Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are ubiquitous in the environment today and they have been detected even in remote areas such as the Arctic. PFASs can be transported by the atmosphere and ocean currents but the transport mechanism is not fully understood. PFASs may be harmful to organisms due to their persistence in the environment, bio-accumulation potential and toxicity. Studies have shown that PFASs can cause adverse effects on the metabolism as well as the endocrine- and reproduction systems in organisms. In this study, PFASs were investigated in glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) (n=5) and black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) (n=4) from Svalbard.

The impact of computer programs in safety-critical systems has increased in the past decades and computer-based systems can now be found in a wide range of applications. A new approach for developing dependable systems is documenting all design rationale that affects safety using Intent Specifications. A recent approach for developing complex systems efficiently and in an upgradeable manner is Component-Based System Engineering. In this thesis, these approaches are combined in the development and upgrade of a Remote Robot Control Unit by using the tool SpecTRM. The case study showed that Intent Specifications and CBSE could successfully be combined.

De senaste åren har utsläppsreglerna för sjöfarten blivit allt hårdare och under de kommande åren skärps de ännu mer. För att svaveldirektiven för sjöfarten ska fungera effektivt så krävs det också att de efterlevs. Syftet med den här studien var därför att undersöka hur länderna i Europeiska SECA områdena agerar och kommer att agera i framtiden för att se till att svaveldirektiven efterlevs. Studien syftar också till att undersöka hur efterlevnadskontroller genomförs, samt se om länderna har infört sanktioner mot överträdelser och vad dessa innebär. För att få svar på detta studerades lagar och förordningar, men framförallt skickades frågeformulär ut till de ansvariga myndigheterna i flera olika länder kring SECA områdena.

Webbens utveckling går i raskt tempo och nya tekniker utvecklas ständigt. På senare tid har en ny teknik växt fram som kallas för remote scripting. Med detta menas att man kan göra anrop till servern utan att ladda om hela webbsidan. Genom att utnyttja denna teknik kan man också reducera tiden för att hämta data från servern och tiden det tar att uppdatera informationen i webbläsaren. Det har funnits metoder och tekniker för detta ett antal år men det var inte förrän Jesse James Garret myntade uttrycket AJAX i sin artikel ?Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications? som tekniken uppmärksammades i större skala.

SVT is Sweden?s largest TV-network and broadcasts more then 22 000 hours of TV each year. SVT is a public service company where the basic idea is to reflect the world from different perspectives and news is very important for providing neutral and versatile information in a variety of areas. An important part of the flow of information is to continuously receive reports from all corners of the world around the clock. This places very high demands on the technology used and it is important that it function and develops to meet current and future growing needs.

Due to the forest industry downsizing, many communities in rural forest regions in Canada and Sweden are facing problems to survive. In order to create community sustainability, resilience and well-being in remote forest regions, the view on the forest resources has shifted towards multiple use, through the concept of sustainable forest management (SFM). Beside the economic and ecological elements of sustainability, the social forest values are needed, contributing to the human well-being, local participation, stakeholder collaboration, human rights and cultural connection. In this thesis the embodiment of the social component of SFM within Prince Albert Model Forest (Canada), and Vilhelmina Model Forest (Sweden) will be examined. Being partners and facing similar challenges as rural boreal forest regions, the two model forests are compared through analysis of projects and activities, conducted interviews and organization documents. Looking at projects mentioned as successful by the interviewees, they all have elements from the social values of SFM. The direction can be explained by the introduction of the Forest Communities Program in Canada, demanding the Model Forests to work towards community stability and resilience, the Model Forest organization concept itself and the way global focus are increasing around social forest values. In the future, it may be important that the role of the MFs enable some kind of political authorization and legitimacy in order to improve conflict solving and indigenous rights equality.

För att lyckas driva en butik som är belägen långt från närmsta tätort så är det viktigt att ha kännedom om vad det är som driver kunder till att åka långa sträckor på ofta dåliga vägar för att ta sig ut till butikerna i fråga. Vid öppnandet av en avlägsen butik är denna kunskap viktig att besitta då det är ett faktum att kunderna utgör butikens livskraft. Utan kännedom om vad som lockar kunderna finns risken att butiken öppnar på helt fel plats eller nischar in sig helt fel och fokuserar på fel faktorer.Denna rapport har som syfte att ta reda på vilka faktorer det är som gör att kunder väljer att åka till dessa avlägsna butiker. Kundens perspektiv är i fokus där deras åsikter kom fram genom enkäter. Butikschefer för två avlägsna butiker har också intervjuats för att få deras syn på saken.

Södra Skog chose in 2011 to convert the saw mill in Traryd to a gradually refined sawmill of hardwood. In 2009, they had also acquired the hardwood sawmill in Djursdala. This was strategically important for Södra's business since the demand for hardwood products has increased. The standing volume of deciduous trees in Sweden is today approximately 524 million m3sk and it has increased rapidly in recent years. However, the deciduous forests are to a large extent located in areas that are set aside for nature conservation and is thus not available to the industry.The goal of this work is to create a simple and reliable method for mapping of deciduous wood volumes in areas where Södra Skog is operating (Götaland excluding Gotland).The material that is used is raster databases with estimated forest attributes (kNN-Sweden), data from National Forest Inventory (NFI) and forest management plans.

The report contains a survey on telecommuting in nature and how concepts around that information could look like. The client for the project is Lars Sandberg, Dotank AB in Karlstad. The project is implemented in the course Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Design, MSCG22 of the faculty of health, science and technology at Karlstad University in the spring of 2014.Working flexibly and remotely in the so-called knowledge based professions is growing. That nature is an important source of recovery is a fact. The literature search in this report shows that there are factors that create both physical and psychological stress on most office workers while nature is a source of recovery and inspiration.

The purpose of this study is to examine the usage of IT technology within preschool and study how IT tools are used by preschool staff for administrative as well as pedagogical assignments. Several aspects affects the work preschool staff do with IT which concerns availability to technology, how technology is used and how technology is made available for the children. There are a number of questions linked to these aspects where some examples this study examines are which advantages, disadvantages, obstacles or other limitations that comes with introducing IT? This study also examines how, when and in what contexts IT is being used? Other questions examined are the pedagogue?s general views of IT, competence development and eventual needs of investment? Further on this study examines to some part how children interact with IT during pedagogical activities? The overall objective is to shed light on problems that preschool staff encounter  in their daily work and on the basis of identifying important questions at issue that could constitute a basis for further research. The results of this study are based on both a literature review and a field study.

This master?s thesis is a remote sensing study of an area-based method used to detect forest in need of thinning by use of laser data and field samples. Only pine-dominated forest has been included in the study and height limits were set to match empirical restrictions. The study area was in the municipality of Älvsbyn (Latitude 65° 40´ N, Longitude 21° 00´ E), in northern Sweden.The Swedish authority Lantmäteriet is currently laser scanning most parts of Sweden, providing new opportunities and applications. The primary aim of the national laser scanning is to create a new elevation model, useful in consequence analysis of climate changes.

In forestry there are always needs of forest data to make good strategic decisions of different actions and economic winning. Usually this data gets from field-estimations made by forest workers with expensive costs and sometimes unsatisfied quality. StoraEnso Skog is a great forest company in Sweden and they have part of the responsibility of the forest own by Bergvik Skog. Bergvik Skog is owner of 1, 9 million hectares productive forest land. Both Bergvik and StoraEnso have great interest in new inventory techniques to get the important forest data. The company Foran Remote Sensing offers the opportunity with airborne laserscanning of forest and forest land. Foran got the mission of Bergvik and StoraEnso to laser scan Bergviks possession in Älvdalen, Dalarna.

The Swedish Textile industry has since the beginning of the 70-ties moved their production to countries with cheap labour further and further away. The production in the Baltic countries and Asia has become reality for many Swedish manufacturing companies. With today?s technology the communication with remote countries has ceased to be a problem. The difficulties have instead turned out to be more focused on transportation of goods and just in time deliveries to Sweden.

Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning: Kan satellitbilder användas för att studera skador på bok och ek?Sedan mitten av 1970-talet har man sett ökande skador på skogen i stora delar av Europa. Olika storlek på skadorna och att storleken på skadorna skiljer sig åt beroende på var man befinner sig har gjort det svårt att förklara orsaken. För att undersöka ifall skadorna även ökat i Sverige har Skogsstyrelsen utfört inventeringar på bok- och ekbestånd i södra Sverige under tre tillfällen; 1988, 1993 och 1999. Resultatet från undersökningen visar att konditionen hos bok och ek i södra Sverige har försämrats sedan den första inventeringen 1988.

Som IT-företag har man ett behov av att laborera med den teknik man levererar till sina kunder. För att öka effektiviteten i dessa laborationsmiljöer bör man sträva efter att minska genomförandetiden för de olika arbetsmoment som ingår i labo-rationerna. TDC, som levererar kommunikationslösningar, har en laborationsmiljö på sitt kontor i Växjö. Arbetet innefattar tidsödande ominstallationer av servrar. Ett annat problem är att man i dagsläget ofta fysiskt måste befinna sig i laborat-ionsmiljön vilket begränsar arbetet då personer som inte befinner sig på samma kontor inte kan använda utrustningen.