AbstractThis report was undertaken at the request of the Management and maintenancedepartment of Swedish National Road Authority (Vägverket Region Sydöst) inJönköping.In 1992, the management and maintenance of Swedish roads were laid out onexternal contractors. When putting out a tender for the work, the foundation isfrom a national set of rules which are in constant change. This report is limited towinter road upkeep.The trend in the invitation for tenders is that it is moving from the moreconventional executional demands towards the less controlling demands. Thedownside of functional, less controlling demands is that it is difficult to articulatehow to measure them. The order authority therefore has to find ways to makesure to get what has been paid for.In connection to the invitation for tender of winter road upkeep for 2005, the newset of rules, ATB Vinter 2003 was deployed.The main purpose of this thesis is to see which the big changes in the set of rulesare and how these changes affect the organisation and activities of the contractor.It is also studied how the changes in execution is perceived by road users and howit affects the possibilities of the contractor to come as a newcomer to a new areaof administration.Interviews and examination of sets of rules has led to a list of a number ofchanges that the contractors feel affect their work in any sense.Views from road users that have come in to the order authority have beenscrutinized to see how they have experienced the change.

The aim of this master thesis is to gain greater knowledge of interpersonal communication. This study explores on one hand how interpersonal communication can be used as an important part of reference work in a Swedish electronic synchronous reference service, and on the other how interpersonal communication affects the relationship between user and librarian. By using communication theory and establishing a positive relational contact with the user in the electronic environment, the outcome of the reference encounter can be successful for both the librarian and the user. Furthermore, the importance of recognising relational barriers is of great relevance to the relational contact. The scope of this master thesis is to find what relational factors are used and can be used in the interaction between user and librarian.

Since the beginning of the internet the criminal world has used the medium as a platform for operation.This dark web is a domain where illegal sites are flourishing due to the possibilities offered by newtechnology. Net-based criminal activity is a challenge for society as it uses hard proof technologicalsafety measures to avoid the law. Silk Road is the most prominent example, an online illicitmarketplace where drugs and illegal substances are being traded based on conventional e-commerceconcepts. This paper argues for trust as an important factor for the survival of illicit online trade andapplies existing theories on e-commerce and virtual communities. To identify patterns of trust andcommon trust-based issues among Silk Road users, a netnographic study was conducted on the site?sdiscussion forum.

Certain types of waste, e.g. bottom ash originating from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI bottom ash) can be used as road construction materials. A potential problem is the possibility of substances leaching out of the road and spreading in the surrounding groundwater.The aim of this master?s thesis is to conclude whether hydrogeological type settings can be employed to, based on local conditions, provide an estimate of the probable spreading of these substances in the surrounding groundwater, and whether certain types of soils can be identified as being less suitable for the localization of a MSWI bottom ash road. A hydrogeological type setting is defined as a mappable unit with similar hydrogeological properties.

During the last few years the harwarder has developed from a prototype into a market product. Holmen Skog owns two harwarders and uses two more owned by entrepreneurs. In previous studies it has been shown that the harwarder was a slow and expensive forwarder. In this study the unloading at road-site was studied. The goal was to describe the differences in time consumption between unloading two-sided or single-sided (only from side of the road) and also the difference between unloading with three and four assortments in the carrier.

A too large public sector impedes the economic development of Sweden and more privatization could increase the efficiency, quality and diversity of the services offered. It is therefore important that firms operating in traditionally public sectors are given the opportunity to grow. We have through a case study examined two mid-size firms that offer services to, and compete with, the public sector. This thesis aims to describe the growth strategies these firms are using and if competing with the public sector implies any differences in possibilities or barriers when it comes to the firms? growth.

In today?s fast changing environment it is important for knowledge intense companies that want to stay competitive to actively work with their knowledge, knowledge sharing and Knowledge Management (KM). Barriers decrease the efficiency of how knowledge is created, stored and shared, and they are therefore important to reduce or preferably remove making the KM activities result in as much value for the organisation as possible. To achieve this, it is important that the KM activities become a natural part of the employees? daily work.

Traffic accidents where wild animals are involved represents between 60 and 80 percent of all reported accidents, depending on location in Sweden. In a country like Sweden, with a lot of forest, there is always risk of a collision with a wild animal. Imagine if you, as a road user, had the possibility to receive warnings when the risk of an accident according to statistics is extra high.Wildlife Detection Network is a wildlife warning system with an information service, which makes the whole concept unique. When an animal is approaching the road, it is registered by sensors, and warning lights along the road are lit to inform drivers of the potential danger. In conclusion, this is a direct warning to all drivers on the road where the system is placed.When an animal is registered by the sensors, information containing time, date, weather circumstances and coordinates are sent to a database.

Tycho Hedéns Väg in Uppsala has evolved from being a through fare passage and highwayto the oversized road frame running through the city it is today. At the present time, dueto the relocation of the E4 highway east of Uppsala, Tycho Hedéns road creates a barrierbetween the north eastern area of Uppsala and the remaining parts of the city centre. Theroad is designed to endure heavy traffic and high speed limits, generating a surrounding urbanarea were inhabitants are complied to follow the standards set for a high traffic-accessibleenvironment. Furthermore, the heavy traffic has led to the turning of both urban roadsidesaway from the actual road. The aim of this project and proposal is to show the possibilities ofhow the innate features of Tycho Hedéns road can be used more advantageously to mend thecity area of Uppsala.

Inventories of epiphytic lichens on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) were conducted at three sites in east central Sweden: along the newly build motorway (Road E4), along the old road (Road 600) and in a reference site, to compare the effects of traffic pollution on lichen diversities. At each site, species richness, lichen mean sensitivity value (MK), air quality index of the forest stand/sample plot (LKI) and nitrogen impact value (N) were calculated and it was tested if there was any difference between the sites. Twenty-four species were observed in total, and Parmeliopsis ambigua and Hypogymnia physodes were the most common species at all sites. At Road E4, fewer lichen species were observed than at the other sites and this might be due to the impact of air pollution. The species richness at Road 600 was similar to that of the reference site, which might be explained by the improved air quality.

The visions of the United Nations concerning sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity can only be realized if the human population succeeds in creating coexistence between human and wildlife. Landscape architects are able to influence on how landscapes are to be maintained and developed. The negative impact of infrastructure on wildlife has become a critical problem in Sweden and other parts of Europe. Wildlife crossings has been developed as a solution for the problems of Road barriers in the landscape. The crossings are made to give animals a better opportunity to cross roads.

Because of an increasing demand from customers and changing external environment, there is a need for continuous improvements, for both manufacturing and service organizations, to meet these demands. Manufacturing organizations have been working systematically with quality improvements for a long time, but it has not been as common for service organizations. Because of that the methods to use for implementation of the systematic improvements have not been designed to fit service organizations, and not either for public organizations. The purpose of this thesis is to explain if and why the Swedish Road Administration?s organizational culture and handling of ideas and deviation support an implementation of continuous improvement management.

There exists a great need among companies and other organizations to be able to visualize statistics. It?s also increasingly common to ask for web-based solutions for increased flexibility and accessibility for users. This paper describes how large amounts of geovisual data, for a large number of regions, can be visualized in an interactive and well-presented manner. The paper let?s you walk through two application scenarios, developed in a Flash environment, using the GeoViz component library for visualization. The first application has been developed for Statistics Sweden (SCB), to give a solution on how to visualize statistics for Sweden?s zip code regions.

Tycho Hedéns Väg in Uppsala has evolved from being a through fare passage and highwayto the oversized road frame running through the city it is today. At the present time, dueto the relocation of the E4 highway east of Uppsala, Tycho Hedéns road creates a barrierbetween the north eastern area of Uppsala and the remaining parts of the city centre. Theroad is designed to endure heavy traffic and high speed limits, generating a surrounding urbanarea were inhabitants are complied to follow the standards set for a high traffic-accessibleenvironment. Furthermore, the heavy traffic has led to the turning of both urban roadsidesaway from the actual road. The aim of this project and proposal is to show the possibilities ofhow the innate features of Tycho Hedéns road can be used more advantageously to mend thecity area of Uppsala.

Economic changes, globalization and an aging population are phenomena that haveaffected the municipal development in the late 1900s. To address these challenges,cooperation in specific areas between municipalities in the 1990- and 2000's hasincreased. This is referred to in the literature as municipal cooperation. IT is one ofthese areas of collaboration and is seen as a potential solution to streamline municipaloperations. IT implementations are often complex projects involving a large number ofpeople.