This Master's Thesis describes the design of a new system where a digital signal processor has been added to an existing imaging system consisting of field programmable gate arrays. The new system will offer a higher degree of flexibility by considerably shortening the design time and make it possible to implement more complex algorithms than the existing ones. The choice of system architecture and a test implementation are discussed. The test implementation consists of a program for the digital signal processor and VHDL code for one of the field programmable gate arrays. The code for the digital signal processor was designed for testing on an evaluation board from Texas Instruments.

Phosphorus is the single most potent contributor to eutrophication of freshwater and has also been shown to contribute to the toxic algae blooms in the Baltic sea. The dynamics and paths of losses of phosphorus from arable lands are not fully understood. It is known that phosphorus can be lost directly from plant material to water. In studies where plant material has been subjected to several freeze-thaw cycles, large amounts of phosphorus have been lost. Most studies have been conducted under field conditions, with many factors effecting the measured losses of phosphorus, such as weather and type of soil. This study was performed in a controlled environment without the presence of soil. Instead of soil, small glass beads were mixed with the plant materials in vessels, to make possible homogeneous leaching with water through the mixture of glass beads and plant materials. In this study, clover, ryegrass and dry straw were cut to pieces, approximately 2 cm long.

Postoperative site infections are the second most common health care associated infection in Sweden. Surgical procedures can lead to postoperative site infection causing great suffer for the patient and an extended care time with an increased cost as a result. In preparation for surgery, it is important that the skin is well prepared with antiseptics to decrease the risk of postoperative site infection. The purpose with this study was to shed light upon the skin preparation before surgery and its significance to postoperative site infection. Ten scientific articles have been scrutinized and compiled and two themes have been identified ? the preoperative and the intraoperative skin preparation.

The purpose of this study was to find possible explanations to why the studied herd had an increased incidence of abomasal displacements. The incidence of abomasal displacement in the herd was three times higher than the incidence of an average Swedish herd. The cows in this study were fed a total mixed ration. The different parameters studied were: energy content in food, nutritional content in food, body condition scoring, concomitant other diseases, and blood parameters of glucose, fructosamine, cholesterol, insulin, betahydroxybutyrat and free fatty acids. The author?s suggestions to decrease the problems are to decrease the energy content in the TMR to lower the cows? body condition scores in the dry period and changing the content in the TMR to increase the amount of NDF and adding structure in the form of chopped straw.

In the current study, the aim was to investigate whether tail posture and motion can be an indicator of the emotional state of pigs and if the tail posture of the pig is affected by social breeding value (SBV), coping style and/or housing. Emotional state can be defined in two dimensions: valence and arousal. Two batches of 96 finishing pigs were studied in a one generation selection experiment with a 2x2 set up and were housed in a barren or straw bedded pen. In each pen, 6 pigs (3 male, 3 female) were housed. A back-test was done to determine the coping style of the pigs with two categories; high resister and low resister pigs.

The standard housing of farmed mink provides little opportunities for them to behave naturally and abnormal behaviours such as stereotypic behaviour and tail biting may occur. To prevent abnormal behaviours animals in captivity are often provided with different kinds of enrichments. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of enrichment farmed mink use when they have several kinds to choose from and to observe if abnormal behaviours can be decreased with a larger cage and a more multifaceted environment. Totally 20 silver blue, 10 months old female mink were kept in traditional cages (80x30x40 cm) for 7 days and in larger cages (195x80x40 cm) with several types of enrichments for 7 days. The enrichments were wire net- and wooden shelves, wire net- and plastic cylinders, water bath, plastic ropes, branches, straw and tennis balls. One-zero scan sampling on behaviour and choice of place were performed during 3 hours and 20 minutes prior to feeding during 7 days per treatment in April 2004.

The assignment is issued by Scania Maintence AB seeking a new approach to detect power changes in their industrial processes. The work has taken place at Ångströmslaboratoriet and tests have been performed at Scania AB Södertälje.Today?s society consumes enormous amount of energy. In both economically and environmental view, it is important that the processes are effective, with high power factor. There are many ways to measure power in the industry, what they all have in common is that the installation is advanced, requires time and planning.

Cattle used for meat production can be held outside all year round and due to the legislation they should have access to shelters or other buildings for protection against the elements giving them a dry and clean bedding. There are different opinions concerning their need of protection and the question about necessity of shelters for cattle is of current interest due to a less profitable economy in meat production and the investment costs for shelters. The aim of this study was to acquire more knowledge about the natural behaviour of cattle concerning their use of shelters. The basis of the study was a series of questions regarding when animals choose to stay in shelters, if shelters were used less when they had access to protecting vegetation, how temperature and weather conditions affected the use of shelters and the influence of distance between shelter and feed. Behavioural studies was conducted at five different farms where six groups of suckler cows and heifers of following breeds and crossbreeds were observed; Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Scottish Highland Cattle, Simmental and the Swedish breeds SKB and SRB.

Maize for silage has been used as fodder in different parts of the world for a long time and has recently become more common also in Sweden. Our cold climate has been a problem as maize is very sensitive to low temperatures and frost. With new varieties and better techniques for cultivation it is now possible to grow maize in the southern and middle parts of Sweden. As for the north of Sweden the length of the cultivation season is a limiting factor as there are too few days with temperatures of over +10 ºC. Maize is well suited for silage making but oxygen-free conditions are required.

As humans we transfer norms and values, which we are aware or unaware of, to the children near to us. These children embrace them, and the adult´s norms and values become the child's own ones. When a Bible story is going to be transformed into a children?s bible text it goes through shortening and simplification of the story to fit children´s bible edition. The adjustment will be unconscious and conscious choices that change the meaning of the text and the possibility of contextual interpretation.

The use of earth bricks in Scanian building traditionThe present work is concerned with the manufacturing and use of earth bricks inbuilt heritage in the south Swedish province of Scania. The first part of the studyprovides a thorough description of the traditional use and manufacturing of earthbricks based on relevant literature, archive material as well as interviews withinformants. This forms a basis for the second part of the study in which practicalexperiments on and tests with earth bricks where carried out. This involved themaking of traditional earth bricks of different composition. The new handmadebricks were compared with industrially produced bricks (extrusion bricks) and oldhandmade bricks.

The purpose of this report was to compare two different options for expanding of an existing pig farm. For the time being there are low prices within the agricultural market of pig production, and it is interesting to see if it is worth expanding or not. The two different options this report is based on are: expanding from a herd with 50 sows in breeding gilt production to a herd with 100 sows in breeding gilt production (option 1), or expanding to a herd with 140 sows in breeding gilt production (option 2). The number of pregnant gilts produced per year will stay the same for both alternatives; about 300 pregnant gilts per year. The rest of the breeding gilts will be sold at a weight of 25 kg. The pigs that are not sold as breeding gilts (e.g. castrates, and female pigs that are too small or that have disorders) will be kept on the farm as growing-finishing pigs until 120 kg of live weight, and then sold to the slaughter house. By using the existing buildings, even after the expanding, the investment costs, and thereby costs for housing, were kept as low as possible.

 In 2009, the responsibility for animal welfare was moved from the local authorities at the municipality(kommunerna) to the County Administrative Board(länsstyrelsen). This was a result of many differences between the different municipalities in how they handled animal welfare. Shoulder lesions of sows are a matter of opinion and therefore, a complicated question. Sows suffer from shoulder lesions for many reasons: e.g. the amount of straw available.

Preservation of cells and tissues by freezing at temperatures below 70°C has led to new possibilities for the storage of germ cells for fertility preservation. During the freezing process problems might occur, the greatest being ice crystallization which can cause membrane destruction and thus cell death. To minimize this risk, solutions that reduce the freezing point can be added to reduce crystallization and increase survival rates. These solutions are called cryoprotectants. The best method for freezing is still not known.The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of various parameters on the survival rate of human semen frozen with liquid nitrogen.

I have always lived around mines and around people work­ing with mines. They are a natural part of my life and, inev­itably, a great interest of mine. When time came to make a decision for a degree project, focusing on the mine context felt as natural as breathing.In LKABs underground mines, safety in fire accidents is a great priority. Of outmost importance for the escape is to have a personal gas filter for filtration of smoke and/or gas. My design project resulted in a concept which is aimed at shortening the user journey from the start of the accident until the user has applied the personal safety solution and is ready to escape.Throughout the project I?ve been working with a context which is heavily regulated, and all problems are serious, important ones.