The aim of this report was to investigate the economy of passive houses. The work was focused on economy in total and on the economy of different components such as windows, insulation, heat exchanger and the air tightness of the climate shell. No attention was paid on the comfort factor or to the impacts on the environment.Two houses, aspiring to be passive were chosen; A big one and a small one. Hence, comparisons considering the size of the building have been possible to do as well.The comparisons were made by calculating ?break even? between two concepts; passive and BBR- concept.

With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

Electricity production from renewable energy resources such as wind energy and photovoltaics is variable. Integration of these intermittent resources into the electricity system leads to new challenges in how to manage imbalance between supply and demand on the grid.One way to meet these challenges is to develop so-called smart grid solutions. One idea, called demand response, is to adjust the amount or timing of energy consumption, e.g. by control of household appliances, to provide flexibility that could be used to balance the grid. In aggregate, when applied to many units across the system, large volumes of energy could be made available when needed and this grid flexibility can be used as a product on the electricity regulation market.Despite the potential benefits, the number of demand response bids is currently low.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain what possibilities the new license between Youtube and Stim can have for Swedish artists and what impact this may have for the Swedish major record labels? competitive advantage. Based on this, the aim is also to describe how artists' position of power against major record labels may change due to the license.Method The essay is based on an inductive approach. The authors have used a qualitative research method to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon investigated. Primary sources have been collected using a variety of interviews from different parts of the Swedish music industry.Conclusion The Swedish major labels still hold a strong position today both when it comes to power balance and attractiveness.

Personer med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning kan ha olika svårigheter som påverkar de dagliga aktiviteterna i vardagen. Aktivitetsbalans är ett begrepp som ofta används inom arbetsterapi och beskriver en individs uppfattning av att ha en tillfredsställande mängd av aktiviteter och rätt variation mellan olika aktiviteter. Det förekommer inga studier om aktivitetsbalans kopplat till personer med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning vad författarna har noterat. Syftet med examensarbetet var att beskriva den självskattade aktivitetsbalansen hos vuxna personer med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning. Den metod som användes var en kvantitativ icke ? experimentell tvärsnittsstudie.

The purpose with the essay is to illuminate four former clients? personal stories about the meeting with the authority in the Swedish welfare system and the institutionalization theywent through. The questions being asked in the essay focus on communication, the relationship concerning power and the former clients attitude towards the institutionalization as a treatment. Four interviews were held with former clients who were institutionalized sometime between the ages of 15-25. The results were then analyzed by theories focusing on communication as a way to gain power and how social interaction may influence the individual attitudes towards authorities.

How effective is consumer power? Can consumers regulate corporate behavior?And if so is the case, could the mechanisms where consumers regulate corporatebehavior have any democratic value to contribute with? These are the questionsthat this master's thesis comprehends with. The purpose of this writing is toconstruct a theory of consumer power that is compatible with democratic theory,this in order to contribute to the ongoing discussion within the discipline ofpolitical science about the third democratic transformation. A discussion that hasbeen actualized due to the democratic deficit created by the growing corporatepower and the shift of power from state to private enterprises. Besides showingfor a parallel between the democratic mechanisms that exists in the relationbetween citizens and state on the one hand, and the consumers and corporationson the other hand, this paper argues that consumers do have a great potential inregulating corporate behavior towards a higher social responsibility andawareness.

The subject for this paper is the Class Action against Skandia Association, a civil organization formed in 2003 with the aim of claiming compensation for some 1.2 million life insurance customers. The background to its formation was one of the largest financial scandals in Sweden in recent times, involving a number of questionable affairs within the insurance corporation Skandia and its subsidiaries, most notably the life insurance company Skandia Liv. The interests of both the stake- and stockholders of the company seem, in certain ways, to have been grossly misrepresented. The scandal, as well as the reaction it spawned, pose a number of questions. In this study, we focus on two: a possible, and in many ways apparent crisis in the representation of interests in Swedish society, and the role of civil society in upholding the balance between these interests.We argue that what is often held to be the ?greed? or ?immorality? of individuals in scandals such as Skandia is, to a great extent, a mere reflection of the ?rational? underpinnings of modern-day capitalism.We find that trust has been a key mechanism of control in the relationships between consumers and agents in pension and life insurance markets, and that ?the Swedish model? that distinguished post-WWII Swedish society was a model heavily based on trust towards existing models of bureaucratic governance.

With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

Wind power is becoming an increasingly important source of energy. There are several national and international goals set to increase to amount of renewable energy, and in order to meet these goals, the wind power production plays an important part and the establishment of new wind power farms are required. The Swedish national project Riksintresse Vindbruk has appointed areas in Sweden suitable for wind power, mainly when looking at the physical wind conditions of the area. In this study, I aim to define suitable areas for wind power establishment in Norrbottens län. In order to reach this goal, a critical regional method was developed and completed using GIS.

Work-Life Balance (WLB) is defined as the ability to manage both work-life and non-work life successfully. WLB can be evaluated by examining individual?s experience of Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Family-Work Conflict (FWC), both of which can be assessed by a questionnaire developed by Netemeyer, Boles and McMurrian (1996). The aim of this study was to explore if responses to the questionnaire, the amount of time spent on studies, household chores and sick leave, were gender related or not, among civil-accountants students. The survey included 138 respondents (74 woman and 64 men).

AbstractThis paper is a comparative study of the final reports of the Norwegian and Danish power studies performed in 2003. While the Danish study found that democracy is thriving, the conclusion of the Norwegian power study was that democracy is in a crisis. The purpose of this paper is to find explanations to why the studies in two Nordic countries arrived at such different results.Methodologically, the paper consists of an ideological text analysis and critical analyses of the discourse. In order to study how the results of the power studies can differ so considerably, the following aspects have been surveyed; 1) external contexts (government inquiries); 2) work process (the researchers? background, role and co-operation); 3) the problem areas and themes studied; and 4) power perspectives.

Coreträning består av statiska och dynamiska övningar för bålmuskulaturen. Syftet med studien var att ta reda på om det fanns ett samband mellan bålmuskulatur och balans samt om en träningsperiod med Coreträning kunde påverka balansen. En litteraturstudie har gjorts där åtta artiklar granskades. Dessutom bestod studien av en empirisk del där nio försökspersoner fick sin statiska och dynamiska balans testad före och efter en 4-veckors period med Coreträning. Som mätmetod användes unilateral stance test med NeuroCom® Balance Master® 8.03 och dynamic balance test med Biodex® Balance System.

Work-life balance är ett ämne som det har forskats mycket om de senaste åren. Denna undersökning har applicerat de befintliga teorier som finns inom work-life balance och relaterat dessa till yrkesgruppen sjuk- och undersköterskor. Denna yrkesgrupp är intressant då det för närvarande råder brist på sjuk- och undersköterskor på dagens svenska arbetsmarknad. På grund av denna brist ställs denna yrkesgrupp på höga krav både vad gäller flexibilitet och tillgänglighet. Denna undersökning har redogjort för de samlade teorier som finns inom work-life balance, flexibilitet och tillgänglighet.

The assignment given to us by NCC was to compose a degree project based on ground excavations for power cables. The aim of the study was to examine suitable excavation methods depending on different possible terrain conditions. The amount of previously written material within this subject is nearly non- existent and therefore there is a genuine interest by the NCC to receive a compilation of different production methods. The greater part of this study is based upon interviews with several companies active within this area of expertise. The technique of placing the electricity grid beneath ground for safety is today getting more and more common.