In this thesis, three separate experiments have been performed on different aspects of the interaction between the causal agent of clubroot, Plasmodiophora brassicae, and its hosts. In the first experiment the pathotype of the P. brassicae single spore isolate, which is currently used to construct a reference genome, has been classified using the ECD bioassay. The disease severity of infected plants was scored according to two different Scales and the pathotype was determined according to three previously published guidelines. The results were compared to previous published studies describing the e3 isolate. The life cycle of P. brassicae is not well understood.

The aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate an instrument for measuring the impact from chronic pain on daily life. Traditionally psychometric evaluation is done with parametric methods even if the items are ordinal data. In this study the instrument to be developed is solely based on ordinal data, and the psychometrically evaluation is done with both traditional methods (i.e. parametric statistics) as well as with non-parametric methods. These two different ways of psychometrically evaluation are then compared with each other.

Small scale internal consumer tests provide a company with a cheap way to get valuable information regarding their products advantages and flaws. Therefore the demand for possibilities to do this kind of test has increased. This report is part of a new sensory project at Unilever. It presents a method for sensory comparison of the company?s own products with the corresponding competitor products.

Introduction: A big part of the patients that recently has gone through operation at surgical units experiences pain in different Scales after their operation. Untreated postoperative pain has been proved in different studies to increase to risk medical complications, longer rehabilitation, more days at the hospital and higher expenses for the hospital. One of the nurses? main tasks is to notice and relieve the pain of the patients. To engage the patients more in the medical process and make the nurses´ work more person-centered could make an impact on the postoperative pain and contribute to a better pain relief.

Title: Strategies for competition ? a study of the Swedish contact lenses market.Authors: Pernilla AArskog and Annika Lange.Background: As a market gets more mature and the competition increases, it is more important for a company to apply the right strategic perspective. There are four fundamental strategic perspectives for a service-oriented business: a core product-, a price-, an image- and a service perspective. This study is a about service management and take its point from the theories from the Nordic School about strategies for competition, customer value, perceived customer quality and customer loyalty.Purpose: The main purpose with this study is to analyze and evaluate how the actors at the Swedish market of contact lenses should compete to gain further competitive advantages.Method: The study includes four qualitative interviews with two traditional opticians and two Internet based businesses, but also a survey with 106 contact lens users is included.Analysis: In the analyse part of this thesis it was concluded that the traditional opticians conception about their customer not agrees with what the customer evaluate as important. Many of the customers have thought about changing their optician, and besides that do not recommend their optician, and can there for not be categorize as loyal customers.

Headwater streams are affected by anthropogenic impacts at multiple Scales. One aspect of human impact is sediment transport associated to the abundance of stream structures as large woody debris and the composition of the riparian zone from forest to agricultural landscapes. Riparian buffer zones and stream structures like dead wood are considered as generally important structures for protection against an increasing amount of sediment particles in the water. Hence, in this study these structures were quantified in thirty different stream segments on land and in the water. To measure the transport of sediment Whitlock-Vibert boxes were used in three different types of landscapes; forest, transition and fields. The boxes were left in the stream segments for three months, the taken up and dried and weighed. The results showed that the transition-land in Frösvidalsån had the highest sediment transport. The second highest transport of sediment was in Blackstaån at the fields.

Stress uppstår när det sker en obalans mellan vad som krävs av individen och de resurser som hon har tillgång till. Arbetsrelaterad stress är något som allt oftare förekommer bland lärare idag. Denna stress kan bland annat vara orsakad av ökat ansvar samt tillgänglighet för eleverna. Socialt stöd från omgivningen är en viktig faktor för att reducera stress. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka betydelsen av socialt stöd och skolrelaterad kontext (stökig och ostökig) för kvinnliga och manliga lärares upplevda stress.

Introduction: Each year 1200-1300 patients are diagnosed with head neck cancer. Treatment that involves radiotherapy can cause severe side effects for example trismus that affects quality of life.Purpose: To study health-related quality of life in patients who have undergone radiation treatment for head and neck cancer and participated in a intervention group who received training intended to prevent trismus or in a control group who received standard treatment.Method: This is a prospective study in which data is collected from 66 patients participating in a randomized study aiming to evaluate a training program to prevent trismus. Thirty three participated in the intervention group and thirty three in the control group. Both patient groups assessed health related quality of life (HRQOL) with EORTC QLQ C30 and QLQ-H&N35, at start and end of the radiation treatment, and at 3 and 6-months after completing radiation treatment.Results: There is no difference between the intervention and control groups regarding symptoms, functional status and global health, except for intake of nutritional supplements.  For both groups almost all Scales measuring HRQOL deteriorated under the radiation treatment. However, 3 and 6 months after end of radiotherapy HRQOL had improved and had returned to the baseline values.

Aim: The purpose with this study was to examine if there is burnout or symptoms of burnout among Swedish alpine coaches. The study would also investigate if the place of work have any meaning of developing burnout symptom or to become burnout. How the coaches think that their working situation could be any better is also going to be lightened.Method: The participants in this study were all full time paid alpine coaches in Sweden. Total amount of participator was 28. 13 of them worked on ski gymnasium, 4 worked on ski collage and 11 worked in SSF (Swedish Ski Federation).

Att ha ett autismspektrumtillstånd innebär en omfattande störning i utvecklingen som karaktäriseras av stora brister i förmågan till social interaktion, kommunikation och i hög utsträckning ett ritualistiskt och stereotypt beteende. Det finns en stor variation i uppvisade svårigheter och hur barn svarar på en intervention, vilket försvårar att dra samstämmiga slutsatser om vad som är effektiv träning för barnen. De mest studerade behandlings­programmen är de med tidig intensiv hembaserad beteende­intervention (EIBI). I denna studie undersöktes 11 barn före och efter ett års träning med beteendeterapeutisk intensiv­träning inom rutinvården. Syftet var att se om träningen påverkade barnens adaptiva förmågor och förändring av problembeteenden.

The aim of this study was to conduct an instrument test of the Canadian questionnaire Alberta Context Tool (ACT) version Long-Term care for Swedish conditions. ACT is designed in order to measure the context in the care environment and different behaviours related to the changes in clinical practice. In total, 159 Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RNs) within municipality care of the elderly were included in the survey. The test included the instrument's reliability and face validity.The reliability test was implemented through calculation of Cronbach´s Alpha, and showed internal consistency for five of the Scales of the ACT-instrument with Cronbach´s Alpha values ranging between 0,728 and 0,873. However, three dimensions got lower values (0,558 - 0,683).The analysis was carried out with content analysis and carried out for LPNs and RNs in separate groups.

Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva vilka omvårdnadsåtgärder som kan förebygga uppkomsten av trycksår samt vilken förmåga att identifiera patienter som riskerar att utveckla trycksår sjuksköterskan har med de bedömningsinstrument som finns. De vetenskapliga artiklarna (n = 20) som ingick i studien söktes via Högskolan Dalarnas databaser Blackwell Synergy, PubMed och ELIN@Dalarna. Sökorden som användes i olika kombinationer var pressure sore, pressure ulcers, nursing, routines, treatment, knowledge, methods, management, measures, risk assessment, Scales, risk patients och prevention/preventing. Inklusionskriterierna var att de skulle vara empiriska, skrivna på svenska eller engelska samt vara publicerade efter 1997. Resultatet visade att det finns många olika förebyggande åtgärder som vidtas.

Self-compacting concrete has soon been around for a decade. Recently the prefabrication industry has started to use this fairly new concrete type in larger Scales, mainly because of its distinctive properties.  There are still certain areas that need to be thoroughly examined, such as bond capacity. There have been very few studies regarding shear capacity due to the fact that the procedure is complicated.This report will highlight a method to examine the shear capacity of different surfaces that have been prewetted as well as non-prewetted surfaces. The surface areas follow BBK 04?s and Eurocode 2?s demand for surface roughness.  A smooth surface will be completed in order to confirm if the different shapes influence the bond strength by shear stress or not.                       The purpose of this essay is to measure the bond strength within the shear capacity as well as examine the impact it has on surface roughness and treatment for shear bond.The method used to identify the shear capacity is called L-shaped Push-Off Test.

It has been observed by both onion producers and a plant protection advisor on Öland (an island off the east coast of Sweden) that basal rot is the largest contributory factor to reduced onion quality and yield. Basal rot is mainly caused by species of Fusarium fungi. The aim of this study was to: a) investigate which species of Fusarium that can be found in onion produced on Öland, b) describe the symptoms caused by the different Fusarium fungi found and c) explore, through interviews with the onion producers on Öland, the mechanisms that may be involved in the observed increase in basal rot.Onion bulbs (Allium cepa) were sampled on two occasions. In total 181 onions from 11 different fields were analysed. In addition, eight onion producers were interviewed.

The aim of this project was to improve taste of a liquid food product, comprising extremelybitter and unpalatable amino acids and one unrevealed ingredient. The amino acids were Lleucine,L-isoleucine, L-valine, L-threonine and L-lysine monohydrochloride. Experimentaldesign was set up as a screening of water solutions comprising these ingredients (called BCAAsolutions) and added ingredients with potential to improve flavour. BCAA solution withingredients that were potential bitterness suppressors were evaluated in flavour, bitternessand/or palatability. Solutions of separate amino acids were also studied.