The purpose of this masters thesis is to evaluate the retrieval effectiveness of three different search engines on the Internet: Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search. We have constructed 25 topics and queries with varying contents, in order to test the width of the search engines as much as possible. In every search we have evaluated the first 20 hits in each of the search engines. The measures we have used are precision and cumulated gain. Precision is based on a binary scale and cumulated gain is calculated by means of a non-binary relevance scale.

Ear disease and hearing loss in preschool children can be difficult to discover and diagnose. This paper investigates ear disease in 20 children controls from 1 to 5 years of age. The aim of the study was to map prevalence and incidence for ear disease, and prevalence of hearing loss in a group of children.Twenty children wide aged 1, 1½, 3 and 5 were included and investigated according to a set protocol with psychoacoustic tests, tympanometry, ear microscopy and a parental questionnaire. The majority of the children could be evaluated by age adequate psychoacoustic tests and otoscopy. Tympanometry was the investigation method that was most difficult to perform.

AbstraktKonditionsträning aktiverar stora muskelgrupper och ökar aerob och anaerob energiomsättning. Bikarbonat (bi) har stor betydelse för gasutbyte för att konditionsutövare inte ska bli utmattade genom försurning i kroppen. Forskare har därför undersökt om ett tillskott av bikarbonat kan leda till ökad prestation vid konditionsträning.Syftet med studien är att undersöka om bikarbonat kan utöka fysiskt aktiva mäns prestationsförmåga.Vi har använt oss av en randomiserad crossoverstudie. Manliga deltagare (n=13) undersöktes i studien (ålder 27 ± 9, längd 183 ± 8 cm, vikt 81 ± 14 kg). Deltagarna utförde tre Coopertest vid tre separata tillfällen.

The project was performed in collaboration with Husqvarna, one of the world?s leading manufacturer in the market of electric outdoor products. The report is a thesis work of a bachelor mechanical engineer program, in the field product development and design.The project is a study of the development opportunities within drive belt for a gear driven gearbox to one of Husqvarnas petrol powered hedge trimmers. A big part of the project was also to find combinations of materials for all components in the gearbox, to reduce weight and maintain or improve the performance of the system. Belt drive was of interest to investigate as an alternative solution to the current design that can reduce wear on the system at a performance test performed in the company before the product is released to market.

Today the competition in the automobile industry is getting all tougher. The technology behind cars becomes more advanced. To get ahead of competitors car companies has to look into new areas of innovation.One important area is vehicle safety. Bigger companies have come so far in vehicle safety that difference between cars more depends on the car type (size) than the technology behind it.There is one area where vehicle safety that still has great opportunities for improvement, which is in active safety. The term active safety states that the car has the ability to identify treats and automatically respond to the treats.

The aim of this study is to combine queer theories with quantitative methods. In social sciences, queer theories are being widely and increasingly used. Quantitative method is also widely used, and as a traditional method it can be regarded as a cornerstone in social sciences, sociology in particular. However, the two perspectives, queer theories and quantitative method, seem at a first glance to be very different in their understanding of social phenomena. Queer theories have, with some exceptions, mainly focused on qualitative research concerning such phenomena as sexuality, while the field of science is quite diverse.

This work is an exploration of a method and how to find balance between it and its contents. One part consists of a technical study on how to use UV light to yellow distinct surfaces on paper and the other is about how to find use of the method. The common denominator is determined as the consequence of the relationship between light and time. The result is three images that shows various traces of time with time as a graphic expression..

Mine waste from Ljusnarsbergsfältet in Kopparberg, Sweden, is considered to constitute a great risk for human health and the surrounding environment. Some of the waste rock consists of sulphide minerals. When sulphide minerals come into contact with dissolved oxygen and precipitation, oxidation may occur resulting in acid mine drainage (AMD) and the release of heavy metals. The purpose of this study has been to characterise the waste material and try to chemically stabilize the waste rock with a mixture of sewage sludge and calcium carbonate. The drawback of using organic matter is the risk that dissolved organic matter can act as a complexing agent for heavy metals and in this way increase their mobility.

Att perceptuellt uppfatta och identifera lukter påverkas av en rad olika kortikala system och kognitva förmågor. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka huruvida personer med afasi har en luktförmåga som skiljer sig från normalpopulationen och ifall en afasiproblematik påverkar de faktorer som normalt involverar luktförmågan.         I studien medverkade tio försökspersoner, sex män och fyra kvinnor. Personerna hade varierande grad och typ av afasi och var mellan 42 och 76 år. Deltagarna delades in i åldersgrupper där två personer klassades som yngre och åtta som äldre. Samtliga testdeltagare genomförde två olika lukttest: Odor Threshold Test (OTT), och Swedish Odor Identification Test (SOIT).

This study investigated the relation between Extraversion and Conscientiousness with job satisfaction and job selection in the two occupational groups of telemarketing and administration. The study also set out to explore the relation between social desirability as assessed with an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and total reaction time on the IAT. The questionnaire was administered over the Internet to forty-one subjects (24 women and 17 men) in the age range 16-65. Results indicated that people working with telemarketing tend to be extrovert while people working with administration often are conscientious. Job satisfaction correlated with Extraversion in the telemarketing group.

Title: Adults who have been suzuki children speak out - A study of the consequences of the Suzuki method in five adults' lives. This study deals with a quite unexplored field: the consequences that the Suzuki method, that among other things is based on learning by listening and early beginning, can have on a child's life. This can be useful for those generally interested, for Suzuki teachers and even for those who are critical to the Suzuki method and have asked for more research about it. I have performed interviews with five adults who have all grown up with the Suzuki method of learning in Sweden. Based on their answers I have also analysed their experiences in relation to Suzuki's view on child development, the thirteen basic principles of the Suzuki method, Howard Gardner's opinion on the Suzuki method and previous research in Sweden.

In this study I have compared two different development methods of reading and writing. I have done this by interviewing five first grade teachers in elementary schools and it is based on qualitative research interviews. The aim of the study was to immerse myself in which methods these five teachers describe that they have used. They got to describe how they work and how they have tought the students to read and write. I have investigated if the teachers think that the computer is a good tool. The investigation also shows if the teachers believe that the students´ writing skills deteriorate if they can use the keyboard instead. I came to the conclusion that four of the teachers used Arne Trageton´s method (2005) which means that the students learn how to write by using to computer.

Denna uppsats handlar om musik och rörelse skulle kunna vara en alternativ vägledningsmetod vid studievägledning för ungdomar med diagnosen ADHD/DAMP. Uppsatsskrivarnas huvudsyfte var att undersöka om musik och rörelse skulle kunna användas inom vägledning för att ge dessa ungdomar större möjligheter till ett mer kvalitativt underbyggt val till vidare studier. Undersökningen bygger på kvalitativa metoder genom intervjuer med studievägledare inom grundskola samt en aktiv studievägledare (verksam med ADHD-elever). Vi har också intervjuat en Tomatis terapeut (En metod som tränar hjärnan att prioritera, sortera och hantera sinnesintryck bättre) samt en användare av metoden. Resultaten vi kom fram till var att Tomatismetoden resulterade i stora förbättringar gällande koncentration och uppmärksamhet, samt att kvarvarande effekter bestod i minst sex månader.

The aim of the project was to investigate if Swedish rodents, brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), house mouse (Mus musculus), wood mouse (Apodemus spp) and water vole (Arvicola terrestris) captured in pig herds and in urban areas, constitute a reservoir for pathogenic Leptospira spp. Under Swedish conditions leptospirosis gives rise to reproductive disorders in pigs and symptoms of flu in humans. It has long been established that rodents are chronic carriers of pathogenic leptospires in their kidneys, and can spread the bacteria with urine. The old nomenclature of serovoars is still in use, but a new system of genetic classification has developed and today the genus Leptospira contains 17 species. There are several diagnostic test developed for leptospirosis.

This thesis, designed as a case study, is about complications concerning conservation of a decorative oil paint on lime plaster from the drawing-room in Mostorp castle sited in the county of Halland in south-west of Sweden. The building was built 1878-80 with an exterior of granite. The interior walls were made of clay bricks, lime mortar and lime plaster. The oil paint is applied to a layer of putty. The combination of different materials, which are organic and inorganic, affects the movement caused by internal and external stress.