In coastal wetlands carbon/organic matter can be stored for long periods of time thanks to, among other things, the presence of water which slows down the decomposition. Because of this, restauration and management of such habitats have the potential to decrease the emission of greenhouse gasses and help mitigate climate. Internationally these environments are called ?blue carbon? ecosystems. In Sweden, alder (Alnus glutinosa and Alnus incanata) covered wetlands along the coast is a nature type that potentially could function as a ?blue carbon? habitat.

During the last years, meticillin resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) have caused an increasing number of infections in Swedish dogs. MRSP is resistant against a majority of the antimicrobials available for dogs in Sweden, making it difficult to treat the infection. Our knowledge of the bacterium is limited, making it hard to handle infected dogs in a proper way. The aim of this study was to investigate for how long time dogs, who have an infection caused by MRSP, become carriers of the bacterium. Other factors like treatment with antimicrobials, the correlation between clinical symptoms and carriage, common diagnoses and institutionalization where also looked upon.

24 years have passed since the Chernobyl accident when radionuclides were spread over largeareas of Europe, including the Scandinavian countries. Today, measurable activities of 137Csare still observed in many Swedish ecosystems.Ants (belonging to the order Hymenoptera) are social insects which collect organic materialfrom a large area around their nests. This study focuses on the 137Cs activity in ant nests andthe cesium accumulation in these nests. The aims were (1) to estimate the 137Cs fall-out in1986, (2) estimate the radiation exposure of ants and (3) find how 137Cs is distributed in an anthill. Seven ant hills (occupied by the species Formica polyctena) were studied near the villageof Hille, situated north of the city of Gävle in central Sweden.

In search of Umbilicaria subglabra In Sweden Umbilicaria subglabra has its only known occurrence in Lybergsgnupens nature reserve in the county of Dalarna where it has been found only once in 1936. It was found on the east-facing rock spur, approximately 650 meters above sea-level. The lichen is now red-listed as Regionally Extinct (RE) in Sweden. The aim of this study was find U. subglabra.

Today we keep our horses in a way that is easy for us humans but may not always be the most optimal way for the horse. Often the housing of the horse prevents the horse from performing behaviours that they have natural needs to perform. It is not unusual that animals that can not adapt to their environment develop abnormal behaviours. Many of our stabled horses therefore develop some kind of stereotypic behaviour. This study was made in purpose of comparing the behaviour of a weaving horse to two non-weaving horses under similar conditions, where one of the horses was stabled next to the weaving horse and the other horse was stabled further away in the same stable. Seven weaving horses were included in the study.

During the latter part of the 20th century the situation for people with intellectual disabilities in Sweden changed and developed. Clients have the right to participation and self-determination in society and in applied measures under the law of individual rights legislation; LSS. The purpose of this study is to describe and understand how team-leaders and managers in day-centres in a municipality works with participation and self-determination for clients, and what the professionals consider affects the client's possibility to self-determination and participation. The research questions intended to be answered are:? How does the team-leaders and managers work to enable self-determination and participation of the users in the public day-centres?? What does the team-leaders and managers describe and understand as enabling and limiting factors for the client?s possibility to self-determination and participation?The study is qualitative and interviews have been held with eight interviewees, which I contacted through snowball sampling.

Introduction: Frequent attenders is a term used in health care services that define a person attending a health care setting more than four times during a 12 month period. Recently published research concerning frequent attenders in pediatric emergency departments describes their reasons for attending a health care service or characteristics of these individuals but lacks a qualitative approach exploring their experiences. There is a need of these experiences to be shared so that health care personnel caring for this group may gain a greater understanding of their needs and expectations.Aim: The aim of this study is to describe how parents of children defined as frequent attenders experience the care received at a pediatric emergency department.Method: Qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews. A pilot study of four interviews was conducted to test the method. Sampling consisted of parents of children defined as frequent attenders and that were not diagnosed with a chronic illness.

The aim of this study was to examine the amounts of heavy metals in the sediment of a wetland constructed for stormwater treatment. The wetland is called Vattenparken and is located in the city of Enköping. The heavy metals which were analysed were Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr and Hg. The total metal concentrations were determined using HNO3 chemical extraction. From 8 sampling sites 5 sediment cores were taken.

The transformer is one of the most common and most important electric machines for power companies. Cost of investment and the economic worth of a transformer are counted in millions of SEK. Because of that, proper maintenance actions that may lead to longer technical life time should be the aim in all situations.The aim with the report was to perform transformer diagnosis by dissolved gas analysis on Umeå Energi AB´s power transformers and a risk assessment. The report should also contribute to longer life time for the transformers.Oil samples were taken from each transformer two times. The first sample in summer 2013 and the second in April 2014.

I dagens skogsbruk bedöms gallringsbehovet utifrån gallringsmallar som ger rekommendationer baserade på avvägningar mellan biologisk kunskap, ekonomiska faktorer och risker. Gallringsmallarna är anpassade efter tänkta produktionsskogar och kan således vara bristfälliga i andra fall. Därför behövs en effektiv bedömningsmetod som fungerar i både homogena och heterogena bestånd. Studier har visat att tallens (Pinus sylvestris) grönkronandel har påvisad effekt på diametertillväxten och genom att uppskatta denna kan ett direkt mått ligga till grund för bedömning av gallringsbehov, istället för det indirekta måttet grundyta, som nuvarande gallringsmallar är utformade efter. Tanken är att undvika produktionsförluster genom att gallra innan grönkronan hissats upp alltför mycket.

Understory vegetation and fungi are regarded as important ecological drivers of processes like productivity and nutrient cycling in boreal forests. Whilst those processes are linked to soil water content, relatively little is known about the sources of soil water for these forest components. During early autumn in boreal forests, temperature falls and large events of rain are frequent which may influence soil water availability. To better understand the autumn plant-soil-fungi water relationships in this ecosystem, I used stable isotopes techniques in this study to examine the water sources for ericaceous shrubs and fungi in a Scots pine forest following a large, early autumn rain event. I hypothesize that ericaceous shrubs of two functional groups (evergreen vs.

Detection of leukocytes in semen from boars is part of the routine control of semen quality. Leukocytes in semen can cause damage to spermatozoa that leads to impaired fertilization. In the artificial insemination (AI) industry there are standard routines for the quality control of the boars and of the neat semen before use. Since 2001, Quality Genetics has not done the leukocyte examination on semen samples from boars which are used for the production of pigs for slaughter. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of leukocytes in semen from AI-boars. The questions addressed were whether there are boars that have leukocytes in their semen and how frequently it occurs and, moreover, if there are differences between breeds, or even between individuals whose semen was checked before use in AI-dose production compared to those which were not. The study included a total of 135 AI-boars, of which 67 were Hampshire, 35 Yorkshire and 33 Landrace, all belonging to Quality Genetics AI-station in Hållsta.

In this composition, a study of consignment inventory on basis of the factors which are important for implementation and application of consignment inventory are made. Logistics chain from subcontractor to end customer is becoming more complex when the volume of items constantly increases to satisfy the needs of the market. From that perspective, companies had large inventories but today it is a lot of different solutions to streamline inventory management. One way that recently becomes increasingly common is to let the subcontractor fill up the customers stock using different approaches such as VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory). A further step in the evolution can be to make use of consignment inventory where the vendor owns the stock of the customer.

Carbon sequestration through restoration of degraded pastoral soils is an advocated way of mitigating global warming, and simultaneously alleviating poverty. An often proposed rehabilitation strategy is fencing of pastures, a method that was introduced to the farmers of Chepareria by the Vi-Agroforestry organization in 1987. The landscape of Chepareria changed from eroded, over-grazed grasslands, to a mixture of open-grazed commons, pastoral enclosures and cultivations. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) if the soil organic carbon (SOC) is higher inside the enclosures than on the open-grazed commons, (2) if SOC is affected by duration of fencing and (3) what effect cultivation of pastures has on the SOC. Estimations of vegetation cover and deep profile (100cm) soil sampling was performed on six clusters containing; (1) open-grazing (OG) (2) 1-5 years of fencing (FENCED(1)), (3) 7-10 years of fencing (FENCED(2)), (4) 15-23 years of fencing (FENCED(3)), (5) maize from OG (A(OG)), (6) maize from fenced pasture (A(FENCED)).

The purpose of this study is to shed light on and describe Kramfors travel centers function and relationship to the surrounding urban environment, and how this core is experienced by residents and visitors. To do this, the use of the travel center, its relationship to Kramfors city center and the perception of it, as well as possible improvement areas has been studied.This has been examined using a quantitative method by designing a questionnaire and the usage of a research strategy through the implementation of a small-scale survey. Within this a cluster sampling was applied.The result shows that Kramfors travel centers is primarily used for traveling and is used most frequently by the visitors within the study. It is also shown that residents 'primary reason for traveling from the travel center is friends and family, followed by shopping, and that the visitors' primary motive for traveling is friends and family as well, followed by work. The mode of transportation between the travel center and destinations are mainly walking, while the mode of transport between homes and the travel center proves to be the car.