The primary goal of this study was to investigate how the radial growth of retained trees responds after thinning-from-above. The National Board of Forestry which initiated this study, was interested in whether there were differences in the growth-response between the tree species Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Another question of issue was if there were differences in the growth response between trees of different sizes. It is within the framework of the National Board of Forestry?s, Continuous Forests Project that these urgent questions are to be answered.

To be able to protect themselves from credit risk, the banks must constantly check the performance of  the companies they have lent money to. There are many mathematical models for predicting financial distress. These models use accounting-based ratios, which often are historical and not representative for the present situation. This study describes how the banks do in practice to find signals of insolvency in time and the variables they are observing for doing that.In addition to financial reports which the company sends in to the bank at least once a year, also the relationship between them and information from different information  agencies are of great importance to track  signals of insolvency. Poor profitability is the primary cause of insolvency.

The aim with my study is to highlight, illuminate and examine the social and maternal health care motivational work of pregnant women with a risk or abuse of alcohol and / or drugs, and what actions can be considered for these women. In addition, the aim is to explore how social services and maternity care might interact in this type of case. The aim is to convey the subjective experience of each of the interviewees. For the purposes of this study, I have chosen to use the qualitative research method. I have interviewed social workers in individual and family care, and midwives.

The conservation of great apes faces many challenges, one of which is the threat of infectious disease outbreaks. Zoonotic transmission of respiratory diseases from humans to wild great apes has recently been confirmed. Since respiratory disease is one of the major causes of death in both gorillas and chimpanzees, this gives reason for major concern. Little is known about the risks of disease transmission from humans to great apes in natural environments, and there is a need for systematic risk evaluation. Researchers, conservation staff and tourists spend time in very close proximity of wild great apes, sometimes during long time periods, which poses a potential risk of disease spillover. However, the presence of researchers and tourists has been shown to decrease the risk of poaching, making the matter increasingly complex.

This report summarize what have been done during the Master of Science Thesis that Klas Schjelderup has written for the company RANOTOR Utvecklings AB. The company is developing modern steam engines and this work should develop a machine to perform tests on a new type of piston seal that hopefully could be used in the future. The steam engines will be both volumetric and energy compact, around 1600hp/literof cylinder volume, and it will have a lot of practical applications.The new type of piston seal is hydrostatic lubricated which means that a fluid is separating two faces that normally is in contact. In this case pressurized water is used to separate the piston seal from the cylinder wall. RANOTOR have earlier formulated that at least the expander in the modern steam engine have to be oil-free, due to other components functionality in the closed water system.

With climate change, the temperature and relative humidity in Sweden are increasing. The majority of historical environments lack protection against this increase, which also increases the risk of mold infestation in these environments. One of these environments is N??s Slott, in which several rooms have recurring mold growth on objects and furniture. By examining one of the rooms in the castle that is in the risk zone or has mold growth, factors behind the mold growth can be investigated in order to create a basis for future actions against mold.

Urban trees have very little in common with trees on natural sites, such as forests or pastures. Trees in urban environments are often planted in packed soil and in small volumes. This can lead to decreased availability of water and oxygen, as well as deteriorated ability for the soil to store nutritional elements. Also above ground the tree usually have limited space in cities. Regulations on free height over roads and cycle tracks demands high stems at an early stage of their development.

This study is about trust for public institutions and what the foundation is that builds this confidence. For this study I have used three dependent variables to define different aspects of public institutions. These are trust in the legal system, trust in political parties and state of health services nowadays.  The method that is used in the study is based on a comparative study between two countries, Sweden and Portugal.  The actual result is made up by comparing means and regressions by using 13 independent variables. Many of the independent variables that has been used is deriving from institutional theories of Putnam and Rothstein These theories points out the importance of strong traditions of civic engagement and that the success of the trust of the institutions depends in large part on the horizontal bonds that make up social capital.

A quart of the of the adult population worldwide havemetabolic syndrome. A sedentary lifestyle, low physicalactivity, combined with wrong eating habits, stress,smoking and psychosocial factors, are the main causes ofdevelopment of the metabolic syndrome. The purpose ofthe literature review was to illuminate the physicalactivity in persons who have the metabolic syndrome, andwhat sort of advice a nurse use in the promotion ofphysical activity. The study was conducted as a literaturereview, including 15 scientific quantitative articles. In tenarticles, the focus was on physical activity at themetabolic syndrome, and five articles focused on variousforms of counselling for physical activity.

The free choice of upper secondary school?A study of the meaning of the information channels for the choice of upper secondary schoolAuthors: David Fridner & Rikard ZeilonMentor: Ingela WadbringQuestionnaire studyDate: 2008-08-11AbstractThe choice of upper secondary school is a very important choice, both for the school and for the ninth grader. In Göteborg, the free choice of upper secondary school has generated several new information channels apart from the traditional counselor, daily news and the acquaintance. Today it is harder than ever to reach the pupil through the constant media noise and new forms of communication such as events appear. The fight for each pupil gets more and more important every term and it has now become real big business.Today?s youth is imprinted by a growing individuality and everyone knows that equableness is something very important.

To reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologieshave been developed. Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) is a CO2 capture technologywith the CCS framework, and at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg,Sweden, a 100 kW chemical looping combustor has been built.This project aimed to investigate to what degree air can replace helium as the uidizinggas for uid dynamical studies in a CLC cold ow model of the above mentioned 100 kWfacility. Experiments were performed using air and helium separately as uidizing gas andpressure data were obtained, which formed the basis for the comparison. The project alsoaimed to investigate uid dynamics in the uidized bed and study when the risk of sluggingoccuring was greatest. The results were presented in the form of figures and tables dividedinto pressure, concentration and standard deviation of the pressure.The results obtained showed that air as uidizing gas did not create the same uid dynamicsas helium over the entire fuel reactor.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze past development of mutual funds in large and small mutual fund companies and see if there are any differences between these two segments. Limitations on the number of funds have been made by choosing Nordic mutual fund companies that invest in emerging markets over an 11-year period. The study is made on 66 mutual funds managed by 13 mutual fund companies in which the segment of small fund companies includes seven fund companies with assets under management less than 100 billion SEK and the segment of large mutual fund companies includes six fund companies with assets under management more than 400 billion SEK. In the comparison of the segments the Sharpe ratio has been used to calculate the risk-adjusted return. The study shows small differences of the risk-adjusted return between the segments.

This thesis discusses the global regime complex concerning the management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and how different regimes concerning these resources cooperate or stand in opposition to each other. Because of changes in US patent law and the establishment of TRIPS, patent claims over plant genetic resources has increased dramatically globally. This, amongst other things, in turn has lead to the development of CBD which in turn lead to the creation of access and benefit laws in many countries. To create a free flow of genetic resources for food and agriculture the ITPGRFA, with its multilateral system, were negotiated. The aim of this thesis is to investigate which consequences the regime complex concerning plant genetic resources for food and agriculture can have on the rights of small farmers, agricultural research and food security in the global South.

This study examines the effects of credit risk and information disclosure in the new bank regulating system Basel II on bank and bank customer. The effects are then discussed in a perspective of the economic man and information asymmetric theories. Furthermore is the Basel II effects on the capital adequacy of Andelsbanken för Åland examined.The approach of the study is qualitative and several interviews with individuals on different levels of the examined bank, Andelsbanken för Åland, have been carried out during the collecting of empirical facts about the effects of the regulating change from the Basel I system to Basel II.The research findings are as follows:Andelsbanken för Åland have increased its capital adequacy ratio from 12,7 percent to 14,4 percent, mostly due to lower risk weights on housing mortgages compared to Basel I. Andelsbanken för Åland have started to use a completely new credit risk and customer assessment system which classifies every customer and gives them a credit rating. The system cause a much heavier information gathering of the customers profile as well as a much better assessment of risk than the previous system, which the bank finds positive.

Children are a group of patients that require special knowledge from the anesthesia staff, both general and specific. Theoretical knowledge and practical experience is necessary to adequately care for the child as it anatomically, physiologically and mentally may differ from adult patients.A growing problem in the pediatric population is overweight and obesity. From a stagnation in the early 2000s the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in the world are again increasing.The purpose of this study was to examine peri-operative care of overweight and obese children.Systematic searches were done in PubMed, CINAHL and Scopus. After the quality audit according to SBU, twelve articles were included for analysis.Results suggest that overweight and obese children have a higher risk of respiratory peri-operative complications. The risk of hospital admission after outpatient surgery was also greater in this group as well as higher costs for health care.Overweight and obese children are complex subjects with more frequent peri-operative risk factors than normal-weight children.