New method for measuring road quality- A statisticalstudy of the relationship between road quality andsocioeconomic development A new tool with implications for road maintenance has the potential to yield statistical data for road quality in a large number of regions. This thesis investigates the possibility to develop a method, from this data, for evaluating the effects of road quality on socioeconomic development.The thesis is essentially divided into two parts. Part one looks to qualitatively establish the link between socioeconomic development and road quality and the second part focuses on how to develop a method for evaluating the effects of road quality on socioeconomic development. A method was devised using categorical data and a multinomial regression model. This method provides a comprehensive overview of the complex relationship between a variety of different variables.

To be allowed to sell Z-suspended vehicles with dipped beam Xenon or LED lighting, Scania have to develop automatic headlight level control. This master?s thesis aims to be the foundation to that development.The thesis consists of several parts; a market analysis of how competitors to Scania and the general vehicle industry solve this problem; several available principles for detecting the amount of control needed; the construction of a test station for sensors, a control unit and components connected controlled by the control unit; a further theoretical and practical development of one principle ? one rotational sensor connected between the chassis and the back drive axis; a state flow model programmed in Simulink that produces the control signal for the headlight leveling from the sensor input.Lastly the thesis gives some recommendations to the further development and implementation of automatic headlight level control on Scania vehicles..

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues have been received much attention in businessand management practises globally. Jensen & Yeh (2009, 3) state that ?The agenda ofCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a factor in the process of globalization,and Chinese companies may sometimes feel pushed into this agenda without a clearunderstanding of the rationale behind it?. China?s textile and apparel industry, amanufacturing-based economy with its products bounding up with the consumers worldwide,has been facing enormous pressure to take CSR initiatives, particularly in relation toenvironmental issues and labor standards.

Since 2007, I´ve been working in the steel industry in a place called ?SSAB?. That?s why itseemed right to contact them for this thesis.The SSAB concern is global, but SSAB Sweden involves raw steel producing in Luleå, heavyplate producing in Oxelösund, and sheet metal producing in Borlänge..

The aim was to find out teachers in Swedish as a second language in primary schools view on how they work with a language development teaching in a multicultural environment. I did a semi-structured interview where I both made questions before the interview and also used individualized follow-up questions during my interview. I did that because I really wanted to get answers to the subject and the aim of the essay. Two teachers in Swedish as a second language have been interviewed. The result shows that a holistic approach to language development is important, where great emphasis lies on understanding. Teachers say that communication and interaction are key factors and that it is important with good linguistically appropriate and understandable texts where the words/concepts are learned and used in the right context. .

This thesis examines the relationship between OECD-DAC and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) within an aid efficiency context. The ability for these two actors to cooperate is highly important and determines the outcome for a major part of the development aid in the new millennium. The development agenda for the new millennium emphasizes aid efficiency as a key to a more successful aid, and this requires increased cooperation between all actors. The analysis made is a discourse analysis. The discourse of aid efficiency is analyzed, both its preconditions and results.The analyze finds out that there is a gap between OECD-DAC and CSOs in terms of how to handle aid efficiency.

This thesis treats the development of the European Union asylum- and migration politics and the EU member states transfer of authority to the European Union. The main purpose has been to look closer with the use of the application of theory of neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism on the European Union case. The focus will be to answer the following questions: How has the political development within EU asylum and migration policy developed through the period of The Single European Act to the ratification of the Stockholm program? And how can the chosen theory explain European countries transfer of national decision regarding asylum policy in favor of a supranational European asylum policy? Based on the available material of European Union programs and harmonization measures for this area I have attempted to understand to what extent the European Union?s development in the area of the asylum and migration politics can be explained through the theories of neofunctionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism. The result of my analysis is confirmation of the European Union development of the area of the asylum and migration policy and also a series of explanations according to the theories regarding the member states transfer of authority to the EU.

This study aims to investigate development and reasons behind sustainability reporting in large Swedish companies. By examining 15 companies? environmental and sustainability reports between the years 2000 and 2008, data was collected on matters such as frequency, scope and design. Identified trends were to a large extent in line with previous studies on international development; sustainability reporting is growing in several aspects. The authors have found one major reason for this development to be increasing requirements and expectations from stakeholders and a need for companies to legitimize their actions.

Ordet hållbarhetsredovisning härstammar från begreppet hållbar utveckling som per definition innebär att ?tillfredsställa dagens behov utan att äventyra kommande generationers möjligheter att tillfredsställa sina behov?. Idag upprättar flera företag så kallade hållbarhetsredovisningar där de tar ställning till sitt sociala, ekonomiska och miljömässiga ansvar. Den svenska staten beslutade den 29 november år 2007 att alla statligt ägda bolag från och med den 1 januari år 2008 ska upprätta hållbarhetsredovisningar som redovisas enligt Global Reporting Initiative?s (GRI) riktlinjer.

Studies have shown that user participation is a good method when improving or developing a product. The method gives a company insight in what the customer wants and needs. It has also been shown that user participation benefits all parts included. For example, it creates a greater relationship with customers than most other methods do. Webportals is one of the most interactive systems online and it gives companies a unique chance to improve and maintain their relationship with customers.

 AbstractSystem methodology is in the very heart of system development, it is a crucial part of how you define your work, how you choose to approach the actual problem at hand and how to solve it. Researchers in the system development field has shown that not all methods in theory are in compliance with how it is practiced by the companies who use them. In our thesis we have studied a larger international IT- company and one of their local offices in Sweden, who some years back changed their system development method from a more traditional to an agile one. Our aim of this study has been to establish whether both of these methods has differed between theory and in actual use, and if so, why this has occurred and what the underlying rationality might have been to promote this change. Our questions that we sought to answer were; 1.

Few issues have been exposed in media recently as much as the climate change issue. Afterthe documentary film ?An Inconvenient Thruth? presented by Al Gore was released in 2006,most of the world saw a lot of attention directed towards global warming. This was a turningpoint that is refered to in this dissertation an history-graded critical event, which is assumed tohave a significant impact on peoples lives.The purpose of this dissertation is to examine whether or not political parties in Swedenresponded to this critical event in the way that they, in their party programmes, haveformulated policies related to climate change. Alternatively if media produces an image ofpolitical activity which does not comport with the forming of actual political standpoints.

SammanfattningDagens globala samhälle innebär att många företag väljer att satsa på marknader i andra länder. Ett problem som kan uppstå är att kommunikationen missförstås av mottagarna och det därigenom blir en kostsam och misslyckad marknadssatsning. För att motverka problemet har vi undersökt vilka kulturella skillnader som finns mellan väst- och östvärlden och hur de påverkar uppfattningen av visuell kommunikation i form av logotyper. Arbetet syftade även till att öka förståelsen för vilka likheter och skillnader som påverkar hur visuella element så som färg, typsnitt, form och symbol uppfattas samt hur de kan betraktas som globala.Syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka hur visuell kommunikation, i form av logotyper, uppfattas i väst- och östvärlden. I syftet ingick även att ta reda på vilka kulturella skillnader som påverkar vad vi uppfattar samt att undersöka hur de visuella elementen kan användas för att få logotyper att uppfattas som globala i både Sverige och Kina.

I am in this essay to find out how to successfully combine new development with preservation of natural values, mainly large scale vegetation and ground formations.This is done by studies of three developments. The first development, Engeltofta backe, lies 7 km northeast of Gävle. The expectations of natural preservation were not fullfilled when this area, after the explotation, did not have any vegetation of value left. The second example, Östra Kvarnskogen in the community of Sollentuna, shows, as far as one can tell at the moment, a sucsessful combination of new development and preserved nature. The third example is a development in the community of Kullön. In this area the ambition of combining preservation and development was fullfilled. After studying vital documentation in each planning process, I made interviews with different actors in each of the three processes. I thereafter compared the different documents and answers from the interviewed persons to find out if there were any significant similarities or differences which could be of importence when natural values is to be preserved in new developments. My conclusion of this study is that it is of great importence to define key expressions often used in the process, such as natural values and preservation.

The study sheds light on pupils individual plans of development and portfolios from the perspective of children. It has an ethnographic standpoint. It was carried out on children and pupils in pre-school, pre-school class and third grade. By further investigating how children and pupils use their individual development plans and portfolios, in which settings and to whom they communicate them, this study is able to grasp the discourse that is created around the instrument itself. This study is also interested in and aims to find the theoretical frame, in essence, which envelops both the construction of childhood and children?s own activities within the limitations and opportunities that this structure offers.