The purpose of this essay is to describe how Boverkets Byggregler has affected the cost ofnewly built houses from 2003 to 2012, to Boverkets Vision 2025. The purpose is also to findagent-principal relations in the construction sector.When investing in an energy efficient house the operating costs are reduced compared to aconventional house. But due to the lower operating costs, the investment cost rises. In thisstudy, we find out if it is economically viable to invest in an energy efficient house comparedto a conventional house from the customer's perspective.The study's approach has been qualitatively where we in collaboration with Derome Hus hadaccess to three conventional reference houses and a passive house and data that was necessaryto conduct viability assessments on houses. We conducted five interviews with people fromDeromekoncernen and Varbergs kommun.The calculation methods we have used in this study are present value method, annuity methodand a sensitivity analysis.

Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalities (MCOA) is a genetic disease that affects primarily Silver coloured horses of breeds such as the Rocky and Kentucky mountain horses. In these breeds the Silver dapple colour is very popular leading to an increase of affected horses. The major feature of the disease is ocular cysts of variable size. Large cysts also lead to a variety of secondary syndromes, for example retinal detachment. In previous studies the locus for MCOA has been mapped to an interval of 420 kb on equine chromosome six.

In Sweden, selection for leanness in pigs has been going on for almost a century. This sometimes results in gilts and sows being too lean and consequently in a risk for reduced reproduction and health status. The Swedish recommendation includes that gilts should be mated after seven months of age, after one documented oestrus, at 120-140kg live weight and with a backfat thickness of 16-20mm. Five gilt producing herds were visited and records of age, heart girth (for weight estimation), body condition (visual estimation), backfat thickness and exterior were made. The same records were also taken in four gilt buying herds on newly purchased gilts.

Native spider silk is an attractive lightweight natural polymeric material with a unique combination of strength, extendibility and flexibility. Synthetic, recombinant spider silk is an attractive biomaterial with several possible fields of application. When a foreign material is introduced to blood, this can for example cause unwanted coagulation and complement activation. The aim of this study was to investigate if coatings of heparin or albumin could improve the blood compatibility of films of recombinant spider silk and to develop an initial method to do so. Hypothetically, objects like pacemakers, stents and dental implants could be covered with spider silk films of high blood compatibility to reduce potentially harmful foreign body reactions caused by the immune defense. Increased blood compatibility would likely lead to improvements for both the individual patients and the society thanks to reduced load on healthcare institutions. Our objective was to assess the blood compatibility of both functionalized and non-functionalized recombinant spider silk by evaluating coagulation and activation of the complement system of the immune defense. Coagulation was evaluated visually on glass slides and complement activation was analyzed by measuring the concentration of the complement system mediator C3a in blood samples that had been exposed to the different materials. This study introduces a non-toxic and easy performed method of improving the blood compatibility of recombinant spider silk films by adding a heparin coating. Heparin coated surfaces had statistically significantly higher blood compatibility than uncoated surfaces. The effects of albumin coating of films were less clear compared to the results of heparin coated films. Complement activation could not be evaluated because of high activation in all samples prior contact with the materials that were included in the study..

BillerudKorsnäs is a leading global provider of primary fiber-based packaging materials and on Gruvöns Bruk in Grums, they have chosen to invest millions in the boiler at the facility to increase the total capacity of the factory. This results in the Pulp Flash Dryer at Gruvön being burden more, which makes it important that it is of great reliability and can be run with a high capacity. The reliability of the Pulp Flash Dryer at Gruvön is not as good as one could hope, which leads to reduced availability and production, as well as to increased maintenance costs. There are a number of different reasons for this, but all the casual links are not known.The purpose of this project was to perform a system analysis of the Pulp Flash Dryer to identify bottlenecks and the most critical parts from a capacity- and availability perspective. Appropriate methodology for the system analysis was used and would be used in a structured way to perform the analysis with data from the process and the maintenance system.

This thesis of 15 hp has been implemented at Halmstad University, incollaboration with Saab Dynamics in Linköping. Saab Dynamics is a companyoperating in the defence industry where competition is tough. This necessitatesnew ways to increase efficiency in the company, which is the basis for this thesis.Saab Dynamics wants to introduce simulation driven design. Since SaabDynamics engineers have little experience of simulation, required a usermethodology with clear guidelines. Due to lack of time, they chose to assign thetask to students, which resulted in this thesis.The aim of the thesis is to develop a methodology in mechanical design, wherethe designer uses the FE analysis early in the design process to develop thestructures' mechanical properties.

When the independent upper secondary schools were started in 1992, it meant a change in the competitive relationship for the local upper secondary schools. A reduced number of students during some years ahead, while the number of independent upper secondary schools increase will probably result in tougher competition between upper secondary schools.The purpose of this study is to review and compare financial and performance management between a public and an independent upper secondary school. The dissertation will focus on the now existing competitive relationship between the two types of upper secondary schools.The theory underlying the study is Porter's model - five competitive forces. The model is applied to the local upper secondary school and used to identify competitive factors affecting upper secondary schools. The study is using a qualitative approach with five interviews at two upper secondary schools, one independent and one public, located in the same town.The comparison of financial and operational management of upper secondary schools indicate that the differences are not as great as we first imagined, but that there still are some differences.

Most of the city of Uppsala rests on postglacial clay with a varying content of sulphur. The sulphur occurs naturally in the clay in reduced form as sulphide and the clay is for that reason usually called ?sulphide clay?. Excavation during construction activities gives rise to large amounts of excavation material, of which the sulphide clay is a considerable part.When the clay is exposed to air and water, an oxidation of the sulphides occurs which may produce an acid leachate and the mobilisation of heavy metals bound in the clay or underlying material. The aim of the work has been to improve our understanding of the behaviour of sulphide clays and produce a basis for risk assessment in the future handling of excavation material with high sulphide content.

Background: The demand for sending letters, in the traditional aspect, has decreased because of electronic sources which have replaced a big part of letter communication. The Postal Service constantly strives for lowering costs and due to the changeable demand, a greater awareness is required regarding recourses and their usage. The previously mentioned measures in combination with commonly occurring quality issues during the collective process at the letter terminal in Alvesta would be improved by applying a lean-perspective to the process. A first step towards saving of time is to apply the ?value stream mapping?-method on the collective process for small and large letters.Purpose: To map the process of collection for small and large letters to be able to identify waste of recourses and furthermore give suggestions on how the Postal Service would be able to reduce the waste of recourses identified.

This thesis of 15 hp has been implemented at Halmstad University, in collaboration with Saab Dynamics in Linköping. Saab Dynamics is a company operating in the defence industry where competition is tough. This necessitates new ways to increase efficiency in the company, which is the basis for this thesis. Saab Dynamics wants to introduce simulation driven design. Since Saab Dynamics engineers have little experience of simulation, required a user methodology with clear guidelines.

GPS (Global Positioning system) and GIS (Geographical information system) has been used for planning and inventory in the forest sector for more than ten years. The last years the development has come to equip harvesters and forwarders with GPS and GIS (GIT). The goal with this study was to reach a basis for decision, how Stora Enso Skog should continue its investment in GPS and GIS in harvesters and forwarders. To reach this basis for decision, possible advantages and benefits, disadvantages and problems in the harvesting process was evaluated. The study was made as an interview study with four harvesting managers and ten machine teams. To secure the quality of the results an interview questionnaire was made before the interviews were done. The results showed that GIT will make the harvesting managers work easier.

Abstract? Background: ?Breast?cancer is the?most?common cancer for?women,?with?over 8000?of?cancer?cases?per?year.?Surgery?is the?most?common form?of?treatment. Basis?of?illness?and?the?loss?of?a?breast?can?be a?big?trauma for the?individual?and?affect?many?aspects.?Aim: The?aim?of?this?study?was?to?investigate?health-related?quality?of?life?and?psychosocial?situation and the?need?for support and?care?for?women?who?undergone?a?mastectomy?with?or?without?reconstruction.?Method: The?study?design?was?a?descriptive?study?with?qualitative?approach.?The?selection?was?strategically?consisting?of?the?eight?women?from?five?cities?which?had?undergone?mastectomy?with?or?without?reconstruction. The?interviews?were?semi-structured?individual?that?analyzed?using? content?analysis.?Results:All?of?the?women?felt?that?the?body?changed?after?the?mastectomy.? Feelings?of?insecurity?and?discomfort?were?common.?Among?those?who?underwent?reconstruction?were?all?dissatisfied?with?the?results.

The purpose of this Master Thesis has been to investigate the possibilities for a new type of noise reduction solution that could decrease the negative effects resulting from larger traffic roads. The idea has been to construct a noise barrier with a roof ? like a tunnel placed on a road. The choice of material has been focused on transparent materials in order to lower visual intrusion and barrier effects. This project idea is called the Noise tunnel.After having investigated the current offer of noise solutions, it has been concluded that these solutions rarely provide a sufficient level of noise reduction ? at least not when government regulations of acceptable noise levels are applied.

During the last year in the Innovation Engineering Program, at Halmstad University, a degree project was performed that was carried out during Fall semester in 2006 and Spring semester 2007. The project was performed by two students in corporation with LIC Audio AB, a company in Stockholm. The degree project was meant to result in a communication aid for people with a cognitive handicap. The project focused on people suffering from dementia because of the expressed need within this group. This aid should first and foremost help in a conversation between a person with dementia and another person, like a relative or nursing home staff.

The borehole heat exchangers of today suffer from poor thermal and hydrodynamic performance. The purpose of this thesis is to improve the performance of ground source heat pump systems and thermal energy storages by increasing the energy efficiency of the borehole heat exchangers. For this reason, the annular coaxial borehole heat exchanger (CBHE) has been analyzed. This type of heat exchanger is interesting in terms of both thermal and hydrodynamic performance. A model has been set up in the program Comsol Multiphysics in order to investigate the heat transfer characteristics along the borehole.