The Nasometer is a non-invasive acoustic measuring instrument that quantifies the ratio ofnasal resonance in speech. It can be used as a complement to perceptual judgment of speech impediments, for example, in patients with cleft palate and velopharyngeal insufficiency. Inorder to determine if a nasalance score is abnormal, it must be compared to norm data. The main purpose of the study was to collect reference nasalance scores in children between fourand five years of age in Linköping. An additional objective was to compare the results tonorm data collected in Umeå.

This degree project has been carried out in cooperation with Gedevelop in Helsingborg.Gedevelop has developed a camera that can calculate the weight of a liquid glass mass.Because of the density and viscosity changes in the glass, the weight information issometimes incorrect given. Glass industry is today addressing the problem by an operatorperforming a manual weighing of a few bottles which, in turn, calibrates the camera system.The project aimed to develop an automated system to control the weighing of glass bottles forglass industries. This system must be so flexible that it can be easily mounted on plants withdifferent production equipment around the world.The project includes design and construction of equipment that meets the requirementsformulated together with Gedevelop. Work has been done both in Halmstad and Helsingborgand has included both calculations and review of the theory to understand the forces thatinfluence the design of different construction parts. A prototype was produced that meets theoperating requirements for the design and can be used in testing features.

Recent studies show that manufacturing companies to a larger extent use historical cost accounting in their internal accounts, at the expense of calculated costs. The explanation behind this is claimed to be that firms are subject to careful scrutiny by the stock market. Consequently, top management stresses the need of evaluating all parts of the firm from external accounting. However, lower management levels express a general concern that the incentive to invest in machines will decrease. This master thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is an objective reason behind this concern.

This examination work aims to describe how a supply chain around the biggest pellets factory in Sweden will be configured in a logistic perspective. The plant and associated infrastructure are in the building phase and will have production start on the 2 November 2009. The key question that is set in this examination work is to recognize the logistic processes which are essential for an effective flow of materials and information that link the source of supply with the ultimate customer. In order to get the answer, a flowcharting of these supply chain processes is required for understanding the pipeline activities such as input and storage of raw material, the production system and the output of pellets to the customers. The basis for this supply chain map is a model-based representation of these logistic processes and activities that are involved around the pellets factory.

By exposing their products in blogs, companies have the opportunity to reach out to hundreds of thousands of consumers daily. Instead of using conventional Internet advertising such as banners and ads, some companies chose to make use of product placement in blogs. By choosing to expose their products in blogs, companies use a medium that blog readers are familiar with and can relate to, and can thereby solicit customers for their products and brands.We will examine whether product placements in fashion blogs are an effective way for businesses to market themselves and their products. We measure this efficiency, by keeping a record of the sales of ten product placed garment and accessories that we have selected from four of the largest blogs in Sweden. The stores we examine sales of product placed goods in are volume brand stores such as Zara and H&M etcetera.

Sudan has always showed great potential in the poultry industry, but it has not been until now that this potential has blossomed and is growing quickly. As large agribusinesses1are taking over the market shares within the urban areas, smallholders2 have been put out of business. They are not able to compete with mass production and lack financial assets to improve their production techniques. Contract farming is defined as initiatives from agro industrial companies to secure access to smallholder produce and has in developing countries become a way of allowing the poor to participate in a larger market (Farrington, 1999). The aim with this study was to investigate the suitability of implementing the contract farming concept within the poultry industry in Sudan today. The study is a qualitative field study and the authors have conducted qualitative interviews with respondents involved in the poultry industry in Sudan.

Stormwater run-off from surfaces such as roads or rooftops is often polluted with heavy metals and nutrients. Many of these substances can cause great damage in biota if they end up in the recipient. In Sweden constructed wetlands and ponds for treatment of stormwater are frequently used, since research has shown that these treatment ponds are reducing stormwater pollution considerably to a low cost. The knowledge of these pollutant removal mechanisms and how follow-up and assessment of the ponds should be performed is still limited.To determine the pollutant removal efficiency of the stormwater ponds it is recommended that flow-weighted water samples are collected from both the inflow and the outflow of the pond. This method demands considerable resources of time and money for installations and analysis.

Lokala investeringsprogram was a subsidy program which supported environmental reforms during the years 1998 to 2002. The subsidies were given to Swedish municipalities. Most of the evaluations of the subsidised projects have now been completed and included in a database. The purpose with this thesis is to analyse whether the instrument has been effective with respect to carbon dioxide reductions and costs. These calculations have focused on subsidy and cost efficiency. The analysis has been compared with a previous report called "LIP ur ett samhällsekonomiskt perspektiv". The result shows that the reduction cost for one kg CO2 has been almost one SEK, which is twice as high as the cost reported in a previous report, half a SEK.

In the country of Jordan, egg production is very important economically, but several bacte-ria are involved in food borne diseases transmitted from eggs or other poultry products. The most important are Salmonella spp., Campylobacter jejuni and Escherichia coli. In Jordan two different housing systems are used for hens in large scale egg production; con-ventional cages and litter floor systems. Eggs from four different farms were analysed and compared to see if a difference could be found regarding the presence of pathogenic bacte-ria on the egg surfaces between these two systems. Total number of aerobic bacteria was analysed, the presence of Salmonella spp., C.

This study is about the use of textbooks in teaching English as a second language and about teachers? attitudes and opinions of using textbooks during lessons. The aim of the study is to receive a deeper understanding of the use of textbooks in English teaching and to learn about why teachers choose whether to use the textbook approach or not. The study contains an analysis of the textbooks the teachers in our study used. The analysis shows the actual content and the types of texts together with the design and the structure of the textbooks.

A growing issue in the construction industry is how production can become moreefficient by using logistical solutions. Companies can minimize the cost of a project byreducing the time to perform the work.The purpose of this report was to examine the logistics related to pipe trenches forSIAAB. The report's focus has been on solving problems and planning that wouldfacilitate the work of the project Vaksala-Lunda Etapp 3.The case study consists of interviews with SIAAB's employees and an observationwhere the progress of a traditional pipe trench has been documented using checklists.Questions to the report?s case study come from the theoretical part, which is basedon literature on construction management and logistics in general. The observationlasted five weeks and the biggest time-consuming events that affected the pipe trenchduring this time, has received most attention.

This report examines the industrialization of a newly developed household machine on behalf of Technogarden Engineering Resources in Karlstad, Sweden. The report is a part of the final course in the Bachelor Program in Mechanical Engineering at Karlstad University and takes place in spring 2014.An innovator, an investor and a engineering consultant firm have through collaboration developed a new type of gruel machine. The product is in its final stage of construction and is planned to be manufactured in a production located in Sweden, autumn of 2014.To compete against today?s trend in outsourcing manufacturing to low cost countries for better profitability, the industrialization of the gruel machine must be done with a minimum amount of resources in order to become successful, which also describes the problem of this study. Using pre-study material in form of Lean production literature, visiting a successful production site and gathering data from involved engineers a specification was developed which describes what this industrialization must achieve and which requests can be accomplished.

This master thesis was initiated with the aim to answer at what level of installed capacity of wind power in the northern parts of Sweden it would be beneficial to improve the transmission capacity from the northern Sweden. During the process of this work the aim has changed to try and create a model that can be used to analyze how well the hydro power installed in the northern Sweden can even out the quick changes in wind power production.To create a good model of all hydro power in northern Sweden is a very large job, unfortunately too large for a master thesis. This report therefore ends with an extensive analysis of the simplifications that have been made and their effects as well as a list of the future work that has to be done.The model that has been created have shown to be effective and produce good results. The conclusions that can be made is that the northern Swedish hydro power have very good possibilities to balance the wind power production. Only a few cases where water have been spilled even though there has been some free capacity has been discovered.

Artificial insemination (AI) has had a great influence on the development of pig production and is today widely practiced (Gerrit et al., 2005). With AI, genetic progress can at a short period of time be spread worldwide compared with using natural service and the best boars can be intensively used. This is also one of the biggest risks with AI; the impact of semen containing a genetic disease or contamination of pathogens can be enormous. Fortunately, it is a small risk of disease transmission due to many tests of the boars and the semen before use (Maes et al, 2008). It is important that the boars used for insemination have good breeding values along with good reproduction features and have good fertility results (Robinson et al., 2005).

Mussel meal is a potential source of protein, with a good composition of amino acids, for laying hens and broiler chickens, and may replace the use of fish meal in organic poultry production. Lead and cadmium are heavy metals which occur in the environment and can be accumulated in mussels. When poultry are exposed to heavy metals, the metals are absorbed in the small intestine and distributed in the body in the form of ions, complexes or bound to proteins. In poultry, lead accumulates in bone tissue, liver and kidneys, while cadmium accumulates in liver and kidneys. Generally very low concentrations of these heavy metals occur in muscles of broilers which have been exposed to feed contaminated with cadmium or lead.