Umeå Energi are working towards a goal, that in the year of 2018, they will be completely climate neutral. As a part of this, one target is to reduce their grid losses by 4 % of the 2012 level, which corresponds to an overall reduction of the grid losses of just over 1.7 GWh. In many residential areas, the distribution grid is designed and rated for electric heating as the heating in the houses. As many of the houses later has been converted to other types of heating, their electricity use has decreased and the total power output from many of the secondary substations has decreased significantly. Because of this, many of these stations today are well oversized, which in turn means that the energy losses in these stations are unnecessarily high.In this degree project, 25 secondary substations have been studied, all located in residential areas in and around central Umeå.

In this study, the efficiency of a newly launched predatory mite, Amblydromalus limonicus, has been examined for its potential to use as a biological control agent in cucumber production. A. limonicus can be used for biological control of two thrips species, Frankliniella occidentalis and Thrips tabaci. Field trials were conducted in greenhouses of two conventional cucumber growers in Scania, the southern part of Sweden. The basic control agent used against thrips was the predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii. In selected areas, additional A.

Stressful routines for animal handling can reduce immune function and productivity of animals. If stakeholders are handling animals aversively, animals will show increased expressions of fear for humans and higher stress levels which lead to the compromise of animals? welfare. In Ethiopia, there are no legislations to protect animals from suffering or discomfort. The main objective of this study was therefore to analyse welfare of cattle on animal markets in Ethiopia and map out supply chains of animals to these markets.

Glulam?s position at the Swedish market for building constructions has been established over the past decades. Factors affecting glulam demand are found both in global and national contexts as well in customer attitudes and knowledge of the material. Arguments for environmentally friendly and sustainable construction processes and energy-efficient designs are nowadays common, which is something that should motivate increased usage of wood as a renewable material. For the glulam industry to increase its sales, improve profitability and thereby gain market share in present competitive climate, reliable market information and updated market intelligence is required.

The report addresses four main tasks, situation analysis of the company's total costs and transportation volume, cost analysis associated with the adjustment of the filling ratio, transport costs for the expansion and new expenses on a combination of expansion with new adjusted filling ratio.  Increasing transport costs for the company was the main reason for the request of the current situation analysis. A survey of the total cost with the actual volumes and transport provider pricing is the basis of the analysis that extends from May 2006 to October 2008. The results show an increase in costs, both overall expense and per cubic meter of transported goods. Volume spreads, trends, and seasonal variations are according to our and the company?s expectations.

Background: Infectious Diseases Institute points out that the potential of various viraldiseases possibly can block each other. It is said that the virus that causes common cold,Rhinovirus, may have saved many people from the flu. If this assumption proves true, itwould explain why some viral diseases in some countries have been slow to take off and pointto a new way to struggle influenza. Objective: The main purpose of this study, based onreported cases of RSV and influenza type A, type B and H1N1, investigate whether viraldiseases can block each other, i.e. difficult season of flu may delay and / or mitigate thespread of RSV in Sweden.

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a tree species that have its natural distribution along the West Coast of North America, from Alaska in the north to northern California in the south. Sitka spruce is a typical coastal tree species that can reach heights up to 85 meters and occurs in single pure as well as in mixed stands. The main purposes of this study were to describe the Sitka spruce growing characteristics and the volume production in comparison to spruce (Picea abies). The possibility to predict future volume production by using prognosis tools designed to be used on spruce were also studied. The material that has been used in this study are permanent sitka trials established by the Faculty of Forestry fixed Sitka trials and also material gathered in this study. A literature study was also carried out in order to determine the Sitka spruce growing characteristics. Sitka spruce has a high adaptation and a high volume production on a broad scale of soil types. The tree species is a pioneer species that has a fast early growth and in combination with sharp needles it is less susceptible to animal browsing than spruce. The factor that is the single most limiting factor for where the Sitka spruce can be planted is frost. This factor can be limited by using plant material with a well-suited provenance. According to the literature, the Sitka spruce has an average total volume production that is between 20-40% higher than spruce.

The purpose of this thesis has been to assess whether leaching from one particular Swedishlandfill site, Skörbytippen, is contributing to elevated levels of heavy metals in a ditch runningfrom the landfill site to the lake Mälaren in the communal region of Håbo kommun. Since theditch is stretching approximately five km downstream from the landfill site, in situ observationsand maps with known points of inflow was utilized to determine appropriate test points for thecollection of samples.Soil, water and sediment samples were collected and analyzed for content of organic material, pHand conductivity. Data on plant-available elements and total amounts of heavy metals wasacquired through ICP-analysis.The results show that the Skörby landfill is currently in the methane-forming anaerobedevelopment phase, which indicates that the concentration of free and complex-bound metals inthe leachate water should be low due to chemical binding with other landfill compounds. The pHof the sediment samples was generally one unit higher than the soil samples and some of themeasured data, such as pH and conductivity, show that an environmentally disturbing dischargeof some kind of strongly alkaline chemical(s) has been made from Benders? takpanneindustri inclose proximity to the landfill.

Energy is an important issue in the current world which significantly affects sustainability and development. Energy generation and use are major sources of CO2 emissions which is one of the most important driving factors in global climate changes. The amount of energy used in house hold section can lead to estimation of the amount of CO2 emitted within this section which subsequently would be a ground to better management and maintaining a sustainable society. This study which is a bachelor?s project in sustainable energy, deals with estimation of CO2 emission from different types of residential houses in Sweden. An extensive literature review on energy use in Sweden by different residential sectors has been conducted.

There is currently no activity or behavior meters validated for sows under Swedish conditions where the sows are loose-housed during farrowing and nursing. An activity meter could in particular be used to detect sows that are getting ready for farrowing. Assistive technology in order to register different behaviors would be extremely useful in research and breeding. In this study, a HOBO Pendant G data logger was validated for two different functions. First, the function as a pure activity meter in which the accelerometer's ability to detect an upcoming farrowing was evaluated, and second, the accelerometer's ability to distinguish between the behaviors standing up, sitting down, lying ventrally and lying laterally on the right and left sides was evaluated. The accelerometer was attached to a collar around the sow's neck, and was recording its location every two seconds for six hours a day for ten days on a total of twelve sows.

Frigoscandia Freezer AB have seen themselves as an entrepreneur company for a long time, but have lately begun to realise that they have to go against a more administrative era. With that insight they have begun to examine their enterprise in order to achieve this. The division Team Spare Parts has started a project with the intention of checking-up the inventory management, and improving it for the future. To get support for this and other point of views, they decided to let us do our exam thesis as a part of the project.The first part of the thesis deals with the appropriate inventory theory. All calculations in the other parts of the thesis have been based upon this.

The Swedish model for developing the national infrastructure is based on increasing the cooperation between municipalities, government and businesses. The method to establish the infrastructure in Sweden is the geodatastrategin. The effort to implement the geodatastrategin has resulted in an interaction model, Geodatasamverkan. The purpose of this study is to alert municipalities and to investigate the usefulness of their participation in Geodatasamverkan. The study also presents examples of different applications where geodata can be used within a municipality. The report is based on literature reviews, surveys and interviews. Online Surveys were sent to some of Sweden's municipalities to get an overall idea of ??how they make use of geodata and their general attitude towards Geodatasamverkan.

This project investigated how elevation and vegetation type influences variation in plant litter phenolic content and protein precipitation capacity among and within common plant species for two different vegetation types, heath and meadow, in a subarctic ecosystem in the Abisko region of northern Sweden. As nutrient availability generally decreases with increasing elevation as a result of decreasing temperature, I hypothesised that phenolic content would increase with elevation and be higher on the heath than the meadow. To test this, the total phenolic content and protein precipitation capacity was estimated in leaf litter from 13 species in both heath and meadow vegetation across an elevational gradient ranging from 500 to 1000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) in the study region. The results showed that elevation and vegetation type both had a strong impact on both variables. Total phenolic concentrations decreased with elevation for the meadow, and were greater for the heath than the meadow.

If Swedish companies are to compete with companies in low-cost countries they have to achieve a more efficient production. The purpose of Total Productivity Maintenance (TPM) is to increase the company's profitability by increasing the productivity. TPM is a method that involves all employees and aims to prevent failures in order to increase the availability of existing equipment.The aim of this paper is to evaluate the implementation process of TPM and give recommendations for the further implementation process. The conclusion and the analysis are based on a case study done at a production department at ABB Cewe-Controls facilities in Nyköping. The case study consists mainly of qualitative data from participation observations, surveys and interviews.Commitment of the management is a key factor in the implementation process of TPM.

A Monte Carlo simulation of the ELECTRA reactor using (U,Zr)N fuel and a liquid lithium coolant is performed using the Serpent simulation code. The results show a reactor with a total reactivity coefficient of the coolant, fuel and material expansion that is strongly negative. These properties make the ELECTRA reactor a good candidate for a safe space reactor that could be used for propulsion of manned and unmanned space vehicles to Mars and other parts of our solar system..