Valmets own foundry in Karlstad has during a long period of time had problems being profitable. The goal today is to turn this around. Today there are three different productionlines; engine blocks, Yankeecylinders and components for the wind turbine industry. This master thesis has focused on examining if value stream mapping is a useful tool to use in a foundry, and therefore outside the typical manufacturing industry. The target has also been to evaluate if there is a possibility to improve the flow in the foundry and also the results.During the 20 weeks this work has been done at the foundry data has been collected and analyzed.

Today green tree retention, together with leaving dead wood, is a common practice with the aim to reduce negative impacts on biodiversity and environment due to clear-felling. To better understand whether this conservation practice also makes a long-term difference, it is important to know what happens to these trees after harvest. Few studies have made an assessment of what happens to retention trees over a longer time period. In this study I inventoried retention trees that were left at clear-cuts six, twelve and eighteen years ago. I carried out a re-inventory of 57 retention patches (divided into free-standing tree groups, small swamp forests and edge zones) and free standing dead trees, spread over 25 previous clear-cuts in central Sweden.

The use of the robust and durable woody ground covers is increasing, not in the least in public places. The group includes low shrubs of different height that effectively build low, tight vegetation that covers the ground. Despite all the good qualities the knowledge about them is quite low and there are ideas about them of being dull. The woody ground covers manage to struggle against weeds effectively by competing for nourishment and water, but above all, by the canopy of the ground covers that prevent the weeds from getting enough light. In that way the woody groundcovers can effectively compete with the annual weeds.

Corporate governance intensified due to the corporate scandals in the USA which led to a new law the so called Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).In 2005 the "Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning" (The Code) was introduced. The main purpose of The Code is to strengthen the confidence in Swedish companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The Code focuses on the working process of boards. The rules set by The Code places higher demands on the board.  Among many other duties the board has to establish long term operational goals and strategy.

In connection with the property crises in many countries, caused by the financial crises, people are now more aware of the risks involved in poor property-investments. The unusually cold winters along with extreme prices of electricity in Sweden in recent years has also contributed to increased interest in energy-efficient buildings.The process of developing a modern family home in Kiruna, Sweden is presented the first part of this paper. The house has been designed to withstand very high stresses from snow, low energy consumption as well as a high standard of living comfort. Aspects of the house covered here involves everything from construction, heating and ventilation to sanitation. Each of these areas is presented based on their underlying, scientific methods or theories.

We are heading towards a huge switch of how energy is produced with fossil fuels being replaced by renewable energy sources. It is not difficult to replace the energy you use in the house and there is no need for futuristic technology. There are already many established products on the market such as high efficiency vacuum solar collectors, heat pumps & small wind power stations that can supply the energy being used in a house. The company Sol & Energiteknik SE AB in Huskvarna has many different products which can reduce the need for an outside energy distributor. An average house in Sweden uses 15 000 kWh for heating, 5000 kWh for tap water and 5000 kWh for electricity.

Syfte: Huvudsyftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka betydelsen av finansiella rapporter genom att studera aktiekursens reaktion på Stockholmsbörsen för tidpunkten när företags finansiella rapporter blir offentliga. Detta bryts ned i två delsyften; Skapar årsrapporter synbara reaktioner på svenska aktiemarknaden OMX vid tidpunkten för offentlighetsdatumet? samt följer reaktionerna på svenska aktiemarknaden årsrapporternas status? Metod: Undersökningen är uppdelad i två delar. Den första utgörs av en nyckeltalsanalys, på 81 finansiella rapporter mellan åren 1991-2009, för att fastställa rapporternas status och den senare är en eventstudie som behandlar aktieutvecklingen vid offentlighetsdatumet för rapporterna. Undersökningen har en kvantitativ ansats där empirin består av sekundärdata i form av årsredovisningar, delårsrapporter och börskursindex.Teori: Rapporten bygger på hypotesen om effektiva marknader, signalteorin samt teorin om insiderinformation.Empiri: Utav 81 undersökta rapporter var 32 stycken starka, 27 stycken svaga, och 22 stycken neutrala.  Alla rapporters eventfönster för offentliggörandet gav antingen ett positivt eller negativt AAR.

Latent heat storage is a way to store thermal energy when a phase change material undergoes a phase change. The advantage of latent heat storage is the capability to store more energy per mass unit than other heat storage methods. The most commonly used phase change in latent heat storage is the transition between solid and liquid. Phase change materials can be divided into organics, inorganics and eutectics.In the Nordic electricity market the price of electricity is set every hour by Nordpool spot, which leads to price fluctuations because of changes in demand. The main goal of this report is to create a latent heat storage system in a single-family home and investigate the possibility to save money by charging the latent heat storage system when the price of electricity is low, and discharge when the price is high.The thermodynamic model consisted of a ?tube-in-tube? heat exchanger with phase change material in the outer tube and water as the heat transfer fluid in the inner tube.

Burkina Faso as well as most sub-Saharan African countries struggle with providing food for a fast growing population. The dominating farming system is agroforestry parklands. Agroforestry parklands can broadly be defined as areas where scattered trees occur on farmlands as a result of selective clearing. The presence of trees in crop fields may in the long term have a positive effect on the production of annual crops. It is commonly discussed, but not proven, that the presence of trees leads to increased groundwater recharge due to higher infiltration capacity of the soil.

Hunger is a problem in some parts of the world (www, FAO 1, 2012). The lack of food is often a result of insufficient knowledge in soil fertility management (Röing de Nowina, 2012). Ongoing hunger and malnourishment are quite prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and are often combined with poverty (www, FAO 1, 2012). Farming is the most common occupation in this area and the farms are often small-scale farms with subsistence crops and a few cattle. The farmers who operate these small-scale farms are economically a weak group.

The purpose of this essay is to examine wage-earners' investment funds from the ideological point of view. Were they in any way an integrated part of social democratical democratic socialism and reformism? I emphasize Olof Palme´s ideological idea of democratic socialism and reformism, and how he handled the issue. How did the question of these funds correspondent with the basic ideological points of view, and what was the standpoint of Palme in this issue.My method is built upon a deep study and analyses of SAP board of party and the standing committees protocol in the light of Olof Palme´s and SAP's ideology. I even use information from literature, inquiries and dissertations.

Since the financial crisis of 2007, the global financial market has been characterized by instability. At the same time the banks? lending rates and its link to the reporänta have been in the spotlight in various debates in the media. The government with Anders Borg leading the charge has criticized the banks for not lowering their lending rates when the reporänta has been lowered. The banks defend themselves by saying that the reporänta does not have a direct link to their lending rates anymore.

Herbicide resistance is the result of an evolutionary process where a population gradually changes from being susceptible to being resistant to an herbicide. The resistance mechanism is usually a change in the biochemistry of the weed, but in some cases changes in morphology or growth rhythm. The change is caused by random mutations. Two resistance mechanisms are found in black-grass; target site resistance and metabolic resistance.Black-grass is a tufty, winter annual grass weed, which is mainly found in milder climates. Black-grass is a big problem in Southern Europe.

Syfte: Meningen med studien är att bidra med en större förståelse och förhoppningsvis nya insikter om konsumtionen av lyxprodukter inom matbranschen genom att integrera redan existerande teori med empiriskt material. Syftet är att ur ett företagsperspektiv beskriva hur en förståelse för konsumententbeteende kring exklusiva matprodukter kan användas i marknadsföringen av dessa produkter.Studien riktar sig till människor, forskare samt organisationer som är intresserade av marknadsföring av lyxprodukter, men är även riktad till människor med intresse för nutidens konsumtion. Vidare motiveras studien ur ett etiskt perspektiv genom att belysa fenomenet kring dagens konsumtion och göra konsumenter medvetna om drivkrafterna bakom sitt beteende.Problemformulering: Hur kan företag som säljer exklusiva matprodukter använda förståelsen för konsumenternas beteende i sin marknadsföring? Vad kan vara bakgrunden till att konsumenter väljer att konsumera högkvalitativa och exklusiva matprodukter? Hur kan företag kategorisera in dessa konsumenter i olika konsumentgrupper? Var och vid vilka tillfällen väljer dessa konsumenter att konsumera exklusiva matprodukter?Metod: Studien är en kvalitativ studie där en kombinerad fall- och tvärsnittsstudie är genomförd. De data som samlats in och ligger till grund för studiens resultat och slutsats är genomförd genom litteraturstudier, intervjuer samt en frågeenkätundersökning.

Corporate governance intensified due to the corporate scandals in the USA which led to a new law the so called Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).In 2005 the "Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning" (The Code) was introduced. The main purpose of The Code is to strengthen the confidence in Swedish companies quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The Code focuses on the working process of boards. The rules set by The Code places higher demands on the board.  Among many other duties the board has to establish long term operational goals and strategy.