This thesis concerns the control of outsourced interorganizational buyer-supplier relationships in the low-price fashion industry. A qualitative case study has been performed on two supplier relationships of a low-price fashion company. By identifying specificities of the industry and relating them to control problems and their implications on control solutions, the thesis has established a relation between industry specific characteristics and the way companies in the industry control their supplier relationships. The analysis is based on a theoretical framework created by Dekker (2004). Amongst other factors, the difficulty to define, quantify and measure the design variables of a fashion good, the high heterogeneity between individual products and the difficulty to predict the trend based demand, create high coordination requirements as well as appropriation concerns solved through extensive formal control.

The work describes the development of an adjustment algorithm that will replace today?s manual adjustment of Lead- and Lag-filters at ABB Robotics industrial robots. The adjustment is mainly for the filter parameters in the control system.Three different algorithms have been created to replace the manual adjustment. One of them is based on the criterion from the manual adjustment and another one on optimization of the sensitivity function. The last one is a combination of the two.The report describe the development of the algorithms and how they behave during simulations and tests on real robots.

The aim of this study was to use stories from three people who previously lived in homelessness to increase the knowledge of the social network's impact on the process of exiting homelessness. In order to answer our questions, whether the social network facilitated or hindered the way out of homelessness, we have used a narrative method to take advantage of these person's life stories. As a theoretical perspective, we used the ecology of human development, based on the idea that human development occurs in interaction with their environment at different levels. Results showed those interviewees' networks had a significant impact on their path out of homelessness and that these relationships both facilitated and hindered this process. At the same time, these relationships affected our interviewees in different ways and were found in various areas of life, which indicates that there is more than one way out of homelessness.

This report presents the preliminary study and work for the development of a site structure for the upcoming reengineering of inter-tool Infopunkt. The report describes how I have conducted a study regarding the current inter-tool information center and its development potential. Thereafter compiling the information to develop a comprehensive design approach to create a sitemap. The sitemap illustrates a new updated page structure for Infopunkt and was the primary goal of the thesis. The sitemap I have developed will form the basis for the agency that will later on develop the new updated version of Infopunkt..

The purpose of our study is to interpret and understand the experiences that parents to multilingual children have towards multilingualism in pre-school. We are also interested in finding out what these parents think about their children?s development in multilingualism both in pre-school and at home. Our study is based on qualitative interviews. We interviewed nine families that have multilingual children in pre-school.  The data we collected from our interviews has been analyzed using socio-cultural and inter-cultural theories along with previous research. The result of our study showed that parents to multilingual children have both positive and negative opinions about the multilingual concept. Most of our informants had positive opinions about multilingualism in general.

Ovarian stimulation in assisted reproduction often leads to the production of a high number of oocytes. After fertilization of these oocytes, the resulting embryos can be cryopreserved for later use. Vitrification is a recently introduced method for cryostoring embryos, showing high survival rates for both cleavage stage embryos and blastocysts. Characteristic of vitrification are high concentrations of cryoprotectants and ultra fast freezing which makes the material glassily. A major concern with vitrification has been the direct contact of the cryo-solutions with liquid nitrogen.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a genre of computerized systems which allows system development corporations to efficiently and more easily manage, maintain and handle the applications lifecycle. These ALM systems have a wide variety of tools which can be integrated to enable and support collaborative work, while they act at the core of the organisation. Todays ALM systems support flexible system development methods throughout the entire development process. This paper focuses on a case-study of a Swedish business- and technology corporation and their use of two ALM systems with an aim to unravel the differences between these systems and their functionality to serve as a basis for decision making regarding their utilization of best practice with their ALM-Systems. Meanwhile we studied their approach to ALM systems to see if they were using them according to the initial idea of ALM systems.

New forms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become more influential in development contexts. The concept of ?The Digital Divide? points at a large division between rich and poor countries regarding access to ICTs. Critics say that the debate concerning this topic for far too long has focused mainly on the technology itself rather than social factors which impact social inclusion and development. Scholars agree that ICTs holds a tremendous potential, but how is this implemented in development contexts and how can it be used with more sensitivity towards local preconditions and social aspects?This paper aims to examine how ICTs are being used in the context of development within an India based organisation for women called SEWA (Self Employed Women?s Association).

In this study I?ve examined bilingual high-school students? experiences of their education held in their native language. The purpose of this study is to examine bilingual high-school students? experiences of how their school organizes the education that?s held in their native language, and how the students feel that the education in their native language has helped their overall language development and also in terms of learning in general. To complete this study I?ve interviewed six high school students and analyzed their answers using other studies and theories on this subject.

This research is conducted on one of the world?s largest deposits - Shtokman gas and condensate field located in the Barents Sea. The development of the field is operated by the Special Purpose Company Shtokman Development AG - the international consortium of Total, Statoil and Gazprom. This research is aimed to analyze the value chain of the Shtokman project and to study the socio-economic capacity of the Murmansk region in order to examine the perspective fields of work for local companies, as well as the socio-economic potential of the region related to the gas industry that can be applied to the realization of the Shtokman project. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative data collection that involves the results of 24 semi structured interviews conducted in the Murmansk region, including the interviews with representatives of the Shtokman Development AG and the industrial committee of the Murmansk region government.

The great economic impact of startups on society has made these types of companies an increasingly popular subject for research. Though no single definition of the word startup currently exists, one could define it as a temporary organization in search of a scalable, repeatable, and profitable business model. Seen from a historic perspective, tech-startups in particular should be considered a new phenomenon and the topic is still relatively unexplored. This study investigates the structure in tech-startups during their first months of existence and compares it to the structure that prevails when the companies have recruited at least five additional employees. In addition, the study explains why these changes occur.

The technological progress of the world has had a massive effect on how we communicate with one and other, it also has had an big impact on how companies communicate with their customers and consumers. Today you cannot only communicate a ?promise to your costumers and consumers you also have to ?deliver? what it is you promise. Strategic communication is today not only to market your product but to ensure that your strategic communication is shown even in you innovation, design and product development.  This thesis is conducted in collaboration with No Picnic AB.The purpose of this study was to get an insight in how Swedish companies use their strategic communication. We aim on bringing a new point of view of strategic communication with innovation, design and product development also as a communication channel.

Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) is a respiratory disorder that most commonly affects young horses performing at a high level. The clinical signs are often mild but the disorder can cause a marked decrease in performance to a point where the horse has to be taken of training and competing. The aetiology underlying IAD is not yet fully understood. One current theory is that a type I-hypersensitivity reaction due to allergens in the environment is the cause in some horses. The most reliable diagnostic method is a bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) since it reflects the inflammatory status in the most distal parts of the lungs, which are affected in IAD.

A recent trend in the technological evolution has been to increase the mobility of the end-user. A contributing factor is the fast rate of improvement in the smartphone area. This, in turn, has changed the expectations end-users have on the availability of services, which has allowed mobile applications, apps, to find their place in everyday life.This study has been conducted at Scania?s Fleet Management department that offers a web-based service where haulage contractors can administer, monitor and follow up on their vehicle fleets. The purpose of this study was to investigate if Scania?s existing web service should be extended into the mobile area, and if so, what organizational and technical challenges app development imposes.

This paper deals with the difficulties of applying user-centered design practices as an independent developer, based on the visualization of a game concept in the form of a prototype. The aim is to evaluate the usability of user-centered design practices, specifically in the field of games development. Throughout this paper, I will give an account of the methods used for testing, as well as a review of previous research done in this field of study. Finally, I will end with a discussion regarding the pros and cons of user-centered design, as well as some thoughts about its importance in similar projects..