The main purpose of the project was to identify potential environmentally harmful substances which can be leached from rubber asphalt. A method for analysing asphalt was developed and three rubber asphalt materials were analysed after being cryogrinded. One of the materials was also tested in a road machine made for testing of asphalt paving. The particles created in the machine were analysed in the same manner as the cryogrinded asphalt materials.The asphalt materials were leached by water during 24 hours. The leachates were extracted with dichloromethane, dried with sodium sulphate and concentrated to a small volume.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the most important factors that affect Swedish perennial growers when designing their assortment. The study describes how herbaceous perennials are produced in Sweden today and try to give an answer to the question how growing method and choice of assortment are affecting the possibilities of Swedish producers to compete on the market. Seven perennial growers in the southern and western parts of Sweden have been interviewed about their production methods and on what basis they design the assortment of perennials. During the interviews five factors seem to be the most important when the growers choose which species to grow ? profitability, the characteristics of the species, the sales channel/customer, the growing environment/growing facility and the grower?s interest and knowledge. It is often a combination of these five factors deciding if a cultivar will be grown or not. .

The objective of the essay has been the studying of the importance of religion for children. To answer and satisfy my objective, I have some questions: How do children talk about their own and others? religions? In what way do children associate themselves to religion? Which meaning does religion have for children?s identities? Which thoughts rise about religiontuition in the school?To answer the problem formulation, I have done a qualitative interview study with five children of different religious and cultural backgrounds in a Swedish communal school. The results showed that children?s thoughts about religion are mostly inherited from the parents.

The structure of the thesis is based on opportunities to attract businesses to the region, the need of establishments in the region and benchmarking with establishment strategies of other cluster initiatives. The identified opportunities are the local business relationship with ABB, the prerequisites of life quality in the region and the availability of financial support. Further on has a number of opportunities to be developed been identified; diversification of the existing businesses, an expansion of the cooperation with universities and to simplify the contact with local authorities. Challenges that HVV is facing is: creating a more dynamic labor market, secure long-term labor supply, spread the image of the brand HVV and finally putting HVVs geographic scope. Two of the identified needs of establishments are strategically important: to establish a third-party logistician and commercializing systems for distributed generation and energy storage.

ABB Surge Arrestors in Ludvika have for a long time had a problem to keep the moisture at a steady state in the production of their ZnO-powder, that is used to produce varistors.Some black-box models of the spray drying process have been designed and evaluated to find a solution for the problem. After evaluating the collected data it has been found that variations in the supply voltage causes control difficulties for the operator. A cascade control system was designed, consisting of three PI control loops designed with lambda tuning. The disturbance in the supply voltagewas used as a feed forward in the control system.At the end of the project the control system was installed, and tests were made to verify the functionality of the regulator. It was shown that most of the variations in the moisture of the powder could be eliminated using small resources, through purchase of a process controller and four power meters.

This thesis uses ten years of data to examine the underlying drivers behind changes in the taxi price, specifically we look at the relationship between the taxi price and changes in the underlying costs. We use a two-step error correction framework to investigate how changes in costs affect prices in the long run as well as in the short run. We also study if the price adjustment process is asymmetric. Furthermore, we examine if price discrimination exists on the taxi market in Stockholm. We find that in the long run the pass-through effect is almost complete, whereas in the short run prices are considerably less sensitive to cost changes.

The purpose of this paper is to find out which portfolio theory one should use during a financial crisis. We will examine two different portfolio theorys, the Minimum Variance portfolio and the beta portfolio.We have chosen to study two different portfolios, and followed their development during the financial crisis with its start in 2008 and the IT bubble with its start in the middle of 2000.The data has been collected from OMX internet database making it quantitative study. The beta portfolio's objective is to follow the index and the Minumim Variance portfolio´s objective is to spread the risk by investing in stocks with low volatility. By following the two different portfolios, and compare the development to the index, we will be able to determine which theory is most suitable to use during a recession. The studyperiods we chose were both in a recession and it turned out that the most appropriate portfolio to use was the Minimum Variance portfolio because stock in this portfolio tends to be less sensitive to economic fluctuations..

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to examine if manual signs used as support to spoken and written language can be a god mnemonic for learning of word-pictures. I performed my study as an experiment in which I made a Memory game with word-pictures. I played the game with the children twice. The first time, we played without manual signs and the second time I used sign as a support. I observed the children and noted the words they learned to read with and without the support of manual signs.

Many companies are presently investing in different types of environmental strategies, and it is varying to what level they channel their resources to environmental efforts. It is also diverging to what extent organizations effort to profile themselves as environmentally conscious. This can be due to difficulties in reaching out to customers and to finding the most efficient method of green marketing communication. The aim of this study is to analyse how an insurance company more actively can communicate environmental matters foremost in their contact with customers. One can in different mediums daily follow debates and discussions concerning the environment. Many insurance companies have also identified their role in performing green work.

 Abstract: Facebook in the Public Sector - qualitative interviewstudy with The Swedish maritime Administration, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, the Swedish prison and Probation services and the municipality of Katrineholm about their precense on Facebook.In my bachelor?s thesis I have studied how three government authority and one municipality uses or don?t use Facebook in their communication towards the citizens. I have chosen to study four different cases, to see if there are any significant similarities or differences between how the different services are working with their communication. I have chosen to explore my cases through semi-structured qualitative interviews, where I met communications officers of every organisation face to face.I have found out that there is not one right way to communicate through Facebook, every organisations decisions must be based on their own mission, aims and objectives. And I have seen that both the transmitter and the receiver need to mature into the new acting of this new channel - Facebook..

Virtual Communities is an increasingly common phenomenon on the Internet. Most of the Virtual Communities are operated and maintained on a non-profit basis with a direction towards entertainment. However, as more state administrated and commercial services become web-based, we believe that the number of Virtual Communities with a community-based or commercial direction will increase in a near future. In this thesis, we describe our participation in, and studies of, a number of Virtual Communities with focus on the IRC-channel ?3dfxsweden?. On the basis of our experiences, we describe the social elements that form the foundation on which the Virtual Community rely on.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine what the communication between bank and customer looks like. We have more specifically studied how the bank communicates with the customer when communicating different offers, how the customer wants the communication to take place, what communication problem looks like and how the customer wants the bank to design their offers. Our target group was bank customers with academic degree, with one to seven years of working experience. This study was conducted trough interviews with bank customers and representatives at the bank. On the basis of our studies we found that the communication between bank and customer works fairly well.

Background: Internet is a new phenomenon; small companies have only used Internet a couple of years. Internet created a lot of new possibilities for the companies. Internet is a new marketing and communication channel for the company. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how small companies can use Internet as a strategic tool. Another purpose of this thesis is to generate a better understanding of the application of Internet in small companies.

Forest streams and the associated riparian zones are sensitive to disturbances and changes that occur within these riparian areas. Particularly sensitive are small streams of low order, which will have large impacts down-stream. The disturbances that occur in the riparian zones are reflected quickly in the stream. Driving with forestry machines in the riparian zone will have detrimental effects to the soil and water. Driving the machines will lead to changes in the mineral soil composition, resulting in the reduction of porosity, less infiltration, compaction, and an increased bulk density.

Svenska Aerogel AB has developed the material Quartzene® which is of the typeprecipitated silica and contains calcium - magnesium silicate ((Ca, Mg) SiO3). Thematerial is used for molecular filtration of contaminated air. Qartzene?, which is inpellet form, is porous and has a high internal surface which is a requirement for themolecular filtration. With the use of various impregnations, filtration can affect thedesired outcome.