This thesis project focuses on the need for better tools for analyzing competition for forest fuels in Sweden, in particular how policy measures may influence the market and involved actors in different regions of Sweden. Raw materials from the forest have for long constituted important inputs in the Swedish forest industry. Today some of these raw materials are increasingly used as inputs also in bioenergy production, largely driven by bioenergy promoting policies, and there are signs of increased competition for forest fuels which may have various and uncertain effects on the industries in question. The thesis project explores the possibilities to adapt previously used forest sector equilibrium models into a new model suitable for analysis of Swedish forest fuel markets, called the Swedish Forest Sector Trade Model (SFSTM). The approach takes into account regional differences in supply and demand for 23 types of products produced and/or used by eight types of producers, plus consumers, in five different regions (four Swedish and one international).

The media landscape has exploded during the last decade, which has lead to a massive advertising clutter. Consumers defend themselves against this intrusive marketing by creating an advertising filter that sorts and blocks. These changing conditions have lead to new and tougher demands on creators and advertisers to create more efficient marketing communication that stands out in the clutter and penetrates the consumers? advertising filter. Many creators and researchers claim that creativity is the most efficient method to stand out in the clutter and generate sought communication effects.

I dagens globaliserade samhälle blir det allt vanligare att barn växer upp med fler än ettspråk i sin omgivning. Det kräver en ökad kunskap om flerspråkighet och vad somsärskiljer flerspråkiga barn från enspråkiga barn. Då de mätinstrument som idaganvänds i Sverige för att utröna om ett barn har en språkstörning endast är utformade förenspråkiga barn riskerar flerspråkiga barn att över- eller underdiagnostiseras. För attråda bot på den problematik som uppkommit i samband med diagnostisering avflerspråkiga barn och språkstörning har ett europeiskt forskningsnätverk bildats, kallatCOST Action IS0804. Syftet med nätverket är att kartlägga SLI (specific languageimpairment) hos flerspråkiga barn genom att koordinera forskning inom lingvistisk ochkognitiv förmåga över ett stort antal länder.

Talented people are recognised as being the most important corporate resource over the next twenty years and a competitive compensation system is an important tool in attracting and retaining talent. Traditional pay systems are recognised as being neither cost effective nor motivating people to do more. Often these systems do not contribute to strategic objectives. This study outlines what constitutes an intelligent remuneration system that will enhance the mind value added by knowledge workers, reward knowledge creation, and contribute to organisational strategies..

In query expansion (QE) terms are added to an initial query in order to improve retrieval effectiveness. In this thesis we use QE in the sense that a reformulation of the query is done by deleting the terms in the initial query and instead replacing them with terms from the documents retrieved in the initial run. The aim of this thesis is to, in a experimental full text invironment, study and compare the retrieval result of two different query expansion strategies in relation to each other. The following questions are addressed by the study: How do the two strategies perform in relation to each other regarding recall? What may be causing the result? Are the two strategies retrieving the same relevant documents? Two strategies are designed to simulate a searcher using automatic query expansion (AQE) either with or without relevance feedback.

In today?s business environment, cost-cutting practices such as downsizing and layoffs remains a widespread phenomenon. Although, the understanding of the effects that these practices has on the remaining individuals, defined as the survivors, is poor. The focus in this paper is therefore to examine how survivors of layoffs can be affected on an individual level, and by what causes.The study was conducted using open-ended, qualitative interviews with three individuals with different experiences of layoffs. The empirical data was analyzed by extracting quotations from the interviews.The study found that layoffs affected the morale and attitude towards management of the individual, and that perceived justice and uncertainty are two causes of negative effects from layoffs..

Background: In the eighties the debate concerning the declining relevance of the traditional calculation started. The reason was that the method of calculating not had been changed despite that the costs and manufacturing had changed in many companies. This led to the development of activity-based costing. Management by means of activity information is called activity-based management, but there is no general accepted definition of what the term com- prises. Neither are there any studies which describe within which areas activity information is used as a base for decisions.

This study has investigated how urban vegetation can be used in a multifunctional way to support ecosystem services in urban environments. Nacka municipality is in the start-up phase of building what is to become Nacka city. This provides a unique possibility to study and analyse what role the vegetation play in making the city a healthy living environment and how it needs to be adapted in order to be resilient against changing climate conditions and how the effects of those changes can be regulated. The study further investigates how airborne pollution, caused by urbanization processes, can be regulated or reduced by vegetation or species selection. Methods used in this study were a combination of qualitative interviews and literature studies, seeking to answer the questions: Which specific ecosystem functions are needed in the urban environment and which aspects will influence the ecosystems ability to deliver the functions in demand? And which plant species have the right mechanisms needed to deliver those functions? These questions have been studied and analysed in a local based context where the local conditions ands site specific needs of Nacka define criteria for plant selection.

Swedish public administration has for the last few decades undergone reforms aimed at making it more efficient. A substantial part of these reforms have concerned creating clearer roles for politicians versus officials in the public sector, i.e. giving politicians a responsibility for setting goals and steering activities and public officials the role of implementing them.This study aims to examine one reform following this path that is under implementation in a Swedish public authority; Försäkringskassan, the Social Insurance Agency. The purpose of the reform is to increase the organization?s effectiveness and the rule of law.

Sweden has long had access to low electricity prices due to the wide availability of hydro and nuclear power. This has now changed because of today's rising electricity rates resulting in increasing heating costs for properties, especially in the properties with electric heating systems."Ankaret" is a parish for "Svenska Alliansmissionen", which is located at "Gullbrannagården".The parish has installed electrical radiators and an exhaust ventilation system that makes the energy demand high due to the large ventilation flows. The building was built as the price of electricity was still low and would reduce energy use today by combining its heating system with an air/air heat pump. The heat pump delivers more heat into the room than the electrical energy that it uses. This lowers the electricity needs.

Producing a building is a long and complex process. It consists of several parts, from the feasibility study and design stage onto the construction and finally the management of the building. The design process is a critical part of the process where construction plans are made. The quality of the plans affect the production phase in great extent and faulty plans can pose a risk for extra costs for all parts in the process. The cost of producing dwellings has increased the last years and the detail design process is one of many phases where improvements can mean cost savings within the whole building process.This report aims to point at parts within the detail design process which could be more efficient, regarding communication, follow-up and time planning, and to give suggestions for improvements.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if there are environments that use some kind of central authentication system within institutions/schools. The hypothesis is that an institution not using a form of central authentication service has more need for maintenance and as such is considered a higher cost for the organization. The gathering of data has been done through interviews with technical personal at Blekinge Tekniska Högskola and Linköpings Universitet. Based on the technical background of the authors, and the system limited to discussing Windows and UNIX operating systems, a discussion and analysis of the systems working today has been done, with emphasize on the hypothesis..

This study is an examination of the stadium fever prevailing in Sweden. It is built stadiums in Sweden as never before. The high cost of these constructions end up in the end at the Swedish taxpayers. The study examines through the hedonic pricing of real estate how local residents value the new stadiums. The result indicates that local residents put a positive value in the costly and sumptuous buildings.

In recent years, several problems in the field of assistive device have been lifted. To manage the development Beslutsstöd (Decision support) has emerged as a systematic working method. Beslutsstöd is designed as a guideline and serves as a tool for physical therapists and occupational therapists in the prescription process of assistive devices. Beslutsstöd thereby aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of the prescribing process of assistive device in the organization of the municipalities. An implementation evaluation about how the implementation of Beslutsstöd in the municipalities did proceed has not been done.

In recent years, the demands for effectiveness and evidence in social work have increased in all work areas, including that of healthcare. This has sparked the discussion on concepts such as practical- and theoretical knowledge and their respective roles in social work. In the light of this, the purpose of this candidate thesis is to investigate healthcare social workers understanding of practical- and theoretical knowledge in the working process as well as their respective influence and importance. This candidate thesis is based on three interviews with social workers from different departments in Norrlands Universitetssjukhus in Umeå, Sweden. To provide range to the thesis, the interviewees were chosen from a purposeful sampling.