AimThe aim of the present study was to study possible evidence for shock wave therapy on pain and function in patients with plantar fasciitis.Questions1. Does shock wave therapy reduce pain in patients with plantar fasciitis?2. Does shock wave therapy improve function in patients with plantar fasciitis?MethodA systematic review of the literature was performed in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane and Cinahl.

The aim of this paper is to investigate to what degree the groups in our inquiry work independently. It is a qualitative research, which points to a well?functioning unit, that by definition is not self-governing, but has many traits of self- government. We have reached to the conclusion, that complete self?government does not have to be the best solution, if you want both quality and efficiency.

In this project a washing station has been constructed for Albany International AB. At present, there is no existing system to clean the dirty pipes that are coming back to the company.The work followed the product development process, and it started with the requirements list. This was followed by brainstorming, evaluation and completion.The result was a concept for de present time and one concept for the future.The present concept is intended to be built immediately. This is an adjustable bench with sliding bearings to facilitate the work. The actual cleaning is done with a high pressure washer that uses hot water.

This project is about investigation and improvement of a V-plow for the company Swekip. A V- plow is used for snow removal but this product has been found to have deficiencies in its construction, breaking down and not living up to the desired objectives. This is because the product is ordered from a company in China where they have some problems with understanding the purpose of the plow.Initially the existing plow is investigated, all the shortcomings set out and examined, what is wrong and what needs improvement?When the solutions were done they were evaluated and examined that they actually live up to the desired requirements.This assignment is a pure construction project where the majority is implemented in CAD, where models are developed and FE analyses are carried out. But the project also includes a feasibility study, idea study and hydraulic design.The results are presented in the form of a CAD model and associated drawings that will serve as the manufacturing basis for the new V-plow.

The use of thin and attractive models to promote companies' products is widespread among marketers. This is true even for companies whose products have little or no association with beauty or body weight. As the proportion of overweight people continues to grow in many developed countries the ideals used by marketers to attract customers strays further away from the actual attributes of the customers themselves. What is little understood is what effect overweight has on the efficiency of the product promoter. Some limited research has studied how the efficiency of the product promoters in printed advertisements is affected by the existence of congruence between the product promoter and the product itself.

Continuous improvement is one of five principles in General Motors ? Global Manufacturing System (GM-GMS). GM-GMS has been used by Saab Automobile AB since 2003 and is a central component for realisation of GM?s vision. Internal audits have discovered problems with one of the tools, practical problem solving (PPS), which needs to be improved.

The project was performed at SiemensIndustry Drive Technologies with theobjective to provide actual values forthe energy savings potential withinSiemens scope of practice.In Sweden the electrical drives standfor about 30 % of the total electricityconsumption and about 60 % of theelectricity consumption within theindustry. During the pre-study phaseelectrical drives with pump applicationswere identified as large energy users.Because of this a case study at one ofSiemens customers, Stora Enso Fors wasperformed. The system that was evaluatedduring the case study was a throttledsystem with a centrifugal pump forpumping pulp.The results yielded that a saving ofover 50 % could be achieved by replacingthe throttle valve with a variable speeddrive, a frequency converter. Thepayback period was two years and twomonths and the present value for thetotal life cycle cost of the variablespeed system was 662.566 SEK lower thanfor the throttled system. As aconsequence, Stora Enso Fors is advisedto invest in a frequency converter forregulation of the system.The general conclusion is that a focuson system efficiency is the mostimportant factor in energy efficiencyprojects and that the system regulationmethod has a large impact on the overallsystem losses and hence its efficiency.Energy efficiency potential forthrottled systems with centrifugal pumpsis large and significant economicalsavings can be made through investmentswith short payback time..

Everyone has to take a greater responsibility in energy issues, both individuals and companies. There have been some major developments in the construction industry but there is still a lot to be done. This diploma work thesis presents different methods of making existing construction shed establishments to use less energy. What is possible to do and how much energy is there to be saved? A shed establishment consisting of 8 shed units were studied in this project and the building simulation tool VIP-Energy was used to simulate different types of material in the sheds. An infrared camera was used to locate thermal bridges. There are several factors that can be improved to make a construction shed establishment to use less energy.

Storm water is defined as runoff from precipitation such as rain or snow. It is collected in sewage disposal systems and since it mainly originates from urban areas it can contain high levels of heavy metals, nutrients and oil etc. Polluted storm water is currently treated by different methods such as wet ponds, constructed wetlands and filter strips. This study investigates these methods, which in earlier studies have shown to give varying results regarding their treatment efficiency.This thesis has been written on commission of SWECO VIAK and was aimed at studying those parameters that may affect the treatment efficiency of nutrients and heavy metals in storm water treatment facilities (STF:s). Through literature studies the dominating treatment processes in ponds and wetlands were examined.

Efficiency has become an important objective for many providers of welfare services. Among Swedish schools, both private and public, increased administrative demands seemingly influence operations, and affect teachers negatively through perceived stress. Simultaneously, Swedish students scored an all-time low in the latest PISA survey, and are now performing below the OECD-average in science, mathematics and reading. A central administrative task in the Swedish elementary school is the parent-teacher conference, which is an important activity in supporting the development of the student's knowledge and social skills. Lean is a well-established operations framework, which has proven successful in order to improve process efficiency.

The purpose of this research was to examine the current field of management in non-profit organizations, mainly focusing on managerial approaches, but also the impact of organizational size on the shaping of governance. Non-profits are widely discussed in contemporary research, particularly due to the increasing external pressure on voluntary organization to professionalize the way they work in line with standards in the private sector. Due to this our thesis aims to investigate whether professional, bureaucratic approaches are useful when governing a non-profit organization, or if social structures are enough to ensure goal congruence and efficiency. To conduct this research qualitative interviews were carried out and a case- study was made, using the Swedish Karate Federation as object of study. Results show that formal and more professional structures are useable to achieve efficiency and prevent inertia within the organization.

With the purpose of finding the motives behind use, production and reuse of Open Educational Resources (OER), the writer has conducted a qualitative survey. The three main questions in this two years master?s thesis are:? Why do people use others? unmodified OER?? Why do people produce OER?? Why do people alter and reuse OER?The theoretic framework is built around Manuel Castells? network society, with its social and efficiency seeking dimension, along with the Knowledge commons. Some pedagogy is included as well.A web survey was distributed to 796 users of the Connexions OER repository. 95 responses were received.

The aim of this study was to design short interventions based on the literature study, which will change the pupils? posture on mathematics and connections between problem-solving in mathematics and everyday life. An experimental group of 17 pupils in fifth grade participated in the study and were educated in everyday mathematics 20 minutes a day during four weeks. The intervention was measured in a pre- and after questionnaire, in order to control the design and discover possible changes in the pupils? posture on mathematics and connections between problems and everyday life.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the traditional airlines' strategies are affected by the low-cost carriers emergence and their business model and in wich ways they can achieve profitability. Furthermore we also want to examine the factors that affect the airlines' efficiency and competitiveness.The results of this study shows that the growth of the low-cost carriers have affected the network airlines' strategies as they, among other things, had to also lower their fares. This has forced them to revise their cost and efficiency in their entire operation. The result has also shown that the network companies can not come down to the same level of low costs as the low-cost carriers, and must therefore examine their ability to increase revenues instead. .

This study aims to investigate how federations manage to balance the economies of scale through collaboration and autonomy. This is done through a case study on Länsförsäkringar. The lack of modern research on federations makes the federative structure an interesting field of study. Previous research has shown a general perception that an increased pressure on efficiency and economies of scale creates a stronger common unit that eventually creates an imbalance in the federation. It is therefore interesting to look at the balance, which exists between the member units and the common unit of a federation.