Valmets own foundry in Karlstad has during a long period of time had problems being profitable. The goal today is to turn this around. Today there are three different productionlines; engine blocks, Yankeecylinders and components for the wind turbine industry. This master thesis has focused on examining if value stream mapping is a useful tool to use in a foundry, and therefore outside the typical manufacturing industry. The target has also been to evaluate if there is a possibility to improve the flow in the foundry and also the results.During the 20 weeks this work has been done at the foundry data has been collected and analyzed.

This thesis examines which function the information technology may have in thechildren's library, with the example from two library computer programmes. One is anexpert system, Hedvig, which will help children to choose and to find books, and theother is a computer game, The mysterious signs, that will teach children library user education.The main question is: What conceptions do the project-leaders, the children'slibrarians and the children have concerning the function of these two programmes in thechildren's library?The study is based upon qualitative interviews with two projects-leaders, fourlibrarians, three computer programmers and twenty-eight children.The theoretical material consists of examples on other library computer programmesfor children developed in Denmark and USA, some American studies in children'sabilities to use computerized information retrieval systems, and studies concerningchildren's relations to computers.The adult's conceptions of the computer programmes are divided into categories asfollows: Democracy, aspect of sex, complement, marketing, reading promotion,development of competence, information technology development, pedagogics, adulteducational activities, compensation and armusement, pedagogics, usefulness,effectiveness and information. These categories shall be seen as the conclusions of the thesis..

The use of computer games has grown exponentially in the past few years and StarCraft II is one of the most popular e-sports today, played by millions of people worldwide. This study investigates the game?s effect on skills, as perceived by the players of StarCraft II.The study was conducted by using an empirical survey and interviews. The skills being investigated were both physical and mental in their nature. The conclusion was that the majority of players perceived that their skills regarding reaction speed, multitasking, APM, analysis and strategy were increased the most, while there was a smaller change in social skills and language skills.

Today there is no way of measuring or simulating turbulent flow in high Reynolds numberenvironments. The computational power required to simulate these conditions is not expectedto be available for several decades so instead the CICLoPE project aims at solving thisshortage by the construction of a long carbon fiber wind tunnel in which real measurementscan be made. To do accurate measurements it is of importance that the wind tunnel, 0.9 metersin diameter and 110 meters long, is as straight as possible.This master thesis treat the design and construction of a device which may be used to align thetunnel along a reference laser beam. A design is presented which allows the pipe to be alignedwithin about a quarter of a millimeter along its entire length. Contents span over severalscience fields such as physics, mechanics, control theory and electronics.The result is a theoretically correct design.

Title: How to manage stress seen from a leadership perspective Authors: Lina Jonsson, Kristian Olsson, Mattias Olsson, Shabnam Tahajjod Supervisor: Marie Aurell Department: Department of Business Administration, IEM Course: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, FEC 007 Question of issue: How can we understand stress managing at a workplace seen from a leadership perspective? Method: We have chosen a qualitative method for our thesis with inter-views as qualitative data collection. The interviews had a low grade of standardization. Result: On the basis of our question of issue we have drawn the con-clusion that it is important to create comfort at the workplace, that there are a safety and a feeling of handle the work tasks and that there is a plentiful information flow between managers and employees to manage to handle the workplace stress situa-tion..

This study investigates the value relevance of goodwill impairments for equity investors in Swedish listed companies. We provide insight on whether goodwill impairments are value relevant before as well as after the implementation of IFRS 3 and IAS 36. We express market value of equity as a function of book value of equity; net income excluding goodwill impairments and goodwill impairments, using the Ohlson valuation model and Hellström's price regression. Our findings suggest that goodwill impairments are statistically value relevant for equity investors. Prior to the implementation of IFRS 3 and IAS 36, our findings imply that equity investors respond negatively to goodwill impairments.

When communications traffic increasingly turned into data, IP telephony became a disruptive technology for the telecommunication business. IP telephony was a hot topic when voice over IP services started to become available to consumers in the 1990s. The new technology changed the rules of the game and many new actors entered the market.The purpose of this study is to describe, study, and analyze how the business models of the Swedish telecom sector developed in the middle of the 2000s. The study is delimited to the Swedish consumer market for telephony.The study is built mainly upon deep interviews with 24 prominent persons in the telecom sector in 2006. To aid understanding, two telecom companies that have been chosen to represent different kinds of actors are described and analyzed more closely.

Uppsatsen handlar om retoriken i tv-spel. I tv-spelsforskningen pågår en debatt mellan ludologin och narratologin där ludologin menar att spel ska ses som spel och inget annat ? exempelvis som en fotbollsmatch där spelet självt är det huvudsakliga innehållet och där ingen frågar efter ytterligare mening. Narratologin menar att spel i grunden är berättande eller bär på berättande drag ? att en fotbollsmatch följer en överskådlig dramaturgi och berättande mönster.

Abstract Tutor - Anders Richtnér History - Theories suggest that Lean Product Development strategies dramatically increase a company's performance through enabling faster T-T-M, Quality and Costs of Product Development. Purpose - The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate whether the implementation of LPD actually affect corporate performance measurements T-T-M, Quality and Cost, in a positive way. Methodology - This Bachelor thesis is an exploratory investigation of the concept of Lean Product Development within a global IT- company, performed through four case studies, interviews and complementing corporate performance data. Findings - With empirical data and subsequent analyzes in mind, we note the following; it is clear that the project that produced the best results, in terms of T-T-M, Quality and Cost, also was the one furthest in the process of implementing Lean Product Development..

The study was performed for the Swedish Regional Forestry Board in Södra Götaland. The study examines broadleaf plantations on former farmland that were planted between 1991 and 1996 with subsidy payments for conversion of farmland into forest. In particular, the study reviews forests planted in 1991-92 and 1994-96. In the early 1990s, Swedish agriculture was deregulated and direct subsides to farmers ended. The Swedish state instead granted farmers financial support and offered incentives for conversion of farmland and investments in order to make their unproductive land productive. The state supported conversion of farmland to broadleaf forest, forest for energy biomass production, or establishment of wetlands on former farmland. The County Administrative Boards and Regional Forestry Boards together monitored the planting of broadleaf forests.

The construction of buildings and paved surfaces changes the natural water balance.Precipitation generates surface runoff and storm water instead of infiltrating into the soil.Storm water has come to be considered as a major source of pollution in lakes and streams inthe vicinity of urban areas. Reduction of pollutants in storm water is a key action in order toprotect sensitive recipients and maintain high water quality. Storm water is traditionallytransported by storm sewers to the nearest recipient. In recent years the approach to stormwater management has changed; storm water should primarily be disposed of on site, throughlocal disposal of storm water, LOD. LOD is created by a combination of the function ofseveral smaller local facilities and the general sewer system.

Warcraft är ett strategidataspel som massor av människor världen över ägnar sig åt. Sebastian Pesic (alias 4K FuRy) är en av världens bästa spelare och dataspelandet har blivit hans jobb. Dokumentärfilmen handlar om Sebastian Pesic och hans verklighet i Warcraftlaget 4Kings. Sebastian kommer att berätta om sina upplevelser och vi kommer att få se honom i action. Filmen kommer att ge en inblick i dataspelsvärlden som många inte ens vet om existerar. Ännu mindre att man kan tjäna stora pengar på att spela. Utomlands är uppmärksamheten för Warcraft större.

Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur människor där den kreativa processen är central i sitt yrkesutövande upplever denna process och se om det går att hitta ett mönster. Vi bestämde oss för att ta reda på vad som händer inuti människan runt det kreativa ögonblicket. Vår huvudfrågeställning är: Vad är den kreativa processen? Vi gjorde öppna intervjuer med fem verksamma kreatörer med hjälp av DV-kamera. Vårt resultat visade att det gick att se ett gemensamt mönster i den kreativa processen.

The aim of this case study was to investigate the role of leadership and interpersonal relations among staff during implementation of lean at a University Hospital in Sweden. The 15 respondents were leaders and staff members from different wards and clinics, who had started working according to lean principles. One of the methods used was explorative, low structured interviews. Other methods used for gathering information about the case was attending lectures about lean healthcare at the hospital, part-taking in the lean game and reading articles about lean and the implementation in both daily press and on the intranet of the hospital. The results showed that an open and accessible leader that coaches his/her staff and supports their work, helps the staff to develop a lean identity.

Two different methods for measuring biogas production were used, gas meter and gasbags. The gas meters were electronic and counted each time a certain gasvolume passed through them. The gasbags collected the gas that hade passed through the gas meter until a manual measuring could be done. The two different methods gave the same result for a volume at three liters but for a volume around 0,2 liters they did not. Accuracy and precision for the gasbags was more exact than for the gas meters even if the method was difficult with a lot of different elements that could affect the result.