Vi valde att undersöka varför miljöbilspremien infördes, vilka nackdelar respektive fördelar den har, om målen med införandet uppnåtts samt varför den ska slopas i förtid. Förutom detta undersökte vi vilka åtgärder som ska vidtas istället för miljöbilspremien. Därtill försökte vi få svar på vilka insatser som staten har planerat att genomföra för att uppnå de nationella målen gällande koldioxidutsläppsminskningen. Fallstudien baseras på sex intervjuer av personer från både statliga myndigheter och intresseorganisationer: Naturvårdsverket, Naturskyddsföreningen, Gröna Bilister, Motormännen, Miljödepartementet samt Transportstyrelsen. Utifrån vår studie kom vi fram till att miljöbilspremien infördes för att stimulera användningen av bränsle effektiva bilar, miljöbilar, och öka andelen miljöbilar i nybilsförsäljningen. De tydligaste nackdelarna med premien är att den enbart gäller för privatpersoner och dessutom ger den möjlighet till bilister att tanka icke-miljövänligt bränsle. De märkbara fördelarna med miljöbilspremien är att den ger ett konkret svar på vad en miljöbil är och den har stimulerat allmänheten att både involveras och belönas. Anledningen till att den ska slopas i förtid är att den blev för dyr och dessutom har staten uppnått sitt mål med införandet av premien. Miljöbilspremien ersätts med fem års skattebefrielse för miljöbilar. De främsta styrmedlen som staten använder för att reducera koldioxidutsläppen är koldioxidskatten och handeln med utsläppsrätter. Slutligen anser vi att miljöbilspremien är en miljömässigt bra åtgärd men inte ekonomiskt försvarbar. / We chose to examine why the environmental car premium was introduced and what the disadvantages and advantages it has, furthermore if the goals of the premium were achieved, and why the environmental car premium was discontinued. In addition, we examined the actions that will be taken to replace the environmental car premium. Besides this, we tried to get answers to what actions the government has planned to perform to be able to achieve the national objectives in terms of reduction of the carbon dioxide. The case study is based on six qualitative in-depth interviews of stakeholders from both government agencies and associations, the Environmental Protection Agency, Nature Conservation, Green Car, Motor Men, Ministry of Environment and Transport Board. From our study we found that the environmental car premium was introduced to stimulate the use of fuel efficient cars, environmental cars, and increase the proportion of environmental cars in new sales. The primary disadvantages of the premium are that it only applies to individuals and also provides the opportunity for motorists to fill up non-environmentally friendly fuel. The apparent benefits of the environmental car premium is that it gives a definite answer to what a environmental car is, and it has encouraged the public to both involved and rewarded. There are two reasons why the premium was discontinued prematurely: that it was too expensive and that the government considers that they have achieved their objectives with the introduction of the premium. The environmental car premium will be replaced with a five-year tax exemption for environmental cars. The main management control which the government uses to reduce carbon dioxide emissions are carbon dioxide taxes and emissions trading. Finally, we believe that the environmental car premium is an environmentally good measure, but not economically defendable.

Den här uppsatsen studerar vad begreppet lärande för hållbar utveckling egentligen handlar om i den svenska grundskolan. Med utgångspunkt i de diskurser som styr miljöområdet, och de som styr den svenska grundskolan, analyseras det man idag benämner som lärande för hållbar utveckling genom textanalytiska metoder. Studien går ut på att analysera de dokument som reglerar den svenska grundskolan samt hur Myndigheten för skolutveckling kommunicerar hållbar utveckling till svenska skolor. Studien landar på slutsatsen att ekonomiska premisser, mer än miljömässiga, är de som får utforma vad lärande för hållbar utveckling verkligen är och att miljödiskursen får stå tillbaka för en mer etablerad del av maktstrukturen. Därmed rekonstrueras begreppet hållbar utveckling, när det blir en del av lärande för hållbar utveckling, till något som inte alls verkar för en bättre miljö, utan som kanske till och med motverkar en hållbar utveckling. / This essay studies what the notion of learning for sustainable development is actually about in the Swedish compulsory school. With a starting point in those discourses that control the environmental area, and those that control the Swedish compulsory school, the concept that today is called learning for sustainable development is analyzed through textual analyzes. The purpose of the study is to analyze those documents that regulate the Swedish compulsory school and how the Swedish National Agency for School Improvement communicates sustainable development to Swedish schools. The study comes to the conclusion that economical premises, more than environmental, are those that will shape what learning for sustainable development really is about, and that the environmental discourse will be held back for a more established part of the power structure. Thereby the notion of sustainable development, when it has become a part of learning for sustainable development, is reconstructed in to something that does not at all contribute to an improved environment, but maybe even inhibit a sustainable development.

Freshwater ecosystems cover about 4 % of the Earth’s surface. Yet they are important components in the global C cycle, as they in addition to their within-lake primary production, receive and process organic matter loads originating from terrestrial environments. The boreal forest biome has the highest density of lakes globally. In general, lakes in the boreal forest biome are shallow with high proportions of littoral sediments and are considered methane hotspots in the landscape. The major pathway of methane (CH4) from lakes (depth ≤ 10 m) to the atmosphere is via CH4 ebullition (i.e., gas bubbles). Moreover, CH4 ebullition is highly irregular in space and time. While enhanced CH4 ebullition rates have been reported to coincide with temporal forces (e.g., pressure drop) and showed a spatial variability with higher CH4 ebullition rates at lake inlets, none of the present models can currently represent the variability of CH4 ebullition over space and time. To improve the understanding behind spatial drivers of CH4 ebullition, sediment characteristics in relation to CH4 ebullition were investigated in Lake Alsta, a shallow and eutrophic lake in Sweden. In-situ CH4 ebullition rates were analysed along with sediment TN, TOC, C:N ratio and potential CH4 production rates. Sediment TN could explain CH4 production (R20.39, p-value<0.001), while the degree of explanation of CH4 ebullition rate was low yet significant (R2=0.14, p-value=0.03). However, the combination of fine sediments, together with high loads of aquatic- and terrestrial organic matter and nitrogen are likely spatial factors driving the high CH4 ebullition rates at both inlets in Lake Alsta, Sweden. The CH4 ebullition at its deepest point cannot be distinguished from the ebullition rates at the inlets, and the outlet has a significantly lower CH4 ebullition rate than all other sites. This highlights that the distribution of sediment and the quality of organic matter (i.e., C:N ratio) within the lake affects CH4 ebullition. In addition, including littoral vegetation into CH4 ebullition models and analysing sediment redox potentials might further give explanation to spatial differences.

Plasticizers are synthetic organic chemicals that are used in different products to make them flexible, elastic, and durable. Plasticizers are not attached to the products by covalent bonds, as a result, they leach out from the products leading to environmental contamination. The most widely used plasticizer, Di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate (DEHP), have been restricted from general use in the EU, Canada, and the USA due to their reported toxicity. The alternative plasticizer, Di-(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH), was introduced to the European market as a safer alternative for endocrine-disrupting phthalates such as DEHP, and diisononyl phthalate (DINP).  According to the current toxicological data, DINCH is neither an endocrine disruptor and nor a reproductive toxicant. Thus, DINCH was approved for use in food contact containers, and in children’s toys.  The increase in global demand for alternative plasticizers led to their buildup in the environment and an increase in DINCH exposure. The lack of toxicity data and safety assessment of DINCH has raised the concern to human and animal health. Due to the similar structure of DEHP, DINP, and DINCH, we suggest that DINCH can be classified as a metabolic disruptor that alters fat metabolism and induces adipogenesis. In this study, we investigated the negatives effects of DINCH (at concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 10 μM) compared it to phthalates DINP, DEHP, Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and Diethyl phthalate (DEP) at the early developmental stages of zebrafish. We further analyzed DINCH and DINP using the mouse preadipocyte cells  3T3L1. We found that DINCH and DEHP caused hatching delay in a dose-dependent manner. Behavioral analysis of larvae demonstrated that DEHP, DBP, DEP, and DINCH impair motor activity. The Oil Red O lipid staining showed a slight lipid accumulation in larval zebrafish at different DINP and DINCH concentrations. To further confirm the findings, qPCR was performed to analyze lipid metabolism genes. DINCH and DINP altered lipid metabolism genes including, fasn, srebp, pparg etc.  The oxidative stress state imposed by DINCH exposure was shown by a slight increase in superoxide dismutase enzymatic activity and the alteration on stress-related genes. In 3T3L1 cells, 10 and 100 μM of DINCH and DINP exposure induced lipid droplets formation like that induced by 100 nM rosiglitazone. Genes associated with lipid metabolism and lipid transport were altered by DINCH and DINP. These results indicate that DINCH exposure could induce physiological and metabolic toxicity. The data presented in this thesis could provide crucial information for further toxicological assessment.

The Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) is a protected species and listed as vulnerable (VU) on the Swedish Red List. The population suffered decline after many years of persecution and effects of environmental pollutants, but has recuperated due to increased protection and release of captive-reared owls. At present, the Eurasian Eagle Owl is often breeding in urban environments such as waste dumps, industries and silos. Sometimes the Eurasian Eagle Owl breeds in quarries, even those in full activity. That situation can cause a potential conflict between the conservational interests and the interests of the company. In this potential conflict there are four stakeholders; the company, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, the government and people with special knowledge about the Eurasian Eagle Owl such as ornithologists. The aim of this study is to investigate how to best approach this conflict and find an ideal solution where the interests of all parties are satisfied. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with representatives from all parties. In most cases, the presence of Eurasian Eagle Owls in quarries was not associated with problems or conflicts, and the imposed arrangements to favour the birds were accepted by the companies. A seemingly good solution was to dedicate a part of the quarry to the bird, and refrain from industrial activity there. The bird often chooses these more quiet parts by itself, otherwise artificial cliffs can be constructed to attract the birds to designated walls. The industry of the quarry has created an environment suitable to the Eurasian Eagle Owl, and it is therefore important to remember that the industry is contributing positively to the conservation of the species. / Berguven (Bubo bubo) är idag, efter många år av förföljelse och miljögiftsskador, en skyddad och rödlistad (VU) art. Det händer allt oftare att berguvarna häckar i urbana miljöer så som sopstationer, industrianläggningar och silosar. Det händer också att berguven bosätter sig i bergtäkter, även aktiva sådana. I en sådan situation kan en potentiell konflikt uppstå mellan de bevarandebiologiska syftena för arten och täktverksamhetens arbete. I denna potentiella konflikt kan fyra parter tänkas; verksamhetsutövaren, tillsynsmyndigheten, berguven och personer med särskild kunskap om berguven, exempelvis ornitologer. Studiens syfte är att utreda hur man på bästa sätt närmar sig den ideala lösningen där alla parter är nöjda.  För att kunna svara på denna fråga har vissa aspekter rörande de olika parternas känslor, upplevelser, uppfattningar om berguvens liv i täkt och vilka lösningar som skulle kunna finnas, studerats.  Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med representanter från alla konfliktens parter. Studien visar att situationen i de flesta fall inte leder till något större problem, eller konflikt för endera partern. De hänsynsåtgärder som tycks vara bäst lämpade både för verksamheten och för berguven är att en del av täkten avsätts, där det bedrivs mindre verksamhet och berguven kan husera fritt. Ofta tycks berguven självmant hitta sådana platser i täkten, annars kan konstgjorda hyllor göras för att locka den dit. Det är också viktigt att parterna har en bra relation sinsemellan, berguvsexperterna kan bidra med information och förslag till lösningar både för myndighetens och för verksamhetens del. Bergtäktverksamheten har skapat en miljö som berguvar tycks tycka om, och det är därför viktigt att komma ihåg att denna verksamhet är en viktig del med positiv verkan i det fortsatta arbetet med att bevara arten.

This study examine how pedagogues work to develop children's knowledge and understanding of animals based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy. To answer the questions at hand interviews with six pedagogues were held. This studies result showed that the most common approach of teaching was to use the forest. The pedagogues found it important to follow the children’s own interests and let their curiosity lead their work forward. They looked into what different animals needed to survive. The pedagouges linked many of the curriculum's different goals into the childrens work with animals. The pedagogues perceived this work as giving it a broad and clear picture of the animal that gave the children knowledge and understanding of the animals. The study's conclusion shows that the pedagogues consider that the work becomes more meaningful and rewarding for the children if they show curiosity and interest.

Water pollution is one of society’s most crucial issues which has a negative impact on water quality. The cleaning of blasted rock materials is a process which produces wastewater containing nitrogen and other pollutants such as heavy metals due to explosives residue from blasting. The release of this wastewater to a recipient could have a negative impact on water quality. In order to counteract contamination of recipients, wetlands can be used. However, there is little knowledge and research of their efficiency in removing such contaminants from wastewater of blasting operations. Therefore, the aim of this report is to study plant’s remediation of pollutants, which is one of the processes involved in wetland treatment systems. This is examined through studying the effectiveness of different wetland-plant combinations’ ability to remove nitrogen and heavy metals in the wastewater. Another aim is to examine the silicon concentrations in the wastewater since silicon can be found from blasted rocks. This is of interest since elevated levels of silicon can act as a beneficial nutrient for crops and could then increase the value of the wastewater. The removal of the aforementioned substances has been studied after one, four and 24 hours through water analysis. Reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), slender tufted sedge (Carex acuta) and yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus) were paired together in three different combinations for the study; A, B and C. The result from the water analysis was that the wastewater contained in average 64 mg N L-1, which is considered to be extremely high. For the nitrogen remediation the plant combinations containing I. pseudacorus removed the most nitrogen, 12 %, after 24 hours. Although, the nitrogen reduction was significantly lower compared to other studies. The heavy metal content was more than ten times lower in comparison to the upper limit values and was not reduced significantly by different systems. Regarding the silicon content, it was the same as found naturally in soil and water. The plants did not absorb any silicon, which indicates that the silicon was in a particular chemical form which is hard for plants to absorb. Sedimentation is mentioned as a major remediation process in wetlands, however in this study when plants were not present the result illustrated that the sedimentation probably did not function optimally. This could then demonstrate the importance of plants for other remediation processes. The conclusion of this study is that plants’ reduction of nitrogen in wastewater constitutes of a small part and could affect the function of sedimentation. In addition, according to this study yellow iris could be added to plant combinations to increase the treatment potential of wastewater produced from the cleaning process of blasted rock material, though further studies are recommended.

No description available.

Abstract   Introduction Failure in the mechanism of self-tolerance in T or B cells can lead to autoimmunity. One of the autoimmune diseases is rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown cause and is characterized by systemic inflammation, autoantibodies and joint destruction. Serology is crucial for the classification of this disease. The first autoantibody found in RA patients was Rheumatoid factor (RF). However, anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPAs), a relatively new group of autoantibodies found in 70-90% of RA patients, are diagnostically more specific than RF. Type II collagen (CII) is the most abundant protein in human cartilage. In RA patients, immunity against CII leads to cartilage degradation and loss of joint function. Already from the 1970s, antibodies to CII (anti-CII) were found in RA sera, suggesting that CII autoimmunity might be pathogenetically important. Previous studies from our group show that a subgroup of patients with high levels of anti-CII at the time of diagnosis at the same time have high levels of inflammation in the joints. This is probably caused by anti-CII immune complexes (IC) inducing pro-inflammatory cytokines from macrophages. Although anti-CII positive patients have high inflammatory activity early on, as anti-CII levels decrease during the first year, the associated inflammation also diminishes. Thus, anti-CII positive patients have a rather good prognosis. Moreover, it is assumed that since anti-CII positive patients have a better prognosis than ACPA positive, patients with elevated anti-CII at the time of diagnosis might benefit from different and milder treatment. Previous studies from the group were performed on stored patient samples from the time before modern treatments with biologic agents (1995-2005). In this study, we aimed to investigate patients belonging to a more recent RA cohort, diagnosed between 2005-2014, with the aim to investigate whether patients with the anti-CII-associated RA phenotype would respond differently depending on the use of different modern RA therapies. Patients and Methods The primary cohort consisted of 2335 RA patients and 480 non-RA controls from the Epidermiological Investigations in Rheumatoid Arthritis (EIRA) case-control study. As we run into methodological problems two subgroups with 62 and 40 RA patients from the previous anti-CII studies were investigated when modifying the ELISA procedure, as well as a group of earlier investigated patients with non-specific ELISA reactivity. Totally 2776 RA patients were investigated. All investigated patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria. To measure the anti-CII levels in RA patients and healthy controls anti-CII ELISA was performed. During the experiments, several different sources of CII from human, rat and bovine origin, and two different alternative coating buffers were used. The optical density (OD) was measured at 450 nm and anti-CII concentrations were calculated against the standard curve from an RA patient with high anti-CII levels.   Results My first analysis of the EIRA cohort showed that anti-CII are higher in RA patients than in controls, but could not confirm the association with acute onset RA. This was an unexpected finding and changed the focus of this master thesis project, to modify the measurement of anti-CII. Re-investigation of EIRA I showed that a proprietary coating buffer is important in the assay. Moreover, when different samples from RA patients were tested with bovine, rat and three different lots of human CII, correlation tests with clinical measures showed that bovine collagen and a new lot of human CII- prepared by the supplying company solely for this project- showed the strongest associations. Thereafter the EIRA cohort was re-investigated with two ELISAs, using bovine and human CII coated with the proprietary buffer. At the time of thesis writing almost all of the EIRA samples have been re-analysed, and results from both the modified ELISAs show the awaited clinical associations to early inflammation.   Conclusion Keeping the integrity of triple helical collagen is very important for the identification anti-native CII in RA patients. Our results show that the use of the proprietary coating buffer appears to be instrumental in this assay, irrespective of what source of CII was used. The new lot of human CII shows significant associations with the clinical measures, but associations are somewhat stronger with bovine CII. After finalising the re-investigations, we will be able to conclude which of the two analyses is most appropriate, and the corresponding dataset will then be merged with data from the first part of the EIRA study investigated previously by other group members. As anti-CII analysis shows the association to disease activity and prognosis, it can be used for predicting prognosis of RA and choosing the appropriate therapy in newly diagnosed RA patients, which might be clinically useful for rheumatologists. Our hypothesis is that as anti-CII positive patients have strong early inflammatory response but good long-term prognosis, they might benefit from other and perhaps short-term treatment compared to other RA patients.  If this is correct, our finding can have impact on the economy as it can define the patients who will not need expensive long-term medications. As modern anti-rheumatic therapies carry the risk of infections, such individualized therapies might also benefit anti-CII positive patients.

Aim: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of all published studies studying the risk of vitamin D deficiency in tuberculosis patients and in healthy controls. Additionally, subgroup meta-analysis was performed based on the level of vitamin D to test the risk in TB groups and in healthy groups. Methods: Pubmed was searched for observational studies in human and English that discussed the association between risk of low serum vitamin D and TB. Meta-analysis was performed on all relevant studies combined and for subgroups of each vitamin D level. Results: 22 studies were selected and pooled in the analysis. The results were consistent with previous studies examining the same risk. The overall log risk ratio (log RR) of low vitamin D was significantly higher in TB patients 1.68 times than healthy controls. In 4 subgroup meta- analyses based on vitamin D level below (20 nmol/L, 30 nmol/L, 50 nmol/L, and 75 nmol/L), the risk of having low vitamin D in TB patients was (1.82, 2.89, 1.38, 1.32) respectively. That subgroup analysis showed more clearly the higher RR were below 20 and 30 nmol/L. The smallest RR was at 75 nmol/L level. Conclusion: This study verified the association between risk of low vitamin D level and TB development. It also clarified that, the risk increased by decreasing vitamin D level.