Not much is today known about how epiphytic lichens are effected by fire. A considerable part of the fires in Sweden today are prescribed fires for the purpose of environmental conservation. How these fires affect lichens is largely unknown. The aim of this study is to find out how epiphytic fruticose and foliose lichens on Scots pine are affected by fire, and to elucidate the relationship between fire intensity and the survival of lichens and later re-colonization. The study was performed at three locations just outside Umeå in Västerbotten that were burned 5-7 years earlier. In all locations there were larger groups of surviving Scots pines with varying amount of fire-damage in the crown, which enabled a reconstruction of fire intensity.

The thesis is about exploring possibilities for developing a standardised system solution for micro businesses, this since most of the micro business lack proper system solutions, a contributing factor of this is price and also incompatibility between the solution and the business itself. The system solutions we will refer to are solutions which task is to cover the most important needs that a micro business might have on their system. The main goal with this research is to see if this is possible, and if so, how the developers should think to take it further. We chose to do this by identifying the most significant of needs a micro business has when it comes to this type of system solution.In this thesis we will present three needs which were evaluated and brought forth through the analyses of various interviews and observations we had done during the study. The interviews took place at respective company with their employees and consisted both closed and open questions with our main focus on the open questions because we wanted to obtain as much information from the respondents as possible from several viewpoints.

It is estimated that 22 000 contaminated areas exist in Sweden today. In order to classify the risk of contaminant migration from these areas and to prioritize which of these contaminated areas should first be treated, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designed a method, for the investigation of contaminated areas (MIFO). One of these contaminated areas is the landfill Gräsötippen outside Köping. The landfill has been used by both Yara AB and the Köping municipality between the years 1945 and 1975, and both industrial and household waste have been deposited there. The aim of this report is to survey which contaminants that can be found in the soil and water in the landfill Gräsötippen and to evaluate the migration of these contaminants.

The health care system in most western countries is undergoing rapid changes with an increasing amount of people living with chronic cancer. These people have to deal with their disease in every day life together with working and family life. The relationship between health services and every day life has changed and raises new requirements. Earlier research has shown that maintaining every day life is important for cancer patients and their families. This study comprised patients with lymphoma receiving their diagnosis during 2003 ? 2005.

Svensk Raps driver sedan 2006 ett forskningsprojekt för att öka oljeväxtproduktionen med20% och minska kostnaderna i odlingen med 20%. I projektet ingår ett antal delprojekt ochdetta examensarbete är skrivit som en del av ett av dessa: Fältförsök med etableringsmetoderoch luckringsbehov för höstraps.Arbetet har till största delen skett genom fältstudier i försöksserien R2-4141, Markstruktur föroptimal oljeväxtodling. Försöksplanen innehåller åtta led med olika etableringsmetoder ochförsöken var belägna på åtta olika platser i södra Sverige. Syftet med arbetet var att jämföraoch utvärdera hur olika bearbetningssystem påverkade höstrapsens tillväxt från etablering tillinvintring och under hösten 2008 gjordes fältstudier av bl.a. såbäddsegenskaper,uppkomsthastighet, halmmängd i ytan, plantegenskaper och mätning av marktemperaturer.Plantuppkomsten var vid invintringen överlag bättre i de led som såtts med Rapid än i tvåbredspridda led.

Not much is today known about how epiphytic lichens are effected by fire. A considerable part of the fires in Sweden today are prescribed fires for the purpose of environmental conservation. How these fires affect lichens is largely unknown. The aim of this study is to find out how epiphytic fruticose and foliose lichens on Scots pine are affected by fire, and to elucidate the relationship between fire intensity and the survival of lichens and later re-colonization. The study was performed at three locations just outside Umeå in Västerbotten that were burned 5-7 years earlier. In all locations there were larger groups of surviving Scots pines with varying amount of fire-damage in the crown, which enabled a reconstruction of fire intensity.

Rapid urbanisation is putting strains on both the landscape and the city dwellers and the pressure on planning for sustainable and equitable cities is crucial. As many cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are expanding, city planning has trouble keeping up to meet the needs of the growing amount of urban dwellers. Many cities have also been planned with the cars in focus and the needs and comfort of the pedestrians have been overlooked. The capacity of institutions is limited due to centralized government and bureaucracy, as well as corruption. Planning is erratically implemented and it is difficult to know what will happen.

In many developing countries, among them Vietnam, contamination of agricultural land is a major issue that has public health implications. A fast growing population, rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to air and water emissions of potentially toxic elements (PTEs), such as cadmium (Cd). Earlier studies have shown that individuals with low iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) status absorb larger quantities of Cd than those of adequate nutritional status. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the Fe and Zn intake from the foods consumed by women (15-45 years) in selected households in two agricultural villag-es in the Red River delta in Vietnam. In one of the villages the residents were involved in metal (mainly Fe) recycling activity, whereas in the other village the residents had agricul-tural production as main source of income. Interviews, followed by food intake calcula-tions, were performed.

Using the Introductory Carbon Balance Model, ICBM, five different crop rotations with rye 1. Rye-Ley-Ley-Rye-Beans-Rye 2. Rye-Rye-Rapeseed-Rapeseed 3. Rye-Ley-Ley-Rye-Potatoes-Rye 4. Rye-Rye-Potatoes-Wheat 5. Rye-Rye-Potatoes-Beans-Wheat-Rye-Potatoes-Rapeseed were tested theoretically in four different cultivation scenarios ? Straw left on the field, biogas digestate added as fertilizer. Labelled ?+straw+BD?. ? Straw left on the field, only synthetic fertilizer. Labelled ?+straw-BD?. ? Straw harvested, biogas digestate added as fertilizer.

Background: The Swedish fashion industry grows steadily, today it?s populated by many small and medium sized companies. Due to the big clothing chains dominant position small businesses risks to be ousted out of the fashion industry.Smaller companies may find it difficult to reach out to the customer by traditional advertising because their budgets are often smaller. It is therefore important for smaller companies to create loyal customers. If the smaller sized businesses in the fashion industry do not follow the rapid developments in society and focus on building strong brands and relationships, they will have problems with surviving in the long run.Problem definition: Which communicative factors are important in the choice of brand strategy to create a long-term survival for small and medium-sized companies in the fashion industry?Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to analyse and evaluate the brand as a communications tool for building a brand image.Method: The data which is being used in the essay is collected from interviews with companies and survey of each company's existing and potential customers.Theoretical perspective: Relationship Marketing Perspective and Transaction Marketing PerspectiveTheories: Brand Strategies, Total Communication, Brand Equity, Involvement Theory, Service Value Profit Chain.Empiric: The empirical data is primary data gathered from interviews with a representative for each company and from the questionnaires distributed to the customers of each company.Analysis: The analysis is an interpretation of the empirical material collected from interviews with each company and customers survey.

 This study was conducted in autumn 2008 on the Company AB, which is currently in a growth phase. The company manufactures hydraulic systems for the heavy vehicle industry and has annual sales of approximately 250 MSEK with 165 employees.The rapid growth and unchanged planning is the starting point for this report. It all began in 2005 when the company received an unusually large order. During this period, the first priority was to satisfy customers and all other focus was disregarded. This has primarily resulted in a messy production and long throughput times.

Background: The number of older people is increasing in Sweden. The elderly patient often requires a more complex type of care, than younger patients. The concept of frailty is often used to describe individuals who have a high biological age and a decreased physiologic reserve which could be associated with acute illness and an increased vulnerability. Emergency medical care today is not suitable for elderly patients and adaptions for these elderly patients and the demands this places on the health care is necessary. Mölndal Hospital emergency department has around 42 000 visitors per year, many of the clients have a high age.

Assessing the emotional state in animals is important in order to establish the quality of their welfare, therefore it is important to investigate under what circumstances animals experience these emotions and to find indicators of their existence. The aim of this thesis was to detect possible behavioural indicators for positive emotions in dogs. These behavioural indicators could be helpful to increase both dogs? and humans? overall well-being in today?s society since they could help e.g. dog owners and caretakers to interpret behaviours displayed by dogs and their intentions so they can respond accordingly.The subjects used were 9 research beagles and each dog participated in three different treatments, assumed to be experienced as positive situations, where communicative interaction was initiated with the dog by engaging in 1) physical contact (P), 2) verbal contact (V) or 3) both physical and verbal contact simultaneously (PV).

Sleep is essential for all mammals and they all have different sleep patterns. Wild horses normally spend 2-8.5% of a 24-hour period in recumbent position while stabled horses lie down 11-20%. To fulfil the need of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep the horse must lie down with support against the ground for the head. The lying behavior can be affected by external stimuli such as age, food intake, bedding materials and if the horses feel safe or not. This study investigates the lying behavior of horses on different bedding materials; wood shavings and filled rubber mats (HIT SoftBed®).

Flexicurity is a union of the English words flexibility and security. The union of the two words to one common term, hints that flexibility and security does not have to be each others counterparts in order to achieve good economical development and employment. Flexicurity, as it is found in Denmark, is described as a three part model composed of active labour market politics, generous financial compensation in the case of unemployment and flexible labour law. The existence of strong collective agreements and three part cooperation is of great importance for the good flow of the Danish model. The same goes for education of different kinds.