Bakgrunden till denna studie är att företagen Moelven Skog och Valåsen sågverk önskar effektivisera råvaruanvändningen och därmed minska spillet av timmer genom att sänka stötmånen. En sänkning från tio till sju centimeters stötmån har redan implementerats på Valåsen sågverk men man vill nu undersöka om det går att sänka den ytterligare. Genom att genomföra en sådan förändring avser företaget vinna strategiska fördelar såsom volymbesparingar av virke och högre timmerutbyte i jämförelse med konkurrenterna. Syftet med studien är således att undersöka möjligheterna att minska längden på timret från Moelven Skog till Valåsen sågverk genom att sänka stötmånen. Förhoppningen är genom studien skapa en metod som sedan kan användas för att ta fram den ideala stocklängden till samtliga svenska sågverk inom koncernen. Kunskaper som klarlägger timmerhantering från skog till såg har använts tillsammans med kunskap om sprickuppkomst, mätning och kvalitetsbedömning av sågad vara, fördjupning i justerverkets mätutrustning samt teorier om processanalys.

In the urban planning debate of today, two strategies for city development stand out as each other's opposites, urban sprawl and smart growth. This thesis concerns a development project of the latter kind and aims to give an alternative proposal to new buildings and a park in a Swedish city block. The term sprawl is used for new developments on virgin soil on the outskirts of cities leading to a city spreading, while smart growth stand for increased city density through development on re-used land within the city boundaries. The latter are often seen as more sustainable in many levels and are also shown to have positive effects on a number of city functions. At the same time smart growth has negative consequences on other aspects of the city such as public open spaces.

Africa is one of the regions most affected by climate change. However its forests are important carbon sinks for the whole world, and if recognised as a global public good, could be conserved and contribute to green house gas emission reductions. A global mechanism, Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation(REDD+) aims to help developing countries in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancement of carbon stocks. REDD+ strategies may, however exclude local forest dependent communities from forests in order to conserve and maximise carbon stocks, thus having a severe impact on local livelihoods. Therefore, how local communities can participate and share benefits from REDD+ is a key concern.This study investigates how three forest dependent communities in the Nazinon forest, in Southwest Burkina Faso could financially benefit from a REDD+ project.

Oilseed rape is an important crop in Sweden and is grown on about 90000 ha today. The interest in oil seed pro-duction is increasing because of growing demand and high prices for oil seed both in Sweden and Europe. However, an increased intensity in the oil seed production can bring higher risk of yield losses due to fungal diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate what different fungi are associated with oilseed rape under field conditions and if their incidence is correlated to crop establishment problems. This study was carried out in three parts: 1) investigations on fungal community structure in roots and rhizosphere soils from young spring- and winter rape plants sampled in failed respectively good establishment patches in four fields, 2) investigations on the pathogenicity of fungi isolated from oilseed rape in controlled environment and 3) investigations on the effect of different fungicide seed treatments on germination and early plant development in a field soil naturally infested with damping off- and Verticillium wilt pathogens. The studies on community structure using a combined approach of standard fungal isolation techniques and DNA based methods revealed a high fungal diversity in three out of four studied fields of spring rape and winter rape. For some unknown reason, very few fungal species were identified from the fourth field.

I Sverige spelar skogsnäringen en betydande roll för landets ekonomi och sysselsättning. Råvaruförutsättningarna har stor påverkan på produktionen i ett sågverk, och produktionen har ett divergerande flöde. Höga råvarukostnader ställer krav på ett högt råvaruutnyttjande där inget lämnas åt slumpen. Lönsamheten i en komponentfabrik bygger på ett högt utbyte av insatt råvara. Produktionens biprodukter ska i så hög grad som möjligt utgöras av homogent virke och andelen flis och spån skall minimeras.

För att den svenska skogsindustrin även fortsättningsvis skall kunna bidra positivt till den svenska ekonomin så är virkesförsörjning till industrierna kritisk. Den svenska skogen ägs till 50 procent av privata skogsägare (Skogsstyrelsen, 2012). Detta ger dessa en viktig roll i den svenska virkesförsörjningen då privata skogsägare utgör en stor del av marknadens virkesutbud. En skogsägares beslut om avverkning kan styras av olika mål, några av dessa är (Bertholdsson et. al., 2012): ? Rekreation och jakt ? Känslan av att äga skog ? God långsiktig avkastning ? God kortsiktig avkastning En skogsägare som styrs av känslan av att äga skog kan vara motvillig till att avverka då detta kan förändra just den känslan som skogsägare har.

According to the Swedish strategy for forest protection, additionally 40 000 ha productive forestland will be protected in the county of Västerbotten, between 1999 and 2010. A national project was carried out to distinguish the proportion of forest with a high biological value, in all counties. The project resulted in demarcation of small landscape areas or small ?biological value regions? (bvr), with higher concentrations of forests with conservation values and red listed species than the surroundings. In Västerbotten, 26 such bvr?s were identified and the Counties Agency and Forest Agency in Västerbotten developed a regional strategy for forest conservation to standardize the forest protection process.

Since 1993 the Swedish Forestry Administration conducts a nation-wide inventory of wood-land key habitats covering all forest land in Sweden. The inventory aims at mapping and describing habitats where redlisted species occur or can be expected to occur. According to the inventory stand history is crucial to the presence of red-listed species. However, the current knowledge of stand history in woodland key habitats is very limited. The purpose of this work is to describe stand history in woodland key habitats, i.e. fire history, human activities - mainly cuttings - and structural changes.

Organic rearing of broilers is not a large production in Sweden. In order to create a sustainable yet efficient production of organically produced poultry meat, at a price that the consumers are willing to pay, much more knowledge is needed. It is therefore important to do more research on organic broilers under Swedish conditions. This report is aimed to be a base for further studies. In the study 2000 broilers of the hybrid Ross 308 divided in to two equal groups. The broiler hybrids that are used in Sweden are selected for a high growth rate and are normally slaughtered at the age of 5 to 6 weeks, with a slaughter weight of 1.7-2 kg.

Beef cattle wintering outdoors should be provided a shelter, e.g. a type of barn or corresponding. This type of production requires appropriate soil types and secured animal welfare. For example, a clean and dry resting place needs to be provided to the animals. To receive an exemption for buildings the farmer has to have something equivalent that provides an adequate shelter.

Biodiversity consists of all life on Earth and in all forms. Biodiversity is often discussed at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic variation within species. Biodiversity also provides many of the ecosystem services performed by nature and that we depend on, including cultural services such as aesthetic values, education and recreation. In Sweden the environmental objectives are central; there are 16 environmental quality objectives, and "A rich plant and animal life" is one of them. Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is a prerequisite for achieving also most other environmental objectives. Another environmental quality objective that is tied to a rich biodiversity in cities and biodiversity is "Good built environment" where cities, towns and other built environment should provide a good living habitat and contribute to a good environment.

This thesis reports on a case study of two different organisational forms in the Swedish forest industry; the geographic and the functional organisation. The work in the geographic organisation is carried out within districts under the supervision of an overall responible district manager, where as in the functional organisation the work has been divided into functions headed by function managers. Forest magement, logging and wood purchases are examples of such functions. The general idea of the functional organisation is having the functions working over a larger geographic unit, without subdividing district boundaries of the region. Also a third organisational form of current interest for the forest industry; the process orientated organisation, is analyzed in the case study. Here, a company outside the forest industry has been analyzed, since no forest company was considered to have made as much progress of changing organisation to process orientation. In the report I present the results from qualitative interviews, where I give the reader a picture of the motives behind each organisational form, what the form implies for some of the company?s interested parties and the organisations? views on future organisational development.

Protecting the environment has with time grown to take a more central role in the society. Agriculture plays an important role in the society since this sector produces our food. More thorough research on how agriculture affects the environment is therefore motivated. This research can be used to improve the agricultural practice from an environmental point of view. This is something that both the farmers and the consumers can profit from. This study aims to form the basis for creating environmental indicators for use of nitrogen and energy on dairy farms. Twenty-three farmers in western Sweden have been interviewed about their farms, both organic and conventional. They produce milk with different intensity, defined as the amount of milk delivered (sold) per hectare of arable land.

Det här examensarbetet är en marknadsundersökning som IT-tjänstföretaget CGI tagit initiativ till. CGI har uppmärksammat att det finns ett behov av ett handfast verktyg för att förenkla produktionsplaneringen, vilket är bakgrunden till det här examensarbetet. Den strukturella omvandlingen inom sågverksindustrin har medfört ett behov av ett mer kundanpassat sortiment och utvecklingen har medfört ett ökat behov av automatiserade processtyrningar. För att kunna produktionsplanera effektivt, beskrivs det i studien att det finns behov av ett mer långsiktigt planeringsverktyg. Produktionsplanering utförs oftast i ett eller två separata planeringssteg som innebär ett för sågprocessen respektive ett för tork och justering.

The NIPF (Non Industrial Private Forest) owners in Sweden have very differentiated goals and needs with their forest. They have different backgrounds and some of them live at their forest estate while other live in an urban environment, and some are economically dependent on their forest estate while others are not. The heterogeneity among these forest owners creates problems for market actors that want to aim marketing messages to catch their interest. This is the problem background to the task that was provided to us as an investigative masters thesis for us. Their request was a plan for ensuring a successful marketing towards different segments of the NIPF owners. We commenced with a literature study based on market information and previously carried out similar investigations. We summarized the most important market information from the literature and created some hypotheses regarding goals and needs of the NIPF owners.