This thesis approaches the problem of estimating the arm angles of an industrial robot with flexibilities in joints and links. Due to cost-cutting efforts in the industrial robots industry, weaker components and more cost-effective structures have been introduced which in turn has led to problems with flexibilities, nonlinearities and friction. In order to handle these challenging dynamic problems and achieve high accuracy this study introduces state observers to estimate the tool position.The observers use measurements of the motor angles and an accelerometer and the different evaluated observers are based on an Extended Kalman Filter and a deterministic variant. They have been evaluated in experiments on an industrial robot with two degrees of freedom. The experimental verification shows that the state estimates can be highly accurate for medium frequency motions, ranging from 3-30Hz.

I?ve tried to find the most effective and cost effective way to harvest straw for energy recovery.You can choose between round bales and big square bales. Square bales are the cheapest way to produce straw for fuel recovery because you can optimize the length of the bales so they fit the transportation equipment.In the Malmö area the average days of harvesting hay is 55. The effectively of transportation depends mostly of the speed, the distance and density of the bales. To increase the capacity of bale transportation larger loads and higher density of the bales is necessary.

The inequality and separation of sexes seen in organizations may lead to inefficient use of human resources. Therefor, a more equal organization could lead to higher productivity and efficiency. Inequality within organizations is a problem also for the society as a whole since who is chosen for a position is not depended upon merits, leading to inefficiency. To not reflect upon traditional division of labor and decision-making could also lead to an undemocratic and unjust society. The aim of this thesis is to explore women and men?s engagement a family business in an agricultural setting. Gender theorists argue that gender arises from the social situation in society.

The task was to deliver a solution that could be implemented in today?s production of the FH truck. To make the project successful it was most important that the end result had a high maturity level. For that reason an analysis of ergonomic, laws and regulations, and possible materials where conducted. To show that this project is profitable and can be realized a ruff cost estimated of material and tools is added to the research.

Energy efficiency is important both to reduce costs and to reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. In Sweden 40 percent of the energy consumption is related to the buildings sector. Hospitals are complex buildings with different activities in the same building, which requires flexible technical systems for ventilation, heating and lightning. A quarter of the total energy consumption in Swedish hospitals is related to user activities in the hospitals. Therefore it is not only important to work with operational optimization but also to change user activities, to reduce energy consumption.The objective of this thesis was to examine the user-related energy efficiency work at two care units, at the central hospital in Sundsvall within Västernorrlands County.

A clean and affordable energy source for cooking is deficient in developing countries. People rely on fuels that contribute to environmental, social and health problems.Biogas is an alternative energy source and an increased investment in small-scale biogas production can in several developing countries be found. Several projects have started to use the technology in developing countries because of the benefits with biogas. Some cases in the establishment of biogas plants have succeeded and some have not. The study is a literature review supplemented by two field studies.

Schmallenberg virus (SBV) is a novel arthropod-borne orthobunyavirus emerging in Europe in 2011 to 2012. Acute SBV infection causes diarrhoea, fever and reduced milk production in dairy cattle, but it is mainly the reproductive disorders (abortions, malformed foetuses and stillborn animals) in ruminants that have caused substantial economical losses. The prevalence of the virus outside of Europe is poorly investigated. SBV or SBV-like antibodies were detected in Mozambique in 2013, which raised interest for a similar study in Tanzania. In this study in Tanzania, blood samples were collected from 478 sheep and goats from 39 herds in 15 different villages in three districts, covering areas in the north, south and east of Tanzania. The epidemiology of the virus was investigated by tracing antibodies by ELISA and mapping of the virus by PCR was started.

This Master thesis was written for Lantmännen Agroetanol in Norrköping concerning the layout of their finished goods inventory and unloading of feed after introducing a new product mix. Lantmännen Agroetanol has two production lines which produces feed. Both lines lead to six silos, used as inventory of finished goods. The feed from the two production lines differ in terms of quality, where as Lantmännen Agroetanol wants to separate their finished inventory in order to charge a higher price, by selling the better product as a premium. With two different feed products the yearly revenue is expected to increase which motivates a research about the current capabilities and necessary changes to be made in the factory.

The payment for produced grain is constantly going down in price. It is important for farmers to become more effective in cultivating more land in a shorter time perspective. At the same time we have to calculate with the risk of getting lowered subsidies from the EU. This is why I would like to find out the possibilities for establishing winter wheat without ploughing. I hope to find a difference in the number of plants due to different soil preparations. With this experiment I expect to find out whether I can establish winter wheat at a lower cost, with the same numbers of plants per square meter.

This thesis describes redesign and adaption of a products housing. In order to make it more economical to produce at a lower production volume. The thesis is based upon a prototype that a previous student developed for injection moulding. The goal is to find alternative manufacturing methods, but also to identify parameters that affect the cost of the injection moulding tool.The housing must be tough in order to protect the circuit board inside. But at the same time it must allow sound, light an electrical communication to pass through.

Under senare tid har det på den svenska livsmedelsmarknaden växt olika miljö- och kvalitetsmärkningar som grundar sig på olika kriterier. Vi har i denna uppsats valt att studera två av dessa: Svenskt Sigill coh SVENSKODLAT. Syftet med denna uppsats är därför att ur ett producentperspektiv, undersöka huruvida Svenskt Sigill och SVENSKODLAT certifieringarna kan utgöra en strategisk konkurrensfördel. Vi har identifierat tre aspekter som var och en i varierande grad kan sägas bidra till att de båda certifieringar vi studerat skapar konkurrensfördelar. Dessa tre aspekter vilka vi sammanfattat i en ABC-modell är: adding value, barrier to entry och cost saving.

There is an increased pressure for firms to provide the financial market with additional information. Such disclosure is attached with different kinds of costs. In spite of these costs, and in spite of increased mandatory disclosures, firms choose to voluntary disclosure financial information to analysts and others. This indicates that firms also benefit from providing additional information. The subjects of this study is 431 annual reports from firms listed at the Stockholm Stock Exchange for 2002 and 2005 and the objective is to survey factors that can explain variations in firms? voluntary disclosure.

Andelen flerspråkiga barn i Sverige ökar och följdaktligen så även behovet av kunskap om deras språkutveckling. Flerspråkiga barns språkutveckling har visat sig skilja sig i viss mån från den hos enspråkiga barn och då normer för flerspråkiga barns språkutveckling saknas i logopedisk verksamhet idag finns en osäkerhet kring hur deras språkutveckling bör bedömas. Föreliggande studie ingår i det internationella forskningsnätverket COST Action IS0804 och ämnar utgöra ett litet bidrag till en växande databank om flerspråkiga barns språkutveckling, i detta fall i jämförelse med enspråkiga barns språkutveckling. Studien utgår från 100 narrativer berättade av sex- och sjuåriga enspråkiga svensktalande och flerspråkiga engelsk-svensktalande barn. Narrativerna eliciterades med hjälp av två bildsekvenser från bedömningsmaterialet MAIN och samlades in inom ramen för tre tidigare magisteruppsatser i logopedi från Uppsala universitet.

This report is an inventory of the street lighting in half of the residential estates owned by Karlstad Bostads AB, a public housing company. The inventory was made to reduce the environmental impact of the street lighting. From the inventory an estimation of the total installed power and the energy consumption was made. The total estimated power of the street lighting was 125 kW and the energy consumption was 500 000 kWh/year with an estimated running time of 4 000 h/year. The dominating source of light was 125 W discharge mercury lamps.

In Sweden, harvesting pre-commercial thinning (PCT) stems for energy purposes is a interesting way of financing the high cost of preparing dense stands for a profitable first conventional thinning. This concept can be labelled bioenergy thinning. The aim of this study was to quantify the productivity of a Vimek 404R light harvester with an accumulating Naarva-Grip cutting head during the bioenergy thinning of a self-regenerated stand west of Sunnansjö in Dalarna. The stand was birch-dominated, contained 15 371 stems/ha, and measured on average 4,6 cm Dbh and 7 m tall. Even though the driver was well experienced with the machine, the stand in question was the first one that he ever thinned in this manner. Nevertheless, the driver strived to accumulate as many stems as possible during each crane cycle and chose to cut taller stems in half so as to make the handling and forwarding of the harvested stems easier.