This evaluational study has been initiated by the County Council of Gävleborg (LandstingetGävleborg), politically responsible (and the main economical) authority of BibliotekGävleborg, the regional library institution in the county of Gävleborg, Sweden.The aim of the study is threefolded:1. to evaluate the organization of Bibliotek Gävleborg during the 1990's as we11 as theeffects of a reorganization carried out in 1990, and, through the use of interviews and a questionnaire, to ascertain the attitudes of Bibliotek Gävleborg's branch users (mainlythe municipal libraries in the county) towards the organizational development.2. to evaluate and compare regional library activities in Gävleborg prior to and duringthe 1990's, and to investigate the attitudes of the afore-mentioned branch users towardsBibliotek Gävleborg's activities.3. to investigate and discuss possible future directions of regional library development in Sweden in general, and in Gävleborg in particular.The closing, debating chapter in the study also'contains a few suggestions of measures to enhance regional library activity in Gävleborg..

In today's society, the availability of energy plays an integral part in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, the price of energy in Sweden has increased in recent decades. A large part of our energy consumption goes to heating modules for houses, where heating methods that depend on energy sources such as electricity, district heating, fuel oil, gas and biofuels are the most common ones. During the winter period, the increase in energy costs becomes significantly evident, especially for small property owners. This increase in energy cost is most noticeable for home owners with electric heating.This thesis is written at the Halmstad University, in cooperation with a company, which makes parts of this thesis confidential.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate different types of measures for making buildings more energy efficient and to estimate their profitability. The calculations were performed with the building simulation program VIP+ and the evaluation of the profitability with the life cycle cost method. Furthermore, it was examined how losses in the distribution of secondary systems of district heating can be avoided. Options to replace district heating with a local district heating system based on bio-energy have been investigated. The possibilities of achieving more efficient thermal energy consumption and production for the chosen estate were also examined.The object of the study has been a residential estate with 133 detached houses in Uppsala, built in 1974.

In studying the art of Counterinsurgency Warfare we are usually inclined to the reading of several books regarding this matter. Because of this some writers have the power to influence the minds of the reader. This can be of great benefit since it enables information sharing and for the reader a chance to learn from the triumphs, but also mistakes of others. However each writer is the creation of the time and context under which he existed. Because of the wheel of time certain things change, and because of the context a myriad of factors came into play affecting the outcome and product of the doings and thoughts of that specific occurrence.

This thesis has been carried out within the bachelor program for mechanical engineering at Karlstad University in collaboration with BAE Systems in Karlskoga. The purpose with this work was to design a mechanism and associated parts for loading and unloading of shots between primary and secondary magazine in BAE's new 40mm's ship gun.Parts designed or redesigned among other things a transfer mechanism for shot at loading and unloading, well as a hatch mechanism which makes the shots do not fall out of the primary magazine when making separate use. Various important details have been designed to maintain a good functionality of the mechanism.The construction work has mainly been carried out in the CAD software Solid Edge and its associated FEM module. The construction work has also been carried out on rough calculations for constructed details in order to ensure that they meet the stringent requirements of military use in tough marine environment. Two of the most critical parts of the structure where analyzed with the FEM module for estimating the stresses in the material at the applied load.The final design, which is a result of the thesis, meets the requirement specification and the set targets.

Background: Health economic evaluations are becoming an increasingly important means of analysing which care alternative resource utilisation is the most cost effective. It is a new topic in the medical device industry that causes much uncertainty and unstructured use of the actors involved.Study questions: Why is it difficult to develop, implement and disseminate this standardized health economic evaluation models in medical technology? Is there a possibility to standardize health economic evaluations within the medical device industry?Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the standardization issues for health economic evaluations within the medical device industry.Method: A qualitative approach was used in the form of interviews with five actors that are active or have a connection to the medical device industry. The data collection consists of journals, reports, Internet searches and literature among other things.Conclusion: It is possible to standardize, but with certain restrictions such as the county council's budget, influence of industry-specific factors, lack of knowledge and the important interaction between actors..

Partly as a reaction to a perceived crisis in contemporary democracy, the nineties witnessed an upsurge in different forms of citizens? fora, dedicated to the promotion of increased participation by the citizen in the political process. Youth councils are a special point in case as they entail the general characteristics of a deliberative forum, with an emphasis on political learning. This study aims to undertake an evaluation of a regional youth council in the region of Skåne in the south of Sweden. Through qualitative analysis, the study aims to portray the origin, purposes and consequences of such a forum.

Hemoglobin is an oxygen binding protein in erythrocytes. Hemoglobin is composed of four polypeptide chains. During the fetal stage the type of hemoglobin called fetal hemoglobin (HbF) dominates. After birth HbF is replaced by adult hemoglobin (HbA). HbF persists in concentrations less than 1%.

Addressing increasing global environmental problems requires greater resource efficiency, and one way of working towards this is through industrial symbiosis. Industrial symbiosis means that companies collaborate through sharing of resources for collective benefits. The documented benefits of working with industrial symbiosis indicate that there is potential for companies to operate commercially with facilitation of industrial symbiosis. An interesting company to study within this context is Econova. Econova operates within the recycling and gardening industry and has been identified as a possible catalyst for industrial symbiosis.

The objective of this report was to analyse and compare vulnerability and preparation in Swedish municipal drinking water production, in case the commonly used water sources were inoperative. Methods used were a questionnaire and a less extensive study of regulations for water protection areas. The questionnaire was answered by 41 Swedish municipalities. A handful of them were companies co-owned by a few municipalities. Only one out of four municipalities had source protection areas to all their water sources and for many sources the protection was not satisfactory.

Environmental issues is now taking a growing place in society and to ensure that companies meet public expectations and do their part in working towards a sustainable development, environmental management system is said to be an effective tool (Almgren & Brorson, 2009).This case study has examined a company's environmental management system in order to find strengths and weaknesses within the ISO 14001 system. The work was carried out using interviews, document reviews and analyzes in which the three main concepts control the report ; "daily work", "audit" and "environmental aspects".The results shows that the daily work looks different depending on where you are; in the production or at the office. The audit examined all documents related to the environmental management system and the study showed that the biggest strengths was the commitment and waste handling while areas such as environmental goals and management review needed improvement. As a result of the deficiencies identified, suggestions for improvements was proposed. The investigation of the routine of the environmental aspects showed an incomplete routine where the red wire from identification to evaluation was missing.

The development of quantitative, real-time PCR (qPCR) combined with the mapping of the canine genome opens new possibilities in veterinary medicine. This method provides a quick and accurate quantification of the expression of a specific gene at a given point in time and thereby also information of how the gene expression for a certain protein is influenced by various conditions and diseases. One possible area of application is identifying bio markers for cancer. Recently the protein serglycin (the core protein of an intracellular proteoglycan) was found to act as a selective marker for the disease acute myeloid leukemia in humans (Niemann et al, 2007). Serglycin is produced by most hematopoietic cells, although mast cells account for the largest amount of serglycin.

In recent years, the penetration of new players on the telecom market hasdrastically increased the work pace, affecting both design and production. Inthis report the technical and economical potential of a DC/DC converterplatform is investigated, in order to shorten the time of the design process.This is done in comparison with the present discrete type designs. PowerIntegrations offers a product, the DPA-Switch?, enabling this.By developing a wide DC/DC converter platform based on the DPA-Switch?,many advantages are gained. The component count is decreased by up to48 % and the yield increases by up to 2.9 % which in all yields a costreduction by up to 43 % or ?390 000 for 100 000 manufactured units.

An environmental review has been carried out at FORIA AB, a transportation- and machine service company, to analyze the company?s environmental aspects from the transportation segment. This report describes the essential background and the methods of identifying and evaluate the environmental aspects. It also describes how the work with the environmental aspects often vary between different actors. The design of the ISO 14001 is intentionally broad in order to apply on all sorts of activities and organizations.

In writing this study, I wanted to examine which principles of organization that are possible for Swedish public libraries to use, and what these principles mean for the libraries customerorientation. This is done by examining a number of written sources, as well as studying the organization of six public libraries. I found several possible principles, but a number of principles have been more commonly used than others. Historically most public libraries were organized according to the functions needed to be carried out within the organization, but today it is much more common to use subject-based organizations, with some examples of organizing according to user-groups and needs. I have also encountered the possibility of organizing according to the sources that are to be handled, or the way in which these sources are used by the customers.