Bark-stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) cause extensive damage to economically valuable spruce trees (Picea abies) in Swedish forests. The underlying causes for bark-stripping are not fully understood, and the frequency and severity of damage unpredictably differ between regions. In this study, I investigated if landscape structure (e.g. agricultural dominated landscape opposed to forest dominated landscape), forage availability, population density and disturbance (e.g. roads and settlements) affect bark-stripping frequency.

Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of the zoonotic disease tularaemia, is highly contagious and potentially fatal for a wide range of wildlife species of the northern hemisphere, also humans. Although recognized as a pathogen for over 100 years, much still remains to be elucidated concerning the ecology and transmission of the bacterium, hence this literature overview aims at compiling data regarding the aquatic association and the role of mosquitoes in transmission of Francisella tularensis subspecies holartica, the sole subspecies in Sweden. While a linkage between the bacterium and natural waters Stands beyond dispute, there is no consensus in the literature concerning its potential as a reservoir. However, two prevailing theories can be distinguished; one proposes the water association being mammaldependent and thus merely the result of contamination from semi-aquatic mammals living in close vicinity to the water source. The other, quite contrary, suggests mammal-independence and hence that water, possibly in association with protozoa, serves as an environmental reservoir for the bacterium.

Roughly 130 000 dwellings have been officially registered since Norway as of summer 2009 passed their bill ?Energimerkeforskriften? on energy performance certificates in buildings. The main objective is to decrease the total amount of national energy consumption by producing a methodology of calculation of the integrated energy performance of buildings as well as proposing cost effective measures to lower each building?s energy consumption. As the measures should not contravene nor be incompatible with the intended quality and character of the building, the ?Energimerkeforskriften? exempts buildings that due to their historical and cultural values are protected cultural heritage legislation. The current system offers a couple of professional certification alternatives, but when two online semi-automatic methods developed specifically for non-professionals are by far the most used, and since the methods of calculation primarily have focused on modern building materials and construction, the rest of the historical building stock Stands literally unprotected by incorrect performance certificates and high-risk energy efficient measures. The objective of this thesis is to identify if the current Norwegian energy certificate system poses a threat to older buildings.

The purpose of the thesis was to map the hydraulic load on the Knivsta river from stormwater runoff, and build a platform for further studies of pollution loads on the rivers ecosystems. New residential areas are planned to be built in Knivsta municipality and it will have an impact on stormwater flows to Knivsta river. To examine the impact this will have, simulations were made in the area as it Stands today and after expansion work. The work includes calculation of flows from the populated areas but also from the catchment area around it consisting of woodlands and fields. Because of expected climatic changes which may affect rainfall, the simulations have been performed with different return periods for rainfall data.

Future climate changes may lead to an interest of alternative and foreign forest tree species in order to spread the risks in forestry. Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, Freemont cottonwood and hybrid aspen are examples of popular foreign tree species that along with western red cedar could have a future in the Swedish forests.Södra Skogsägarna and SLU have collaboration in establishment of foreign species in Swedish forests.The purpose of this study was to analyze and present the establishment of western red cedar, and to survey and illustrate injuries of freeze drying and other damages like deer browsing, vegetation and insect attacks. The study included four different provenances, and spruce as a reference, planted in two locations ? Asa and Släne.Western red cedar is despite its name a conifer of the cupressaceae family with defined secondary characteristic and gets along well with an overstory. Western red cedar grows often in mixed Stands with similar conifers and its natural habitat is within and in the area near to British Columbia.The study included two series of field inventories, one made in the summer and one in the autumn 2013, three growing seasons after plantation.

The number of young people that graduate from upper secondary education has decreased while a growing number of young people are in an outside position in the sense that they neither work or study or have any other known occupation. In addition to this the labour market has gone trough changes, which has brought difficulties for some groups to establish themselves on to the labour market. One of the groups that have been affected by this is the young people. As an answer to the increasing number of young people in an outside position, a new law was introduced on the 1st of July 2005. The law is called (kommunala uppföljningsansvaret) and it Stands for the municipality's responsibility to follow up on young people between the age of 16-19 years that is not enrolled in any upper secondary school and that does not have any other known occupation.The purpose of this essay has been to examine how the responsible administrations in Helsingborgs municipality view their responsibility to follow up young people between the ages of 16-19 years and the practical application of the law, and also if they can see any risks with not following up on young people in that age span.

The group of elderly people in Sweden will increase significantly in the future and science point out that the future elderly people will not accept today?s standards and offers of assistance in today?s public elderly care. Therefore public elderly care Stands before a significant challenge in terms of development that has to be sustainable. New research also points out that middle managers can be a great strategic resource, and a founder of success, in the challenge of sustainable development. The aim of the report was to increase the knowledge about what middle managers in public elderly care think sustainable development has to embrace, when it comes to quality and personnel administration, in order to meet the needs of the future elderly people.

High levels of Hg in fish in Swedish lakes have been a problem along time in Sweden. The major concern is production and accumulation of the most toxic form of mercury; methyl mercury (MeHg). Consequently, in about half of our 83 000 lakes fish contain concentrations above the recommended limit for human consumption of 0,5 mg mercury per kg fresh weight (most of it in the form of MeHg). Consumption of fish containing too high levels of MeHg may cause problems for both humans and animals. Three major sources of MeHg in surface waters are: 1) runoff from terrestrial areas, 2) deposition from the atmosphere, and 3) internal production of MeHg in lakes and streams. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of clear-cutting on the concentration of Hg and MeHg into draining streams.

This report is a B.Sc. Forestry thesis work at the school for Forest Management, SLU. The work was an assignment from the forest owners? association Mellanskog. The aim of the work where to investigate the economical result of removing undergrowth trees before first thinning, and a follow-up of the contractors and their compliance with Mellanskog standards. This thesis work was divided in three parts: The first was to find a relation between the net volume from the first thinning and the cost of cleaning undergrowth trees. Secondly there was a follow-up in the field, to investigate whether the contractors have done the undergrowth cleaning according to Mellanskog?s directives.

As competing organizations struggle to become more effective, one field Stands out as one of the vital keys to success; internal communication. Even small errors in information handling can end up into obstacles that seem impossible to overcome. Managers constantly need to adjust the internal communication to fit variables that mirror the structure of the organization. This thesis is a study about how and in what magnitude structure affects organization?s internal communication.We have done qualitative interviews with McDonald?s and Diesel, two different global organizations within the branch of service business.

There is a great need to reduce nutrient leaching from arable land into lakes and oceans. By using several different types of models it has previously been possible to describe nutrient losses in a catchment area with a minimum unit of sub-catchment level. At present, it is instead desirable to model a smaller catchment with an opportunity to re-connect the results to the corresponding fields in the catchment. Such models already exist but they are not fully able to properly describe Swedish conditions and land characteristics in our region.With the approach of creating such a model, SLU has developed a project with this work as its first stage. The model is expected to be created under the working name SWE-model which Stands for Soil Water Environment and is in this first stage supposed to apply the SOIL model in catchment scale. During the procedure to describe the first step in the process of developing such a model adapted to Swedish conditions and which works in the catchment scale with an area of about 10-30 km2, focus has been set on calculating the transport of water flow from different hydrological response units. Regardless of the processes occurring in the soil after the water has been added, it is assumed that all the water which flows from each simulated unit is drained.In the first step the hydrologic response units were identified based on land use and soil type in the study area. With the help of a script with functions that retrieve and transform data, certain units were chosen for simulation. The script was also created in this project. Finally, the model results were aggregated and summarized for each unique unit, for each sub-catchment, and also for the whole catchment.From the results it is possible to see similarities in the flow dynamics between modeled and measured data. The efficiency coefficient has been calculated to correspond to the mean of the measured values for the whole simulation period. With an automated calibration process the model should be able to perform better. The volume error gives an indication of overestimation from the model..

AHA is a Swedish abbreviation of "reveal threatened park and avenue trees" and is a method to assess the conservation value of individual trees, mainly in the park environments but also in natural Stands. This method has previously only been practiced in southern Sweden (Sörensson 2008). To see if this method could provide satisfactory results in northern Sweden, I have studied it in areas around the Umeå River. This was done by studying the relationship between trees with different classifications of conservation value (as classed by the AHA method) and their content of species (species richness and abundance). Insects were collected using trunk window traps in a period of 13 weeks during the summer of 2014.

To manage the industry?s need of wood assortments in a optimal and cost effective way the forest companies need to have knowledge of the actual standing volume and the yield of the planned clear cuts. The mean volume of the trunk is also important since it is important for the contractors prices. Today the total volume are estimated either with Näslund (1940) or Brandels (1990) functions of volumes, and the yield is estimated with Rune Ollas (1980) function for trunks and Stands. The purpose of this study has been to answer the following questions: How good is the yield forecast with data collected with currently used methods? How well can the yield forecasts became with data collected according to the instructions? How well can the yield forecast be with data collected according to the instruction and calculated with the program Aptan for theoretical bucking? The study has been initiated and financed by SCA Skog AB.The material consisted of a number of randomly selected objects ready for clear cut.

This Master of Science thesis was a part of Pharmadule Emtungas project to construct a mobile automated cell for welding of carbon steel pipe (Heating, Ventilation and Sanitation). Pharmadule Emtunga is using a modular building concept for building pharmaceutical factories. The modules contain these pipes. The goal of the thesis was to present concepts for technical solutions regarding welding methods and fixtures for the cell. Conceptual models for the cell were made with aid of CAD software.

This report is a B.Sc. Forestry thesis work at the school for Forest Management, SLU. The work was an assignment from the forest owners? association Mellanskog. The aim of the work where to investigate the economical result of removing undergrowth trees before first thinning, and a follow-up of the contractors and their compliance with Mellanskog standards. This thesis work was divided in three parts: The first was to find a relation between the net volume from the first thinning and the cost of cleaning undergrowth trees. Secondly there was a follow-up in the field, to investigate whether the contractors have done the undergrowth cleaning according to Mellanskog?s directives.