Establishing a reference interval for plasma fibrinogen in foals Fibrinogen concentrations were analysed in EDTA preserved blood plasma samples from 34 thoroughbred foals born in 2001 and 2002 at one stud farm. The foals were between 0 and 240 days old at the time of the sampling, and there were 19 fillies and 12 stallions in the group. The foals were examined for clinical symptoms of disease and their body temperature was measured before blood was sampled from the jugular vein. From totally 156 blood samples, 31 were selected as originating from clinically healthy foals, and used to determine a reference range for thoroughbred foals. Samples originating from foals showing clinical symptoms of disease or an abnormal body temperature at the time of sampling, were classified as coming from unhealthy animals.

Cycling is one of the most sustainable transport modes available and it is widely promoted inmany urban areas. The health benefits from cycling has shown to be substantial, includingdecreased risks of diseases related to overweight and enhancing brain capacity. However, inurban areas cyclists can temporaly be exposed to high levels of air pollution, resulting inhealth risks as opposed to health benefits.The objective of this thesis is to develop a rasterbased test model in GIS that estimates theinhaled dose of air pollution for cyclists based on relative particle concentration in differenttransportation micro-environments. The method used is a least-cost path approach,calculating three different routes; shortest, fastest and least dose for four different trips withinSödermalm, Stockholm.The results show that the inhaled particle dose can be greatly reduced, 39% - 58% for three ofthe routes, by choosing the least dose route. One of the most interesting findings is thesubstantial increase of dose when high levels of particles are combined with uphill cycling.The conclusion for the thesis is that a raster-GIS model can be very useful for estimating doseof different air pollution particles and chemicals along cycling routes.

This thesis examines the European Union's sanctions policy regarding human rights and interdependence. Previous research has discussed whether sanctions are effective or result in desirable outcomes. This paper aims to take a step back and understand motives by analyzing consistency in the EU?s decisions to impose sanctions. The question is relevant because formal justification can be used to cloak actual motives, and by examining actual decisions, the analyses shed light on motives.

Mosquitoes are found in extremely large numbers in the lower parts of the River Dalälven. In the year 2000 the mosquito nuisance was especially high, resulting in foundation of the Biological mosquito control project. Since 2001 mosquito larvae are controlled by using a biological pesticide BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis ssp israelensis). The mosquito fauna in the area is dominated by flood water mosquitoes, a group of mosquitoes that are very aggressive and form new generations of mosquitoes during every single flooding event during the summer. To be able to efficiently control the mosquitoes it is essential to know the extension and locality of the flooding.

The aim of this master thesis is to evaluate the performance of the content-based image retrieval system ImBrowse from a semantic point of view. Evaluation of retrieval performance is a problem in content-based image retrieval (CBIR). There are many different methods for measuring the performance of content-based image retrieval systems, but no common way for performing the evaluation. The main focus is on image retrieval regarding the extraction of the visual features in the image, from three semantic levels. The thesis tries to elucidate the semantic gap, which is the problem when the systems extraction of the visual features from the image and the user?s interpretation of that same information do not correspond.

The organized and controlled form of collecting consumption taxes and toll from the import and export trade goes back to the 17th century in Sweden. The customs administration and procedure were regulated by royal announcements, and the majority of the documents found in the customs archives represent thus records stipulated by such notifications. The customs archives can be used for research on several levels; the announcements reflect currents within both the domestic and foreign politics, while the account lists for financial statistics portray the extent of the trade. The various lists of compilation can be further used to follow for instance the development of different units of measurement, the expansion of tax rates, the value of trade goods or the changes in monetary units or systems. The diaries, architectural plans of the customs offices and maps of the toll areas place the customs officials and their work within the local scenery.The thesis focuses on archives deriving from customs located at harbors and on the Swedish-Norwegian border in the county of Dalarna.

The price trend on rapeseed the latest years has led to an increasing interest to grow the crop among many farmers in Sweden. The price trend has resulted in more than a doubling of the oilseed area since the early 2000s. For many farmers it is an advantage to increase cultivation of rapeseed because of the high proportion of cereals in the crop rotation on many farms, but it is not just benefits. The risk of the fields being infected by clubroot increases within frequent rapeseed cultivation and it often leads to subtantial economic losses. Clubroot is caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae that is a soilborne pathogen in genus Protozoa and its resting spores can be found in the soil for up to 18 years.

Almost all Swedes today have access to the Internet, if not through the home then via the library or work. Despite this, around 20% of the population stand outside the information society in that they lack in knowledge, assistive usability tools or positive attitude towards technology and its influence on society. The main factors influencing the digital divide in today's society are age, disability and education, while the main reason for staying outside seems to be disinterest.The question about digital inclusion is important as we now stand on the breaking-point between a society where the industry has had a prominent position for private as well as national economy and a digital society where access to the Internet is no longer about prestige, but where significant differences between users' knowledge levels can create a power gap. Gaps in access and use not only reflects already existing socio-economic conditions, but can also maintain and enhance these.It is crucial for the future expansion of Internet usage how today's non-users feel about becoming users. To understand what underlies the motivations not to use computers is one of the keys to get non-users to embrace becoming users.

The main interest of this study was to investigate whether there is hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia in cows suffering from abomasal displacement and to evaluate the effect of transport on blood glucose. Thirty-six cows with left- or right-sided abomasal displacement were included in the study together with 17 cows with other diseases for comparison. Fifteen cows with abomasal displacement and 7 cows with other diseases were sampled before transport. One third of the cows with abomasal displacement had hyperglycemia when the transport effects were corrected for. Separating this group in left- and right-sided abomasal displacement we found significantly higher blood glucose and insulin levels among cows with right-sided abomasal displacement. An explanation for this difference may be a strong stress response secondary to the right-sided dislocation.

The purpose of this study is to examine web-based recruitment to short term summer jobs at the SocialServices Department in Luleå municipality in Sweden. Recruitment goals, selection options on therecruitment homepage Offentliga Jobb and recruitment practices were analysed in order to reach a deeperunderstanding of the interactions between these three levels in the selection process. Pre-selection throughOffentliga Jobb was a special concern of the study. Different consciousness levels in the selection process areemphasised according to Anthony Giddens' structuration theory. Ten recruiters from different parts of thedepartment were interviewed.

This study is grounded in an interest in the Swedish Upper Secondary Schools? role as an educator of democratic citizens, with a specific interest in the moral and cognitive development of Upper Secondary School students. Development in these two areas is treated as results of citizenship education.The purpose of the study is to examine moral and cognitive development of students in Upper Secondary School to see if there are any structural differences to be found between the Upper Secondary School programs that are vocationally oriented and the programs that are preparing for further studies on higher levels ? since these differences have been both theoretically and empirically implied. The study is based on an enhanced version of Lawrence Kohlberg?s stages of moral development (with teachers? evaluations of students? capacity as a reference point of the students? actual level of moral development) as well as on Kieran Egan?s theory of development through the use of cognitive tools (as seen in five different ?shapes of understanding?).

Previous studies have shown that economic sanctions have adverse effects on the level of human rights in sanctioned countries. The focus of research on the effects in sanctioned countries has left the question of whether economic sanctions can have a regional effect on human rights levels in countries not sanctioned in the same region. Therefore, this essay has sought to investigate if economic sanctions aimed at an individual state have a regional effect on the level of human rights in countries not sanctioned within the same region. A previous study found that economic sanctions in Latin America positively affected the level of human rights in non-sanctioned countries within the same region. This essay has examined whether the same result can be found in a region with a different level of democracy.

This thesis is concerned with investigating the Roma, a group that is left out in most of the territory bound theories. The theoretical purposes are to develop theories that increase the understanding for the Roma as a diasporic nation without state and the advocacy networks they are organised in. The main empirical purpose has been to study two organisations as cases and how they position themselves against the European Union concerning identity politics. The two organisations are European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and Dzeno. They are a part of the same network that works on different levels with the rights of Roma.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that idealised body images found in media have on the body-image and wellbeing of young men and women. The study was carried out using questionnaires based on the BAQ and HAD scales to examine the participants' views of themselves as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression. Time spent by the participants using different kinds of media, as well as their degree of social support, was used with the purpose of examining relations and differences in body-image between men and women. The questionnaire contained advertising images to examine whether short time exposure had any impact on the participants. In order to determine this, one half of the questionnaires contained idealised body-images, whilst the other half contained images without human objects.

The climate affects animal populations through several processes. These processes includereproduction, phenology and the success of hunting. By influencing the phenology of species theclimate also affects the way species interact. If a climate-induced phenology change promotes abasal species to bud earlier in the spring for example, this will affect the links to other species inthe food web due to a time lag in the tropic levels above. This dependence, that a predator has tobeing synchronous to its prey, is called the match/mismatch hypothesis (MMH).