Fog is a small-scale weather phenomenon that are fascinating to people. However, the presence of fog in road traffic reduces the visibility and increases the risk of road accidents. By the Swedish Road Weather Information System (VViS), the safety on roads could ameliorate and road accidents caused by fog and other weather hazards could be prevented. Fog is however a complex and usually local phenomenon, why fog formation generally is not easy to predict. For that reason, a statistical mapping of fog, especially along a motorway with high traffic volumes, could be useful in planning to prevent road accidents.

Abstract  The development and onset of diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Type 2 diabetes are closely linked to genetics and lifestyle factors including physical activity and diet. A cluster of metabolic disorders called the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a high-risk factor in developing these diseases. Acording to the International diabetes institute, one fourth of the worlds adult population has MetS. These individuals are twice as likely to die from CVDs compared to individuals without MetS. Physical activity (PA) and exercise has been shown to provide a number of positive effects that are considered to reduce the risk of developing sickness and premature mortality among both men and women of all ages, independent of other risk factors.

The increasing threat of climate change has led to a increased need for models to predict future climat. In these models the changes in the soil carbon pools due to changes in microbiel degradation of the organic matter can lead to both positive and negative feedback-effects. There is however a lack of consensues on the temperature respons on degradation soil organic matter. This paper aim to give a better understanding on the factors controlling the temperature respons. The factors studied were the carbon substrate qualitity and the physiological status of the microorganisms.

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons that motivate women to seek cosmetic breast augmentation surgery, to examine their self-concept and how they relate to their breasts.Methods: Ten female postoperative participants who have undergone an aesthetic breast augmentation surgery on private clinics were interviewed using an unstructured interview format. Self-report questionnaire was used as a complement to the interview. The purpose of this was to examine women's self-concept. Six female postoperative participants who have undergone a breast augmentation surgery on public clinic and had medically confirmed defect also completed the measures.Results: The results of the interview analysis showed that some participants experienced positive physical and psychological outcomes of surgery and some did not. Several main themes were identified relating to the initial reasons for performing surgery.

In Sweden there are 1894 small-scale hydropower plants in operation, which together generate 4.3 TWh of electricity per year according to Swedish hydropower compound (SVKF, 2011). This corresponds to the annual consumption of about 860,000 Swedish households (based on an annual consumption of 5000 kWh). In the mid-1950s there were around 4000 small-scale hydropower plants in operation in Sweden before cheap fossil fuels and uranium competed with them, in the current situation only 1,894 of these are in use. If slumbering small hydropower plants once again would be taken into use and some new ones are built, we would be able to extract about 7 TWh of renewable electricity from these annually in Sweden, representing about 1.4 million households.The thesis intends to calculate and construct a hydroelectric power plant at the existing dam in Olofsfors and give suggestions on how the power station should run during the time that fish migration is greatest in Leduån.The turbine and generator to the station in Leduån at Olofsfors is designed by the height of the fall and the water flow through the dam. The turbine selected for the station is a CK-1000RM turbine with a 4-pole 250 kW generator from Cargo & power turbine Sweden AB, which is expected to deliver 1.2 GWh per year.

The system tungsten-oxygen has potential of being suitable for decorative coatings since ceramic coatings are often hard and wear resistant, and since modulations in oxygen content or incorporation of small ions could give bright colours. The aim of this report was to investigate the relationship between process parameters and  the properties of the films, with the wear resistance being of special interest.Samples with tungsten to oxygen ratios in the range of 100:0 to 25:75 at% were made using reactive sputter deposition, either with constant gas flow, or gas flow controlled by optical emission of the plasma. The hysteresis of the system, which means that a certain gas flow will cause different pressure and/or target voltage depending on in what way the flow is reached, makes it interesting to control the process where the system makes the steep change from metallic tungsten to ceramic tungsten oxide. This is difficult and thus requires precise control equipment.The samples were analysed using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and an empirical wear test suitable for small components like cell phone cover for example, in order to characterize the structure, composition and wear resistance of the coatings. The results could be divided into three groups: (I) tungsten-like, with very low oxygen content; (II) mixed phase and (III) tungsten oxide like, with oxygen content close to 75 at%.

On ocean beds around the world sinking particles of residual biomass from animals and vegetation have, over time, accumulated into thick layers of sediment. For researchers these layers of sediment contain valuable information about the earth?s past climate, information that can be used to predict future climate change and to estimate natural vs. human causes of today?s global warming.The Institute of Geosciences at Stockholm University studies sediment cores that have been acquired with an apparatus called piston corer.

During the last years around 100 000 immigrants have arrived to Sweden, people with different reasons and different goals for settling down in Sweden. The reason for immigrating to Sweden that will be dealt with in this thesis is following immigration, i.e. when someone moves here because they have relatives living in the country.The reason why it is interesting to study following immigration is that it is an affecting factor for how many that will immigrate to Sweden the following years and may then be used to make a forecast, based on how many first time immigrants there are. To be able to investigate the following immigration analyses are made with time series, logistic regression and Poisson regression. An ARIMA-model has been used to estimate the number of following immigrants in the future.The other part of this thesis will inquire the matter how inclined immigrants are to become Swedish citizens, whether they even apply for citizenship and also how long time it takes from the time when they fulfil the conditions for Swedish citizenship until they apply.

Background: It is necessary for a company to hold some unique and irreplicable competitive advantage in order to be able to succeed in a market. In a market where public procurement is an important part the competitive advantages will be characterized by the fact that some of the participants on the market are public organizations and that their actions as for procurement fall under the legislation LOU. The characteristics of competitive advantage also depend on and change with continuous changes on a market. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the competitive advantages that are presenton a current market characterized by public procurement and how these are created. The purposes is also to based on the trends on the market today study and predict the nature of the competitive advantage on the market in the future as well as the changes that we think will occur on the relevant market.

This report discusses the IT archetypes "governance strategy" and how it could be linked to the IT benefits at the company. The study is based on IT investments that have taken place in ten banks operating in Sweden today, where the reality was modeled on the basis of a questionnaire survey and an additional interview. The aim was to examine whether it is possible to find any correlation between the governance in the banks and obtained benefits for an IT investments.While the competition is intensifying in most companies there is a greater demand for efficiency in IT. The need for IT solutions is greater than ever and the number of IT investments is increasing significantly in most workplaces today, especially on banks. But even if the investments are increasing in numbers it does not necessarily mean that all types of investments are effective and beneficial to the company.

The southern part of Sweden, Skåne, is frequently exposed to storms causing great damage to Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) stands. A storm during the winter 1999/2000 raised the attention of the problem. A lot of forest owners got large areas of spruce stands wind thrown during this storm. Can naturally regenerated birch (Betula sp.) be an alternative on these wind-exposed sites? This was the main question I was facing when discussilig the problems with Esben Möller Madsen, Söderåsens forest district. The aim of this master thesis was to present an economic analysis of Norway spruce versus birch.

Mankind faces a serious threat. Its activities, for example the burning of fossil fuels, have led to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect - something that has given rise to a global warming. The climate is becoming warmer, a change that has important effects on the nature as well as for humans and their society. Sea level rising, extreme temperatures are becoming more common, glaciers and other ice caps melt and storms becomes more intense when they appear. The main cause is the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere - carbon dioxide in particular.

This thesis investigates all aspects of quality and evaluation issues concerning collections of Internet links in public libraries today and in the future. We have studied central theories concerning quality in general as well as quality aspects regarding the Internet and Internet links. In addition to this we have made three case-studies involving the development of collections of Internet links in public libraries of different sizes. The case-studies were made as interviews with professionals responsible for selection, quality assurance and evaluation of electronic information for inclusion in the libraries collections of Internet links. In addition to this we made an e-mail interview with a librarian responsible for one of the most advanced collections of Internet links among Swedish´ public libraries.

Stock analysts have through the analyses they write a large impact on the expectations on the market and the direction of investors investments. This creates undesired fluctuations on the market that raises the level of uncertainty. The way that the analysts satisfy their need for information is connected to how their final analysis will be shaped. There is a large knowledge gap concerning the way that the analysts work and this gives unsatisfactory ways of communication. This thesis is set out to create a greater understanding of how optimal communication towards this target group should be brought out.

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is an elusive felid, native to the mountains in central Asia. Basic knowledge about the snow leopards? ecology has long been lacking but is advancing with the help of the GPS-technology. GPS cluster analysis can provide insight in the diet and prey selection of elusive predators, such as the snow leopard. Acceleration data from GPS collars can be used to study animal behavior but the two have never been combined to gain more detailed information of the feeding behavior of large carnivores.