In 1999 the childbearing increased, which in combination with the closure of a number ofpreschools led to the shortage and reduced capacity in available places for youngchildren. The lack of places in preschools has led us to try to find a solution to theproblem and in order to solve the problem we have interviewed personnel of preschoolsin Halmstad. The persons we met were asked to list advantages and disadvantages oftheir preschool and also to come up with innovative solutions and new ideas of how todevelop a satisfactory preschool. This was the basis for us when we drew our drawingsand our main objective was to find a new template for the development of pre-fabricatedpreschools.When drawing a new and modern preschool a number of considerations have to be made,first of all the main objective for the children is play and playtime, a second objective issound reduction and laws about sound reduction. Another consideration is how toconstruct the building and which method to be used, for instance should industrialtechniques be considered and pros and cons be listed.The main disappointment amongst the preschool personnel was that they had noinfluence in the planning stage of the new development of the preschool.

This study is based on discussions among Swedish brass teachers about teaching other brass instruments than their main instrument. Why do some choose to teach only with the help of their main instrument while others use their secondary instruments as well? What are the advantages and disadvantages and how do they look upon other ways of thinking in this matter?In addition, the study examines brass teachers? views on the balance between pedagogical and instrumental skill, as well as their views on teaching sound, technique and expression in relation to the age of the student.A questionnaire was used and anwered by 24 teachers with teaching experience in municipal music schools ranging from 7 months to 35 years. The results indicate that pedagogical skill is always important, whereas the importance of instrumental skill increases as the student gets older and more experienced. The advantage of teaching with the help of the main instrument is that one always keeps a high musical and technical level.

AbstractThe project "Sound and Play" have been implemented in collaboration with the toy company BRIO in Malmo. The purpose of the project was to examine whether and how BRIO in the future could develop toys around sound for Toddlers.The problem formulations that would be answered after completion of the project was "How could BRIO broaden its product range with the help of audio toys?", "How can you combine toys and sounds in an interesting way for children?", "How do you create a toy with sound that is fun for the child, but not annoying for parents?". Currently BRIO only has two toys with sound in this age group.The expression of the toy was going to be a mix of classic and cool and the overall feeling of the toy was going to be explorative and arouse curiosity in the child. This feeling would be communicated through simplicity and joy.

It is a well-known fact that textiles and carpets have benign sound-absorbing properties. It is desirable to have quantified values of these properties ? especially for architects and interior designers. They often need to be able to giveaccount for the acoustic properties of their designs at a relatively early stage and sometimes have strict acoustic classifications imposed upon them by their contractor. A product with documented acoustic properties would aid when prescribing interior elements.The purpose of this thesis is to develop a wall-mounted panel in hand-tufted material ? aesthetically pleasing and versatile but also having documented and quantified acoustic properties.

AbstractThe project "Sound and Play" have been implemented in collaboration with the toy company BRIO in Malmo. The purpose of the project was to examine whether and how BRIO in the future could develop toys around sound for Toddlers.The problem formulations that would be answered after completion of the project was "How could BRIO broaden its product range with the help of audio toys?", "How can you combine toys and sounds in an interesting way for children?", "How do you create a toy with sound that is fun for the child, but not annoying for parents?". Currently BRIO only has two toys with sound in this age group.The expression of the toy was going to be a mix of classic and cool and the overall feeling of the toy was going to be explorative and arouse curiosity in the child. This feeling would be communicated through simplicity and joy.

During the last year in the Innovation Engineering Program, at Halmstad University, a degree project was performed that was carried out during Fall semester in 2006 and Spring semester 2007. The project was performed by two students in corporation with LIC Audio AB, a company in Stockholm. The degree project was meant to result in a communication aid for people with a cognitive handicap. The project focused on people suffering from dementia because of the expressed need within this group. This aid should first and foremost help in a conversation between a person with dementia and another person, like a relative or nursing home staff.

The producers of grain in Sweden are facing a rough future. The competition is getting harder all the time, in Sweden, in EU and also from the ?world market?. The producers have to be more efficient and have to have bigger units. Many producers might have to look for new alternative production opportunities.

Wind power in Sweden is expanding in response to the government's decision that 49% of Sweden's power should originate from renewable energy sources by the year 2020. Problems with noise and sound emissions related to wind turbines are a constant argument against the wind power expansion and this paper means to examine if vertical axis wind turbines might be a viable alternative to the conventional horizontal design for noise sensitive areas. In order to determine factors like difference in frequency, noise propagation and noise emission level, measurements of both horizontal and vertical axis wind turbines have been completed and the data analyzed with MATLAB. It is shown that there is a difference in how the noise from the two types of turbines propagates due to avariation in the frequency spectra of the emitted sound. It is also shown that vertical axis wind turbines generate a lower sound emission with less intensity inthe lower frequencies..

AbstractThe project "Sound and Play" have been implemented in collaboration with the toy company BRIO in Malmo. The purpose of the project was to examine whether and how BRIO in the future could develop toys around sound for Toddlers.The problem formulations that would be answered after completion of the project was "How could BRIO broaden its product range with the help of audio toys?", "How can you combine toys and sounds in an interesting way for children?", "How do you create a toy with sound that is fun for the child, but not annoying for parents?". Currently BRIO only has two toys with sound in this age group.The expression of the toy was going to be a mix of classic and cool and the overall feeling of the toy was going to be explorative and arouse curiosity in the child. This feeling would be communicated through simplicity and joy.

The purpose with this study is to investigate funds that are environmentally friendly. Environment issues has become a large subject that affects all aspects in today?s society.  It is a global issue which has affected the awareness of environmentally friendly products and its benefits for the environment.How has this awareness affected the financial market?  In this study the authors have looked at six environmentally sound funds and six energy funds to answer the question if it´s better to have your money in traditional energy or in renewable energy.This study is made in an quantitative way, the data has been gathered from the internet database Morningstar. The energy funds have had its biggest assets in companies dealing with oil, and the environmentally sound funds have had its biggest assets in renewable energy. Bye looking at the different funds rate of return and relating that to risk managing theories of Sharpe and Treynor, the authors compared the two types of funds.During the period that was looked at during this study ( third quarter of 2007 until third quarter 2010) the energy funds outperformed the environmentally sound funds in every aspect. .

The aim of this work is to give an example of how archaeoacoustics can broaden our understanding of archaeological remains and to further contribute to the almost non-existing research of ringing stones. With a theoretical discussion about sound from three different perspectives and by means of using different kinds of analysis, this essay will show that there are unknown relations between the three known ölandic ringing stones and the cultural landscape of Öland. Possible patterns in the placement of the stones and the possibility of the sound in this soundscape will be investigated. The essay will also suggest a resonant stone typology and discuss the necessity of one. Finally, the intention is also to shed new light upon the discussion on what the uses of the ringing stones might have been..

During my studies to become a guitar builder at Carl Malmsten CTD, I have found an interest in the construction of the classical guitar. I am fascinated by the simplicity of its construction. A simplicity that becomes more complex when you start to study it in detail.In my final thesis I will not try to explain this complexity. The subject is to investigate two different principles regarding its construction. I would like to find out if the sayings concerning one of the principles will yield a guitar with greater ability to produce volume and projection.At a close distance the difference between the guitar?s volumes is not to speak of, but a significant difference can be seen regarding one of the guitars ability to project its sound.

To value the risk and opportunity for our production in Sweden it is necessary to understand the marketing development for beef cattle production in the world. We have chosen to look at the Brazil beef cattle production. They are one of the biggest producers, have good opportunity to develop further and have a big affect at the world market. The method of our work is to gather information from experts of beef cattle production, located in Brazil. We have also gathered information through studies of literature. The factors that will have a big influence at the Brazil beef cattle production during the upcoming years is more efficient land use, lower age of slaughtering and extended use of feedlot-system. Our conclusion is that the Brazil beef cattle will have a sharp increase during the next five years. The amount of pasture will not change during that time.

Göteborg Energi has a surplus of district heating during spring, summer and fall. The heat surplus is due to a constant production of waste heat from oil refineries and heat from waste incineration over the year. It would be desirable to increase the demand for heat and the uptime for the newly built combined heat and power generation plant, Rya Kraftvärmeverk. One alternative could be to integrate Rya Kraftvärmeverk with a pellet production facility. By producing heat, electricity and pellet in a joint process the energy use can be decreased.

The relationship between color and music, and their relation to the human being and our surrounding universe has been subject of studies, theories and experiments since the old ages. From the ancient China and Persia to the present times, philosophers, scientists and artists have tried to explain these connections between color and music and also tried to find answers to this ancient enigma.The invention of the color organ c. 1730, an instrument that was intended to display color in addition to the musical auditive experience, was the first attempt to materialize the practical correlation between notes and color. This correlation has its foundation in the ideas of Isaac Newton, who through his book Optics published only a few years earlier, conformed the beginning of a new art culture: ?Visual music?, in which image and sound are the fundamental elements in the creative process.The ?visual music? concept is not only grounded in the ideas of music and sound, but also in the extraordinary creative capability of certain individuals.