The project in question is a joint effort between students at Karlstad University and Marcus Norström at the company Hovercraft solutions. The project is divided into two parts, one focusing on the purely technical aspects of engineering the product and one focusing on the design aspects of the product development. The project described in this report is the design of the product. The assignment from Hovercraft solutions is regarding design engineering of a cabin for the hovercraft 380TD from the manufacturer Griffon hovercraft. The product lacks a cabin and none is offered from Griffon at the time being. 380TD is a relatively small hovercraft with a length of 6.8 metres and a width of 3.8 metres.The surface available for the cabin is not much different from the body of a car.Because of this, research has been focused primarily on car bodies.The product development process used in the project is following a systematic approach.From a chosen concept, the project was finalized with a CAD-modell as well as a detailed prototype.The weight target of 80 kg was reached and the ergonomic aspects were considered developing the sight field, roof- and entrance height.    .

The environmental demands are increasing when it comes to product development. EcoDesign isabout minimizing the environmental impact of a product, considering the entire life cycle of it,without compromising other qualities like function or cost. In this master of science thesis amobile phone has been analysed with Ten Golden Rules in EcoDesign regarding production, useand End of Life. Also a functional and an environmental profile were made. The goal was tomake a new concept phone, based on the previous analysis, which communicates userfriendlinessand sustainable development.

Globalization and demographic changes are forcing today?s companies to be more competitive in order to reach success. The increasing competition is proving a challenge for companies to recruit and retain competent, talented staff. To meet these challenges, Talent Management was developed during the 1990s and supplies a new and innovative way to deal with personnel management. Due to Talent Management being a relatively new theory, there is at present no generally accepted definition of the theory.

The aim of this study is to describe how the cooperation between franchisee and franchisor evolves over time. The parties? work responsibilities are explored as an ingredient of the cooperation. Creation of relational aspects is also studied, as well as how adaptation of the concept is handled throughout the partnership. This study takes on an abductive approach and is based on interviews with franchisees of one franchise system, performed at different stages of the respective cooperations.

Stockholms vattenskärning AB in Kungsängen has through the acquisition of a company begun to design and produce aircraft heaters whose origin is early 1970s which follows a high inefficiency in terms of energy consumption and size.The aircraft heater, which is sold worldwide, serves its purpose for customer satisfaction and has done so ever since it was developed in the 70s.Stockholms vattenskärning AB is now investigating the possibility in making the aircraft heaters more efficient, both in terms of energy consumption but also on a more efficient design with the belief that it would lead them to an edge in the market. The aircraft heater consists of several main components whose function altogether is to keep passenger aircrafts warm while they are on the ground.This project has been limited to the further development of the heat exchanger package which accounts for the conversion of the hot medium to the fresh air being carried in to the aircraft cabin. Work has been divided into different phases in order to create a better understanding of the project range and to make it easier to divide the various elements in the time available, 10 weeks. These phases are literature review, situation analysis, concept generation, CAD, concept comparison and writing reports.After the initial literature review was made, a fundamental theory was written which is essential in understanding the remaining parts of the project.With the theoretical part as support, measurements and calculations were made on the current heat exchange package in a situation analysis to ensure its operation and efficiency.In the concept generation phase, the collected facts from the literature review was used as the basis for creating a matrix. The purpose of the matrix was to indicate the two most suitable types of heat exchangers to develop four new concepts out of.In the CAD phase the four concepts was drawn up and then described with text and images.The last phase is the concept comparison where a concept selection matrix is used to function as a decision basis for further production at Stockholms vattenskärning AB. The four concepts have been developed based on the current heat exchanger and is gradually changed into a design of a cross-flow heat exchanger constructed out of stainless sections. The purpose of this is to have gradual upgrading of the heat exchanger as an option, in order not to saturate the market..

Learning organizations and organizational development are interesting subjects that does not examine municipal organizations and private organizations an equal amount.  Furthermore, there exists little research on the effects of competence development for individuals in a leadership role within organizations. Because of this, we wanted to examine the impact of competence development in business modeling and how it affected local government activities. Competence development is used by organizations to develop their business and achieve a greater competitive advantage, but does competence development for individuals in a leadership role lead to organizational development? This paper examines competence development in the form of a business modeling course via the Bitstreamproject and the effects that occur within three municipalities as a result of the competence development. By interviewing three participants and four coworkers within different municipalities and studied the data from the Bitstream project, we can not conclude that competence development within business modeling leads to organizational development, only that it exists a tendency for it.

Based on hermeneutic tradition, the goal of this thesis is to further my understanding of what the concept of resistance means in a psychoanalytical context today, primarily within clinical practice. My methodology has been to seek an understanding of the concept of resistance by reading excerpts from the original texts of Sigmund Freud, as well as conducting interviews with practicing psychoanalysts that focus on how they relate to the notion of resistance. The idea was to then present my understanding of these sources in relation to one another. The results suggest that an understanding of the concept of resistance in a clinical context is highlighted by a dichotomy between theory and practice..

The purpose of this study was to analyze how the key staff concept is used in residential care for children and young people and which role the key staff concept plays in the organization.The study was based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with six key staff and two managers from two different residential care facilities for children and young people. The theoretical perspective used was the neo-institutional theory and Hasenfeld´s term Human service organizations.One of the conclusions of the study was that the key staff describe that they have a central role when it comes to the treatment of the children. Another conclusion showed the variety of tasks that the key staff have, like the administrative work that they do. They also have an educational role, similar to the one that parents normally have which means that they are responsible of parenting the children. They also described themselves as a link between the children and their social network.

Densification is one of the urban visions for sustainable development - a vision that has become a part of the solution to the unsustainable sake dilemma. With the dense city land will be saved, energy consumption reduced and social cohesion improved. The dense city is considered to be ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. Applying an urban design concept has thus proven to be problematic. Density has been found to be a complex concept which is far more complicated than measuring how much built surface that needs to be covered. It is also not disputed what different degrees of densification mean and whether densification in itself is sustainable.

This critical examination of the concept of cultural heritage is based on an overall phenomenological approach, with focus on Alfred Schütz?s further development of Edmund Husserl?s idea of the lifeworld. With strong emphasis on the subjective and intersubjective dimensions, the concept of cultural heritage is contextualized, analysed and criticized from different aspects for the purpose of enriching the discourse of cultural heritage.A literature based methodology is used, including a hermeneutic analysis of theoretical texts in the field of cultural heritage studies and the new Swedish Culture Environmental Law (?Kulturmiljölagen?) and related bills. Qualitative interviews deal with people?s notions about the concepts of culture, cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage.

Rapporten beskriver arbetet med att modernisera en testutrustning för ett robotsystem. Den nya testutrustningen skulle moderniseras till att använda USB-gränssnitt istället för RS232-gränssnitt för kommunikation mellan dator och den övriga hårdvaran. Arbetet börjar med kravspecifikation och slutar med en fungerande produkt. I det innefattas en kortare förklaring av USB-gränssnittet och dess skillnader från RS232-gränssnittet, en utredning för att finna den bästa lösningen för att förverkliga USB-kommunikationen med utrustningen och konstruktion av elektronik för att styra signaler och spänningsmatningar till robotsystemet..

In recent time, agile methods have been devoted much attention, and the concept is widely used in the IT industry in particular. An increasing number of companies are interested in this way of working. The following report is the result of a study on the ability to create value for customers in business development through the use of agile methods. We ask what the advantages and limitations of agile methods are in the creation of customer value. Grounded Theory and an initial literature review was used to answer this question.

This thesis was rendered for the client HAGS Aneby AB that is a global leader in playground equipment. The goal of this project was to develop a seesaw that is available for children aged 5-12 years; both with and without disabilities. The project has aimed to develop a seesaw that fits everyone in the target group without looking specially adapted.Children with disabilities have difficulty using today's seesaws because they consist of only a seat and a handle on each side. It requires that the user has strong arms and legs and can sit up without support. HAGS Aneby AB would like to change this.To gain knowledge of the target group and on the different types of disabilities information was sought for on the internet including the RBU's and UNICEF's websites.

Creativity and innovation have become two very important concepts in today?s society where the demand for these abilities are sought after. At the same time, the school system of today follows a more traditional outlook on what learning and knowledge means.The extend students ability to understand and elevate their motivation is possible through creative methods of working. In order to create a school system which can withstand the demands of the future by including creative methods in its model, a study was carried out to examine how teachers? thoughts on creativity could mean for its development.This study took place in an elementary school in Sweden where Entreprenöriellt Lärande (EL) has been in use for the last two years.

In inhalation anesthesia life-support systems are used to provide gases to the patient and to monitor important parameters. These systems are used in dynamic and stressful situations where the information-load on the operators often is significant. This thesis presents a design concept of an anesthetic system. The design goal has been to keep the information-load on the operator low with the objective to minimize confusion and error.A number of contextual inquiries were made in the operating room during surgery at four hospitals in Sweden. The goal was to understand the actual use-situations when anesthetic systems are employed.