With the globalization, companies in the West chose to shift production to developing countries to cut down costs. This had a major impact when child labor and very poor working conditions in these factories were discovered and led many companies to take responsibility for their suppliers and the employees by adopting voluntary so-called Codes of Conduct.There is a subtle balance to enforce improvement of working conditions for employees at suppliers´ factories and to keep costs down. On the one hand, companies would like to conduct extensive audits at their suppliers to ensure code of conduct compliance and thus protect their legitimacy. On the other hand, audits are expensive so companies would like to minimize audits to keep costs down. Companies thus have to strike a delicate balance in relation to how many and what suppliers they choose to audit.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze existing law concerning joint owner-ship in agriculture and forestry businesses. Joint ownership often arises through a succes-sion of ownership, therefore we will go through the most useful methods.Even if the owners of agriculture and forestry businesses are getting older, the numbers of succession of ownerships are still low. A succession of ownership is important to plan and its time is demanding. Often it takes three to five years for the completion of a succession of ownership. Therefore, owners must start their planning in time and think about what is to come of their business.

The Smart Grid technology has during the last decade been established as a way to create a greater flexibility on the electricity grid that will be needed as the development moves towards an increased share of renewable primary energy sources in the electricity production. One part of the Smart Grid technology is the ability to shift loads in time, to adapt to either price or emissions, known as Demand Response. This project, which was conducted at KTH in collaboration with the consulting corporation Capgemini, examines the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Demand Response technology. In the project, three household products are used in a model that derives the potential savings in costs and emissions of CO2e. The results show that the actual savings measured in SEK are small, but that the savings measured in percent can be as high as 20 percent. Reduction of CO2e emissions is slightly lower.

The purpose of this study was to within a Swedish context and from five persons of foreign descent stories study how they have been affected by interpreting for their parents during their childhood and how this has affected the relationships within the family. Studies conducted in an American context have shown that children interpreting for their parents in everyday situations are prone to undertake roles similar of a family leader. Previous studies also show an increased danger of depression among children who interpreted for their parents. The study was conducted by the use of semi-structured interviews with five male respondents with a varying ethnic background. Using Antonovsky´s theoretical formulation ?sense of coherence? we were able to determine that although our respondents during their childhood were subjected to a large amount of stressful elements they also maintained a high sense of well-being.

The EU has for a long time had a special relationship with its former colonies in Africa Caribbean and the Pacific, called the ACP?countries. This relationship is about to change radically with the new partnership agreement signed in June 2000 in Cotonou. This essay aims to study the EU ?ACP Partnership Agreement from the perspectives of two different theories: The liberalist, free-trade policy theory and the nationalist/regionalist, protectionist theory.

This is a qualitative study based on interviews with professionals who are cooperating at a children advocacy center, in swedish called ?Barnahus?. The center, Barnahus, pulls together law enforcement, criminal justice, child protective service, medical and mental health workers in to one coordinated team. Children suspected to be victims of any kind of violence or sexual abuse shall, at Barnahus, be offered coordinated efforts and support all the way from suspicion to possible intervention. The aim of the study is to examine how the participants involved relate to collaboration in Barnahus. The study will also present the success factors and barriers to collaboration that identifies by the participating actors, who are mentioned above.The study will provide insight and understanding of how collaboration can be represented in multiprofessional activities in practice..

Poly, to live in several loving and intimate relationships at the same time, is one alternative to the mono norm. In Sweden polygamy is illegal yet in recent years poly has slowly started to enter the hetero normative political agenda and raise debate in the media. But what does poly mean, and how do those who identify with this type of relationship describe it in contrast to mono? The theoretical framework is based on a structural viewpoint of the changes in the organisation of the family and the growing de-traditionalism of society. Amongst other I use a Foucauldian perspective to explain the structural shift (yet not replacement) between an Alliance pattern and a Sexuality pattern.

The Smart Grid technology has during the last decade been established as a way to create a greater flexibility on the electricity grid that will be needed as the development moves towards an increased share of renewable primary energy sources in the electricity production. One part of the Smart Grid technology is the ability to shift loads in time, to adapt to either price or emissions, known as Demand Response. This project, which was conducted at KTH in collaboration with the consulting corporation Capgemini, examines the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Demand Response technology. In the project, three household products are used in a model that derives the potential savings in costs and emissions of CO2e. The results show that the actual savings measured in SEK are small, but that the savings measured in percent can be as high as 20 percent. Reduction of CO2e emissions is slightly lower.

The aim of this study was to examine the occurence of norms in court cases regarding the Swedish law of support and service for disabled (Lag 1993:387 om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade) with the help of a discourse analysis method. More specifically its aim was to examine and identify norms in the different dictums/statements that were to be found in the court cases regarding the supportive institution "contact person" according to the Swedish law "LSS" with the help of a norm science approach. The aim was also to examine when the applicant was found to be entitled to a contact person according to the LSS-law. To be able to do this, the author studied thirty-four different court cases. In these cases six themes were found, that indicated the occurence of norms.

This paper is about the importance of engagement, cohesion and clarity in offshore outsourcing projects. The focus is on how the communication is handled between co-workers in different countries. My research is based on qualitative studies of literature on the subject, along with interviews with leaders in various companies in Sweden that utilize offshoring to countries in Asia. This study shows that the companies interviewed who utilize offshoring are all taking care to create engagement, cohesion and clarity in their offshore offices. It also shows that companies can succeed with their offshore strategy without using agile development methods, contrary to what literature on the subject recommends.

The effectiveness of communication in the Swedish healthcare system context has long been the subject of debate. Issues stemming from usability, accessability and interpretation affect the lives of patients, and yet the vocal groups in the healthcare communication debate are patients and administrators, not healthcare professionals. With the advent of eHealth services and new demands being put forth on the ability of healthcare professionals' to handle increasingly numerous and innovative systems, it is of more importance than ever to understand the healthcare professionals' work context. This article is based on interviews with five healthcare professionals concerning their views on electronic health records (EHR), eHealth services, trends in healthcare services development in Sweden, as well as their views on the future of eHealth solutions and health information technology (HIT). Analysis of collected information shows an apprehension among healthcare professionals towards electronic communication, as well as a dissatisfaction with the usability of modern healthcare systems.

This thesis aims to study the impact of the transition from communism to democracy on the public libraries in Poland. The central areas of study are changes in: the organisation of the public library system, the role of the public library in society, the librarian's daily work and job situation and collection development. The thesis is based on qualitative interviews with public librarians, public library managers and researchers in Warsaw, Torun and Gdansk. The theoretical background consists of chapters outlining thoughts on democratic and communist library ideas and public libraries' responses to a changing society. The results show that the public library system has been affected by two major decentralisation reforms in Poland, leaving the libraries in the care of local governments.

Part 1 of 2  ? Lean philosophy ? five steps to get the workplace in order?Part one deals with the theory of what Lean and 5S are.Lean is a long-term approach that involves a quest to become the best on the market by increasing employee engagement, eliminate waste and focus on the right things.5S is a method of order in a system. Businesses around the world are using these 5S which stands for sort, straighten, shine, standardize and sustain. Part 2 of 2 ? Lean philosophy ? five steps to get the workplace in order?Part 2 deals with the practical about 5S and a short summery about the company Wibax AB where the degree thesis took place.Wibax has a a project which involves using 5S in practice and create order in the in preparation lab and in the control room.By finding a solution to this mess reduces the time that was previously spent on searching equipment. Instead of search, the workers can do the real work..

Abstract The main purpose off this essay is to understand what different ways women and men use to communicate and make themselves acknowledged by their co-workers.  This is done by interviews with people at an ordinary office and trough observations at the workplace. A qualitative method was entrenched and seven respondents, four women and three men, age 43-55 was interviewed. The theoretical frame contains theories from Goffman?s dramaturgic perspective such as roles, facade etc.  The theories concerning gender come from Hirdman?s different analyses on how the relations between men and women take form. The data collected shows that men and women use their body language, voice and accessories in different ways to make themselves acknowledge at the office.

Active headsets have been on the market for years and now it is time for something else to enter the stage. The technology of active noise reduction can for exmple also be used in ventilation systems for reducing ventilation noise. An active control system principally consists of four important components, namely the downstream error microphone, the upstream detection or reference microphone, the digital signal processor (DSP) and a loudspeaker. The upstream reference microphone listen to the primary ventilation noise and sends it to the DSP which makes a phase shift to the signal and sends it to the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker sends out the opposite waveform of the incoming one and reduce the primary ventilation noise.