This report is the result of a degree project in building engineering, at an advanced level. The project evaluated a building from a technical and historical point of view, and focused on its energy consumption, particularly the energy used for heating. The building in question was a small apartment building in Strömsholm, Sweden. It was made in 1902, from vertical logs, a not so common form of the traditional log house. The goal of the project was to evaluate if the energy consumption could be reduced in accordance with building preservation regulations, that is without damaging any of the building?s cultural or historical values.The building was surveyed with the help of archive and literature studies, interviews and inspections.

In this study, the effects of using fine milled cassava stems as an additive in biofuel pellet production was compared to the effects of refined starch addition. The bulk biomass fuel raw material, to which the additive was added, was a blend of spruce and pine sawdust. An experimental design in the factors cassava/starch content, moisture content and material temperature was used. Measured responses were pellet bulk density, pellet durability, amount of fines, pelletizer motor current, pellet temperature, die temperature and CV for pelletizer motor current (a measure of process stability). Each response was modeled by multiple linear regression (MLR).

There is an uncertainty in the market for grain forcing the meat/milk producers to review alternative feeds to a larger extent, in order to get control over the feed costs. This has led to that the meat/milk producers need to have a good knowledge regarding how the different feeds influences the animals and which technical equipment to use for handling. For those that produce their own feedmix, there is a need to put interest in new crops and their characteristics to be able to get the knowledge of what is required for their own production. It is beneficial to keep an open dialogue with advisors to be updated in new crops and new technology for feeding. When mixing feed at farm level, the legislation is not very clear since it the target group is large scale mixing plants. We have brought up the most important rules and regulations from the EU parliament Council as well as the ones from the Swedish Board of Agriculture (SJV), regarding feed mixing on farm and factory level. We have studied beans and pea at two different moisture levels, in order to evaluate how the moisture level affects the distribution of particles when milling with a plaitmill and a hammermill.

Problem: The relations between first and second tier suppliers within the automotive industry have changed drastically during recent years. Previously involving the supply of simple components, today the relation involves collaborative product development of complex subsystems. The situation is rather new for the actors, hence there are a number of problems that act as restraints for the collaboration. In order to come to terms with these problems, it is important to determine the underlying causes. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to make a survey of the main problems in the collaborative product development between first and second tier suppliers within the Swedish automotive industry.

Soil properties affect the chemical composition of soil water. When studying transport of chemical substances through a basin, it is therefore important to know from which soil layer the main part of the runoff is generated. The aim of this study is to develop an HBV/PULSE model with merged soil moisture and response routines, which generates good approximations of groundwater levels. It should be possible to extend the model to simulate transport of substances and take into account which soil layer the groundwater level is currently in. The hydrological version of HBV/PULSE is used since there is no need to account for pH or alcalinity at this stage.

The representative democracy has become weakened during the last decades. At the same time the United Nations declared at the Rio de Janeiro meeting in 1992 that environmental problems can best be solved by involvement of all concerned citizens in decision-making. The main purpose of this study has been to examine if citizens panels is a possible way to involve citizens in environmental decision-making and what the outcomes can be. Furthermore the study has investigated what the participation has contributed to environmental politics and how representative the results have been. This has been carried out by investigating the Piteåpanel in the municipality of Piteå by conducting interviews.The result of the study shows that the involvement of the citizens in the decision-making influenced the environmental politics of the municipality.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to investigate how librarians approach to the multicultural collection development and which methods they use in providing library materials in minority languages. The questions to be answered are: which methods the libraries use when purchasing library materials in minority languages, how the respondents experience that the minority user groups needs are met in the library and how the multicultural competence of the staff is used in the libraries. For this purpose the qualitative interviews with 6 librarians in Gothenburg are conducted, mainly from the libraries in the immigrant-dense parts of the city, while the study being concentrated on 6 language groups of library users. The study?s theoretical framework is based on theories of multiculturalism, culture, identity and bilingualism.

Tile covered bathrooms require a wellexecuted waterproofing in order toprotect the underlying construction frommoisture. Länsforsakringar Uppsala paysannually out millions in insurance fordamages related to poor waterproofedbathrooms. In recent years, SP (SwedishNational Testing and Research Institute)investigated and researchedwaterproofing products, resulting ingreater shortcomings of product defectsthan expected.This report raises the problemsconcerning waterproofing and discusseswhy they occur. By studying productinstructions and insurance cases anddamage reports provided byLänsforsakringar, the most commonproblems concerning bathroomwaterproofing where concluded. Animportant part of the report was tofind out the actual cause to whywaterproofing damages occur.The results of the survey indicate thata common cause of water damage usuallyis related to poor productinstallations.

Many Swedish urban neighborhoods have since they were constructed suffered from a bad reputation and have had a lack of strong socioeconomic groups settling there. This study is about a suburb in a medium-sized Swedish town and the purpose is to find out which social problems that exist there. The aim is also to explain the actors who work with adolescents in the area, which interventions and activities are offered, and whether they can be characterized as pro-social, as well as how the cooperation between the actors looks like. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was carried out, involving nine respondents, who are active in the public and nonprofit sector. The interview guide used is designed and divided into different themes based on the survey questions.

approaching Boden deals with the approaching of a city, both in a physical sense ? along the road ? and in a spiritual sense ? in mind. The physical encounter with a city is represented by the experience of the road and its surroundings, while the spiritual encounter is represented by the idea of the city that we already have, or will get, in our minds. We have in this degree project approached Boden through a thoroughly analysis of both the entrance roads and the city itself. In this degree project we are looking for ways of how to create characteristic and interesting entrance roads to a city, with Boden as an example. This demands knowledge about the problems involving entrance roads as well as the distinctive features of the city.

First-year students at Linköping University have developed a prototype that graphically visualizes a medical record in a new way. The customer of that project was the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Linköping University. They now want a usability evaluation to be performed of the prototype. The prototype is to be used by employees in the public health care and is supposed to be used on a small portable unit with a multi-touch interface. For this reason the prototype will be used as a complement to existing systems when the users work near the patients.

Some children develop externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at an early age. Previous research has often treated these children as a homogeneous group, the purpose of this study is to show that this group of children is in fact heterogeneous. Data from theSOFIAstudy was used and preschool pedagogues were informants. The sample contained 2121 boys and girls between 3-5 years. Groups of children with the behavior problems and the risk factors AD/HD symptoms, fearlessness and callous-unemotional traits were created.

Tile covered bathrooms require a wellexecuted waterproofing in order toprotect the underlying construction frommoisture. Länsforsakringar Uppsala paysannually out millions in insurance fordamages related to poor waterproofedbathrooms. In recent years, SP (SwedishNational Testing and Research Institute)investigated and researchedwaterproofing products, resulting ingreater shortcomings of product defectsthan expected.This report raises the problemsconcerning waterproofing and discusseswhy they occur. By studying productinstructions and insurance cases anddamage reports provided byLänsforsakringar, the most commonproblems concerning bathroomwaterproofing where concluded. Animportant part of the report was tofind out the actual cause to whywaterproofing damages occur.The results of the survey indicate thata common cause of water damage usuallyis related to poor productinstallations.

The purpose of this study was to examine interpersonal problems and its relationship to the working alliance in psychotherapy. To examine this, data was used from Umeå and Lund University psychology practice client database, which clients responded to by using the self-assessment scales Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scales and the Working Alliance Inventory. The sample consisted of 201 participants that answered the questionnaires both before and after psychotherapy. A second sample consisted of 93 clients who specifically sought help for interpersonal problems. Results showed that the level of interpersonal problems before and after psychotherapy changes.

What amount of knowledge of guitar playing can be expected after completing upper compulsory school? A qualitative research involving three different music teachers provides their view of knowledge. Their expectations have been compared to a quantitative research involving 58 upper secondary students from the social sciences programme. The idea is to compare their pedagogic intentions to the pedagogic realities of music teachings.The study shows a clear advantage for students who has attended some form of external music tuition as well as for those students who have someone in their families who play an instrumentIf the knowledge primarily is due to extracurricular activities perhaps there is time for a reformation of the music subject so that all may enjoy the education, not merely those who already possesses a curtain amount of knowledge...The experience must not be allowed to submit to the vast forests of chords, by doing so one misses the purpose entirely.