During the cultivation season there are a several cropping activities to carry out. At what time these activities are carried out is affecting the result and also on the economy of the crop production. As the production costs are high in potato production, it is important to keep an eye on the economy. Profitability is the most important factor in most crop production systems. If the costs are not covered, it is difficult to justify the production.

With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

Ever since it was first introduced in an article in the Journal of Finance 1952, Harry Markowitz? mean - variance model for portfolio selection has become one of the best known models in finance. The model was one of the first in the world to deal with portfolio optimization mathematically and have directly or indirectly inspired the rest of the world to develop new portfolio optimization methods. Although the model is one of the greatest contributions to modern portfolio theory, critics claim that it may have practical difficulties. Partly because the Markowitz model is based on various assumptions which do not necessarily coincide with the reality.

This master thesis has three purposes. The first purpose is to give a theoretical background of how to divide up forest estates and to study how the legal system for these matters works. A literature study has been carried out to give the background and a theoretical model has been made for analysing the law cases. The first purpose also partly touched the decision process in dividing up forest estates from point of view of the law of land parcelling (FBL), point of view. The second purpose is to examine effects of a change of production requirements in 3 cap.7 § FBL as regards dividing up forest estates of private forest owners.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att sammanställa maskinkostnader för etableringsmetoderna plöjningsfritt och konventionellt. Vi vill även titta på hur stor kapacitet som behövs på maskinparken för den tänkta gården på 600 ha åker, detta för att hinna etablera grödan inom ett rimligt tidsspektra. Anledningen till att vi valt ett företag på 600 ha är att det är den areal tröskan klarar av att avverka inom rimlig tid. Det medför att vi måste ta en del hänsyn till lägligheten och hur mycket av tiden som är så kallat ?tjänligt väder?.

This study will chart the changeover work, with a standpoint in the SMED-theory, at the company Peter Ernst AB in Värnamo. They are suppliers in plastic moulding industry and delivers to amongst other Saab in Trollhättan and Scania. The company are in a very competitive market, and they have to make manufacturing more efficient and rationalise their costs to be able to compete. A big problem, which the company has identified, is their long changeovers. It brings higher costs, a more stressful work climate and holds back the company from becoming more efficient.Field studies will be conducted on the changeover, which will be observed and filmed.

The costs of logging and of transportation with truck are dominating the total cost of wood delivered at industry. To support the profitability for the members' forestry the processing and handling with the timber has to be as efficient as possible. Increased length of pulpwood in thinning is one conduct that can result in higher productivity and/or lower costs. The study is scaled as a system analysis with the aim to exemplify the differences between working with 3- and 4-meter as standard length of pulpwood, related to biological aspects, timber receipts, cost of logging and cost of transportation with truck. Important aspects are if the change is technically and biologically feasible and economically profitable.

The cost of construction projects have increased during the past few years. Different actors in the construction industry work together to advocate various measures to mitigate these cost increases. One of these measures is to try to improve the efficiency in the phase of production. By striving for a kind of standardization with a constant quest for improvement, the productivity can increase while the costs of production fall.For this thesis has a case study been conducted at the construction company JM AB which is seeking this. They call the approach structured production and have implemented various measures to achieve a more productive output.Based on information from reconciliations, the cost and the spent hours of craftsmen have been analyzed at the company where the case study took place.

With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

After the mandatory rules for clearing was removed in 1994, the clearing area has increased in Sweden. After the storms Gudrun and Per, the areas became planted with new plants, mainly spruce, but also other tree species. Storm areas are now being invaded by naturally rejuvenated birch in the tilling tracks. Since the birch often is initially growing faster than the spruce it is inhibiting the growth and is also damaging the spruce. The purpose of this thesis is to study the new brush saw with chain and compare it with the conventional clearing saw, mainly in terms of performance and ergonomics. The results show that the new brush saw with chain is very good in almost all clearing operations compared to the conventional clearing saw.

In this thesis proposals for different designs of a borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) have been developed for the building DN-huset in Stockholm, Sweden. To build a BTES results in savings in energy costs by approximately 44 %, i.e. 2 million Swedish crowns annually. Furthermore, a BTES would reduce the annual environmental impact with roughly 75-157 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year, depending on how the electricity consumption?s environmental impact is estimated.

Dagvattenmagasin byggs för att fördröja och avlasta ledningssystemet dådagvattenmängderna i dem är stora för att sedan leda tillbaka vattnet i ledningssystemetnär vattenmängderna har sjunkit.Examensarbetet syftar till att undersöka och analysera vad som behövs göras för attanvända ett dagvattenmagsinet som är dimensionerat för tioårsregn redan vid femårs- ochtvåårsregn.Arbetet grundas på fältstudier och analys av hur systemet är uppbyggt. Beräkningar hargjorts för studera flöden i ledningar och fyllnadsgrad i magasin. Resultatet visar att det ärmöjligt att med relativt enkla åtgärder kunna utnyttja det aktuella magasinet redan vid 2-och 5-årsregn..

After the mandatory rules for clearing was removed in 1994, the clearing area has increased in Sweden. After the storms Gudrun and Per, the areas became planted with new plants, mainly spruce, but also other tree species. Storm areas are now being invaded by naturally rejuvenated birch in the tilling tracks. Since the birch often is initially growing faster than the spruce it is inhibiting the growth and is also damaging the spruce. The purpose of this thesis is to study the new brush saw with chain and compare it with the conventional clearing saw, mainly in terms of performance and ergonomics. The results show that the new brush saw with chain is very good in almost all clearing operations compared to the conventional clearing saw.

Silviculture in young stands in Sweden is below the mark concerning what has to be done in the forest, and it is time to solve the problem. The problem will not be solved only by the private forest owners, professional help is needed. Skogsägarna Mellanskog is one of four forest unions in Sweden who wants to play a role and take responsibility for forestry in the middle of Sweden. This academic essay is based on a market survey sent to 350 forest owners in the Örebro district. 186 of them answered the questions, giving a response frequence of 53 percentage. The purpose of the essay is to find the determining factors which will make a forest owner to find a collaborator when planning and carrying out the silviculture measures in young stands. The result of the survey shows that the forest owners are anxious about the price and the costs. The costs have a severe effect if the silviculture measures in young stands will be carried out or not.

In Sweden there are currently two separate guidelines you may use whenperforming calculations on frameworks, BKR and the Eurocodes. Although at theend of 2010 you are not allowed to use BKR any longer and only the Eurocodeswill be viable. The aim of this thesis is to explain how the Eurocodes and EKS work and alsohow they compare to the current guideline BKR. Similarities and differencesbetween these guidelines are also discussed so that the reader will get a betterunderstanding of how the Eurocodes are applied. The areas discussed are asfollows:Principles and adviceSafety ClassesSymbols and IndexesLifespanLoads and partial coefficientThe thesis also deals with the impact that this transition into a new guideline willhave on corporations, guideline costs, education and computer software. As anexample a rough estimate on what costs this transition will create on a companywith 20 employees is also included. Calculations have been performed in order to investigate how the design valuesdiffer between the two guidelines, the Eurocodes and BKR.