The purpose of this study is to investigate whether it is possible for SCA to update their stand register with use of digital aerial photos photographed with a Zeiss/Intergraph DMC. ?Updating? in this study implies the delineation of stands and estimating stand variables such as average stand height, volume density, stand volume, and tree species composition in order to identify stands which can be of current interest for thinning. The study also includes how the aerial photo material and experience of the interpreter can influence the quality of the interpreted variables. The aerial photo interpretations were made by both experienced and inexperienced interpreters.

Approximately 4000-5000 hectares, of SCA´s forest land area in Västerbotten, are in need of pre-commercial thinning (PCT) every year. Within the management district, the areas annually treated with PCT must increase, in order to decrease the area with an urgent need for PCT. This can be done by employing more forest workers or entrepreneurs, by mechanized PCT or by an extended season for PCT. Positive experiences from a private forest owner, who started to carry out PCT when the first snow came and then continued for several months, gave an idea to investigate the possibilities to prolong the season of PCT. The purpose of this experiment was to compare PCT carried out when there was snow on the ground with PCT performed when there was no snow on the ground.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze DVD covers for the genre romantic comedy from the 2000s as a way to obtain patterns and codes provided by the genre. The theoretical framework consists of previous research that analyzed various posters, theories about semiotics, genre, and visual rhetoric.  These theories will help answer the main question and help with the analysis.The objects for observation are ten DVD covers from the genre romantic comedy and a qualitative content analysis is used for this thesis. The movies are from the US and they are all high in Box Office. Box Office stands for how many tickets were sold and how much money a film has earned.

I got a request from Eleiko Sport AB regarding them needing help with trying to improve one of their products. The following examination project includes the principal- and primary construction reports within trying to make some improvements and optimizations on a stand for Kettle bells. I have in this project both made my own proposals to the stands legs, proposals on how to strengthen the shelf and also made an optimization of the original Kettle bell-stand. In this report, the project goes from idea to being built and analyzed in Catia, including the creation of drawings and material definition..

Due to soft grounds in combination with seasonal variation in soil humidity, there is a lack of stands that are possible to cut during spring and autumn in some geographical regions. For Holmen Skog this sometimes means that a large proportion of the contracted private forest is cut during the winter when the ground is frozen. One consequence of this is that the proportion of winter stands in the stand bank of own forest increases while spring and autumn stands becomes a scarcity. This in combination with milder winters, especially when there is a long period of reduced bearing capacity in spring or autumn, means that the situation rapidly can become critical. The overall goal with this study was to generate basic data for decision support in the work to achieve a sustainable distribution between own forest and contracted private forest in the stand bank. The study took place at Holmen Skog, district of Umeå, during autumn 2007 and was based on interviews and an analysis of harvest planning and delivery data. The study showed that there is a problem with how the cutting is distributed between own and contracted private forest during the year and that it foremost is the proportion of winter thinning of own forest that has increased in the stand bank.

The hybrid larch (Larix x eurolepis Henry) is a fast growing tree species and was introduced in Sweden for about 50 years ago. The high growth and expected resistance to diseases are probably the main reasons of introducing the tree species into the Swedish forests. The purpose of this thesis was to document the production of hybrid larch planted in the Snogeholm landscape laboratory and to compare the production in the pure hybrid larch stand with the mixture together with pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). The data collection in Snogeholm since the establishment has been carried out by the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU). The fieldwork for the thesis was carried out in 3 stands, containing hybrid larch, pedunculate oak and a mixture of hybrid larch and pedunculate oak, in order to be able to compare the total stand production of the areas. The results show that the total production of hybrid larch in the mixed stand only is 35 % compared with the total production of hybrid larch in the pure stand. Therefore, the hypothesis that the total production of hybrid larch is equal to the planted mixture with pedunculate oak was rejected. The other hypothesis that the total production of a 2 hectare large stand containing a mixture of hybrid larch and pedunculate oak would be greater than the total production of two pure stands of 1 hectare containing hybrid larch and oak each was also rejected. In the studied case the total production was 45 % greater if hybrid larch and pedunculate oak was planted in pure stands. The results from the case-study only indicate that the total production of hybrid larch and oak under the investigated conditions can be higher when planting the two species in pure stands compared with a mixture of the two species.

In the Kolmården area, northeast of Norrköping in south-central Sweden, it was discovered that shoots of spruce Picea abies, plants to a seemingly large extent had been browsed by deer. The area inhabits a dense red deer population, alongside with moose and roe deer, and red deer is thus suspected to cause the damage. The main purposes of this study are, however, to estimate the extent of the shoot-damage and to investigate what factors that may affect the browsing of shoots. For each stand information was recorded about the age of the plants, area for the stand, height over the sea for the stand, site productivity, type of plants and stand-history. The study was done in three areas: Simonstorp, Stavsjö and Valinge. At Simonstorp and Stavsjö, respectively, 10 stands were chosen for study and on Valinge six stands. In each stand, 10 plots were sampled.

With knowledge of how the southern Swedish forests have been affected by storms the past years, this study intended to find out which factors affect the storm firmness of a stand the most. The study was based on data from stands in the, by the storm Gudrun, affected area. The results of the analyses that tested the stand factors that influence the amount of storm damage to the greatest extent showed that the storm sensitivity of Norway spruce stands were largely due to previous management actions. The factors that could be controlled by thinning and had relevance of storm damage standpoint, according to the results were; the dominant height, volume, basal area weighted mean diameter and stand age at last thinning. In this study, these results are not as clear for Scots pine.

In Sweden, harvesting pre-commercial thinning (PCT) stems for energy purposes is a interesting way of financing the high cost of preparing dense stands for a profitable first conventional thinning. This concept can be labelled bioenergy thinning. The aim of this study was to quantify the productivity of a Vimek 404R light harvester with an accumulating Naarva-Grip cutting head during the bioenergy thinning of a self-regenerated stand west of Sunnansjö in Dalarna. The stand was birch-dominated, contained 15 371 stems/ha, and measured on average 4,6 cm Dbh and 7 m tall. Even though the driver was well experienced with the machine, the stand in question was the first one that he ever thinned in this manner. Nevertheless, the driver strived to accumulate as many stems as possible during each crane cycle and chose to cut taller stems in half so as to make the handling and forwarding of the harvested stems easier.

This essay is about the Swedish folk and troubadour singer Fred Åkerström and particularly his interpretations of the Swedish national poet Carl Michael Bellman. With Åkerström being a socialist, he converted his beliefs into what he believed Bellman should stand for and not stand for, politically and historically and the picture he did not take kindly to is called "The bourgeoisie". And in his interpretations of Bellman Åkerström used his deep bass voice and singing with maximum potential that earned him the nickname "Carl Michael Decibelman" along with a trio he created called Trio CMB. But along with alcoholism and financial problems Åkerström died at an age of 48 years old and had probably much more to give the Swedish musical society..

The degree project was made forZetterbergs Industri AB. The company is market leading in Europe in the heavyvehicle industry, designing and building body systems for trucks.In their line of products is the hook lift called Livab, a flexible and uniqueproduct. The hook lift is often demanded by customers because its special ability tobe able to operate in situations with low roof clearance. The main operation principleof the hook lift can be described as a truck stand, laid down.There are two main versions of the hook lift Livab, AL 26 and AL 32. These are ofdifferent load capacity, 17 and 25 metric tons of gross weight respectively.

The aim of the study was to compare productivity in first thinning of birch stands, when either energy- or pulpwood was harvested. The systems total profitability was also compared by including forwarding and chipping costs. A Gremo 950 HPVR harvester was used and the same driver was used under the entire study. During the pulpwood harvest a Logmax 4000b harvester head was used and a feller buncher head made by Silvatec was used during the energy wood harvest. Six study unit pairs were located in a birch dominated stand outside Ängelholm in Skåne.

In Korsnäs district Dala Väst there were problems with information concerning their younger forests, mainly those in pre-thinning stage. They were divided into large, heterogeneous stands with often poor stand data quality. In 2006 an aerial photo interpretation of the young forests was conducted to fix these problems. Necessary information to get from the interpretation were silvicultural management suggestions, new stand delineation and new stand data. This thesis is supposed to evaluate the quality and usability of the interpreted data. To evaluate the interpretation an objective control inventory was conducted in 60 stands, either through callipering or counting stems.

This report is an assessment of the feasibility of using aerial photographs to estimate number of stems per hectare in young forest stands, used together with upper height to determine the need for pre-commercial thinning or ordinary thinning cutting. Aerial photo-interpretation was conducted in 2007 on assignment of Stora Enso Skog AB. A mean height function based on stand age produced with data from Bergvik Skog AB?s 2006 forest inventory assessment was used as a proxy for upper height and used together with photo-interpreted number of stems per hectare to determine the need for thinning cutting according to Bergvik Skog AB?s definitions. The test area is located north of Falun on Bergvik Skog AB?s land.Flight altitude was approximately 900 m above ground and the aerial photos were taken by L&L Flygbildteknik AB.

Earlier attempts at mechanising pre-commercial thinning have been met with varying degrees of success. Most attempts have been based on techniques where residual stems are straddled. Early treatment is essential to limit damage on residual trees. One part of the present study is an evaluation of mechanised pre-commercial thinning using the new Vimek 404R. Vimek 404R is a fairly small machine that permits selective removal of stems, making it potentially suitable also for areas overdue for pre-commercial thinning. The study established the level of performance for the machine, as well as the improvement needed to make it an economically viable option.