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.

The number of people in the world and the urbanization increases. This leads to a bigger need of space for the built environment, space that soon doesn?t exist. A large portion of humanity?s energy disposal is used for heating of buildings.

In the latest edition of NRC (2007) the feeding recommendations for Ca and P to growing horses were increased with 35 and 25 %, respectively, based on results from a Canadian study showing that daily endogenous fecal losses of Ca and P were greater than previously suggested. A Ca absorption efficiency of 50 % is used for all horses. However, the true absorption efficiency might be as high as 70 % in young horses. P absorption efficiency is assumed to be higher for growing horses because their diets are often supplemented with inorganic P. Thus, an efficiency of 45 % is used for growing horses as compared to 35 % for mature horses.

Sahlgrenska Academyat University of GothenburgDepartment of Internal Medicine and Clinical NutritionTitle: The effect of the glycemic index of breakfasts in energy intake inchildren and adolescentsAuthor: Charlotte Olofsson, Cornelia Johansson and Maria NordbeckSupervisor: Fredrik BertzExaminer: Ingrid LarssonProgramme: Dietician study programme, 180/240 ECTSType of paper: Examination paper, 15 hpDate: May 16, 2013Background: The glycemic index (GI) and it´s effect on energy intake is a debated subject.Research has been done whether food with lower GI decreases hunger and lowers energyintake, which could be an effective tool to prevent overweight in children and adolescents.Breakfast eating is successful for maintaining a healthy weight and it´s therefore interesting tosee if the quality of the carbohydrates matters.Objective: To evaluate the scientific evidence regarding the effect of GI of breakfasts inchildren?s and adolescents energy intake.Search strategy: To find relevant articles, a systematic literature search was made in thedatabases PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane. Search terms that were used were: breakfast,breakfast quality, children, glycemic index, energy intake, obesity.Selection criteria: Randomized controlled trials and cohort trials, breakfast eatingindividuals, children and adolescents under 18 years old, reported glycemic index. Outcomemeasurements: Energy intake.Data collection and analysis: Six original articles met the inclusion criteria and werereviewed by the SBU audit template for randomized and controlled studies. There after onearticle was excluded because of very low quality of the study.

As energy prices skyrocket and the environmental issues become more frequently debated, interest in energy-efficient buildings has increased sharply in the past decade. Because of this, the interest to achieve high air tightness in building envelopes have once again awakened, due to a good air tightness contributes to lower energy consumption in several ways and to a healthier indoor environment.As the regulations for energy consumption and controls of achieved air tightness has tightened considerably in recent years, the work regarding sheets for air tightness changed significantly for construction contractors. This thesis includes a study that aims to detect what kind of manuals, recommendations or instructions contractors working according, and how a number of randomly selected construction companies in Halland, Sweden, are dealing with the matter of high air tightness of the building envelopes. The study also includes a knowledge inventory of supervisors, site managers and skilled workers, and what their opinions and attitudes are like towards work regarding the sheets of air tightness. The results have been compared with a similar survey dated to 2004, conducted by the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology.

The idea of bringing mindfulness into organizations has become increasingly popular. While previous research has shown positive effects of mindfulness practice in individuals, consequences of introducing mindfulness in organizations remain largely unexplored. This thesis examines those consequences through a qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with members of two case companies. Based on the effects which mindfulness has been shown to have on individuals, our analysis was especially focused on the areas of efficiency, effectiveness and organizational culture.

I detta arbete har den faktiska och simulerade energianvändningen på Spira förskola i Luleå undersökts. Den faktiska specifika normalårskorrigerade energianvändningen fastställdes till 121,4 kWh/kvm år. Vid projektering av förskolan uppskattades den specifika energianvändningen med hjälp av simuleringsprogrammet VIP-Energy till 78,5 kWh/m2 år. Därmed översteg den verkliga användningen den simulerade med 54,6 %.En parameterstudie av indata till simuleringsprogramet har också genomförts med avsikt att fastställa den totala förändringen i energianvändning då indata ändras. Följande parametrar har studerats;?Drifttid hos ventilationssystemet?Horisontvinkel?Inomhustemperatur?Klimatzonen?Kvot mellan till- och frånluft?Luftomsättning för ventilationssystemet?Solreflektion från omgivande mark?Temperaturverkningsgrad?Vindhastighet?Vridning av byggnadenNyckeltal som kan användas för att snabbt uppskatta påverkan på den totala energianvändningen har också sammanställts för majoriteten av de studerade parametrarna.

Electricity production from renewable energy resources such as wind energy and photovoltaics is variable. Integration of these intermittent resources into the electricity system leads to new challenges in how to manage imbalance between supply and demand on the grid.One way to meet these challenges is to develop so-called smart grid solutions. One idea, called demand response, is to adjust the amount or timing of energy consumption, e.g. by control of household appliances, to provide flexibility that could be used to balance the grid. In aggregate, when applied to many units across the system, large volumes of energy could be made available when needed and this grid flexibility can be used as a product on the electricity regulation market.Despite the potential benefits, the number of demand response bids is currently low.

The coproduct, dried distillers grains + solubles (DDGS) from ethanol production based on wheat contains much rumen degradable protein and fiber with low digestibility. To compliment this quality in an effective way a grass silage low in protein and much digestible fiber is needed. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of adjusting the crude-protein concentration and fiber quality of the silage when feeding DDGS and of varying the inclusion level of DDGS, when feeding the adjusted grass silage, on intake, milk yield and composition, faecal traits and feed efficiency. Four different total mixed rations were compared. The normal grass-clover silage had a crude protein content of 17,8 % and an NDF content of 46,2 % of dry matter. The adapted grass silage had a crude protein content of 14,6 % and an NDF content of 52,9 % of dry matter. The diets were formulated to have similar nutritional content except for A + 4 which had a higher content of rumen degradable crude protein and a lower concentration of NDF.

Wireless communication is becoming more common, a relatively new technology within the area is Bluetooth Low Energy. It?s been developed to be energy efficient and in regard to compatibility. Alongside the growth of wireless technology, scientists and companies are looking for new areas of use. One of these is localization, which means to determine the position of a moving device with the use of stationary devices, an example of this would be GPS.This report means to evaluate indoor localization using Bluetooth Low Energy and was made for Combitech AB in Jönköping.

In the middle of Australia there is a city called Alice Springs. The city has one of the highest amounts of daily sunshine hours and sun irradiation in the world. The Australian Government runs a project called Solar Cities, and Alice Springs is one of the participators. The main part of the goal with the Solar Cities project is to increase the amount of electricity generated by solar power and by doing that lower the impact on the environment. This thesis examines the possibilities for construction of a large scale solar power plant in Alice Springs. This is done to determine the potential of creating a more sustainable energy system in the city.

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the factors that drive efficiency and effectiveness in technical development projects performed at A?F?s department of product development. In addition to identifying and analyzing these factors, the thesis also analyzes what needs to be taken in to account in order to implement a measurement system that is able to both monitor and control the identified factors.The thesis has been performed in a qualitative manner. It is based on interviews with people from several different technological companies, within different lines of business, all of which are customers to A?F?s department of product development.The results show that there are seven critical factors for project efficiency and effectiveness.

Many companies do not register all the stops that occur in a production plant, it often takes longer to report than to fix the problem. If no problems are registered, you cannot trace where the problems arise.This master thesis was performed at AcobiaFLUX and they have noticed an increased demand from their customers to trace problems raised in their processes. The aim of the thesis was to find out how a tool to monitor a process best could be developed. Then the most essential from the theoretical base was developed into a useful tool for operators. For the operators to know if the process utilizes the full capacity of a process, the tool presents a measure of the Overall Equipment Efficiency, OEE.

The starting point for this master thesis was the product of the company "Humlegården", which allows its tenants in office buildings to follow their electricity consumption in real time, through their Smartphone's. The idea that resulted from that application is to investigate if it is possible to direct the tenants in office buildings to reduce their energy consumptions, but also to be satisfied with the indoor environment. This work addresses the factors which are the main energy consumers in office buildings. It addresses legal requirements and standards which are important to follow in order to achieve good thermal comfort in buildings. Some of them are physical climate factors like thermal environment, air quality and lightning.

Municipal Real Estate Companies runs by a political boarder who makes decisions in large investments. In some cases the municipal counter have to take the decisions about big and expensive investments. A successful investment needs to be built on solid ground.Media has lately focused on energy topics as a part of the environmental discussion and the real estate companies tries to use the new technology that the market has provided. Energy investments in new buildings are not longer a small part of the energy saving program. Long-term investment demands needs large knowledge and awareness about the energy topics that have recently grown in the municipal real estate companies.