The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility to make small, cheap and ultra low power sensor platforms, connected in wireless networks for monitoring of home and industrial environments. The concept is based on ideas from our supervisor, Jerry Lindblom. The developed system consists of a generic platform for different sensors, a receiver and software. A GPRS module from RO Rollytech AB and a database from Gema Industri AB have been modified and used to demonstrate an example of a complete system. To the platform, it is possible to connect any resistive sensor and any sensor that can act as a switch.

The business world has been through an extreme transformation over the past decades, which have forced companies to look at themselves from a new point of view. Consumers have a complete new set of ways to gather information and are more motivated than ever to make sustainable consumption choices. This change of attitudes among consumers has made companies focus on other things than price versus quality. A whole new concept has been brought up to questioning: environmentalism. Consumers demand more organically produced products.

The aim of this study is to map the consumption patterns of the poor. We also examine if loyalty can be created in this segment, and try to discover different types of poverty. This study is of great importance since the poor segment has been slightly overlooked in marketing research. Therefore we have also turned to other academic disciplines such as sociology, ethnography and consumer culture in order to analyze our empirical input. The study is abductive and we have in a qualitative and ethnographical manner conducted interviews in order to obtain information and reveal categories.

This master thesis in economics discusses the time use of today as well as the observed trends in time use over the last 20 years in Sweden. This is done by analysing time-use and consumption data at the microeconomic level, i.e. by explaining individual behaviour given the economic assumption of a rational behaviour. We reach the conclusion that the value of time is an important explanatory variable concerning the rationality in that time is used differently by different individuals and in the changed use of time. Furthermore, other variables such as social norms and the process benefit of a certain activity, i.e.

Today?s wind power plants are only compensated for their reactive power consumption at no-load. As the wind power plants grow bigger the amount of reactive power they need also increases. This is no longer a problem that can be ignored, especially as the net owners are beginning to charge the reactive power they transport.In this thesis a couple of different methods of compensation and their prices will be discussed and evaluated. Problems, such as self-excitation, that can occur if one fully compensates the wind power plant will also be brought to surface.

Today?s wind power plants are only compensated for their reactive power consumption at no-load. As the wind power plants grow bigger the amount of reactive power they need also increases. This is no longer a problem that can be ignored, especially as the net owners are beginning to charge the reactive power they transport.In this thesis a couple of different methods of compensation and their prices will be discussed and evaluated. Problems, such as self-excitation, that can occur if one fully compensates the wind power plant will also be brought to surface.

Shopping for groceries often means that, as consumers, we travel to the grocery store ourselves, by ear, bike or on foot. At the store we pick out the groceries that we want, go the register and pay for them. During the last couple of years consumers in Sweden have been given the opportunity to let someone else select and transport the groceries to their home instead, so called home shopping. As this report is being written, the possibility to buy groceries this way is somewhat limited, but many forecasters believe that in the near future it will increase immensely. Because of the large volumes of groceries that are being transported, there is great transport work being done in the supply chain.

The question of excessive global energy use needs to be solved. All energy production and usage have negative environmental impacts, which are best solved by reducing energy consumption and by using energy more efficiently. A large part of the Swedish energy use is concentrated to the building sector and to reduce the total energy consumption real efforts need to be made to make buildings more energy efficient.The aim of this study was to investigate how energy is used in one of Göteborg University?s buildings and to find measures that can be taken to improve its energy efficiency. The chosen building Zoologen, is used for research and education.The main method of the study is computer simulations of the present building and of possible energy reducing measures to be made in the future.

Control and comparison of various cleaning methods on restaurants in Södra RoslagenThe purpose of this report is to find out and analyze the efficiency of cleaning methods in restaurant kitchens. The investigation was carried out through unannounced inspections at 89 restaurants in Södra Roslagen (municipality of Danderyd, Täby and Vaxholm). ATP-measuring was done on a plate, a knife, a bench surface and a cutting board. The ATP-method measured the amount of food residue on equipment and working surfaces after cleaning, with a luminometer and swabs. Restaurant staffs were asked to describe in detail how and when the last cleaning was carried out on the surface.

Som en pilotstudie för Göteborgs miljöförvaltning har vi undersökt ett förenklat sätt att do-kumentera egenkontrollens kritiska styrpunkter enligt HACCP (?Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point?) -principerna för säkrare livsmedelshantering utifrån lagstiftningen som trädde i kraft 2006. Det sätt vi har studerat utgår ifrån Food Standard Agency, Englands motsvarig-het till Livsmedelsverket, sätt att dokumentera i handlingen ?Safe food better business?.I undersökningen lämnades blanketter ut till fyra offentliga måltidsverksamheter i två av Gö-teborgs stadsdelsnämnder. Dessa blanketter har sedan fyllts i av berörd personal under två veckor i samband med att de har använt sitt befintliga egenkontrollprogram för säkrare livs-medelshantering.

Today?s wind power plants are only compensated for their reactive power consumption at no-load. As the wind power plants grow bigger the amount of reactive power they need also increases. This is no longer a problem that can be ignored, especially as the net owners are beginning to charge the reactive power they transport.In this thesis a couple of different methods of compensation and their prices will be discussed and evaluated. Problems, such as self-excitation, that can occur if one fully compensates the wind power plant will also be brought to surface.

Sewage sludge contains plant nutrients and has earlier been utilised as fertilizer to cropland. Unfortunately not only plant nutrients but also heavy metals, pathogens and organic contaminants tend to accumulate in sludge. The suitability to use sewage sludge in agriculture has therefore been subject to several discussions over the years. The Swedish food industry does no longer accept sludge as fertiliser for Swedish producers. In 1999 the Swedish parliament accepted several objectives for environmental protection. In order to prevent environmental pollution and further exploitation of the earth crust, one of these objectives confirm that phosphorous from sewage shall be recirculated to arable land.

Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia with a tropical monsoon climate and distinctive wet and dry seasons. Poverty is a widespread problem in Cambodia and 30 percent of the population were classified as poor in 2009. About 80 percent of the populations live in rural areas where poverty is an even greater problem. In agriculture, rice cultivation is dominating and the crop is cultivated on 85 percent of the arable land. Livestock keeping is also a traditional part of Cambodian agriculture.

With increasing wine consumption and a growing assortment at available to Swedish consumers, there is an interest in understanding the decision making process of Swedish wine consumers. In this thesis the expert phenomenon is studied with respect to wine through wine critic reliability: grading objectivity, understanding the process of wine criticism and possible critic influence on consumer behavior. Two studies were performed; a qualitative in-depth session of interviews with industry connoisseurs and a quantitative analysis of 589 online wine reviews. Our results indicate that wine reviews are highly subjective and defy prediction through analysis of external variables. Critics are likely to judge differently based on what information they have at hand, suggesting that expectations affect grading.

In this paper the authors aim to examine the effects on consumers using different strategies in a campaign within social marketing. A model by Evans et al (1996) has been used in order to see the different steps in which advertising catches the viewers? attention and eventually leads to action or purchasing. However, in the case of this thesis, the intention of the chosen campaign is to change the consumers? attitudes and behavior towards alcohol.