During the last 50 years the production of milk per cow has increased. This has, however, been followed by a decreased reproductive performance. Shorter and more indistinct signs of oestrus make it harder for the Swedish farmers to discover when the cows are in oestrus. There is a need for ways to control reproduction. The use of pheromones could possibly provide means to satisfy this need.

Background: The Swedish population is aging [1] and malnutrition is a common problem among elderly people [2]. A method called food registration is used to monitor the patients? nutritional intake, with the purpose of reducing the risk of patients deteriorating in nutritional status during hospitalisation. However, the current method is not satisfactory and many food registration lists are incomplete. [3-6] Thus, patients do not receive a qualitative nutritional care since the assessment of the patients? nutritional status is based on incomplete documentation.Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to increase the quality in the nutrition monitoring process in the geriatric units B72 and B74 at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge, Sweden.

Feed intake in dairy cows is regulated by a variety of factors influencing hunger and satiety. One of the regulation systems includes the short chain fatty acids produced during feed degradation in the rumen. Starch can be digested either in the rumen where short chain fatty acids are produced or in the small intestine where glucose is the end product. Since glucose does not have the same effect on satiety that short chain fatty acids have, the site of starch digestion might be an important factor that affects feed intake and milk production. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of site of starch digestion on feeding behaviour (feed intake, consumption time, and eating frequency) and milk production. Because feeding behaviour is closely connected to the cows? environment, the study also included observations of behaviour. Three different feed rations were compared.

Dressage schooling is not a subject that rests on science, it is a matter of dependable experience. So far there hasn?t been so much research about it, but more and more is done. Especially the interaction between rider and horse is a nearly uninvestigated field. Riding skills is much about having the right position, and having the horses head and neck in different positions, but there are no research done that support or deny that this old ?knowledge? is for the best for the horse. This study was performed to evaluate if the head and neck position of the horse, and the velocity, has any influence on the position of the rider.

Difficult calvings and stillbirths are problems in Swedish dairy production that result in large expenses for the farmers and welfare issues concerning the animals. A common opinion is that the live weight of SRB and SLB is increasing, and whether increased weights have caused the increase in calving problems has been discussed. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the relative birth weight (calf/cow) and calving difficulty and stillbirth, respectively. The importance of breed and parity for the relative weight has been investigated, and comparisons with previous studies have been made to evaluate whether the relative weight has changed over the last decades or not. The study was based on 807 calvings, Registered during the period 1993-2003 in the experimental dairy herd of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Jälla).

Milk fat is an important feature in many different milk products and other foodstuffs and it is often crucial for the dairy plants that the milk fat is stable for different manufacturing processes. Lipolysis is the enzymatic degradation of fat and is the one of the causes for an elevated amount of free fatty acids (FFA) in milk. Further, the change in fatty acid (FA) composition in milk can affect the stability of the product and also the manufacturing process. Both internal and external factors, at farm level or at the dairy plants can affect both FA composition and content of FFA. Milking frequency (MF=number of milkings per cow and day) and the composition of feed are two examples of factors generally performed at farm level. The objective of the present study was to evaluate how FA composition of milk and amount of FFA are influenced by two different ingredients supplemented to concentrate.

A shorter dry period length has in studies abroad showed some positive effects among high yielding dairy cows. Among other things it has been suggested that the periparturient metabolic stress becomes lower, that the fertility is improved and dry off becomes gentler for the udder, due to a lower milk yield. The milk yield is generally reduced during the first period after calving, especially among primiparous cows. The aim of this master thesis was to investigate how Swedish cows were affected by a shortened dry period, regarding milk yield, metabolism, health, body condition and body weight from two months before calving to some weeks after calving. Also plasma concentration of lactose during the period before calving was determined.

This study is a value chain analysis for timber in East Africa. It was commissioned by Vi Agroforestry, a nongovernmental organisation Registered in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania engaged in a rural development program that involves promoting tree planting and enterprise development (Vi Agroforestry, 2012). The purpose of the study was to identify and describe common value chains for timber in the countries where Vi Agroforestry operated. Value chain is a concept and a framework describing how to structure information regarding activities included in satisfying a certain customer need, e.g. procurement, logistics, transactions, production and marketing.

Both serum creatinine and measuring GFR can be used to evaluate renal function in dogs suspected to have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although high creatinine levels usually indicate renal disease, normal creatinine levels can be present in dogs with decreased renal filtration. Measuring GFR is generally believed to be the most accurate way of detecting decreased renal filtration and scintigraphy GFR using 99mTc-DTPA has been found to correlate well with the ?gold standard? inulin clearance method.When measuring GFR by scintigraphy, 99mTc-DTPA is injected intravenously and radioactive decay of technetium gives rise to gamma radiation, which is Registered by a gamma camera. Pictures and curves of radioactivity in the kidneys are generated by means of a computer program.

The purpose with this study was to analyze the possibilities to produce organic lambs and to hihglight the most common difficulties in such a production system. A description of current organic and conventional lamb production systems was conducted, both from Sweden and from some other countries. The Department of Animal Environment and Health at SLU in Skara performed the project together with The County Board of Agriculture in Västra Götaland and Värmland and The Swedish Animal Health Service. The project lasted from 2002 to 2004. The student report contains the years 2002 and 2003. In the year of 2003 there were 210 000 adult sheep in Sweden, of which 16 400 adult sheep were certified by KRAV. Of the different countries in Sweden, Västra Götaland and Gotland had the largest number of sheep, 14 and 13 per cent of the total number.

Mastitis is an important disease in dairy cattle. It is very costly for the farmers and affects a large number of animals. Few studies have been made investigating the outcome of treatment for acute clinical mastitis under Swedish conditions, and it can be problematic to use the results in foreign studies since both the microbial flora as well as treatments may be different from the situation in Sweden. In this project we have investigated data on clinical mastitis and antibiotic treatment in the dairy herd at Jällaskolan, Uppsala based on recordings during the last ten years. The material includes both Swedish Red (SRB) and Swedish Holstein (SLB) breeds, which have been kept at the farm under similar conditions.

Developments in milk production are heading towards fewer but larger herds where the milking process is often fully automated. Automatic milking systems were launched in the 1990?s and in the year 2010 the Automatic Milking Rotary (AMR) was introduced. As a rule there are no supervision personnel present during the milking event in systems with automatic milking. This means that there is a risk that cows can be incompletely milked in one or more udder quarters, for example if the robots fail in attaching the milking cups or if the cow kicks off the milking unit.

AbstractIntroduction: Hand Arm Risk Assessment Method (HARM) is a tool to assess the risks of deve­lo­ping complaints of the arm, neck or shoulders during manual work. The method was developed in the Netherlands primarily for employers, but is also used as an aid to work environment in­spec­tors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the HARM-method for assessment of biomecha­nical exposure of the upper limbs when performing manual tasks as well as its suitability to be used within work environment inspection. Methods: Ten labour inspectors conducted assessments of five video-recorded work tasks. Assess­ments made with HARM were compared with those made with the Assessment of Re­pe­titive Tasks (ART) tool and with ACGIH Hand Actvity Level (HAL) - both methods for assess­ment of bio­mecha­nical exposure of the upper limbs - and with the model for the assessment of re­pe­titive work in the pro­visions of the Swedish Work Environ­ment Autho­rity on ergonomics for the prevention of mus­culo­skeletal disorders, AFS 1998:1.

The aims of the silvicultural method natural regeneration of spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) in birch (Betula pendula and pubescens) shelterwoods are to establish a new stand of tree seedl-ings and to protect those from high groundwater levels, frost damages and grass competition during its first life years. The aim of this work has been to (i) describe how shelterwood and stand characteristics influ-ence the results from using natural regeneration of spruce protected by a shelterwood of birch, and to (ii) compare those regeneration results with planting of spruce after soil scarification in clear-cut areas. Totally 17 harvesting sites have been inventoried and 15 of those included natural regenera-tion in birch shelterwoods, and two were subjects to soil scarification and planting of spruce. The sites represented 7-10 year old final cuts and are located in the coastal (eastern) region of the province of Norrbotten in Sweden. In all areas shelterwood and stand characteristics, as well as the number of main crop seedlings and the height of the highest main crop spruce seedling, were estimated and Registered in all areas.

Sammanfattning: SAAB Communication i Linköping sysslar med konsultverksamhet mot ett flertal nationella och internationella företag inom både den civila och militära sektorn. Fokus ligger på flyget med uppdrag inom telesystem, radiosystem, signaturanpassning, EMC, atmosfärisk påverkan mm. I det sistnämnda ingår även kosmisk strålnings inverkan på elektronik. Den fortsatta miniatyriseringen av elektronik, speciellt minneselektronik leder till ökad känslighet mot den kosmiska partikelstrålningen som ständigt regnar ner på jorden, därför är det extra noga att minnen testas innan de sätts i bruk vid flygburna system. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att konstruera en provplattform som registrerar fel som uppkommer i ett DDR2 SDRAM minne vid påverkan av den ovannämnda strålningen.