In Sweden live badgers are used in tests in order to train and prepare earth dogs for hunting underneath ground. This has for several years causeddebate concerning the welfare of the badgers. It is questioned whether the purpose of the dog training, i.e. to reduce injuries in both dogs and prey, is worth the suffering that is reflected on the badgers. The aim of this investigation was to study 1) stress levels in badgers when used in earth dog training, 2) if the stress load differs when the badgers are exposed to dogs with varying aggression levels (low, moderate, high).

Master thesis work at ITN (Department of Science and Technology) in the areas of A/D-construction and RF-circuit design. Major goal of project were to research suitable possibilities for implementations of direct conversion in transceivers operating in the 160MHz band, theoretic study followed by development of components in the construction environment Cadence. Suitable A/D- converter and other important parts were selected at the end of the theoretic study. Subsampling technique was applied to make A/D sample requirements more realistic to achieve. Besides lowering requirements on A/D-converter it allows a more simple construction, which saves more components than subsampling adds.

Luftvägssjukdomar är ett av de vanligaste hälsoproblemen hos kalvar och utgör en betydande kostnad för branschen. Luftvägssjukdomar är komplexa till sin natur och uppkommer endast då en kombination av faktorer som inkluderar djuret, miljön och infektiösa agens förekom-mer. Ofta är den primära patogenen ett virus och den påföljande lunginflammationen orsakas av bakterier. Ett bidragande virus, BVDV, har genom ett frivilligt kontrollprogram utrotats i Norden och det finns potential att utrota även BRSV. Genom en ökad förståelse för biosäker-het och hur ventilation av mikromiljöer, gruppstorlek och ålderssammansättning påverkar smittrycket och luftvägshälsan hos kalvar kan byggnader och management-rutiner som mini-merar risken för respiratoriska sjukdomar utformas..

Almost for as long as there has been breeding on bovine species, there has been a wish to have a higher proportion of offspring of either one or the other gender. In dairy cattle, heifers are more valuable, while in beef stock bulls are preferred. Semen is sorted based on the difference in DNA content between the X- and Y-chromosome in the genome of the sperm. X-chromosomes contain on average between 3,70 to 4,22% more genetic material than the Y-chromosome. Commercially it is the method of flow cytometry that is being used, which is always under improvement.

Background: Companies often invest in foreign subsidiaries and that gives rise to translation exposure. Translation exposure arises with the consolidation of the foreign subsidiary and depends on the rate of exchange that are used for translation of the foreign subsidiary. In time several different methods of translation and recommendations has been developed. Companies listed on OM Stockholmsbörsen shall follow RR8. According to RR8 a classification of foreign subsidiaries as indipendent or integral to the parent company determines which method of translation that should be used.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a deeper understanding about the acceptance of wind power. Our basic assumption is that local conditions are important and can explain how the acceptance of change at different stages of establishment. The main purpose is to see if there are differences in the acceptance of wind power in different stages, and examine the factors that influence acceptance. That includes how people in three different areas of study estimates that they value their environment and how it is affected by wind turbines. The project was conducted interdisciplinary geo-targeted and consists of three parts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the intraoperative surgical stress response in dogs undergoing ovariohysterectomy and to compare acepromazine and medetomidine as premedications. 15 dogs diagnosed with pyometra were used in this study. Blood pressure and heart rate were used as parameters to measure surgical stress response. The surgery was divided into four phases. Phase 0 was the period 10 minutes before the skin incision, phase 1 was skin incision and opening of abdomen, phase 2 was manipulation of uterine horns, ligation and transection of mesovarium and phase 3 was ligation of cervix, removal of organs and closing the abdomen. The results showed that phase 2 was the most intense phase of surgical stress, regardless of which premedication the dogs received. When acepromazine and medetomidine were compared the results showed that within phase 3, all dogs that were given medetomidine had higher blood pressure compared to dogs that were given acepromazine. The dogs that were given acepromazine had higher heart rate than the dogs that were given medetomidine in phase 0, phase 2 and phase 3. .

Field balances based on supply and removal of trace elements from the topsoil have been calculatedfor farms specialized in crop, dairy and pig production in Sweden. Today's field balances have beencompared with the field balances of 1990 in order to examine if, and then how, the situation haschanged. Studied trace elements are arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu),mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn).The balance calculations show that the stores of Cu and Zn are depleted with an average rate of -15% and -6 % over a 100-years period on crop farms when only commercial fertilizers are being used.The concentrations of Hg and Pb tend to increase in the topsoil on crop farms with more than 3 % forHg and with 2 % for Pb in 100 years. There is today balance between supply and removal of the traceelements As, Cd, Cr, Mn and Ni. In the south of Sweden, on crop farms with sugar beets in the croprotation, one can see a decrease in the concentration of Cd in the top soil by -6 % over a period of100 years.

The Swedish building contractor JMRegion Öst would like to to investigatethe possibilities of developing andstreamlining the production of singlefamilyhouses. JM are producing singlefamilyhouses with prefabricated framesat a rate of about two houses per week.During construction, the different tasksare performed by JM?s own productionstaff but also by varioussubcontractors.When examining the schedules of recentlyproduced projects, it appears that allthe houses are more or less completedeight weeks before the customer moves into the house. During those eight weeksseveral operations are conducted such asinspections, installation of appliancesand cleaning procedures. The inspectionperiod constitutes between 25 and 35% ofthe complete construction period.By conducting interviews, it has beendiscovered that this final phase is anessential security buffer for delays anderrors that often occur.

Transportation of pigs might be a welfare problem. Stress during and after transportation can negatively affect the meat quality or cause carcass damages, which leads to major economic losses every year. The transportation chain can be divided into several stages; loading, transport and unloading. This literature review focuses on unloading of pigs from a transport. When arriving at an abattoir pigs can be fatigued and need to be as smoothly unloaded as possible.

Transportation of pigs might be a welfare problem. Stress during and after transportation can negatively affect the meat quality or cause carcass damages, which leads to major economic losses every year. The transportation chain can be divided into several stages; loading, transport and unloading. This literature review focuses on unloading of pigs from a transport. When arriving at an abattoir pigs can be fatigued and need to be as smoothly unloaded as possible.

Pyometra is a common and life threatening disease of intact bitches. The disease is caused by a hormonal influence on the uterus in combination with a bacterial infection. The most common treatment is ovariohysterectomy, but several medical options are available to maintain fertility or avoid surgery and anaesthesia. Drugs that can be used for medical treatment are for example progesterone-receptor antagonists, prostaglandins and dopamine agonist. The present study focused on treatment with the progesterone-receptor antagonistaglepristone in combination with antimicrobial therapy.

Crypreservation of oocytes is recently being considered to be a valid choice in infertility treatments.Low survival and fertilization rates due to inefficient slow freeze protocols have been the outcome ofmany previous studies done in the field. However, introduction of the vitrification technique and itsapplication in reproductive medicine and to some extent new improved slow freeze protocols haveshown that oocytes can be cryopreserved with successful outcome.In this project the survival rate of oocytes after vitrification with MediCult Vitrification andWarming Media has been studied. Also, a comparison of the carriers Cryoloop (an open system) andCryopette (a closed system) has been performed.A total of 43 oocytes were vitrified and warmed according to MediCult's protocol, of which 21oocytes with Cryoloop and 22 with Cryopette. The cells were post-thaw incubated in a physiologicalenvironment for 24h. During that time the morphology and viability were observed and noted after 2h,over night and after 24h.

Since 1996 the Swedish households have ten folded their volume of loans for own homes that is attached to a floating interest rate. Also in 1996 the Swedish electric market was deregulated. These two facts have increased the volatility in the household expenses for these two commodities. This thesis studies the risk for homeowners attached to the exposure against the electric and the credit market. The risk model used is Cost-at-Risk which is usually used by public authorities for analysing the risk involved with national debt.

Knowledge in reproduction in the Swedish lynx (Lynx lynx) is important forseveral reasons. Situated on top of the food chain, lynxes may be at risk of beingexposed to environmental toxins that could have adverse effect on reproduction.The population of lynxes is today managed by restricted hunting which demandsknowledge about both the lynxes numbers and their reproduction. In addition,lynxes may function as indicators of climate change for instance if their season ofheat would be earlier or prolonged due to a warmer climate. Today?s knowledgein reproduction in Swedish lynx is mainly based on information gathered fromradio collared animals.