The main purpose of this Master Thesis has been to investigate issues concerning apple fruit quality in orchards of Äppelriket Österlen. The goal has been to develop a document, for future benefit towards growers and company management in the production of high quality apples.In order to investigate main issues of fruit quality, focus has been on statistics concerning apple varieties, age of the apple trees, new planting, orchard size and growers opinions. Nine growers have been interviewed to investigate opinions and contribution of different growing techniques to increased fruit quality. The investigation showed high age of the trees in production and low rate of planting of new trees. Differences in fruit quality were highest between small orchards. Most growers were satisfied with their fruit quality and with their own measures made to improve it.

Production requires the input of capital and labour. Hence, economic growth can be assumed to follow from increased levels of these two factors. Policies aimed at increasing production may consequently successfully be focused on facilitating the accumulation of capital and labour. However, even when an economy has managed to reach the same quantities of input factors as a more prosperous neighbour, the level of the production might still differ. The explanation of this lies in what economists refers to as expression embracing the characteristics of the input factors and the conditions in which they operate.In this thesis a calculation of total factor productivity is carried out, using existing data on the Swedish FA-regions between 1990 and 2005 and the method the economist Robert Solow in the 1950?s.

As for today, a large quantity of protein feeds is imported from other countries to be used in the Swedish dairy production. The main import is soya from Brazil. The soya-production in Brazil results in negative consequences for the natural environment in the area, and the long transport of the feeds requires a lot of energy. The organic dairy production in Sweden is, with the highest probability going to be forced to use 100 % organic feed to the cows in the year 2005, due to new EU-rules. These are some of the causes why there are reasons to look closer at the possibilities to feed Swedish cows with only Swedish feeds. In this study, I have looked at the KRAV-rules for organic feeding, where the goal is feeding with only KRAV-approved feeds.

The purpose of this paper is to survey the textile based proto-industrialism in Sweden in the middle of the 19th century. This case study is founded upon Anders Hansson?s pre-industrial textile production at the estate of Mölneby, Östra Frölunda in the rural district of Kind in the province of Västra Götaland.Account books from the year 1853 related to Anders Hansson?s wool fabric manufacturing have been looked into and categorized using a quantitative research method. The research has also been supplemented with a number of interviews.The result of the survey shows that Anders Hansson?s business activities fit into Mendel?s theory of proto-industrialists at a practice level.By collaborating with a merchant in Gothenburg the fabrics were traded in unknown markets, as well as in more familiar neighbouring districts.

Almost every commercial in television nowadays aim to sell a product or service. This researchpresents two big actors in the grocery chain and their respective commercials. The two actors thatare presented in this research are Lidl and Coop. Both Lidl and Coop are among the largest grocerychains in Sweden. By examine two commercials from each company we aim to find how theircommercials are structured.

The soil acidification and the pH-value of the soil have been discussed for many years. Many observations of the tree species effects on the soil pH have been done. We have discussed the effects on the soil surface pH-value with a birch (Betula spp. L.) admixture in Norway spruce stands (Picea abies L.).We have used data from the Swedish National Forest Inventory. We have also discussed how the wood production and the biodiversity can be increased in mixed stands, in according to the Swedish forestry act Skogsvårdslagen. Our sampling areas are located in Norrland, Sweden. The results show a significant correlation between an increased birch admixture and an increased pH-value of the soil.

Today, buildings utilize 40 % of the total energy consumption. New energyrestrictions and directives have entered the construction industry. Photovoltaic is asustainable, clean and quiet solution that integrates well in the urban environment buthave not yet reached a breakthrough on the Swedish market. The conditions for solarenergy production are often set in the early planning stages where they rarely arebeing prioritized.This master of engineering project focuses on identifying problems regardingimplementation of photovoltaic in city development projects and giving suggestions topossible improvements in the planning- and construction process. It also givesrecommendations on how the conditions for energy production can be optimized inthe early zoning stage.By conducting simulations with PVsystV5.21, on three ongoing city developmentprojects in Umeå, Malmö and Stockholm and by carry out and analyzing interviewswith city planners, constructors and architects, some conclusions have been made.Several improvements, both politically, with changes in the subsidization systemand/or instatement of a new law with feed-in tariffs, and within the solar- andconstruction industry itself, with better communication between different parts of theprocess as well as better use of experience, can be made.

Insufficient intake of vegetables is a reason for micronutrient deficiencies and malnutrition in developing countries. With urbanization, globalization and a growing world population it is of major importance to secure sufficient food supply for the world?s population. Part of the solution to increased food security among the world?s poor could be the introduction of vegetable home gardens, plots for small scale vegetable production which can provide households with sufficient vegetables as well as serve as an extra income source. The study Improving peri-urban home gardens aims at examining the existence of vegetable home gardens in the peri-urban areas of Hyderabad, India.

Subclinical mastitis (SCM) is a well-known problem in the dairy sector, where it causes severe economic losses mainly due to reduced milk production. This is a problem not only in the western world but also in developing countries. Surveys from different developing countries have shown a SCM prevalence of 52.4 ? 88.6 % at cow level and 26.7 ? 63.2 % at quarter-level. To combat mastitis is important to optimize the milk production of the cow.

Title Becoming involved in the planning process - from the construction workers perspective.University/Institution Halmstad UniversityKeywordsEmpowerment through participation, construction workers involvement in decision making in the planning process, knowledge management and communication in the planning process, partnering, human resource managementAimThe aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide knowledge and examine how construction workers perceive involvement in the planning process of partnering projects, what they can contribute and what they get out of the planning process.Methodology The study was conducted with a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews.          The interview studie consist of 10 interviews with construction workers who are specially educated in participating in the planning process at the company ByggDialog AB.ConclusionAll respondents are positive to be involved in the planning process. The main advantages they can see is that they are able to influence technical solutions and methods that will be used later on in the production. Therefore it is important to consider when construction workers should be involved in the planning process so that they get the chance to influence in this decisions.When it comes to the decision making the construction workers should be involved in the decisions that are related to their tasks in the production such as technical solutions, choice of methods and materials. Their main duties and working hours should be in the production.Involvement in planning does not automatically mean that the construction workers are involved in the decision making, it is up to them how much they participate.

Examensarbetet utfördes på NCC Halmstad under våren 2010. Syftet med examensarbetet var att klargöra vad visuell metodik kan tillföra byggbranschen och hur det upplevs av personer som utför byggprojektArbetet innefattar en kvalitativ och en litteraturstudie. Den kvalitativa studien genomfördes med hjälp av sju intervjuer inom Region Syd med personer som arbetat med den visuella metoden NCC Projektplanering. Intervjuerna har ägt rum för att ta reda på hur den visuella metodiken fungerar i praktiken.Litteraturstudien innefattar en utredning av begreppen Lean, Lean Production, Lean Construction, Last Planner och NCC Projektplanering. Den röda tråden från Lean till NCC Projektplanering är att genom ständigt förbättringsarbete skapa engagemang och ökad delaktighet.Den generella uppfattningen av NCC Projektplanering är positiv, dock varierar uppfattningen av metoden efter aktörernas inställning.

Abstrakt  Tv-branschen är en jätteindustri som styrs av ett fåtal stora sändningsnätverk. I Sverige är den största distributören Sveriges Television (SVT) och på grund av detta så är sannolikheten att personer som arbetar inom ljud i Sverige någon gång kommer att arbeta på projekt för dem väldigt hög.I min uppsats har jag utfört en Actor Network-analys av empiriska studier jag utfört på postproduktionsbolaget Europa Sound and Vision. Med hjälp av analysen vill jag undersöka vad begreppet ?god hörbarhet? består av och därmed kunna definiera uttrycket tydligare.Jag jämför sedan SVTs syn på hörbarhet med den jag fått fram genom dessa studier för att till slut ändra på den nuvarande synen och på det regelverk SVT har..

Gunsta is situated about 10 km east of Uppsala. Today there are plans to establish 1000 new households in Gunsta before year 2030. The required energy for heating houses and water would be distributed via a district heating system, which also includes 200 existing residences. The annual required energy, according to this study, would be 16.2 GWh with a maximal peak effect of 6.9 MW. To meet this need, the study suggests a system with heat pumps to upgrade the 31?C water from a 1.8 kilometre deep borehole.

Swedish agriculture faces future challenges regarding food production and land use. Increased competition for agricultural land creates complex situations, where conflicts may arise when productive crop land is in demand not only for food production but also energy- and fodder production. On top of that there is an obvious conflict of goals between agricultural production and non-agricultural exploitation of agricultural land. In several emerging economic regions it is noticeable how agricultural land is being expropriated for development of urban settlement and infrastructure, carrying potentially significant long-term effects. During the last decade the exploitation of agricultural land in activities other than food production has increased in Sweden and is expected to continue in the same manor. Approximately 700 hectare of land in Sweden is diverted from food production, annually, and in 2013, the Uppsala Municipality showed the greatest change in land use of all municipalities (SCB, 2013).

The public sector is a major purchaser of goods and services. By setting requirements for environmental and social considerations in public procurement, an authority has the possibility to use consumer power to influence the actors in a market. The purpose of this paper is to investigate public procurement of textile products in a municipality, in order to gain knowledge about factors that may be important for the use of environmental and social criteria. Håkan Hydén´s (professor in sociology of law) norm model was used as the basis of the analysis, where the conduct was investigated along three dimensions of the norm ? willingness, knowledge and system conditions ? in order to identify underlying factors that can influence the process.The results ? analyzed by using interviews and documents ? show that the procurer's willingness, motivation and knowledge are important factors in this context, as well as the political priority of the municipality.