Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, OTEC, is a sustainable energy conversion technology that is not yet commercialized. OTEC is a technology that utilizes the temperature difference in oceans between the warm surface water and the cold water at 1 000 m depth to run a Rankine Cycle. This technology can produce electricity and provide synergies like fresh water, air conditioning and aquaculture. A simulation program for three alternative OTEC systems has been created in order to decide which OTEC system is most profitable; closed, open or hybrid system. In this simulation a production cost analysis is performed in order to investigate and decide which one of the three systems that has the lowest production cost. The production cost analysis also analyzes if the profitability is affected by the size of the facility. After these analyzes, the most profitable of the three different OTEC-systems is expanded by an installation of solar collectors in order to see if the thermal efficiency is improved. The result shows that the most profitable system varies with the size of the facility.

This thesis investigates management accounting systems in a Swedish health care environment. Through a qualitative case study of an activity-based cost accounting system that was introduced in 1994 at S:t Görans Sjukhus, a large Stockholm hospital, the following questions are addressed: What benefits can an activity-based cost accounting system offer the Swedish health care providers? What are the potential problems impeding the implementation of such a system? Main findings: an activity-based cost accounting system can improve the understanding of where costs are generated in the production processes. Comparisons between alternative production processes are improved, and the data may serve as a basis for internal pricing measures. Concerning the second question, difficulty in reconciliating the principles of economic control with the culture present in a hospital is identified as the main obstacle to a new management accounting system..

This study illustrates how the power relation between the trustee and principals are experienced and maintained in proportion to the missions design. The main focus lies on understanding of how trustee perceives and applies the mission`s cornerstones and how power can be expressed in the relationship between trustees and principals. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with trustees whose principals were mentally disabled. The interviews were then analyzed with the support of Foucault's concept of discipline, knowledge, control, surveillance and reward/punishment and Tilly's theory of persistent inequality We have obtained an understanding of the complexity of the assignment regarding the mission`s cornerstones who goes into every other, and all respondents agreed that the cornerstones should be considered as a whole. We concluded that the trustee on the basis of the mission's design possesses a power that is necessary and important to have regarding the relation to his principal and its social network.

Violence is put in a specific context when the police are the perpetrator of violence rendering violence possibly legitimate through sovereignty. The possibility of legitimization of police violence raises important questions of how such violence is legitimized and how resistance is conceived of and defined. I have interviewed seven people in Sweden from different backgrounds, all of whom share the experience of having been subjugated to police violence, including threats, harassments and physical violence.This paper analyzes the performativity of police violence through the relations between police violence, power, sovereignty, subjectstatus and resistance, in order to understand how police violence is being legitimized and to understand its consequenses with respect to those subjugated to it. I?ve also analyzed if this violence is being politicized and, in that case, how politicization is made possible.

The aim of the study was to examine how substance abuse influences social relationships to families, friends and others. Five ex addicts in a treatment centre were interviewed. We used thematic interviews with themes that we regarded as relevant for our study. In the analysis we applied the theoretical concept of symbolic interactionism. Theories of emotions also helped us to explain feelings that arise in the social relationships.

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.

This report is part of the major thesis carried out at Stoneridge Electronics in Bromma,Stockholm during autumn and winter 2005-2006. The background to the thesis is the trendwithin the automotive industry where color displays have become more common for presentationof information to the driver, a trend that has come to the commercial vehicle market. Thepurpose of the thesis has been to evaluate whether programmable logic, with respect to FPGAtechnology, could be suitable for display control and graphics generation of these more complexcolor displays in automotive environment.Within the scope of the thesis the FPGA technology has been investigated, i.e. whatopportunities and threats there are with aspect to environmental and security requirements. Inaddition, the market of FPGAs and pre-built IP-cores has been investigated.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to explore how the media through a certain discourse constructs a view of the labor market and the power relations between companies, unions and employees. The goal is to explore this through studying the media coverage of SAS? financial situation between September-December 2012 and our research question is the following: What view of the labor market and its power relations was constructed and reproduced by Swedish newspapers through their portrayal of SAS during September-December 2012?Method: This study analyses the findings with the help of questions based on theories of social constructivism, discourse, agenda-setting and power. A content and discourse analysis was compiled of 360 articles from five Swedish newspapers that addressed SAS and their situation from September-December 2012. The results of these analyses were further processed using power analysis and John Gaventa?s power cube.Results: In this study we conclude that the medial discourse constructs identities of the different actors and affect power relations between them, in favor of the company.

Modern IT systems tend to become more and more complex, while the number of active systems in companies increases. Furthermore, the number of security-related incidents is at an all-time high. These new conditions impose new demands on organizations. For example, it is no longer possible to manually collect and examine the systems log messages.The purpose of this thesis has been to make a comprehensive study of solutions for automated collecting and managing of log messages, analyze the Swedish Armed Forces specification for solutions for central log collection and management, and evaluating exis- ting solutions. The work consisted primarily of literature studies and evaluations of two of the Swedish Armed Forces of selected products: NetIQ Security Manager and Splunk.

The purpose of this study was to examine and explain Sweden?s defence and security policy during the twenty-first century. The method that was used in this research was a case study. The material that was used were government documents focusing on this area of policy, and numerous books concerning the theoretical perspectives on international relations and defence security policy. The study is of an explaining art and the analysis explains Sweden?s security and defence policy during the twenty-first century. The analysis explains this by testing it against a liberal and a realist view on international relations. The conclusion of the study is that Sweden?s defence and security policy has been liberal during this time period ? and still is.

The purpose of this study is to examine how participants perceive virtual agents shown on a computer display. In particular, it is explored to what extent participants transfer gender and attraction stereotypes that are commonly applied in the physical world to virtual agents. Previous related studies have often explored only text or voice interfaces, without any visually appearing agents, and here indeed found evidence for a transfer of gender stereotypes. Our hypothesis was that the addition of a visual agent interface would reinforce this effect. The results support our hypothesis that participants transfer human gender and attraction stereotypes onto virtual agents, as well as that these processes are affected by the visual representations of the agents..

Inledning: I yrkesrollen kommer de flesta psykoterapeuter regelmässigt i kontakt med missbrukare som försöker ta sig ur sitt beroende. Ofta refererar de som lyckas med detta till begreppet "En kraft starkare än vi själva" som de menar sig ha tagit hjälp av för att tillfriskna. Föreliggande arbete är ett försök att tränga djupare i denna fråga kring hur tillfrisknande missbrukare använder sig av detta begrepp.Frågeställningar:1. Existerar en skillnad i attributionsstil vad det gäller den verksamma agensen för drogfrihet mellan deltagarna i olika behandlingsmo-deller/behandlingsmiljöer och hur ser den i så fall ut?2.

The purpose of this literature review was to investigate how the rearing systems influence the behaviour of dairy calves. Calves are social animals that form groups within the herd where play and social licking between calves are important social activities. Suckling is a complex behaviour and essential for the calf's survival. In the modern rearing systems the calf is usually separated from its mother soon after birth. Calves are then kept in individual pens, group pens or, more rarely, with a foster cow.

Background:Companies of today commonly search to gain competitive advantages throughout different forms of co-operation, one of which is referred to as Supply Chain Management. Although little research has been assigned to the topic of how to manage and control this type of relation, lately a growing number of academics has been arguing that ABC is an appropriate mean of controlling this type of relationships.Purpose:The purpose of this thesis is to investigate to what degree the ongoing debate on the use of ABC as a mean of control within SCM correspond to the present theories related to ABC and SCM respectively.Research method:The thesis takes it?s starting point within the literature, meaning that the empirical information consists of published articles in the ongoing debate. This information is put in relation to the original theories concerning both topics.Conclusions:The results shown in the thesis in some content agrees with the ongoing debate referring to the positive aspects that could result from using ABC as a mean of control within SCM. However the main result of the study is the discovery of a lack of discussion concerning the problems that implementing ABC within SCM might implicate, a fact that we believe contributes to the mainly positive view on using ABC within Supply Chain Management..

This master thesis examines the development of the two earlier independent IR protocols Z39.50 and SR (Search and Retrieve, ISO 10162/10163), now Z39.50/SR, from the beginning of the 80s to 1996 and their functionality in the client/server environment.Z39.50 applications in library systems will allow easy access to information regardless of platform or location. The use of Z39.50 will create a new user environment. Almost all the library systems of the market support the Z39.50 and surprisingly the use of it in Sweden lied on a very low leve! in 1996. This thesis was followed-up by an interview and a questioner among the Swedish Z39.50 users. They could see a huge potential of development concerning the future IR process.