The high level of competition and the rapidly growing technology development has created new challenges for today's businesses where they are forced to deliver more customized products at a lower price and a shorter time period. This places high demands on the companies' ability to design and develop better products in a more efficient way. In addition to developing products, the design process focuses on securing long-term success for the company by developing nourishing skills. However, to achieve an effective design process the companies must improve their ability to plan as well as use their knowledge base in a more efficient manner. Toyota's product development system is a critical component for companies to address challenges that they?re facing and offers a great potential to create significant competitive advantages.

A couple of hundred years ago half of the earth?s surface was covered by forest. Today, only half remains and every year an area the size of Nepal is disappearing. Deforestation, together with the burning of fossil fuels, is also one of the reasons for the increasing greenhouse effect. Another relatively unknown problem for the world?s forests is the trade with illegally harvested timber.

Due to an increasing global market with a growing competition and an escalating technologydevelopment the demands on companies today are increasing. To maximise the output fromtheir recourses they need to be more efficient. The research on product development and how toensure the efficiencies in the process are extensive and companies could by adapting andimplementing the result of this research use its benefits.This master thesis is made for Knightec AB with the aims that through interviews anddiscussions with three companies investigate, collate, justify and give proposals for productdevelopment process together with supporting methods and procedures for technical projectmanagement. Besides Knightec AB three other companies located in Sweden has beenparticipating in this study. Through semi structured interviews and discussions in focus groupsinformation from the three involved companies were obtained.

Higher demands of competitiveness and efficiency have led to increasing sizes of farms, with more land, more capital and more comprehensive logistics. The aim is to gain benefits of scale economies that reduce the production cost per unit. However, a greater extent of the business exposes the farm of increased risk where small deviations rapidly can erase the benefits. A modern dairy farm thus put high demands on the farmer?s ability to coordinate, plan and manage the forage production through the whole process until storage to obtain silage of the desired quality and quantity at the right price. The objective of this study was to design a simple model, i.e.

Holmen Paper is one of Sweden?s leading manufacturer of paper, with two Swedish production facilities located in Norrköping and Hallstavik. The European continent constitutes the company?s largest customer base which makes the company?s distribution system an integral part of the business. Historically, much of the produced paper has been transported by vessels, as vessels allow large volumes of goods and deliveries to markets which are difficult to reach with other modes of transportation.

In Sweden there are laws and recommendations from The National Board of Health and Welfare about the importance of a user's involvement in and possibility of influencing services directed at them. Even with such good intentions the same board reports that it is hard to know if people experience that they do. The purpose of my study was to examine how professionals can use their knowledge to help users increase their sense of influence in services that they use. My focus has been on adults with neuropsychiatric disabilities within the autistic spectra, such as Asperger syndrome, and on the professionals working with them. The specific problem among people with neuropsychiatric disabilities is a lack of social skills.

This report was written as a final thesis within the Department of forest economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as a completion of the M.SC Forestry programme. The aim of this study was to create a model that, with respect to given stock levels, temperature, fuel usage and fuel price, would identify the optimal levels for purchase of bio fuels, optimal levels of incineration of bio fuels and the sum of the present values of all costs. The model would be applicable for a larger district heating plant. Data regarding temperature were received from SMHI. Information considering fuel prices was taken from the Swedish Forest Agency and the facts about fuel usage were collected from a large district heating plant, located in the southwest of Sweden. For the temperature, a sinus curve was adapted to describe the temperature over a year.

The Swedish cooperative Lantmännen Ekonomiska Förening has initiated a project labelled "Operation Blåljus" that includes an extensive program for closing down elevators. The number of elevators will be reduced from 92 to approximately 15 after harvest of 2007. The objective of Blåljus is to increase the price of grain with 10 öre/kg. A project has been initiated at the Lantmännen Grain division where the purpose is to provide the farmers with support in their decisions and practical advice how they can load a 35 ton grain truck on 30 minutes. The result from the project will serve as a support system to the farmer in his ambition to achieve cost efficient systems to load a truck with grain on the farm.

In many European countries there is an increasing concern about the occasionally high concentrations of nitrate and pesticides in drinking water. The advent of the EU Water Framework Directive particularly highlights this. The directive states that all large drinking water sources should be identified and protected from pollution before 2009 and that by 2015 all water bodies should reach a 'good status'. In Sweden about 60 percent of the drinking water sources have protection areas. This means that about 700 new water protection areas need to be designated before 2009. This will affect many farmers, restricting their farming practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate which methods are used in other countries concerning nitrate and pesticide pollution from agriculture. From this, the expectation was to generate ideas on what could be undertaken in Sweden when designating new protection areas.

This study concerns the energy future of the county of Stockholm up until 2050 and describes how the energy consumption can be compared to today with the use of scenario methodology. Within energy future studies the backcasting approach is well known and has been put to use in this study. Due to the characteristics of backcasting the study is self-fulfilling, i.e. the future energy scenarios presented in this study satisfy the targets set up in this study. In the light of what may be the largest challenge of our time ? the climate change - the aim of this study is to describe how the energy consumption in a fossil fuel free Stockholm county in the year of 2050 may be.

Genom praktiska och teoretiska studier på studie- och yrkesvägledarprogrammet har vi kunnat se en ökning av de elever som gör ett omval efter ett år på gymnasiet. Syftet med undersökningen var att se bidragande orsaker till att ett eventuellt omval sker. En kvalitativ studie har gjorts genom intervjuer med fem elever som gått ett år på sitt omvalda gymnasieprogram. Detta resultat har ställts i relation till Linda. S Gottfredsons teori kring begreppen begränsningar och kompromisser i studievalet samt SCCT-teorin där fokus ligger på självskattning.

Sveriges befolkning blir allt äldre och år 2050 beräknas en fjärdedel av befolkningen vara över 65 år. Detta medför ett ökat behov av tillgänglighetsanpassade bostäder som till exempel mellanboende. Samtidigt håller sig Sveriges befolkning friskare och på grund av detta minskar vårdbehovet och efterfrågan av särskilda boenden. Trygghetsboende är en typ av mellanboende. Det är till för människor över 70 år som känner sig i behov av ett tillgängligt utformat boende och kanske känner sig ensamma men som av kommunen inte anses i behov av ett särskilt boende.

According to the Board of Forestry, in Västerbotten, many natural regenerations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) carried out on privately owned forest in the middle of 1990 in Västerbotten have rendered a bad regeneration outcome and will provide a low future forest production. The Board of Forestry believes that the negative result can be explained by the fact that the regeneration has been carried out in wrong locations and that scarification failed to work as planned. In order for an accepted rate of regeneration the guidelines of the Forrest Act require, not less than 10 years after final cutting at natural regeneration, that there should be at least 1300 (site indices 16 m) - 1700 (site indices 20 m) main crop stems per hectare. Main crop stems are defined as stems according to the place of growth and appropriate tree type, in addition with regard to quality, stage of development and damage risk have a prospect of succeeding. In addition main crop stems should be separated by surface so that the proportion sample plots with 3 meters radius, and lack main crop stems, are not more than 10 % of site indices 14 meters or higher.

Sveriges befolkning blir allt äldre och år 2050 beräknas en fjärdedel av befolkningen vara över 65 år. Detta medför ett ökat behov av tillgänglighetsanpassade bostäder som till exempel mellanboende. Samtidigt håller sig Sveriges befolkning friskare och på grund av detta minskar vårdbehovet och efterfrågan av särskilda boenden. Trygghetsboende är en typ av mellanboende. Det är till för människor över 70 år som känner sig i behov av ett tillgängligt utformat boende och kanske känner sig ensamma men som av kommunen inte anses i behov av ett särskilt boende.

AbstractTitle: The Swedish real estate companies choices of valuation within investment properties and its further effects on the qualitative characteristics of accounting.-A study of the Swedish real estate companies listed and non - listed on the stock market, after the application of the international rule board.Background and Problem: From January 2005, all companies, listed on a stock market within the European Union, are required to prepare their consolidated accounts using common set of International Accounting Standards, IAS/IFRS. In Sweden, this opportunity has also been given to non-listed companies, to voluntary implement these rules in their consolidated accounts. One difference between Swedish accounting rules and contemporary International rules, deals with the accounting treatment of investment properties, which foremost affects the real estate market?s accounts. In contrast to the Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council?s recommendation RR 24, the new standard, IAS 40, permits a choice between different accounting Alternatives.