Place is on the one hand a commonsense everyday word with diversely connotative meanings, and on the other a contested concept with different interpretations across a broad range of academic disciplines and discourses. This thesis researches theories of place and their implications for the theory and design practice of landscape architecture. Responding to problems of insufficient theoretical grounding and inconsistent use of the concept of place within the discipline presently, it argues the need for a theory of place better articulated in relation to landscape architecture. It seeks to contribute to such theory formation by drawing on ideas from related disciplines ? tracing diverse understandings of place beyond the commonsense meanings of the word and into the deeper reaches of place theory as tools to explain physical, social and spiritual aspects of the environment, and human relationships with it.

This study is focused on small scale water and wastewater handling in Sweden. The study is divided into two major parts; the first describes common methods for water- and wastewater handling and the second part is a case study on three small and expensive systems in Gällivare municipality, in the north of Sweden. In the case study, abilitys for the local government to hand over unwanted systems to the water users is investigated and found to be a plausible solution to cut costs for two out of the three studied systems. In the third case, water and wastewater systems is not recommended to be handed over but other ways of cutting costs are suggested..

Periods of hypoxia are a recurring issue in Brunnsviken. Main factors that trigger hypoxia in Brunnsviken are eutrophication  due to anthropogenic emission of nutrients, stratification in the water column due to salinity and temperature differences  that prevents mixing and a sill inlet that prevents water exchange. As an attempt to improve the oxygen levels, bottom water is pumped from Brunnsviken causing aerated surface water to flow back into the basin.  The objective of this Master?s thesis was to study the change in dissolved oxygen levels due to pumping.

In many developing countries, among them Vietnam, contamination of agricultural land is a major issue that has public health implications. A fast growing population, rapid urbanization and industrialization have led to air and water emissions of potentially toxic elements (PTEs), such as cadmium (Cd). Earlier studies have shown that individuals with low iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) status absorb larger quantities of Cd than those of adequate nutritional status. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the Fe and Zn intake from the foods consumed by women (15-45 years) in selected households in two agricultural villag-es in the Red River delta in Vietnam. In one of the villages the residents were involved in metal (mainly Fe) recycling activity, whereas in the other village the residents had agricul-tural production as main source of income. Interviews, followed by food intake calcula-tions, were performed.

Heat is distributed to the district heating customers through pipes with water as a heat carrier. The district heating system is complex. To decide what is leakages from the district heating net versus what is the water consumption of the plant, is difficult. Therefore, the purpose of this master thesis is to establish a model where the district heating net?s leakages but also the water consumption of the plant can be followed daily. The project is performed at Vattenfall´s district heating power plant in Uppsala. Information is gathered through discussions, drawings of the plant and guided tours of the plant.

The effects of the deregulation of the electricity market 1996 in Sweden on short-term hydropower regulation are unknown. This report investigates patterns in subdaily regulation in the Ångerman River Basin during the period 1993-2011. Differences in subdaily flows and zero flow events between the periods 1993-1995 and 1996-2011 were studied by analyzing hourly data from 8 regulated and 8 unregulated locations with four subdaily flow variation indices. No correlations between the market deregulation and the regulation intensity in the Ångerman River basin were detected. The number of days natural ranges of variability were exceeded and the magnitude of subdaily variation were significantly higher at regulated locations.

Drinking water from drilled wells has a high content of iron and other minerals in many places in Sweden. Questions about the association between the quality of drinking water and the health of dairy cows are regulary asked both by advisers and dairy farmers. There are so far not many studies published about the relevance for high iron content in water and dairy cow health and production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate if there is a connection between the iron content in water and the health of dairy cows. Initially a literature study was made about iron and it´s function in ruminants.

This examination work on studies and research in articles is mostly from other countries. The purpose of the examination work have been to find out if there are any means you can work with to find out when its time to start irrigation, how they works and if they are credible. In Sweden there is not many means for decide when it?s time to irrigate and how much water you should appear. Swedish farmers think they have so much experience that they don?t need techniques like this.

Lerbodaälven is a river in the municipality of Kil which, due to high phosphorus content is not meeting the requirements for good ecological status according to the Water Framework Directive. The purpose of this report is to investigate the causes for the high content of phosphorus that has been measured in Lerbodaälven between 1995-2010. Four questions will be answered in this report. 1. Does the sewage treatment work affect the phosphorus level in Lerbodaälven? The result from the time series analysis shows that the sewage treatment works have a small impact on the phosphorus level in Lerbodaälven.

Hammarby Sjöstad is a new district in southern Stockholm. A main objective with the Sjöstad project was to halve the environmental impact compared to other construction work. The environmental goals involve a halved water consumption rate, a local treatment of storm water and trials aiming to extract nutrients from the waste water. Sjöstadsverket is an experimental treatment plant used for testing new treatment processes for domestic waste water from Hammarby Sjöstad. The results are to be compared with the conventional process used at Henrikdals treatment plant today.

This graduation thesis is about baths and beach like places in city centers. It focuses on recreation and the creation and development of public, social spaces in the city containing water as a visual and useable element. The thesis is divided into three parts; background, inspiration and application. The background examines four factors which we consider important for the occurrence of inner city baths; water, the history of bathing, inner city recreation and social life in public places. A discussion of the (future) importance of inner city baths and beach like places' is then presented. The inspirational part is divided into examples of existing places and examples of types of places. The first is used in an attempt to examine the function and importance of inner city baths and beach like places as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with them. The latter contains a presentation of six categories developed by us to facilitate the planning of inner city baths and beach like places.

An excessive input of nutrients to lakes and other water bodies has created a problem with eutrophication in Sweden. Untreated, or partially treated, domestic sewage is a major source for discharge of phosphorus (P), which is the nutrient most frequently responsible for eutrophication of most fresh waters and the Baltic Sea. The waste water can be cleaned by filter materials, which have a high P-retention ability and which after saturation may be used as fertilizers. Four potentially suitable filter materials were tested in batch- and column experiments in this study. In the batch experiments, the following materials were shaken with waste water in time series ranging from 5 seconds to 60 minutes: coarse (1-4 mm) and fine (0-2 mm) Polonite® (heated bedrock from Poland); Filtralite® (light expanded clay aggregates with limestone added before burning); water cooled blast furnace slag (BF-slag) and BF-slag mixed with 10% burned limestone.

A large number of rivers in northern Sweden have hydropower developments that cause negative effects on both up- and downstream migrations of anadromous species like Atlantic salmon. So far, most attention has focused on the hindrances of adult fish during their upstream spawning migration. However, since turbines in power stations cause losses on downstream passing fish, the focus on negative effects on smolts has increased. The aim of this study was to compare three different causes of losses of salmon smolts passing downstream through a power station area in the flow-controlled River Åbyälven in northern Sweden.A total of 61 wild salmon smolts were caught and radio-tagged in the River Åbyälven during their downstream migration in June 2009. The salmon smolts were released at three locations, 1.1 km upstream from the power station, in the turbine intake and in the upper part of a fishway, acting both for up- and downstream fish passage.

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.

The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the debate of water politics and privatisation of water distribution. My method is debate analysis and qualitative idea analysis and for my essay I used three books that try to persuade the reader that his or her idea is the best for this water crisis. My main question is to illustrate the debate concerning water privatisations. I will also look at the arguments for or against privatisations and finally determine how the authors think the state should act towards this subject. The first book I used was Vandana Shivas ?Water Wars? that when published started an international discussion about the water privatisations.