Modern forest owners are very familiar with forest management and forest economics. Therefore they have high demands for quality in forest operations. Guarantee of quality in the shape of self-checking activities is an important tool to guarantee a well managed forestry operation. To meet the forest owners? demands on guarantee of quality and the entrepreneurs wish of an easy method for self-checking, the forest owners association, Södra skogsägarna, has developed a new method for thinning inventory. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the method that is used for self-checking and to find ways to develop and improve of the method. The data has been collected by inventory in a number of stands with circle-area survey and with strip survey, which is method that is used for self-checking. The results show that the strip survey does not diverge more than ±10 % in measuring values of basal area, number of stems, roads share, thinning quotient, outtake of basal area and total volume compared to circle-area survey.

Value stream mapping is a tool that is frequently used by many different companies. It is a great tool used to achieve the work that follows the theories of lean production. The tool is used, however, only frequent on the factory floor and the method is also designed based on this type of use.An interest of applying the method on administrative parts of the company has occurred lately. Administrative parts of the company refers to the part that does all the planning such as purchasing, receiving orders, customer contact, contact with factory floor and other work that is made around the actual manufacturing. But the knowledge about applying value stream mapping on the planning part of the company is lacking because the method is relatively new.In this work, a comparison is made between the introduction of value stream analysis on production and planning.

This thesis is based on design theory about how to build an application for the mobile platform, a scientific analysis and an application for grocery shopping and meal planning. The thesis also contains a valuation of the research and of the application. The valuation of the application was done by a usability test and an analysis of the results of the test.The application of the thesis has an easy navigation system, which is time saving and simple to use. Finding recipes with the associated ingredients is a quick fix. The search function can be used for searching freely after recipes as well as for separate ingredients. That makes it possible for the user to create own recipes from available ingredients.

According to many scholars America's soft power is in decline, a power resource whose importance has been increasing in world politics. This makes it interesting to examine if there is a difference between how Democratic and Republican administrations wield their soft power.This thesis is a hypothesis-testing study and the purpose is to test the hypothesis that Democratic administrations, to a greater extent than Republican, can create, utilize and defend soft power. My thesis is based on Joseph Nye's theory of soft power and the focus of this study is the aspects of the foreign policy resources. In order to measure this concept I have made my own operationalization where five different indicators serve as my guidance. I use the method of least likely-cases to select and motivate the administrations being tested, which gives me a comparative study of the Democratic administrations of Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton and the Republican administration of George H.

Introduction: Pregnancy, obesity, aging and certain diseases are examples of conditions thataffect the body, its constitution and composition. Simpler methods to estimate bodycomposition are needed to complement more advanced traditional methods to better identifythe health status without sacrificing accuracy and precision.Objective: To validate the results of body composition from bioelectrical impedancespectroscopy (BIS) against results from the study reference method, dual energy X-rayabsorption (DXA), in overweight and obese lactating women after childbirth.Method: The design of the LEVA-study (Lifestyle for Effective Weight loss during lactation)consisted both intervention and longitudinal follow-up, which gave the opportunity tovalidate the absolute values (accuracy) and the ability to detect changes (precision). Themean difference between methods was tested statistically by paired t-test. Bland-Altman plotsused to examine the degree of agreement between BIS and DXA, but also distribution andany systematic differences. Association between methods was measured by using Pearson´scorrelation coefficient.Results: Between BIS and DXA, absolute measurements of the variables fat-free mass (FFM)and fat mass (FM) showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001).

Texture is an important soil property and accurate particle size analysis of soil texture is therefore crucial. There are a number of well-established and newly developed methods available for determining soil texture. In order to compare the results of these methods, the differences between them must be determined. The difficulties, problems and differences regarding texture class determination were examined through a study performed on forest soil samples. The study compared different methods (pipette, hydrometer and field methods) and two types of dispersing agents (sodium pyrophosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate (calgon)) commonly used for particle size analysis.

This essay, called Motivation and reading comprehension, is a study of the correlation between the motivation to read and the reading comprehension of Swedish students in their final year of school before university level, meaning that they are eighteen or nineteen years old, sometimes more.The relation between the identity of the individual and the learning process has been a matter of scientific interest for some time, and this essay works in that tradition by investigating the connection between how pupils regard reading and how well developed their ability to decode text is.The reading comprehension is measured through a test that consists of a text from the Swedish epic by Vilhelm Moberg, Invandrarna, where the reader at certain intervals throughout the text is asked to mark the correct word from a choice of three. This test has been used and evaluated extensively by Per Fröjd, who has found that the results are reliable and useful.To measure the motivation to read I?ve constructed a survey to be answered before taking the reading test. It focuses on three different parts of reading motivation that are noted as the most important ones by Ivar Bråten. These are the feeling of joy and interest for reading, the goal to acquire knowledge of a specific subject, and the expectations that you have on yourself as a reader.Results show a weak or non-existent correlation between the two factors for the whole of the subjects, but once those who have a first language other than Swedish are removed the correlation becomes significant.

Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla och normera ett logopediskt stavningstest för vuxna., då det idag saknas ett sådant test. Det framtagna testet bestod till en början av en orddel som innehöll 80 ord i varierande svårighetsgrad, utvalda för att representera svenskans olika stavningskombinationer. Vidare fanns en del med 80 nonord, konstruerade för att följa svenskans ljudmässiga uppbyggnad. 146 deltagare från 18 ? 94 år deltog i normeringen av testet.

ABSTRACTAim: The aim of this study was to examine differences in the documentation of the case incident reports, before (FRP) and after (FRE) the introduction of a quality standard for fall prevention in the geriatric departments at a Swedish University hospital. Method: 51 fall incident reports were collected before the introduction of quality standards for fall prevention and 63 after. Differences in documentation between the fall incident reports were analyzed with a Chi-2 test. Results: Number of case incidents in which the use of the alarm mat was documented increased after the introduction of quality standards for fall prevention and documented use of shoes and walker decreased. The majority of all documented case incidents occurred inside the patient room according to both FRP and FRE.

Aim: To examine the reaction of extreme preterm infants with regarding to body temperature and transepidermal water loss during skin-to-skin care according to Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) during the infant?s first week of life. Method: This was a descriptive quantitatively designed study, which was a pilot study within the framework of a larger project. Nine children, with a median gestational age of 24.91 weeks, were examined by measuring body temperature (axilla and skin temperature) as well as transepidermal water loss before, during and after KMC. Results: The study showed that skin temperature tended to rise during KMC, especially for those children who were nursed with KMC for more than 60 minutes.

Value stream mapping is a tool that is frequently used by many different companies. It is a great tool used to achieve the work that follows the theories of lean production. The tool is used, however, only frequent on the factory floor and the method is also designed based on this type of use.An interest of applying the method on administrative parts of the company has occurred lately. Administrative parts of the company refers to the part that does all the planning such as purchasing, receiving orders, customer contact, contact with factory floor and other work that is made around the actual manufacturing. But the knowledge about applying value stream mapping on the planning part of the company is lacking because the method is relatively new.In this work, a comparison is made between the introduction of value stream analysis on production and planning.

The division of Engineering Materials at Linköping University, department of Management and Engineering, conducted a research project concerning Fatigue life of thermal barrier coatings during 2009. During this project equipment to provoke these fatigue failure by rapidly heating and cooling test subjects in cycles, was ordered.Design and manufacturing of the equipment was handled internally at LIU.The equipment was built using a furnace that is lowered and raised over the table where the test subject is placed. To keep the temperature of the furnace a lid slides in place to close the downward facing opening of the furnace when it is in the raised position. On this door there is nozzle that is used to cooling of the test subject by air.To make sure that the equipment can work independently you need an automation controller that can evaluate if movement can occur without danger of collisions. The control system also needs to monitor that all elements are performed according to plan.This degree project is based on a modular system from OPTO 22 and includes the configuration of a PLC that will be supplied with logic and a user interface.The degree project resulted in a graphic interface in which a user can set desired values for different parameters and get information about current values for them.

The purpose of this study was to gather knowledge about the functioning of the rein tension meter and test it for future studies of match and mismatch between rider and horse. We looked specifically into the possibilities to use a rein-tension meter to determine the quality of cooperation between horse and rider. We examined whether a rider shows a specific tension pattern and also if certain patterns could be recognised for a specific horse. During the study, a manual with pictures and text was written to support the practical use of the meter. The manual describes in a simple way the first steps in the installation and use of the meter.

Syfte och frågeställningarSyftet med denna studie är att beskriva svenska elitseglares fysiska kapacitet mätt med Sveriges Olympiska Kommittés Fysprofil.MetodFjorton svenska seglare på elitnivå, fem kvinnor och nio män, inkluderades i studien för att genomgå Svenska Olympiska Kommitténs Fysprofil, innehållande följande tester; roddergometer, brutalbänk, chins, greppergometer, knäböj med skivstång, bänkdrag, squat jump och counter movement jump med armsving. Testerna utfördes på Bosön (Stockholm). Statistiska analysen utfördes med programmet Statistica för jämförelse inom och mellan testpersonerna och presenteras som medelvärde och standardavvikelse (SD) .ResultatMaximal syreupptagningsförmåga mätt med roddergometer var för kvinnor 2,9L/min (0,1) och män 4,7L/min (0,5). Syreupptagningsförmågan per kilo kroppsvikt och minut för kvinnor 46,7ml (1,7) och för män 58,4ml (3,2). Den uppmätta roddsträckan under fyra minuter var för kvinnor 1040,8m (9,1) och för män 1215,3m (53,7).

Detta kandidatarbete är utarbetat på Blekinge Tekniska Högskola under våren 2002. I utredningen har vi jämfört röstigenkänningsprogram under en treårsperiod, program från 1999 och program från 2002. 1999 års test visade på programvaror med lång träningstid, enkla gränssnitt, stor känslighet för bakgrundsljud och låg användbarhet. Vid arbetsstart förväntade vi oss inte att hitta någon större förändring i användbarheten hos dessa program 2002, då röstigenkänningsprogram inte verkar ha stor användarskara. Utifrån följande hypotes har vi genomfört arbetet: Vi vill med vår undersökning bevisa att användbarheten inom röstigenkänningsteknologi inte har förbättrats under perioden 1999-2002. Vi har för avsikt att med hjälp av test utförda på program och demoversioner bevisa vår hypotes. I enighet med bifogad testspecifikation har vi utfört testerna. Många företag har utvecklat sina produkter och gjort dem bättre.