The purpose of this thesis is to find means of control that secure cost efficiency regarding the accommodation for the employees on missions abroad of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Today the ministry?s cost for the employees? rented housing is 100 million SEK and there is a need of improvement in the control of these costs. A work method for organizational development will be used in order to reach the findings presented in the thesis. First we study the strengths and weaknesses in today?s control system.

According to the European Union waste hierarchy, waste should first of all be minimized. Reuse and material and energy recycling come next. Lastly the waste should be thrown at the refuse tip. In the inner city of Stockholm waste handling can be done in various types of ways. The solutions vary as a result of the type of architecture of the building and its condition.

The structure and performance of grocery distribution in Sweden has changed profoundly since the second world war. Increasing access and usage of the private car, in combination with an accommodating town planning has enhanced the exploitation of scale economies within distribution firms. There is, however, some ambiguity concerning the overall efficiency of the distribution system when the costs associated with travelling and purchasing performed by households are treated as an integrated part of the total distribution cost function. The purpose of this master thesis is to develop the foundation of a spatial optimisation model, which defines the most efficient distribution system. The underlying idea is that the optimal localisation and size of grocery stores is a function of economies of scale within the firms weighed against distributions costs within the households, such as transportation costs.

This report describes a new foundation method and compares it with a traditional founding of concrete. This new method is called the Koljern technique and uses cellular glass which is called Foamglas. The Foamglas is compounded to founding elements by lightweight steel beams. Foamglas is an insulation material with high compressive strength, and is rot, insect, vermin and acid proof. The cellular glass is also fire proof and watertight, which makes it a very good construction material.The report contains a study of a number of cases for which the Koljern technique is compared with a foundation of concrete.

Background: Effective treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes needs a good communication between nurse and patient. This creats a good relation and leads to a more effective patient education. Aim: The aim with the literature study was to describe how nurses trough patient education can achieve self-care for patients with diabetes type 2. Methods: Literature studies with both qualitative and quantitative articles were examined. Findings: The articles that were chosen for the results were sorted in the two categories relation and communication.

The background of this study is the fact that it nowadays is more common to grow wheat after wheat. Usually we plow every autumn to remove the straw, and we wanted to study the effect of alternative methods to do it. We have done this experiment to answer the question if no tillage is better than conventional plowing. The results of the field experiment indicate that there is a link between plant establishment and the choice of equipment, but also a higher weed pressure in experimental plots with only ground tillage. The equipments which left much straw on the top of the ground the problems with fungi were more severe.

Due to recent legal enactments regarding carbon dioxide emissions, the car industry is facing higher demands. An effective way of reducing these emissions is to minimize the weight of the vehicle. This thesis constitutes a feasibility study on whether or not it is applicable for the car industry to utilize an inner floor structure comprising composite materials. The principal was the projectSåNätt, in which the main participant was Volvo Cars Corp. In consultation with a reference group, consisting of delegates from the industry and KTH, a specification of requirements was produced.

When are aerial bombing strategies effective in coercing target states? According to the recent research debate there is a consensus that denial strategies may be an effective instrument for coercing states to change their politics. This study is based on Belkin?s theory which argues that the effectiveness of denial strategies may depend in part on the domestic legitimacy of the target states? regimes. From a political standpoint, aerial denial effectiveness can be considered more likely to coerce when political leaders of target states lack domestic legitimacy rather than when they are legitimate.   The purpose of this study is to contribute an explanation of a condition where denial strategies are more likely to succeed.

Payday loans are becoming a challenge of increasing gravity for society. Statistics show that the number of young adults with financial issues related to such loans has been growing over the past few years. Despite efforts to halt this trend, little is changing. Government mandated warning labels in commercials are typically used to inform about the risks associated with the consumption of certain goods and services, such as alcohol and tobacco. Despite issues related to payday loans, there is currently no legislation in Sweden mandating the inclusion of warnings in marketing of such loans.

The market is developing and a growing competition increases pressure on companies to maintain their competitive advantage. Working with cost savings is a way to enhance earnings in a short term but also in a longer perspective. Volvo Powertrain Production Köping has an overall goal; to reduce costs by nine percentages in three years. To achieve the goal, Volvo Powertrain Production Köping works with World Class Manufacturing where the Department of Processing Technology constitutes an important part.Volvo Powertrain Production Köping lacks a standard for how savings within the metal cutting tool area are to be calculated. This makes it difficult to control and monitor their business outcome but it also causes difficulties in controlling the tool suppliers? outcome.

Syftet med studien är att beskriva hur svenska multinationella företag tillämpar cost plus metoden vid interna transaktioner över landsgränser. Vidare har följande forsningsfrågor formuleras: Hur tillämpar företag cost plus metoden? Vilka faktorer påverkar internprissättningsprocessen? Fallstudien är genomförd på Älvsbyhus som är en av nordens största tillverkare av prefabricerade sektionshus av trä med affärsidén att sälja och tillverka färdigmonterade, källarlösa trähus i 1 eller 1,5 plan till marknadens lägsta pris. Den utbredda handeln mellan företag i olika länder har resulterat i ett ökat antal multinationella koncerner bildats, därmed har ett behov av internpissättning för värdering av interna transaktionerna uppstått. Huvudtanken med internprissättningen är att internpriset ska avspegla marknadspriset för varan eller tjänsten, vilket ofta inte är möjligt då ett marknadspris inte existerar.

Due to the well-developed rhetoric and the relative easiness to estimate costs, cost considerations are usually more in-depth than revenue considerations when discussing strategies impact on profitability. To avoid dysfunctional companies and poorly judged strategy decisions it is necessary to develop the rhetoric of revenue considerations.By collecting data from 230 respondents in a quantitative study of two grocery stores in Mora, the study aimed to assess the relationship between choice of generic strategy and self-reported buying behavior, considering differing decision-making processes of customers.The results of the study indicate that a differentiation strategy performs better than a low-cost strategy in terms of buyer frequency, number of goods and cost of purchase. However, due to a poor data collection method, the results are weak, and should therefore be questioned. The study indicates that reliability considerations for behavioral measures should be treated in the same respect as psychological measures, and therefore illuminates the need for new methods and measures to be developed..

The high level of competition and the rapidly growing technology development has created new challenges for today's businesses where they are forced to deliver more customized products at a lower price and a shorter time period. This places high demands on the companies' ability to design and develop better products in a more efficient way. In addition to developing products, the design process focuses on securing long-term success for the company by developing nourishing skills. However, to achieve an effective design process the companies must improve their ability to plan as well as use their knowledge base in a more efficient manner. Toyota's product development system is a critical component for companies to address challenges that they?re facing and offers a great potential to create significant competitive advantages.

At the end of 70s and the beginning of 80s, 18 terminals was built and used for chipping wood residue from clear cuttings. Most of the terminals was terminated before the 2000s but with the high oil- and energy prices that we can see today there might be a place for these terminals again. The goal with the study was to analyze and compare economical differences between 5 different logistical systems, collected data was used with a set of formulas. The systems include long range transport of slash, chips and bundles. Three of the systems include transport by lorry to industry the last two includes a terminal with access to train transport.

The aim of this study is to find a method to incorporate the energydemand of a building in the investment cost estimate.The study is based on an actual apartment block. The significant energyaspects are identified, and changed to more energy efficient options.These are then simulated using the energy calculation program VIP+.The calculated energy need is used in the investment cost estimate, andthe simulated alternatives are compared in regards to their economicalprofitability.Depending on the focus, different alternatives are the most advantageous.Since this study aims to show which alternative is the mosteconomically profitable, the annual profit is the parameter of mostimportance. This means that individual measuring of heating and hotwater use is the recommended change of the original house. A changeof the windows to new ones with a U-value of 1,0 as well as 0,8W/m2K also results in a positive change of the annual profit comparedto the original house..