spheres where there are inequality between the sexes, theories about third wave feminism, the rhetorical concepts ethos, logos and pathos and the SPADER-model for writing good argumentation. A descriptive method is used to study how the bloggers present themselves, a quantitative content analysis is used to count which subjects the bloggers write about and a qualitative rhetorical text analysis is used to study the rhetorical devices the bloggers use.The result shows that the two bloggers Lady Dahmer and Fanny Åström describe themselves with provocative words while the other blogs have more neutral descriptions.

This study was made in an attempt to give the forest research centre Mógilsá a producedtetratherm map and a better understanding of how topography and temperature influencethe growth of two tree species. The digital tetratherm map model, covering the northernpart of Iceland, was developed to investigate the correlation between tetratherm and thegrowth of Picea sitchensis and Larix (sukaczewii + sibirica). The study confirms theusefulness of digital terrain models in providing data for a lot of different factors and forthe tetratherm model. Hopefully will this tetratherm map be used in future studies.Secondly, investigations were made correlating the growth of the two species againsttopographic factors representing height above sea level, distance to the sea, slope andtopex. Thirdly, investigations were made comparing the aspect and the ground shape tothe growth.The growth rate of Larix had strong significant correlations to the tetratherm and thedistance to the sea- factors.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze the ideological development of the former communist parties and the contemporary left-wing socialist parties of the Nordic countries. It is aimed at the two decades that have passed since the collaps of the Berlin wall and the parties at hand are; the Norwegian Sosialistisk Venstre, the Danish Socialistisk Folkeparti, the Swedish Vänsterpartiet and the Finnish Vasemmistoliitto. Since the 1960´s these parties have undergone major ideological changes with reference to a widening of their political agenda to an inclusion of democratic ideals as well as the new ideologies of feminism and ecologism. Thus reforming them into modern left-wing socialist parties at different times. The main hypothesis is formulated from the idea that there must be a connection between the startingpoint of reformation and the degree of modernism/traditionalism they show today.

A vulnerable group in society is people with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) or autism. This group seems to increase, mainly due to genetic factors but also environmental problems. Medical research has accelerated in the U.S. and Europe. The biggest problem for people with disabilities is the inability to communicate, both verbally and socially.

Hästar över hela värden är infekterade med gastrointestinala parasiter. De parasiter som har högst prevalens och orsakar sjukdom hos häst är cyathostominer, Parascaris equorum, Anoplocephala perfoliata och Strongylus vulgaris. Parasiterna kan orsaka alvarliga symtom så som obstruktion, kolik, avmagring och de kan även ge komplikationer som kan leda till döden. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att sammanställa information om hästens parasiter och om tillgängliga analysmetoder samt att undersöka dagens möjligheter till ett hållbart kontrollprogram för att minska resistensutveckling. Problematiken med den ökande resistensen har gjort att regelbunden avmaskning för att minska prevalensen av parasiterna har börjat ifrågasättas. Idag finns det kontrollprogram för att minska resistensutvecklingen hos hästens gastrointestinala parasiter.