Benchmarking is an established method of working which is often used in order to develop the quality of the organization. However, almost 70% of the organizations with benchmarking fail due to the lack of planning and structuring of the benchmarking exercise. Maintenance sections in the paper and pulp industry are one of those who have decided to conduct benchmarking. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain knowledge of how the maintenance sections in the paper and pulp industry deliberately structure and plan to use benchmarking as a driving force for quality development in the maintenance sections.The study is a hermeneutic case study. Telephone interviews and document analysis have been used as data Acquisition Methods.The results show that there is a lack of both planning and structuring in the benchmarking process, and lack of management commitment for quality improvements within industrial maintenance.

Previous research has confirmed that the ability to repeat non-words has a close connection to a child?s language acquisition (Adams & Gathercole, 2000; Gray, 2003; Sahlén, Reuterskiöld-Wagner, Nettelbladt & Radeborg, 1999). It is also known that a repetition task is aided if the word is well known to the child (Roy & Chiat, 2004; Sahlén, m.fl., 1999). A relatively under-investigated area is that of the influence of prosodic variables on repetition of words and non-words.In the current study, 44 Swedish children between the ages of four and six years with typical language development were tested regarding word- and non-word repetition abilities. The words and non-words were matched based on stress, tonal word accent and number of syllables.

This thesis follows a qualitative method and aim to describe firms? international business at an emerging market seen from a network perspective. The purpose of the thesis is to study in what way business relations and networks influence the process of internationalization and describe the way in which companies handle the external network in relation to acquisitions. Further does our purpose include analyzing if a firm?s network may be the main factor for why international business occurs.

My aim in this case study has been to create a method for creature design to test this method in a production and evaluate the results. To achieve this I studied and analyzed the methods of three concept artists and illustrators named James Gurney, Neville Page and Iain McCaig. From the analysis of these artist´s methods, combined with my own personal experience, a new method was formed. To test this method a creature was designed based on directives given by a game design group in the process of creating a table top role playing game in a fictitious world. These directives where given for the creature´s role and its living conditions.

AbstractMy purpose with this study was to learn more about different ways to teach children how to read and to investigate how teachers can use more fiction when they teach.During the years that I have been working in school, I have only met teachers who use a method that is built on sounds. The children learns to read from books where the words is not put in their right purpose; for example; we can se a sun, a dear looks down in a lake.After my teacher-education in literature I became more and more interested in if it could be possible to use more fiction when you teach children how to read. I also wondered if it was possible to find readers where the sentences are put in a meaningful story.I heard of a method called Whole Language, or the kiwi-method and I decided to find out more about that method. I decided to make a comparison between the ?sound-method? and the Whole Language-method.I have been using qualitative interviews with both children and teachers with experience from these different ways of teaching.

A recommendation for stand treatment of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is, in a scientific point of view, lacking when it comes to harvesting for biomass energy. Within the next decades it is expected that 280 000 hectares of lodgepole pine will have reached thinning age on the domains of Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA). Due to this the interest has grown rapidly for studying the possibilities of harvesting biofuel assortments already in the first thinning. In this study the distribution of the biomass within lodgepole pine trees has been studied and taken into account for estimating the proportions of harvested assortments when using different methods of thinning. The methods studied were conventional biofuel-harvesting (with delimbed branches gathered separately from the round wood) and thinning with cutting of round wood and long tops (incl.

Manual signs are an augmentative and alternative communication mode which enables and facilitates communication for persons with impairments in speech, language and hearing. There are different ways of teaching signs to persons with intellectual disabilities. One of them is milieu teaching, which is a method where the teaching takes place in natural settings. This method has proven to give good results in generalization and maintenance. Teaching signs to staff in groups has been shown to be effective.

The availability of digital models of real 3D objects is becoming more and more important in many different applications (e-commerce, virtual visits etc). Very often the objects to be represented cannot be modeled by means of the classical 3D modeling tools because of the geometrical complexity or color texture. In these cases, devices for the automatic acquisition of the shape and the color of the objects (3D scanners or range scanners) have to be used. The scanner presented in this work, a Shape from silhouette scanner, is very cheap (it is based on the use of a simple digital camera and a turntable) and easy to use. While maintaining the camera on a tripod and the object on the turntable, the user acquires images with different rotation angles of the table.

The construction industries are relatively conservative type of business that takes a longtime to adjust for new methods and embrace new ideas. It dose not matter if the newmethod seems to be an improved method as long as it is new and untried. Constructioncompanies are reluctant to change form a longtime working method to a relativelyunknown method.The purpose with our report is to perform an evaluation of BeWi construction method.Our goal are to present the generally opinion about BeWi from the contractors that hasbeen in contact/worked with the method. We also want to know from the contractor?spoint of view if BeWi and the method measure up to the standards that are presented byBeWi and if they believe that improvements need to be done.Our progress up to the final report has consisted of three parts[1]Field studies[2]Interviews[3]Literary studiesWe started out with field studies where we took notes and observed all the includedworking phases on the construction site when using the BeWi method.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers? described experiences of advantages as well as disadvantages of Arne Trageton?s write to read-method (?ASL?) in contrast to the code-oriented traditional way of teaching. The aim of this study is furthermore to depict the teachers? opinions on whether they experience that the ASL-method is unfavourable for students in general. This study will also investigate the teachers? standpoint regarding choice of reading and writing method.

The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of a working laboratory in mathematics education, how it influences students? learning and the confidence the teacher has in the laboratory component. Focus has been placed upon the advantages and disadvantages that could follow in the working method.The method used in this essay is qualitative in order to answer all the questions that arise along the way, and in order to use this method in interviews. The interviews that has taken place has been with five class teachers that are currently teaching at a elementary school between the years of 1-5. The purpose of this study has been answered by using its literature and the qualitative method with the class teachers.The results of the research show that teachers express gratitude towards the method in use for mathematics studies.

The purpose of this essay was to examine female and male nursing students expectations and goals referring to the nursing profession from a gender perspective and examining the students reasons to apply for nursing school. A descriptive study with qualitative design was implemented. Data acquisition was made through interviewing ten nurse students, five male and five female. The interview material were analysed in accordance with Kvale?s method of analyzing.

Background: Acquisitions are a well-known method for increasing company size and strength on the market. But to reach the targets set, more than just a positive economic calculation is required. An atmosphere that supports the company's integration is needed, for which it is of great importance for management to understand the underlying sets of values that exist in the organisation, and to take into consideration the way they might become an obstacle or a tool for a successful integration. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain and understand how cultural change occurs and how it affects the employee, as a smaller company is bought and integrated into a larger organisation. Procedure: The analysis is based on theories on organisational culture and organisational change.

This bachelor thesis delves into the role and impact of cultural dimensions, identity and leadership on post-merger acquisition in Sweden through an in-depth analysis of two companies that have undergone acquisitions or mergers. Using an abductive method, where theories are continuously adapted based on empirical data, qualitative information was gathered through semi-structured interviews with managers and employees from the two companies. The study aimed to gather well-founded insights on how corporate cultural dimensions, identity and leadership are experienced by individuals during the merger. By examining culture, leadership and identity in three different time phases of the integrationprocess, a comprehensive understanding of the integration process was achieved. The results of the study highlight that cultural factors such as leadership, culture, and identity play a central and crucial role in mergers and acquisitions. By considering and managing employees' and leaders' identities, organizations can create a sense of coherence and continuity despite changes.

The thesis tries to answer how a combination of financial metrics and marketing metrics can improve strategic decision making. The purpose is to develop a strategic working method for general dealers. The method is based on the two theoretical frameworks "The strategic resource model" and "The importance-performance matrix". The suggested method is being tested in a small retail store environment on the Swedish market. The result of the test shows that a better suited strategy can be developed when this strategic method, which combines financial metrics with marketing metrics, is being used.