In order to stay competitive and to be the first choice for customers in a world driven by a high level of competitive advantage, it is important for companies to stay ahead of the competition by conducting thorough market research. Even if this tends to be the case, many products still fail when reaching the market, leaving companies with great losses. The reason for this could be that the development of existing research methods has stagnated, or that they simply lack the ability to find the true answer as to what intentions underlie consumer?s decision making when shopping. Many believe that a new method is desired in order to get a better picture of what customers really think.

This is a study in the field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) concerning classification of musicgenre. The study uses a music listening experiment and machine learning methods to determinewhether or not the drum sounds from different songs contain sufficient information to classifygenre.MIR methods are used to extract data from the audio signals. The data is used together with theclassification results of the listening experiment to train different machine learning algorithms toclassify the songs in different genres.The results indicate that using only drum sounds for genre classifications works well, both forlisteners and for machine learning methods..

AbstractThe aim of this study is to investigate the implementation process and the implementation steering of the social development aspects, gender equality and integration, in the program for regional development of the region Kronoberg in the period of 2004-2007.The study asks three questions: 1) How have the social development aspects, gender equality and integration, been implemented in the program for regional development of the region Kronoberg? 2) What has facilitated or hindered the implementation of the two social development aspects? 3) What possibilities to steer the implementation process of the two social development aspects exist at the governmental and at the regional level?In order to answer these questions a qualitative method has been used. To be able to analyse the empirical material, which consists of documents and interviews, the theoretical framework comprehends the policy process and implementation steering. The conclusion is that the incorporation of the social development aspects in the regional development program does not fully correspond with the central intentions, and that is due to circumstances at the regional level..

Under framtagandet av nya produkter måste ett antal prototyper tillverkas för att verifiera konstruktionen. För en metodingenjör som tar fram reparationsmetoder innebär prototyptillverkning att tankar som växt fram under utvecklingsfasen kan provas för första gången på en fysisk produkt. Detta sker relativt sent i produktutvecklingen och eventuella ändringar som kan uppstå på grund av att servicevänlighet inte uppnås blir mycket kostsamma. Om däremot prototypen där metoderna verifieras för första gången är digital och detta sker tidigt blir kostnaderna för eventuella ändringar avsevärt mycket mindre. Modellen som ligger till grund för metodstudierna kan sedan används för att skapa ett utkast till service litteratur, detta medför att även den delen av slutprodukten kommer att vara i fas med övriga utvecklings avdelningar.

The development of IT systems is usually accomplished by some form of system development methodology. It can be performed as the waterfall method, where each phase is completed before the next begins. One of the reasons to follow a development methodology is that the process is more structured, faster and that the product will have higher quality. One risk of not using a system development approach is that the code can be unstructured and difficult to maintain.This paper describes an alternative method in which the development occurred without the use of any system development methodology. This has been possible because there was a clear goal of the program that should be developed.

This bachelor thesis examines the activities and values associated with automation and technical development at four Swedish research libraries. It does so by applying textual analysis to annual reports and job advertisements from the respective libraries. The study also questions whether some assumptions of automation have changed or remain over time, and includes a short historical discussion in relation to the contemporary analysis. As an added perspective it introduces the methods and philosophies of French sociologist Bruno Latour. The author reflects on the merits of Latour in research of library automation.

Within the literature and film sciences there are clear models of storytelling and methods of creating a good story. In the game industry it's more difficult because the games are often non-linear, and games are a less established medium than the other two. With this study our purpose was to examine game developers and methods they used when creating a videogame, with focus on storytelling. Four interviews were made with representatives from four different videogame companies in Sweden. The information from the interviews was put in relation to theories regarding the structure of videogames and an established model for creating videogames.

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.

Sparse matrices are often used in numerical algorithms that solve linear equation systems. Many methods for storing sparse matrices have been proposed and implemented during the years. These methods focus primarily on minimizing the total memory consumption and the time that it takes to store a sparse matrix. This report researches the available storage methods for sparse unstructured matrices. The formats that are researched and implemented are COO, CRS and ELL.

Sweden introduced a development assistance policy in 1952 and thirteen years later Sida, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency started, in 1965. But in 1995, five separate development assistance authorities came together and established the new Sida as it is today. Sida is Sweden?s representative in the development assistance policy field and they work through projects that have to be presented through a Country Strategy Process (CSP). The aim of this paper is to point out Sida?s perspective on the conducted development assistance policy and what guide lines that are followed.

The development of productivity in the construction industry has long been at a steady state compared to the manufacturing industry. Studies have shown that, amongst other things, waste on construction sites can reach up to one third of the total production cost. This has been observed from different aspects, and change is forthcoming.This thesis aims to provide a foundation for an increased productivity at production sites of building bridges. It is primarily based on a field study at Skanska, at a bridge construction site near Grängesberg. Via continuous interviews with the whole production crew, construction workers and management, information on interference and possibilities of improvement at the work site has been documented.

The psychosocial work environment in hard professions is hardly studied and this study was implemented to observe port workers psychosocial work environment in ports of Västerås and Köping. There are two purposes with this study: firstly, to examine how ports of Västerås and Köping, Mälarhamnar AB, can improve and develop their business by using psychosocial methods. To do this, a questionnaire study and three interviews with workers were done and the results were used in a SWOT- analysis. Secondly, the aim is to be able to use the results and make a difference in the business development by adjusting the psychosocial work environment. The results show that the employees are happy at work and are happy with their work colleagues.

This thesis concerns partial discharges in stator windings and the possibility of analyzing data using statistical methods. Partial discharges, or PD, are a physical phenomenon in which discharges occur locally due to large electric fields. PD can occur in or adjacent to the insulation of stator windings and causes breakdown of the insulating materials. PD measurement can provide an idea of how widespread the PD activity is. A technique to measure and analyze PD that has become very popular over the last few decades is phase resolved PD patterns.

Internal communication is an important factor in organisations today. For many system development teams it?s critical that the communication works well. Without communication, success would be impossible. This study aims to highlight the effect communication has on the members of agile project teams.

ABSTRACTWe have chosen to write an essay about competence because we think that it is an important and a current subject of interest, both to us as future team leaders, but also to all activities within the community. We have a background working with eldercare and we have noticed that there are continued changes going on. This made us want to study what team leaders and their staff think about competence and the development of competence. The purpose of this study is to analyse how team leaders work to develop competence with their personnel working in home care. We also want to analyse how the personnel experience their competence and their need for development of competence.