The piglet mortality rates have become a major issue in today?s pig production. While other production traits such as number of born piglets or produced piglets per sow have been improved, the mortality rate has escalated. High mortality rates before weaning does not only affect the economy but must also be looked at as both an animal welfare problem and an ethical issue. The background to this problem has been addressed many times, and its salvation has also been addressed by breeding.

To achieve an optimal combustion, an even air/fuel ratio in the combustion chamber is required. An optimal combustion leads to reduced amount of emissions due to a more complete combustion, which is an important matter because of the sharpened environmental laws. This can be attained, among other things, by applying entirely variable cam times. To optimize the engines efficiency and its emissions at all workloads and speeds, an active valve control can be applied. This means that the intake and exhaust-valves can be opened and closed at any time, independent of the crankshaft position.

The purpose of our essay is to study the institutional-, demographic and accounting theoretical factors that influence an organisations actuarial commitment.The research was performed through a web based survey, with complimentary telephone interviews, directed to companies listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange A- and O-list on the 30 of November, 2003.Our data was analysed with a Median test, Kolomogorov-Smirnov test, T-test and a Mann-Whitney test. The purpose of the Mann-Whitney test was the low number of respondents that took part in the research. The Kolomogorov-Smirnov test was done to determine whether the population variances was equal or not. The data showed that organisations with a majority of female employees assume a lower salary increase, and a higher average age than other companies with a male majority. Only 2 of 11 hypothesis can be accepted as temporary truths but several other visible relations are indicated in our research, but can not be statistically proved.We think that the major problem with our is the time it was performed.

The purpose of this Masters thesis is to examine the performance of queries that are expanded by synonyms and hyponyms from Svenskt OrdNät, the Swedish version of the Princeton WordNet. Four different types of queries were constructed: a baseline query S1, the baseline query expanded with synonyms S2, the baseline query expanded with hyponyms S3 and finally the baseline query expanded with the synonyms and hyponyms used in S2 and S3. The terms for expansion were picked by hand. The queries were executed in the Query Performance Analyser QPA, a tool used in IR education and in experimental IR research for analysing and comparing the performance of individual queries. 20 topics from the test collection GP_HDINF were chosen for the experiment.

The aim of my thesis was to do a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of an average thread tap that is manufactured by Dormer Tools AB, and to create a practical model that the company can use in order to study other thread taps from an environmental perspective.The method of LCA is used to investigate the environmental effects of a product during its life cycle. This is a gate-to-grave analysis with focus on steel and thread tap manufacturing, coating procedure, use, waste management and transports. Three common coating types were compared separately. Steel manufacturing answers for the highest energy and raw material consumption under the life cycle of the thread tap. Its emissions contribute to global warming, acidification and eutrophication above others.

?Familjecentrerad behandling? (FCB) är ett numer vanligt förhållningssätt inom vård och habilitering av barn. Teorin för FCB är ännu oenhetlig och dess teori och praktik utvecklas kontinuerligt i växelverkan vilket gör valida och reliabla mätinstrument nödvändiga. MPOC-20 är ett instrument som mäter den familjecentrerade behandlingsprocessen och används i många länder, däribland Sverige. Dess fem ursprungliga skalor brister i replikerbarhet och etablerades med bl.a.

Syfte Syftet med uppsatsen är att ta undersöka huruvida det finns någon skillnad mellan skuldsättningsgraden inom produkt- och tjänstebranschen. Ett delsyfte till uppsatsen är att undersöka hur räntekostnaden ser ut och huruvida det finns signifikanta samband mellan de olika branschernas gällande ovanstående faktorer.Metod Undersökningen är en fallstudie med en abduktiv kvantitativ ansats. Empirin består av sekundärdata i form av årsredovisningar.Teori Teorin har utgått ifrån genrens klassiker i form av Modigliani & Millers två teorem, Pecking order teorin samt Trade-off teorin.  Även Hallgrens modell om risk har tillämpats.Empiri Data är insamlad från sex byggföretag samt från sex revisionsföretag. Skuldsättningsgrad, räntekostnader samt omsättning är granskad dels inom branschen och dels jämförande mellan branscherna. Empirin är testad genom signifikansanalyser.Resultat Det finns inga signifikanta samband mellan bygg- och revisionsbranschens skuldsättningDet finns inga signifikanta samband mellan bygg- och revisionsbranschens räntekostnadDet finns inga signifikanta samband i byggbranschens skuldsättningDet finns inga signifikanta samband i revisionsbranschens skuldsättning.

 This paper evaluates the effect of exchange rate risk on the sum of bilateral trade. To distinguish the effect between different types of countries, two groups are defined: advanced and developing economies. Economic theory on exchange rate risk and trade proposes ambiguous effects of increased volatility. However, the ex ante hypothesis is that developing economies are more sensitive to volatility. Contrarily to the hypothesis, the empirical results suggest that advanced economies would benefit up to twice as much from a removal of exchange rate risk.

Purpose The purpose of our study was to investigate the changing nature of volatility during the last 80 years. Like in an American study, we tried to find some trends in the risk of stocks and bonds that would have an impact on the balance of a portfolio of stocks and bonds. At the same time we investigated the influence of inflation on the choice of portfolio. Methods We have used standard statistic tools and formulas to obtain our results. In most cases it was a matter of calculating average and standard deviation.

Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att göra en komparativ studie mellan Sverige-och global aktiefonder för att vidare analysera vilka aktiefonder som ger högst avkastning.Metod: Uppsatsen bygger på en statistisk analys vilket sekundärdata ligger till grund för våra beräkningar. Genom tillämpning av kvantifierbar hård data där bland annat historiska aktiekurser ingår, så har en kvantitativ studie använts. Befintliga teorier och modeller har tillämpats.Slutsats: Studien visar i stort sett att högre risk ger en högre avkastning. Under period 1 presterade Latin Amerika fonderna bäst varefter Sverige fonder presterade bättre under period 2. Dessa marknader kan vara väldigt oberoende av varandra och tenderar därmed inte att följa varandras kursutveckingen.

The presence of cystic ovarian follicles represents an important ovarian dysfunction and is a major cause of reproductive failure in dairy cattle. A cystic ovarian follicle is a persistent follicular-like structure on one or both of the ovaries. It is at least 2,5cm in diameter and it has to persist for at least ten days while a corpus luteum is missing. There are two kinds of cystic ovarian follicles, those who have a progesterone production and those who have not. A clear definition for this condition is lacking, probably because the heterogeneity of the clinical signs and the complexity of the disorder.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the properties of the municipalities in Sweden that influence the choice of being a certified Fairtrade city. The independent variables which are used in the statistical analysis are municipal governance, local tax rate, whether there is an university and/or university college in the municipality, average income and higher education in the municipality. The variables are examined by logistic regression. Since there are no statistical data on ethical procurement, this exogenous variable isn?t included in the regression.

A growing population together with a change in food habits to a more diverse diet containing more animal products such as meat and milk makes the possibility to produce and sell products of cattle a growing market. And at the same time there is an ongoing debate about global warming, where raising cattle is questioned due to their high production of enteric methane. To be able to raise animals in a more environmental friendly way and at the same time improve productivity in a developing country such as Vietnam would be favorable. The use of feed additives with high electron affinity could decrease the methane production and at the same time improve the gross energy digested. Nitrate and Sulfur are both good electron acceptors, but due to its toxic effects the use of nitrate in feed has been neglected.

Background: During extreme market conditions like the period during fall 2008 the discussion of what affects company value becomes apparent. The capital structure is the relation between borrowed capital and equity in a company´s financing mix. What impact changes in capital structure have on company value is a widely debated subject within the theory of finance. If a relationship between capital structure and company value exists the implication is that an optimal capital structure where company value is maximized also exists.Aim: The aim of the thesis is to study whether a certain relationship between capital structure and company value exists among selected stocks and companies listed on Stockholmsbörsens OMXS30.Implementation: With aim to fulfill the purpose of the thesis regression analysis has been performed among chosen stocks and companies. The empirical results eventuating from this have been analyzed from the view of elected relevant theory.Completion and results: We find that during normal market conditions a positive relationship between debt ratio and enterprise value (EV) can be established.

Over the past 40 years 600 000 ha of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia (Engelm.) Critchf.) has been planted in Sweden (280 000 ha on SCA's forest land alone which represents about 15% of the company's total forest land area). In the early 70's SCA situated a number of experimental stands in order to investigate different aspects of the exotic tree, primarily growth rate. To be able to compare the two species plots with scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), this species was also planted at the same time and under the same conditions. A number of questions should always be raised when exotic species are introduced in an ecosystem. Invasiveness, the pathogen situation and purely ethical issues should be discussed.