Lean production is the name given to Toyota?s Production System (TPS) by the west. The continuous improvements of their operations through Lean has made Toyota into the largest car manufacturer in the world. This, in turn, has led to several studies regarding both Toyota and their system as to find ways to apply Lean in other organizations. Even so, over 90 percent of all companies fail to implement Lean.

It's an everyday experience shared by many that nature can be of help in relieving pain, reducing stress, support mental recovery etc. In the last three decades or so this experience has also found support in a large number of scientific investigations. Among other things the experience of nature has been shown to reduce stress and pain in patients and to boost concentration and reduce impulsive behavior in children. Most of this research however has mainly been concerned with the visual modality. In this thesis the aim has been to focus on the auditory modality in this context by trying to reveal some effects on people from the exposure of nature sounds played indoors in three different environments: a grammar school class room, a kindergarten play room and a post-surgery wake up room at an intensive care unit.

The wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) has expanded across Europe and Sweden in the last decades. It is a generalist species which utilizes a variety of habitats, and its presence has been shown to have both positive and negative effects for people and the landscape they are in. The abundance and increase of wild boar has previously been shown to differ between counties in Sweden, but there have been few explanations as to why. In this study, I investigated correlations between the per capita rate of change (r) among wild boar populations in Sweden and a variety of different habitats on the county level. I also investigated if fragmentation per se or in certain habitats could be associated with the wild boar?s per capita rate of change. My results show that fragmentation/diversity per se was not correlated with wild boar r.

Increased energy consumption in the world has created an increased supply of various fuels, especially fossil fuels. The Swedish government has set up various energy targets for 2020. To reach these goals it?s important to increase the energy efficiency in local buildings such as schools. This work illustrates the breakdown between energy supply and energy losses over the school.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the distribution of medieval ballads as semiotics of intertextuality in modern Swedish literature, here represented by August Strindberg, Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Kerstin Ekman and Katarina Frostenson. They are famous authors from different epochs, ranging from the period called ?the modern breakthrough? in the 1880s until the postmodernism of the present time. My aim is to expose their attraction to medieval balladry, and their different ways of using form, language and style from this old poetry in poems, prose and plays, explicit as well as implicit..

The aim of these two studies was to investigate the possible physiological, behavioural and emotional changes that appear after human-horse interactions and also to find an explanation to why they occur. One aspect that is discussed is whether the wellbeing of humans can be coupled to interacting with horses and of how the animals respond to the interaction. The first study was performed on 9 horses and their owners, both parts being subjects to registrations during 4 different interaction treatments. The second study was performed on 6 horses with registrations only being performed on the horses during 2 different treatments. Nine horses underwent 3 different treatments all performed by their owners (H = stroking of the horses forehead, B = brushing and M = stimulation of the withers) in addition to a control round (K). Each treatment lasted for 4 minutes but observations were performed until after 45 minutes from start.

All companies face risk in their daily business. Internationalised companies tend to experience higher risk due to for example unfamiliar business environment than companies that act only on the national market. Estonia became independent as late as in 1991 and is therefore a new interesting market for many companies in neighbouring countries like Sweden. Risks that are most apparent for an internationalised company are political risk, currency risk, capital and interest rate risk, business risk and credit risk. Our intention of this study was to find out how Swedish companies acting on the Estonian market faced the different risks when entering the Estonian market and how they value the risks today.

The probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus reuteri DSM17938 was evaluated as a starter culture in cheese production, with the intention to produce a new interesting product within the functional food market. Growth and acidification rate in milk subjected to different heat treatments, as well as supplementation with growth promoting factors or support cultures was measured during controlled fermentations. The results showed that the weak proteolytic activity of L. reuteri could be compensated for by supplementation with 1% casamino acids or 5% MRS broth. Furthermore, a decrease in growth and acidification rate could be seen when using yoghurt culture or Lactobacillus delbrueckii as adjunct cultures.

The aim of this review was to examine scientific literature to determine what kind of physiological and psychological benefits derive from human-dog interaction, as well as attempt to uncover a possible mechanism behind these benefits and whether or not they are mutually beneficial. A growing body of research indicates there are physiological and psychological benefits associated with human-dog interaction. Significant cardiovascular benefits have been linked with human-dog interaction, as have lowered blood pressure, cortisol and heart rate. Interaction with dogs is often associated with a feeling of social support and well-being, and dogs also seem to facilitate social interaction between people. Dogs? ability to buffer and reduce stress is also well documented. A strong indication was found regarding a relationship between physical contact and benefits associated with human-dog interaction.

Orust Kretsloppsakademi is a nonprofit organisation, with a goal of annually generate the same amount of electrical energy that is consumed. Orust is an island on the west coast of Sweden, north of Gothenburg. The population of 15 000 reaches 40 000 during summer, due to the large amount of vacationer. The total electricity demand is 174 GWh a year with a maximum power need of 32 MW. This report presents an analysis for the plausibility of their plan and from a power system stability perspective, the effects on the electrical grid.The conclusion is that the restraints for development of power generation from wind, solar and wave generation, are the power systems capability to transfer power, primarily in the transformers of the grid.

Vi fick i uppdrag av Swepart Transmission AB att med lämpliga metoder beräkna vindlaster på en godtycklig parabolantenn samt att konstruera en växellåda för att positionera den. Vi insåg i ett tidigt skede att vi var tvungna att ta fram vindlastfaktorerna laborativt. Och på grund av den begränsade tiden var vi tvungna att fokusera endast på vindlasterna på en parabolform.Först uppskattade vi de maximala vindlaster som kunde uppkomma för att kunna dimensionera vår mätram. Sedan beräknade vi lastcellerna och konstruerade erforderlig elektronik. För att simulera vind monterades parabolen och dess mätram på ett fordon, mätningarna utfördes sedan på Uråsa flygfält.

The purpose of this study is to examine which factors played an important role in the food price crisis of 2007-2008. Theories used are Microeconomic theory, explaining changes in supply and demand, and Macroeconomic theory, explaining the impact of changes in exchange rate on prices. A theory regarding speculation is also used to explain the impact of speculative activities effects on price. The method used is multiple regression analysis in order to determine the effects which ethanol production, oil price and dollar exchange rate had on the surge in the price of corn, rice and wheat.The data used is in monthly observations during the period 2005-2008. However, other factors are taken into consideration during the study, such as production quantity, stock size, economic growth, speculative activity and population growth.

The demand for animal products has increased in the last decades, especially for poultry and pork. Pork production has increased drastically globally, and also in Uganda. Thirty-one percent of Uganda´s population lives in poverty. Pig production is believed to play a crucial role in poverty alleviation, because of the ability to convert low quality feed into high quality protein together with high reproductive potential. African swine fever (ASF) is a lethal disease of domestic pigs often characterized by haemorrhagic fever and with mortality rates up to 100%. The disease is endemic in most sub-Saharan countries and since 2007 in the Russian Federation and Caucasus area.

Examensarbetet har varit förlagt på SwePart Transmission AB i Liatorp. Företaget tillverkar kugghjul och kan även ge helhetslösningar för växellådor. SwePart Transmission AB har uppmärksammat problem i form av läckage vid delningsplanet i sina växellådor. Företaget har föraningar om att konstruktionen utsätts för glidning i delningsplanet där packningen är placerad. För att glidning inte ska förekomma krävs att packningens friktionskoefficient och fästelementens förspänningsförluster är kända vid konstruktionsstadiet.Packningens friktionskoefficient är idag osäker och har kontrollerats.

This study is an evaluation of the runtime watch function in a OEE software, knownas ProTAK. OEE stands for Overall Equipment Effectiveness, it?s a way to measurethe factories process efficiency. The runtimewatch function allows the user to setup and monitor certain critical objects that are of importance for the pulp and paper process at the mill. The data from the runtimewatch can be correlated towards the suppliers specification for the components.